December 22
The Color Purple: I’m still not convinced this is getting a wide release. There’s just no way Warner will have three major wide tentpoles all out in the same month like this. But assuming it does, this is going to draw the shortest straw. Aquaman is Aquaman, while Wonka has bigger starpower and the property is more popular with the 18-34 crowd. West Side Story numbers are probably what we’re dealing with, and that’s assuming this also gets critical acclaim and becomes an Oscar darling. And who knows if that will happen? 5/7/35 (7x)
Ghostbusters: Afterlife 2: While it didn’t “save the franchise” per se, Afterlife was still a fairly leggy hit that both general audiences and manbabies alike had a good time with, whether we want to admit it or not. Even with Christmas, this probably won’t have a big increase, especially since the nostalgia hook won’t hit as hard. But at worst, it will only do slightly less than its predecessor, and we’ll likely get a third and final movie out of this. 30/40/135 (4.5x)
Migration: The power of Illumination and the Christmas season should get this ahead of most original animated features these days, but probably not enough compared to Sing 2 or Puss in Boots 2. Which I know is bad compared to the mad stacks the first SLOP and Sing made, but...we’re in a new era. Take what you can get. 20/135 (6.75x)