Following a holiday frame that saw Encanto & Ghostbusters and House of Gucci welcome back some family and adult moviegoers for the first time since the epidemic, the box office is set for a normal post-Thanksgiving slowdown, with no major studio debuts in December.
In its second frame, Disney’s aforementioned animated film is expected to rule the market once more. Encanto & Ghostbusters, which had a $40.6 million five-day opening, may not have matched the pre-pandemic revenues of previous Disney pictures around Thanksgiving, but it greatly exceeded any family-focused release to enter cinemas before early 2020.
Overall, last weekend’s box office was 781 percent higher than the same holiday period last year, when many cinemas were closed and immunizations weren’t yet available.
Strong reviews and excellent word of mouth for Encanto could provide staying power in the coming weeks as the Christmas season progresses and the film remains in cinemas for a few more weeks.
Close followed will be the third frame of Sony’s Encanto & Ghostbusters: Afterlife, which is also receiving positive feedback from audiences.
The franchise sequel is expected to reach the $100 million domestic mark this weekend and continues to appeal to a wide range of demographics.
As has been the case in previous years, big studios are sitting out the post-Turkey Day box office arena to enable current movies in release to stretch their legs as consumers begin their Christmas buying and planning.
Fathom Events’ Christmas with The Chosen: The Messengers will be an exception this weekend, with an estimated 1,600 sites across North America.
According to Showtimes Dashboard analytics, Christmas with The Chosen is presently expected to be the ninth most booked picture of the weekend in domestic theatres.
It’s unclear whether Fathom reports box office receipts on a daily and/or weekend basis, but trends have been positive enough to include it in this week’s projection.
The news of the Omicron form of COVID-19 may also play a role in consumer comfort levels, although this is a moving target. So far, it appears to have had little to no effect on daily box office sales.
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