This Thanksgiving the U.S. Top 10 ticked all of the boxes when it comes to the fate of the movies people were flocking to see in-between helpings of Turkey and trimmings. There was an undisputed blockbuster topping the chart, a tale of what could of been with the performance of a certified money-maker limited to a few screens and streaming service, and a then we had a certified flop from a studio who have previously owned the seasonal five-day weekend.
Even those who couldn’t figure out the mystery at the heart of Glass Onion over the weekend could have predicted that Black Panther: Wakanda Forever would remain on top of the box-office, and it did with aplomb, taking another $64 million over the five-day frame, lifting its domestic gross to $367.7 million through Sunday. Internationally it grossed another $32.1 million, which means that after three weeks the Ryan Coogler directed sequel has taken $675.6 million at the global box-office.
Wakanda Forever might have had a challenger for the weekend had Netflix not limited the release of Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery to just 600+ screens and a single week in theatres. Though Netflix doesn’t reveal grosses, Rian Johnson’s follow-up to 2019’s Knives Out ($165m domestic, $312m worldwide) is reported to have taken anywhere between $13m and $15m over the Thanksgiving weekend. With the first film opening in 3,461 theatres, it doesn’t take a Benoit Blanc level detective to work out the numbers we could have been looking at.
On the opposite end of the scale, Disney Animation, who traditionally dominate the holiday weekend (Frozen – $93m, Moana – $82m, Tangled $68m, Encanto $40m) with their animated fare have a Home on the Range level flop on their hands with the soon-to-be-streaming Strange World. Opening with just $18.6 million over the weekend, and with a reported production budget of $180 million, it is already being said that the animated adventure is likely to lose more than $100 million for the Magic Kingdom.
Elsewhere Steven Spielberg’s Best Picture contender The Fabelmans fell foul of the current trend of underperforming awards fare, earning just $3.1 million from 600+ locations.
Check out all of the zeroes and ones from the weekend by heading to BoxOfficeMojo. Until next week….
