Whilst Thanksgiving used to be a busy time for film-going, that’s not the case this year from the looks of it even with a slew of new releases.
In its first full day on Wednesday, Disney’s animated “Wish” pulled in just $8.3 million whilst Ridley Scott’s historical epic “Napoleon” took in $7.7 million.
Their projections for the five-day Thanksgiving holiday haul have now been revised, with the films now tracking for just over $37 million and $30 million respectively for the period – “Wish” projections have dropped whilst “Napoleon” went up.
Both films not only boasted mixed reviews from critics, both are saddled with eye-watering $200 million budgets. Audiences are relatively happy with “Wish” which landed an A- CinemaScore in exit polls, but “Napoleon” was not well received by them with a B- score.
Globally “Napoleon” is tracking to generate roughly $65 million by end of Sunday – a solid number for an R-rated 2.5 hour biopic about a military leader, but that costly budget does give pause – even if it comes from Apple with its mult-trillion dollar market cap.
Lionsgate’s “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes” is still very much in the mix too with the film earning $7.3 million on Wednesday, pushing its domestic total to roughly $63.6 million following its opening last Friday.
In fact, the movie could well come out on top with estimates for its five-day holiday haul being around $40 million. With the added bonus of it costing half as much as its competition, and with both tax credits and lucrative foreign sales already covering much of its production budget, it’s looking to be in a fairly healthy position.
Universal and DreamWorks Animation’s “Trolls Band Together” was fourth place with $5.1 million and is tracking to earn $27 million over the five days. Eli Roth’s horror “Thanksgiving” will be fifth with a $1.8 million haul on Wednesday and an expected $10.1 million five day take. “The Marvels” continues cratering with just a $1.5 million take on Wednesday.
Source: Variety
