As a film enthusiast with over three decades of movie-going experience, I’ve seen my fair share of cinematic oddities, but nothing quite compares to the baffling trend of releasing action movies during Thanksgiving weekend.
During the holiday season of Thanksgiving, it’s traditionally Disney animated movies that take center stage. Out of the top 16 movies that have ever opened during this period, seven are large-scale Disney animations. The exceptions are only two films from the Rocky spinoff series (Creed) and the comedy Four Christmases. Since 1988, with Oliver & Company, Walt Disney Pictures has generally premiered its self-produced animated films (as well as a few Pixar titles) around Thanksgiving, making them the dominant force in this timeframe.
Many profitable movies that open during Thanksgiving typically fall into categories such as films that could win Oscars like “Life of Pi” or “House of Gucci”, sports-themed inspirational movies like “Rocky IV”, or comedies with a Christmas theme. It’s quite intriguing when a film that doesn’t fit the usual mold makes its debut during this holiday season. Movies like “Frozen” and “Rocky” are commonly shown at cinemas over Thanksgiving weekend. However, it’s less common to see an assortment of films that don’t quite fit the norm, which I would describe as ‘oddball genre fare’.
Thanksgiving Action Movies That Went Nowhere
It’s an unusual pattern during the Thanksgiving season to see action movies being released. This is done as a way to offer intense and thrilling alternatives to the family-friendly films that typically premiere on Thanksgiving. On the other hand, Christmas has seen many emotionally heavy films launched, such as “The Wolf of Wall Street” or “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”. The reason being, people have more time off during December holidays which gives these darker movies a chance to gain traction. Moreover, Thanksgiving action films often find themselves in competition with major action blockbusters that launch early in November, like “Skyfall” and “Spectre”, the James Bond installments.
Consequently, numerous enigmatic Thanksgiving film debuts have been action-packed movies such as the 2018 release of “Robin Hood,” which was Lionsgate’s box office flop, managing to earn only $9.16 million over its opening weekend. This poor start is quite humiliating. Eight years prior, Dwayne Johnson re-entered R-rated action films with the forgotten CBS Films failure “Faster,” which also only grossed $8.5 million during its debut. Even the reliable box office draw Jason Statham couldn’t make “Homefront” a success over Thanksgiving 2013, as it opened slightly under $7 million over its three-day premiere.
It seems that audiences have been consistently expressing to Hollywood that action films aren’t their preferred choice right now, and even a mix of horror and action genres has struggled. The release of “Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City” on Thanksgiving 2021 was puzzling for several reasons, particularly because it deviated from the typical September launchpad for most Resident Evil movies. Similarly, the B-movie favorite “Robot Jox” debuted in 333 theaters during this period, making the holiday season an unsuitable timeframe for low-budget cinema.
A Horrible Piece of Thanksgiving Schedule
Among the puzzling Thanksgiving releases, one that stands out is the premiere of “Horrible Bosses 2” during the Thanksgiving weekend in 2014. Interestingly, the original film was released back in early July 2011. The question arose as to whether there would be an appetite for further “Horrible Bosses” escapades beyond the first movie. Releasing it during the holiday season didn’t seem to bolster its chances. Regrettably, “Horrible Bosses 2” fell far short of earning half the domestic box office earnings of the initial film.
Jason Bateman, the main actor in “Horrible Bosses 2”, openly acknowledged to Marc Maron shortly after its release that premiering it during Thanksgiving was a significant error. He even went as far as stating this box office flop was indicative of why fewer R-rated comedies are released over holiday weekends. Interestingly, “Horrible Bosses 2” managed a better opening weekend than the 2012 remake of “Red Dawn”, which also debuted during Thanksgiving in 2012. Both films failed to match the $13.31 million domestic opening of “Ninja Assassin” and “Robot Jox”, two Thanksgiving movies that never gained traction at the box office, joining the ranks of holiday schlock.
Year after year, there are numerous peculiar films released during Thanksgiving, such as 20th Century Fox’s astonishing decision to debut Predator 2 over Thanksgiving in 1990. It’s also puzzling why Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny was premiered during Thanksgiving 2006 rather than, for example, the 4/20 weekend in 2007. With limited spare time during the Thanksgiving holiday, people often prefer to watch movies. This is evident from the significant box office earnings generated by Disney animated films and other critically acclaimed movies during this period.
Despite the fact that Thanksgiving has been associated with numerous films that didn’t exactly exude “holiday season vibe,” many of them suffered financially as a result, such as the case with Ninja Assassin, which failed to become a significant financial success even during its release in 2009.
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2024-11-27 23:10