The Boxoffice Podium
Forecasting the Top 3 Movies at the Domestic Box Office | December 12 – 14, 2025
Week 50 | December 12 – 14, 2025
1. Zootopia 2
Walt Disney Pictures | Week 3
Weekend Range: $27M – $32M
Pros
- This is shaping up to be a quiet December weekend where we’re expecting a close race for #1 between Zootopia 2 and Five Nights at Freddy’s 2. A wider appeal and solid word of mouth for the Disney animated feature should help keep things interesting this weekend. As far as newcomers, we are not expecting much from either James L. Brooks’ political dramedy Ella McCay or Bryan Fuller’s R-rated genre mash-up Dust Bunny. In fact, it’s entirely possible either of these new studio films could open outside the Top 5.
Cons
- Zootopia 2 dropped a steeper-than-expected -57% with $43.4M this past frame, which was also below original’s sophomore frame ($51.3M, -32%). Still, after 14 days on domestic screens the film has earned $227.5M, which is still far ahead of the first movie ($163.76M) at this point in its run, although far less than last year’s Moana 2 14 days in ($306M). The highlight has been the spectacular China performance, which tallies $440.2M so far and shows all signs of staying ahead of the domestic gross.
2. Five Nights at Freddy’s 2
Universal Pictures | Week 2
Weekend Range: $25M – $30M
Pros
- While Universal and Blumhouse’s sequel Five Nights at Freddy’s was looking like another M3GAN 2.0-style film-to-film drop-off going into last weekend, the movie ultimately over-indexed to the tune of $64M (a million more than Sunday estimates), while also crossing the $100M barrier overseas ($113.5M WW so far). While below the first’s debut, that’s an excellent start to what is likely to become the studio’s next big horror franchise. Between this and Black Phone 2, it’s been a long-needed comeback for Blumhouse.
Cons
- Our forecasting panel believes the fantastic over-performance from Freddy’s and larger than expected dropoff from Zootopia to ultimately even out in week 2. We don’t see much appeal for Freddy’s beyond millennials, who helped drive a front-loaded opening weekend over-performance from the Blumhouse title with 77% of ticket buyers under age 25 and 36% under 17.
3. Wicked: For Good
Universal Pictures | Week 4
Weekend Range: $7M – $10M
Pros
- Even though it now seems like Wicked: For Good will not match the first’s $757.9M global gross, it will cross the $300M mark domestically in the next day or two. The movie reportedly cost in the realm of $150M, so is certainly well into the black for Universal by now even if you include P&A. It will also be a perennially bundled home entertainment/broadcast package with the first, not to mention merchandising. With worldwide on both films now in the $1.2B arena, this was a wildly successful big bet for all involved.
Cons
- Earning $17.35M last frame (-72%), Wicked: For Good is now falling behind its predecessor after building an early lead in a front-loaded opening weekend, with $298.86M 18 days in vs $325.45M on Wicked 1 at the same point in its run. We expect that trend of big percentage dives to continue with its first sub-$10M frame this weekend. The movie should, in all likelihood, pass the $500M WW mark by Sunday.
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