In what will be the last episode of 2024, the three proverbial box office musketeers/amigos/etc. are joined by Daniel Loria for a deep dive into what went right over the holiday weekend and why it’s exactly the kind of “everybody wins” frame exhibitors and theatrical proselytizers have been waiting for since, well, even before the COVID era of multiplex melodrama. Mufasa: The Lion King and Sonic the Hedgehog 3 both held like champs, Wicked Part One and Moana 2 got big holiday bumps, and Nosferatu came on like a (pun intended) bat out of hell with a relatively sky-high five-day debut. 

The year will end almost tied, give or take a Disney movie delayed to 2025 and/or a painfully underperforming Joker sequel, with the #Barbenheimer-infused 2023 domestic totals. We thus all again note that the struggles and perils facing the multiplex remain more about supply than about demand. All of us express cautious optimism for next year, which is the first one since 2019 (or honestly, 2018 if you note the sheer Disney domination of what was supposed to be Bob Iger’s swan song), where theatrical is playing with something approximating a full deck.

However, even with concerns about lighter-than-expected slates in January and March, all signs point to, if not a full pre-COVID-level theatrical total, then something approximating best-case scenario business in an ecosystem where A) 20th Century Fox is no longer independent and no longer releasing 15-20 movies a year, while B) original animation and Marvel/DC films are no longer surefire mega-hits. All that, plus discover for yourself why the episode ended with Jeremy challenging theatrical moviegoers to “rawdog Shoah.”

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