1. Moana 2
Walt Disney Pictures | Week 3
$26.6M Domestic Weekend | $337.5M Domestic Cume
$717M Global Cume
Disney’s Moana 2 continues its glorious reign atop the box office as the animated hit collected a further $26.6M this frame from 4000 screens for a Per Screen Average of $6,655. That’s a -48% drop from the last frame. At $337.5M, it is now the #4 all-time grosser for Walt Disney Pictures, below (but soon to surpass) Zootopia ($341.2M) and the two Frozen movies which both did north of $400M.
Here’s how the 3-Day looked…
- Friday – $6M
- Saturday – $12.1M
- Sunday – $8.5M
Internationally, Moana 2 continues to play big, earning $57.2M from 52 material territories for an international cume of $379.5M. The movie is still the top film in all markets, with the Top 3 territories being France ($40.5M), the UK ($33.5M), and Germany ($24.8M). At $717M globally, it’s also the #4 Disney Animated movie behind Zootopia, with more than $250M to go before it crosses that movie’s $1B gross.
3. Kraven the Hunter
Sony Pictures | NEW
$11M Domestic Opening Weekend
$26M Global Cume
Sony’s side-universe of Marvel spin-off characters has come to an ignominious end as Kraven the Hunter tanked in its debut with an estimated $11M on 3211 screens for a PSA of $3,426. An estimated $518K came from IMAX screens, with $1.7M in the format globally. This makes it the lowest-opening of the Sony Spider-Verse movies, and one of the lowest-ever for a Marvel-branded film, coming in under than 2004’s The Punisher ($14M) and 2005’s Elektra ($12.8M), both unadjusted.
Here’s how the 3-Day looked, including $2M in Thursday previews…
- Friday – $4.785M
- Saturday – $3.75M
- Sunday – $2.465M
The film’s opening weekend had to contend with reports that it would be the last of Sony’s Spider-Verse spin-offs, ending the high-concept experiment (Spider-Man movies without Spider-Man in them) with a loud thud in the market. The gambit of posting the first 8-minutes online also did not pay off, only generating 2.1M views since dropping two weeks ago. Critical was in the toilet at 15% Rotten via Rotten Tomatoes, along with a “C” CinemaScore. That’s on-par with February’s Madame Web (11% RT, C+ CinemaScore), which also opened better at $15.3M… although it had the benefit of around 800 more screens than Kraven. Given the reception for most of Sony’s Marvel output (excluding the animated Miles Morales movies), this flameout feels somewhat inevitable.
The film’s R-rating didn’t help its appeal either. While it’s easy to point to outliers like Logan or the Deadpool movies as R-rated smashes, those featured characters (played by big movie stars) already established in the PG-13 films. Kraven had neither big-name draws nor was he an A-level character fans were clamoring to have his own solo movie. This Hunter might have been much better served getting his big-screen intro in a traditional Spider-Man movie.
Overseas, Kraven the Hunter brought in $15M from 21,500+ screens in 60 markets for a global cume of $26M. The film still has more bows ahead including France (Dec 18), Ukraine (Dec 19), Thailand (Dec 25), India (Jan 1), and South Korea (Jan 17).
5. The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim
Warner Bros. | NEW
$4.6M Domestic Opening Weekend
$10.3M Global Cume
After a low $1.79M showing during its soft international launch last weekend in 31 markets, the domestic bow of Warner Bros.’ The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim yielded little magic. The animated feature, on which Peter Jackson serves as an executive producer, took in $4.6M on 2,602 screens for a PSA of $1,768.
Reviews veered negative at 51% RT critical, though audience rating was 84%, with a solid enough “B” CinemaScore. PostTrak score was 3½ out of 5. Here’s how demographics looked…
- 69% Caucasian
- 16% Hispanic
- 6% African-American
- 9% Asian/Native-American
Here’s how the 3-Day looked…
- Friday – $2M
- Saturday – $1.47M
- Sunday – $1.1M
Comparing this film to the previous six movies in Jackson’s Lord of the Rings/Hobbit cycle would be futile, as their debut weekends came in between $47M and $84M. The lowest-opening of the six, The Fellowship of the Ring, took in $47.2M during this same frame 23 years ago, unadjusted. Part of the reason Rohirrim was made at all was for Warners/New Line to maintain their cinematic rights to Middle Earth properties. Having Amazon’s mega-budget The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power series on streaming (which New Line has a stake in) may have also played a part in diluting the event status for War of the Rohirrim.
It also would not be germane to compare this to something like Sony’s two animated Spider-Verse movies, since they had massive budgets, while Rohirrim was made for a reported $30M. Probably the best point of comparison would be something like WB’s Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, which opened to $1.4M in late December 1993 ($5.6M cume), or maybe the 2008 CGI animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars which opened to $14.6M ($35.1M cume, also WB). No matter how popular a property is, an animated effort almost never has the same draw as the mainline live-action features.
The story itself was a little distancing, set 183-years before the events of the first Lord of the Rings trilogy, while the Anime style animation also increased the geek niche nature of the project. Despite its budget and Middle Earth pedigree, this is not even the biggest anime opening of 2024. That honor goes to February’s Demon Slayer: To the Hashira Training, which debuted to $11.5M.
Internationally, Rohirrim brought in another $4M from 72 territories for a global cume of $10.3M. Top 3 markets are the UK ($607K), Germany ($534K), and France ($505K). For perspective, at this pace the new movie’s final global tally will likely not outgross the domestic performance of the 1978 animated Lord of the Rings movie, which took in $30.4M domestic.
Other Notable Performances
Universal’s Wicked over-performed again, taking the #2 spot with an estimated $22M in its 4th frame while also crossing the $500M mark worldwide. Domestic cume for the Oz-based musical is now $359M (just below Despicable Me 4), while the worldwide cume stands at $524.9M after new openings in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.
Paramount Pictures opened their drama September 5, which details the 1972 Munich massacre, to $89K from 7 screens for a PSA of $12,714. The critically acclaimed Oscar contender stars Peter Sarsgaard.
Sunday’s Studio Weekend Estimates
Weekend 50 – 2024
Total 3-Day Domestic Estimates: $87,920,053M | (+13.7% vs 2023)
| Title | Weekend Estimate | % Change | Locations | Location Change | PSA | Domestic Total | Week | Distributor |
| Moana 2 | $26,621,000 | -48% | 4,000 | -200 | $6,655 | $337,516,469 | 3 | Walt Disney |
| Wicked | $22,500,000 | -38% | 3,689 | -196 | $6,099 | $359,038,000 | 4 | Universal |
| Kraven the Hunter | $11,000,000 | 3,211 | $3,426 | $11,000,000 | 1 | Sony Pictures | ||
| Gladiator II | $7,800,000 | -38% | 3,224 | -216 | $2,419 | $145,935,000 | 4 | Paramount Pi… |
| The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim | $4,600,000 | 2,602 | $1,768 | $4,600,000 | 1 | Warner Bros. | ||
| Interstellar | $3,315,000 | -28% | 321 | 156 | $10,327 | $199,799,000 | 528 | Paramount Pi… |
| Pushpa: The Rule — Part 2 | $1,600,000 | -67% | 631 | -614 | $2,536 | $13,000,000 | 2 | Prathyangira… |
| The Best Christmas Pageant Ever | $1,350,000 | -10% | 1,519 | -114 | $889 | $36,663,106 | 6 | Lionsgate |
| Queer | $790,954 | 1 | 460 | 413 | $1,719 | $1,924,063 | 3 | A24 |
| Y2K | $684,957 | -68% | 1,948 | -160 | $352 | $3,763,863 | 2 | A24 |
| Flow | $374,000 | -31% | 377 | 2 | $992 | $1,321,349 | 4 | Janus Films |
| The Order | $365,000 | -58% | 603 | n/c | $605 | $1,638,384 | 2 | Vertical Ent… |
| Venom: The Last Dance | $235,000 | -62% | 344 | -510 | $683 | $139,500,000 | 8 | Sony Pictures |
| Bonhoeffer: Pastor. Spy. Assassin | $229,895 | -59% | 445 | -500 | $517 | $11,847,518 | 4 | Angel Studios |
| A Real Pain | $223,000 | -23% | 180 | -40 | $1,239 | $7,009,804 | 7 | Searchlight … |
| Anora | $215,000 | 0 | 214 | 91 | $1,005 | $13,482,688 | 9 | Neon |
| Conclave | $150,000 | -32% | 172 | -59 | $872 | $30,894,000 | 8 | Focus Features |
| Heretic | $108,157 | -55% | 101 | -177 | $1,071 | $27,716,205 | 6 | A24 |
| September 5 | $89,000 | 7 | $12,714 | $89,000 | 1 | Paramount Pi… | ||
| The Wild Robot | $81,000 | -37% | 160 | -131 | $506 | $142,957,000 | 12 | Universal |
| The Return | $79,791 | -78% | 261 | -368 | $306 | $650,833 | 2 | Bleecker Street |
| Nickel Boys | $60,844 | 2 | $30,422 | $60,844 | 1 | Amazon MGM S… | ||
| All We Imagine as Light | $57,000 | 0 | 34 | 10 | $1,676 | $413,271 | 5 | Janus Films |
| The End | $51,200 | 1 | 151 | 148 | $339 | $80,075 | 2 | Neon |
| The Seed of the Sacred Fig | $25,543 | n/c | 9 | 4 | $2,838 | $137,494 | 3 | Neon |
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