Thanksgiving Fattens Broadway Box Office As Holiday Week Ticket Prices Surge; Parades Showcase ‘Funny Girl’, ‘Lion King’, ‘Six’

A24’s release of Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale had a strong holdover its second weekend out, grossing $168.5k on the same six screens in NYC and LA where it opened its first frame to the biggest per theater average of the year – beating the distributor’s March release of Everything Everywhere All At Once.

Welcome back, Insiders. Jesse Whittock here. Christmas is just around the corner now but the news doesn’t let up. Let’s begin.

Taking a look ahead to 2023, Gower Street Analytics is projecting global box office to hit $29B, repping a 12% gain on 2022 should this year remain on track for approximately $25.8B. The London-based firm estimates 2022 receipts stood at $23.6B as of December 10. 

EXCLUSIVE: We are hearing from our sources that James Cameron’s sequel to his highest grossing movie in the world, Avatar: The Way of Water, is currently on its way to a $17M Thursday night from showtimes that began at 7PM.

James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water began its international box office rollout today in such majors as Korea, France, Germany and Italy — and with early sneaks in China. One of the most anticipated movies of recent years, it’s dominating play.

The holiday spirit – at least the kind measured at the box office – seemed to arrive on Broadway last week, for some shows anyway. Obvious case in point: A Christmas Carol, starring Jefferson Mays in his tour de force as every last ghost, miser and Cratchit in the story, was up a bountiful 34% in receipts, taking in $742,010 and filling 83% of seats at the Nederlander.

And so it begins. Thirteen years after the first Avatar arrived in movie theaters, conquered and continued to conquer the global box office as the highest release of all-time with $2.9 billion worldwide, Avatar: The Way of Water, the sequel to the James Cameron directed 3x Oscar winning 3D sci-fi movie arrives with a global outlook of $525M in what is Disney’s widest global release ever at 52K screens, surpassing Avengers: Endgame.

And that’s what you missed on Ziwe. Amber Riley seemingly addressed the racism allegations against former costar Lea Michele after previously revealing they no longer speak.

UPDATE: Discovery+ and ID have unveiled a trailer for the series, which you can watch above. It will launch on January 16.

A Beautiful Noise, The Neil Diamond Musical took in more than $1 million at the box office in the week leading up to, and including, its opening night on Sunday. Filling 91% of seats at the Broadhurst, the jukebox bio-musical joins & Juliet, Leopoldstadt and The Piano Lesson as one of the strongest newcomers of the fall season.

Universal and 87North’s action horror pic Violent Night is off to a healthy start with $1.1M previews last night. Hopefully this movie will give the weekend box office a pulse and overperform which is typically a slow period post Thanksgiving, and even worse given the fact that the marketplace is still in rebuild.

Before Disney’s 20th Century Studios’ Avatar: The Way of Water floods the box office with a potential $200M opening on Dec.16, Universal might have a surprise this weekend in the 87North holiday action movie Violent Night, starring David Harbour. Universal is hoping for $10M, maybe $12M on the Tommy Wirkola-directed movie for a second place take. However, rivals are truly excited by it, thinking it could do much more.

Just before the arrival of Santa’s sleigh, Mariah Carey closed out the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade with a performance of her signature holiday hit “All I Want For Christmas Is You.” You can watch it below.

Scottish legend Sir Billy Connolly turns 80 years old today. The much loved comedian, born in Glasgow, has celebrated an illustrious career, entertaining us Scots for over five decades.