Welcome to the Monday Morning Hangover Report – Your Guide to Your Boozy Movie Weekend
Every Monday, we shake off the weekend and break down what really happened at the box office: the hits, the surprises, the flops, and the trends shaping moviegoing right now. Think of this as your cinematic debrief paired with a cocktail: sharp, fun, and just what you need to start the week.
Opening Pour
**We are still saddened and shocked by the death of actor, writer and amazing director Rob Reiner and his wife Michelle this past weekend. We’ll have more on his life and legacy in film and beyond later this week after we’ve had some time to process.**
Holiday fuzz, festive lights, wintry weather, and the final push toward Avatar: Fire and Ash season made this weekend feel like a cozy box office reset. No huge new wide release dominated. Instead, holdovers led the way. Zootopia 2clawed back the top spot in its third weekend, animated seasonal favorites and horror sequels jockeyed for position below, and a couple of smaller releases learned the hard way that December crowds are picky. Let’s pour the details:
Top 5 Domestic Films For The Weekend of Dec 12–14, 2025
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Zootopia 2 $26.3 million domestically; reclaimed the #1 spot in its third weekend of release.
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Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 $19.5 million (–70% week-to-week, still solid relative to budget).
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Wicked: For Good $8.55 million as musicals settle into holiday legs.
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Dhurandhar $3.5 million and rising – a rare Bollywood powerhouse in U.S. theaters.
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Now You See Me: Now You Don’t $2.38 million, still mid-tier in its fifth weekend.
Also Notable:
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Jujutsu Kaisen: Execution and Ella McCay each crossed the $2 million mark in modest runs.
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Seasonal and older titles like How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Hamnet continued to draw niche audiences.
Highlights & Insights
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Animation: Zootopia 2 reclaimed #1 this weekend with $26.3M, shrugging off a mid-December lull and proving that family and holiday audiences still love shared big-screen adventures. It’s now well into the hundreds of millions domestically and has crossed a huge global milestone overall with $1B in worldwide box office.
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Horror’s Persistent Legs: Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 dropped about 70% from its debut, but a near $20M weekend shows horror sequels can continue to perform even when they’re no longer headline news.
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Musical Magic Fading Into Warmth: Wicked: For Good continues to hold respectable mid-range box office, a testament to holiday popcorn audiences and the ongoing appeal of musical spectacle.
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International & Niche Voices Rising: Dhurandhar cracking the top five highlights the growing global footprint of Bollywood cinema in the U.S. market.
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Longer Run Labels: Titles like Now You See Me: Now You Don’t, Jujutsu Kaisen: Execution, and seasonal re-releases still find smaller but reliable audiences, a reminder that not every hit needs to be a blockbuster to keep theaters humming.
What Went Wrong with Ella McCay
One of the quietest (and most disappointing) stories of the weekend was the abysmal debut of Ella McCay. Despite awards-season positioning and a prestige-leaning rollout, the film failed to connect in any meaningful way. Poor reviews didn’t help, but the bigger issue appears to be its identity. Was it an awards drama? A character study? A quiet holiday counter-programmer? Audiences never seemed to know; and in December, uncertainty is death at the box office. Add limited buzz, muted marketing, and a crowded adult-drama field, and Ella McCay was effectively invisible the moment it opened.
Silent Night, Deadly Night Misfired
The holiday horror revival Silent Night, Deadly Night also landed with a thud and this one hurts more on paper. Christmas horror has worked before, but this release felt misaligned with audience expectations. The brand recognition wasn’t strong enough to carry it, the marketing leaned generic instead of provocative, and horror fans already had Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 scratching that itch. Combine that with seasonal competition from family films and holiday traditions, and the result was a film caught between audiences – too nasty for casual viewers, not bold enough for genre diehards.
What’s Next
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Avatar: Fire and Ash is looming large on the horizon and expected to shift the box office landscape next week. Early tracking suggests lower than expected pre sales, but it could open massive and push many current films down the chart immediately.
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Family fare and animation continue to be key draws during the holidays – How the Grinch Stole Christmas and similar seasonal titles often see bumps as we get closer to Christmas.
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Global hits and diverse content may continue to play a bigger role – with films like Dhurandhar showing international power can influence U.S. performance.
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Awards season buzz may give adult-leaning dramas a late-year surge if critical acclaim and word-of-mouth build steam. Keep an eye on limited releases that expand.
Final Pour
This weekend wasn’t about cataclysmic box office shifts — it was more of a festive shuffle. Zootopia 2 reminded us why families still fill theaters in December, Freddy’s proved horror still has bite, and global cinema signals new audiences are waking up to diverse voices. With Avatar about to bring the heat and holiday crowds just warming up, the next report might just hand us our first serious blockbuster battle of the season. 🍸🍿
