Disney’s “Moana 2” and Universal’s “Wicked” continue their rule atop the box office charts for one more weekend as Sony’s “Kraven the Hunter” and Warner Bros.’ “Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim” are fizzling fast in their opening weekends.
“Kraven,” a Marvel antihero adaptation with a budget that inflated to $110 million after a strike-induced 14-month release delay, has suffered an opening weekend of just $11 million.
That’s below the $15.3 million opening weekend of “Madame Web” for the lowest opening ever for a Sony-produced Marvel film. With a CinemaScore grade of C and a slew of holiday releases on the horizon, it is looking like “Kraven” won’t last long on the screens of many theaters next weekend.
“Moana 2” is leading the charts with $26.6 million domestic and $84 million worldwide in its third weekend, bringing its totals to $337.5 million domestic and $717 million global. It has now passed the unadjusted $643 million lifetime gross of the first “Moana” as it continues its journey to becoming Walt Disney Animation’s first $1 billion grosser since the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Wicked” is close behind “Moana 2” with $22.5 million in its fourth weekend, bringing its total to $359 million domestic and $525 million worldwide. After dropping 55% last weekend, the hit Jon M. Chu musical only dropped 39% domestically and is looking to continue holding strong as Universal hosts singalong screenings during the holidays.
Paramount’s “Gladiator II” is in fourth on the charts behind “Kraven” with $7.8 million in its third weekend, putting on the threshold of $400 million worldwide with $145.9 million in North America.
“Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim” completes the top 5 with an opening of just $4.6 million. The $30 million budgeted anime film was greenlit in 2022 by New Line Cinema in an effort to retain the film rights to J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-Earth novels, though those rights were later secured through a partnership with the rights’ new owners, Embracer Media.
Reception for the film has been mixed with a 52% Rotten Tomatoes score and a B on CinemaScore, as it is unlikely to find much interest beyond its niche core audience that has interest in both Tolkien and anime.
Elsewhere, in limited release, a pair of potential Oscar contenders made their debut in New York and Los Angeles. Amazon MGM released “Nickel Boys” at the Lincoln Square and Angelika in New York for a two-screen total of $60,824. The film will be released in L.A. later this month and expand nationwide in January.
Paramount also released the true story thriller “September 5” in seven theaters in Los Angeles, New York and Toronto, grossing an estimated $89,000 for a $12,714 average. The retelling of the Munich Olympics terrorist attack through the perspective of ABC’s sports news team has an 83% Rotten Tomatoes score and will be released wide on Jan. 17.
