Holiday Box Office: Marty Supreme and Anaconda Clash on Christmas Day

A second wave of holiday movies hit theaters nationwide on Christmas Day in North America. This includes A24’s highly anticipated period piece Marty Supreme – starring Timothée Chalamet as a persistent 1950s table tennis champion – and Sony’s campy monster reboot, Anaconda, featuring Jack Black and Paul Rudd.

Marty Supreme already made a splash last weekend. It broke records with a per-location average of $145,913 across six locations in New York City and Los Angeles. This is A24’s best performance ever, and the highest of any film as 2016’s La La Land. It’s also reportedly A24’s moast expensive movie to date, with a budget between $60 million and $70 million.

Both films began previews on Christmas eve and expanded to all theaters on Thursday. Anaconda earned an estimated $2.1 million, while Marty Supreme brought in $2.01 million. Anaconda is likely the more commercially appealing film, and projections estimate a four-day Christmas weekend gross of over $20 million. Though, critics haven’t been kind to the reboot; it currently holds a “rotten” 44 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Marty Supreme, conversely, boasts a “fresh” 95 percent rating (audience scores will be available tonight or tomorrow).

The Hollywood Reporter‘s chief critic, david Rooney, calls marty Supreme a reinvention of the sports comedy. He notes that this is Josh Safdie’s first solo directorial effort as 2008, yet it feels like his most signature work. Rooney highlights Timothée Chalamet’s performance, describing him as a “hot-wired” and “cocky operator” aiming for global table tennis dominance.