Wonka had a very strong hold on Saturday with $14M, just -3% off from Friday/Thursday previews’ $14.4M resulting in an estimated $39M opening, which is slightly north of the $35.3M start that Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse did back in the same mid-December slot in 2018. For family movies opening at this point in time, it’s a marathon, not a sprint, and there’s a lot of road left for Wonka especially with 21% K-12/76% colleges off tomorrow per Comscore, rising to 66%/93% by Friday and finally 100% out all next week.
Per box office analytics firm, EntTelligence, Wonka‘s opening weekend translates to 3M admissions or 49% of the entire marketplace’s foot traffic.
Worldwide weekend for Wonka is bigger than expected at $92.6M including debuts in France, Belgium, Holland, Australia, NZ, Italy, Denmark, Sweden and Poland. The Paul King-directed movie’s running global total is north of $151M. The helmer’s top two titles currently are Paddington ($282M) and Paddington 2 ($228M).
For Timothee Chalamet, Wonka is his second biggest U.S./Canada opening as a leading man after Dune‘s $41M domestic debut.
Extolled Domestic Distribution Boss Jeff Goldstein this morning, “Warner Bros. Motion Picture Chairs Pam Abdy and Mike De Luca supported this movie with the extraordinary marketing from President Josh Goldstine and his team in a way that will delight audiences through the long Christmas holiday.”
Again, a great start for a live-action feature musical at the box office, that genre nearly put to bed post Covid by such bombs as West Side Story, Dear Evan Hansen and In the Heights. Talk about a rebound entirely for the genre: Warners risked it on not one, but two musicals this holiday season with The Color Purple opening on Christmas Day and hot buzz around its presales. It just takes a hit or two to revive interest in any genre that’s been deemed dead (in other words, there’s hope for more pirate movies).
Wonka was originally greenlit and championed by the former Courtenay Valenti administration at Warners, and the $125M pic was co-financed by Village Roadshow. The current admin at Warners has been passionate about the project, screening it early for press before Thanksgiving to get the word of mouth out.
In addition, Wonka was arguably able to have a full-bodied marketing campaign in a way that many other well-intended movies in the fall, i.e. The Marvels, The Creator, The Exoricst could not. Chalamet landed on the cover of GQ for the third time last month, in addition to hosting Saturday Night Live for a second time in his career on Nov. 11. While the late-night show had a different contract from SAG-AFTRA enabling Chalamet to host, because the strike ended on Nov. 8, he was able to boom a parody of the song “Pure Imagination” from the original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory movie. Also last month, the studio launched a Wonka-themed float during the Macy’s Day Thanksgiving Parade broadcast (biggest draw on record with 28.5M viewers). A 30-second spot ran after the float’s debut with a broadcast moment recap on social.
While Warners dropped early looks of Wonka over the last two CinemaCons, the studio fired up the movie’s profile back in July with the first trailer and teaser art by leveraging in-theater placement with Barbie. The trailer and pieces trended across 26 markets on Twitter and 12 markets on YouTube. The second trailer dropped in time for Taylor Swift: Eras Tour premiere back in mid-October; that result reaching a global audience across 66 international markets (37 languages). The materials were amplified across the entire suite of WB/WBD and Roald Dahl partner pages.
In the spirit of Warner Bros Discovery CEO David Zaslav’s mandate, Wonka was promoted across all tentacles of the conglom:
–There were sneak peeks of Wonka across TNT and TBS in days leading up to the film. On TCM, there was “A Salute to Grandfathers” and the original movie aired with Ben Mankiewicz hosting film promos.
–On Food Network, there was a Wonka-themed holiday baking championship on Nov. 27. Bakers were inspired to create “Unexpected Upside-Down Cakes” inspired by Willy Wonka himself. There was a minute’s sneak peek of the movie and a 30 second spot that aired during Nov. 19-26. @foodnetwork Social Reels video featured Wonka Chocolatier Gabriella Cugno showing how she brought one of the film chocolates to life (Dec. 15).
Pic’s actors Chalamet, Hugh Grant, and Calah Lane answered Rapid-fire food questions video to debate their favorite foods and sweet treats on @foodnetwork social (Dec. 16).
During the in-season tournament NBA semifinals on TNT, there was an on-air sneak peek of the film which led into a live in-studio segment where Ernie, Kenny, Shaq and Charles were treated to a super sweet NBA Cup – one filled with magical and delectable Wonka candies; however the only person who guessed how many candies were in the cup took home the prize (it was Chuck). That bit was boosted with a film promo and social @nba and @nbaontnt.
–NHL on TNT’s in-studio show on Dec. 13 touted film graphics on-set with a large display screen showcasing Willy Wonka dropping chocolates on-screen; host Liam McHugh teed up the trailer.
–Bleacher Report and House of Highlights supported with custom themed Instagram stories, B/R Gridiron and B/R Open Ice “TIL” timeline posts, in addition to Bleacher Report NFL Trivia with the pic’s star Keegan-Michael Key.
–Science Channel aired a “How It’s Made” chocolate-themed marathon with film promotion, along with Science and Discovery sweet holiday treat compilation across Discovery and Science social promoting the pic in theaters (Dec. 15).
–On Cartoon Network, there was an “Imagination” remix social post featuring content from their popular show Craig of the Creek (12/13)
–Wonka even got pushed via Harry Potter Wizard World digital and social handles as fans were invited to determine if the sweet confections were from Willy Wonka or the Wizarding World (Dec. 13).
There were also multi-million dollar promo partners for Wonka including:
–Ferrera Candy Company which introduced “Wonka Magic Hat Gummies” — top hat-shaped gummies in four fruity flavor combinations, including Strawberry Watermelon, Raspberry Grape, Orange Strawberry and Magic Berries.
–IHOP which served up a Wonka-themed menu including Wonka’s Perfectly Purple Pancakes, Hoverchoc Pancake Tacos, Daydream Berry Biscuit and so much more.
–XBox created a custom edible controller and chocolate-themed console for giveaways. Additional support included a playful in-store Wonka-themed build-out at Microsoft Experience Centers in New York, London, and Sydney. There was also a movie sweepstakes which awarded five lucky winners a free gaming console.
–Booking.com offered two pairs of candy-loving guests the chance to travel to a world of pure imagination by booking Wonka’s Sweet Suites in New York and Los Angeles. This was in collaboration with Booking.com partner Highgate Hotels for stays at city-chic hotels, i.e. Park Lane New York in New York City and Viceroy Santa Monica in Los Angeles. Each hotel was transformed into sugary wonderlands inspired by the pic. The team-up with Warners included a PR push on Booking.com that started on Nov. 27 across 30 markets globally and 3 billion impressions earned.
–Targeting female moviegoers, China Glaze and Salon Perfect created limited edition nail collection offering nail sets, lacquer, and charming decals to create a sparkling, salon-free nail art finish with a scattering of self-adhesive stickers in 3 miraculous motifs. Salon Perfect is available exclusively at Walmart and China Glaze across most retailers nationwide.
–Crumbl cookie chain unveiled Wonka’s Wildly Wonderful Red Velvety Cookie. They also held a sweepstakes tied to the movie.
Top theaters for Wonka were 1. Megaplex Jordan Commons Salt Lake City, 2. AMC Lincoln Square New York, 3. AMC Empire New York, 4. AMC Disney Springs Orlando, 5. AMC Grove Los Angeles, 6. AMC Century City Los Angeles, 7. AMC Burbank, 8. Harkins Estrella Falls Phoenix, 9. Megaplex Geneva Salt Lake City, and 10. SIFF Cinema Downtown Seattle.
Indicative of a family movie, EntTelligence says that 71% of moviegoers came between the hours of 1PM-8PM to watch Wonka. A little over a third of ticket sales came from PLFs and Imax. The latter rang up $3.3M for Wonka.
Top ten markets were Los Angeles, NYC, Dallas, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, Chicago, Houston, Toronto,, Phoenix, and Seattle.
Sunday studio reported estimates:
1.) Wonka (WB) 4,203 theaters, Fri $14.4M, Sat $14M Sun $10.5M 3-day $39M/Wk 1
2.) Hunger Games: Songbirds & Snakes (LG) 3,291 (-374) theaters, Fri $1.7M (-37%) Sat $2.3M Sun $1.7M 3-day $5.8M (-38%), total $145.2M/Wk 5
3.) Boy and the Heron (GKIDs) 2,325 (+120) theaters, Fri $1.4M (-75%) Sat $2.1M Sun $1.6M 3-day $5.1M (-60%), Total $23.1M/Wk 2
4.) Godzilla Minus One (Toho) 2,622 (+82) theaters, Fri $1.34M (-41%) Sat $2M Sun $1.47M 3day $4.88M (-43%), Total $34.2M/Wk 3
5) Trolls Band Together (Uni/DWA) 3,157 (-294) theaters, Friday $930K (-34%) Sat $1.7M Sun 3-day $4M (-34%) Total $88.7M/Wk 5
6) Wish (Dis) 3,100 (-310) theaters, Fri $730K (-38%) Sat $1.39M Sun $1.08M 3-day $3.2M (-39%), Total $54.3M/Wk 4
7) Christmas With the Chosen: Holy Night (Fathom) 2059 theaters, Fri $875K Sat $1.05M Sun $1M 3-day $2.9M, Total $4.6M/Wk 1
8) Napoleon (Apple/Sony) 2,601 (-749) Fri $640K (-45%) Sat $955K Sun $630K 3-day $2.2M (-46%), Total $57M/Wk 4
9) Renaissance/Beyonce (AMC) 1,723 (-819) theaters Fri $553K (-66%) 3-day $2M (-63%) Total $30.88M/Wk 3
10) Poor Things (SEA) 82 (+73) theaters Fri $488K (+75%) Sat $422K Sun $365K 3-day $1.275M (+93%), Total $2.2M/Wk 2
Other:
Saltburn (Amazon MGM) 476 (-231) theaters, Fri $221K Sat $247K Sun $185K 3-day $653K (-40%), Total $10.1M/Wk 5
American Fiction (Amazon MGM) 7 theaters Fri $121K Sat $59K Sun $47K 3-day $227K, PTA $32,4K /Wk 1
The social poltical comedy played to 25-34 years old but also to those 55+ years. Early exits are 90% in the top two boxes and an 83% definite recommend which is rarefied air heading into awards season.
Zone of Interest (A24) 4 theaters Fri $58K Sat $37K Sun $29K 3-day $124K/PTA $31,1K /Wk 1
There were sellouts for Jonathan Glazer’s first film in nearly a decade at LA’s historic Vista Theater. Pic expands throughout the holiday season going full on wide in January.