The American domestic box office had one of its quietest weekends of the year with no new releases making their way into the top 10 at all. I just hope you all got your Christmas shopping done because it's going to be outright insanity from now until the end of the year.
The closest thing to a new release was Steven Spielberg's Oscar®-winning 1993 classic Schindler’s List; which went into approximately 1,000 theaters for a 25th anniversary re-release, but only managed just over $500,000 in earnings, giving it the 14th spot in the weekend box office.
Although the figures involved weren't spectacular, there was a close battle for the top spot between Dr. Seuss' The Grinch (Universal) and Ralph Breaks the Internet (Disney), with the Disney film coming out ahead with a $16 million weekend take. The Grinch earned about a million dollars less, an impressive achievement nonetheless as it's been in theaters for two weeks longer than the Wreck-It Ralph sequel, showing just how much appetite there is for family entertainment around this time of year.
The next four spots on the top 10 all replicated the previous week's rankings: Creed II, followed by Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, followed by Bohemian Rhapsody, followed by Instant Family.
Universal's Oscar hopeful Green Book leapt up from 10th place to seventh place, perhaps buoyed by the five Golden Globe® nominations it received last week. The recognition bodes well for its awards season momentum.
Three other films positioned for awards season entered the charts at much lower spots, and in limited releases: period drama Mary Queen of Scots, starring Margot Robbie and Saoirse Ronan earned $200,000 in four locations, placing it at number 23; the Natalie Portman pop star oddity Vox Lux garnered $162,000 in six theaters for number 25, while the Julia Roberts-starring addiction drama Ben Is Back made $80,000 in four theaters, putting it at number 31.
Internationally, Warner Bros.' latest DCEU film Aquaman has already made a huge … splash in China, where it earned a whopping RMB 645 million, which translates into US $94 million. It's the biggest opening for a Warner Bros. film in China, and the biggest December opening weekend gross for any film there. I guess these are the kinds of numbers you can hope for when you open on 33,000 3D screens.
Although Netflix is famously tight-lipped about their numbers, they have been vocal about a recent high-profile film from their platform: the Kurt Russell-starring The Christmas Chronicles, in which Russell plays Santa Claus. Netflix head Ted Sarandos announced last week that the film was streamed 20 million times in its first week on the service. He went on to state that those numbers are the streaming equivalent of an opening week gross of $200 million.
While that is a bit of a leap to make, there is no denying that people are excited about The Christmas Chronicles, with social media reaction large and positive, and Netflix’s significant marketing spend around the movie is giving it a visible presence in the holiday marketplace.
Between this and those nutty Christmas Prince movies, Hallmark better watch their backs – Netflix may just end up owning the Christmas movie market as well.