Hello everyone,
BOX OFFICE: The movie theaters had a lot to be thankful for over this Thanksgiving weekend. A lot of ALL-TIME box-office records were broken. The #1 movie “Moana 2” had the highest 3-day, 4-day, and 5-day Thanksgiving weekend opening of all time (although NOT the highest 3-day weekend of the year – that’s still “Deadpool and Wolverine”). It also had the highest Thanksgiving Day and “Black Friday” box office of all time (but NOT the highest Friday of 2024 – that would also be “Deadpool and Wolverine”). It’s also the biggest opening for a Disney animated movie EVER. It’s box office total of over $225 million after just 5 days puts it at #8 of the top domestic box office for 2024 so far. It’s right behind “Wicked” which is #7 on the top domestic releases of 2024 so far with a total domestic box office of $263 million. “Wicked” was #2 for the 3-day, 4-day, and 5-day holiday weekend. It’s 3-day 2nd weekend is down just 28% from its opening weekend. #3 fort the holiday weekend was “Gladiator 2” which 3-day weekend was approx. 43% less than its opening weekend. “Gladiator 2” total domestic box office is at $111 million.
Total domestic box office for the 5-day weekend is $423 million which is the highest 5-day Thanksgiving weekend ever. The 4-day was $333 million – which was also the highest 4-day Thanksgiving weekend ever. The 3-day Thanksgiving weekend was $274 million which is the highest 3-day Thanksgiving weekend but is NOT the highest 3-day weekend of 2024 (that also goes to “Deadpool vs Wolverine”). All 3 box office numbers were more than double the box office numbers for Thanksgiving weekend in 2023.
WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE: Although Thanksgiving is only in the US, the worldwide box office also did very well. “Moana 2” made almost $164 million for a worldwide gross of $389 million. That’s the biggest worldwide opening for ANY animated movie EVER. It also makes it the #11 movie at the worldwide box office for 2024 so far (zooming past “Gladiator 2” and “Wicked”). “Wicked” made an additional $97 million internationally for a worldwide box office of $359 million. “Gladiator 2” is now at $320 million worldwide total although it’s foreign box office total is over $200 million which is more than the international box office for “Moana 2” or “Wicked”.
RELEASE DATE NEWS: “Paddington in Peru” is doing so well at the box office in the UK that the domestic distributors decided to push it from Jan 2025 to Presidents Day weekend on Feb 14, 2025. So, we’ll have to wait a little longer to see it in the US.
OTHER NEWS: Apparently, themed popcorn buckets are getting so popular that more people are contributing. According to AMC, Tom Cruise added some input on the AMC themed popcorn bucket for next summers “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning”. They didn’t reveal what the bucket will look like though.
LITTLE BIT OF HUMOR:
It’s that time of year again. Time for the remakes, reboots, and re-imagining of the classic Charles Dickens “A Christmas Carol” story. Here’s a list of some of the people who have played Ebeneezer Scrooge.
- Kelsey Grammer (TV Movie 2004)
- Seymour Hicks (1935)
- Albert Finney (1970)
- Patrick Stewart (1999)
- Guy Pearce (TV Miniseries 2019)
- Basil Rathbone (1959)
- David Pevsner (2012)
- Michael Caine (Muppets movie 1992)
- Tim Curry (Animated Film 1997)
- George C Scott (TV Movie 1984)
- Luke Evans (Animated Netflix movie 2022)
- Alastair Sim (1951)
- Walter Matthau (Animated movie 1978)
- Bill Murray (1988)
- Warren Graves (TV Movie 1978)
- Jack Palance (TV Movie 1998)
- Derek Jacobi (TV Movie 2017)
- Jim Carrey (Animate Disney movie 2022)
- Will Ferrell (2022)
That’s a lot of BAH HUMBUG! You could literally watch “A Christmas Carol” versions for 24 hours and not watch the same movie twice.
LOS ANGELES FILM REVIEW 