Weekend Box Office: Wonka ends 2023 on top

Despite no soon to be billion dollar grossing films in the marketplace, the final weekend of 2023 is actually turning out to be a pretty solid one, despite what we thought in our Thursday predictions. Coming in first place and emerging the true holiday victor is Wonka with an estimated $23.9 million. It seems families have truly embraced the whimsical tale of a young Willy Wonka in a Golden Globe nominated performance by  Timothée Chalamet. The musical is playing like 2017’s The Greatest Showman in that strong word of mouth is propelling it to very solid numbers. The good news is Wonka has a clear runway for even more success as there really isn’t another live action family film until March 29 when Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire hits theaters. 

Despite an abysmal opening and some pretty harsh headlines, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom looks to have a decent enough hold to land the second place spot with $19.5 million. This is in no way great news for the final film in the DCEU, but when you consider how hard the last few DCEU films sunk in their subsequent weeks, this is a silver lining on a sinking ship.

Third place belongs to the animated birds of Migration which is playing just like last years smash Puss in Boots: The Last Wish as both movies opened a bit soft only to show their domination in the weeks after. This weekend the Kumail Nanjiani/ Elizabeth Banks voiced film saw $17 2 million, an amazing gain of 38% over last weekends numbers. This is another one that has a solid runway to success as the next animated family title to hit theaters will be Kung Fu Panda 4 on March 8, 2024.

The Color Purple garnered headlines across the internet when it opened on Christmas Day to an astounding $18.1 million. People (including us here at Joblo) called it a “smash” and were ready to declare it a genuine box office hit. Well, sometimes the headlines don’t tell the full story because the very next day The Color Purple dropped a staggering 61.4% with another 44% lost the following day. This weekend the multi-nominated film garnered $13 million to land in fourth place. The good news is that audiences seem to genuinely enjoy the broadway adaptation with a 95% audience rating, but at just a $45.3 million domestic total, The Color Purple has a ways to go before it can recoup its reported $100 million budget before marketing costs.

The remainder of the top ten sees your Christmas Day releases such as Boys in the Boat and Ferrari occupying their first full weekends of release with Boys in the Boat securing a spot in the top 6 with an estimated $8.3 million while Ferrari looks like it is going to be a pretty sizable bomb with just $4 million off a reported $95 million budget. Fifth place belongs to the R rated Rom-Com Anyone But You with an estimated $9million and a two week total of $25 million.

Coming in 6th place is the true story The Iron Claw based on the tragic history of the Von Erich family with an estimated $5 million. The film has already amassed a solid $16.3 million due to great word of mouth, including an A- cinemascore, the highest cinemascore in production company A24’s history. The film is already starting to see some profit as the budget was reportedly just around $16 million. Joblo actually named The Iron Claw its second favorite movie of 2023. Having seen the film on Friday, I can say this was a tremendously well done film that is genuinely entertaining and even more heartbreaking. It is a film worthy of your time and it is a tragedy this one isn’t picking up more awards consideration as its acting ensemble deserves it.

The remainder of the top ten go to the surprisingly resilient The Hunger Games; The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes with another $2.9 million added to its solid $159.8 million domestic total while spot ten goes to the multi-nominated The Boy and the Heron with $2.5 million.

Did you celebrate the end of the year by heading to theaters? Let us know in the comments and don’t forget to check out our last poll of the year where we ask: What was your Favorite Movie of 2023?