It was the weekend that the industry at large had been looking at for months. The dual threat of Wicked and Gladiator II promised to deliver a massive double bill of box office craziness comparable to last year when Barbie and Oppenheimer arrived on the same weekend. That moviegoing event was dubbed Barbenheimer, this one was dubbed Glicked. The result was the same. Wicked led the way with $114 million while Gladiator II took in $55 million. Yet, even as those blockbusters swallowed up the lion’s share of the attention, horror did some work.
The biggest shake-up happened about half way down the top ten chart this weekend as Sony’s Venom: The Last Dance added $4 million to its growing total on its fifth weekend. More importantly, the studio’s latest Marvel Comics adaptation that borders on being a comedic body horror buddy cop movie continued to make tons of money overseas. Its grand total now sits at $456 million worldwide.
That number is crucial because it kicked Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice out of the global top ten for the year. Burton’s long-awaited sequel made $450 million globally during its run, which is pretty much over as it will soon be making its way to the Max streaming service. It’s also interesting because Beetlejuice 2 made most of its money domestically and had a slightly smaller (relatively speaking) footprint overseas.
On the flip side, Venom 3 made $134 million of that total in North America. The reset came internationally, including a massive showing in China. That’s rare for a Hollywood film in the pandemic era.
Elsewhere, A24’s religious horror flick Heretic continued to do well for itself, adding $2.2 million in its third weekend. That’s a 55% drop compared to last weekend, when the film had to contend with Dwayne Johnson’s holiday movie Red One. While that drop is a little steep, the movie also lost an astounding 1,608 screens. Or, to put it another way, roughly half of the screens it was playing on. The fact that it held as well as it did in spite of those circumstances bodes well.
Its global total now sits at $31.8 million. If it can get to $43 million, it will overtake last year’s Oscar darling Past Lives to enter A24’s top ten all time. Meanwhile, Smile 2 made another $1.1 million in its sixth weekend after also shedding a bunch of screens. Parker Finn’s sequel now sits at $135 million worldwide.
Even though its run is pretty much over, Terrifer 3 continues to make headway at the global box office. The film’s total now sits at $87.2 million, which puts it firmly in the global top 50 in the 46 spot. That includes international releases. If we limit it to films that got some sort of run in North American theaters, the unrated horror sensation is in the top 40. Terrifier 3 is already the biggest unrated movie ever. Depending on what happens with some inevitable future re-releases, $100 million worldwide is still maybe – just maybe – in sight for Art the Clown.
You can check out the full list of the top ten movies at the box office for the weekend of November 22, 2024, below.
- Wicked – $114 million (first weekend)
- Gladiator II – $55 million (first weekend)
- Red One – $13.2 million (second weekend)
- Bonhoeffer – $5.1 million (first weekend)
- Venom: The Last Dance – $4 million (fifth weekend)
- The Best Christmas Pageant Ever – $3.5 million (third weekend)
- Heretic – $2.2 million (third weekend)
- The Wild Robot – $2 million (ninth weekend)
- Smile 2 – $1.11 million (sixth weekend)
- A Real Pain – $1.1 million (fourth weekend)