Once again, Disney climbed to the top of the Thanksgiving box office charts. ENCANTO, the 60th animated Disney film, took first place with $27M over three days and $40.3M over five. This result was in the upper range of expectations, fueled by strong positive responses from critics (92% RT) and audiences (93% RT). This bodes well for the long-term prospects for the movie, especially with no other family-oriented animated films on the horizon until SING2’s pre-Christmas opening on 12/22.
GHOSTBUSTERS AFTERLIFE earned silver with $24.5M in its second week, dropping only 44% from its $44M opening weekend. This year’s Ghostbusters sequel has earned $88M through its first ten days playing exclusively in theatres. Ridley Scott’s latest offering HOUSE OF GUCCI finished third this week with $14.2M. This result was within expectations and provided older, more discerning filmgoers with an opportunity to enjoy something new at the theatre over the holiday weekend. RESIDENT EVIL: WELCOME TO RACCOON CITY earned $5.3M as the other new wide release for the weekend, a disappointment on the lower end of pre-release estimates.
The three-day box office total for the all-important holiday weekend was $97.3M, 54% of the revenue earned from the same weekend in 2019. This will drag down Q3 2021 earnings to the mid 60% range in comparison with the same period in 2019. Looking forward, next weekend brings nothing of significance to help this year with its comparison to 2019, although two years ago there were also no significant new films on the same weekend.
We now turn our eyes (and hold our breath) for the 12/10 debut of WEST SIDE STORY. We’ll look to see if Spielberg’s foray into musicals plays out as a commercial success of the likes of CHICAGO or a disappointment on the scale of CATS.