Review: Christmas movies galore decorate streaming services
As of Wednesday morning, Amazon Prime Day was a multi-billion-dollar bonanza for both streaming and DVD owners. A day after Black Friday, the Christmas tree appears to be down, and the house is all but empty. (Just make sure you’ve got a stock of batteries on hand.)
That’s the good news in this week’s big media box office action, which sees Amazon’s streaming and DVD offerings dominate once again.
First among movies, of course, is the surprise (and perhaps unwelcome surprise) that has been 2017’s best film: The Lego Movie. This Christmas of the year is not a good one for animated movies; last we saw, The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part, had been released in February, while Toy Story 3 was still in theaters and still going strong.
But what’s even better? The Lego Movie continues to outpace expectations, while earning $60.2 million in its seventh weekend; this is, of course, more than double what it would have made in North America last year, but it’s less than half what it scored in its first weekend, when it earned $128.1 million.
So what is going on here? The film is playing in the same market as previous LEGO movies, which are also making a lot of money: the adult and family-centric markets. If the film continues to do well, it could be a franchise unto itself. And if the Lego Movie continues its strong performance, it may still have a chance at the award show trophy box office glory.
Also in the family and adult categories, The Grand Budapest Hotel grossed $7.9 million in its eighth weekend thanks to strong word of mouth, but more than $15 million in theatrical tickets, according to estimates from exhibitors. That number would be the highest ever if we were to include the $14 million in midnight shows, but it also would be a record for a film in that genre. It also is beating the $10 million of the previous record holder, The Grinch.
No film released in the holiday season has done better than The Nutcracker and the Four Realms ($48.1 million), which opens