Audiences had a lot to be thankful for over the Thanksgiving weekend and it appears that studios can also express some gratitude that folks were willing to flock to theaters over the long holiday. Fittingly, the two biggest draws were family flicks– Disney’s Encanto and Sony’s holdover Ghostbusters: Afterlife.
Encanto enchanted with its family-centric storyline and a soundtrack by one of the busiest men in Hollywood, Lin-Manuel Miranda. Critics love it, with a fantastic 92% Rotten Tomatoes ranking. Audiences loved it even more with a 94% ranking. Exiting audiences gave it an A via CinemaScore and 4½ stars out of five via PostTrak.
Even though Ghostbusters: Afterlife received weaker reviews and opened to less money than the 2016 Paul Feig female reboot of the brand, it is holding up much better thanks to great audience reaction. Afterlife held up 4% better over ten days in comparison.
It may sound stupid, but it can’t hurt that star Paul Rudd was named People magazine’s “Sexiest Man Alive” for 2021, generating loads of free publicity for Afterlife. As it is every year, the selection of “Sexiest Man Alive” creates tons of discussion on every radio station, TV chat show, and more, so this is all extra buzz on top of the regular Sony ad campaign.
Encanto and Ghostbusters: Afterlife did both appeal to roughly the same audience, however, so that split that crowd. Without one, the other would have surely made more money. Even so, Encanto made $40.3 million over five days at the domestic box office and approximately $70M globally. Ghostbusters: Afterlife came in second with $35.25M.
Ridley Scott has been alienating audiences with his recent rants against comic book movies and Millenials and their damn cell phones. Those, plus the fact that his last pic, The Last Duel was a box office flop seem to have deterred folks from turning out for his newest entry, The House of Gucci, despite the fact that it is getting loads of awards season buzz.
Working in House of Gucci‘s favor is the fact that it appealed to a completely different demographic than Encanto and Ghostbusters: Afterlife— adults.
House of Gucci may get some awards nominations, but at this point, the critical reaction isn’t glowing. It has a 61% RT critical score with a better 84% audience score. But at the theaters, audiences were very enthusiastic, giving it four stars out of five via PostTrak.
A great deal of this film’s success can be attributed to Mother Monster. 40% of audience members said they checked out the flick because it starred Gaga. Now whether those people were her “Little Monsters” (a.k.a fans of her music) or those that were impressed with her performance in A Star is Born is debatable.
Eternals remains in the Top Five at #4. The #5 film is another new entry– Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City. This is a reboot of the franchise and wasn’t directed by Paul W.S. Anderson and did not feature former star, Milla Jovovich. Even with a relatively small budget of $25 million, this was basically a flop.
Though it was in limited release, the film that made the most per screen was the Paul Thomas Anderson indie Licorice Pizza. The film made $83,8K in just four theaters. That brought its three-day total to $335K. That’s not enough to crack the Top Ten, but it’s a promising sign for its eventual wide release.
Bear in mind, the Top Five for this weekend actually spans the performances over five days as the new pictures opened on Wednesday. You can check out the Top Five below:
- Encanto (Disney) – 3-Day: $27M/ 5-Day: $40.3M/ Wk 1
- Ghostbusters: Afterlife (Sony) – 3-Day: $24.5M/ 5-Day: $35.25M/ Wk 2 – Total: $87.8M
- House of Gucci (United Artist Releasing/MGM) – 3-Day: $14.2M/ 5-Day: $21.8M/ Wk 1
- Eternals (Disney) – 3-Day: 7.9M/ 5-Day: 11.4/ Wk 4 – Total: 150.6M
- Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (Sony) – 3-Day: 5.275M/ 5-Day: $8.8M/ Wk 1
Though it has fallen out of the Top Five, Denis Villeneuve’s Dune has finally grossed over $100 million at the domestic box office. Globally, it has grossed over $400M. Hampering its domestic performance is the fact that it was released on HBO Max simultaneous to its theatrical release. While many chose to see the film in theaters, in particular on higher-priced large format screens like IMAX, most people chose to watch it for a second or third time at home on TV, killing any chance for repeat viewings.
On the plus side, Warner Bros. already greenlit a sequel, so at least fans have that to look forward to.
Top Gun: Maverick was SUPPOSED to have opened this weekend before Paramount pushed to Memorial Day weekend next year. Had it opened this past weekend, it is believed that it would have been the #1 movie at the box office, with Encanto coming in second.
The projected success of Top Gun: Maverick is likely why there are NO major movies coming out next weekend, so don’t expect the Top Five to change much. But check back to see how things work out!
