‘A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood’: How the New Mr. Rogers Movie Did at the Box Office
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood stars “America’s Dad” Tom Hanks as the popular kid’s TV host Fred Rogers. Critics adored the film, and movie-goers have been posting their own glowing reviews to social media. But how did the feel-good film do at the box office this Thanksgiving weekend, put up against Disney juggernaut Frozen 2, as well as star-studded action movies?
How did ‘A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood’ do at the box office over Thanksgiving weekend?
Forbes reported that A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood made $35.7 million in its first ten days in theaters. The movie made $17.3 million of that over Thanksgiving weekend.
Frozen 2 took the top spot for the holiday weekend box office, surprising no one. However, the Disney sequel also broke records, grossing “an estimated $124 million across the five-day weekend,” Entertainment Weekly reported. “Not only does that earn them the winning spot for the holiday weekend, it also broke the record for the biggest Thanksgiving weekend gross of all time,” they wrote.
Knives Out, the Rian Johnson-directed thriller, came in second place for the holiday, grossing $42 million its opening weekend. Returning film Ford v Ferrari, starring Matt Damon and Christian Bale, made $19 million, placing it in third for Thanksgiving weekend.
When movie times clash; ‘A Beautiful Day’ up against ‘Frozen 2’, ‘Knives Out’
Forbes contributor Scott Mendelson argued that because A Beautiful Day was up against Frozen 2 and Knives Out at the box office, the film “is playing like Wonder (-17% after a $33 million launch in 2017)and The Blind Side (+17% after a $34 million launch).” Both of these films, feel-good stories about the power of kindness, “opened against presumed mega-movies (Justice League and The Twilight Saga: New Moon) and legged out over the holiday,” Mendelson wrote.
However, the Mr. Rogers movie has Oscar buzz and could pick up in interest as awards season kicks into gear.
The Tom Hanks-led movie is getting good reviews from both viewers and critics
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood currently has a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 96%. Mr. Rogers’ widow, Joanne Rogers, also loved the movie–and she is perhaps the film’s most important audience member.
“This script was perfect,” Joanne Rogers told reporters at a film screening. “We trusted them.”
One of Mrs. Rogers’ favorite moments from the film was “when Lloyd Vogel’s wife finds out her husband is going to interview Mr. Rogers,” and “she tells him to not ruin her childhood memory of Mr. Rogers.”
Movie-goers took to Twitter and Instagram to gush over the movie, too.
One tweeter called A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood “exactly what I wanted it to be.”
“What a wonderful film about my childhood hero,” they wrote.
It seems most everyone else in agreement, and with Hanks at the helm, we’re not surprised.
The movie cast gushed about Tom Hanks as Mr. Rogers
Joanne Rogers also told the press that Fred Rogers had seen Hanks’ iconic film Forrest Gump multiple times.
“And each time he watched it he learned something new,” she said.
Rogers couldn’t believe Hanks wanted to play her late husband in A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.
“I was like, ‘Are you kidding?’” Rogers recalled. “Tom Hanks was Fred’s favorite actor. And I didn’t know until recently they were sixth cousins.”
Hanks’ A Beautiful Day co-star, Matthew Rhys, told Entertainment Weekly all about Hank’s performance as Mr. Rogers. Rhys plays a magazine writer named Lloyd Vogel who interviews Mr. Rogers.
“I just had this moment,” Rhys said. Apparently, Hanks “was just doing this little bit of a walk, and then there “was something he did with his hands. And then I just went, ‘Oh my God!’”
We can only hope the box office eventually reflects all the positive vibes that clearly surround A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.
