Wonka Continues Its Dominance and Wins New Year’s Weekend
Welcome to another weekly installment of Couch Potato, where I go over what went down on the big and small screens so you can be a better-informed viewer.
People wanted feel-good content during the holiday weekend, and Wonka delivered the Golden Ticket. It saw a gain of 26% from its previous weekend, with $22.6 million at the domestic box office, for a total of $133.3 million domestically and a whopping $384 million worldwide. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom was right behind it in second place, with $18.2 million added to its domestic total of $76.6 million at the United States box office. Meanwhile, Migration finally took flight, also taking advantage of a surge going up 37% during the holiday weekend, with $17 million added to its $54.1 million domestic total. This, unfortunately, meant The Color Purple didn’t quite have the overall performance that its opening-day total made it seem like it would. It ultimately saw an 8-day total of $44 million but only earned $11.7 million during its first full weekend at the box office, which doesn’t look too great for the film’s longevity.
On the Netflix charts, Rebel Moon — Part One: A Child of Fire climbed to number one with 34 million views. This bumped Leave the World Behind to second place, adding 14 million views to its total in its 4th week on the charts. Meanwhile, Pretty Woman was a surprise entry to the “Top of the Top 10” during its first week on the charts, with 8.4 million views in its own right.
Comedy reigned supreme on the streaming charts, as Ricky Gervais: Armageddon debuted at number one, proving that stand-up comedy still has a prominent place on the platform. This bumped even a series like My Life with the Walter Boys to second place, which still enjoyed 41 million hours viewed in its fourth week on the charts. The final episodes of The Crown rounded out the “Top of the Top 10” this week, likely ending its impressive seven-week run with 31 million hours viewed this week.
Next week, Night Swim hopes to spook up some success at the box office, which we will be sure to report on as always. Other than that, though, it’s just the same pool as this week, so feel free to catch up on the multiple recent new releases you might not have gotten around to yet.
Stay tuned for that, and until next time, happy viewing!
Special to The Central Observer, Elton Allen
About the Author
Elton Allen is thrilled to be a contributing author on The Central Observer. As a proud native of Central Jersey, he looks forward to getting to help out a publication based right out of his backyard. He proudly runs the Couch Potato Corner and our Health & Wellness section. His professional writing background spans nearly a decade and covers a variety of industries, including healthcare, marketing, career counseling, entertainment, and more.