Why Thanksgiving-weekend movies aren’t doing well this year: They’re really not
The Thanksgiving-weekend movie season is a weird one.
Not every movie at its time on the calendar — and not every show on its time on the schedule — has a great shot at box-office success this year. And while the glut of new offerings may make some more than happy, others find themselves having to fight against the onslaught of the same old (or very tired) fare.
Below, you’ll find a look back at what was good and bad about Thanksgiving-weekend movies this year.
There are certainly a lot of strong new offerings, so here are a few that stood out.
The Grinch and his Grinchiest Mater
Ralph Breaks the Internet
You see, the Grinch who terrorized our Thanksgiving moviegoing experience this year was a very different Grinch from the one who came in 2014. In many ways, he was the Grinchiest Grinch.
This year’s movie felt more like an all-out horror movie that was only partially successful — thanks largely to an extremely effective script by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. In fact, it would be closer to your average horror movie than the original, which starred Johnny Depp.
It certainly wasn’t just that the Grinch was trying to find a way to give away candy to himself and his friends. This was also a movie that seemed to be based on a true story that happened to involve a villain — who in turn became a fan of the Grinch — and a couple of kids who wanted some candy, which he didn’t deliver.
The Grinch, as we all know, was the worst. The film’s tone was too dark and the Grinch’s motivation to be a villain was far too twisted for its own good. But perhaps its best moments were its many laugh-out-loud moments.
The Grinch and his Grinchiest Mater
Rampart
It’s an all-too-familiar holiday tradition: A few weeks after Thanksgiving, Hollywood releases a movie that feels like a Christmas movie, but that feels like an actual horror movie.
In terms of box office success, it
