WONKA Exceeding Expectations At Box Office

I know two people who have been to see Wonka and they both loved it. One was a female under 35 who I would have expected to like it. Another is an ex-military male in his 50s who grudgingly took his kids to see it and, against all expectations, gave it glowing feedback. This seems to be repeated out there in normie world.

Wonka has garnered a solid A- CinemaScore from general audiences, with even younger audiences under 25 giving it an A or an A+. It is having a strong surge in ticket buyers in the 18-34 age range. All of this has combined to make it exceed weekend box office expectations, It opened in over 30 markets last weekend, and this weekend expanded release.

This pulled in $53.6 million outside the U.S. in its second weekend. It had already grabbed nearly $40 million from its domestic start. It is currently sitting on $151.4 million from the weekend but is showing signs of having legs deep into the holiday period. So with a $125 million budget it is likely to turn a profit for Warner Bros.

Universal and Illumination’s Migration also expanded overseas and pulled in $5.2 million outside the US to drive to $12.3 million with more markets still to open.

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is quietly going about it’s business at the box office in the background and crossed the $300 million mark this weekend, including another $6.1 million domestically. On a relatively tight budget of $100 million, this is not the flop many commentators were proclaiming a few weeks ago.

The Boy and the Heron was third with $5.1 million in the US and $110 million outside.

Godzilla Minus One in fourth continues to embarrass Hollywood and show what is possible on a tiny budget, with $4.8 million in the US and $64 million worldwide.

Expect Wonka to carry through to Christmas when Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom opens. After this, the toll of strikes and COVID production pauses means it is a fairly barren outlook at the box office until Dune Part Two debuts in March.