‘Wonka’ Opening Getting Sweeter With $37M-$38M – Saturday Box Office Update

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.

MONDAY AM writethru: Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus, and he’s delivering the motion picture industry a $9 billion-plus year at the domestic box office, a feat many thought was unimaginable with the lack of a mega-tentpole over the holiday, coupled by a Q4 impacted by the double strikes. The numbers were compiled from Comscore data and Deadline calculations. Comscore called 2023 at $9.03 billion yesterday.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

The numbers are in for Aquaman 2.

Warner Bros/DC’s Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom began offshore rollout on Wednesday, and with numbers through Friday included has grossed $40.9M in 73 international box office markets. This portends a full overseas opening in the $70M range. With domestic’s three- and four-day, the global start will top $100M.

J. Kim Murphy ‘Twas the weekend before Christmas and all through the theaters, “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” was the box office leader.

Paramount‘s reboot of Mean Girls arrived on tracking today and let’s just say it’s not just hot with the cool girls. With double digit in unaided awareness among older and younger women over and under 25, the feature take of the Tina Fey scripted Broadway musical is looking at a $27M+ opening over the four-day MLK holiday.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Chinese-made crime drama, “Endless Journey” opened on top of the mainland China box office on a weekend with three new releases in the top five. The Wanda Pictures and Alibaba title earned $20.5 million (RMB146 million) between Friday and Sunday, its official opening weekend, according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway. Together with previews from the week earlier, it ended the weekend with a cumulative total of $34.5 million (RMB245 million).

Searchlight Pictures’ Poor Things had a monster of an expansion, sewing up $1.3 million at just 82 theaters for a no. 10 spot at the weekend box office. American Fiction and The Zone of Interest, from, respectively, Amazon MGM Studios and A24, opened nicely as specialty films with original stories of all kinds are seeing traction with ticket buyers.

Timothée Chalamet’s Wonka is in theaters now, and the opening weekend box office numbers are in!

Refresh for latest…: After opening early in 37 international box office markets last weekend, Warner Bros/Village Roadshow/Heyday Films’ Wonka expanded its release this session to the rest of the world (save Korea which goes in late January). The results are sweet.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter “Wonka,” a fantasy musical starring Timothée Chalamet as the eccentric chocolatier, charmed in its box office debut, collecting $39 million over the weekend. It’s a sweet start, as long as the $125 million-budgeted family film has momentum around the holidays. The good news for Warner Bros.

according to IMDB’s Box Office Mojo.The musical fantasy, which tells the story of the fictional proprietor in the 1964 Roald Dahl novel “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” stars Timothée Chalamet in the titular role. The Post said the actor exudes “impish charm and oddball quirks” and the film “delivers not so much a world of pure imagination as a land of constant cuteness.”The flick reportedly cost $125 million to make, so will have to earn double its budget, $250 million, to be deemed a box office success, according to Screen Rant.

J. Kim Murphy Oompa loompa doopity doo — here is a box office opening for you. “Wonka” is off to a promising start in North America after earning $14.4 million across Friday and preview screenings.

Leading movie theater operator AMC Entertainment has wrapped a $350 million at-the-market equity offering and reduced its debt by $62 million.