‘Desire’ hopes to survive post-Thanksgiving botched – The Hollywood Reporter

Box office pressure is on the rise in December after an unusual Thanksgiving. An epic historical drama that caters to seniors and lasts approximately 2 hours and 40 minutes, it will feed more moviegoers than the new family offering from the Disney animation empire, which for years has dominated the November holiday. (Remember that little movie called Frozenor Frozen 2(which ranks as the best Thanksgiving opening ever?)

As Thanksgiving approaches, enjoy original Disney music he wishes — an ode to Walt Disney’s “Wish on a Star” brand slogan — was widely expected to be a top performer with its North American debut to $45 million to $50 million from November 22-26. Instead, the film became the latest flop in Hollywood’s once indomitable movie empire, opening to a lukewarm $31.6 million.

Ridley Scott Napoleonstarring Joaquin Phoenix as the narrowly conquered French military commander he wishes With a five-day release of $32.8 million despite audience ratings being downgraded by B-Cinemacore exits etc. Both films were topped by Lionsgate The Hunger Games: Song Songbirds and snakes, which remained at the top of the chart with a healthy five-day revenue of $42.2 million. (Much of the above hunger Games Movies opened over Thanksgiving as well, albeit in much larger numbers.)

While Thanksgiving revenue of $173.1 million is up a whopping 41 percent from 2022, it’s still dwarfed by the pre-pandemic era, when Wednesday-to-Sunday holiday ticket sales have topped $250 million every year since 2015. It peaked at a record $315 million in 2018. A year later, Thanksgiving revenue reached $263 million, led by Disney. Frozen 2, more than 34 percent before this year. Common Denominator of Bliss: Playable movies for families looking for escape. “The era of the $250 million-plus Thanksgiving frame is a fond memory at this point, and December’s box office is going to have to deliver big if the $9 billion annual domestic revenue mark is to have any hope of becoming a reality.” for this industry,” says Comscore senior box office analyst Paul Dergarabedian. (For the film industry, $9 billion would be an important psychological victory, even if it doesn’t come close to the $11 billion raised in a few years before Covid-19.)

The performance was disappointing, says David Herren of box office tracking company The Quorum he wishes Nothing short of amazing, considering that family movies — especially Disney titles — have always dominated Thanksgiving. “It’s becoming increasingly clear that post-pandemic attitudes toward animated films are more ingrained than we would have liked. “We always knew there would be some residual damage from releasing multiple Pixar films on Disney+ during coronavirus,” says Herren. “But we were hoping the behaviors would return once theaters reopened. “But the reality is that not a single original animated film has opened to more than $30 million (in a three-day weekend; he wishesIts three-day gross was $19.7 million) given that the pandemic has shown that this audience is willing to wait to watch these films at home.

Last Thanksgiving was even worse. Disney animation strange world It had an opening box office total of $18.9 million for the five days on its way to reaching $37.9 million domestically. Studio insiders hope so he wisheswhich received an A CinemaScore and glowing exit scores versus a B grade for strange worldwill follow in the footsteps of the 2021 Thanksgiving parade Encantowhich opened with a whopping $40.6 million five-day cume on its way to becoming a box office hit and streaming sensation, or a spring 2023 release. racistwhich opened to a tepid $27.2 million domestically but has since continued to drag on (Disney chief Bob Iger recently said such fare has helped Disney+ grow).

It’s not just a Disney problem either. DreamWorks Animation and Universal Trolls band together It debuted to exactly $30 million the weekend before Thanksgiving, and Herren says tracking so far hasn’t been great for Illumination and Universal’s original Christmas film. Immigrationwhich opens on December 22.

All eyes are on the Warner Bros. family film Wonkawhich stars Timothée Chalamet and opens in mid-December, along with its DC Comics sequel Wild Card Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom And Violet“The year will struggle to exceed $8.8 billion to $8.9 billion unless something more happens than expected,” says Wall Street analyst Eric Handler of MKM Partners. “maybe Wonka It does $300 million domestically instead of $100 million. I think it looks like a really good movie.”

This story first appeared in the November 29 issue of The Hollywood Reporter. Click here to subscribe.