Box Office Report: The Candy Man Can

By Kayleigh Donaldson | Film | December 18, 2023 |

By Kayleigh Donaldson | Film | December 18, 2023 |

Twas the week before Christmas and all through Hollywood, few studios were stirring. Expect some big titles for the coming weekend, which is one of the biggest box office periods of any given year. Warner Bros., however, decided to get a head start on its festive fare for the holidays, Wonka. Reviews ended up being surprisingly positive for a film I’m still convinced literally nobody asked for, and it opened to a comfortable $39 million in 4,203 theatres. It could continue to do strong business over the Christmas week since it’s a family film and its competition is primarily aimed at teens and adults.

Wonka really had the weekend to itself. Nothing came close in terms of new competition. Seventeen Tour Follow to Japan: Live Viewing, a tour movie following the K-Pop icons, made $733,654 from 468 theatres, while satirical drama American Fiction brought in $226,874 from seven locations. The next few weeks will see a lot of those Oscar contenders open in limited releases then expand over the course of a couple of months, all in the hopes of maintaining that momentum during a lot and drawn-out campaign season. Poor Things, Yorgos Lanthimos’ dark comedy, added an extra 73 cinemas to its current small run, which gave it a 92.8% boost from its opening weekend. That was enough to push it into the top ten, right behind Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé.

Speaking of awards favourites, we also have The Zone of Interest, Jonathan Glazer’s bleak insight into the banality of evil via a Nazi officer and his home in Auschwitz. This, obviously, isn’t an easy sell to the masses, but Glazer is a beloved indie filmmaker and the reviews for this have been undeniable. That buzz helped it to bring in $124,791 from only four locations in its opening weekend.

This coming week sees the wide release of American Fiction. It also welcomes the premieres of rom-com Anyone But You, wrestling drama The Iron Claw, duck-themed animation Migration, the musical The Color Purple, inspirational sports biopic The Boys in the Boat, and true-life motor drama Ferrari. Choose your festive viewing wisely.

You can check out the rest of the weekend box office here.