- It's Thanksgiving in the U.S., which means the usual Friday film releases move up to Wednesday in a pitched battle for the holiday moviegoer's dollars on a five-day weekend.
- There are three new wide releases looking to steal share from Ghostbusters: Afterlife (NYSE:SONY), which opened to a fairly strong $44 million last weekend.
- Probably foremost among those is Disney (NYSE:DIS) animated film Encanto, targeting $40 million over the five days after it generated $1.5 million in Tuesday evening previews. It's likely to prevail over House of Gucci (OTC:MGMB), the biographical crime drama sporting a cast including Lady Gaga, Al Pacino, Adam Driver, Jared Leto, Jeremy Irons and Salma Hayek that trailed with $1.3 million in Tuesday previews.
- Also opening wide (and targeting a very different audience) is Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (SONY), the latest in the seven-film videogame-based survival horror franchise (and a reboot of the concept). It drew $935,000 in its previews and could push Gucci for the second spot, in the $15 million-$20 million range.
- But don't count out a strong follow-up from Ghostbusters: Afterlife, (SONY) which opened a week ago but still pulled in $4.6 million on Tuesday.
- No matter who prevails, the weekend is likely to provide yet another reminder that we're not back to pre-pandemic yet: If Encanto powers to $40 million, it will help lead the entire North American box office back over $100 million for the first time in three weeks. But in the same five-day Thanksgiving period in 2019, Disney's Frozen II led with $125 million all by itself, ahead of some solid numbers from Knives Out ($41.4 million) and Ford v. Ferrari ($19 million).
- Hopeful cinema-related names: AMC Entertainment (NYSE:AMC); Cineworld (OTCPK:CNNWF); Cinemark (NYSE:CNK); (NYSE:IMAX); Marcus (NYSE:MCS); Reading International (NASDAQ:RDI); Cineplex (OTCPK:CPXGF); National CineMedia (NASDAQ:NCMI).
