The United States Thanksgiving weekend always generates hype among retailers and those in the travel industry. However, it is also typically a busy time for movie theatres. Americans have some additional free time on their hands, which draws some extra foot traffic to the cinema.
In the first two thirds of the year, cinemas had reason to celebrate the incredible success of The Super Mario Bros. Movie and Barbie. The Super Mario Bros. Movie was released on April 5, 2023, and pulled in over $570 million at the domestic box office, while Barbie was a massive success and raked in over $635 million in 2023. Since then, cinemas have been searching for a film to even approach that kind of attention.
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes was the top grossing film for the second straight week, pulling in $28.8 million over the Thanksgiving weekend. Meanwhile, Ridley Scott’s historical epic Napoleon generated $20.4 million. Wish, the new animated release from Disney (NYSE:DIS), was able to pull in $19.5 million over the holiday weekend. The two other notable releases were Trolls Band Together, which generated $17.5 million, and the horror-comedy Thanksgiving which posted domestic revenues of $7.27 million.
AMC Entertainment (NYSE:AMC), the largest cinema operator in the United States, will have something to celebrate coming out of Thanksgiving. Cinemas still have releases like Wonka, The Iron Claw, and Ferrari to look forward to. Shares of AMC have plunged 77% in 2023 as of close on Friday, November 24.