This Thanksgiving weekend came up 14% shy of last year’s, which is odd considering that COVID fears were higher back then and the general public was more hesitant to gather in theaters. But last year also saw the release of the Oscar-bait House of Gucci and perhaps Disney’s biggest animated home run in a while, Encanto.
This year, none of the newcomers could take down Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which has dominated for three weeks now. This film had the second-highest opening of 2022, falling behind Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. At this point, Wakanda Forever is holding up better, thanks to better reviews and word of mouth. It earned an additional $64 million over five days. Throughout its run, Wakanda Forever has accumulated $367.6M.
As many expected, Disney’s new animated flick, Strange World crashed down to Earth. Its reviews and audience reactions aren’t great, but they’re not terrible either. Its Rotten Tomatoes score is 74%, and its certified audience score is 60%. Exiting audiences gave it a B CinemaScore and 82% Post Trak. While this isn’t bad, A B CinemaScore is the lowest ever for a Disney animated movie.
Strange World earned $18.6M, which was enough to land at #2. The movie at #3 was another newcomer, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, which earned $13.3M. However, while Strange World is already being called a flop, Glass Onion, which made less money, is being heralded as a rousing smash. That’s mainly because Glass Onion only opened on 696 screens, whereas both Wakanda Forever and Strange World played on over 4,000 a piece.
Of course, they’re apples and oranges. Strange World is a freakin’ DISNEY animated movie. It was expected to be a smash as it’s the only major family movie out right now (kind of), but Disney — under the leadership of the recently ousted Bob Chapek — did almost NOTHING to promote it. Also, Wakanda Forever, as is the case with most Marvel Studios pictures, IS a family movie, and most families opted for that adventure versus this one.
It also doesn’t help that Strange World isn’t a musical or fantasy. It’s an homage to early 20th-century science fiction pulp novels and movies.
Oh… and there is a major queer romance storyline.
(Speaking of queer storylines…) Many are praising Netflix for giving Glass Onion a wide theatrical release instead of sending it straight to streaming.
Following the smash success of the first Knives Out in 2019, Netflix ponied up $400M for the rights to produce two sequels. But as has been proven over and over, people don’t seem to subscribe to streaming services for original movies. Putting Glass Onion out in theaters gives this Rian Johnson comedy-mystery some level of hype before its streaming debut in December. THAT could entice some to subscribe if they weren’t already.
Touching on that, maybe that’s what Disney hoped to accomplish with Strange World. Perhaps they hoped a theatrical run would make it more of a draw when it hits Disney+. Disney has also taken flack for “abandoning” many of its more recent animated movies, including Turning Red, to streaming and not giving them theatrical releases. In this case, however, many are instead wondering why this wasn’t simply released on Disney+, allowing Disney to save on the cost of promoting the movie. (Oh wait, they didn’t.)
Also adding fuel to the fire is that Glass Onion is getting great reviews, with a 93% RT score. That’s just slightly lower than Knives Out‘s 97%. Its audience score is exactly the same as Knives Out‘s 92%.
Glass Onion is dominating the adult crowd and that’s overpowering other fare targeted at that demographic, but more on that in a bit.
Scoring better than expected is Devotion, starring the suddenly-everywhere Jonathan Majors and Glen Powell, who broke into the big leagues in Top Gun: Maverick. I have to wonder if maybe some people were drawn to Devotion just because it featured Powell portraying another pilot.
This picture took in $9M over five days and is a hit with audiences. It earned an A- CinemaScore and a 91% PostTrak. On RT, audiences agree, with a 92% rating, but critics don’t care as much for it, with its critical score being 79%.
Last week’s newcomer, The Menu, held strong to round out the Top Five. It earned an additional $7.3M and continues to spark awards buzz.
Check out the Top Five:
-
- Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Disney) – 3-day $45.9M/5-day $64M/Total: $367.6M/Wk 3
- Strange World (Disney) – 3-day $11.9M, 5-day $18.6M/Wk 1
- Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (Netflix) – 3-day $9.2M/5-day $13.3M/Wk 1
- Devotion (Sony) – 3-day $6M/5 day $9M/Wk 1
- The Menu (Searchlight) – 3-day $5.2M/5-day $7.3M/Total $18.67M/Wk 2
As stated, the older audience turned out for Glass Onion, meaning they snubbed the much-lauded The Fabelmans, Steven Spielberg’s semi-autobiographical family drama. This is another project that is being eyed to score during awards season, with many already calling this the Best Picture frontrunner.
Now Glass Onion is only in theaters for one week. Maybe viewers chose to check that out while they could, pushing The Fabelmans off. Also, The Fabelmans has opened wider, but still not completely wide. (This weekend, it played in 638 theaters, which is fewer than Glass Onion.) So there is still time for it to take off, especially if that awards buzz pans out.
As it stands, critics and audiences are raving. The Fabelmans‘ RT score is 93%, while its audience score is lower at 81%. Exiting audiences, however, liked it on par with the critics, giving it an A CinemaScore.
Black Adam‘s run hasn’t exactly been a failure, but it has performed beneath what Warner Bros. was likely expecting from an action epic starring the biggest movie star in the world, Dwayne Johnson. Its domestic total is now $162.97M and in its sixth weekend, it has slipped out of the Top Five. It should be noted that this picture has hit streaming so that surely had an impact.
Nothing much is opening next weekend as the studios are holding their big pictures for Christmas.
Did you give thanks for any movies this weekend? What are you planning to check out in the coming weeks?
