Thanksgiving was Unkind to the Box Office
Tuesday, November 29, 2022 at 11:00AM By Ben Miller
Thanksgiving weekend can usually be counted on for a big box office, but that was certainly not the case this year. The entire box office managed just $92.9 million for the three-day weekend. That's the lowest Thanksgiving box office weekend since 1994 (not counting 2020, obviously). Black Panther: Wakanda Forever cruised to another easy box office win, dropping a mere 31% in it's third week of release. The two new releases of Disney's Strange World and the war film Devotion both landed with relative thuds. The marketing on both has been dubious at best...
| Weekend Box Office (actuals) November 25th-27th 🔺 = new or expanding / ★ = Recommended |
|
| WIDE (OVER 800 SCREENS) | LIMITED / PLATFORM |
 BLACK PANTHER WAKANDA FOREVER |
 GLASS ONION |
| 1 BLACK PANTHER WAKANDA FOREVER $45.6 (cum. $367.5) | 1 🔺★ GLASS ONION: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY $9.4 *NEW* 696 screens |
| 2 🔺STRANGE WORLD $12.2 *NEW* |
2 🔺★ THE FABELMANS $2.26 (cum. $3.5) 638 screens |
| 3 🔺DEVOTION $5.9 *NEW* | 3 ★ THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN $343K (cum. $7.87) 402 screens |
| 4 ★ THE MENU $5.5 (cum. $18.9) | 4 ★ TRIANGLE OF SADNESS (sweden/uk) $115k (cum. $3.96) |
| 5 BLACK ADAM $3.3 (cum. $157.1) | 5 ★ TÁR $106k (cum. $5.1) 100 screens |
| 6 🔺 BONES AND ALL $2.26 (cum. $3.76) |
6 🔺★ THE INSPECTION $89k (cum. 169k) 32 screens |
 BONES AND ALL |
 AFTERSUN |
|
7 ★ TICKET TO PARADISE $1.86 (cum. $65) |
7 ★ TILL $87k (cum. $8.7) 107 screens |
| 8 ★ SHE SAID $1.16 (cum. $4.4) |
8 ★ AFTERSUN $47k (cum. $757k) 75 screens |
| 9 LYLE LYLE CROCODILE $940k (cum. $45.2) |
9 ★ DECISION TO LEAVE (south korea) $46k (cum. $1.9) 56 screens |
| There are only 9 movies currently in wide release | 10 ALL THE BEAUTY AND THE BLOODSHED $33k *NEW* 3 screens |
| ...that is way too few for a healthy film culture | 11 HOLY SPIDER (iran) $17k (cum. 137k) 17 screens |
| ...do better Hollywood | 12 EO $16k (cum. $49k) 2 screens |
Netflix tried its hand at a platform release, showing Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery in less than 700 theaters. It worked really well as the film grossed over $13k per screen. I don't really know Netflix's endgame with this strategy, but they at least have put plenty of eyes on the film before its streaming release at the end of the year. Elsewhere, Best Documentary Oscar-hopeful All the Beauty and the Bloodshed also managed over $10k per screen in its first week.
Don't expect things to get much better next weekend, with the Die Hard with Santa Claus film Violent Night as the sole wide release. In fact, nothing is expected to have any box office impact until Avatar: The Way of Water releases on December 16th. It's bleak times for movie theaters.
What did you see this weekend? I was not able to catch any of the new releases, but I caught up on some older films like Cat Ballou and rewatched L.A. Confidential for the 50th time.
Glass Onion, Strange World, box office, devotion
Reader Comments (12)
I just don't think Disney marketed STRANGE WORLD well enough. I barely remember seeing ads/trailers for this or perhaps the movie itself was presented so generically that I've forgotten. Too bad for it.
Then again I also didn't SEE that movie so yeah part of the problem here. BUT I did see GLASS ONION, THE FABELMANS, and BONES AND ALL over the long holiday weekend so I did my part I think! Would've squeezed in another movie but alas there's only so much time in the day.
I saw The Menu which was fun, but also surprisingly sincere/depressing.
The Glass Onion thing is so weird. Like, Till was at a nearby theater (good!) but Glass Onion isn't?! Perhaps they know what they are doing but it feels like they're leaving a lot of money on the table.
I saw "Glass Onion" this weekend in a half-packed theater. Netflix missed a marketing/revenue stream opportunity. They could have attached a couple of their trailers and sold their product. Word-of-mouth would have gotten the film to 100M of which 40M Netflix would have pocketed. Although I think there was pressure from somewhere for that 1 week release in the first place.
I saw Glass Onion, She Said , and The Fablemans. Of the three She Said was my favorite. Very well done. Glass Onion had a wonderful first half but like the first one focuses on one major character during the second half much to the film's detriment. Still enjoyed it though. I liked Spielberg's latest but didn't love it. Certain set pieces really worked for me but the whole California section fell flat. And count me among the growing chorus of people who feel Williams was miscast. I honestly can see her missing the Oscar nomination.
I love movies and I love seeing movies in a theater, but honestly, I just wait until the streaming options hit. I save my money for film festivals, theater (including NTLive), or music. Case in point, in the last two weeks I saw the following, and none, with the exception of Cyrano and The Swimmers, get more than 3 stars from me:
Where the Crawdads Sing (Netflix)
The Swimmers (Netflix)
Disenchanted (Disney+)
Spirited (AppleTV+)
Enola Holmes 2 (Netflix)
The Wonder (Netflix)
Hocus Pocus 2 (Disney+)
Good Night Oppy (Prime)
Cyrano (again) (Prime)
Causeway (AppleTV+)
Don't Worry Darling (HBO)
House of Gucci (Prime)
I saw Banshees of Inishiren and thought it was...meh. Martin McDonagh is a good writer but sometimes the transition from page to screen (and sometimes stage) just seems to leave something behind. The cinematography was impressive though. It will be a good year for that category.
I attempted to see The Fabelmans this weekend with my mom. I bought our tickets a week in advance. By the time we got to the multiplex near her house, the multiplex had moved the film to a smaller theater than was originally planned... and oversold the theater. We didn't have seats. To top it off, the theater refused to refund my booking fee.
I almost always see movies in two arthouse theaters near my house, both of which are wonderful, owned and staffed by people who care about movies and moviegoers. But after that experience, I have a better understanding of why the box office is suffering. I have to think the theaters bear a lot of responsibility.
I saw “She Said” in a mostly full theatre with an attentive and enthusiastic audience.
Afterward people lingered in the lobby (rare these days) chatting about the movie and seeming happy and satisfied.
My guess is that even if not many people overall are going to see this movie, the people who do see it, really like it.
I can see the point that’s been made that the movie plays better for an industry audience than a general audience, but I’m not sure about that. As far as awards go, these are industry awards, if this is an industry movie.
And btw, Mulligan is a CO-LEAD, not a supporting actress. This is so unfair to the real supporting actresses of the film, like Samantha Morton and Jennifer Ehle.
I wanted to go see Tar, but it’s been pushed out for all of the holiday films. Should’ve seen it while I had the chance.
Tom -- yeah, that's a problem in this new world. blink and you miss things.
McGill -- thank you for understanding my rage at category fraud
Jules -- i'm so sorry. what an awful experience
Lenard -- i'm assuming no netflix trailers is part of the deal since theaters dont like to book their movies since they're the enemy of that specific part of the industry.
Scott -- so much money being left on the table lately. Disney especially!
A trio of first-timers in The Merchant of Four Seasons at home as well as The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special at home and in the theaters, Bones & All.
@Jules-That is a fucking terrible experience and you deserve that refund. I hate it when theaters do that. It kills the experience and it's a reason why it's best to stay home.
good night oppy - i enjoyed the first half but toward the end, when one of the scientists compared the rover's faulty memory to her grandmother's dementia, i thought they'd gone way too hard with the anthropomorphizing