The Whale
Drama A24 R 1h 57m Released Dec 9, 2022 Discussed 2022–2023
Opening weekend
$1.0M
603 theaters
Per-theater average
$1,722
opening weekend
Domestic total
$17.5M
16.8× its opening
Worldwide total
$54.0M
32% domestic
Production budget
$3.0M
18.0× worldwide
RT critics
64%
RT audience
91%
+27 vs critics
Metacritic
60
Where it turns up
Friday, December 16, 2022 Avatar: The Way of Water weekend 2022
On the chart The Whale (exclusive, wk 2): The Angelika -14%; Avatar capacity ate the rest
In the note
But considering how the consumer has shown their preference for formats that are already tapped out on inventory, it would take a pretty severe shift in that preference. The Whale - Still in the same 6 theaters as last week, and it’s down by about half overall, but there’s a clue in one of the theaters as to why. One theater, the Angelika in lower Manhattan is only down 14%, but the others are down 50% or more.
Thursday, December 22, 2022 A Wednesday dispatch, December 2022
Expected 'The combination of the two should add up to about $600k or about $1k per screen' Actual: Day-level split not separately published
In the note
For now, this looks like about $3 million for the day, give or take a couple of hundred K. The Whale - Went wider this week and expanded to about 600 theaters. Considering how difficult it is to get adults to a theater this time of year, it’s not half bad and the tried and true upscale markets like Austin, SF and Toronto in addition to the expansions in LA and NY are all pretty good.
Monday, December 26, 2022 Christmas Day 2022
In the note
But even though these increases from yesterday are better than normal, we'll need a similar jump tomorrow for the movies that opened Friday in order to get back to 'normal'. Rogue One Was up 48%. Sing 2 was up 45%. Passengers was up 134% And here’s what today looks like. Avatar: The Way of Water - Up 81% Puss in Boots The Last Wish - Up 79% Babylon - Up 150% I Wanna Dance with Somebody - Up 123% The Whale - Up 128%
Friday, January 6, 2023 First weekend of January 2023
Expected 'The two lowest drops on the sheet' Actual: The Whale +7% (best on the chart); Babylon -46% (among the worst)
In the note
Both The Whale and Babylon are showing their polarizing qualities, although % wise they have the two lowest drops on the sheet.
Friday, January 20, 2023 Third weekend of January 2023
In the note
They’ve got a few more runs than Quintessential here, so figure about 700k for the weekend. The Whale - Why am I writing about a film that’s gonna end up in 9th or 10th place this weekend? Because it’s almost even with last week again, and as it’s been pointed out in the trade press over and over again, the specialty sector is in trouble.