Why Was This the Worst Thanksgiving at the Box Office Ever?

This was the worst weekend for movie theaters, but it could have been much worse without this movie.

Although Black Panther: Wakanda Forever remains number one at the box office for the second week in a row, the other films released around the same time have not been able to draw a crowd. While Thanksgiving weekend is normally when families go to the theater to catch up on the latest releases, this Thanksgiving proved to be underwhelming. 

The three-day Thanksgiving box office weekend came to $95 million, according to IndieWire. When compared to 2019’s weekend total of $181 million and 2018’s $216 million, falling short of $100 million is pretty concerning for the film industry and movie theaters.

Disney is currently dominating the theaters with Black Panther bringing in half of the weekend's take with $46 million, but Disney’s original animated feature, Strange World, tanked at the box office. The film yielded less than $19 million over five days on a budget reportedly coming in at $130 to $180 million. 

The market expense might exceed its ultimate domestic take with the holiday streaming season gearing up, but, for now, Strange World bombed. 

Theaters could have seen a spike in their box office if Netflix had done a wide release for Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, but Netflix hasn’t publicly released any grosses. Indiewire suggests that the film’s limited release brought in $9.2 million for three days, making the film’s box office take around $13 million. 

Unfortunately, Netflix doesn’t plan on making any wide theatrical releases anytime soon for their projects as it goes against their company’s movie-watching morals.

Two other films this weekend were disappointed by the turnout, with Sony’s independently produced Korean War drama Devotion grossing 10% of its $90 million budget. Black Adam is still performing well, coming in at number six. It currently has made $163 million domestically. The satirical comedy, The Menu, still brought in $5.2 million. 

Thanksgiving at the box office was not one to celebrate. Instead, we should be slightly concerned about the future of movie theater culture. I strongly believe that you should go to the theater if you’re able to watch a movie that piques your interest. If you can’t spend the $15 for a movie ticket, your local theater might have deals on Tuesdays that give you a heavily discounted ticket. 

Hopefully, December will bring more viewers to the theaters. James Cameron’s highly anticipated Avatar: The Way of Water opens Dec. 16. But we need to remember that one massive hit like Top Gun: Maverick will not save movie theaters during their troubling times. 

What movie are you looking forward to seeing in theaters? Let us know in the comments!