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THURSDAY UPDATE: Update for chart and more analysis ….Mufasa may have entered this holiday season as a lamb, but he remembered who he was on Christmas Day, as Disney’s lion prequel rebounded at the box office with $14.7M to Sonic the Hedgehog 3’s $10.3M. But the critter wasn’t just buried by the king of the jungle, but an arthouse bloodsucking vampire in Focus Feature’s first day of Nosferatu which did $11.55M.
Searchlight’s A Complete Unknown did $7.1M yesterday including $1.4M previews. A24’s Babygirl did $1.5M. Amazon MGM Studios’ The Fire Inside grossed $1.68M.
Other highlights from a Christmas which racked up $62M.
WEDNESDAY UPDATE: The Christmas Eve box office at $25M was off 19% from Monday’s $30.9M gross, but the good news is that the moviegoing off-day was ahead of last year’s — which fell on a Sunday, the worst scenario possible for the industry — by 34% at $18.6M. Turnstiles are about to spin out of control starting tonight for the next week and a half.
The fresh news was that Searchlight’s previews for James Mangold’s Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown were off to a solid start with $1.4M on its way to an expected $15M 5-day start at 2,835 locations including Imax on January 3. Previews for the Timothée Chalamet starrer began at 2 p.m. Thursday, but that number also includes limited Alamo Drafthouse previews.
The 3x Golden Globe-nominated movie cost $60M-$70M, before P&A, , we hear, an escalated budget due to ramping up post-strike. Tuesday’s Christmas Eve previews are apples to oranges to previous music biopics that played on Thursdays during the summer, but for reference, Paramount’s Elton John movie Rocketman did $2.3M ($25.7M opening) in May 2019, while Warner Bros’ Elvis posted $3.5M ($31.2M) during June 2022. A Complete Unknown is winning over audiences with a 96% grade on Rotten Tomatoes.
Paramount’s Sonic the Hedgehog 3 led the day with $7.5M to Disney’s Mufasa: The Lion King, which starting closing the gap at $7.1M.
Top 5 for the day went down as follows:
1. ) Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (Par) 3,761 theaters, Tue $7.5M (-25% from Monday), Total $77.6M/Wk 1
2.) Mufasa: The Lion King (Dis) 4,100 theaters, Tue $7.1M (+1%), Total $49.6M/Wk 1
3.) Wicked (Uni) 3,296 theaters, Tue $3.2M (-31%), Total $392.4M/Wk 5
4.) Moana 2 (Dis) 3,600 theaters Tue $3M (-28%), Total $366.3M/Wk 4
5.) Gladiator II (Par) 2,397 theaters, Tue $955K (-18%), Total $156.1M/Wk 5
We’ll update when we get previews from Amazon MGM’s The Fire Inside. A24’s Babygirl didn’t hold previews Tuesday. Both of those titles are eyeing single-digit-million openings over the Wednesday-through-Sunday period. Focus Features’ Nosferatu only held a limited number of Imax and 35MM previews last night; that Robert Eggers’ directed horror film is eyeing a $25M 5-day debut. Current RT audience score on Nosferatu is 80%.
