‘Coco’ Launches #1 In U.S. and China
The five-day Thanksgiving holiday has been a lucky slot for Pixar, which launched its first three films – Toy Story, A Bug’s Life, and Toy Story 2 – in that window.
The Disney-owned studio again found success during the turkey holiday with Coco, which launched in 1st place with an estimated $71.2 million over the five-day ($49m of that gross coming from the Fri-Sun period).
The top six placements for Thanksgiving holiday openings are all occupied by Disney or Pixar animated films. Coco ranks 4th on that list:
- Frozen (2013) – $93.6m
- Moana (2016) – $82.1m
- Toy Story 2 (1999) – $80.1m
- Coco (2017) – $71.2m
- Tangled (2010) – $68.7m
- The Good Dinosaur (2015) – $55.5m
The story of Coco’s box office will be told in the weeks to come. Will the Lee Unkrich-directed film have the staying power of Disney product like Moana and Frozen or will it fade quickly in the manner of recent Pixar efforts like Cars 3 and The Good Dinosaur?
An “A+” Cinemascore from opening day audiences bodes well for the film’s long-term potential. In Mexico, the film has shown tremendous strength, reaching $53.4m, which is nearing the all-time $61.7m record set by The Avengers in 2012.
Beyond Mexico, Coco’s launch has been a mixed bag. In China, the film launched in first place with $18.2m, the biggest-ever for a film by Pixar (which has struggled to gain a foothold in the country), and 2nd-biggest for a Disney animated film ever, behind only Zootopia.
In Russia though, the film stumbled with just $3.1m, only slightly better than The Emoji Movie ($2.5m) and far behind the debuts of other recent animated films like The Boss Baby ($11.2m), Despicable Me 3 ($9.4m), and Cars 3 ($5m). Similarly in Poland, the film opened with $900k, trailing this year’s launches of DM3 ($2.7m), Sing ($1.5m), The Boss Baby ($1.5m), and even The Emoji Movie ($989k).
Moving on to Sony: following a mild debut, Sony Picture Animation’s The Star dropped just 30% in its second Fri-Sun frame, picking up $6.9m over the weekend, and $9.5m over the five-day holiday. That lifts the total to $22m.
As we pointed out last week, despite being Sony’s weakest-launch ever, the film will likely end up profitable due to its low production cost ($20m). The Star should serve as proof to Hollywood: not every film needs to have a $75-200m production cost. It’s possible to create low-to-mid-range animated films aimed at niche American audiences, and still end up in the black.
Good Deed Entertainment’s Loving Vincent grossed $263,123 from 147 theaters in its 10th weekend. The film’s total is $5.1m. It becomes only the fourth animated feature rated PG-13 or R in the last five years to earn $5 million-plus in U.S. theaters; the other three films are Sausage Party, Un Gallo con Muchos Huevos, and The Wind Rises. The film’s maximum theater count has been 212, a tiny number with which to reach over $5 million.
Cartoon Saloon/GKIDS’ The Breadwinner is not finding traction at the U.S. box office. The film expanded from 3 to 8 theaters, but increased its overall gross by less than one thousand dollars: $17,395 to $18,064. The per-theater average plummeted from $5,798 to $2,258. After two weeks in limited release, the film has grossed $44,612.
