Box Office Report for the Week of December 8

It was another great weekend at the cinema, thanks to Moana 2 and Wicked continuing to make bank at the box office. While the animated sequel might have dropped a little bigger than expected, the movie’s $52 million tally this week has still helped it to reach over $600 million in its global cume, with Wicked’s total gross reaching over $400 million.

All of this is great news for cinemas who have been struggling for quite some time, and it’s even better news when the re-release of a ten-year-old film in only 165 venues grosses over $4 million at the box office. That’s right, and good luck trying to get a ticket for Interstellar this weekend, and next week, especially if you live in an area where it’s projected in IMAX 15/70mm.

As for myself, who has seen the movie that way, being asked to see it again, projected digitally, is a big no-no, even if the cinema playing it still has the 15/70mm reel of the movie and a broken projector in its IMAX auditorium…That said, I envy the ones who will experience one of Christopher Nolan’s best productions the way it was meant to be seen because it’s a truly one-of-a-kind experience you will remember for the rest of your life. Ten years on, I still haven’t forgotten where I was when I saw it this way.

Regarding newer releases, Sukumar‘s Pushpa: The Rule is the biggest winner of that pack, with select IMAX venues offering the movie, which has helped it gross over $4.8 million. The 201-minute-long runtime may seem like a big ask, but the sequel was a highly-anticipated one for Telugu cinema after the first film, Pushpa: The Rise, ended with a cliffhanger.

Crunchyroll’s Solo Leveling: ReAwakening also had a one-night-only IMAX event on December 4, and the compilation film grossed over $2.4 million in 846 venues. That said, A24 may be the weekend’s biggest loser, with its latest movie, Y2K, tanking with a $2.1 million tally in more than 2,100 theatres. The reviews aren’t as strong as some of the studio’s other releases, which could be a factor. However, releasing it when Moana 2, Wicked, and Gladiator II are dominating the box office was also a bad choice.

Next week, we will return to Middle-earth with The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim and it will also be Kravenin’ time when Kraven the Hunter (finally) slays into cinemas. My bet is that both Moana 2 and Wicked remain the top films of that week, before Mufasa: The Lion King may also do extremely well during the holidays. Time will tell, but let’s see what happens…

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

1. Moana 2 (Disney): $52.0M (-63%) – 4,200 theatres
2. Wicked (Universal): $34.8M (-57%) – 3,885 theatres
3. Gladiator II (Paramount): $12.4M (-60%) – 3,440 theatres
4. Red One (Amazon MGM Studios): $7.0M (-45%) – 3,150 theatres
5. Pushpa: The Rule (Prathyangira Cinemas): $4.8M – 1,245 theatres
6. Interstellar (Paramount): $4.4M – 165 theatres
7. Solo Leveling: ReAwakening (Crunchyroll): $2.4M – 846 theatres
8. Y2K (A24): $2.1M – 2,108 theatres
9. for KING + COUNTRY’S: A Drummer’s Boy Christmas LIVE (Fathom Events): $2.0M – 1,540 theatres
10. The Best Christmas Pageant Ever (Lionsgate): $1.5M (-53%) – 1,633 theatres

Source: Comscore