The weekend after Thanksgiving at the box office is known as “the void.” The industry calls it this because most studios avoid opening a new film this weekend because there is typically a steep dropoff after the Thanksgiving holiday, which tends to be inflated since so many moviegoers are free from school and work to go to the movies. Only STX Entertainment opted to release a film this weekend and it flopped in epic fashion (we’ll talk about Playmobil: The Movie in another post). What we typically have here is the lull between the Thanksgiving bonanza and the solid run of December box office where just about all the films in release get a boost due the holiday season until after the new year. So even if there are some hefty drops this weekend, they all tend to rebound this upcoming frame, even with a slew of new releases on the way for moviegoers to sample.
Maintaining its number one position for the third weekend in a row is Frozen 2 with $35.1 million, down 59.1% from last weekend. Again, don’t look at the steep drop as a disaster because it isn’t. Not even Disney is safe from “the void” and the highly lucrative sequel is definitely going to rebound in the coming weeks in what should be a very profitable month of December for the film. Frozen 2 now has a domestic tally of $338 million and the sequel is going to top the $400 million+ domestic gross of the first film well ahead of the time it took that pop culture phenomenon to do so (it didn’t achieve that feat until April in what was a long box office run considering it debuted Thanksgiving weekend in 2013). Frozen 2 added another $90.2 million internationally, for an overseas gross that now totals over $582 million and a global tally that now stands just shy of $920 million. Frozen 2 is set to become the eighth billion-dollar grosser of 2019 and Disney is the proud owner of six of those titles. Again, it’s Disney’s world, we just live in it.
Holding impressively in second is Knives Out which grossed $14.2 million, down 46.9% from last weekend. “The void” was kind to Knives Out as it keeps its weekend to weekend drop below 50% which is a good indication of how much word of mouth is working for the critically acclaimed ensemble murder mystery. The film picked up some key Golden Globe nominations yesterday (Best Picture-Musical or Comedy, Best Actor-Musical or Comedy-Daniel Craig & Best Actress-Musical or Comedy-Ana De Armas). This will only continue to boost its profile and it’s also bound to have a lucrative next few weeks at the box office and depending on how many Best Picture nominees The Academy decides to choose this year, Knives Out could possibly make that cut as well. The film has a domestic tally of $63.5 million and it added another $18.7 million internationally, pushing the overseas gross to $60.6 million for a global tally that is now just shy of $125 million. The film’s top overseas market remains China with $23.6 million while it has still yet to open in Brazil (Dec 12), Germany (Jan 2) and Japan (Jan 31).
In third we have Ford v Ferrari which grossed $6.6 million, down 49.5% weekend to weekend. The film is very close to the $100 million club and it’s still in the awards conversation so there is definitely still some gas left in its tank for the weeks ahead. The film has a domestic gross of $91.2 million and it also added another $8.3 million internationally for an international gross totaling $76.5 million and a global tally that now stands at $167.6 million. This is all on a $100 million budget so everyone is completely ok with the outcome here.
Having the smallest decline weekend to weekend in the top five is Queen & Slim which dips 44.1% to $6.6 million. This is a sign that word of mouth is working for the film and it would probably be doing even better if it was at more locations (this weekend it was out to 1,715 screens). The film has a domestic tally of $27 million and a $50 million final take is not out of the question for the $20 million film.
Rounding out the top five is A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood with a gross of $5.2 million and a drop of 55.2%. I think Sony Pictures was hoping for a bit of a better overall outcome for the film but considering its scant budget (I’m hearing in the $20-25 million range) they will still see a profit from the film. The only true awards bait it has its Tom Hanks in the Best Supporting Actor category and that could be enough to keep its momentum moving but a few other mentions would definitely help its prospects. The film has a domestic gross of $43.1 million to date.
Check out the full top ten results below and starting next weekend until after the first of the year, we will be looking at the box office grosses daily as the December box office gets into full swing.
| Film | Total | % Change | Gross to Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Onward | $10,601,952 | -72.9% | $60.3 |
| Bloodshot | $9,176,695 | NEW | $9.17 |
| I Still Believe | $9,103,614 | NEW | $9.10 |
| The Invisible Man | $5,890,805 | -61.1% | $64.3 |
| The Hunt | $5,304,455 | NEW | $5.3 |
| Sonic the Hedgehog | $2,522,584 | -67.3% | $145.7 |
| The Way Back | $2,356,115 | -71.2% | $13.3 |
| The Call of the Wild | $2,226,720 | -67.1% | $62 |
| Emma. | $1,295,215 | -73% | $9.9 |
| Bad Boys for Life | $1,102,208 | -63.5% | $204.2 |
