Hello everyone,
BOX OFFICE: There wasn’t any new major studio release this past weekend so the top 3 at the box office stayed the same. The biggest new release was the movie from India “Pushpa: The Rule – Part 2” which was #4 with $9.3 million. The #1 movie was “Moana 2” again with $51 million, an approx. 63% drop from the previous 3-day weekend. #2 was “Wicked” with $36 million, down approx. 55% from the previous 3-day. #3 is again “Gladiator 2” with $12.5 million, down approx. 60% from the previous weekend. The biggest per-screen average was the re-release of “Interstellar” in 165 screens – mostly IMAX screens. Its rerelease total is $4.6 million which put it at #7 on the domestic box office chart.
The total for “Wicked” is now at $322 million which makes it the #4 of the 2024 domestic box office. “Moana 2” is right behind it at #5 on the domestic box office charts for 2024 with just under $300 million. Both of those movies have a chance of passing “Despicable Me 4” which is currently #3 with $361 million but they don’t have much chance to make twice their current box office and beat “Deadpool and Wolverine” which is currently #2 with $636 million or “Inside Out 2” which is #1 at $652 million. I’m pretty sure those two will be the biggest movies of 2024 (at the domestic and international box office).
Overall domestic weekend was $137 million which is down about 50% from the holiday 3-day weekend but it’s the BEST post-Thanksgiving weekend EVER. It’s 30% higher than the same weekend from 2023 which was $97 million.
WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE: The same top 3 movies at the domestic box office did very well at the international box office. The worldwide leader is “Moana 2” with close to $600 million total which makes it #5 on the worldwide box office of 2024. “Wicked” worldwide total is at $457 million, and “Gladiator 2” is at $368 million. “Moana 2” domestic and international box office is approx. even with almost $300 million at both. “Wicked” is relying more on the domestic box office which is 70% of it’s worldwide total, while “Gladiator 2” is relying more on foreign box office which is 64% of its worldwide total.
RELEASE DATE NEWS: Warner Bros recently did a little release date juggling. The next movie in the “Final Destination” franchise “Final Destination: Bloodlines” is scheduled for May 2025 (the trailer will probably be released soon since it’s coming in just 5 months). It’s replacing “Flowervale Street” which has been pushed back almost a year to March 2026. Also, the live action/CGI movie “Animal Friends” starring Ryan Reynolds and Jason Momoa has been set for Oct 2025.
AWARD NEWS: One more group announced their awards, and another announced their nominations.
The Los Angeles Film Critics Association announced their 2024 winners:
Best Picture: Anora
Runner-up: The Brutalist
Best Director: Mohammad Rasoulof (The Seed of the Sacred Fig)
Runner-up: Sean Baker (Anora)
Best Leading Performances: Marianne Jean-Baptiste (Hard Truths) and Mikey Madison (Anora)
Runners-up: Demi Moore (The Substance) and Fernanda Torres (I’m Still Here)
Best Supporting Performances: Yura Borisov (Anora) and Kieran Culkin (A Real Pain)
Runners-up: Clarence Maclin (Sing Sing) and Adam Pearson (A Different Man)
Best Screenplay: Jesse Eisenberg (A Real Pain)
Runner-up: Sean Baker (Anora)
Best Animation: Flow
Runner-up: Chicken for Linda
Best Film Not in English Language: All We Imagine as Light
Runner-up: The Seed of the Sacred Fig
Best Documentary/Non-Fiction Film: No Other Land
Runner-up: Dahomey
The Golden Globes announced their nominees this morning, Here are some of the nominees:
Best Motion Picture – Drama
The Brutalist
A Complete Unknown
Conclave
Dune: Part Two
Nickel Boys
September 5
Best Motion Picture – Musical Or Comedy
Anora
Challengers
Emilia Pérez
A Real Pain
The Substance
Wicked
Best Motion Picture – Animated
Flow
Inside Out 2
Memoir of a Snail
Moana 2
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
The Wild Robot
Cinematic and Box Office Achievement
Alien: Romulus
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
Deadpool & Wolverine
Gladiator II
Inside Out 2
Twisters
Wicked
The Wild Robot
Best Motion Picture – Non-English Language
All We Imagine as Light
Emilia Pérez
The Girl With The Needle
I’m Still Here
The Seed of the Sacred Fig
Vermiglio
LITTLE BIT OF HUMOR: (sorry – not a holiday movie today)
According to the internet, Jack Nicholson thought that Stanley Kubrick was taking a photo of him on the set of “The Shining” but he was really taking a selfie of himself and his daughter in the mirror (she has a cameo in “The Shining” and a few other Stanley Kubrick movies).
LOS ANGELES FILM REVIEW 