Thanksgiving 2009 at the Box Office

The day before Thanksgiving tends to perform only slightly better than a normal weekday. Thanksgiving is generally slow but then the day after is one of the busiest of the year. On Wednesday three carryovers in New Moon, The Blind Side, and 2012 topped the new offerings and that will likely continue through the weekend.

Opening yesterday was the martial-arts movie Ninja Assassin which debuted with $3.3 million, the comedy Old Dogs which starts with $3.1 million, and the stop-motion animated Fantastic Mr. Fox which opened with $1.1 million. Of the three only Mr. Fox is receiving positive reviews with an exceptional 92% on Rotten Tomatoes and my review prompted the first time handing out five stars. Assassin is at a low 28% and Old Dogs is a pathetic 7% making it one of the worst reviewed movies this year.

Despite those reviews Old Dogs presents itself as an inoffensive family comedy and does have John Travolta and Robin Williams. Consider that Paul Blart: Mall Cop opened to $31 million on its way to $146 million. It won’t match those numbers but that is the target audience it is going for. It could have about $28 million by the end of the weekend.

Ninja Assassin over-performed compared to expectations and that could have it headed towards about $23 million through Sunday. The advertising appears to have been successful in getting an action crowd out despite it having a completely foreign cast. It is worth noting that audience reaction has been much more positive than the reviews.

Fantastic Mr. Fox should see itself draw better in the coming days with many people off work and out of school. While it is not a traditional kids film it does work for all ages. Word-of-mouth is good and could help it but it still is difficult to market and to get across what it is all about because of how unique the movie is. Because of that it will not open huge but has a chance to do well through the holidays. It should be able to make about $15 million through Sunday.