Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, which did get a limited one-weekend release back at Thanksgiving in some U.S. markets, had its full wide release over the holiday session and made an estimated $11.4 million on the weekend. While not terrible under the circumstances, it feels like a letdown when compared to the recent Holiday release of Strange World ($12.2 million opening) – a historic flop for Disney – and Dreamworks’ own The Bad Guys, which opened on April 22 of this year with $24 million.
Having already been available in 24 international territories since the second week of December (some as early as December 7), Puss in Boots: The Last Wish added 28 more for the holiday weekend to gross $16.5 million abroad. That’s a more favorable number than its domestic haul, especially considering the terrible state of the Chinese box office, where the film only managed $358K in the face of Covid complications.
Puss in Boots’ total global take now sits at $50.8 million, with several key markets set to open the film just after the new year, including South Korea and Brazil.
Swinging back to Strange World, Disney’s latest accumulated just $430,000 from 1,390 markets over the holiday term, after the film made its way to Disney+ following a brutal theatrical run that has stalled at just over $35.6 million.
Right now, Strange World sits 40th on the 2022 North American box office list, coincidentally between two other animated features in Crunchyroll’s Dragon Ball Hero: Super Hero ($38.1 million) and Jujutsu Kaisen 0 ($34.5 million). It’s dwarfed by Disney’s other 2022 major animated theatrical release Lightyear ($118.3 million) and is only slightly ahead of The Bob’s Burgers Movie ($31.9 million), also distributed by Disney.
Globally, Strange World sits at $65.3 million and doesn’t look likely to move much, as it only grossed 1.5 million at international theaters over the weekend.
