Weekend Wrap-Up: Frozen has Fantastic Opening with $130.26 million

November 26, 2019

Frozen II

Frozen II beat expectations over the weekend, and earned several records along the way. In fact, its three-day opening of $130.26 million is better than the previous 5-day Thanksgiving weekend for an animated film, a record previously held by Frozen. The other two new releases, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood and 21 Bridges, missed expectations, but were close enough that the overall box office was very healthy. In fact, the box office rose 89% from last weekend to $204 million. This was 5.7% lower than the same weekend last year, but this weekend last year was Thanksgiving, so being down by 5.7% during a holiday misalignment is a fantastic result. We did lose the weekday holidays, so year-over-year, 2019 lost a lot of ground to 2018 and is now behind last year’s pace by 7.4% or $770 million at $9.71 billion to $10.48 billion. We should gain a lot next weekend, thanks to Thanksgiving, and by the first weekend of December, things will settle down.

Frozen II not only beat expectations with $130.26 million over the weekend, this number is better than the projections based on Friday’s estimates and the Sunday’s weekend estimates and that is a very good omen for its legs going forward. Granted, its reviews are merely good, but not great, as is its A minus from CinemaScore, but its performance so far and the lack of direct competition for the rest of the year means it should remain a potent force at the box office until January. Will it last long enough to match its predecessor. We will find out.

Ford v Ferrari fell faster than anticipated, down 50% to $15.73 million over the weekend for a two-week total of $57.72 million. Normally, a result like this would eliminate any chance of reaching $100 million domestically; however, Thanksgiving is this weekend and Christmas / New Year isn’t that far away, so it could still get there in the end.

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood struggled with an opening weekend of $13.25 million. On the positive side, the film’s reviews and its A-rating from CinemaScore should really help its legs, especially if it also gets some Awards Season buzz. Also, it didn’t cost a huge amount to make and it could match its $45 million production budget domestically. I don’t know if it will find an audience internationally, but I doubt it, so it will need to rely on domestic numbers, both theatrical and on the home market, to break even.

21 Bridges opened on the very low end of expectations with $9.25 million over the weekend. Its target audience, its reviews, its B plus from CinemaScore, and its theater average all suggest the film will have the shortest legs of the three wide releases that opened this past weekend.

Midway rounded out the top five with $4.64 million over the weekend for a three-week total of $43.05 million. This is lower than anticipated and not that much above sixth placed Playing with Fire, which earned $4.52 million over the weekend. However, Midway still has a sizable lead overall, as the later film has only pulled in $31.52 million so far.

Looking in on the sophomore class, we find The Good Liar remaining in seventh place with $3.40 million over the weekend for a two-week total of $11.79 million. Normally a 39% sophomore stint decline would be something worth celebrating, but this is too little, too late. Meanwhile, Charlie’s Angels plummeted 61% to just $3.24 million over the weekend for a running tally of $14.00 million.

Filed under: Weekend Wrap-up, Frozen II, Charlie’s Angels, The Good Liar, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, Midway, Ford v. Ferrari, 21 Bridges, Playing with Fire