Wickedtopia: Big Box Office Train on the Move and it’s moving along loud and strong into the Q4 Christmas/Holiday Window.
Disney Executives Bob Iger and Dana Walden are I’m sure feeling extra thankful this morning after their sequel to an animated film from 15 years ago became a major hit this week and sees no signs of stopping.
Across town on a different backlot with a theme park attached to is Donna Langley and Brian Robert’s feeling extra thankful that Zootopia didn’t take a piece of their Wicked pie after all!
Maybe they all had Thanksgiving together after all?
Wickedtopia2 fits the moment - they’re both sequels and it’s a vibe!
Are they all having Thanksgiving dinner together…Probably not, but as for WB and Zaslav - he’s I’m sure also feeling really thankful that he’s created one of the most historic bidding wars in Hollywood history. So far, Paramount is in the win I hear because they’re willing to buy CNN along with the WB studio portfolio something. Zaslav has been looking for the dream buyer for his studio and cable news station - which is a big cost on a studio balance sheet.
Ellison is no stranger to buying news stations having just acquired CBS News as a part of the Paramount acquisition which followed a couple of days later The Free Press Substack being acquired by Ellison for Paramount for $150M. Now Weiss is running the CBS NEWS side of the company!
BOR - WICKEDTOPIA2
Wicked box office which had those Amazon early access screenings starting Monday, Nov. 15 and opening on Wednesday, 11/17 has gone wide and Zootopia which opened with Tuesday and Wednesday screenings this week are looking very green for both studios whose filmed both had A Comscore Audience Scores!
ZOOTOPIA 2 opened to a heavy $39.5M and per our tracking looks to be on course for a $83-.$92.5M (3-Day) and near $150M (5-Day). With a Cinemascore of A from Audiences expect this to continue to leg out out through Christmas!
The same goes for Wicked which last month shattered Fandango’s highest ever PG-rated pre-seller. With both films, sharing all the PLFs and aimed at the same demographics - it’s still expecting to soar upwards of $270M domestically. Which is a FANTASTIC week 1 & 2 and with competition sharing those Dolby, IMAX and other PLFs - it’s hard, but theater programmers got it down! They know their customers and traffic volumes and will schedule the heck out of both.
Here’s to theaters winning!
Oh and AMC now has mini chocolate chip cookies - they are so yummy!!!! 8-Pack of 24-Pack!!!! Get them - they are delicious!!!
I am back now so expect dozens of reviews to grace your screens and some big announcements coming that you won’t want to miss! And a giveaway this weeekend…stay tuned!!!!!
Which movie are you most looking forward to hitting 4k UHD from this weekend?! Pick 1! :)