'Ella McCay' Gets Out-Voted by Box Office Constituents | Weekend of December 12, 2025
This week’s new wide release, Ella McCay, debuted on approximately 2,500 screens, marking a return to the spotlight for director James L. Brooks (following a 15-year hiatus since his last feature, 2010’s How Do You Know.)
In this political dramedy, Emma Mackey stars as the titular lieutenant governor of an unnamed state. When her mentor (played by the iconic Albert Brooks) tells her that's he’s accepting a cabinet position in the forthcoming presidential administration, it leaves Ella to take over as governor for the remaining fourteen months of his tenure.
At a glance, Ella McCay seems to have all the starry materials for success, and it’s a reunion for James and Albert Brooks—no relation, though they collaborated winningly together on 1987’s Broadcast News.
But a modest cinema footprint, combined with weak critical response (“an indisputably impressive cast, which makes it all-the-more remarkable that not one of them manages to make the film's dialogue or motivations either plausible or comic,” per NPR) has limited its power.
Sequel supremacy: Audiences keep showing up for their favorite franchises
Some high-profile holdovers, meanwhile, remain the driving force of the marketplace.
Zootopia 2 continues to dominate in its third weekend, reclaiming the #1 position and signaling strong durability. Family titles traditionally surge during the Christmas-to-New Year’s window, and Zootopia 2 is well positioned to benefit from school breaks, repeat viewing, and a relative lack of direct competition in the animated space. Expect this title to remain a top performer through year-end and into early January.
Five Nights at Freddy's 2 experienced a steep second-weekend decline, even with an expanded theater count. That said, nearing $100 million in just two weeks is a clear win for the horror franchise.
Wicked: For Good rounds out the top three in its fourth week out.
On the specialty side, Eternity continues to hold steady. Produced for $15 million and approaching $13 million domestically, the film is well positioned as adult counterprogramming during a tentpole-heavy season. As multiplexes skew increasingly toward spectacle, Eternity should benefit from audiences seeking a more intimate, story-driven alternative.
And the nominees are...
Adding to the momentum, awards season chatter is beginning to intersect with commercial performance. The Golden Globes’ Cinematic and Box Office Achievement category has proven to be a strong signal of sustained audience interest.
Past winners like Barbie and Wicked demonstrated how awards recognition can extend theatrical runs and reinforce cultural relevance.
This year’s nominees—including Avatar: Fire and Ash, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, Wicked: For Good, and Zootopia 2—highlight the titles most likely to dominate conversation and consumer spending through the holidays and beyond.
What opens next?
Speaking of James Cameron’s special-effects fever dream: Avatar: Fire and Ash opens this weekend. Driven by premium formats including 3D and IMAX, it's predicted to deliver $100M+. While pre-sales are below The Way of Water, we anticipate this installment will generate enough heat to burn brightly during the holiday weeks.
Also looking to soak up ticket sales this weekend is The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants, which is tracking for a $25M+ debut. This marks the fourth theatrical entry for the franchise—though the third, Sponge on the Run, became a verified oddity by releasing solely in Canadian theaters during the pandemic while going straight-to-streaming everywhere else.
This new installment sends SpongeBob into the "Underworld" to prove his bravery, and includes voice acting turns from Mark Hamill, Ice Spice, and Regina Hall. It’s a chaotic, kid-friendly counterpart to Avatar's premium screen dominance.
Two very different, possible sleepers are also opening this weekend: The Housemaid and David.
From BookTok to big screen, The Housemaid benefits from an audience already invested in the psychological-thriller novel it’s based on. A recognizable cast on press tour, featuring Amanda Seyfried and Sydney Sweeney, doesn’t hurt. USA Today calls Seyfried a “fab force of nature” in a “deliciously unbalanced performance that cleans up,” while Mandatory suggested Sweeney “has finally broken the flop curse.”
From Angel Studios, David is an animated biblical musical drama. The King of Kings, another animated biblical movie from Angel Studios, opened in April 2025 to $19M and came in second place in its opening weekend behind The Minecraft Movie, indicating this could offer good counter-programming to the rest of the slate.
The bottom line? While this past weekend was quiet, the runway ahead is long. With premium formats coming back into play, family attendance rising sharply, and awards buzz amplifying visibility, the final two weeks of the year are poised to deliver outsized returns. The industry is entering its most important—and most profitable—stretch, with strong momentum firmly in place.
How The People Platform's audience measurements can help drive insights
- How many tickets will be sold this coming weekend? Find out on our next Cinema Ranker and follow us on LinkedIn to stay up to date with the cinema industry.
- To learn more about The People Platform's Audience Measurement, click here.
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