Call it a disquietude or a weekend where much didn’t get tossed our way into waking up the box office tallies; the box office replayed with the hits of the past few weeks while introducing some new friends to the party. Granted, the election swayed much in terms of buzz to that end (“let’s go, MAGA” takes the cake), so in the subsequent weeks, the party will get some juice with Red One (which opened overseas with $27M already) and Gladiator 2. Speaking of the former, it’s a difficult question to approach whether the Dwayne Johnson/Chris Evans-led feature will be a breakout due to A) its high budget and B) poor reviews already dropping like flies as we soar to Thanksgiving season. Then again, theatrical output always does better than dropping on another streaming service.
Regarding leaders, Venom: The Last Dance remained in the top slot for its third weekend, earning $16.23 million domestically. While it debuted much lower than its predecessors, post-legs have remained somewhat symbiotic (pun intended) this time as it’ll swing towards $150 million domestically. Currently, it’s a day or so away from passing $400 million worldwide, and the $82 million from China has been a swell boost of sorts to it potentially overtaking Let There Be Carnage (which had no showcases in China in 2021). Sony may have pleaded and begged for this threequel to come anywhere close to the first installment’s $854 million in 2018. But money is money, which qualifies as a hit as it will move towards $475-500 million worldwide. Folks have enjoyed the fun budding relationship between Eddie Brock and Venom, so one last dance together seems fitting.
In other news, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever sneaked past Heretic‘s $11.01 million debut with $11.1 million. Practically neck and neck, folks still want a taste of the glamour of the holidays while having their nerves wrecked. This is Lionsgate’s second-best weekend of the year, behind The Strangers: Chapter 1, and a decent holdover for the faith-based drama. A24 gets to have its cake and eat it, too, even though Hugh Grant is more of an “added-value” element than a draw two decades ago.
The Wild Robot continues to perform fantastically for Dreamworks. It is poised to pass $300 million worldwide in a few days and aims for a 4x multiplier from its $36 million opening weekend. Smile 2 is still behind its predecessor and won’t have the temerity to fight back, but it’s already at $117 million globally, which is still an outstanding tally. Conclave has become Focus Features’ highest-earning film of 2024, and Anora expanded into 851 more theaters for $2.455 million.
Oh, and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice has earned its wings on PVOD, but not without passing $450 million globally as its last benchmark.
Next weekend, we will see the release of Red One and Daruma.
