Thanksgiving Box Office 2023: Films Shine Bright, Boosting Positivity in the Film Industry

The Thanksgiving box office in 2023 presented both prosperity and challenges for the theatrical industry.

Lionsgate's "Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes" had a successful second week at the box office during the Thanksgiving period, bringing in an estimated $42 million. Meanwhile, Apple's R-rated war epic "Napoleon," distributed by Sony, earned around $32.5 million.

On the other hand, Disney's newest animated feature, "Wish," created to commemorate the company's 100th anniversary, significantly underperformed at the box office, garnering only $31.7 million during its initial five days in theaters. Analysts had predicted an opening range of $45 million to $55 million for the same period.

“It wouldn’t be a holiday box office season without some occasional upsets and this weekend is delivering on that front,” said Shawn Robbins, chief analyst at BoxOffice.com. “‘Napoleon’ is a solid win for Sony, Apple, theaters and moviegoers all around. Another successful adult-driven film was needed right now after the vacancy left behind by ‘Dune: Part Two’ and the light holiday calendar still ahead.”

However, the lackluster performance of "Wish" highlights ongoing concerns within Disney's animation studios, grappling with challenges in attracting audiences back to theaters post-pandemic. In contrast, Universal's "Trolls Band Together" secured $25.3 million during its second week in theaters for the same five-day period.

“Disney’s ‘Wish’ is struggling to reach even the most conservative of expectations,” said Robbins. “It is a performance that again highlights the studio’s long road ahead to rebuild brand and audience confidence while making their films stand out as theatrical events again rather than have them be cannibalized by the impact of flailing streaming-focused strategies.”

In total, the Thanksgiving box office raked in approximately $172 million, signaling an improvement compared to the preceding three years marked by pandemic-related challenges in ticket sales. Before the onset of the coronavirus outbreak, the five-day Thanksgiving period, spanning from the Wednesday before Thanksgiving through Sunday, typically yielded over $250 million in ticket sales annually.

“This important period of Thanksgiving movie-going has been solid though not earth-shattering,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore. “This week’s performance is encouraging for the industry, though at under $200 million, the total box office has not returned to the heyday years of pre-2020 levels.”

Nevertheless, Dergarabedian highlighted that the Thanksgiving box office presented a diverse array of films spanning various genres and appealing to different age demographics, addressing a gap that had been evident in recent years.

“Overall, this is a positive step forward for Thanksgiving box office moviegoing traffic as the industry continues to learn how to navigate a rapidly evolving marketplace,” said BoxOffice.com’s Robbins.