December 2024 grossed £115,581,488. This is a 21% increase from the £95.5m recorded in December 2023, led by “Wonka” contributing £49.3m. The overall total for the year stands at £1.06 billion, concluding 2024 on a par with last year and 8% up versus 2022.
“Wicked” continues to lead the box office for the second month in a row, maintaining its position at No. 1 for December to bring in an additional £23.2m. Jon M. Chu’s adaptation of the Broadway musical has achieved a total to date of £55.6m, making it the third-highest grossing film of the year behind “Inside Out 2” (£59.2m) and “Deadpool & Wolverine” (£57.5m). The title also ranks as the third-highest musical of all time (primary genre), behind only “Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again!” (£65.6m) and “Wonka” (£63.5m).
Carrying on strongly from its late November debut, “Moana 2” places at No.2 for December with an additional £21.8m. Disney’s musical sequel has a total of £36.4m to date, surpassing the lifetime gross of its predecessor, “Moana’s” £20.6m. This positions it as the sixth-highest grossing film of 2024 as the year comes to a close.
At No.3 is another entry from Disney ending the year strongly for the distributor, with “Mufasa: The Lion King” bringing in £17.4m. After two weeks on release the live-action sequel has entered the Top 15 releases of the year, currently ranking at No.13.
“Sonic The Hedgehog 3” ranks fourth for the month with £16.0m after its opening week. The previous instalments in the franchise, “Sonic The Hedgehog” and “Sonic The Hedgehog 2,” recorded lifetime totals of £19.3m and £27.0m respectively.
“Paddington In Peru” is at No.5 for the month, bringing in an additional £6.4m. The third installment in the “Paddington” franchise has concluded the year with £34.2m to date and ranks as the seventh-biggest release of 2024. The original instalment, 2014’s “Paddington” totalled £38.0m, with the second instalment 2017’s “Paddington 2” still standing as the highest-grossing entry in the franchise with £42.7m.
“Gladiator II” follows at No.6, adding an additional £5.9m in December. Ridley Scott’s sequel has a total to date of £31.0m and is currently his second-biggest title to date. The original “Gladiator” is marginally ahead with £31.3m and will shortly be overtaken by the sequel to be Scott’s two top-grossing films.
“Conclave” takes seventh spot with £3.9m for the month. Edward Berger’s film is now the second-highest release for “Black Bear” with a total of £5.8m so far. It has surpassed “Ferrari’s” £4.2m and is now only behind “Longlegs” (£8.1m).
Robbie Williams biopic “Better Man” ranks eighth for the month, grossing £2.9m after just one week on release.
“Pushpa 2 – The Rule” is at No.9 this month with £1.8m. The Telugu-language action drama is the biggest Indian release of the year, ahead of “Kalki 2898 AD” (£1.4m) and “Fighter” (£1.0m).
Closing the chart this month is the sixth film in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe, “Kraven The Hunter” with a total to date of £1.4m.
January Preview
The month kicked off with the debut of Robert Eggers’ “Nosferatu” (Universal) and John Crowley’s “We Live In Time” (Studiocanal) on New Year’s Day (Wednesday). This is followed by Asif Kapadia’s “doc 2073” (Altitude) and RaMell Ross’ drama “Nickel Boys” (Curzon/Amazon MGM) opening today, Friday 3rd. Jesse Eisenberg comedy-drama “A Real Pain” (Disney) opens on Wednesday 8th, followed by Nicole Kidman and Harris Dickinson in erotic thriller “Babygirl” (Entertainment) and Angelina Jolie in “Maria” (Studiocanal) opening on 10th. Bob Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown” (Disney), Robert Zemeckis drama “Here” (Curzon/Amazon MGM), period epic “William Tell” (Altitude) and horror reboot “Wolf Man” (Universal) all open on 17th. The following weekend, Mel Gibson’s action thriller “Flight Risk” (Lionsgate) and Steven Soderbergh’s horror “Presence” (Warner) both debut on 24th. The month will conclude with previews of Jason Reitman’s “Saturday Night” (Sony) on 25th leading up to its official release on the 31st, alongside Drew Hancock’s “Companion” (Warner) and Mike Leigh’s drama “Hard Truths” (Studiocanal).