Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom’s early projections are in and it looks like the fall box office continues to be questionable moving forward. Early projections by Box Office Pro are hinting at an opening weekend that matches the rest of the year so far, as it may open between $32M to $42M. That is quite a drop and even lower than The Marvel’s opening just a few weeks ago.
The only difference is that Aquaman sequel has the holiday legs in its favor given it’s releasing over the Holidays. Yet, even the reliable holiday season has become questionable as Thanksgiving isn’t giving many major releases a bigger push than some were hoping to see from their newest high-budget releases like Wish and Napoleon.
It’s starting to look like the original pre-COVID mapping of massive projects released in the fall is starting to drop. There’s not a lot of box office to gain here given recent numbers, but 2023 is generally been a detrimental box office disaster across the board. Many are pointing at the classic “superhero fatigue” but considering just how many productions have been hit, it seems like the year was just overstuffed and the price of admission was simply to high if there wasn’t a reason.
Outside of a few exceptions (this year’s Top 10 tells you everything you need to know about 2023), the year wasn’t kind to any new release and we’ll likely see a change in how they handle it. Sony is currently dedicated to pushing out as many projects as possible while Marvel Studios took a step back. Disney has reshuffled its schedule and not much is known about the rest. So, we’ll see what the future holds.
Source: Box Office Pro
