Over the long Thanksgiving weekend, Hollywood gave thanks for the heavy traffic that flowed into multiplexes across North America. Leading the way was Disney’s Moana, with Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them not too far behind. The news wasn’t as good for Paramount’s Allied, which had a mediocre start, while Bad Santa 2 and Rules Don’t Apply both bombed.
Overall, the holiday frame was about even with last year’s Turkey Day totals. This helped the 2016 box office hit the $10 billion mark in record time. With Star Wars: Rogue One arriving on the scene in three weeks, there is a good chance the 2016 box office could break the $11.1 billion record set only one year ago by the film industry.
A major contributor to that $10 billion total has been Walt Disney Studios, who continued its record year with the huge opening for its 56th animated feature, Moana. Since opening Wednesday on 3,875 screens, the critically acclaimed family flick has scored $81.1 million. For the three-day weekend frame, Moana’s haul was $55.5 million. The opening represents the second biggest Thanksgiving opening of all time, just behind Frozen’s $93.6 million earned in 2013. A small number of foreign markets brought in $16.3 million.
In second place was Warner’s Harry Potter spinoff, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. The prequel benefitted greatly from the holiday frame, easing a mere 39% in its sophomore session on 4,144 screens. For the weekend, Newt Scamander conjured up $45.1 million and $65.8 million for the five-day frame. The ten-day domestic total for Beasts is $156.2 million.
With no real competition to speak of until Rogue One arrives, Beasts could find itself with $225-230 million in domestic ticket sales by the end of its run. Thanks to big openings in China and Japan, Beasts brought in a massive $132 million from overseas this weekend, pushing the offshore totals to $317.5 million.
As if the opening for Moana wasn’t enough for Disney to give thanks for, they also saw its latest Marvel Studios offering Doctor Strange cross the $200 million mark, the tenth superhero offering from Marvel to do so. The blockbuster hit earned an estimated $13.4 million from 3,008 theaters ($18.8 million for five days) in its fourth weekend. Off 25%, the Benedict Cumberbatch feature has earned $205 million so far domestically and could wind down around $225-230 million. Strange’s foreign box office stands at $411 million.
Arriving in fourth place with mixed numbers was Paramount’s World War II drama Allied with $13 million from 3,160 theaters and $18 million since its Wednesday debut. Reviews were mostly positive for the Robert Zemeckis-directed feature, which stars Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard. Despite positive notices and Pitt in the lead role, viewers opted to watch something a little lighter. The $85 million production marks the second box office disappointment from the once reliable Zemeckis following his 2015 box office disaster, The Walk.
The studio has had more luck with its lower-budget sci-fi offering Arrival, which slipped a mere seven percent in its third weekend of release. The Amy Adams feature earned $11.2 million from 2,442 theaters in its third weekend -$15.4 million since Wednesday-, which brought its domestic total up to a solid $62.3 million. A final stateside total between $75-80 million is possible. Overseas, Arrival has scored $22 million so far.
The remainder of the top ten:
- Trolls (Fox/Dreamworks) $10.3 million (-41%); $135.1 million
- Almost Christmas (Universal) $7.6 million (+5%); $36.6 million
- Bad Santa 2 (BG/Miramax)
The original Bad Santa was a sleeper hit thirteen years ago that wound up earning $60 million at the box office. The critically panned sequel -which no one appeared to be pining for-, will be lucky if it ends up with one third of that amount. Arriving on 2,920 screens this past Wednesday, Bad Santa 2 was good for only $6 million over the three-day weekend and $9 million for the five-day period.
- Hacksaw Ridge (Lionsgate) $5.4 million (-18%); $52.2 million
- The Edge of Seventeen (STX) $2.96 million (-37%); $10.2 million
Debut outside the top ten was the weekend’s biggest bomb, Fox’s Rules Don’t Apply, with only $1.5 million weekend from 2,382 theaters ($2.1 million since its Wednesday opening). Critics weren’t crazy about Warren Beatty’s first film in a decade and a half, and neither was the public.
The weekend after Thanksgiving is usually a quiet time for new releases, and this year will be no exception. The only wide release next weekend is something called Incarnate, a horror film from the director of San Andreas. I think it’s safe to say that Moana and Fantastic Beasts will continue to lead the box office for another week without much difficulty.
