‘Migration’ Debuts In Third Place During Sluggish Holiday Box Office Weekend

Benjamin Renner’s Migration, Illumination’s first original animated feature since 2016’s Sing, finished the holiday weekend in third place at the U.S. box office, bringing in an estimated $12.5 million. The film grossed an estimated $5 million on Christmas day, bringing its 4-day holiday total to $17.5 million.

The bad news here is that $12.5 million is the worst three-day opening weekend in Illumination history and comes at a time when one of the biggest questions facing the animation industry is whether original animated features can be successful at the box office. Migration, at least in its first weekend, looks to be one more example that audiences are sticking with familiar franchises when going to the cinema.

That said, third place isn’t a bad finish, given the number of new films that Migration was competing against. Anyone But You, Salaar, and The Iron Claw all made their debuts over the weekend and finished in fourth, fifth, and sixth place behind Migration, and Wonka was in just its second week in theaters, finishing in second place. Also, Dreamworks’ Trolls Band Together and Disney’s Wish are still in cinemas and likely pulled some of the kids and family audience away from Migration.

Looking forward, there is even more reason for optimism regarding Migration. There is very little kids and family competition on the horizon, so the film could have decent holiday legs. We saw something similar last year with Dreamworks’ Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, a fellow Universal Pictures release, which opened with a slightly smaller three-day box office of $12.4 million and a Christmas four-day total of $18.5 million but legged out an incredible $186 million domestic run. We’re not saying Migration will match that final total. The Shrek franchise pull certainly helped PiB, and its opening weekend was a bit misleading as theatergoers were hampered by horrific weather in much of the U.S. But there is reason to believe Migration can emulate at least some of The Last Wish’s longevity at the box office.

Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy and the Heron had another strong weekend at the North American box office, adding $3.2 million to bring its three-week haul to $30.6 million. Add an estimated $700,000 on Christmas day, and The Boy and the Heron is now the sixth highest-grossing anime film in U.S. box office history at $31.3 million, not far behind Jujutsu Kaisen 0′s total of $34.5 million.

Dreamworks’ Trolls Band Together, directed by Walt Dohrn and co-directed by Tim Heitz, pulled in $1.78 million over its sixth weekend in U.S. theaters and $590,000 on Christmas to reach a domestic total of $93.5 million. The Universal-distributed sequel has also grossed $98 million internationally, pushing its worldwide total to $191.5 million.

Disney’s Wish made $1.1 million during its fifth weekend in cinemas and $564,000 on Christmas Day to reach a domestic total of $58 million after five weeks. Internationally, the film is having a far better go of things and made $9.6 million over the weekend, bringing its offshore total to $86.8 million and its total lifetime global box office to $144.3 million. It finished the weekend in seventh place at the worldwide box office.