Thanksgiving weekend is always a huge period for the box office and this year’s was up 3% over last, with $268 million. The charge was led by Disney/Pixar’s ‘Coco’ which sang its way to $49M for Friday-Sunday, and $71.2M for the five day holiday weekend– the fourth best Thanksgiving weekend tally, behind three other Disney movie, ‘Frozen’ ($94M), ‘Moana’ ($82M) and ‘Toy Story 3’ ($80M). The film isn’t just a financial hit. Audiences showered it with a rare A+ CinemaScore and it’s sitting pretty with a 93% Certified Freshness Rating. Last year, ‘Moana’ held the #1 spot for three weeks before the arrival of ‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’ and with little competition, ‘Coco’ could easily do the same, until Disney’s next juggernaut, ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ arrives. ‘Coco’ may have benefited from the short ‘Olaf’s Frozen Adventure’ which played before it and featured new songs by stars Kristen Bell, Josh Gad and of course Idina Menzel.
‘Justice League’ slipped to #2, with a $40.7M 3-day and $59.7M 5-day. Globally, it’s taken in $481M, which should match its production and marketing budget, which was estimated at around $450M. That’s not bad for two weeks but of course, Warner Brothers would be happier with more. The holiday weekend helped, something that previous DC movies didn’t benefit from.
One analyst said:
“I was surprised that Justice League did not drop more. A solid hold after a very disappointing start.”
It’s actually holding better than last year’s ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’ and could take in more in the long run.
Surprise hit ‘Wonder’, starring Julia Roberts, Owen Wilson, and Jacob Tremblay, continues to rake in cash, $22.3M 3-day, $32.3M 5-day. It cost just $20M to make and has made a total of $69.4M.
‘Thor: Ragnarok’ and ‘Daddy’s Home 2’ rounded out the Top Five.
- Coco (Disney) – $49M 3-day, $71.2M 5-day
- Justice League (Warner Brothers) – $40.7M 3-day, $59.7M 5-day
- Wonder (Warner Brothers) – $22.3M 3-day, $32.3M 5-day
- Thor: Ragnarok (Disney) – $16.8M 3-day, $24.2M 5-day
- Daddy’s Home 2 (Paramount) – $13.25M 3-day, $18.635M 5-day
There are no major films opening next weekend, so expect a repeat of this week’s Top Five, but with some drops in the grosses. In two weeks, Guillermo del Toro’s ‘The Shape of Water’, Morgan Freeman-Tommy Lee Jones old guys comedy ‘Just Getting Started’ and the buzzy ‘I, Tonya’ with Margot Robbie as real-life Olympic figure skater/saboteur Tonya Harding could do well, as the current hits fade. Then, of course, the following weekend, on December 15, comes ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’, which is predicted to open to $200M.
Source: New York Times
