Hello everyone,
BOX OFFICE: At first the news was predicting a race for #1 between “Napoleon” and Wish”, then there was a 3-way race between those 2 movies and “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes”. Finally, the numbers showed “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes” clearly #1 with $29 million (3 day) and $42 million (5-day). Then “Napoleon” just barely made #2 with $20.6 (3-day) and $32.7 million (5-day). “Wish” ended up 3rd with $19.7 (3-day) and $31.6 (5-day).
This years Thanksgiving weekend total box office came out higher than last years mainly because last years Disney animated movie “Strange World” only made $12 million (3 day). However, last year the #1 movie was the $45 million (3 day) “Black Panther Wakanda Forever” on its second weekend. This year no movie made more than $30 million (3 day). Also, it looks like this December is going to be a HUGE disappointment. Last year “Avatar The Way of Water” dominated December with an opening weekend of $134 million on its way to $684 million total domestic but this year it doesn’t seem like “Wonka”, “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom”, or “The Color Purple” are going to make even close to that much on their opening weekend.
WORLDWIDE: At the worldwide box office, “Napoleon” came out on top with approx. $79 million worldwide. “Wish” had about $48 million worldwide debut. “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes” made another $26 million for a worldwide total approaching $200 million after 2 weeks. Also, this past weekend, “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour”, which some thought would revolutionize the distribution model since a movie theater chain released it, hasn’t done as well as predicted passing $250 million worldwide after playing in theaters for almost 2 months. Also, “Oppenheimer”, which some thought would be the 3rd movie to pass $1 BILLION this year, just squeaked by $950 million worldwide total (it only made about $35 thousand domestically over the 5-day weekend).
STRIKE NEWS: Today is the first day that a lot of movies and television shows have re-started filming after the end of the actors strike although they may not be filming for long since Hanukkah starts at the end of next week. Meanwhile, the union released the FULL details of the tentative agreement last Friday.
It’s still a tentative agreement because the actors are still voting on it. Voting ends Dec 5th. Most people are expecting it to pass but maybe not by a landslide. Mathew Modine – who was one of the union board members that voted against the agreement – released a statement about why he voted against it. He basically says that there shouldn’t be ANY AI. In the future, aspiring actors searching for work could lose a role to an AI of an actor who has passed away (if the actors representatives gave their consent).
LITTLE BIT OF HUMOR:
Of course, they don’t have “Thanksgiving” in other countries, but they have “Black Friday”????
LOS ANGELES FILM REVIEW 