Eighteen years after he last stole Christmas on the big screen, Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch returned to cinemas this past weekend courtesy of Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment, with the animated movie debuting to $78.7 million worldwide.
The Grinch, which sees Benedict Cumberbatch lending his voice to the titular character, pulled in $66 million domestically, along with a further $12.7 million from a handful of international markets including the UK and Ireland.
For comparison, the Jim Carry-headlined How the Grinch Stole Christmas debuted to $55.1 million in North America back in 2000, on its way to a domestic haul of $260 million and $345.1 million worldwide.
Despite mixed reviews, the $75 million-budgeted The Grinch should go on to turn a healthy profit at the box office over the upcoming holiday season as it continues to roll out internationally.
SEE ALSO: Read our review of The Grinch here
Academy Award® nominee Benedict Cumberbatch lends his voice to the infamous Grinch, who lives a solitary life inside a cave on Mt. Crumpet with only his loyal dog, Max, for company. With a cave rigged with inventions and contraptions for his day-to-day needs, the Grinch only sees his neighbours in Who-ville when he runs out of food.
Each year at Christmas they disrupt his tranquil solitude with their increasingly bigger, brighter and louder celebrations. When the Whos declare they are going to make Christmas three times bigger this year, the Grinch realizes there is only one way for him to gain some peace and quiet: he must steal Christmas. To do so, he decides he will pose as Santa Claus on Christmas Eve, even going so far as to trap a lackadaisical misfit reindeer to pull his sleigh.
Meanwhile, down in Who-ville, Cindy-Lou Who-a young girl overflowing with holiday cheer-plots with her gang of friends to trap Santa Claus as he makes his Christmas Eve rounds so that she can thank him for help for her overworked single mother. As Christmas approaches, however, her good-natured scheming threatens to collide with the Grinch’s more nefarious one. Will Cindy-Lou achieve her goal of finally meeting Santa Claus? Will the Grinch succeed in silencing the Whos’ holiday cheer once and for all?
