‘Aquaman 2’, ‘Wonka’ & More Propel Christmas Week Box Office To $281M, +14% Over 2022

Naman Ramachandran Warner Bros.’ “Wonka” continued its reign over the U.K. and Ireland box office with £2.2 million ($2.8 million), according to numbers from Comscore. After six weekends at the box office, the Timothée Chalamet starrer has a sweet total of £56.1 million.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter “Wonka” has crossed a sweet box office milestone. The fantasy musical, starring Timothée Chalamet as the eccentric chocolatier, surpassed $500 million in global ticket sales. After five weeks on the big screen, “Wonka” has generated $176.2 million domestically and $329.1 million internationally, bringing its global tally to $505.3 million.

Timothée Chalamet and “Wonka” topped the box office charts for the third time in its four weekends in theaters.Warner Bros.’ family-oriented musical added $14.4 million in ticket sales according to studio estimates Sunday, bringing its total domestic grosses to $164.7 million.“’Wonka’ is following in the tradition of a film like ‘The Greatest Showman,’” said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for Comscore. That Hugh Jackman musical opened under $9 million in Dec.

Global box office is estimated to have reached $33.9B for 2023, a 30.5% gain on 2022, according to Gower Street Analytics. While this represents continuing worldwide recovery, the figure remains 15% behind the average of the last three pre-pandemic years (2017-2019). Gower Street also recently estimated that, due in part to this year’s strike-impacted release calendar, 2024 is projected to drop to $31.5 billion, which, given today’s revised estimate for last year, would come in at 7% below 2023. 

Naman Ramachandran Warner Bros.’ “Wonka” continued its golden run at the U.K. and Ireland box office with £6.6 million ($8.4 million) over the Dec. 29 weekend.

Brent Lang Executive Editor “Wonka,” a musical fantasy that has been the biggest hit of the holiday season, topped the box office on New Year’s Eve, closing 2023 on a sweet note. The film, which stars Timothée Chalamet as a more youthful Willy Wonka, grossed $22.7 million for the weekend and a projected $29.5 million for the four-day holiday. That brings the domestic gross to $140.2 million, a strong result for the $125 million production.

Releasing three tentpole movies into December, Warner Bros is walking away with bragging rights to giving the holiday season an important boost – particularly given the absence of an Avatar or a Spider-Man as in recent years.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter “Aquaman and the Lost City” is quickly sinking at the box office. The comic book adventure, starring Jason Momoa as the King of Atlantis, was positioned on the calendar as the de facto blockbuster of the holiday season. But, so far, the follow-up to 2018’s megahit “Aquaman” has failed to recapture the spark of the original.

according to IMDB’s Box Office Mojo.“Wonka” also surpassed the $100 million earning mark domestically this week, as per Variety. Last week, the Timothee Chalamet-led musical fantasy had been dethroned by “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom,” which is now in second place with $6.75 million in earnings.

J. Kim Murphy Warner Bros. is continuing to beat out Warner Bros.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Timothée Chalamet retained his holiday season crown as “Wonka” topped the box office on Thursday. The family film, which looks at chocolatier Willy Wonka and his quest to open the world’s most fantastical candy company, earned $8 million, pushing its domestic gross to $110.6 million. “Wonka” carries an $125 million budget and has been a success overseas, where it has earned more than $180 million.

It’s funky times at the holiday box office.

Brent Lang Executive Editor “Wonka,” a family-friendly look at how Willy Wonka broke into the confection game, topped the box office on Wednesday, adding $8 million to push the film past the $100 million mark domestically. The movie’s stateside gross stands at a delicious $102.5 million. “Wonka” is also performing well overseas — its global haul of more than $270 million is a strong result for Warner Bros.

A moment from Christmas in 2019 was said to have convinced Prince Harry and Meghan Markle that the "entire institution" was against them during their time working in the Royal Family due to an "unspoken code". While there were a number of causes which ultimately contributed to their departure, it has been said that one key moment was the "final straw" and "tipped them over the edge" to step back from their roles within The Firm.

This Christmas weekend was one for the record books for the NFL, which boasted several of its most-watched games in decades.

Typically the momentum of Christmas moviegoing spills over into Dec. 26, but that wasn’t the case this year as Warner Bros’ Wonka led all titles with $8.9M — the second lowest take for a No. 1 movie after Christmas (since 2000) ahead of the studio’s own Wonder Woman 1984 which made $5.8M when a bulk of the nation’s cinemas were closed due to Covid. Yikes!

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” didn’t give Hollywood much to be merry about at the Christmas box office. The comic book sequel, starring Jason Momoa as the King of Atlantis and directed by James Wan, opened slightly below estimates with $27.7 million over the traditional weekend and a disappointing $40 million through the four-day holiday frame.

Naman Ramachandran “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” led the worldwide box office with a $108 million debut weekend, according to numbers released by Comscore. Warner Bros. and DC Studio’s “Aquaman 2” also topped the U.S.

led a crowd of new releases at the box office on the weekend before Christmas Monday. The DC and Warner Bros.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” opened to $80 million at the international box office, which isn’t all that super considering those ticket sales are on par with eventual big-budget superhero disappointments like “The Flash,” “The Marvels” and “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.” The comic book sequel, starring Jason Momoa as the king of Atlantis and directed by James Wan, has generated $120 million globally to start, including a weak $40 million in North America. The Warner Bros.