![]() We continue to offer a free 2-week trial of WrapPRO. If you’ve been wanting to check out our full coverage, now’s the time.Greetings!Just how bad was October for the theater business? The box office tally of $428 million was the lowest unadjusted October total outside of the pandemic since 1998. This comes on top of a barren first quarter, which also saw the lowest March totals in 30 years. Overall, 2025 has not been great for Hollywood. Yet theaters don't seem to be panicking, and that's because November and December boast a murderers' row of potential blockbusters that could turn things around. "The third-quarter industry-wide softness should not be a cause for alarm nor a harbinger of some negative trend about which to handwring or worry," AMC Theatres CEO Adam Aron told investors during its third-quarter earnings conference call. "To the contrary, we expect that this will turn out to be the highest-grossing fourth quarter in six years." The next two weekends will see a modest uptick (see below for more details), but as Jeremy Fuster notes, theaters are really looking to Nov. 21, when Universal's "Wicked: For Good" premieres. The original cast a spell at the box office ending with a $473.7 million domestic tally and $756 million global total, and Fuster says the sequel is tracking for an opening weekend of $150 million. As a reminder, the original opened at $112.5 million. Five days later, Disney's "Zootopia 2" hits theaters. The original was a massive hit, with $341.3 million domestically and more than $1 billion globally. Fuster says both "Wicked: For Good" and "Zootopia 2" are expected to clear $400 million on their domestic runs and even hit $500 million if the buzz remains strong. December brings "Five Nights at Freddy's 2" and "Avatar: Fire and Ash," which is a big reason why exhibitors are still feeling pretty good. Roger Cheng
Before we get to the heavy hitters, it's worth mentioning two films that have the potential to get the momentum going early...
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