Feast and famine for Disney for Thanksgiving weekend box office
Thanksgiving often serves up a feast of new family movies at the box office, but the Walt Disney Co.’s animated offering “Strange World” fizzled with audiences out of the gates. The production, which carried a reported $180 million budget, grossed just $18.6 million in ticket sales in its first five days and $11.9 million over the weekend in North American theaters, according to studio estimates Sunday.
The top spot for the holiday corridor, which runs from Wednesday through Sunday, instead went to another Disney movie, Marvel’s “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” which raked in an additional $64 million over the last five days, $45.9 million of which was from the weekend. The superhero sequel has reigned over the charts for three weekends now and has grossed $675.6 million worldwide.
It was a muted weekend despite a buffet of well-reviewed options, including the Korean War aviation drama “Devotion,” the nationwide expansion of the Timothée Chalamet cannibal romance “Bones and All” and Steven Spielberg’s “The Fabelmans.”
“Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” also opened in 600 theaters nationwide for a weeklong limited run. It marks the first time a Netflix film has played in the nation’s major theater chains, including AMC, Regal and Cinemark, but neither Netflix nor the exhibitors provided sales estimates for the film, which won’t hit the streaming service until Dec. 23. The first “Knives Out,” which was released by Lionsgate, opened to $41.4 million over Thanksgiving weekend in 2019.
Between the “Glass Onion” mystery and the “Strange World” miss, it was a reminder that the exhibition business is still far from normal.
“This was not pre-destined to be a blockbuster Thanksgiving weekend,” said Paul Dergarabedian, Comscore’s senior media analyst. He noted that the marketplace is still being impacted by the pandemic’s effects on Hollywood production and release schedules.
“Strange World” opened in 4,714 locations on Wednesday, but it was clear from early preview showings that it was going to be slow going. On Friday, it earned only $5.2 million. “Wakanda Forever,” by contrast, made $18.2 million on Friday in 4,258 theaters and has been out for three weeks.
The animated adventure film’s debut is one of the bigger bombs in the modern history of the Disney Animation studio, similar to the $16 million 2002 Thanksgiving opening of “Treasure Planet.” “Strange World” was directed by Don Hall and Qui Nguyen and follows a family of explorers and features the voices of Jake Gyllenhaal, Dennis Quaid, Gabrielle Union and Lucy Liu. Reviews have been mostly positive, with a 73% Rotten Tomatoes score.
Third place went to “Devotion,” directed by JD Dillard and starring Jonathan Majors and Glenn Powel, which made $9 million in its first five days and $6 million over the weekend from 3,405 locations.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore, with five-day Wednesday through Sunday in parentheses. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
1. “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” $45.9 million ($64 million).
2. “Strange World,” $11.9 million ($18.6 million).
3. “Devotion,” $6 million ($9 million).
4. “The Menu,” $5.2 million ($7.4 million).
5. “Black Adam,” $3.4 million.
6. “The Fabelmans,” $2.2 million ($3.1 million).
7. “Bones and All,” $2.2 million ($3.6 million).
8. “Ticket to Paradise,” $1.9 million ($2.6 million).
9. “The Chosen Season 3: Episode 1 &2,” $1.6 million.
10. “She Said,” $1.1 million ($1.5 million).