For 11 of the past 12 years, an animated movie has opened on the first weekend of November. The streak continues this year with the highly-anticipated “The Peanuts Movie”, from 20th Century FOX and Blue Sky Studios, the makers of the “Ice Age” series. “Peanuts” has a HUGE built-in fanbase, from the original Charles Schulz comic strip, which began 65 years ago, and the classic holiday TV specials that are nearly 50 years old. Parents and grandparents who love Charlie Brown, Snoopy and Co. will certainly bring the new generation of kids to see “Peanuts”, and for some, this will be their introduction to the iconic world.
Still, it would be a major upset if “The Peanuts Movie” beat the weekend’s other new release, “Spectre”. The 24th James Bond installment, coming-on the heels of 2012’s “Skyfall”, is targeting to make at least $100 million. “Peanuts” is estimated at around $50-$60 million – still very impressive and in-line with other “first weekend of November” opens.
Disney/Pixar’s “The Incredibles” got this tradition started back in 2004, with a $70 million debut. The Mouse House has also used this first weekend in Nov. for releases of “Chicken Little” (2005), the motion-capture animated “Disney’s A Christmas Carol” (2009), video-game adventure “Wreck-It Ralph” (2012), and last year’s Best Animated Feature Oscar winner “Big Hero 6”, which surprised many by out-grossing Christopher Nolan’s space saga “Interstellar” to win the weekend. Smaller studios Relativity Media and Reel FX Animation released Thanksgiving comedy “Free Birds” on Nov. 1, 2013 to solid results. And DreamWorks Animation has also enjoyed this spot, opening “Flushed Away” (2006), “Bee Movie” (2007), “Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa” (2008) and “Megamind” (2010) on this week.
“Puss in Boots” was nearly added to this list, as for months DWA promised a November 4, 2011 opening. But, with less than a month to go, they abruptly decided to push the “Shrek” prequel up a week to October 28th. No specific reason was given at the time, and the move was clearly a risk as Halloween weekend is traditionally a ghost town for movie theaters (proven again this year), with families more concerned with prepping for Trick-or-Treating. “Puss” opened at #1 with a middle-of-the-road $34 million. But it retained its title the next weekend, dropping only 3%, and beating the all-star comedy “Tower Heist”, which turned-out not to be real competition.
The trailers and overall promotion for “The Peanuts Movie” have been excellent. Can it beat “The Incedibles”‘ Nov. animated opening weekend box office record? With some solid buzz and good early reviews it has a shot – certainly a better chance than Charlie Brown has of ever kicking that football.