In the North American box office charts last weekend (December 22-24), new films released during the Christmas period topped the list. The new work occupies five of the first to sixth spots, with the first in line being DC's latest title, Aquaman: The Lost Kingdom
Aquaman was a huge hit in 2018, grossing over 3$3.5 billion and a global box office of 11$5.2 billion, the highest grossing DC movie. The sequel, Aquaman: The Lost Kingdom, was released in 3,706 theaters and grossed $27.7 million in its first three days. The opening box office of the previous film was $67.87 million, which is by no means the best, and the box office revenue has gradually increased from there, but considering the current state of American comic book films, it has to be said that this time it performed well. A pretty tough start.
Of the DC films released in 2023, "The Flash" (23 films) grossed $55 million at the opening box office, and ended up barely grossing more than $100 million in North America (2$700 million). Blue Beetle (23) made $25 million at the opening box office and ended up grossing about $72 million (1$2.9 billion). With all of this in mind, it seems unlikely that Aquaman: The Lost Kingdom will reach the $100 million mark at the North American box office. This will be the last work before the DC Universe regrouped, and it will be a very uphill battle.
On the other hand, "Wonka & the Chocolate Factory," which held second place for the second week in a row, roughly halved its box office revenue from the previous week, but was $75 million as of the weekend. Unsurprisingly, the film appears to be a hit on Christmas Day, with daily box office receipts approaching Aquaman: The Lost Kingdom, which is expected to surpass the $100 million mark soon.
On that Christmas Day, "The Color Purple," released by Warner Bros., like "Wonka" and "Aquaman," began an unusual "Monday release" and in terms of daily entertainment sales, these three Warner films occupied the top three.
In third place is Illumination Entertainment's new anime "fly!".In fourth place is Anyone but You, the latest romantic comedy directed by Will Gluck, who also directed Why Are Little Devils Popular?》(10)。In fifth place is "Salar" starring Prabas in the "King Baahubali" series, and in sixth place is "Iron Claw", a biopic about the family of professional wrestlers von Erich.
In the past, Oscar-winning films tended to be released at the last minute of the year to qualify for Academy Award nominations and ensure that their films would be remembered clearly at the start of the New Year's voting period. However, in recent years, it has become important to get through the fall festival season, and competition for awards has established a new trend (last year's "Everything Is Once" was released in the first half of the year) (which is a special case), but the number of such "sliding" productions has decreased dramatically.
However, the aforementioned "Iron Claw" and "The Color Purple" (the latter is a stage film adaptation of a work that was previously nominated for 11 Oscars in 10 categories but did not win), however, Searchlight Pictures' "Inhuman" did well in 18th place and is a work that is expected to do well in the award race, and is also highly praised by critics. At the 96th Academy Awards, which has been greatly affected by the long-term strike, do these lapsed films still have a chance?