Coco Holds Off Justice League At Thanksgiving Day Box Office

In a close race for the top spot, Disney/Pixar’s Coco edged out Justice League at the Thanksgiving Thursday box office. Ever since the latest installment in the DC Extended Universe debuted to the lowest domestic opening weekend in the franchise earlier this month, all eyes are on how well it holds during the holiday frame. Tentpoles like Justice League tend to be front-loaded, and with mixed word-of-mouth plaguing it, few expected it to have strong legs – especially with acclaimed family film Coco entering theaters now.

However, Justice League has weathered the storm quite nicely, getting a serious boost from a healthy Tuesday at the box office, which hopefully sets the stage for a fruitful weekend. That being said, the DC team-up film still has its work cut out for itself against stiff competition, and Pixar snagging the daily crown on Thursday is just the first step to them winning the weekend.

According to THR, Coco earned $8.9 million in ticket sales on Thanksgiving, narrowly topping Justice League‘s $8.5 million. It’s thought the gap between the two will grow now that families have more free time to go to the movies (following a holiday where many people stay in). The former should end the five-day weekend with more than $70 million, while the latter is expected to earn around $61 million in the same time period.

What gives Coco the advantage, besides being an animated film premiering over a holiday break, is the fact that is was far better received when compared to Justice League. Pixar’s newest effort earned a sterling A+ CinemaScore, whereas Justice League could only muster a B+ rating. The film’s respective Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic scores are also in completely different ballparks, making Coco the more appealing option for general audiences. Heading into the weekend, it was topping Justice League in regard to Fandango pre-sales, so it looks like families were carving out time for Coco as part of their holiday plans. It’s somewhat curious Warner Bros. had sandwiched Justice League between fellow comic book movie Thor: Ragnarok and Coco; a difficult position to find longterm success.

It will be interesting to see where Justice League ultimately ends up when its theatrical run comes to a close. Reports have indicated it needs to gross $600 million worldwide just to break even, and the poor performance in the first three days means the film could lose up to $100 million. As of this writing, its global total is $315.8 million, so it will need to be strong in these next few weeks before Star Wars: The Last Jedi debuts. In some twisted way, maybe all the controversy surrounding the reshoots and petition for Zack Snyder’s original cut will be good for WB, as moviegoers will want to see what all the fuss is about out of morbid curiosity.

KEY RELEASE DATES
Justice League release date: Nov 17, 2017
Coco release date: Nov 22, 2017