In its fourth weekend in theaters, Timothée Chalamet's "Wonka" continues to dominate the box office, topping the charts for the third time. The Warner Bros. family-oriented musical earned $14.4 million in ticket sales, bringing its total domestic grosses to $164.7 million. According to Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for Comscore, "Wonka" is following in the footsteps of films like "The Greatest Showman," which opened with under $9 million and went on to gross $435 million globally. Dergarabedian believes that "Wonka" is a perfect crowd pleaser released at the right time and will continue to perform well in the coming weeks.
On the other hand, 2024 is off to a slower start compared to the previous year, with a decrease of around 16% in box office revenue. The only major new offering in theaters is the Universal/Blumhouse horror film "Night Swim," starring Wyatt Russell and Kerry Condon. Despite receiving fairly negative reviews and a C CinemaScore rating, "Night Swim" managed to draw in an estimated $12 million in its first weekend in North America. Including international showings, the film is expected to have a global debut of $17.7 million. Jim Orr, Universal's head of domestic distribution, expressed satisfaction with the movie's performance and its ability to make audiences wary of swimming pools.
Other films on the box office charts include Warner Bros.' DC superhero movie "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom," which earned $10.6 million in its third weekend, surpassing the $100 million mark domestically. Universal's animated film "Migration" added $10.3 million to its running domestic total of $77.8 million. Sony's romantic comedy "Anyone But You" landed in fifth place with $9.5 million, showing a 9% increase from the previous weekend.
Overall, while "Wonka" continues to reign at the box office, the year is off to a slower start compared to the previous year. However, it is still premature to make any conclusions regarding how the year will turn out.