Receipts: Willy Wonka Returns to the Big Screen, Aquaman Flounders
Domestic: Following a disappointing holiday season at the box office, Wonka has been the only December release to prove itself in ticket sales. The Warner Bros. musical comedy has pulled in $164.6 million in North America, and $465 million globally since its December 15 release. With an estimated budget of $155 million, Wonka is easily poised to be a profitable flick for Warner Bros. Starring Timothee Chalamet as a younger Willy Wonka, Wonka revives everyone’s favorite zany chocolatier, adding to 1971’s Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and 2005’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by telling the story of a teenage Wonka pre-international success. Wonka stars Calah Lane in the new role of Wonka’s friend and sidekick, Noodle, who helps him realize his dream of building a chocolate factory after they find themselves trapped by an opportunistic pair of innkeepers. Fan favorite comedian Keegan Michael-Key also features in the film as a gluttonous policeman whose downfall becomes his addiction to Wonka’s scrumptious creations. Paterson Joseph brings back evil businessman Slugworth from the previous films, and Wonka also features talent like Natasha Rothwell, Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, and Tracy Ifeachor. With an 82% certified fresh critic’s rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the film has already solidified its place in the Wonka universe as a fun and endearing ride.
DC’s second addition to the Aquaman films, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, has been seeing reasonable success in theaters, though falling far short of the success of its predecessor. After the first Aquaman film became the studio’s top-grossing film ever in 2018, DC Studios brought back Jason Momoa in the starring role, but Lost Kingdom has yet to live up to Aquaman. After a $27.7 million opening weekend, the second Aquaman film has grossed just over $100 million domestically and $234.8 million worldwide, a modest sum considering its production budget of $200 million. With Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as the Black Manta, Indya Moore as Karshon, Randall Park as Dr. Stephen Shin, and Jani Zhao as Stingray, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom follows the resurgence of the Black Manta after his defeat in the previous film. Brandishing the power of the Black Trident, Manta fights against Aquaman and Aquaman’s brother Orm to decide the fate of the city of Atlantis. Critics have lambasted the film, which currently holds a 35% critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but audiences have been more forgiving, giving it an 81%. Amid what many see as the downturn of the superhero genre, DC may have been lucky to land even a moderate success – this past year, Shazam! Fury of the Gods, Blue Beetle, The Marvels and The Flash, and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania all saw disappointing turnout in theaters, and DCEU is embroiled in a rebrand into “DC Universe,” a venture expected to take hold in 2025.
International: In South Korea, Noryang: Deadly Sea (Noryang: The Sea of Death in Korea), released December 20th, has drawn an impressive audience – on January 6th, the film hit 4 million moviegoers after only 18 days in theaters. With a domestic gross in the country of just under $26 million, the two-and-a-half hour film took second place to Disney’s Wish in the South Korean weekend charts. Alongside cast members Kim Yoon-seok, Yun-shik Baek, Jung Jae-young, director Kim Han Min took to social media to express his gratitude for the film’s enormous turnout. Deadly Sea is the third in Han Min’s Yi Sun-sin trilogy, a period action series based on naval battles led by Korean Admiral Yi Sun-sin during the Joseon Dynasty. The film finds its basis in the 1598 Battle of Noryang, following Sun-sin (Yoon-seok) as he forms a fleet with the Ming Dynasty to block a Japanese retreat. As the governor of the Ming Dynasty (Jae-young) tries to reopen the retreat route and the head of the Japanese army (Yoon-shik) comes to Noryang, Sun-sim endeavors to overtake the enemy.
In Hong Kong, crime thriller The Goldfinger is falling short of lofty expectations. The film’s reported production budget of over $44 million USD is a record-breaking one for the country, and led many to believe that The Goldfinger would also shatter box office records. In its first week, however, it grossed only $1.2 million in Hong Kong, for a total worldwide gross of $1.25 million. On paper, The Goldfinger has a lot going for it: directed by Felix Chong, the film marks the first time in nearly two decades that actors Andy Lau and Tony Cheung have appeared together on the big screen, and features talent like Simon Yam, Charlene Choi, Alex Fong, Philip Keung, and Chin Ka-lok. But despite the hype, it holds only a 57% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and profitability seems out of reach. The Goldfinger is based on the true story of the Carrian Group, a Hong Kong company whose meteoric rise in the 1980s was quickly followed by a corruption scandal and a catastrophic stock market crash.
Streaming: The 2023 film Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire is enjoying its second week in the Netflix Global Top 10 with 77 million hours viewed. The film, a Netflix exclusive, stars Sofia Boutella, Staz Nair, Bae Doona, Ray Fisher, Djimon Hounsou, and Cleopatra Coleman, and even features talent like Anthony Hokins and Cary Elwes. Billed as part one of a multi-part series, Rebel Moon is set in a galaxy ruled by the Motherworld, whose Imperium military looms over a farming community on the moon Veldt. When the Imperium threatens to return to Veldt, a former soldier named Kora (Boutella) must rally an army together to protect their galaxy from imperialistic rule.
Leave the World Behind finds itself in second place on the Global Top 10, its fourth week on the Netflix charts. With almost 35 million hours viewed, the psychological thriller has experienced runaway success since its streaming release in December. Leave the World Behind is based on the eponymous 2020 novel by Rumaan Alam, and follows Amanda Sandford (Julia Roberts), G.H. Scott (Mahershala Ali), Clay Sandford (Ethan Hawke), Ruth Scott (Myha'la), and Danny (Kevin Bacon) as they navigate what seems to be an oncoming apocalypse brought by the breakdown of technology and communication lines. The film has a 76% critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes, in line with the positive feedback it garnered at its October opening at the AFI Fest, and favorable audience reviews to match.