The Hunger Games prequel has a lot to be thankful for this weekend as it pulls off the upset victory over two new releases.
Well, this weekend sure got interesting! A movie that had a softer than anticipated debut and had been written off as dead and buried, is making a triumphant comeback during this Holiday weekend. And no, we aren’t talking about The Marvels, that movie is still six feet under!
As we first reported yesterday, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is surprising everyone and pulling off the victory this weekend with what is looking like (per Deadline) a 3-day take in the $30 million range with the full 5-day Thanksgiving weekend take around $43 million. In our Thursday predictions, we saw this prequel dropping around 60% of its audience in its sophomore time frame, but if this number sticks, its drop would be less than 30%. I guess the reason this one had a softer than expected opening was because everyone knew they were going to catch it during their extended Thanksgiving weekend. You can check out Tyler Nichols’ 5/10 review here.
The other surprise of the bunch is the Ridley Scott directed Napoleon which is looking to do a little under $20 million for its 3-day haul while its 5-day is looking at over $30 million. Tracking (and our own predictions) had this one in the $20 million range for its debut weekend, so this opening falls in line with that. The real story here is its international numbers which will see this historical epic have a 5-day debut likely to hit just over $100 million. The film is turning out to be pretty divisive with some hailing it another masterpiece by Ridley Scott and others finding it a bit boring. Sadly, I am with that latter group as the film had tremendous battle sequences but really didn’t hold my attention the rest of the time. Of course, Scott is known for his director’s cuts and perhaps his full 4 hour vision will be more to my liking (and general audiences as they have given the film a pretty lackluster 61% audience score). You can check out Chris Bumbray’s 8/10 review here.
In a tight race for that number two spot is Disney’s Wish which is looking to open just over $20 million with its 5-day hitting in the upper $30 million range. Sadly, this result is closer to last years bomb Strange World than it is to their massive hits like Frozen. Family films have seen tremendous box office runs when given spaced out releases, but Wish comes just one week after Trolls Band Together was released and that seems to have split the market on what animated family film to see. I personally found Wish to be a solid movie that felt like a throwback to old school, early 90’s Disney. I won’t write this one off just yet, it is the holiday season and this movie has the potential to secure small week to week drops until next months one two punch of Wonka and Migration hit. Of course with a reported $200 million budget before marketing, this one pry needed to open a bit stronger to even sniff profitability. You can check out JimmyO’s 8/10 review here.
That other family offering, Trolls Band Together, looks to drop about 50% of its audience for a little over $15 million in its 3-day take while its 5-day looks to be around $24 million. That will put this threequel just over $60 million for its running domestic total, a far cry from the $93.9 million the original film was at in its second week of release.
Audiences embraced the holiday by going to see a film carrying its title as Eli Roth’s Thanksgiving looks to do about $10 million for its 3-day weekend, losing just 3% of its audience from last week. That hold would be absolutely fantastic for any movie, but horror films tend to have drops in the 60-70% range, so a loss of just 3% means that audiences have fully embraced this quite enjoyable throwback to the slasher films of the mid 90’s. If for nothing else, you should see this movie for its opening Black Friday scene, that alone is worth the price of admission. You can check out Tyler Nichols’ 8/10 review here.
Will you be breaking up your weekend shopping with a delightful feature film? If so, let us know what you plan on seeing in the comments and don’t forget to check back with us tomorrow when we have a full rundown on this Weeknd’s box office.