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

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.