• by Wayne Friedman , December 26, 2023

Big movie franchises are having a tough time keeping up in the final weeks of 2023. 

Warner Bros.’ “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” posted the lowest opening weekend ever for a DC Cinematic Universe movie -- $40 million over a four-day weekend in domestic U.S./Canada box-office revenue, and  $28 million over three days, according to Comscore.

By comparison, in 2018, the first “Aquaman” took in $105.4 million over a five-day period (Christmas Day fell on a Tuesday that year) and $67.9 million for three days.

Warner Bros. had a higher-than-average national TV ad budget heading into the opening -- $19.9 million from 1,250 airings resulting in 1.1 billion impressions, according to estimates from EDO Ad EnGage.

The studio estimated TV spend was much higher the first time in 2018 -- a massive $29.6 million pre-opening (2,380 airings and 1.7 billion impressions). For the entire campaign that year, national TV totaled $35.5 million (3,840 airings and 2.47 billion).

Last month, in a pre-Thanksgiving release, a new edition of a longtime franchise -- Lionsgate’s “Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes” --  took in $44 million in box-office sales domestically. Previous “Hunger Games” releases posted openings of between $100 million and $160 million.

For the current 2023 holiday weekend, the second week of Warner Bros.' “Wonka” pulled in a steady $17.7 million in domestic box-office revenue -- to now total $75 million so far. National TV ad spend now stands at an estimated $18.0 million through December 25 (2,240 airings, 1.8 billion impressions..

Family animated film “Migration” from Universal Pictures hit $17.1 million (over four days) and $12.3 million (over three days), per Comscore. National TV ad spend was $30.5 million (5,170 airings, 3.0 billion impressions).