After A Slow Start, ‘Migration’ Soars To Impressive Holiday Week Comeback

After a slow start during its debut weekend, Benjamin Renner’s Migration soared through a strong holiday weekend to cross the $100 million mark at the global box office.

During the three-day frame, Illumination’s latest grossed an estimated $17 million in the U.S., good for third place behind Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom and Wonka. Migration pulled in another $5 million on Monday, and the film’s domestic box office total now sits at $59.1 million after 11 days in cinemas. That’s only $2 million behind Disney’s Wish ($61.1 million domestic), which has been in theaters for 41 days.

Migration’s impressive holiday haul bode well for the film’s long-term box office prospects, especially with no significant new kids and family content on the horizon to compete for audiences. We saw something similar last year with another Universal-distributed film, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.

As it did in the States, Migration finished the NYE weekend in third place at the global box office. The film grossed $17.1 million from 68 offshore markets and now has a total worldwide cume of $105.6 million.

Migration isn’t likely to reach the $484.6 million global total of Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, but it will post one of the strongest box office totals for an original animated film (not a sequel or based on another property) since the pandemic and will almost certainly be profitable. According to Illumination CEO Chris Meledandri, Migration’s budget was $72 million.

The only other animated film to make the NYE weekend domestic top 10 was Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy and the Heron, which grossed $2.5 million over the first three days and another $850,000 on Monday. The Studio Ghibli feature has now grossed $36.8 million at the North American box office, making it the fifth highest-grossing anime film in U.S. history, closing in quickly on Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero’s fourth-place haul of $38.1 million. The Boy and the Heron’s global total is now $128.7 million.

Trolls Band Together grossed $2 million in the U.S. over the four-day holiday weekend for a domestic total of $98.1 million. Globally, Dreamworks’ latest has now grossed $198.7 million. Disney’s Wish made $1.8 million during the same four days for a North American total of $60.6 million. The film continued to better abroad and grossed $15.4 million over the weekend. Its global cume, including Monday, is now $176.9 million.