"Beyoncé's 'Renaissance: A Film” Breaks Box Office Records For Holiday Releases

Beyoncé’s Renaissance: A Film topped the weekend box office with $21 million in its domestic debut, making it the second concert film in two months to achieve this feat.

The film, which showcases Beyoncé’s stunning performance and artistic vision, added another $6.4 million from international markets. The $21 million figure is impressive considering that the first weekend of December is usually a slow period for Hollywood; according to the Associated Press, Renaissance: A Film is the first movie to gross over $20 million in this weekend since 2003’s The Last Samurai.

Renaissance: A Film, which was written, directed and produced by Beyoncé herself, also beat the second-place movie, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, by about $5 million. Beyoncé teamed up with AMC for the release of the film, which received rave reviews from fans and critics alike. “We are grateful to Beyoncé for bringing this amazing film directly to her fans,” said Elizabeth Frank, AMC Theatres executive vice president of worldwide programming, in a statement. “It is a testament to her immense talent, not just as a performer, but as a producer and director, that it resonated with fans and with film critics on a weekend that many in the industry typically neglect.”