Box Office: ‘Night Swim’ Opening to $12.5M, ‘Wonka’ Leads Overall as Post-Holiday Doldrums Begin

Night Swim is headed for a domestic opening of $12.5 million from 3,250 theaters, good enough for a second-place weekend finish behind Wonka.

The Universal movie, from horror maestros Jason Blum and James Wan, is the only new wide release this weekend as the post-holiday doldrums begin. The pic won the Friday race with $5.2 million, including $1.5 million in previews.

If estimates hold, Night Swim will come in slightly ahead of expectations despite scathing reviews and a C CinemaScore from audiences, although it won’t come anywhere near to matching the $30.4 million opening of Universal and Blumhouse’s M3GAN on the same weekend a year ago.

Directed by Bryce McGuire, Night Swim is adapted from a 2014 short film he made in collaboration with Rod Blackhurst. The 98-minute movie begins with flashback of a young girl who meets an unfortunate end when she attempts to retrieve a mysterious toy boat from her backyard swimming pool. Years later, the Waller family movies in: Ray (Wyatt Russell), a former baseball player whose career was cut short by multiple sclerosis; his wife, Eve (Kerry Condon); teenage daughter Izzy (Amelie Hoeferle); and his not-so-athletic 12-year old son Elliot (Gavin Warren).

Night Swim hit the big screen just as Blum and Wan closed a deal to merge their companies Blumhouse and Atomic Monster, respectively. (M3GAN is among the movies they previously worked on together.)

Warner Bros.’ Wonka will stay atop the domestic box office this weekend with an estimated $15 million to $16 million from nearly 4,000 theaters. The Timothée Chalamet-led musical was the biggest winner of the 2023 Christmas season and will cross the $165 million mark in North America by Sunday.

Among other holiday holdovers, Illumination and Universal’s animated family offering Migration is hoping for a a third-place finish with an estimated $10.5 million to $11 million for a domestic tally of $78 million-plus through Sunday.

The race, however, appears to be relatively close between Migration, Warner Bros. and DC’s Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom and Sony’s edgy romantic-comedy Anyone But You.

Aquaman 2 is the latest superhero tenptole to fall flat with audiences and has yet to clear the $100 million mark domestically (it’s done far better overseas). By Sunday, its domestic total should be at least $99 million.

The George Clooney-directed The Boys in the Boat, from MGM/Amazon, continues to impress and looks to pass up fellow adult title The Color Purple for the first time this weekend with an estimated $6.2 milion from 2,687 theaters.

From Warner Bros. and Amblin, The Color Purple is tipped to gross $4.3 million from 3,216 cinemas for an impressive domestic tally north of $54 million through Sunday. The Boys in the Boat‘s domestic total through Sunday is expected to be north of $34 million (both movies opened on Christmas Day).

The Color Purple and Wonka are among the movies competing for top awards at Sunday’s Golden Globes.