These are dark times my friends. Last weekend, when Onward opened to a muted $39.1 million to finish in first place, I questioned whether on the domestic front if coronavirus fears played a part in that. As we look at this recent weekend at the box office, I can definitely say that what we’re facing cratered the box office as attendance dwindled, theaters began cutting capacity and moviegoers may have just felt uneasy about going out to a crowded theater during a pandemic.
As you now know, Regal, AMC, Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas and many other theaters are deciding to close their doors indefinitely amid the coronavirus spread. If we think this weekend was bad at the box office, it’s definitely going to bleaker in the weeks ahead. Just talking about this weekend, at $55.3 million, this represents at 22-year box office low in terms of overall attendance. The last low happened in 1998, the Oct. 30-Nov. 1 weekend when John Carpenter’s Vampires led all movies for a top ten tally of $55.2 million. Overall, this weekend was down 45% from last weekend, when market conditions were arguably normal, and off 60% from the same weekend a year ago. Someone asked me wasn’t it slow at theaters post 9/11 and it definitely was but with $66.4 million during that time, it still fared better than this weekend. That’s saying a hell of a lot if you ask me. Also, it should be pointed out that the quality of the new movies was questionable over the weekend but most movies dropped between 61-77.2%. That’s a sign that no one was really going to the movies over the weekend.
Our number one movie for the second weekend in a row is Onward which grossed $10.6 million over the weekend. That’s a drop of 72.9% which is pretty much unheard of for Pixar. Essentially Pixar has to call this one a wash because with what’s going on, there’s no way that Onward can rebound at this point. The film’s domestic total now stands at $60.3 million after ten days in release. Internationally, the animated feature added an estimated $6.8 million from 47 markets bringing the international gross to $41.4 million for a worldwide total that now stands at $101.7 million.
In second place we have Vin Diesel’s Bloodshot which grossed $9.17 million. The film was pretty close to expectations for the weekend which thought it could pull in $10-11 million before the world went into a frenzy. Opening day audiences gave the film a “B” CinemaScore which is ok for a film like this but unless Sony does some kind of early VOD release, I don’t see this one becoming much of a franchise starter since it will take a big tumble with all the theaters closing.
Opening very closely in third place is I Still Believe which grossed $9.10 million. The film actually scored big with its target audience, earning an “A” CinemaScore from opening day audiences. By Sunday the film also pulled in a 99% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes which means this film could’ve definitely done better if this was any other weekend. I Still Believe could also benefit from an early VOD release since the target audience would likely flock to it at home.
In fourth, The Invisible Man was almost like its namesake with a gross of $5.8 million over the weekend. That’s a drop of 61.1% and this is a film that could definitely be performing better if it wasn’t kneecapped by the coronavirus pandemic. The Invisible Man is no slacker by any means since the film only cost $7 million to make and has made $64.3 million at the domestic box office but the word of mouth on this film was pretty good so I think some money was left on the table here because of everything that’s going on. Â Internationally, the film added $6.2 million, pushing the overseas total over $58 million for a worldwide tally that stands at $122.7 million.
Rounding out the top five is the long-delayed release of The Hunt which grossed $5.3 million. The film had its initial release delayed due to controversy surrounding the film’s content and two mass shootings in the U.S. last August and Blumhouse tried to build hype by making it seems like it’s the most talked-about film that no one has seen yet but current circumstances didn’t allow it to really make an impression. If the film followed the Blumhouse motif of being made on the cheap, this won’t a loss for them at all and they might earn some pennies on this to put it into a future project.
Check out the full top ten results below:
| Film | Total | % Change | Gross to Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Onward | $10,601,952 | -72.9% | $60.3 |
| Bloodshot | $9,176,695 | NEW | $9.17 |
| I Still Believe | $9,103,614 | NEW | $9.10 |
| The Invisible Man | $5,890,805 | -61.1% | $64.3 |
| The Hunt | $5,304,455 | NEW | $5.3 |
| Sonic the Hedgehog | $2,522,584 | -67.3% | $145.7 |
| The Way Back | $2,356,115 | -71.2% | $13.3 |
| The Call of the Wild | $2,226,720 | -67.1% | $62 |
| Emma. | $1,295,215 | -73% | $9.9 |
| Bad Boys for Life | $1,102,208 | -63.5% | $204.2 |
