After a disappointing opening for “The Marvels” last week, four new wide releases tried to offer something for everyone, but only one of the new movies came even close to expectations. Read on for the weekend box office report.
The decision by Lionsgate to go back to the well with “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,” an adaptation of Suzanne Collins‘ prequel to her hit young adult book series, may have been foolhardy despite the original four movies grossing nearly $3 billion worldwide. Teaming Rachel Zegler with Tom Blyth under the guidance of director Francis Lawrence, “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” came into the weekend with mixed-positive reviews, but with a release by Lionsgate into 3,776 theaters. It made $5.8 million in Thursday previews that were combined into the movie’s $19.1 million opening Friday, but ultimately, the “Hunger Games” prequel ended up only making an estimated $44 million over the weekend, which is less than what “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2” made its opening day in 2015. It ended up receiving a “B+” CinemaScore, which also doesn’t bode well for the franchise to continue.
SEE Box office: All time domestic top-grossing movies
On the other hand, the “Hunger Games” prequel made another $54.5 million overseas in 87 international territories, and having a $98.5 million global opening doesn’t sound nearly as bad.
Universal had better luck with the DreamWorks Animation animated sequel, “Trolls Band Together,” featuring the voices of Anna Kendrick and Justin Timberlake, which did not receive nearly as good reviews. After making $1.3 million in Thursday previews and $9.4 million on Friday, the “Trolls” sequel ended up making an estimated $30.6 million its opening weekend. With a separate $1.2 million made in earlier previews, that brought its domestic total to $31.8 million.
It was the only new movie of the weekend to receive an “A” CinemaScore,” though, so we’ll have to see how it holds up against Disney’s latest animated musical, “Wish,” when that opens on Wednesday. “Trolls” had already been playing overseas for a number of weeks, with another $6.7 million grossed this weekend for an international total of $76.3 million and global total of $108.1 million.
Eli Roth‘s seasonal horror film “Thanksgiving” opened in fourth place with an estimated $10.2 million, after solid reviews and a release into 3,204 theaters, averaging roughly $3,200 per location. As is often the case with horror movies, the “Thanksgiving” CinemaScore rating was pretty low, only receiving a “B-.” We’ll have to see if this can do much business past Thanksgiving next week, since it’s so specific in its topicality. Even so, it still made an additional $2.4 million in 11 overseas markets with more territories to come, most of whom may not understand the specifically American holiday.
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“The Marvels” had a much bigger drop than anyone expected in its second weekend, down a whopping 78% from its already bad opening. “The Marvels'” $10.2 million weekend estimate puts it in a tie with “Thanksgiving” for third place, so we’ll have to see how things shake out with actuals on Monday. It has grossed just $65 million in ten days, which could make it the first Marvel Studios movie not to make more than $100 million domestically. Overseas, “The Marvels” added another $19.5 million for an international total of $96.3 million and $161.3 million grossed globally.
“Five Nights at Freddy’s” took fifth place with $3.5 million, down 61% from last weekend, but with a solid $132.6 million grossed domestically, as one of the stronger fall releases. With the $9.9 million made overseas this weekend, “Freddy’s” was pushed ahead of “The Nun II” to become the highest-grossing horror film of the year globally with a global total of $271.8 million.
Alexander Payne‘s “The Holdovers” nearly doubled its theaters into 1,475 and ended up making another $2.7 million, down just 16% from last weekend, to bring its North American total to $8.4 million.
The biggest bomb of the weekend was Taika Waititi‘s sports comedy, “Next Goal Wins,” starring Michael Fassbender, which opened in 2,240 theaters on Friday, plagued by mostly negative reviews going back to its Toronto International Film Festival debut, but it wasn’t even able to crack $3 million, ending up at $2.5 million. It received an okay “B+” CinemaScore, just like “Hunger Games,” but it’s going to have a tough time finding an audience without better word-of-mouth.
SEE ‘The Holdovers’ rave reviews: Alexander Payne’s ‘witty, poignant’ dramedy is an Oscars front-runner
“Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” reported $2.4 million this weekend in 1,573 theaters to take eighth place with $175.3 million grossed just in North America.
After a decent expansion last weekend, Sofia Coppola‘s “Priscilla” took a bigger plunge in its fourth weekend, down 51% to ninth place with $2.3 million for a domestic total of just under $17 million.
“Promising Young Woman’s” Oscar-winning filmmaker Emerald Fennell‘s second feature, “Saltburn,” opened in seven theaters in select cities ahead of its wide release on Wednesday. It brought in $315.5k over the weekend, an average of $45k per venue, so we’ll have to see whether it can build on that
Also, MUBI released Finnish filmmaker Aki Kaurismaki‘s “Fallen Leaves” into two New York theaters this weekend where it made $50,672 ahead of its L.A. and San Fran expansion next week.
Most players had “Hunger Games” winning the weekend in the Gold Derby box office prediction game, although fewer had it opening below $50 million. How third place pans out on Monday might be make or break, since only 17 players had “Thanksgiving” taking third place and then, only 31 players had “Five Nights” taking fifth place over other options.
A player named “tommy” was the only one that went 6 for 6 in the November 10 game, as one of the few who had “Priscilla” retaining fourth place and passing “Killers of the Flower Moon,” and his Super Bet on that helped with his point score, but not as much as others.
This coming week is Thanksgiving with two movies opening on Tuesday afternoon, Disney’s “Wish” and Ridley Scott’s “Napoleon,” starring Joaquin Phoenix and Vanessa Kirby. Check back on Tuesday morning for our weekly weekend preview and then have a great Thanksgiving knowing there are plenty of movies to see in theaters.
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