• by Wayne Friedman , October 31, 2022

Theatrical movies' end-of-the-year holiday season looks to finish the year strong. This could offer insight into the health of the business amid a possible recessionary economy.

First comes the Thanksgiving period.  In two weeks -- on November 11 -- Walt Disney/Marvel’s big movie “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” -- a  sequel to the original -- will be released.

For its national TV campaign so far, the studio has already spent $13.8 million in national TV advertising on 1,382 airings of commercials resulting in 592.7 million impressions.

Disney's Searchlight Pictures’ “The Menu”  is about a young couple traveling to a remote island to eat at an exclusive restaurant where the chef has prepared a lavish menu -- with some surprises. It has spent some $3.02 million in TV on 419 airings, getting 156.1 million impressions. It debuts November 18.

Another Disney film, the animated “Strange World,” debuts November 23 -- the day before Thanksgiving. It has spent $3.3 million on 1,241 airings, with 255.9 million impressions. The movie is about a family of explorers whose differences threatened to topple their latest and most crucial mission.

Sony Pictures' “Devotion” about two U.S. Navy pilots get going the same weekend.

Also there is MGM/United Artist Releasing, “Bones and All” that weekend, about a young woman learning how to survive on the margins of society.

Those two movies have yet to move into accelerated national TV advertising campaigns as yet.

Comscore says year-to-date, U.S. and Canada box-office revenues are at $6.14 billion --   up over 101% versus 2021 ($3.0 billion). But it is still down 34.4% from the pre-pandemic 2019 ($9.2 billion).