The first week of December resulted in a relatively quiet box office, albeit with a few pleasant surprises. Among them is Renaissance: A Film by Beyonce, which took the top domestic spot with $22 million, per Deadline. Sure, this latest concert venture is far from the $92M opening of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour in October. Still, it’s also the second-best start for a film in this timeframe, trailing only Tom Cruise’s The Last Samurai ($24.2M in 2003). Compared to other concert pics, Renaissance remains behind Justin Bieber: Never Say Never ($29.5M in 2011) and Michael Jackson’s This Is It ($23.2M in 2009). PLF and Imax represented 49% of ticket sales, bringing in $5.1M globally.
Coming in at No. 2 is The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, which held firm in its third weekend, collecting $14.5M (-50%) to raise its domestic total to $121.2M. Toho International’s Godzilla Minus One also pulled in nice numbers, stomping its way to $11M and besting the $10.1M earned by Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba in March. PLF and Imax, per the trade, accounted for 45% of Godzilla’s bank.
Dreams didn’t come true for Disney’s Wish, which dipped a steep 62% in its sophomore frame for a $7.4M 3-day haul. That’s worse than the 58% drop of last year’s Strange World. Yikes! All told the big-budget animated feature has earned a paltry $41.9M domestically.
Ridley Scott’s Napoleon fell even harder, collecting $7.1M (-65%) in its second weekend, bringing its domestic total to $45.7M. That’s on par with Exodus: Gods and Kings, which dropped 66% in its second frame en route to a $65M total.
As 2023 draws to an end, we’ve only got a few high-profile pics to satisfy our moviegoing urges—namely, Paul King’s Wonka and James Wan’s oft-delayed Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. Christmas also sees the release of Michael Mann’s Ferrari and Blitz Bazawule’s retelling of The Color Purple.
Box Office Results: Domestic Top 10
1.) Renaissance: A Film by Beyonce (AMC) 2,539 theaters, Fri $11.7M Sat $6M Sun $4.3M 3-day $22M/Wk 1
2.) Hunger Games: Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (LG) 3,691 (-85) theaters Fri $4.1M (-63%) Sat $6.1M Sun $4.2M 3-day $14.5M (-50%) /Total $121.2M /Wk 3
3.) Godzilla Minus One (Toho) 2,308 theaters, Fri $4.7M Sat $3.7M Sun $2.58M 3-day $11M/Wk 1
4.) Trolls Band Together 3,613 (-280) theaters Fri $1.68M (-77%) Sat $3.5M Sun $2.3M 3-day $7.6M (-57%) Total $74.8M/Wk 3
5.) Wish (Dis) 3,900 theaters, Fri $1.63M (-80%) Sat $3.4M Sun $2.2M 3 day $7.4M (-62%), Total $41.9M/Wk 2
6.) Napoleon (App/Sony) 3,500 heaters, Fri $2.1M (-75%) Sat $3.1M Sun $1.88 3-day $7.1M (-65%), Total $45.7M/Wk 2
7.) Animal (Cine) 697 Theaters, Fri $2.8M Sat $2M Sun $1.3M 3-day $6.07M/Wk 1
8.) The Shift (Angel) 2,450 theaters, Fri $1.7M Sat $1.4M Sun $1.1M 3-day $4.35M/Wk 1
9.) Silent Night (LG) 1,870 theaters, Fri $1M, Sat $1.1M Sun $810K 3-day $3M/Wk 1
10.) Thanksgiving (Sony) 2,506 (-698) theaters, Fri $780K Sat $1.2M Sun $640K 3-day $2.63M (-63%)Total $28.3M/Wk 3