Box Office Report for the Week of December 31

As we are nearing close to the end of 2023, here is our final box office report of the year. The 2023 Christmas Corridor is causing Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom to drop and have Wonka reclaim its top spot after it was dethroned for one week by the last film in the DCEU. Paul King‘s prequel film made a pretty decent $23 million tally, adding to its already massive commercial success.

Meanwhile, Aquaman didn’t drop as badly as some of the other DCEU films released this year, with a $19 million tally. It’ll still be considered a box office flop once its run ends, but as families are visiting the cinemas for the Holidays, some are choosing to bid farewell to the DCEU. On the other hand, Migration is holding up surprisingly well, with a $17.2 million tally. It’ll likely accumulate more than Disney’s Wish once its run ends.

Christmas saw the release of a few high-profile awards season films, with Blitz Bazawule‘s The Color Purple, George Clooney‘s The Boys in the Boat, and Michael Mann‘s Ferrari. The Color Purple is the biggest winner of the three, with a $13 million tally in the weekend, adding to its record-setting Christmas DAY opening of $18 million. It exceeded critical — and commercial — expectations, with the film now being the second highest-grossing Christmas Day opening of all time, behind Guy Ritchie‘s Sherlock Holmes. For some reason, the film’s box office potential was frequently dismissed, but those who saw it knew how big it would be in the weeks leading to its release.

George Clooney’s The Boys in the Boat opened modestly, and adds to its decent opening with a $8 million tally in the weekend. That’s not bad at all, considering the mixed reviews it’s currently getting, adding to the $5.7 gross it made on the 25th. Meanwhile, Michael Mann’s Ferrari is unfortunately not racing very fast, with a $4.0 million tally around the weekend, adding slightly to its $2.9 million cume on Christmas Day.

As I didn’t do a box office report on Christmas, I can finally answer the question: who won the Dunki vs. Salaar battle domestically? It is unequivocal that Prashanth Neel‘s latest movie with Prabhas made more money than the Shah Rukh Khan/Rajkumar Hirani drama, but the numbers are all over the place. Comscore put Dunki in the top ten, while Box Office Mojo only put Salaar last week. All I know is this: the movies are alive and well, even if Hollywood has had quite a tumultuous year in 2023.

Here’s hoping 2024 will give us more great movies on the big screen and some record-breaking highs at the box office. Time will tell what will happen, but until then, thank you for reading Awards Radar’s weekly box office reports in 2023, and have a very happy new year!

Here is the full list of the top ten films of the weekend:

1. Wonka (Warner Bros): $23.9M (+32.7%) – 4,115 theatres
2. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (Warner Bros/DC Studios): $19.5M (-29.6%) – 3,787 theatres
3. Migration (Universal): $17.2M (+38.4%) – 3,839 theatres
4. The Color Purple (Warner Bros.): $13.0M – 3,203 theatres
5. Anyone But You (Sony): $9.0M (+50%) – 3,055 theatres
6. The Boys in the Boat (Amazon MGM Studios): $8.3M – 2,557 theatres
7. The Iron Claw (A24): $5.0M (+3.6%) – 2,794 theatres
8. Ferrari (NEON): $4.0M – 2,386 theatres
9. The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (Lionsgate): $2.9M (-4.8%) – 1,660 theatres
10. The Boy and the Heron (GKIDS): $2.5M (-10.2%) – 940 theatres

Source: Box Office Mojo