‘Wish’ doesn’t come true over Thanksgiving weekend

Hello! Welcome to The Box Office Report for the weekend of Nov. 24-26, 2023.

1. The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbird & Snakes

Weekend gross: $28.8M
Total domestic gross: $98.4M
Last weekend: 1st
Percent drop: 35

I was out of town for Thanksgiving week, which meant not only was I not going to the movies (I can’t be the person bringing a 23-month-old to Napoleon) but I didn’t have much of a chance to follow the box office news until I sat down on Sunday night (after my Buffalo Bills blew another game) to write The Box Office Report.

I was not expecting to see the results that I saw.

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes in first! Napoleon beating Wish! The Marvels slipping out of the top five!

Thanksgiving weekend was won by the Hunger Games prequel, as it added another $28.8 million over the three-day weekend to move less than $2 million away from the $100 mark. As I mentioned last week, the original four Hunger Games movies cleared $100 million in their opening weekends, so this isn’t a huge accomplishment for a film in this franchise.

2. Napoleon

Weekend gross: $20.4M
Total domestic gross: $32.5M
Last weekend: New release
Percent drop: NA

Napoleon debuted at No. 2 with $20.4 million. This was good enough for director Ridley Scott’s ninth biggest opening weekend, behind Exodus: Gods and Kings ($24.1 million) and ahead of Kingdom of Heaven ($19.6 million). Thanks to the extended weekend, the Joaquin Phoenix film added an additional $12.1 million before the three-day tracking even began.

3. Wish

Weekend gross: $19.5M
Total domestic gross: $31.7M
Last weekend: New release
Percent drop: NA

Wow. I did not see Wish opening at No. 3. Way back in February, I even looked at whether a single month could accommodate a Disney movie and a Marvel movie. It turns out neither Wish nor The Marvels was a box office force.

I’d say Wish’s $19.5 million weekend was the worst opening frame of any recent Disney animated movie, but we did just see Strange World open with $12.2 million over the same weekend last year.

It’s bad, though.

Disney has fallen a long way from the $130.4 million that Frozen opened with in November 2019 or the $56.6 million that Moana opened with in November 2016 or the $56.2 million that Ralph Breaks the Internet opened with in 2018.

4. Trolls Band Together

Weekend gross: $17.5M
Total domestic gross: $64.5M
Last weekend: 2nd
Percent drop: 42

Hey, at least Wish didn’t get beat by Trolls Band Together.

5. Thanksgiving

Weekend gross: $7.2M
Total domestic gross: $24.2M
Last weekend: 3rd
Percent drop: 31

Nope, we’re going to talk about The Marvels. A Marvel Cinematic Universe movie failed to make the top five box office slots in its third weekend in theaters. That’s ridiculous. Even Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania came in at No. 2 its third weekend.

At this point, The Marvels has grossed just $76.9 million domestically, which puts it at dead last among MCU films.

Box office numbers via The Numbers based on Sunday estimates.