The extended Thanksgiving weekend is shaping up to be a resounding success this year. Historically among the most lucrative movie-going periods,this year’s holiday frame is looking to generate $150 million domestically, with last week’s champThe Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakestopping the chart with an admirably low drop.The Hunger Gamesprequel added an estimated $42 million across the five-day weekend, taking its running domestic total to $98.3 million, withintouching distance of the $100 million milestone after 10 days of release.
The movie beat out debutantesWish, the latest offering from Disney Animation, andNapoleon, the big-budget war epic from directorRidley Scott. Released theatrically this weekend, Apple Original Films’Napoleonexceeded expectations in its opening weekend,generating around $33 million across the extended five-day frame. The movie is essentially using its theatrical run as advertising for its eventual streaming debut on Apple TV+. A similar strategy was used not too long ago withMartin Scorsese’sKillers of the Flower Moon, which has grossed just under $70 million so far at the domestic box office.
Reviews forNapoleonhave been mixed, with the movie currently sitting at aborderline “fresh” 61% score onRotten Tomatoes,but the movie is geared towards older audiences, who don’t always show up on opening weekends. Which means that there’s a good chance of it performing well through the winter. The same, unfortunately, doesn’t look likely forWish, which is under-performing in itsopening weekend with around $32 million across the extended frame.
Thanksgiving Weekend Box Office Top 5
Three-Day Gross
The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes
$29,000,000
$20,500,000
$19,500,000
Trolls Band Together
$17,520,000
Thanksgiving
$7,400,000
Wishwas originally expected to top the chart, but has now found itself slipping to the number three spot on the back of ho-hum reviews — it scored a 50% approval rating onRotten Tomatoes— and what seems like a general disinterest among casual audiences. Disney has been reeling from the underwhelming performance of its recent superhero titleThe Marvels, and has released a string of under-performers in the post-pandemic era. WhileLightyearbombed at the box office,Elementalclawed its way back from a worryingly low opening.
But that isn’t the case this weekend, with Universal’sTrolls Band Togetherregistering a strong hold. The animated three-quel added an estimated $25 million across the five-day frame, pushing its running domestic total to just under $65 million. The top five was rounded out by directorEli Roth’s well-reviewed slasher movieThanksgiving, which delivered an estimated $10 million across the extended weekend, and has now generated just under $25 million domestically. Just outside the top five, directorEmerald Fennell’sSaltburnexpanded nationwide after a solid debut in limited release last weekend, and has now grossed an estimated $3 million domestically. Meanwhile, directorAlexander Payne’sThe Holdoverscontinues to live up to its title, and has now made nearly $13 million domestically after registering a slight uptick in revenue as compared to last weekend. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakesfollows a young Coriolanus (Tom Blyth) - the last hope for the once-proud Snow family - who is reluctantly assigned to mentor Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler), a tribute from the impoverished District 12 for the 10th Hunger Games. Snow sets out on a race against time to survive and reveal if he will become a songbird or a snake.
