The five-day Thanksgiving holiday period is always a popular movie-going period for families seeking out animated fare. This weekend was no exception with Disney’s 62nd animated feature Wish and DreamWorks Animation’s 47th title Trolls Band Together splitting audiences, and landing at No. 3 and No. 4 spots on the box office chart during this five-day holiday weekend.
Disney’s Wish was the subject of much analysis by the trades. Billed as the studio’s 100th anniversary tentpole movie, the film was somewhat unfairly judged by critics who categorized it as too much of a retread of past animated successes with a plucky heroine and adorable sidekicks. The film earned a respectable A- Cinescore for audiences, despite its total 50% Rotten Tomatoes rating from critics. Deadline is estimating a total of $32.3 million box-office for the film’s five-day run (three-day: $20 million) in 3,900 theaters. Overseas, the movie took in about $17.3 million in 27 markets (about 40% of its eventual overseas opening), bringing its worldwide total to $49 million.
DreamWork’s Trolls Band Together sits at the No. 4 spot with a five-day total of $25.3 million and an overall cume of $64.4 million (since its Nov. 17 release in 3,893 theaters Stateside. The movie has made over $81 million overseas, with a worldwide overall gross of $145 million. Industry observers predict that the popular threequel, directed by Walt Dohrn, will pass the $150 million benchmark in a few days. (The Hunger Games: the Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes was the No. 1 film at the box office with a $42 million five-day run and Apple’s Napoleon landed at the No. 2 spot with a $32 million total in the same time frame.)
Both movies will face more fierce competition from Universal/Illumination’s Migration movie when it opens wide on Dec. 22. At the same time, streamers like Netflix are offering solid alternatives to theatrical fare: The Adam Sandler-voiced Florida lizard movie Leo is sitting mighty on top of Netflix’s movie chart this week. Other animated movies on the streamer’s most-watched U.S. chart include Illumination’s Minions at No. 4, Sony’s Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse at No. 8 and DreamWorks Trolls at No. 10.
Sources: Deadline.com, Variety.com, Boxofficemojo.com, Netflix.com
