At the box office in the United States, “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” has achieved noteworthy success. The Lionsgate prequel to “The Hunger Games” opened to roughly $19.1 million at 3,776 locations, with $5.75 million coming from previews on Thursday.
With the wide release of the animated follow-up “Trolls Band Together” and the holiday horror film “Thanksgiving,” this newest entry in the young adult dystopian action series is predicted to hold onto its top spot as the weekend’s highest-grossing movie.
“Songbirds and Snakes” is not expected to be as successful at the box office as the first “Hunger Games” film
Due to higher ticket costs from premium large screens and formats like Imax, “Songbirds and Snakes” has an advantage.
With a $100 million production budget, the movie is predicted to make about $45 million in its first three days of sales, which is a respectable beginning for a franchise comeback.
It does, however, come in slightly short of the $50 million initial projections going into the weekend. Even so, it is not likely to have the same kind of box office success as earlier “Hunger Games” entries.
With an astounding $152 million during its opening weekend in March of 2012, the original set a record. With $158 million, “Catching Fire” came in second, and the two-part “Mockingjay” finale took a hit, earning only $121 million and $102 million, respectively.
“Songbirds and Snakes” casts Tom Blyth as a young Coriolanus Snow, who would go on to play the role of Panem’s socially divided leader in the first “Hunger Games” film series, starring Donald Sutherland.
Coriolanus is enthralled with Lucy Gray Baird, a Hunger Games contestant played by Rachel Zegler. Hunter Schafer, Peter Dinklage, Viola Davis, and Jason Schwartzman are also members of the ensemble cast.
Francis Lawrence, a franchise mainstay, is back in charge.
Even though fans of the franchise are nostalgic, this most recent entry in the series has received the worst reviews. As evidenced by the “B+” rating from the research firm Cinema Score, early audience reactions are more enthusiastic but not overly so.
The prequel “Hunger Games” will succeed if it can continue to generate buzz over the Thanksgiving holiday and show that it can draw a sizable audience even after Thanksgiving.
“The Marvels” is facing a steep tumble
In contrast, “The Marvels” is seeing a sharp downturn at the box office during its second week of release.
The Marvel Studios movie made $2.8 million on Friday, which is a startling 87% less than it made on its opening day the week before. In its second weekend, it is expected to struggle to make $10 million.
The record for the biggest second-weekend drop in the Marvel Cinematic Universe was previously held by “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” from last spring, which fell by 69.9%. Only a few months later, “The Marvels” seems ready to break that record.
Superhero films frequently see sharp declines in box office receipts following their first weekends of release, but “The Marvels” faced an extra obstacle due to a slow start, earning a franchise record-low debut of $46.1 million.
Thanksgiving is causing the market to get even more competitive
As Thanksgiving approaches and the market gets even more competitive, the movie is currently losing ground quickly. Considering its substantial $220 million production budget, the film’s estimated ten-day domestic total is expected to reach around $64 million, which is a disappointing result.
It is predicted that “Trolls Band Together” will come in second place with $30 million from 3,870 venues during the three days.
The DreamWorks Animation movie’s first-day gross of $9.3 million was less than the $46 million debut of the original “Trolls” in November 2016.
Aside from the Minions and Mario Bros., animated movies have had difficulty achieving the kind of box office success they used to have prior to the pandemic. “Band Together” aims to be a strong hit even though it might not achieve those enormous levels of success. The “Trolls” franchise has endured in popularity due to its musical style, even though critics haven’t always loved it. Furthermore, the movie’s production budget of $95 million is more reasonable in comparison to the hefty expenses linked to other animated tentpoles.
“Band Together” will compete with Disney’s animated adventure “Wish” for the attention of family viewers over the Thanksgiving holiday. The film’s outstanding “A” Cinema Score portends well for its performance and indicates a favorable reception.
