Willy Wonka Defeats An Evil Swimming Pool And Wins 2024's First Box Office Weekend

The first major release of 2024 is a movie about a killer swimming pool. "Night Swim," which was co-written and directed by Bryce McGuire and produced by James Wan ("The Conjuring"), has paddled out into the shallow waters of the January box office, but it faces lingering competition from festive releases. Chief among those is the chocolate-oriented musical fantasy "Wonka," which looks set to hold on to the top spot this weekend after reclaiming it from "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom" last week.

Even with the charms of Timothée Chalamet in the titular role, "Wonka" was a risky box office bet. Carrying a production cost of $125 million, it hovers somewhere between mid-budget and big-budget, and musicals can be a tough sell to general audiences. But thanks to nostalgia for 1971's "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory,"  director Paul King's ("Paddington") talent for entertaining family members of all ages, and the Chalamet fan army, "Wonka" crossed the $400 million milestone at the box office this week. Per The Hollywood Reporter, the prequel is expected to add another $15-16 million to its domestic gross this weekend, hitting a running total of around $165 million in North America.

"Night Swim" isn't too far behind, though. It was No. 1 on Friday with an opening day total of $5.2 million (though that includes $1.5 million in preview ticket sales from Thursday; "Wonka" actually had the higher Friday-only gross with $4.3 million). The evil pool movie is expected to rank in second place this weekend with a projected domestic total of $12.5 million, which is a very respectable start for a movie with a $15 million budget.

In third place is Illumination and Universal Pictures' feathery adventure "Migration," which is succeeding for much the same reason that DreamWorks/Universal's "Puss in Boots: The Last Wish" did this time last year: it's the only animated family movie on offer. Universal definitely seems to have learned from that success story and aimed for a repeat, a strategy that's so far worked swimmingly. "Migration" opened over the Christmas weekend with a four-day total of $17.8 million, and added another $22.1 million over the four-day New Year's weekend. Now, just like "The Last Wish" did, it has parked itself in third place and is playing the long game to become a box office hit. According to Variety, "Migration" is projected to add another $10.5 million this weekend for a running domestic total of $78 million.

Meanwhile, in fourth place, "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom" is slowly limping to the $100 million domestic mark, which it's expected to cross either this weekend or early next week. That's rough going for a movie with a reported budget of $205 million before marketing, but "The Lost Kingdom" is faring better overseas — particularly in China, where it grossed $45.8 million by the end of 2023 (per The Numbers). International ticket sales won't be enough to save "Aquaman 2" from becoming a box office bomb, but they'll mitigate the damage.

Rounding out the top five this weekend is R-rated romantic comedy "Anyone But You," starring Glen Powell ("Top Gun: Maverick") and "Euphoria" breakout Sydney Sweeney. Like "Migration," this one is succeeding thanks to a lack of direct competition in its particular genre (date night movies/girls'-night-out movies for grown-ups). After debuting at Christmas with a modest four-day total of $8 million, "Anyone But You" has held steady and will cross $43 million domestic this weekend, against a production budget of $25 million.