THB #638: Too Mu To View

The bad news is a weak opening for Mufasa: The Lion King… which Disney has been signalling for a while now.

The good news is that the market has 2 more year-end holiday days this year than it has had since 2019. To clarify, last year, New Year’s Day, the last day of the holiday window, was on a Monday. In 2022, it was on a Sunday. This year, it is on Wednesday.

Christmas Day is well programmed this year with Nosferatu and A Complete Unknown, both of which are looking at $15m - $25m in their 5-day Christmas to Sunday initial runs. Last year, The Color Purple did $36 million in its first 5 days. In 2022, there were no wide Christmas openers though Babylon opened poorly on the 23rd. And in 2022, there was a similar duo in Little Women and Spies in Disguise, a duo set a fairly high bar for this year’s Christmas pair.

Nothing will really make up for there being no Avatar or Spider-Man or Star Wars (or even a Wonka) in December.

This weekend, the year’s 51st box office weekend, was solid in …