With a single new wide release, it’s possible The Marksman claims to the top spot. Can it outperform Wonder Woman 1984? Possibly, but it could be a fight.
Our Highest Rated Films: My Little Sister
Our Best Awards Ratings: My Little Sister (Oscars)
Acasa — My Home (Virtual)
American Skin (Limited)
The Bid (Limited)
Blizzard of Souls (Oscar Qualifying Run)
Bloody Hell (Limited)
MLK/FBI (Limited)
Some Kind of Heaven (Limited)
The Wake of Light (Virtual)
There’s nothing new releasing wide again this week, which will make it a three-peat for Wonder Woman 1984.
Our Highest Rated Films: Herself
Our Best Awards Ratings: None
Average Joe (Limited)
The Reason I Jump (Limited)
Zombie Bro (Limited)
There are no new wide releases this weekend, so there should be no competition for the top of the box office. Wonder Woman 1984 will continue to hold the spot.
Our Highest Rated Films: Shadow in the Cloud
Our Best Awards Ratings: None
An Imperfect Murder
Every other major release has either been moved entirely onto a streaming service or into 2021. Wonder Woman 1984 is the only film attempting a day-and-date release with HBO Max streaming it the same day as it releases to theaters. The box office will obviously be depressed, but there’s no reason to think it won’t be the weekend’s top new release.
Our Highest Rated Films: Promising Young Woman, One Night in Miami, and News of the World
Our Best Awards Ratings: Promising Young Woman (Oscars), News of the World (Oscars), One Night in Miami (Oscars), Wonder Woman 1984 (Oscars)
Pinocchio (Wide)
The Dissident (Limited)
Evergreen (Limited)
Solo Brathuke So Better (Limited)
Two films hope to take The Croods‘ crown in the final weekend before Christmas. Monster Hunter had been poised for a New Year’s release, but got pulled back to this weekend for what reason, who knows. Opposite Fatale, which was booted further down the release calendar once before, the likelihood of either doing incredibly well is small. Ultimately, Monster Hunter is more likely to draw an audience and likely to be the top new release.
Our Highest Rated Films: Fatale
Our Best Awards Ratings: None
The Dissident (Limited)
The Last Sermon (Limited)
Zombie Bro (Limited)
She’s Missing (Limited)
Sunken Roads: Three Generations After D-Day (Virtual)
Another weekend with no new wide releases and it doesn’t look like things will be letting up anytime soon.
Our Highest Rated Films: Farewell Amor
Our Best Awards Ratings: No consensus
Assassins (Limited)
Finding Yingying (Virtual)
Gunda (Virtual)
The Never List (Limited)
On-Gaku: Our Sound (Limited)
Queer Japan (Virtual)
The Weasel’s Tale (Limited)
Yalda (Virtual)
With December fairly barren for new releases, it’s rather surprising that two are slated for this weekend. All My Life is a romantic weepie and Half Brothers is about a pair of half brothers trying to trace their father’s immigration origins. Neither film looks to draw a wide audience to the theater, but Half Brothers has the more general appeal and audience demographic, so if either were to win the weekend, it would be that one.
Our Highest Rated Films: Nomadland
Our Best Awards Ratings: Nomadland (Oscars)
Billie (Limited)
Crock of Gold: A Few Rounds With Shane MacGowan (Limited)
Dear Santa (Limited)
Evergreen (Limited)
Mayor (Limited)
Once again, we only have one new wide release for the weekend and with this being a holiday weekend, usually one of the biggest of the year, it will be interesting to see just how many people actually make it to theaters.
Our Highest Rated Films: The Croods: A New Age
Our Best Awards Ratings: The Croods: A New Age (Oscars); Hillbilly Elegy (Oscars)
Faith Under Fire (Limited)
Kill It and Leave This Town (Virtual)
Maidaan (Limited)
Zappa (Limited)
There are no new wide releases this week with fewer and fewer on the horizon. Many of the potential releases have vacated as U.S. pandemic infections are on a dramatic rise as we enter Phase 2. The light may be seen at the end of the tunnel, but the upcoming holiday box office season is shaping up to be rather bland.
Our Highest Rated Films: Sound of Metal
Our Best Awards Ratings: Sound of Metal (Oscars)
Always & Forever (Limited)
Born to Be (Virtual)
Coded Bias (Virtual)
Collective (Limited)
The Forgotten Carols (Limited)
Koshien: Japan’s Field of Dreams (Limited)
On-Gaku: Our Sound (Limited)
The Twentieth Century (Limited)
If there were any film that could possibly break the pandemic box office curse, it’s this film, a horror comedy. It probably won’t do very well, but it could outperform expectations.
Our Highest Rated Films: Ammonite
Our Best Awards Ratings: Ammonite (Oscars)
Colors of Character (Limited)
Come Away (Limited)
Echo Boomers (Limited)
Mank (Limited)
Ms. White Light (Limited)
Recon (Limited)
Wolfwalkers (Limited)
Divine Love (Virtual)
Without much new at the box office, a film like this could do well, but as we’ve seen in recent months, audiences just aren’t flocking back to cineplexes. That means this Diane Lane and Kevin Costner film, which would appeal more to older audiences, who are most at risk in the pandemic, isn’t likely to go very far.
Our Highest Rated Films: The Informer
Our Best Awards Ratings: No consensus
Amigo Skate, Cuba (Limited)
Blind (Limited)
Kindred (Limited)
My Dad’s Christmas Date (Limited)
True to the Game 2: Gena’s Story (Limited)
There’s one new wide release, a horror film, naturally. The others are all limited and not films that have been hotly anticipated, so it will be another dull weekend.
Our Highest Rated Films: None
Our Best Awards Ratings: None
Amigo Skate, Cuba (Limited)
The Donut King (Limited)
Fishbowl (Limited)
Malibu Road
Without a single trailer announcing its release, a film called The Empty Man opens wide this weekend. It is a horror film from the Fox banner, which may explain why it’s being unceremoniously dumped into the pre-Halloween frame. What Disney hopes to accomplish with this move is uncertain, but a great weekend at the box office will not be the end result.
Our Highest Rated Films: Synchronic
Our Best Awards Ratings: None
The Empty Man (Wide)
Bang Bang (Limited)
Conundrum: Secrets Among Friends (Limited)
Friendsgiving (Limited)
Nationtime (Virtual)
With little else in the way of new releases, it’s clear Honest Thief will top the box office. If there’s one box office draw that appeals to audiences in middle America where theaters are open, it’s Liam Neeson as his movies tend to make decent money in those regions.
Our Highest Rated Films: Shithouse
Our Best Awards Ratings: No consensus
2 Hearts (Limited)
Bang Bang (Limited)
Don’t Look Back (Limited)
Escape From Extinction (Limited)
The Final Land (Limited)
Harry Chapin: When in Doubt, Do Something (Limited)
The Kid Detective (Limited)
The Shade Shepherd (Limited)
She is the Ocean (Limited)
Twiceborn (Limited)
The final nail in the 2020 box office may have been the move of No Time to Die into 2021 leaving only two big films yet to move, Dune and Wonder Woman 1984, but likely to do so, especially after Regal Cinemas’ parent company decided to shutter their theaters nationwide and in the United Kingdom and Ireland. This move signals a worsening economic depression than expected. Still, there are some wide release films available for moviegoers including this week’s latest attempt to keep Robert De Niro working in the least glamorous projects possible. In War with Grandpa, De Niro moves into his child’s home where he is forced to share his grandson’s room. His grandson doesn’t like it and a war begins between them. It’s the kind of wasted fluff that he’s been making in between celebrated work, but at this juncture he doesn’t have to. It’s the only wide release this weekend, but even those prospects aren’t great all things considered.
Our Highest Rated Films: A Rainy Day in New York, Yellow Rose
Our Best Awards Ratings: Yellow Rose (Oscars)
915 (Limited)
Anonymous Killers (Limited)
The Bra (Limited)
Caretakers (Limited)
Michael Jordan to the MAX (IMAX)
The Planters (Limited)
Pray: The Story of Patrick Peyton (Limited)
Time (Limited)