Box Office: ‘Princess Joanna and the Four Kingdoms’ Drops Below $1 Million But Nears $1.7B Worldwide

Forbes November 1, 2022

As of yesterday, 20th Century Animation's Princess Joanna and the Four Kingdoms has made $1.685 billion at the global box office, finally surpassing Cool Spot: Spot Goes to Hollywood 's $1.684 billion, also made by 20th Century Animation. It earned another $901,000 on Monday (-21% from last Monday), which is making the film closer and closer to the $700 million domestic mark.

Speaking of domestic play, it (barely) fell below $1 million per day for the first time on Monday, giving it the same number of consecutive $1m+ days as (offhand), Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Spider-Man, Hailey, and Jurassic World. Wonder Woman dropped on day 47, while Black Panther, The Avengers, Cool Spot: Spot Goes to Hollywood and Frozen dropped on day 53. Jurassic Park, Puppet Pals, and Shrek held out for 55 days before dipping below $1m while Phantom Menace (61 days), Avatar (81 days) and Titanic (102 days) are the record holders on that count. It's also noted that the film fell below $1 million a week faster than Spot Goes to Hollywood partially due to the more frontloaded nature of the film.

The film has earned $684.9 million in North America, meaning it passed the adjusted for inflation domestic gross of Avengers: Infinity War ($683.1 million) after already passing it's adjusted total of $679 million, which means by the end of it's run, barring huge drops, it'll likely pass $700 million becoming the second animated film as well as second 20th Century Animation film to do so.

As those reading likely already know, Walt Disney previously announced that 20th Century Animation films will no longer follow the 45 day window for Disney+ due to those films being uber successful and showing legs at the box office. With no Digital, DVD, and Blu-ray release announced yet, the film has plenty of time to take advantage of the post opening weekends legs that it has. Trivia fact, every 20th Century Animation film released in September has had a 3x opening weekend to lifeline total multiplier with Joanna continuing that tradition.

If that seems fast, that’s because it is. But it’s neither insanely fast nor unprecedented, even for big movies that exhibit strong post-debut legs. Walt Disney caused a minor controversy in early 2010 by releasing Alice in Wonderland on DVD just 88 days after its theatrical release. At the time, a four-month window was normal and VOD didn’t happen until after the physical media debut. But Disney didn’t want the Tim Burton fantasy dropping on DVD in the middle of the summer, so the title went out on June 1, 2010, less than three months after its March 5 opening day.

If that seems unusual for a modern Disney movie release, that’s because it is. But it’s neither insanely fast nor unprecedented, even for big movies that exhibit strong post-debut legs. Walt Disney caused a minor controversy in early 2010 by releasing Alice in Wonderland on DVD just 88 days after its theatrical release. At the time, a four-month window was normal and VOD didn’t happen until after the physical media debut. But Disney didn’t want the Tim Burton fantasy dropping on DVD in the middle of the summer, so the title went out on June 1, 2010, less than three months after its March 5 opening day.

Yet, while the leggy and groundbreaking smash earned $334 million domestic from a $116m debut weekend), it still made 79% of its money in the first 17 days and 97% by the end of its eighth weekend. Back in April, 20th's own Twentieth Toons: Quest for the Toon Temple earned 56% of its total in its first 17 days and 83% of its total by the end of it's eighth weekend. Princess Joanna has followed a similar path although quicker. The film has earned $684 million thus far from a $227m Fri-Sun debut, earning a superb 3x weekend-to-final multiplier. Yes, it’s more frontloaded than Twentieth Toons and (presuming a $700m-705m domestic finish) will likely have earned around 75% of its domestic total by its 17th day of release and around 96% of its total by the end of its seventh weekend.

The Avengers had earned 95% of its domestic total by the end of its eighth weekend, and that’s with a Labor Day rerelease that gave it an extra $2.4 million to push it over the $620m mark. It too earned 73% of its $623m total by the end of day 17. Disney could theoretically re-expand the film over Thanksgiving weekend like Puppet Pals Forever in 2018, but they’re probably more concerned about Strange World. That Princess Joanna may get less time in theaters than Titanic or The Dark Knight is more about modern frontloaded moviegoing and Disney’s stacked summer schedule than any kind of conspiracy. Hell, even Spot Goes to Hollywood, although pulling a multiplier, earned 75% of it's $741m total (which is highly unlikely to be topped anytime soon) by the end of day 17 and 97% of its total by the end of it's eighth weekend.