At the box office, Disney is experiencing a bittersweet Thanksgiving holiday. While Strange World, the studio’s most recent animated film, is underperforming compared to other films released around this time of the year, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is doing about as well as predicted. Marvel’s superhero sequel has already made over $339 million domestically with $18.2 million on its third Friday, and it is anticipated to close the five-day holiday weekend with over $60 million. The forecasts’ top bounds have now been raised to $67 million. The movie made $181 million its first weekend and $66 million its second weekend. Wakanda Forever on Friday surpassed the $600 million milestone globally.
Before the movie surpasses the other two MCU movies from 2022, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness ($955 million worldwide) and Thor: Love and Thunder ($760 million worldwide), there is still a ways to go. However, it will surpass Love and Thunder’s $343 million domestic total today to rank as the sixth-biggest movie of the year.
The new $180 million animated picture Disney Strange World, which stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Dennis Quaid among others, didn’t fare as well. The movie was expected to gross roughly $40 million throughout its extended run, which would have put it on pace with Encanto from the previous year, but those estimates have since been lowered to $19 million due to the film’s underwhelming initial weeks of release. On Friday, Strange World brought in $5.2 million, bringing its overall domestic revenue to nearly $11 million.
Devotion, a Korean War drama from Sony, is also doing poorly. The $90 million film, directed by J.D. Dillard and starring Jonathan Majors and Glen Powell, earned $2.4 million on Friday and is expected to earn roughly $9 million over the long weekend. The Menu, a dark comedy from Searchlight, earned $2 million on its second Friday and is on track for a five-day total of about $7 million. The movie, which was directed by Mark Mylod, is already grossing over $15 million domestically. Black Adam, a high-profile superhero movie from Warner Bros. and DC, will round out the top five. It earned $1.2 million on its seventh Friday to bring its extended Thanksgiving weekend total to $4.5 million. Despite having an estimated $190 million budget, the movie has disappointed with $160 million in domestic box office revenue thus far.
Another unusual countrywide release by Netflix, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, is drawing criticism as it only runs for one week in over 600 cinemas. In keeping with tradition, the streamer is withholding official numbers, but competing studios anticipate a five-day finish of about $10 million. With more than $40 million in its first weekend, the first Knives Out movie was an unexpected box office success. Both Glass Onion and a third movie are scheduled to be distributed on (and on) Netflix. Luca Guadagnino’s Bones and All is underperforming with about $4 million from over 2,700 cinemas, while Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans is still on target for a $3 million extended weekend from roughly 600 venues.
Compared to the same period last year, when COVID-19 limitations were more severe, overall business was down 12%, and audience excitement was noticeably more subdued. Stay tuned to Collider for more information and watch our interview with Daniel Craig and director Rian Johnson from the movie Glass Onion here.