Box Office Round-Up ~ 12/20/23

By: [email protected] on

The final weekend before Christmas was a sweet one at the box office as musical prequel Wonka, led by Timothée Chalamet as a younger version of Roald Dahl’s eccentric chocolatier, debuted with $39 million. It’s one of the best opening weekends for a musical ever, and that’s a good omen in a genre that tends to hold well over multiple weekends. (The Greatest Showman, for example, did better in its second weekend than its opening weekend back in December 2017.)

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes retook second place to kick off its second full month in theaters, grossing $5.8 million to pass $145 million overall in the U.S. In third place, The Boy and the Heron passed the $20 million mark overall with a sophomore weekend gross of $5.5 million. Similarly, Godzilla Minus One passed $30 million domestically in its third weekend, grossing $5 million as it expanded to more theaters. Trolls Band Together rounded out the top five with a fifth-weekend gross of $3.9 million.

It’ll be a stacked holiday weekend in theaters with multiple new releases spanning multiple genres out on December 22, including Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, romcom Anyone But You, pro-wrestling biopic The Iron Claw, animated comedy Migration and the wide releases of awards contenders American Fiction and Poor Things. Christmas Day then sees the release of The Boys in the Boat from director George Clooney, musical remake The Color Purple, and biopic Ferrari from Michael Mann.

1.  Wonka ($39 MM)
Director: Paul King (WME)
Writers: Simon Farnaby (Independent Talent Group), Paul King (WME)
Cast: Timothée Chalamet (UTA)
        Hugh Grant (CAA)
        Olivia Colman (CAA)

2.  The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes ($5.8 MM)
Director: Francis Lawrence (CAA)
Writers: Michael Lesslie (CAA), Michael Arndt (Verve)
Cast: Tom Blyth (Gersh)
        Rachel Zegler (CAA)
        Hunter Schafer (CAA)

3.  The Boy and the Heron ($5.5 MM)
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Writers: Hayao Miyazaki
Cast: Florence Pugh (CAA)
        Christian Bale (WME)
        Robert Pattinson (WME)

4. Godzilla Minus One ($5 MM)
Director: Takashi Yamazaki
Writers: Takashi Yamazaki
Cast: Minami Hamabe
         Ryunosuke Kamiki
         Sakura Ando

5.  Trolls Band Together ($3.9 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)

Source: Box Office Mojo, The Numbers