Disney/Pixar’s animated Coco may over shoot Justice League at the domestic box office. The Mouse House release has ruled over the five-day Thanksgiving box office frame before with Moana and Frozen . Pixar’s own The Good Dinosaur could not claim the number one spot over Thanksgiving in 2015, but the story may be different for our beloved animation studio this year.
Coco , like The Good Dinosaur , is an original Pixar offering and the studio’s second movie of the year. Cars 3 that had released in June received a lukewarm reception by thecritics but Coco is Pixar’s best movie after Inside Out. The movie, was co-directed by Lee Unkrich ( Toy Story 3 ) and Adrian Molina ( The Good Dinosaur ) and tells a story of Miguel (Anthony Gonzalez), a wannabe musician who finds himself carried away on a magical journey to the Land of the Dead. Here, he encounters his ancestors and uncovers secrets about his family.
Thanks to the word of mouth and demographic appeal, Coco (per Deadline ) is projected to gross upwards of $60-65 million over the 5 day Thanksgiving frame which includes $40 million over the weekend proper. That puts the Pixar movie within earshot of Justice League , which will see its sales decline by 50-60%. This may be a tight race for the number one spot over the Thanksgiving frame.
Both the Denzel Washington-headlined drama, Roman J. Israel, Esq. and Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird are expanding into a nationwide release. Just like The Man Who Invented Christmas , neither of the movies will pose a actual threat to Justice League ‘s reign atop the domestic box office and will surely have a more niche appeal. This means that Coco is the one movie with a huge shot at dethroning DC’s superheroes.
One factor that may give Coco an edge over Justice League at the box office is that it is the first Pixar movie to feature an all-latino team of characters. Following the controversy that surrounded the movie after Disney had made the faux pas of trying to trademark “Día de losMuertos/Day of the Dead”, Pixar took a few extra steps and ensure the cultural authenticity of the movie and the representation of Mexican culture. This seems to have benefitted the movie from a creative perspective.
As for Justice League, it is doing badly in the domestic box office opening weekend and has earned a respectable B+ Cinemascore from general audiences. This hints that the Comics adaptation is creating a stronger word of mouth among the moviegoers than BvS did and must have a better foothold at the box office.
