Last week, we wrote that Halloween was coming early to American audiences, with Friday’s release of MGM’s The Addams Family. Now it looks like Christmas has come early for MGM: their cg reboot of the franchise opened strongly, exceeding all expectations.
In its first three days, the film pulled in an estimated $30.3 million domestically from just over 4,000 theaters, surpassing projections of $21–$27 million. Unadjusted for inflation, this also trumps the openings of the last two Addams Family features, both live-action films released in the 1990s. For a mid-budget cg feature that cost a modest $40 million to make, this is a very strong performance. So much so, that MGM has already dated the sequel: Oct. 22, 2021.
The Addams Family also marks an all-time best opening for United Artists Releasing, the MGM banner that distributed the film (which, admittedly, has only been releasing films since this year). It has yet to roll out overseas, where Universal Pictures holds the rights.