BOX OFFICE: All Hail Willy Wonka! $33 million wins New Year’s and ends a $9 billion year with a bang

A $9 billion dollar year at the box office is capped off by a lot of Warner Bros. titles finishing up a memorable 2023 at the movies.

“Wonka” is blowing up the four-day New Year’s holiday with a $33 million take.

The weekend was supposed to be a four-way bout with “Aquaman,” “The Color Purple” and maybe “Migration” in the conversation. That notion vanished Friday night.

“Aquaman: The Lost Kingom,” will clear $26 million despite withering reviews.

The middling “Migration” is clearing out the last of the “Trolls” theaters with a whopping $21 million over four days.

“The Color Purple” opened huge Christmas Day and will manage another $16-17 million over New Year’s, per Deadline.com. It and “Wonka” are the two best reviewed Warners’ titles this winter.

George Clooney directed “The Boys in the Boat,” a middling period piece/real history drama, and it will pull in over $11 million on its first weekend after opening Christmas Day.

“Anyone But You” is an R-rated romance that earned indifferent reviews, but should clear $10 million on its second weekend, thanks to a lack of competition, mainly.

The edgier wrestling saga “The Iron Claw,” featuring the physical transformation of Zac Efron into The Hulk, will clear $6 million for A24.

Neon’s blown-engine biopic Michael Mann pic “Ferrari” will add $5 million in change to its take.

And A24’s Oscar contender, “Poor Things,” will clear $3 million from Friday through New Year’s Day and have to wait for Oscar nominations to boost its take.

Here is the 3 day weekend tally from @boxofficepro.

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About Roger Moore

Movie Critic, formerly with McClatchy-Tribune News Service, Orlando Sentinel, published in Spin Magazine, The World and now published here, Orlando Magazine, Autoweek Magazine
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