Dec 26, 2023

Migration" Debuts at No. 3 in Sluggish Holiday Weekend

Benjamin Renner's "Migration," Illumination's first original animated feature since 2016's "Sing," finished third at the U.S. box office over the holiday weekend with an estimated $12.5 million. The film grossed an estimated $5 million on Christmas Day, bringing its four-day holiday total to $17.5 million.

The bad news here is that $12.5 million is the worst opening three-day weekend box office in Illumination history, and comes at a time when one of the biggest questions facing the animation industry is whether an original animated feature can succeed at the box office. Migration may be another example of how audiences are sticking with familiar franchises when it comes to cinema attendance, at least in the first weekend.

Nevertheless, third place is not a bad showing considering the number of new releases with which "Migration" competed; "Anyone But You," "Salaar," and "The Iron Claw" debuted over the weekend, coming in fourth, fifth, and sixth behind "Migration. DreamWorks' "Trolls Band Together" and Disney's "Wish" were also still in theaters, seemingly pulling some of the children and family audiences away from "Migration."

Looking forward, there is even more reason for optimism regarding "Migration. With little competition from kids and families, the film should do reasonably well over the holiday season. Something similar happened last year with DreamWorks' "Puss in Boots: The Last Wish," also from Universal Pictures, which grossed $12.4 million over three days and a slightly smaller $18.5 million over four Christmas days. It grossed an astounding $186 million at the domestic box office, although it was a little smaller than its three-day and four-day Christmas grosses of $12.4 million and $18.5 million, respectively. This is not to say that Migration will match this final total. However, there is reason to believe that Migration will at least have the box office longevity of The Last Wish.

Hayao Miyazaki's "The Boy and the Hare" had another strong weekend at the North American box office, adding $3.2 million to bring its three-week total to $30.6 million. Adding an estimated $700,000 over Christmas, "The Boy and the Hare" was not far behind "Jutsu Kaisen 0" with $34.5 million, making it the sixth highest-grossing animated film in U.S. box office history with $31.3 million.

DreamWorks' "Trolls Band Together," directed by Walt Dohrn and co-directed by Tim Heitz, earned $1.78 million in its sixth weekend of U.S. release and $590,000 over Christmas, bringing its domestic total to $93.5 million. The sequel, distributed by Universal, also grossed $98 million overseas, pushing its worldwide total to $191.5 million.

Disney's Wishes earned $1.1 million in its fifth weekend of release and $564,000 on Christmas, bringing its domestic total to $58 million after five weeks. Internationally, the film did much better, earning $9.6 million over the weekend, bringing its international total to $86.8 million and lifetime worldwide box office to $144.3 million. It ended the weekend in seventh place at the worldwide box office.