Hollywood has stopped escaping the pandemic: For the first time since March 2020, movie theaters had a huge selection of new movies for special screening over the holiday weekend. And the studios didn’t risk their bets by offering simultaneous streaming options. To see it gloriously revised “encanto“camp crime drama”Gucci’s HouseThe latest installment in ” or “Resident EvilSci-fi action series, you had to leave the couch like in the old days.
But it is very difficult to attract some moviegoers.
“Encanto,” an original Disney animated musical about a talented family in Colombia, grossed $40.3 million in 3,980 theaters across North America between Wednesday and Sunday. According to Steve Buck, chief strategy officer at EntTelligence, a research firm, that total, which was enough for #1, equated to about 3.7 million users, or about 35 percent of available seats. Ticket buyers gave the film an A grade in CinemaScore exit polls.
Widely released outside the United States, with the notable exceptions of China and Australia, “Encanto” raised another $29.3 million. “It may take some time for people to discover ‘Encanto’ through word of mouth and reviews,” Disney said in a results email Sunday, referring to viewers overseas where the weekend isn’t a holiday. news Omicron variant Box office analysts said it may have reduced European participation.
Having spent nearly $175 million to make “Encanto,” Disney had hoped, not counting the tens of millions of marketing costs, that the family audience was finally ready to return to theaters on a large scale. five year old children It became available for coronavirus vaccines in the United States on November 2. For the first time this year, Disney hasn’t sent reporters a pre-release advice about poor market conditions.
“This is a fair opening by pandemic standards and a poor opening by Disney historical standards,” David A. Gross, film consultancy for franchise Entertainment Research, said in an email on Sunday.
“Encanto” features songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda, whose soundtrack helped sell Disney’s animated movie “Moana” $82.1 million ticket During the five-day Thanksgiving period in 2016. Partly because the studios have moved animated films from theaters to streaming services – Pixar’s “Luca” played exclusively on Disney+ in the United States over the summer – the genre is one of the biggest. box office pieces lost during the pandemic. In 2019, animated large broadcasts raised $4.6 billion worldwide. Mr Gross estimates that animation will wrap up this year with ticket sales of approximately $1.65 billion, down nearly 64 percent.
Domestic ticket sales for “Encanto” still set a pandemic-era record for an animated movie. This victory is somewhat futile, given that all the other major animated movies have been released simultaneously in theaters and streaming services since March 2020. (They included Universal’s “The Boss Baby: Family Business” and Paramount’s “Paw Patrol: The Movie.”) “Encanto” is scheduled to hit Disney+ on December 24.
The final performance of “Encanto” in both theaters and Disney+ is likely to inform Disney’s release plans for its animated films for the next year. “Most of the franchises we have at The Walt Disney Company were created through the theatrical exhibit distribution channel,” Disney’s CEO Bob Chapek told analysts. earnings conference call on November 10. “At the same time, we watch different kinds of movies very, very carefully to see how different components of that market’s demographic are returning.”
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“We’re still not sure how the market will react when family movies return with a window that debuts in theaters,” he added.
According to Comscore, which compiles box office data, Sony’s “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” for the holiday weekend in North America was a strong second, raising $35.3 million between Wednesday and Sunday for a two-week domestic total of $87.8 million. . Box office analysts said Ghostbusters: Afterlife, which hits theaters on November 19, has moved some family companies away from “Encanto”.
with “The Gucci House” Lady Gaga He was a healthy third, leading an ensemble roster. It sold nearly $21.8 million in tickets over the five-day period. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, who spent nearly $70 million, including strong marketing expenses, to make the R-rated crime drama, noted on Sunday that only 34 percent of ticket buyers were 45 or older.
“As with families, older moviegoers have been reluctant to return to the movies with more entertainment at home,” said Mr. Gross. “The movie would open 50 percent higher under normal circumstances, but that’s very good.”
A positive sign for prestigious films – December is the busiest season when Oscar nominees pop up every weekend – in Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Licorice PizzaReleased by United Artists”, it sizzled in limited release. A mix of comedy, drama, and romance, the R-rated period film earned $335,000 at four theaters, two in New York and two in Los Angeles, for an average of $83,852 per movie. It was the best special movie debut almost two years.