This weekend, Beyonce dominated the box office.
AMC Theatres Sunday estimates that Beyoncé’s concert film, “Renaissance: A Film by Beyonce,” began in first place with US$21 million in ticket sales in North America.
The box office in the first few days of December after Thanksgiving is usually poor, but “Renaissance” managed to beat the odds. It’s the first time a movie has opened over US$20 million on this weekend in 20 years (since “The Last Samurai”), not including inflation.
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“Renaissance,” which is centered on the tour for her Grammy-winning record, was written, filmed, and produced by Beyonce. It made US$6.4 million from 2,621 cinemas when it opened in 2,539 theaters across the United States, Canada, and 94 other countries.
“We thank Beyonce for bringing this amazing film directly to her fans on behalf of AMC Theatres Distribution and the entire theatrical industry,” stated Elizabeth Frank, executive vice president of international programming at AMC Theatres, in a statement. “To see it resonate with fans and with film critics on a weekend that many in the industry typically neglect is a testament to her immense talent, not just as a performer, but as a producer and director.”
Despite a number of other new releases, such as Lionsgate’s John Woo-directed revenge picture “Silent Night,” Angel Studios’ sci-fi thriller “The Shift,” the Hindi-language “Animal,” and “Godzilla Minus One,” it was a quiet weekend overall. Only US$85 million is anticipated to be made overall by the top 10 films.
However, AMC Theatres saw a window of opportunity for “Renaissance” to shine during this customary “lull”.
According to Comscore senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian, “they picked a great weekend.” “There was competition but it was from very different kinds of movies.”
Despite not even approaching the $92.8 million opening weekend of “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” in October, “Renaissance” is off to a very strong start for a concert film. Nobody anticipated “Renaissance” to be on par with “The Eras Tour,” which is about to end its theatrical run and has made over $250 million worldwide. Before Swift, Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber’s 2008 and 2011 concert film debuts were the biggest debuts, with totals that had not exceeded US$32 million.
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Over 2.7 million people attended the 39-city, 56-show “Renaissance” tour, which began in Stockholm, Sweden in May and concluded in Kansas City, Missouri in the fall. The tour brought in over US$500 million in revenue. Swift’s “Eras Tour,” which has 151 dates left, is predicted to bring in almost US$1.4 billion.
Rather of working with a traditional company to release their movies, Beyonce and Swift choose to collaborate with AMC Theatres. Superstars have shown each other support by attending each other’s premieres in style. Both have previously had movies (“Miss Americana” and “Homecoming”) available on Netflix. Additionally, it’s said that each get at least 50% of ticket sales.
According to analytics firm EntTelligence, movie tickets for the event were more expensive than usual, costing approximately US$23.32 as opposed to Swift’s US$20.78.
“Renaissance” received excellent reviews from critics and viewers; it currently has a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and an A+ CinemaScore from surveyed opening weekend viewers. According to EntTelligence, the audience, which numbered in the neighborhood of 900,000, was slightly older than Swift’s.
“To have two concert films topping the chart in a single year is pretty unprecedented,” Dergarabedian stated.
That would be a mistake, though, to compare them too closely.
“Taylor Swift was a total outlier and the result of a very specific set of circumstances,” he stated. “These two films are similar in genre only.”
With an estimated US$14.5 million, Lionsgate’s “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes” finished second in its third weekend of release. Over 121 million US dollars have been made domestically by the prequel.
With US$11 million from 2,308 sites, “Godzilla Minus One” debuted in third place on the North American charts, marking the largest opening for a foreign film in the country this year. Despite only costing $15 million to make, the highly acclaimed Japanese movie, distributed by Toho International, has already made US$23 million in Japan. Takashi Yamazaki directed Toho’s 33rd Godzilla movie, which is based in the years following World War II and starring Ryunosuke Kamiki.
Toho Global President Koji Ueda stated in a statement, “This year, we made a concentrated effort to answer the demand of the marketplace and make Godzilla globally accessible across many different platforms.”
With US$7.6 million in its third weekend, “Trolls Band Together” came in fourth place, raising its domestic total to US$74.8 million.
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Disney’s “Wish,” which dropped 62% from its lackluster opening weekend and brought in US$7.4 million from 3,900 venues, came in fifth place. It has now grossed $81.6 million USD worldwide. Despite the superhero movie “The Marvels” reportedly costing US$300 million to produce and promote, the studio’s other big release in theaters, “The Marvels,” is similarly nearing the conclusion of its fourth weekend with a dismal global total of US$197 million.
Ridley Scott’s “Napoleon” made an estimated US$7.1 million from 3,500 locations during its second weekend of sales. With a budget of US$200 million, the Joaquin Phoenix film, produced by Apple Original Films and released by Sony Pictures, has earned US$45.7 million domestically to far.
The last few weeks of 2023 should see a pick-up because movies like “Wonka” and “The Color Purple” are still to come out. The industry is projecting a US$9 billion year, which is still below the US$11 billion pre-pandemic average but represents a significant improvement over the previous few years. And as the industry’s awards season ramps up, there are still plenty of good options for filmgoers.
“We had a slow Thanksgiving and we’re having a pretty slow weekend this weekend, but it’s a great weekend to be a moviegoer in terms of the breadth and depth of the movies out there,” Dergarabedian stated.
Comscore estimates the number of tickets sold at American and Canadian theaters from Friday through Sunday. On Monday, the final domestic numbers will be disclosed.
- “Renaissance: A Film by Beyonce,” US$21 million.
- “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes,” US$14.5 million.
- “Godzilla Minus One,” US$11 million.
- “Trolls Band Together,” US$7.6 million.
- “Wish,” US$7.4 million.
- “Napoleon,” US$7.1 million.
- “Animal,” US$6.1 million.
- “The Shift,” US$4.4 million.
- “Silent Night,” US$3 million.
- “Thanksgiving,” US$2.6 million.
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