Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 and Zootopia 2 hit the US box office

Americans were also able to discover Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair in theaters this weekend…

The first weekend of December has never been so prolific.

Under the influence of different films reaching all audiences, the US box office this weekend posted a cumulative total of more than $150 million, an absolute record for this historically sluggish period between Thanksgiving and the Christmas holidays.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 pull the chestnuts from the fire. The horror film took the top spot. Blumhouse-Atomic Monster continues after Conjuring: Judgment Hour and its start at 84 million. Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 hits with $63 million raised in North America over the past three days. Well beyond the projections which predicted, at best, $40 million.

The score is certainly below the $80 million of the first opus (released in 2023 simultaneously on the Peacock platform), but the studio expected it: a PG-13 sequel always drops a little. On the other hand, the core target — 18-24 year olds — is responding like never before, having reached 46% of the American public. Because on the networks, FNaF2 achieved a hell of a promo: 843 million impressions even before release, or +72% compared to the first film.

Its budget remains under control ($36 million), filming in Louisiana benefited from generous tax credits, and the promotional machine was well oiled: Freddy 2 will be profitable very quickly.

Behind, Disney can rub its hands.

Zootopia 2 still brings in week 2 a nice score of $43 million, for a US total of $220 million in 14 days. This is much better than the first film, which topped out at $150 million at the same stage in 2016.

Above all, internationally, Disney animals are making a killing: the Chinese market is in full swing and Zootopia 2 already stands at more than $900 million in global revenue. The road to the billion is practically mapped out on the ground, arrowed, lit with LEDs. It remains to be seen how far the film will go, with the Christmas holidays… Disney, which was coming off a series of hard hits in animation, finally has its annual mega-hit and can breathe.

Wicked 2 takes third place on the weekend’s podium, and adds $15.6M in week 3, bringing its US total to $295.8M. This is more than the first film at the same stage ($230 million after 3 weeks).

The decline is brutal (-75%), but the base remains solid: the public continues to follow and Universal offers itself a new musical success after its record start in November.

Finally, a nod to movie buffs: Americans were able to see this weekend, in theaters, Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affairthe famous combo Vol.1 + Vol.2 wanted by Quentin Tarantino. Without being a hit, it had a nice weekend with over $3 million collected on 1,198 screens. A classy release, calibrated for fans of the filmmaker, which is not (yet?) planned in France.