Box Office | "Wonka” Secures Top Spot at the Last Box Office in 2023

Hollywood bid farewell to a tumultuous 2023, with "Wonka" reclaiming the No. 1 spot at the box office, impressive earnings for "The Color Purple," and a total ticket sales figure of $9 billion, marking an improvement over 2022 but still falling $2 billion short of pre-pandemic levels.

The New Year's weekend box office lacked a major blockbuster, unlike the previous year when "Avatar: The Way of Water" dominated theaters. Instead, a diverse array of films, including "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom," "The Boys in the Boat," "Migration," "Ferrari," "The Iron Claw," and "Anyone But You," vied for success during the year's most lucrative box office period.

However, the top choice remained "Wonka," directed by Paul King and starring Timothée Chalamet as a young Willy Wonka. In its third weekend, the Warner Bros. release raked in an estimated $24 million from Friday through Sunday, with a total of $31.8 million when factoring in Monday's holiday estimates. This brought the film's domestic earnings to $142.5 million.

Surpassing Warner Bros.' own "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom," the sequel to the DC superhero film struggled. James Wan's "Aquaman" sequel, featuring Jason Momoa, earned $19.5 million in its second weekend, accumulating a modest total of $84.7 million over two weeks, including New Year's Day estimates. In contrast, the original "Aquaman" had grossed $215.4 million over a similar period in 2018, more than double the sequel's earnings. Internationally, "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom" added $50.5 million.

During this time of year, weekend box office sales only reveal part of the story. From Christmas through New Year's, with kids out of school and many adults on holiday, every day resembles a Saturday for film distributors.

"The Color Purple," Blitz Bazawule's adaptation of the 2005 stage musical based on Alice Walker's novel, premiered on Monday and led all films on Christmas with $18 million in earnings. Throughout the week, the Warner Bros. release grossed $50 million, including $13 million from Friday through Sunday. This marked a strong start for the heartwarming film starring Fantasia Barrino, Taraji P. Henson, and Danielle Brooks. Audiences gave it an "A" CinemaScore.

With a production budget of approximately $100 million and notable producers such as Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg, and Quincy Jones (all associated with the 1985 film), the movie is expected to perform well during the awards season. It has received several Golden Globe nominations and is anticipated to be part of the Oscars discussion.

Despite the absence of a major blockbuster during the holiday season, the final weekend of the year propelled the industry to surpass $9 billion in box office earnings for the year in U.S. and Canadian theaters, a milestone not achieved since before the pandemic. Ticket sales for the year saw a 21% increase compared to 2022, according to data from Comscore.

However, reaching this milestone was more attainable during the summer's success with "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer" breaking box office records. The significant impact of these two films altered the course of Hollywood in 2023, but so did the months-long actors and writers strikes, leading to the postponement of some major releases, notably "Dune: Part Two," which further weakened an already uncertain fall lineup with few guaranteed hits. One exception was the last-minute addition of "Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour," setting a new record for concert films.

This year, Hollywood needed Swift and every penny to achieve the $9 billion mark, which was finally reached on Saturday, with just one day to spare. Nevertheless, this total still falls short of the $11 billion-plus earnings of the years preceding the pandemic, with about 20 fewer wide releases in 2023 compared to 2019.