Animated Titles Take 5 of the Top 10 Box Office Slots

It was an animated bonanza at the domestic box-office this weekend. While Cineverse’s indie horror release Terrifier 3 rode the spooky season enthusiasm to a No. 1 opening with $18.3 million, half of the Top 10 slots were occupied by animated releases representing a variety of artistic aesthetics and storytelling angles.

DreamWorks Animation/Universal Pictures’ critically acclaimed The Wild Robot hung onto the No. 2 spot in its third weekend, taking $13.45M (-28.8%) from 3,854 theaters (-143), for a domestic total of $83.7M ($148.455M worldwide). Rendered in painterly CGI and aimed at families, the film is adapted from Peter Brown’s bestselling book and is directed by three-time Oscar nominee Chris Sanders (The Croods, How to Train Your Dragon, Lilo & Stitch). DWA is already planning a sequel to the warmly received adaptation.

Newcomer Piece By Piece, the LEGO-inspired CG-animated biopic about music icon Pharrell Williams, posted up at No. 5 with $3.8M from 1,865 theaters. The Focus Features release is the fifth best documentary opening of the last 10 years, and is tracking particularly well with young adults 18-24 (40% of the audience) and men (58%). The pic, which was filmed as a standard documentary before being remade with whimsical, synesthesia-effects-infused animation, was directed by Oscar winner Morgan Neville (20 Feet from Stardom).

Coming in right behind a different toy-based adventure, Paramount/Hasbro’s Transformers One, which is hanging in the Top 10 in its fourth frame with $3.65M (-32.3%) from 2,758 theaters (-348) at No. 6. Oscar winning animation director Josh Cooley (Toy Story 4) helmed the franchise’s fully-animated hit.

Representing the otaku contingent, Toho’s My Hero Academia: You’re Next blasted into U.S. theaters at No. 8 with $3.007M from 1,845 theaters. Directed by Tensai Okamura and based on the hit manga and anime created by Kohei Horikoshi, the franchise’s latest feature is its third-highest U.S. opening, behind 2021’s World Heroes’ Mission ($6.255M) and 2020’s Heroes Rising ($5.89M) but ahead of 2018’s Two Heroes($1.388M), all of which were released by FUNimation (now part of Crunchyroll).

And on behalf of classic stop-motion as well as the holidays, fans got to recapture the magic of Tim Burtons’ The Nightmare Before Christmas in a new seasonal re-release through Disney. The event engagement for the Henry Selick-directed 1993 pic came in at No. 9 with $2.3M from 1,700 screens.

Weekend Top 10 at a Glance
(Animated titles in bold).

1. Terrifier 3 – Cineverse – Weekend 1 – $18.3M
2. The Wild Robot – DreamWorks/Universal – W3 – $13.45M (cume $83.7M domestic / $148.5M worldwide)- Rotten Tomatoes: 98% critics / 98% audience- CinemaScore: A
3. Joker: Folie à Deux – Warner Bros. – W2 – $7.054M
4. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice – Warner Bros. – W6 – $7.05M
5. Piece By Piece – Focus Features – W1 – $3.8M– Rotten Tomatoes: 81% critics / 93% audience- CinemaScore: A
6. Transformers One – Paramount – W4 – $3.65M ($52.85M D / $111.35M WW)- Rotten Tomatoes: 88% critics / 98% audience- CinemaScore: A
7. Saturday Night – Sony Pictures – W3 – $3.435M
8. My Hero Academia: You’re Next – Toho – W1 – $3M ($26.62M +Japan)- Rotten Tomatoes: 90% critics / 92% audience- CinemaScore: A-
9. The Nightmare Before Christmas – Disney – W1 (Re-release) – $2.3M (original 1993 release: $89.92M D / $103.993M WW)- Rotten Tomatoes: 95% critics / 92% audience
10. The Apprentice – Briarcliff Ent. – W1 – $1.58M

[Sources: BoxOfficeMojo, Deadline]