MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
Hollywood had a great Thanksgiving. Families were lining up to see a couple of wicked witches and a Disney princess.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "MOANA 2")
KHALEESI LAMBERT-TSUDA: (As Simea) Moana.
KELLY: While a Roman gladiator was playing to the R-rated crowd. By Sunday, North American theaters had sold $420 million worth of tickets in just five days. That is easily a Thanksgiving holiday record. But critic Bob Mondello says, even as he was reporting the news through the weekend, he had questions.
BOB MONDELLO, BYLINE: Film industry trade papers are calling the weekend's box office figures historic, unprecedented, a Thanksgiving feast for the ages. And they aren't wrong. The biggest box office total for a five-day Thanksgiving holiday before this was $100 million less in 2018, when the top films were "Ralph Breaks The Internet"...
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "RALPH BREAKS THE INTERNET")
JOHN C REILLY: (As Ralph) Get back on the track.
SARAH SILVERMAN: (As Vanellope von Schweetz) There is no track.
MONDELLO: ...And "Creed II."
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "CREED II")
MICHAEL B JORDAN: (As Adonis Creed) I want to rewrite history. This is more than just a fight.
MONDELLO: Then came the pandemic, and, well, topping the all-time Thanksgiving record by so much must feel amazing if you're working in Hollywood. But Hollywood is always setting box office records because ticket prices keep going up. Fans don't want to hear this, I know. My Twitter feed exploded a few years back when I pointed out that no Marvel superhero movie, including "Avengers: End Game" has been seen by nearly as many people in theaters as saw Disney's "One Hundred And One Dalmatians."
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "ONE HUNDRED AND ONE DALMATIANS")
MARTHA WENTWORTH: (As Nanny) Oh.
QUEENIE LEONARD: (As Princess) Have you ever seen so many puppies before?
MONDELLO: It's not even close. So when the admittedly impressive trio of "Moana" plus "Wicked" plus "Gladiator" - plus all the other movies in theaters over Thanksgiving - collectively earned $420 million, my sense was that that could be great without being historic. So I did the math, and it is great. With an average ticket price nationwide of roughly $12, that means 35,300,000 people went to a movie that weekend. Now, film industry data about ticket prices and attendance can be fuzzy, especially across decades. But if you look back 20 years, to 2004, when tickets cost about half what they do now, although box office totals were lower, by my calculations, even more people went to the movies that Thanksgiving. Must have been amazing blockbusters, right? Well, you tell me. They were "National Treasure" starring Nicolas Cage...
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "NATIONAL TREASURE")
NICOLAS CAGE: (As Benjamin Franklin Gates) I'm going to steal the Declaration of Independence.
JUSTIN BARTHA: (As Riley Poole) Who wants to go down the creepy tunnel inside the tomb first?
MONDELLO: ...Pixar's "The Incredibles" in its fourth week...
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE INCREDIBLES")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) Mr. Incredible, we need your help.
MONDELLO: ...And that immortal classic, "Christmas With The Kranks."
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "CHRISTMAS WITH THE KRANKS")
DAN AYKROYD: (As Vic Frohmeyer) Nora, stop the car.
JAMIE LEE CURTIS: (As Nora Krank) Oh.
AYKROYD: (As Vic Frohmeyer) Talk to me, Nora.
CURTIS: (As Nora Krank) Oh.
AYKROYD: (As Vic Frohmeyer) Please.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "WICKED: PART 1")
ARIANA GRANDE: (As Glinda) Popular. I know about popular.
MONDELLO: And popular is good for theater owners who sell a lot of popcorn, good for Hollywood because movies are expensive, good for audiences because they're having fun. But the way these things get reported, it feels as if movies are getting more and more popular, and that's not true. To take another record that got broken this weekend, "Wicked" has now become the first adaptation of a Broadway musical in 46 years to pass the reigning champion "Grease" at the domestic box office. It's earned $262 million in just 10 days, meaning 22 million people have seen it. Impressive. But when "Grease" opened, tickets were so much cheaper that dollar comparisons are almost meaningless. "Grease" has been seen by more than three times as many moviegoers as "Wicked."
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "GREASE")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTORS: (As characters, singing) That's the way it should be.
MONDELLO: So you'd be wise to take film biz records with a grain of salt - or at least ask that they be adjusted for inflation - because, straight up, box office numbers will always be, in the words of a freshly popular wicked witch...
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "WICKED: PART 1")
CYNTHIA ERIVO: (As Elphaba, singing) Defying gravity.
MONDELLO: I'm Bob Mondello.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "WICKED: PART 1")
ERIVO: (As Elphaba, singing) Oh, I'm flying high defying gravity. And soon I'll match them in renown. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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