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# ‘The Boy and the Heron’ breaks new ground for an anime film
- URL: https://www.theomnicosm.com/the-box-office-report-the-boy-and/
- Published: 2023-12-11T12:01:10.000Z
- Updated: 2024-01-19T15:56:38.000Z
- Description: Will ‘Wonka’ wake up the box office next weekend?
- Author: Bill Kuchman
- Tags: Popculturology • The Box Office Report, Popculturology, The Boy and the Heron

Hello! Welcome to **The** **Box Office Report** for the weekend of Dec. 8-10, 2023.

## 1\. The Boy and the Heron

**Weekend gross:* $12.8M* 
**Total domestic gross:* $12.8M* 
**Last weekend:* New release* 
**Percent drop:* NA*

The latest animated film from the legendary **Hayao Miyazaki** won the weekend. [As ](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/boy-and-the-heron-box-office-opening-1235732076/?ref=theomnicosm.com)[*The Hollywood Reporter*](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/boy-and-the-heron-box-office-opening-1235732076/?ref=theomnicosm.com)[ notes](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/boy-and-the-heron-box-office-opening-1235732076/?ref=theomnicosm.com), this is the first time an original anime movie took the top spot at the North American box office.

As opening weekends go, *The Boy and the Heron* is also the biggest domestic debut for Miyazaki, with its $12.8 million first weekend easily topping the $6.4 million *Arrietty* opened with in February 2012\. (That film opened at No. 9 behind classic films like *Safe House*, *Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance* and *Journey 2: The Mysterious Island*.)

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## 2\. The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes

**Weekend gross:* $9.4M* 
**Total domestic gross:* $135.7M* 
**Last weekend:* 2nd* 
**Percent drop:* 34*

*The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes* continues to do well during a weak box office period. It’s yet to drop out of the top two, but in terms of the *Hunger Games* franchise, it’s running way behind. The prequel’s $135.7 million domestic haul still trails the domestic opening weekends for *The Hunger Games* ($152.5 million) and *The Hunger Games: Catching Fire* ($158.1 million).

## 3\. Godzilla Minus One

**Weekend gross:* $8.3M* 
**Total domestic gross:* $25.3M* 
**Last weekend:* 3rd* 
**Percent drop:* 27*

I really thought *Godzilla Minus One* had a shot at taking the No. 1 spot at the domestic box office this weekend. The film is incredible, and [I’ve definitely been doing my part to spread positive word of mouth for it](https://www.theomnicosm.com/p/godzilla-is-having-a-moment). *Godzilla Minus One* expanded from 2,308 theaters to 2,540 theaters, but still saw a $3 million drop from last weekend. This upcoming week might be the film’s last few days in North American theaters, so now’s your chance if you didn’t want to wait for it to go on streaming.

♥️

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## 4\. Trolls Band Together

**Weekend gross:* $6.2M* 
**Total domestic gross:* $83.1M* 
**Last weekend:* 4th* 
**Percent drop:* 21*

I wish *Trolls: World Tour* had gone to theaters instead of straight to streaming during the pandemic so we’d have more data for this franchise. Is the original *Trolls*’ $153.7 million domestic gross the outlier? Or is *Trolls Band Together* the course correction?

## 5\. Wish

**Weekend gross:* $5.3M* 
**Total domestic gross:* $49.4M* 
**Last weekend:* 5th* 
**Percent drop:* 31*

The good news: *Wish* has surpassed *Strange World*’s domestic gross from last year. The bad news: *Wish* still trails the lifetime domestic gross of every Walt Disney Animated Studios movie besides *Winnie the Pooh* since *Bolt* kicked off the Second Disney Renaissance in 2008.

*Box office numbers via* [*The Numbers*](http://www.the-numbers.com/?ref=theomnicosm.com) *based on Sunday estimates.*

That’s the end of this edition of ****Popculturology**. Thanks for reading the newsletter. If you already are a subscriber, ****please consider becoming a supporter** by [upgrading your account](https://www.theomnicosm.com/#/portal/).