Box Office Round-Up ~ 12/11/23

By: [email protected] on

When we said last week that there were no major new releases to compete with Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé, we foolishly counted out Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki. The legendary writer/director behind the likes of Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle, My Neighbor Totoro and many others, had his greatest North American debut ever with the release of The Boy and the Heron, which debuted with $12.8 million to win the weekend.

In second place, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes closed out its fourth weekend in theaters with $9.2 million, for a domestic total of $135 million. And in third place, another Japanese cinematic icon held strong as Godzilla Minus One grossed $8.5 million to pass the $25 million domestic mark. It’s now firmly the highest grossing Godzilla film from Toho Studios in the U.S.

Fourth and fifth place in the top five were a musical duo. Trolls Band Together passed $80 million overall with a fourth weekend gross of $6 million. And just behind it, with $5.4 million, was last week’s winner Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé. The concert documentary dropped a surprising 75% in its second weekend with $5.4 million. It may not be able to overtake Taylor Swift’s success from earlier this year, but together they represent a banner year for concert films.

Next week sees the U.S. release of musical pseudo-prequel Wonka, with Timothée Chalamet as the titular chocolatier. It’s already doing solid business overseas, debuting at the top of several international markets.

1.  The Boy and the Heron ($12.9 MM)
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Writers: Hayao Miyazaki
Cast: Florence Pugh (CAA)
        Christian Bale (WME)
        Robert Pattinson (WME) 

2.  The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes ($9.2 MM)
Director: Francis Lawrence (CAA)
Writers: Michael Lesslie (CAA), Michael Arndt (Verve)
Cast: Tom Blyth (Gersh)
        Rachel Zegler (CAA)
        Hunter Schafer (CAA) 

3. Godzilla Minus One ($8.5 MM)
Director: Takashi Yamazaki
Writers: Takashi Yamazaki
Cast: Minami Hamabe
         Ryunosuke Kamiki
         Sakura Ando 

4.  Trolls Band Together ($6 MM)
Director: Walt Dohrn (UTA), Tim Heitz (UTA)
Writer: Elizabeth Tippet (Artists First), Kim Caramele, Lloyd Taylor (Verve)
Cast: Anna Kendrick (CAA)
         Justin Timberlake (WME)
         Kenan Thompson (UTA)

5.  Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé ($5.4 MM)
Director: Beyoncé Knowles-Carter (UTA), Ed Burke
Writers: Beyoncé Knowles-Carter (UTA)
Cast: Beyoncé (UTA)
        Diana Ross (CAA)
        Kendrick Lamar (UTA) 

Source: Box Office Mojo, The Numbers