Box Office Update: Wonka eyes $35 Million debut
After taking in $3.5 million in Thursday previews, Wonka looks to take in ten times that in its opening weekend for an estimated $35 million. While that number comes in shy of the $40 million tracking saw this one hitting earlier in the week (and way shy of the $45 million I thought it could hit in our predictions from Thursday), this feels like a Hunger Games: Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and Greatest Showman scenario. Each one of those movies began their lives with underwhelming debuts only to enjoy steady numbers in the weeks after they were released. Wonka feels like that type of movie, a big budget musical filled with magical elements that is basically (if not fully) a prequel to a movie that nearly everyone has seen. Add to that some solid reviews (including a 7/10 from our own Chris Bumbray), a Golden Globe Nomination for Timothee Chalamet’s lead performance and a 90% audience score along with an A- cinemascore and this is a movie that should play quite well throughout the holiday season.
Coming in second place is the aforementioned Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes with an estimated $6 million, representing another small decline of just 35%. Those are impressive numbers for a movie that started its box office life coming in under expectations. No one expected this prequel to have the staying power it has shown and that is a testament to the Hunger Games brand.
Third place belongs to last weeks record breaking winner: The Boy and the Heron which is adding another $4-$5 million to its box office receipts, taking it to around $23 million. Granted this week represents a nearly 65% drop from its debut, that doesn’t matter much as the film has already solidified itself as Hayao Miyazaki’s highest grossing domestic film ever, beating out 2008’s Ponyo by about $8 million while also taking in nearly $100 million overseas, with over $56 million of that coming from its home country of Japan.
Fourth place belongs to another film from Japan as Godzilla Minus One continues its impressive run with another $4.5 million added to its nearly $34 million domestic take. That is another record broken for Japanese films at the North American box office as Godzilla Minus One is the highest grossing live action film from Japan of all time at the domestic box office.
Fifth place looks to the be another film that started a bit slow but has shown its tremendous staying power as Trolls Band Together sees another small week to week decline of just around 34% for a fifth weekend take around $4 million. While not as big as the first Trolls movie, it certainly has played better than Disney’s Wish!
Did you get a chance to see a movie yet this weekend or has all the shopping gotten in the way of catching a delightful feature film? Let us know in the comments and don’t forget to check back tomorrow when we have a full break down of this weekend’s box office.
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