Box Office: Disney's 'Strange World' Gross Disappointing $800,000 in Previews

Disney's "Strange World," an animated adventure about a family of legendary explorers, struggles to discover a lot of treasures.

The well-reviewed film grossed a disappointing $800,000 in Tuesday previews, which means probably initial estimates that "Strange World" would gross $30-40 million over the five-day Thanksgiving holiday may be overly optimistic.

All of this comes with important caveats. Animated fare generally doesn't do booming business in previews, with families generally looking for earlier showings. That said, Tuesday's preview count for "Strange World" is less than the $1.5 million generated by Disney's "Encanto" in Thanksgiving previews. This film went on to gross $40.3 million during the extended holiday period. "Strange World" will air in 4,174 locations in the United States and Canada.

Initial numbers are bad news for "Strange World," which costs $180 million. They are also continuing the theatrical challenges of animated fare in a post-COVID landscape. Animated features like "Lightyear" and "Encanto" have struggled to match the pre-pandemic grossing of other Disney and Pixar films. Only "Minions: The Rise of Gru", produced by Illumination and Universal and which grossed $937.8 million worldwide, managed to turn the tide and achieve blockbuster status.

The best "Strange World" holiday competition should come from another version of Disney, the Marvel adventure, "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever," which is expected to top box office charts with more than $40 million this holiday season. There's also Sony's "Devotion," a drama from aerial warfare, and Steven Spielberg's "The Fabelmans," which will expand to 600 theaters after debuting on a handful of screens two weeks ago. on Tuesday and is expected to bring in between $7-8 million over five days.

In big news, “Wakanda Forever” crossed the $300 million mark, earning 9 .5 million on Tuesday. The domestic gross for the superhero sequel is $303.7 million.

Comments