By Nathaniel R
The situation didn't improve at the box office post-Thanksgiving without much in the way of new films for people to see. That said, in the absence of competition Violent Night performed above expectations, thanks to the "Violent" in the title and its memorable marketing hook 'Santa Claus goes to war with criminal intruders in a rich family's home'.
| Weekend Box Office (actuals) Dec 2nd-4th 🔺 = new or expanding / ★ = Recommended |
|
| WIDE (OVER 800 SCREENS) | LIMITED / PLATFORM |
 VIOLENT NIGHT |
 THE FABELMANS |
| 1 BLACK PANTHER WAKANDA FOREVER $17.5 (cum. $393.6) | 1 ★ THE FABELMANS $1.2 (cum. $5.5) 638 screens |
| 2 🔺 VIOLENT NIGHT $13.4 *NEW* |
2 🔺 HIT: THE SECOND CASE $600k *NEW* 280 screens |
| 3 STRANGE WORLD $5 (cum. $25.6) | 3 ★ THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN $235k (cum. $8.2) 320 screens |
| 4 ★ THE MENU $3.4 (cum. $24.6) | 4 ★ TÁR $87k (cum. $5.2) 97 screens |
| 5 ★ DEVOTION $2.7 (cum. $13.7) | 5 🔺★ THE INSPECTION $85k (cum. $270k) 138 screens |
| 6 🔺 I HEARD THE BELLS $2 *NEW* |
6 🔺 SPOILER ALERT $82k *NEW* 6 screens |
 BONES AND ALL |
 EO |
| 7 BLACK ADAM $1.5 (cum. $165) | 7 TILL $81k (cum. $8.8) 127 screens |
| 8 BONES AND ALL $1.1 (cum.. $6) |
8 ★ AFTERSUN $46k (cum. $874k) 75 screens |
| 9 ★ TICKET TO PARADISE $854k (cum. $66.5) | 9 ★ ALL THE BEAUTY AND THE BLOODSHED $35k (cum. $87k) 10 screens |
| 10 QUINTESSENTIAL QUINTUPLETS MOVIE $502k *NEW* | 10 ★ 🔺 THE ETERNAL DAUGHTER $33k *NEW* 29 screens |
| 11 ★ SHE SAID $405k (cum. $5.3) | 11 ★ DECISION TO LEAVE $28k (cum. $1.9) 40 screens |
| 12 LYLE LYLE CROCODILE $400k (cum. $45.7) |
12 ★ EO $28k (cum. $85k) 6 screens |
| There are just 12 movies in wide release at the moment. This time in 2019 there were 14... |
13 DECIBEL $24k *NEW* 21 screens |
| ...plus about 5 more than were just under that mark in moderate release as opposed to just 1 now (The Fabelmans). |
14 ★🔺 HUNT $16k *NEW* 30 screens |
Triangle of Sadness left theaters after a fairly successful run at arthouses with a $4 million domestic gross which is great for a movie with no bankable names behind or in front of the camera and without the benefit of Oscar nominations... yet. Glass Onion (a one week experiment from Netflix) also vanished. But many of the remaining awards hopefuls are still kicking and probably counting on the forthcoming awards season and top ten lists to breathe a second wind into their sails at the box office. Or a first wind if they haven't really expanded yet like the Best Documentary Feature contender All the Beauty and the Bloodshed or Poland's donkey picture Best International Feature Film contender EO which are both still fairly new in theaters.
NEXT FRIDAY: Hollywood is still fast asleep. Empire of Light and The Whale both arrive in limited release and Spoiler Alert expands but otherwise the entire industry seems to just be waiting around for Avatar Way of the Water (December 16th). They gave Black Panther Wakanda Forever an entire month without competition and since it didn't perform nearly as well as its predecessor it wasn't able to buoy the ships around it in the water! Heavy sigh. The streamers are trying a little harder to provide entertainment for the masses. Apple TV+ and Netflix are both releasing their presumed heaviest hitters this Friday: the slave drama Emancipation, and the stop-motion wonder Guillermo Del Toro's Pinocchio, respectively.
What did you see this past week? I saw The Fabelmans a second time (love it so!) and was otherwise catching up with FYC screeners so I made it an Best Animated Feature trio and watched Guillermo Del Toro's Pinocchio, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, and Marcel the Shell With Shoes On. All quite enjoyable and all *might* end up nominated in that category but we'll see.