“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” continued to rule the Thanksgiving holiday box office. Facing token opposition, the superhero sequel raked in $10 million on Wednesday. The Marvel and Disney release is on track to earn an estimated $63 million over the five-day span, easily outpacing the competition.
Another Disney movie, “Strange World,” is bombing, grossing a disappointing $4.2 million on Wednesday as it looks to haul under $24 million over five days. It’s a terrible result for the $180 million budget animated adventure. By comparison, “Encanto,” another recent animated offering from Disney, grossed $40.3 million over the Thanksgiving holiday in 2021 — and that was considered a weak showing for the family movie. “Encanto” didn’t really catch on until it started streaming on Disney+ when “We’re Not Talking About Bruno” became ubiquitous.
Among other newcomers, Sony and Black Label Media’s “Devotion,” an inspirational drama about two elite U.S. Navy fighter pilots, grossed $1.8 million. He’s looking at a five-day, $10.2 million haul.
MGM and United Artists Releasing’s “Bones and All” stumbles in its expansion, earning around $900,000 on Wednesday. The quirky tale of young cannibals in love is on track to earn $4.3 million over a five-day span. It opened last weekend in a limited release.
And Steven Spielberg’s “The Fabelmans” raked in $400,000 on Wednesday after expanding from four theaters to more than 600 screens. The semi-autobiographical look at the filmmaker’s early years is expected to gross $3 million over the Thanksgiving holiday.
Searchlight’s “The Menu” earned $1.1 million and is expected to make $8 million over the holidays. The horror-comedy’s domestic total is $12.4 million. Warner Bros. and DC’s “Black Adam” earned $660,000 on Wednesday and are eyeing a vacation gross of $4 million. The superhero film’s domestic total is just under $160 million.
It’s a pretty grim picture for the film industry, which has been in crisis since mid-summer and is still grappling with aftershocks from the COVID shutdowns. The holiday box office is forecast to be down about 10% from last Thanksgiving, when ticket sales hit $142 million. It was a far cry from Thanksgiving results before the pandemic. In 2019, for example, the Turkey Day framework generated $263.3 million in sales. The exhibition industry had reason to cheer after news broke that Amazon was planning to spend $1 billion to make 12-15 films for it to hit theaters. The internet giant has switched between cinemas and focusing primarily on powering its streaming service. His latest shift in strategy is a boon for exhibitors, as the announcement has boosted their inventory.
Theater operators could get some quiet help from ‘Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery,’ the sequel to Rian Johnson’s 2019 hit. However, Netflix isn’t reporting revenue for the film, which plays in 600 North American theaters .
