‘Strange World’ has one of Disney’s worst openings in years at the US box office

The United States kicks off the holiday season with the celebration of Thanksgiving. As every year, on the last Thursday of November, families gather to give thanks surrounded by a large banquet. There is no school and the next day is Black Friday. It is one of the most profitable bridges for the North American box officethat this year would also be very aware of the results as it was the most “normal” Thanksgiving since the coronavirus entered our lives.

However, this year is doing worse than the previous year, with an estimated $125 million over the five days since weeknight previews hit the billboards. It represents 12% less than in 2021, which is worrying given that the situation with COVID has definitely improved this year, and it will not be for news endorsed by sensational studios or casts. But only one has good news. And it doesn’t even count towards the ranking.

Netflix released ‘Stabs in the Back: The Mystery of the Glass Onion’ in just under 700 theaters with a rather aggressive strategy: only in theaters for one week. The long debut will already be on the streaming platform on December 23rd. Rian Johnson’s film is convincing audiences, with an estimated $12-15 million in its first five days. But beware, this is an approximate figure offered by rival studios because Netflix has decided not to publish official box office figures. Of course, the feeling is very good, highlighting a strong word of mouth from the public and an excellent average per room. It would occupy third position if it counted for the rankings, quite an achievement for a film shown in so few theatres. (For comparison, “Strange World” was available in 4,714 theaters.) Who knows what Netflix would have achieved at the box office if instead of a temporary release it had released it with the whole team and with a wider window (it should be remembered that the platform has paid $200 million just for it and the sequel, excluding advertising costs and so on). But the campaign for the streaming premiere is very strong.

Disney clicks “Strange World”

If ‘Backstabbing’ is the good news, ‘Strange World’ is the bad news. Disney’s new animated film had one of the company’s worst recent openings with an estimated $18.6 million.. It doesn’t reach the levels of ‘Mars Needs Mothers’ (6.9 million dollars in its first weekend of 2011), but we are talking about a film with a budget of around 180 million dollars. The $11.9 million it made over the three-day weekend places its first in the line of “Treasure Planet,” which 20 years ago debuted with $12 million in North America. According to Variety, there are talks of losses for Disney of at least 100 million dollars.

Audiences polled by CinemaScore at the exit of screenings are giving it a remarkable B average, which is also one of the lowest marks Disney has received in a long time.. The critics have been more magnanimous, but it also lacks the support that the studio’s previous films like ‘Enchantment’ or ‘Zootopia’ received. In addition to the fact that it did not attract the attention of a large part of the public, factors such as a smaller than usual advertising campaign for Disney and a possible devaluation of its own animated films, which accustomed the public to who didn’t have to wait a long time to see them on Disney+, and with the way ticket prices are, many families won’t hesitate to spare a trip to the movies if the movie doesn’t call enough.

The rest of the premieres or movies that ramped up the number of theaters to reach the whole country also didn’t fare much better. The warlike ‘Devotion. A Tale of Heroes’, starring Glen Powell back on a plane after blowing it up with ‘Top Gun: Maverick’, grossed $9 million in five days, a bad sign for a film that cost $90 million . ‘To the Bones: Bones and All’ earned just $3.56 million in five days in its jump from limited to general circuit. And ‘The Fabelmans’ Has To Settle For $3.1 Million With Its Deployment Across The Country. Nor is it that neither of them had a theme capable of drawing the masses into the theatres. Spielberg will have to wait and see if awards season gives more air to the story based on his childhood. Of the movies of the weeks, the best standing is ‘The Menu’, which adds another $7.3 million to a total of $18.7 million in two weeks.

However, the top spot at the box office continues to go to the people of Wakanda. ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ once again surpasses forecasts and adds another $31 million over the five-day bridge, breaking the $360 million barrier in the United States. Added to the international box office it has about $675.6 million in total.