'Encanto' and 'House of Gucci' Lead the Post-Thanksgiving Box Office
by EG
November has been relatively subdued at the box office so far, with even the latest Marvel movie, Eternals, struggling to rake in big ticket sales. But the first weekend after Thanksgiving is going to deliver an abundance of new movies, with the animated family film Encanto leading the pack. Read on for details.
Via Box Office Mojo.
Despite a strong showing from Ghostbusters: Afterlife last weekend, it has been a relatively quiet November since Eternals opened big the first weekend of the month. Things are looking to pick up this long Thanksgiving weekend with three promising new theatrical exclusive wide releases, and the box office will likely be back above $100 million for the three-day after two weekends of falling under.
The likely number one for the long weekend is Encanto, the latest from Disney Animation. Directed by Byron Howard and Jared Bush (co-directors on Zootopia) along with Charise Castro Smith, the film is about a powerless Colombian girl in a family with magical powers, and like Disney’s Moana, it features original songs from Lin-Manuel Miranda. Disney Animation’s films get consistently great reviews, and Encanto, which features the voice talents of Stephanie Beatriz and John Leguizamo, carries on the tradition with 93% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Animated films are a mainstay of Thanksgiving weekend, and this is especially true for Disney, which, if you include Pixar’s films, holds eight of the ten top Thanksgiving openers ever. Expectations are more muted for Encanto’s opening, though it will likely become the year’s best grossing family offering so far. If it has word of mouth as strong as the reviews, it is well positioned to play long through the holidays, especially as there is little direct competition until Sing 2 on Christmas. Encanto is also opening in much of the world this week, though there’s no word yet on a China release.
The long running Resident Evil series is back after a five year wait with Screen Gems’ reboot Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City. The new film hews closer to the video games than the previous series did in terms of both style and story, adapting the plot of the first two games. Johannes Roberts (47 Meters Down, The Strangers: Prey at Night) writes and directs and Kaya Scodelario, Robbie Amell, Hannah John-Kamen, and Neal McDonough star. Less than a dozen reviews are in right now, but the 44% Rotten Tomatoes score it currently has would make it the best reviewed film in the franchise.
The previous Resident Evil series, which had six films directed by Paul W.S. Anderson and starring Milla Jovovich, has never been a massive grosser in the U.S., but it has progressively grown larger worldwide. 2010’s Resident Evil: Afterlife, the fourth in the series, was the biggest domestic grosser with $60.1 million, and it was also the first film in the series to top $100 million internationally, besting the third film’s $97 million international cume with a whopping $240 million overseas. The follow-up Resident Evil: Retribution dipped to $42.3 million domestic and $197.8 million abroad, and the series finale Resident Evil: The Final Chapter was the lowest grossing yet in the U.S. with $26.8 million while breaking the series record internationally with $285.4 million. We’ll find out whether or not Welcome to Raccoon City can revive the franchise in the U.S., but the bigger question is if the film retains the series’ international audience.
Get the rest of the story at Box Office Mojo.