The weekend after Thanksgiving is always sluggish at the box office, but luckily crowds got into “Formation” for Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé, the second major concert film distributed by AMC this year. Renaissance was never expected to do numbers close to those of Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour— and it didn’t. It was, however, enough to cast a “Halo” over cinemas. With a $22 million opening, it is the second-best post-Thanksgiving debut after The Last Samurai which took in $24.2M in this frame in 2003.
Unlike The Eras Tour, Renaissance is not just a filmed version of Beyoncé’s recent blockbuster tour but a mixture of stage performances with behind-the-scenes footage of the creation of the show and a glimpse into the notoriously private superstar’s personal life, with appearances by her husband Jay-Z and daughter Blue Ivy.
The Bey-Hive were “Drunk in Love” with Renaissance, crowning it with an amazing 5-star rating through PostTrak and an A+ via ComScore. Not many critics have reviewed Renaissance, but all of the 19 that did gave it a positive score. Its Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer ranking is 100%. All 500+ certified audience reviews are also positive, so its ranking is also 100% in that department.
AMC’s Elizabeth Frank announced:
“On behalf of AMC Theatres Distribution and the entire theatrical industry, we thank Beyoncé for bringing this incredible film directly to her fans through the magic of moviegoing. To see it resonate with fans and with film critics on a weekend that many in the industry typically neglect is a testament to her immense talent, not just as a performer, but as a producer and director. We are so grateful for her vision to bring her Renaissance masterpiece to the big screen.”
This week’s other big new release was Godzilla Minus One, which earned $11M to land at #3. Audiences love it, bestowing it with an A CinemaScore and 92% positive PostTrak. Its Rotten Tomatoes score is 97%, with a 98% audience score. This excellent reception probably won’t help this picture in the long run, unfortunately, due to this being a foreign language film in Japanese, and it not being part of the established American Godzilla franchise. But we’ll see.
This weekend’s #2 entry, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, crossed a milestone earlier in the week passing the $100M mark domestically. It has also crossed $100M in foreign markets, bringing its global total to over $200M. It is the 23rd movie of 2023 to cross $100M domestically, whereas in 2022, only 18 releases passed this mark.
This weekend, Songbirds and Snakes dropped only 50% to earn an additional $14.5M. This picture is holding up better than expected.
Not hanging in nearly as well are Disney’s Wish and Ridley Scott’s Napoleon, which both plunged from their debuts last weekend. After a disappointing opening, Wish dropped 62% only to earn an additional $7.4M, slipping below the performance of Trolls Band Together, which remained in the #4 spot with $7.6M.
However, Napoleon, which topped Wish last weekend, dipped a frightening 65%, falling out of the Top Five altogether with $7.1M. Yes, only a few thousand separated these three movies, but the performances of Wish and Napoleon are a letdown. Then again, both movies received mixed reviews, so it’s not that surprising that they don’t appear to have legs as no one is hyping them up.
Here is the Top Five:
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- Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé (AMC) – $22M/ Wk 1
- Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (Lionsgate) – $14.5M/ Total $121.2M / Wk 3
- Godzilla Minus One (Toho) – $11M/ Wk 1
- Trolls Band Together (Universal/Dreamworks) – $7.6M/ Total $74.8M/ Wk 3
- Wish (Disney) – $7.4M/ Total $41.9M/ Wk 2
There’s nothing major opening until the 15th when Wonka arrives. Will Beyoncé reign supreme for a second weekend? Is it possible that Songbirds and Snakes could reclaim the top spot? Will you be headed to the cinema this coming weekend?
