Box Office Update: Wonka to end 2023 on top

The final week of the year is always a hard one to predict as most movies see a halo effect from their Christmas week box office. Despite no huge tent pole film hitting theaters this Christmas, the box office for Christmas weekend was actually up 14% from last year, but unlike last year when Avatar: The Way of Water really dominated the charts, this year we are seeing several films play to different audiences that are pulling in a range of numbers from disappointing to surprising.

The surprise, or perhaps not really a surprise as it is what I thought would happen, is that Wonka is leaping out ahead of the competition to become the big winner of the holiday season. After Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom and The Color Purple had their times in the top spot, Wonka has shown that it is the move people really want to see as it has held a first place finish for most of the week and should continue that this weekend with around $20 million in receipts. You can check out Chris Bumbray’s 7/10 review here.

Second place gets a bit more muddled. The animated birds of Migration saw some healthy numbers this week, coming in second place on Thursday. Can this latest film from Illumination bring in families this weekend as they wait for the fireworks to ring in a new year? It is quite possible, but standing in its way are Aquaman and The Color Purple. 

For Aquaman, the writing is on the wall, audiences and critics are less than thrilled with the film and they are showing it with their wallets. Of course, it is a big budget spectacle that plays best on a big Imax screen, so a second week take in the mid teens is possible. 

When it comes to The Color Purple, it had a tremendous Christmas Day debut, but quickly fell the next day, dropping over 60% of its audience. That decline continued throughout the week, but perhaps audiences were just waiting for the weekend to get check this one out? Right now, the film is tracking towards a high teens weekend take (technically its first weekend in theaters), but today’s numbers will be telling to see if this one was front loaded, aided by Warner Bros push for Group Sale tickets. You can check out Chris Bumbray’s 7/10 review here.

For spot five it looks like audiences are embracing their raunchy side for the R rated comedy Anyone But You which has seen steady numbers since opening. With a split budget of $25 million (meaning the budget was split between two companies) this one should be able to at the very least not lose money for either studio while also not breaking new ground in the romantic comedy genre.

With families embracing Wonka and Migration it seems the feel good sports drama from George Clooney is seeing a less than stellar debut with a full first week take around $20 million. The good news is that Clooney kept his budget in check at around $40 million. With solid word of mouth (the film currently holds a strong 97% audience score) this one should be able to leg out to a respectable finish.

A film that isn’t seeing such a great debut is Michael Mann’s Ferrari with a first week take in the mid to high teens. With a budget of around $95 million, this biopic needed a stronger debut and with a fairly low 72% audience score, this one should fade to obscurity fairly quickly. I will say I enjoyed the film, it started off a bit slow but by the time it ended I was fully absorbed by the drama that unfolded. Penelope Cruz deserves an Oscar nomination for her amazingly fierce performance.

Will you be closing out 2023 by attending a movie? Let us know in the comments and don’t forget to check back tomorrow when we have a full rundown kn this weekend’s box office numbers.