• Box Office

World Box Office, November 29 – December 5, 2021

While it was a typically sluggish post-Thanksgiving at the box office, a young Colombian girl and Jesus Christ managed to shake things up a bit.

Disney’s Encanto, about Mirabel Madrigal, the only member of a family living in a village in Colombia who does not possess magical numbers, is poised to become the biggest grossing fully animated film in the COVID-19 health crisis era.

The adventure-comedy film, featuring original songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda and a score by Germaine Franco, netted $12.7 million to stay on top of the domestic box office chart on its second weekend. Encanto is expected to soon beat The Croods: A New Age’s total of $58.5 million to become the biggest animated hit of the pandemic period.

Set to cross the $100 million mark was Sony’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife as the fourth movie in the franchise earned $10.35 million and won second place after three weeks. Director Jason Reitman’s sequel to his father Ivan Reitman’s first two Ghostbusters films is projected to earn $102.19 million by the close of the weekend.

Lady Gaga’s House of Gucci is still standing solidly, collecting $6.77 million on its sophomore frame to grab the third spot. Ridley Scott’s drama about the goings-on behind the family empire of the popular fashion brand, which also stars Adam Driver, Salma Hayek, Jeremy Irons, Jared Leto and Jack Huston, has grossed $33.64 million so far.

After posting remarkable ticket sales Wednesday and Thursday and topping the box office on those two days, Christmas with the Chosen: The Messengers went on to place fourth over the weekend with $4 million.

The holiday theatrical release special of a globally popular faith-based TV series narrates the birth of Jesus through the eyes of Joseph and Mary. Created by evangelical filmmaker Dallas Jenkins, Christmas with the Chosen: The Messengers scored $1.5 million in pre-sales in just the first 12 hours that the tickets were made available.

On its fifth weekend, Eternals managed to draw $3.9 million in ticket sales, good enough for the number five slot.

Rounding out the North American top ten, were, in order: Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City ($2.66 million), predicted by box office pundits as on its way to becoming the movie series’ lowest-earning installment, domestic-wise; Dune ($1.81 million); Clifford the Big Red Dog ($1.8 million); King Richard ($1.21 million); Sword of Art Online Progressive: Aria of a Starless Night, a Japanese science fiction anime based on Reki Kawahara’s novels ($1.05 million).

In the international box office race, Encanto also dominated with $20.7 million in more than 40 markets, with especially robust ticket sales in Colombia, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, and Korea. Those figures beefed up the animation feature’s offshore and global ticket sales to $51.8 million and $116.1 million, respectively.

House of Gucci racked up $14.8 million at the turnstiles and performed solidly in Russia, Spain, Mexico, France, and Germany. Ghostbusters: Afterlife’s $13.1 million added to the movie’s overseas tally of $42.9 million and global cumulative of $145 million.

Still very much in the game internationally was Venom: Let There Be Carnage which boasted these earnings: $9.8 million (weekend), $272.3 million (offshore), and $483.2 million (worldwide).

In the world’s biggest film market, Schemes in Antiques, a suspense-adventure movie based on a novel by Ma Boyong, drew $25.8 million from Chinese moviegoers. The film starring Lei Jiayin, Li Xian, Xin Zhilei and Ge You toppled Be Somebody from the box office throne.