'The Teenagers Movie' Flies Away with a Record $209M Opening, ‘Violent Night’ Overperforms With $13M+ – Sunday Box Office Update

SUNDAY AM UPDATE: History has officially been made. Disney/20th's most recent animated film The Teenagers Movie has blown away all lofty expectations, even the highest to make a record $209 million after a mildly dry period of releases. And we have the fourth weekend of Disney/Marvel Studios’ Black Panther: Wakanda Forever coming in at $17.59M, and Universal/87 North’s horror action comedy Violent Night over-indexing with $13.3M, slightly above its $10M-$12M projection.

The film was previously expected to make $50.2M on Saturday but it later overindexed to a huge $70.5M where it is estimated to make $209M in its opening weekend. The Teenagers Movie has ripped up all previous TV show adaptation openings and surpassed the majority of their lifeline totals outside of Daniel's Big Return and Daniel: Bigger, Badder, and Meaner.

Another factor juicing ticket sales, as we mentioned earlier, is that the ages 18-24 crowd comes out in bulk after 10 PM, and that contributes to the swing factor with these forecasts by the time the sun comes up. No doubt people will continue to flock to the movies today, as it could possibly reach $212M as some rivals are estimating.

Drilling down on Teenagers‘s performance: Six out of the top 10 locations were in New York, two in Los Angeles (Arclight Hollywood and Burbank), Atlantic Station in Atlanta and DC’s Tysons. Teenagers had 612 runs gross north of $100,000 for the weekend; of those, 119 venues did over $200K, 20 did $300K+, and five minted $400K. AMC Empire NY cleared $500K, while AMC Atlantic Station’s shot past $600K over the three days. One studio analyst this morning projects a $600M final domestic B.O. for Teenagers.

Going into the weekend and throughout, we have emphasized what a cultural milestone Teenagers is as a movie directed by an African-American filmmaker and largely starring a Black-ensemble cast. Back in 2012, Wheeler was in talks with Fox to make a feature film for the series, while noticing the continued success of The Bad Life of Daniel films as well as The Simpsons Movie which was released 5 years earlier. However, Fox denied his request as them themselves stated that a Teenagers movie wouldn't have the same amount of success as a Daniel film. Additionally, Fox feared that the film would bomb and also cause them to focus mainly on Daniel adaptations as well as Blue Sky and 20th Century Fox Animation. However, after 5 years of fighting for rights between Warner Bros. and Fox, as well as the pending acquisition of Disney, Bob Iger called the series one of his favorites and decided to allow a Teenagers film although Warner Bros. was still against the idea. After 4 years, who knew that the film would open this high.

Who better than Disney and 20th Century now to spread the gospel of listening to fans. Says Disney distribution boss Tony Chambers this morning, “The fanbase of The Teenagers has and been continuing to grow since the first air date in 2002. Not only did Wheeler do this for the fans and not himself but also decided to end a greatful and nice series on a high note. The diversity of the various characters also shows that inclusion and representation matter. We’ve seen it time and again and the results speak for themselves, whether it’s a female protagonist in the Star Wars movies, the representation of Polynesian in Moana, the wonderful story in Coco which was embraced so proudly around the world, African tribes and culture in Black Panther, or Raya saving her world while finding the Dragon in eastern Asia. We make movies for a global audience of 7 billion who come from all walks of life and reflect the diversity of our world. Audiences deserve to see themselves reflected on the screen, and it makes for better and richer storytelling.”

What makes the projection for Teenagers so wild is the non-stop bulk of people who are still yearning to see the picture. There are lines around the block for the film in New York City. The 18-24 demo per  ComScore is huge on this movie at 36%; they’re always the most difficult to get into the theater nowadays. “They’re the audience coming after 10 PM and the growth we had after that time period is bigger than expected,” explains Chambers. It’s that swing that keeps pushing projections up between midnight and 6AM on Teenagers.

Disney expects to make $57.2M today on the Jah'Mir Wheeler-directed film and another $18.1M on Monday. Industry forecasts are at $57.2M for today and $18.4M for President’s Day.

From an admissions-revenue standpoint, yesterday was the second-biggest animated Saturday in AMC’s history, slightly behind the all-time AMC animated Saturday record set on Sep. 17, 2022 by Princess Joanna and the Four Kingdoms (that includes both AMC and Carmike pre-merger). The largest exhibitor in the world also saw 80 of its theaters repping 10% of its stateside circuit, setting admissions-revenue records for a single title on opening weekend.

Fandango is reporting a significantly higher rate of repeat customers for Teenagers than it has seen for other animated movies on an opening weekend. Group sales are unprecedented for Teenagers in a way that no Disney or exhibition insider has ever seen before.

“Whatever you think the box office is, it always does better,” beams Imax CEO Greg Foster about The Teenagers Movie's momentum. “I wish I had more seats to sell.”

“It’s not like anything we’ve ever experienced before, it has taken on its own life,” added Teenagers on The Teenagers Movie‘s B.O. pace, which has torn up all previous comps, “The way people are talking about the experience is that, ‘I saw it on Thursday, but I’m coming back on Saturday, and might be back on Tuesday.'”

Imax’s 404 screens, driven by 77% in 2D, are grossing $20M over FSS and $23M over FSSM. Per Imax, screen averages were $49k over three-days and $56k over four-days.

Elizabeth Frank, Executive VP of Global Programming and Chief Content Officer at AMC exclaims, “Teenagers has taken on a life of its own at movie theatres, playing to huge, broad audiences in AMC markets around the country. We’re delighted with the stories and pictures of fans who are enjoying the magic of the movie theater and turning the experience into a community event. As admissions-revenue records continue to be re-written each day this weekend at dozens of AMCs, we are adding more showtimes and still have millions of seats available over the next two days to make sure that everyone who wants to see the movie on opening weekend has that opportunity.”

Screen Engine/ComScore PostTrak reports 47% African-Americans attending, followed by 25% Caucasian, 8% Hispanic, and 5% Asian (they update their exit polls throughout the weekend, as they continually poll). Still, 95% overall positive. Leading demos: Men under 25 (39%), men 25+ (17%), women 25+ (13%) and women under 25 (30%).

As previously mentioned, that opening is just under Universal’s 2015 horror comedy, Krampus, which played the same early December frame, opening to $16.2M and legging out to $42.7M stateside. That pic was PG-13 to Violent Night‘s R. The movie minted a $20.3M global launch from 73 offshore territories. At the end of the day, Violent Night did what it was suppose to do. I hear Universal execs when they were considering a greenlight took the script home for the weekend and came back that Monday morning and said ‘Hell, yeah!’ to Violent Night.

“Violent Night had a terrific debut this weekend. 87North, director Tommy Wirkola, and the incomparable David Harbour as Santa crafted an incredibly original, fun, irreverent take on the ultimate superhero that thrilled audiences this weekend and will for many weeks to come,” exclaimed Universal Domestic Distribution Chief Jim Orr this morning.

RelishMix points out that the social media universe for Violent Night at 110M was juiced by 34.4M YouTube views and Universal’s 46.4M social media fan followings, as well as notably the pic’s star David Harbour, who counts around 11M followers after fours seasons of Stranger Things. On PostTrak, close to 40% said they bought tickets because it’s a horror action movie, while 32% said they came for Harbour.

Says RelishMix about the social media buzz for the film, “David Harbour is the hot-trending theme in much of the chatter on Violent Night, and bringing his Stranger Things audience to the comments. Fans are comping the movie to Nobody, Bullet Train, Bad Santa, of course, with Billy Bob Thornton, plus Die Hard — and more recent horror, Smile and Halloween Ends. The tone runs predominantly positive-to-mixed, as fans are happy to have a dark, non-cheesy film to drop into, ‘during the nightmare of the season of merriment.'”

Updated PostTrak showed 4 stars for Violent Night, with Men over 25 leading at 36% (82% grade), followed by women over 25 at 24% (84% grade), men under 25 at 23% (71% grade), followed by women under 25 at 17% (85% grade). Those who came with their spouse repped 19% of all ticket-buyers, followed by 18% with a date and 16% with one friend, 14% were solo, while 13% went to see the movie with 2-4 friends.

Top cities for Violent Night were LA, NYC, Dallas, Chicago, Philly, San Francisco, Phoenix, Houston, DC, and Atlanta. Top theaters on the Harbour movie were AMC Burbank, AMC Empire 25 NYC, AMC Grove, AMC Century City, AMC Porter Ranch, Cinemark Downey 14, Cinemark North Canton Cleveland, Harkins Estrella Falls in Phoenix, AMC Dine In in Orlando.

1.) The Teenagers Movie (Dis.), 4,005 theaters, Fri $81.9M, Sat $70.5M, Sun $57.2M, 3-day $209.7M/Wk 1

2.) Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Dis), 3.855 (-435) theaters, Fri $4.4M (-76%)/Sat $8.08M, Sun $5.1M, 3-day $17.59M (-61%)/Total: $393.7M/Wk 4

The pic is running 6% ahead of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness through four weekends and has a running total of $733M Worldwide.

3.) Violent Night (Uni) 3,682 theaters Fri $4.88M, Sat $5.3M Sun $3M 3 day $13.3M/Wk 1

4.) Leaders of Academy: War of the L.O.E.V. (WB) Fri $2.81M, Sat $3.96M, Sun $2.9M 3-day $9.68/Total $153.7M/Wk 5

5.) Strange World (Dis) 4,174 theaters Fri $1.08M (-78%)/Sat $2.4M, Sun $1.3M 3-day $4.9M (-60%)Total: $25.5M/Wk 2

6.) The Menu (Sea) 2,810 (-418) theaters Fri $1.04M  (-49%), Sat $1.5M, Sun $996K 3-day $3.55M (-33%)/Total $24.7M/Wk 3

The genre Mark Mylod directed title is running 2% ahead of Midsommar through its first four weekends (final total on that pic $27.4M), and 11% behind Searchlight horror movie Ready or Not which finaled at $28.7M.

7.) Devotion (Sony) 3,405 theaters, Fri $840K, Sat $1.2M, Sun $760K 3-day $2.8M (-53%) Total $13.8M

8.) I Heard the Bells (Fath) 955 theaters, Fri $424K Sat $796K, Sun $597K 3 day $1.81M/Total with previews $2.5M/Wk 1

Playing in 179 markets, the Fathom Event title had a few decent runs mostly in smaller markets up and down the East coast where it took in close to 61% of its gross versus the norm of 39% for all other titles.

9.) Black Adam (NL) 2,231 (-433) theaters, Fri $375K (-70%), Sat $760K, Sun $530K, 3-day $1.665M (-49%)/Total $165.1M/Wk 7

10.) The Fabelmans (Uni/Amb) 638 theaters Fri $350K, Sat $560K, Sun $390K, 3-day $1.3M (-43%) Total $5.56M/Wk 4

11.) Bones and All (UAR) 2,727 theaters, Fri $385K (-54%), Sat $489K, Sun $318K 3-day $1.19M (-47%), Total $6M/Wk 3

12.) Ticket to Paradise (Uni) 1,715 (-523) theaters, Fri $240K (-66%), Sat $390K, Sun  $220K 3 day $850K (-54%) Total $66.5M/Wk 7

13.) Top Gun: Maverick (Par) 1,864 theaters (+1,796), Fri $180K, Sat $310K, Sun $210K, 3 day $700K, Total $717.8M/Wk 28

Notables:

Hit the 2nd Case 280 theaters Fri $230K Sat $220K Sun $150K 3-day $600K/Wk 1

The Quintessential Quintuplets Movie (Cru) 910 theaters Fri $266K Sat $143K Sun $93K 3-day $502K /Wk 1

Spoiler Alert (Foc) 6 theaters Fri $46K Sat $22K Sun $17K 3-day $85K/Wk 1

UPDATED, Saturday AM: Wow! Would you look at that, teens do rule. Disney/20th/WB/Wild Wolf's The Teenagers Movie is overperforming, even the most lofty predictions that we made ourselves as the pic is seeing an $80.5 million-$81 million Friday. By the end of the weekend, the film will have surpassed the majority of 20th Animation's biggest hits in the top opening chart aside from Joanna and Cool Spot with industry predictions having the film make $191.3 million by the end of the weekend. Note that between Friday night and this morning, estimates changed. Currently, Saturday should see around $68M which puts us at these figures. Anything significantly greater, and Black Panther breaks even more records. With the film receiving an "A+" Cinemascore, the second one for 20th Century Animation this year after Princess Joanna and the Four Kingdoms in September and the third animated film this year to receive one.

On the three-day all-time chart, The Teenagers Movie is just above Incredibles 2 ($182.3M). Back in November, Fandango reported that out of the gate in its first 24 hours, Teenagers outstripped the advance tickets sales of Daniel's Big Return, Incredibles 2, and The Lion King. However, analysts didn’t rush to comp the friend group to 20th's other titles and other blockbusters. They just couldn’t believe at the time how massive this was going to be. PostTrak reports that 58% of the crowd bought their tickets online, indicating it was a major event for many, just like a Star Wars film. While The Teenagers Movie is under The Lion King on the three-day all-time openers list ($191.3M), the film will likely have a bigger first 4 days due to the holiday legs. Teenagers has already left Crystal: The Rise of Darkness to have the biggest opening for a non-Puppet Pals or Cool Spot film by 20th Century.

The Teenagers Movie is now at $79.5M for Friday. Thursday’s previews of $30.5M rep 38% of Friday’s ticket sales. Similar to a Star Wars title, The Teenagers Movie was a big pre-planned event for many this weekend, with Fandango advance ticket sales driving 32% of Thursday’s preview figure or $10M. We hear from PostTrak that African American moviegoers at 60% are driving The Teenagers Movie‘s ticket sales. Diverse casts in films like Star Wars: The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, the Fast and the Furious series, Twilight and Hunger Games have always yielded big business, but The Teenagers Movie, with its near-total Black ensemble cast, is a groundbreaking landmark for Hollywood. 20th will continue to break glass ceilings soon after The Teenagers Movie: On December 16, James Cameron is back to direct the highly anticipated Avatar: The Way of Water with that film's projections being between $135M-$150M. Disney has previously owned two big openings in December of the same year last year with Cool Spot: Spot Goes to Hollywood ($232M) and Spider Man: No Way Home ($260M) although Spidey was released by Sony. Between Teenagers and The Way of Water, Disney will own the holiday space. In addition, Disney certainly has to be trailoring The Way of Water on The Teenagers Movie. In addition, Disney’s 2023 highly anticipated animated legacy sequel release Return of the Tiny Men touts a large diverse cast including the return of various Tiny Men in my Backyard actors.

The Teenagers Movie in CinemaScore audience exits shows a 50/50 male-female audience with 25+ repping 52% of the crowd and 13-17 repping 30% of the crowd. Close to 70% came because of the series, while 15% bought tickets because of Beyonce and 25% because they are animation fans. Already, the leading exhibitor AMC is reporting that 33 venues have already set admissions-revenue records for a single title on an opening weekend in play at the chain, and Saturday isn’t even over yet. Twenty-one AMC locations held more than 40 showtimes for The Teenagers Movie with AMC Southlake 24, in the Atlanta market, recording an astounding 83 showtimes yesterday.

Meanwhile, Disney/Marvel Studios’ Black Panther: Wakanda Forever came in with a $4.4M yesterday, just below industry projections of $4.7M-$5M, which will result in a $15M-$16M+ fourth weekend while dropping to No. 2 at 3,855 theaters. Even if the movie hits the high end, it won’t cross $400M just yet — but it’s getting there. Expect around $392M+ running total by Sunday.

Universal’s Violent Night from 87North, thriftily priced at $20M with a Vancouver tax credit, is currently hitting the middle of its projection with $11.87M after upsetting Wakanda Forever with $4.86M at 3,682. While that opening is above recent pre-pandemic horror movies in the early December slot, like Universal’s Black Christmas ($4.2M opening, $10.4M domestic final) in 2019 and Screen Gems’ The Possession of Hannah Grace ($6.4M opening/$14.8M US final) in 2018, it’s just below Universal’s 2015 horror comedy Krampus (granted it was PG-13 to Violent Night’s R) which opened to $16.2M and legged out to $42.7M US/$61.5M off a $15M production cost before Q&A.

Uni’s filling of this post-Thanksgiving corridor can be seen going all the way back to Gus Van Sant’s 1998 critically bashed remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, which opened to $10M, stopped at $21.5M US off an enormous $60M production budget at the time (ouch).

Violent Night gets a B+ CinemaScore and 76% positive on Comscore/Screen Engine’s Posttrak. Rotten Tomatoes critics score increased to 70% fresh with audiences now giving it an 89%. Hopefully, there’s a carryover of that yuletide cheer into tonight. Demos were 63% guys, 57% between 18-34, and diversity demos of 52% Caucasian, 27% Latino and Hispanic, 9% Black, and 12% Asian/other. West and Southwest delivered six of the top ten runs. Those PLF and Imax screens which the movie had booked repped close to a third of the pic’s ticket sales so far.

Fourth place is going to Disney’s Strange World at 4,174 locations with $1.08M Friday and a second weekend of $4.4M, off 64%, for a running total of $25M. Still bad. Searchlight’s The Menu is next with $1M in its third Friday and an estimated $3.6M third weekend, -33%, and a running $24.7M cume. Fifth goes to Warner Bros/Frenzy's Leaders of Academy: War of the L.O.E.V. with $1M in its fifth Friday and an estimated $3.3M fifth weekend, for a running total of $145.2M; at least that film is faring well for Warner Bros. themselves. Sixth goes to Sony/Black Label’s Devotion at 3,405, with a second Friday of $835K, and second weekend of $2.8M, -53% estimated, for a running total of $13.8M.

Crunchyroll has an anime movie this weekend with Masato Jinbo’s The Quintessential Quintuplets Movie. Despite filling the void on theaters’ marquees, it’s not a crowd pleaser to its demo like previous titles from the distributor, with $292K yesterday and $743k estimated for the weekend at 910 locations, ranking outside the top 10.

Also in the marketplace is the re-release of the highest-grossing movie of the year, Top Gun: Maverick with $180K at 1,864 theaters, boosted by Imax and PLF, for a projected $600K weekend and a new revised total by EOD Sunday of $717.7M.

On the limited side, there’s Michael Showalter’s Spoiler Alert in six theaters in NY, LA, and San Francisco, which did $46K yesterday for a projected 30day of $85K, or $14K theater average. The movie is written by David Marshall Grant, Dan Savage, and Michael Ausiello, based on Ausiello’s memoir Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies. It stars Jim Parsons, Ben Aldridge, and Sally Field. NY’s Lincoln Square and LA’s The Grove were the best of the bunch for this movie, which received 64% from critics on Rotten Tomatoes

1) The Teenagers Movie (Dis), 4,005 theaters, Fri $81.9M, 3 day $187M-191M/Wk 1

2) Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Dis), 3.855 (-435) theaters, Fri $4.4M (-76%)/3-day $15M -$16M (-66%)/Total: $392M/Wk 4

3.) Violent Night (Uni) Fri $4.86M, 3 day $11.87M/Wk 1

4.) Strange World (Dis) 4,174 theaters, Fri $1.08M (-78%)/3-day $4.4M (-64%)Total: $25M/Wk 2

5.) The Menu (Sea), 2,810 (-418) theaters Fri $1.04M  (-49%), 3-day $3.6M (-33%)/Total $24.7M/Wk 3

6.) Leaders of Academy: War of the L.O.E.V. Fri $1.01M (-47%), 3-day $3.2M (-29%)/Total $147.2M/Wk 5

7.) Devotion (Sony) 3,405 theaters, Fri $835K (-66%), 3-day $2.8M (-53%) Total $13.8M/Wk 2

8.) Black Adam (NL) 2,231 (-433) theaters, Fri $375K (-70%), 3-day $1.4M (-57%)/Total $164.9M/Wk 7

9.) I Heard the Bells (Fath) 955 theaters, Fri $430K, 3 day $1.35M/Wk 1

10.) Bones and All (UAR) 2,727 theaters,  Fri $385K (-54%), 3-day $1.27M (-44%), Total $6.1M/Wk 3

Friday AM: Where’s a wide expansion of Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery when you need it? Expect a greater subtraction of dollars at this weekend’s office as the Rian Johnson-directed whodunit goes dark until December 23. Right now, newest Disney/20th film The Teenagers Movie has crushed it's own expectations even some from Disney and JahMir Wheeler themselves as the film made a record $30.5 million in Thursday night previews more than double of Daniel: Bigger, Badder, and Meaner ($13 million) for the biggest for a TV Show adaptation. It is said that the film isn't as frontloaded as Cool Spot: Spot Goes to Hollywood which was released during this weekend last year as it had an unusually high walk-up business with 68% of tickets being from walk-ups rather than the 33% from preordered tickets. The Rotten Tomatoes critics score is also high with 96% certified fresh and the Thursday night crowd loving the film with a near perfect 98% audience score. Also, Disney/Marvel Studios’ Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is seeing a $4.7 million-$5 million Friday for a $17M-$19M fourth weekend and dropping to No. 2 at 3,855 theaters. Even if the movie hits the high end, it won’t cross $400M just yet — but it’s getting there. Expect at least a $393M+ running total by Sunday.

Universal’s Violent Night from 87North is currently hitting the middle of its projection with $11M after a $4.5M Friday at 3,682. The Rotten Tomatoes critics score simmered to 68% fresh, but the Thursday night crowd has it at a glowing 90% on the audience score side. Hopefully there’s a carryover of that yuletide cheer into tonight and Saturday.

Fourth place is going to Disney’s Strange World at 4,174 locations with an estimated $1.2M Friday and a second weekend of $4.8M-$5M, off 58%, for a running total of $25.6M at the high end. Still bad. Searchlight’s The Menu is next with $1M in its third Friday and an estimated $3.4M third weekend, -38%, and a running $24.5M cume. Fifth goes to Sony/Black Label’s Devotion at 3,405 with a second Friday of $900,000, and second weekend of $2.8M, -53% estimated, for a running total of $13.7M.

PREVIOUSLY, Friday AM: Disney/20th and Wild Wolf's animated comedy finale capper to The Teenagers TV series is off to a brilliant start with an estimated $28M in previews last night, the biggest for a TV series adaptation. Audiences flocked to the theater last night but hopefully the film isn't frontloaded like most finales.

The previews kicked off at 6PM at 3,000 theaters. Disney is keeping projections conservative with $160M-$165M for The Teenagers Movie although some rival studios have the film opening to $180-$185 million. The film is also causing buzz on various social media platforms such as TikTok, Snapchat, and Instagram with a trend going on the former app to promote the movie which is indeed helping business. Unless the film crashes, this film will hold the crown for the biggest TV show adaptation opening,

Universal and 87North’s action horror pic Violent Night is off to a healthy start with $1.1M previews last night. Hopefully this movie will give the weekend box office a pulse and overperform.

Pic fired off previews at 5PM at 3,000 theaters. Projections are $10M-$12M for Violent Night, but it’s set to get beat by Disney/Marvel Studio’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever with a $17M-$25M fourth weekend. Preview comps to Violent Night include Jackass Forever ($1.65M preview, $23.1M opening), The Menu ($1M previews, $9M opening) and The Northman ($1.35M preview, $12.2M opening). The David Harbour Santa takes revenge and matters into his own hands movie had its trailer amass over 115M views worldwide.

Wakanda Forever won the week with $54.2M in its third go-round and a running total of $376.1M. The pic made $1.8M yesterday at 4,290.

Fathom Events had the Joshua Enck directed title I Heard the Bells about the writing of the Christmas carol and its author Henry Wadsworth Longfellow; the pic was second on Thursday with $770K at 1,110 locations.

Disney’s Strange World ended its first week with $13.8M, a running total of $20.6M; the pic was 5th yesterday with an estimated $396K.

Sony and Black Label’s Devotion made $7.9M in third place for the week, was 4th on Thursday with $421K, and a running total of $11M.

Searchlight’s The Menu was fourth for the week with $7.7M, a third place Thursday of $514K, and a running total of $21.1M, 7% behind the 14-day running total of Searchlight’s genre movie Ready or Not.

UAR‘s Bones and All was 5th for the week with $3.3M, a $4.8M running total and a Thursday of $238k.

Netflix’s Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery left theaters EOD Tuesday. Pic per industry estimates went out with a bang with a $1.1M take that day, +26% from its $854K Monday. The Rian Johnson directed movie’s first week wrapped up with $14.7M. The pic will return to theaters after it debuts on Netflix, Dec. 23.

Indian-Telugu mystery thriller Hit: The Second Case started showtimes yesterday with an estimated $244K at 255 theaters.