GKIDs’ and Studio Ghibli’s The Boy and the Heron posted a $12.8M opening after a near $4M Saturday, giving both studios, and esteemed animated filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki, their biggest openings ever in the U.S./Canada marketplace.
While a soft weekend with around $72.8M for all titles, the second weekend of December was +93% over the same period a year ago, +66% over the second frame of the last month of the year in 2021. It was, however, off -38% from pre-Covid 2019’s same weekend ($117.8M). But that’s when Jumanji: Next Level led the box office with a $59.2M. Important to note that between Boy and the Heron and the second weekend of Godzilla Minus One ($8.3M), Japanese box office repped close to a third of this weekend’s overall ticket sales.
Imax domestic screens at 291 drew $2.4M for Boy and the Heron, repping a very big 20% of the pic’s opening. Overall PLF and Imax share is 38%. AMC Boston Commons was still the movie’s highest-grossing take in the U.S., with $63K through yesterday. Diversity demos are 43% Caucasian, 22% Latino, 7% Black, & 27% Asian/other.
Lionsgate’s The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes continues to hold strong in weekend 4, -33% for $9.4M, and a running total of $135.6M. Updated final domestic is around $160M. This Francis Lawrence-directed prequel of the Suzanne Collins novel isn’t going anywhere over the Christmas break, when the Warner Bros.’ juggernaut of Wonka, Aquaman 2, and The Color Purple arrives.
AMC’s Renaissance: A Film by Beyonce lost a lot of rings this weekend, with a reported -77% drop, or $5M, in 6th place.
Bleecker Street is calling $3.2M at 1,214 sites for Waitress the Musical, and rolling Thursday into Friday. The movie is 100% on Rotten Tomatoes critics with audiences nearly agreeing at 97%. The movie is playing best in the East, West, and South Central, with AMC Lincoln Square its best venue with a running cume of $15K.
Searchlight’s Yorgos Lanthimos, Emma Stone starring and produced Poor Things did ring bling with a $72K opening theater average (or 3-day of $644K at nine theaters), the best this autumn has seen so far, and the third-best of the year, as we told you yesterday behind Focus Features’ Asteroid City ($142K) and A24’s Beau Is Afraid ($80K).
That theater average opening is also higher than that of Everything Everywhere All at Once, which posted $50K per theater from ten cinemas. It pays to wait: you’ll remember that Poor Things was set to launch off its Venice Film Festival world premiere on Sept. 8, but was pushed by the actors’ strike. Searchlight has always fared better with these movies in early December, particularly when it comes to playing in the zeitgeist of the holiday frame and the awards qualification period.
In early exits polls, Poor Things received an A- CinemaScore. Audiences skewed 56% male, 70% under 35, 62% Caucasian, 17% Hispanic, 14% East Asian/Pacific Islander, 6% Black/African American, with 68% excellent with a 75% definite recommend. More than half the crowd are going to tell their friends to see Poor Things ASAP, describing it as visually interesting (81%), well-acted (79%), funny (69%), different/original (68%), interesting (65%) and entertaining (63%).
But wait, that’s not the only movie that was lighting the arthouse space on fire this weekend: NEON’s awards qualifying run of Ava DuVernay’s Origin at two theaters in NY and L.A. rang up a big $117K opening, for the fourth-highest per theater of 2023 with $58,5K, behind Asteroid City, Beau Is Afraid, and Poor Things, and ahead of A24’s Past Lives’ $58K). Interesting to note that the limited engagement was supported only by publicity and word-of-mouth stemming from the film’s Venice, Toronto, and regional film festival premieres.
As we told you, Origin became NEON’s highest-tested movie in the distributor’s history, outstripping Oscar Best Picture winner Parasite, as well as the highest for DuVernay.
Origin is based on Isabel Wilkerson’s 2020 bestseller Caste: The Origin of Our Discontents, and tracks the Pulitzer Prize winner’s creative and personal journey over several continents through grief, revelation, and the evils of historical stratification. King Richard Oscar nominee Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor plays Wilkerson. The movie contains strong and scary connections to today’s political realities, both domestic and international, from antiquity to India’s Dalit caste (once called Untouchables) to slavery in America and the segregation and violence of Jim Crow laws, and to the Nazis’ systematic persecution of Jews and the horrors of the Holocaust.
Origin received an eight-minute standing ovation at its Venice world premiere. With the movie, DuVernay became the first Black American woman to have a selection on the Lido.
“This is an incredible result for Origin, bringing in the 4th highest PSA of 2023. But it’s an especially meaningful achievement given that this is only a one week qualifying release. We look forward to the film’s true theatrical run in January.” beamed Elissa Federoff, president of NEON Distribution.
Origin goes wide on Jan. 19.
1.) Boy and the Heron (GKIDS) 2205 theaters Fri $5.56M Sat $3.99M Sun $3.2M 3-day $12.8M/Wk 1
2.) Hunger Games: Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (LG) 3,665 (-26) theaters Fri $2.7M (-34%) Sat $4M Sun $2.7M 3-day $9.4M (-33%) /Total $135.7M /Wk 4
3.) Godzilla Minus One (Toho) 2,540 (+232) theaters, Fri $2.26M (-52%) Sat $3.6M Sun $2.M 3-day $8.3M (-31%) /Total $25.3M /Wk 2
4.) Trolls Band Together (Uni) 3,451 (-165) theaters Fri $1.38M (-18%) Sat $2.8M Sun $2M 3-day $6.2M (-21%) Total $83M/Wk 4
5.) Wish (Dis) 3,410 (-490) theaters, Fri $1.16M (-28%) Sat $2.4M Sun $1.74M 3 day $5.3M (-30%), Total $49.4M/Wk 3
6.) Renaissance: A Film by Beyonce (AMC) 2,542 (+3) theaters, Fri $1.6M (-86%) Sat $2.1M Sun $1.3M 3-day $5M (-77%), Total $28M/Wk 2
7.) Napoleon (App/Sony) 3,350 (-150) theaters, Fri $1.175M (-44%) Sat $1.8M Sun $1.2M 3-day $4.2M (-42%), Total $53.1M/Wk 3
8.) Waitress (BST) 1,214 theaters, Thu/Fri $1.4M Sat $1M Sun $809K 3-day $3.2M/Wk 1
9.) Animal (Cine) 622 (-69) Theaters, Fri $744K Sat $994K Sun $537K 3-day $2.275M (-65%), Total $11.6M/Wk 2
10.) The Shift (Angel) 2,415 theaters, Fri $610K (-65%) Sat $860K Sun $690K 3-day $2.1M (-50%), Total $8.5M/Wk 2