Box Office: 'Boy and the Heron' Tops Friday With $5.6M As Beyonce Tumbles 86%
'Godzilla Minus One' and 'Hunger Games' held firm as Oscar season favorite 'Poor Things' made an expectedly strong platform debut in just nine theaters
For the second weekend in a row, Hollywood failed to learn the lesson of The Last Samurai (a big movie can open fine even in a famously dead frame) and left theaters to fend for themselves with less-conventional programming. And for the second weekend in a row, indie studios and demographically specific event films from non-Hollywood sources pulled a Dunkirk and sailed to the rescue. It is telling that two of the top three movies on Friday were from Japan, and the fifth was a self-distributed concert documentary. The only new wide releases were a Japanese animated film and a filmed performance of a stage play. At what point, especially amid next year’s self-inflicted, strike-damaged Hollywood slate, does an unconventional theatrical breakout become conventional?
The top movie on Friday was GKIDS’ domestic launch of The Boy and the Heron playing in 2,205 theaters. Hayao Miyazaki’s alleged final movie -- a decade after he allegedly retired in 2013 with The Wind Rises – earned $5.5 million on Friday. That includes $2.4 million in Thursday previews and nationwide sneaks, so we’re (understandably) looking at a frontloaded frame. In this barren weekend, $10.7 million is enough to be the first foreign language film to top the weekend box office since Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero in August of 2022. The expectedly fantastical and existential fever dream of a movie (is Beau is Afraid a live-action, R-rated Miyazaki riff?), which earned rave reviews (95% and 8.6/10 from Rotten Tomatoes) and an A- from Cinemascore, had already earned $84 million heading into the weekend.
The next closest thing to a wide newbie was Bleecker Street’s release of a filmed performance of the Waitress state show. The Sara Bareilles-starring stage adaptation of the Keri Russell-starring dramedy opened on Thursday, where it earned $672,105 on Thursday and now $760,000 on Friday. That positions the Fathom Events limited engagement (I’m seeing at least one showtime on Tuesday night) for a $2.48 million Fri-Sun part of a $3.152 million Thurs-Sun cume. For what it’s worth, Walt Disney put the original Die Hard back into theaters for the holiday season, including at least some non-Imax PLF screens. It’ll earn $1 million for the weekend, giving it a $85 million domestic cume (around $209 million adjusted). Maybe Warner Bros. Discovery can do likewise for their own summer-released Christmas classic, Batman Returns.
Meanwhile, Disney also launched Searchlight Pictures Poor Things into nine theaters in advance of a Dec. 22 wide expansion. The bonkers-bananas riff on Frankenstein earned $279,000 on Friday for a likely $590,000 Fri-Sun weekend and $65,556 per-theater average. You know what might have done well in wide release this weekend? Poor Things has rave reviews (93% and 8.8/10 from Rotten Tomatoes) and white-hot Oscar buzz for Emma Stone and writer/director Yorgos Lanthimos. Alas, the visually scrumptious and laugh-out-loud hysterical coming-of-age melodrama – it's the best comedy of the year give or take Joy Ride -- is in danger of getting swamped amid a year-end deluge. I get wanting at least one “huge per-theater average” weekend but going limited on Dec. 1 or going wide on Dec. 15 would have worked too.
In holdover news, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes continued to be, entirely by default, the event movie of the season. Lionsgate's surprisingly good adaptation of the Suzanne Collins-penned prequel novel earned another $2.7 million (-34%) for a likely $9.56 million (-33%) fourth-weekend gross. That’s a remarkable hold for a YA franchise flick of this nature. It’s holding better than the (well-reviewed, well-received and much-higher-grossing) first Fantastic Beasts movie or even the first Harry Potter film. The Rachel Zegler/Tom Blyth dystopian action drama will have $136 million domestic by Sunday, already a strong 3x multiplier after a $45 million debut. It’s still aiming for a domestic finish closer to $160 million than $150 million. I was a little (commercially) down on the film after its opening, so I’m happy to eat crow.
Toho International’s Godzilla Minus One held fine on its second Friday as it expanded to 2,540 theaters amid strong buzz, rave reviews and better-than-expected box office. Takashi Yamazaki’s spectacular kaiju melodrama earned another $2.24 million (-53%) on Friday for a likely $7.93 million (-31%) weekend and $25 million ten-day total. That’s already the eighth biggest-grossing live-action foreign-language film ever in North America. It also made the first round in terms of being on the Academy's first shortlist for the Best Visual Effects Oscar. At a normal rate of descent, it’ll end up with around $42 million domestic, behind only Instructions Not Included ($44 million in 2013), Parasite ($53 million in 2019), Hero ($54 million in 2004), Life is Beautiful ($57 million) and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon ($128 million in 2000).
Universal and DreamWorks Animation’s Trolls Band Together earned another $1.35 million (-20%) on Friday, setting the stage for a likely $6.2 million (-21%) weekend and $83 million cume. That’s no king’s ransom, but A) it’s obviously better than Walt Disney’s Wish and B) a remarkable performance for a franchise whose previous entry mostly skipped theaters (for obvious Covid-related reasons). Renaissance: A Film by Beyonce fell hard on Friday, earning $1.6 million (-86%) for a likely $5.64 million (-74%) weekend and $29 million ten-day cume. Still, it’s a self-distributed concert flick with minimal marketing, so it’s still a hit. To be fair, Taylor Swift’s film got lots more free media attention, and even much of the pre-release news for Beyonce’s film centered on Swift showing up to the premiere. Make of that what you will...
Walt Disney’s Wish continued to flame out, earning around $5.44 million (-29%) on weekend three for a $50 million 19-day total. Sony’s theatrical release of Apple’s Napoleon will earn $3.93 million (-46%) in weekend three for a $53 million 19-day total. Is it “fair” that Napoleon and Killers of the Flower Moon ($67 million domestic after 1.5 months) are being treated as relative successes while Wish and The Marvels ($82 million by Sunday) get slammed as company-imperiling flops? Nope, but the circumstances are different, and the key difference is that the Disney films were produced to make a profit in theaters while the Scorsese and Scott epics were not. If giant tech companies are fine with spending $100-$200 million on big movies whose theatrical existence may boost their streaming performance, well, onward and upward.
The 3.5-hour. ultraviolent crime epic Animal will have around $12 million by Sunday, following a 59% drop and a $2.66 million weekend. We’ve seen a handful of “big” Indian actioners over the last few years end up over/under $15 million. That RRR was treated as an event unto itself – quality notwithstanding – was indicative of it being the first such film for a deluge of non-Indian film critics and pundits. However, A) its domestic performance is merely on par for the sub-genre and B) Pathaan also kicks righteous ass. Angel Studios’ The Shift will have a solid $8.5 million after ten days, while John Woo’s disappointing Silent Night will have just $5.8 million likewise. Finally, A24’s Dream Scenario will have $4.8 million after 31 days, quietly becoming one of Nicolas Cage’s biggest-grossing live-action star vehicles in a generation.