Box Office Discussion Thread

In a much-closer race for the top than anticipated, Sonic the Hedgehog raced to a narrow box office win this weekend. The video game adaption brought in $26.2 million, for a ten-day total of $106.5 million. Sonic becomes the second film released in 2020 to top the century mark, though a steeper-than-expected decline probably means that the year's current #1 movie, Bad Boys For Life, is likely to stay out of reach.

Opening stronger than expected in second place is The Call of the Wild, the first film from the newly renamed 20th Century Studios. What is at least the 8th filmed version of Jack London's 1903 novel was expected to debut in the teens, but instead powered to a $24.8 million opening.

First the good news about this opening: with decent legs (and this is the type of movie that could play for weeks), this could make over $100 million domestic. That would give star Harrison Ford at least one film hitting the century mark in an unprecedented six straight decades. The success of this film and Sonic, along with the continuing run of Jumanji: The Next Level and even the surprisingly lengthy run of Dolittle suggests that Hollywood probably should have scheduled more family-friendly films for the first two months of the year. This all should be good news for Onward, which arrives in a week and a half.

Now the bad news: for whatever reason, this film cost $135,000,000. Even with Ford's presumably large paycheck and the CGI dog, there is no reason this film should have cost anywhere near this much. Even half that cost would be way too expensive. Like Dolittle, this could have the grosses to be a solid hit, if it wasn't for the insane price tag.

Speaking of bad news, Birds of Prey (and Something Something Harley Quinn) sees its grosses fall under $10 million, to $6.8 million, for a total of $72.3 million. It's never a good sign when a title character's big budget movie is overshadowed by the title character's animated series on a relatively minor streaming service. On the bright side, DC Universe subscriptions are probably going up, and since all of this goes to Warner Bros. anyway, it all comes out in the wash.

There's no bad news for Bad Boys for Life, which takes in another $5.9 million, raising its total to $191.2 million. It will eventually relinquish the top spot for 2020, most likely to Onward, but if that and Mulan end up underperforming, it could stay #1 for the year until Black Widow overtakes it sometime in May.

Back in 2016, the low-budgeted horror flick The Boy turned out to be surprisingly profitable, opening to nearly $11 million and finishing just over $35 million. Like most low-budget horror hits, a sequel was greenlighted, but unlike most quickie horror sequels, which usually hit theaters no more than two years after the original, Brahms: The Boy II took over four. Understandably, many moviegoers only have vague memories of the film, and the new one opened to only about half of the first film's opening weekend, at $5.8 million. Undoubtedly, the flood of horror that has hit theaters since the beginning of the year didn't help much. The Boy II will probably make it to $10 million, but don't expect much more than that.

Speaking of low-budgeted horror, Fantasy Island proved to be more of a nightmare in its second weekend, taking in only $4.3 million for a ten-day total of $20.3 million. With awards season over, both 1917 and Parasite start to head toward the multiplex exits, with 1917 earning $4.2 million to bring its total to $151.8 million, and Parasite taking in $3 million for a total of $48.8 million.

Also heading for the exit is the last holiday season wide release in the Top 10, Jumanji: The Next Level. In its 11th weekend, it brought in $2.9 million for a gross of $310.9 million. Rounding out the Top 10 is romantic drama The Photograph, which with Valentine's Day long over, lost most of its audience, tumbling to $2.8 million for a ten-day gross of $17.6 million. It was just barely able to hold off Impractical Jokers: The Movie, which had a surprisingly strong start in 11th, despite playing on fewer than 400 screens. Maybe this one should have been released a bit wider.

This week only brings in one new movie, which happens to be yet another low-budgeted horror movie. But unlike the likes of Fantasy Island and The Boy II (and The Grudge and The Turning and and Underwater and Gretel and Hansel), The Invisible Man might just attract some solid business. For starters, unlike Island, which Blumhouse dumped in theaters without critics' screenings, the studio has made sure to get the critics out to see this film, which as of this writing is boasting a 91% approval rate at Rotten Tomatoes. For another, it has a strong star in Elisabeth Moss, playing a woman who, after the supposed suicide of her abusive ex, a brilliant scientist, finds herself being stalked by...something. With Sonic and Call of the Wild likely to gross in the teens this weekend, this Man should be visible at the top of the box office.

Worldwide Box Office for February 28-March 1

1: The Invisible Man (2020) / Universal, $48,405,663, $48,405,663 (NEW)
2: Sonic the Hedgehog / Paramount Pictures, $43,061,393, $265,755,045 (-1, -33%)
3: The Call of the Wild (2020) / 20th Century Studios, $24,362,823, $79,418,474 (-1, -39%)
4: The Gentlemen / STX, $9,568,326, $101,874,797 (+6, +22%)
5: Bad Boys For Life / Sony Pictures, $9,250,134, $405,418,519 (-1, -34%)

I don't know if this is your weekly update on Covid-19 (God I hope this isn't your weekly update on Covid-19) but things are not getting better. In fact, judging by the sudden toilet paper shortages people are literally shitting their pants in terror. Theatres are shuttering in France and South Korea as well now, and franchise tentpole No Time To Die has fled to November to try and escape the pandemic. There's a 1 in 14,600,005 chance that every tentpole exits the summer box office leaving New Mutants to ascend to its rightful position.

To movies that are actually in theatres, The Invisible Man (2020) overperformed in a big way to surprise Sonic and claim the top spot. It's not the highest grosser of the Monster/Dark/Whatever-verse but this one cost $7m to make rather than $125m (sorry Tom Cruise's Mummy remake). I suppose if you want a cheap monster movie, you go for the one you don't have to animate at all. This is already a huge win for Universal but a lot of money rests on whether this holds closer to Get Out or Fantasy Island.

Sonic the Hedgehog is still speeding along, with a number of new openings keeping the strong holds coming. Even with a budget of something like $95m (maybe or maybe not including reanimating the entire movie) it's still pretty much guaranteed to be a money-maker for Paramount. Japan and China(?) yet to come as well.

The Call of the Wild (2020) remains hilariously way too expensive to possibly turn a profit. But the hold isn't too bad all things considered? Maybe it can be like Dolittle and stay at $20m a weekend for a month. Also, apparently the dog in this movie is modelled on a real rescue dog? To which I say bull-fucking-shit. There is no way the animators for this movie had ever seen a real life dog before creating Buck's character model. I refuse to accept that anything in real life resembles the cartoonish monstrosity in the movie.

The Gentlemen opened in a bunch of new territories and climbed back into the top 5. I mean it was a pretty slow week but it's still pretty impressive. It's crossed $100m worldwide now, against a budget of $22m. So that's a pretty solid win for STX. It's the biggest original Guy Ritchie movie ever though still far short of Aladdin and Sherlock Holmes. He also did a King Arthur movie apparently that flopped really hard?

Bad Boys For Life checks in just under The Gentlemen, and, yep, that's still doing really well. Fun fact, this has now hit the top 10 worldwide grosses of Will Smith movies. It goes Aladdin (2019), Independence Day, Suicide Squad, Men in Black 3, Hancock, Men in Black, I Am Legend, Men in Black 2, and then Bad Boys For Life in ninth. In case you were wondering it's first for Martin Lawrence movies, ahead of Bad Boys II and... Wild Hogs.

Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) makes $8.7m to keep limping towards the $200m mark. Yes I'm going to keep saying the whole thing. It's what Harley Quinn would want. 1917 drops out of the top 5 but keeps chugging along with $8.0m. That's passed Dumbo (2019) to be the 25th highest grossing movie of 2019 now. Dolittle banks another $7.4m, reminding us that a China breakout could have really helped this movie climb towards respectability. Parasite leeches $7.2m from the box office, that's passed $250m worldwide now. And My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising hit $5.9m in its opening weekend. Funimation is making moves to market anime movies to America and they're actually making inroads. You fucking nerds.

2020 Worldwide Box Office

1: Bad Boys For Life (=) / Sony Pictures, $405,418,519
2: Sonic the Hedgehog (+1) / Paramount Pictures, $265,755,045
3: Dolittle (-1) / Universal, $217,427,106
4: Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) (=) / Warner Bros., $188,386,416
5: The Gentlemen (=) / STX, $101,874,797
6: The Call of the Wild (2020) (+4) / 20th Century Studios, $79,418,474
7: Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior (-1) / AA Films, $52,000,000
8: Tolo Tolo (-1) / Taodue, $50,520,463
9: The Grudge (2020) (-1) / Sony Pictures, $49,141,833
10: The Invisible Man (2020) (NEW) / Universal, $48,405,665.

Just to elucidate how sharply this year has been affected by Covid-19, here's what 2019 looked like this time last year.

1: The Wandering Earth (=) / China Film Group, $683,594,528
2: How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (+1) / Universal, $380,371,940
3: Alita: Battle Angel (+1) / 20th Century Fox, $351,191,695
4: Crazy Alien (-2) / Huaxia, $327,598,891
5: Pegasus (=) / Huaxia, $246,451,017
6: Glass (=) / Universal, $243,977,342
7: The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (=) / Warner Bros., $153,779,102
8: Escape Room (=) / Sony Pictures, $125,627,186
9: Extreme Job (=) / CJ Entertainment, $119,746,669
10: The Upside (=) / STX, $113,761,738

Three Chinese movies, one Korean movie, and no movies below $100m on the list. And this was one week before Captain Marvel launched and jumped straight to second. And back then Disney hadn't rebranded early 1900s motion picture executive and producer William Fox out of film history. He's quite a figure. Fun fact, he was born Vilmos Fuchs. If I had a last name that sounded like Fucks I'd keep it. oppyu Fuchs, everyone.

Though funnily enough we still have a WB franchise underperformance and an STX slow burn $100m+ grosser. But yeah, this year has been fucked for worldwide box office.

In the upcoming week we have Disney opening the *cough* lucrative North American summer box office with original Pixar film Onward. Apparently it's like if Bright were good and made you cry about your dead dad. Ben Affleck is also an alcoholic high school coach trying to get through to these kids in The Way Back. And the latest Emma. adaptation is expanding wide; less Clueless, more Pride and Prejudice. All three of these movies are sitting at 80+ on Rotten Tomatoes, so you have a bunch of critically acclaimed movies you can go see if you're willing to brave the risk of Covid-19.

Wait wait that was an ironic cough earlier I don't have- *is gang-tackled by doctors in HAZMAT suits*

There were some eyebrows raised when Disney announced that Onward, the next Pixar movie, would be released not during the summer or at Thanksgiving, the two slots in which every previous Pixar movie had opened, but during the first weekend of March. The explanation was that the studio had three animated movies to release that year, and one of them had to open during the off season (Another Pixar movie, Soul, got the summer slot, and Disney Animation Studio's Raya and the Last Dragon got November). Besides, the last time the studio had to release a major animated title in March, in 2016, it worked out very well for Zootopia.

Unfortunately, 2020 turns out not to be 2016, and Onward turns out not to be Zootopia. For whatever reason, audiences weren't that interested in the film or its "Fantasy creatures living normal suburban lives rediscover magic" storyline. The film opened to $39.1 million, slightly less than what The Good Dinosaur made in its first weekend. But then, this isn't a completely fair comparison, as Dinosaur opened the day before Thanksgiving, and it had earned $55.5 million total by Sunday night. Indeed, the only opening weekends lower than this for Pixar movies are A Bug's Life and the original Toy Story, both of which were also Thanksgiving weekend releases, and both of which also were released over 20 years ago. Onward is easily the lowest opening of any Pixar movie that opened wide on a Friday.

The good news is that not is all lost. While the film has almost no chance at $200 million, it should still have no trouble clearing $100 million. It also has the family field to itself, other than the fading Sonic the Hedgehog and Call of the Wild. The next major family film opening is stablemate Mulan at the end of the month, followed by Trolls World Tour two weeks later, and there's at least a decent chance that one or both could move in the wake of the coronavirus. Assuming that said virus doesn't lead to mass closing of theaters and/or audiences deciding its too scary to venture outside and to just wait for the film to show up on Disney+ in six months, that means it should have some decent legs.

Last week's top film, The Invisible Man, isn't disappearing from multiplexes anytime soon, as it had a solid hold for a horror movie, coming in with $15.1 million. Its ten-day total stands at $52.7 million, and it looks like it won't vanish until it earns at least $75-$80 million.

The Ben Affleck vehicle The Way Back is the type of modestly budgeted drama that major studios rarely make these days, as these type of projects either are made independently or are turned into an 8-episode limited series on HBO. Unfortunately, the grosses explain why major studios don't usually make films like this anymore. The film opened to $8.2 million, and will likely have trouble earning back its budget, which is estimated to be in the mid-$20s.

Even with Onward's disappointing opening, it still negatively affected the aforementioned Sonic the Hedgehog and The Call of the Wild, both of which dropped roughly half from last weekend. Sonic took in $7.7 million to bring its gross to $140.5 million golden rings, and Call made $6.8 million for a total of $57.3 million.

Jumping into the Top 10 is the latest remake of Emma (or Emma., as the title actually has a period at the end, because, as its director points out, it's a period film. Har har har). The latest adaption of Jane Austin's comic masterpiece (which, in the last 25 years, has been turned into a movie with Gwyneth Paltrow, a BBC movie with Kate Beckensale, a 4-part BBC miniseries, and of course, Clueless) did OK, if not world-beating business, taking in $4.8 million for a total of $6.7 million. This looks to be heading to a final gross of between $15-$20 million.

With Onward down for the count and No Time to Die having no time in theaters till Thanksgiving, Bad Boys For Life tightened its grip to be the top movie of the first third of 2020. It took in $3.2 million, enough to get it past the $200 million mark at $202 million. Expect a final gross of around $210-$215 million.

Birds of Prey (And Blah Blah Blah Harley Quinn) grossed $2.1 million for a total of $82.5 million. At least it should finish a bit better than last February's big-budged, female-driven action movie, Alita: Battle Angel.

Rounding out the Top 10 are two TV spinoffs. Impractical Jokers: The Movie brought in $1.9 million for a gross of $9.7 million. My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising nosedived from last weekend, earning $1.7 million for a total of $12.9 million.

Onward is likely the favorite to win this weekend again, but three new titles have an outside chance of pulling the upset (there were four, but My Spy was pushed back a month at the last minute to take advantage of the hole left by No Time to Die). The Hunt, yet another redo of The Most Dangerous Game, this time as a hyperviolent political satire, stars Betty Gilpin as one of several extreme conservatives forced to fight for their lives as rich liberals (led by Hilary Swank) hunt them down. This was supposed to open last fall, but after the shootings in El Paso and Dayton and criticism from the president on down over its premise, it got postponed to here, where its almost opening unnoticed. On the other end of the spectrum is the PG-rated true(ish) story I Still Believe, a spiritual (if not actual) sequel to surprise 2018 hit I Can Only Imagine, starring KJ Apa (without his Riverdale dye job, thankfully) as Christian music star Jeremy Camp, whose blissful life with his fiancee (Britt Robinson) takes a tragic turn when she is diagnosed with advanced cancer. Gary Sinise and Shania Twain play Apa's parents. Finally, comic book adaption Bloodshot is Vin Diseal's latest attempt to have a successful film away from the Fast & Furious franchise. He plays a recently deceased Marine brought back to life, enhanced with nano technology so he's now a super-soldier, but he keeps having flashbacks to his former life, which is not part of the plan. If you're thinking "Hey, that's the plot of Robocop and Universal Soldier, with big dollops of Upgrade and Venom!", well, you're not wrong. Will Onward be able to have a small decline and prevail for a second weekend? Will one of the newcomers pull a shock and take the top spot? Or will no one go see anything this weekend in fear of the coronavirus? We'll find out soon.

During the course of last week, most entertainment options outside the home announced immediate shutdowns. One of the most prominent holdouts was movie theaters, who responded by limiting ticket sales per auditorium and encouraging their patrons to spread out and not sit too close to each other. While some people showed up, most people took seriously the government's command that everyone should stay home and get caught up on Netflix, as ticket sales slumped to levels not seen since very early days of this century.

The most obvious sign that movies were not exactly a top priority anymore was the performance of Onward. The animated fantasy was, under normal circumstances, likely to be one of the bigger disappointments in Pixar's history. But those normal circumstances wouldn't have produced a drop of over 70% from its opening weekend, a decline that would be steep for poorly-received horror movies. Onward came in probably anywhere from $10 to $20 million under what it likely would have otherwise gross, making $10.6 million for a ten-day gross of $60.4 million. It has pretty much cemented its position as not only the lowest-grossing Pixar movie, but the only one not to top $100 million, though at least the latter stat should come with an asterisk.

Opening in second is Bloodshot, the sci-fi thriller starring Vin Diesel as he continues to see a successful vehicle without the words "Fast" and/or "Furious" in the title. Despite lousy reviews and so-so word of mouth, this one might have succeeded, as its $9.2 million opening was about in line with pre-virus expectations. That suggests that it might have been a moderate hit otherwise.

In third is another movie that might have broken out, and unlike Bloodshot, would likely have had solid legs. Christian movie I Still Believe opened to $9.1 million. Thematically similar to directors Joe and Andrew Erwin's previous film, I Can Only Imagine, which became an unexpected hit two years ago, I Still Believe might have very well put up similar numbers. Like Onward, expect this to have a very healthy post-theatrical life.

The Invisible Man had easily the best hold of any movie in the Top 10, taking in $5.9 million for a total of $64.3 million. It's hard to imagine this earning more than a few million extra dollars this weekend under normal circumstances. While I still think it would have fallen short of $100 million, it would have likely topped $80 million at the very least. Still, even finishing a good $15 million short, Invisible Man will be very profitable.

In fifth is Invisible's Universal/Blumhouse stablemate The Hunt, which was delayed for six months from last fall after getting caught up in controversy as conservatives (including the president) objected to a movie where Trump supporters were hunted for sport. With other things taking priority over the plotline of a movie, this one pretty much slipped into theaters unnoticed--even by moviegoers, as it opened to $5.3 million.

Rounding out the top ten was Sonic the Hedgehog ($2.5 million/$145.8 million), The Way Back ($2.4 million/$13.4 million), The Call of the Wild ($2.2 million/$62.1 million), Emma ($1.3 million/$9.9 million), and Bad Boys For Life ($1.1 million/$204.3 million. Bad Boys could very well be the #1 movie of 2020 for a long, long, long time.

Over the past few days, nearly every major theater chain has shut down, and the vast majority of theaters around the country have gone dark for the time being. It is uncertain whether we'll even get box office totals for this weekend, as whatever numbers we do get will make last weekend look like Christmas week. Because of that, these write-ups will also be going on hiatus. If we do get numbers for this coming weekend, I'll do a quick write-up, but nothing lengthy. We'll be back to full length once theaters are back up and running.

Only two movies had their numbers reported last weekend. Something called Phoenix, Oregon, which managed to find 17 theaters to play it and had a gross of $3,842, and a doc called Lost in America, which played one theater and earned $78. From what I understand, about 200 or so theaters, a large percentage of which are drive-ins, were open last weekend. Of course, even drive-ins are subject to shelter in place orders, so I expect that already small number of open theaters to shrink even more this weekend.

As of today, the next scheduled wide release is Trolls World Tour on April 10, which of course has also announced it will be also be available on PPV day and date. Given that there's a pretty decent chance that no theaters will be open to show the movie in two weeks, I expect Universal will either scrap the theatrical release entirely, or postpone the film like every other major title has been through at least mid-May so far (the next blockbusterish title that is set to open is SpongeBob on May 22. I'll be very surprised if that happens).

Can we find the two dozen people still going to movies and arrest them so the theatre employees can go home and stay safe?

As of last weekend, 14 movie theaters, all of which were drive-ins, were still operating in the US. According to Deadline, the #1 movie in America was The Invisible Man, which took in $36,600. The Hunt earned $36,000, and Onward, undoubtedly hurt by becoming available on Disney+ last Friday, took in $22,700.

The only movie Box Office Mojo and The Numbers reported numbers on this weekend was the art house comedy Phoenix, Oregon, which took in $2,900 from 27 theaters. As it turned out, none of those theaters are actually showing the film, as they are all closed. Instead, you can buy a "ticket" to the film on its website, you'll get a code that allows you a 48-hour window to watch the film, and the distributor will split the proceeds with one of the participating 27 theaters that you designate (you can also just have them choose which theater gets your money). I'm not sure if that should count toward a film's box office, given that its basically VOD, but these are weird times.

One new movie arrives this weekend: Trolls World Tour. I noticed recent ads have stopped saying "In theaters!", but it does appear that it will be available at the open drive-ins. After that, there isn't much for a good long time. Focus has yet to officially move its two May wide releases, the music industry comedy The High Note, and the Jon Stewart-directed political satire Irresistible, and A24 has yet to move its fantasy The Green Knight. The next major studio wide release is on June 24, when Disney is still scheduled to release Soul and Universal has The King of Staten Island.

We're back! And so are movie theaters--at least up north!

In March, movie theaters, like nearly every other business not deemed "essential" shut down worldwide as the Covid-19 pandemic took hold. Studios rushed to rearrange the release calendar as theater operators assumed that the shutdown would be only for a few weeks, before life would be able to resume normally.

Five loooooooooooooooooooong months later, the pandemic, at least in the United States, is still raging, but movie theaters are inching toward returning. Moviegoing has not ceased completely, but at least for the first couple of months, was largely restricted to drive-in theaters. Indoor theaters slowly started coming on line in June and July. Theaters, both indoors and outdoors, have survived on Trolls: World Tour (the only major studio theatrical release since the shutdown), films that had opened before the shutdown, indies (the most successful being a low-budget horror movie called The Wretched, which has taken in nearly $2 million since its May release), and re-releases of older movies, such as Jurassic Park, The Goonies, and various Harry Potters.

This weekend saw the first major studio release since Trolls opened in April (while Universal has chosen not to announce its domestic box office totals, its estimated to have earned between $3 and $4 million, making it by far the most successful pandemic release), with The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run. The twist, however, is that the film was only released in Canada.

It's been a very long time--if ever--since a major studio, American-produced title opened wide in the Great White North but not in the U.S. As of right now, there are no announced plans for SpongeBob to come to American screens, but its on-demand release date isn't until January. Since the other titles that had shifted to streaming or VOD were released on that format fairly close to the films' final scheudled theatrical release date, the fact that this isn't supposed to arrive for home viewing until after New Year's suggests that Paramount is keeping the option open for an American theatrical release, should conditions warrant.

As for how SpongeBob fared in Canada, well, it's hard to say. The film grossed about $0.9 million, which is far better than any film has done since the last weekend before the shutdown, but still a bit of a disappointment, given that Paramount was really hoping to break a million. But for movies right now, it's a job, not a sprint, so we'll see how the film holds up in weekend #2.

The other big opening this weekend, also exclusive to Canada, is Unhinged, a thriller starring Russell Crowe as a deranged driver who starts terrorizing a woman who dared to honk at him. This is the first release from upstart Solstice Studios, and Crowe's star power, while considerably faded from his Gladiator days, was still good for $0.6 million. Unlike SpongeBob, American audiences will get a chance to see Unhinged this very weekend, and it should be able to top whatever CanadaBob makes in its second weekend.

The Covid-19 pandemic is far from being over, at least in the United States, even though numbers have been dropping. But a least some Americans seem bound and determined to pretend like everything is back to normal, including heading out to see a movie. And to fulfill that goal (and to get some necessary cash flow, which for most chains has been lacking since March), theaters are reopening all over the country. Not everywhere, of course. Theaters remain closed for the foreseeable future in California and New York state, which of course includes the nation's two largest cities (and the headquarters of most of the nation's entertainment producers). But most other places, it's now possible to go see a movie, and not have to sit in your car to do so. And the movie to welcome back the nation's moviegoers is...a low-budgeted, poorly-reviewed thriller starring a faded star.

For some reason, Unhinged always wanted to be the first film out of the gate, dutifully scheduling itself a week or two before Tenet, and then when that movie was inevitably moved, moving with it. It opened last weekend in Canada, along with The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run, and this weekend became the first film to play on more than a thousand screens since the mass closing.

The results were reasonably encouraging. The film made just over $4 million to easily lead the box office this weekend. Had this been a normal late-August weekend, this film would have likely fit right in with the other new releases, and would have likely made around $4 million, give or take couple of million. Of course, in that weekend, the film would likely have come in 7th or 8th, not 1st.

Nothing else in the Top 10 came close to the million-dollar mark. SpongeBob, still restricted to Canada, came in second with $550,000. Opening in third was the unfortunately-titled Words on Bathroom Walls, about a mentally-ill teenager who is trying his best to fit in. Unlike the highly publicized Unhinged, this one had almost no advance hype, so the fact that it took in $419,000 is pretty good. The re-release of The Goonies came in 4th with $260,000, and opening in 5th was the heist thriller Cut Throat City, which like Words on Bathroom Walls, suffered from a lack of pre-opening publicity. It still took in $243,000.

This weekend's biggest new release is the long-delayed The New Mutants, which has blown through 4 previous release dates dating back to April 2018. How good it is might remain a mystery for a while, as Disney is not having press screenings, and indeed, not making the movie available to critics in any form other than buying a ticket and seeing it at the theater, which several online and print publications (including The AV Club) refuse to do at this point. Also opening is Bill and Ted Face the Music, which will also be available on VOD, and The Personal History of David Copperfield. We'll see if any of them can top $5 million next weekend.

Hollywood, which spent the last two weeks easing back with a throwaway Russell Crowe vehicle and a long-shelved horror movie, finally threw out a big gun for Labor Day with the belated revival of Christopher Nolan's Tenet. The film, which in the before times was expected to be one of the summer's biggest blockbusters and spent weeks as the last movie standing on its original release date as every other movie scheduled between mid-March and October either fled to later in the calendar or threw in the towel and went straight to streaming, had previously opened overseas, to decent, if hardly revolutionary, reviews and strong business. The question would be if it could replicate some of that foreign success in a country where hundreds of theaters, including every one in several major cities, were still closed and the ones that were open would be only able to sell a limited supply of tickets to each show. And the results were...OK? Maybe?

Over the long holiday weekend, Tenet took in $20.2 million. Is that good? While the film certainly didn't exceed expectations (the most optimistic of which were suggesting a gross of over $30 million), it didn't come in below expectations, either. What people would love to do is compare the grosses here to how much Disney took in from Mulan, which was going for $30 on Disney+. However, Disney hasn't released those numbers yet, but if their upcoming titles Black Widow and Soul, both of which are scheduled for theatrical release in November, are yanked off the release calendar and made Disney+ premium titles themselves, we'll have a pretty good idea of how well Mulan did.

Getting back to Tenet, the good news is that, unlike most blockbusters, the opening weekend shouldn't be the whole story. Right now, only three more films are scheduled to open wide in theaters this month, and only one of them is from a major studio. That should mean that, for most potential moviegoers, Tenet will likely be the most attractive option until Wonder Woman 1984 opens in early October. If the film is able to score weekly grosses in the teens each upcoming weekend until then, that will probably relieve some of the anxiety that studios have about whether people will return to theaters.

Last week's champion, The New Mutants, performed exactly as you'd expect a poorly received horror title to perform in normal times, plunging nearly 60% from last weekend. It took in $3 million from Friday to Sunday, for a ten-day gross of $11.8 million. Unhinged was the only other release to make it to 7 figures this weekend, as the thriller made $1.8 million for a total of $11.4 million.

Bill & Ted Face the Music, which is also available on VOD (and reports suggest it is selling well in that format) made $0.8 million at the theaters this weekend, for a theatrical-only gross of $2.3 million in ten days. Still playing exclusively in Canada, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run earned $0.4 million from Canucks, for a total of $3.3 million.

As for the only other two movies that appear to be in wide release right now, neither did particularly well. The Personal History of David Copperfield and Words on Bathroom Walls each took in around $0.3 million, for total grosses of $1 million and $1.5 million, respecivally. Of course, with nothing to replace either title, both could linger in theaters for weeks.

This week's one wide opening is the one remaining big studio film set for September, the Sony romcom The Broken Hearts Gallery starring the little known Geraldine Viswanathan. It at least offers something substantially different from Tenet, New Mutants, and Unhinged. Will that be enough to bring in moviegoers? Of course, the concern won't be over how a small romcom does, but how Tenet will hold up. We'll find out that answer next week.

Last week, it looked like Hollywood was slowly getting back on its feet after the solid, but hardly revolutionary, opening gross of Tenet, Christopher Nolan's very expensive sci-fi blockbuster that was supposed to herald the reopening of movie theaters. As it turned out, that impressive number was an illusion, and there was no sugercoating the awful truth in the film's second weekend.

Tenet grossed only $6.7 million in its second weekend, a huge plunge from what looked to be a $20.2 million opening. As it turned out, that $20.2 million was earned over six days, not just from Friday through Sunday, making the film's release look far more successful than it was. As a result, WB sent its own next movie, Wonder Woman 1984, to Christmas, and October opening Candyman and September release Greenland soon also moved, the latter to an undetermined date during the holidays and the former to sometime in 2021. While the plug hasn't been officially pulled as of this writing, there are rumors that Disney is going to move Black Widow and Soul, both of which are currently set for November, as well.

To be fair, it may not all be doom and gloom. There are still two major studio movies, Death on the Nile and the animated Connected, set for mid-October, and two minor studio star vehicles--Honest Thief with Liam Neeson, and The War With Grandpa with Robert De Niro, are also staying put for now. But if any or all of those six movies do end up moving, it could be a long fall until No Time to Die finally arrives at Thanksgiving.

In second was The New Mutants, which took in $2.1 million in its third weekend, bringing its total to $15.3 million. In third was the Russell Crowe road rage thriller Unhinged, which earned $1.5 million for a gross of $13.8 million.

In fourth was the weekend's one opening, the little-advertised romcom The Broken Hearts Gallery. It pulled in $1.1 million.

No other movie was even able to top $300,000 for the weekend. Bill and Ted Face the Music, Words on Bathroom Walls, and The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run each grossed more than $200,000, while The Personal History of David Copperfield couldn't even manage that much. At least it finished in six figures. Rounding out the Top 10 were Peninsula and Cut Throat City, which made about $52,000 and $41,000 respectively.

This week does see one wide release, though how wide it actually goes remains to be seen. It stars Jim Caviezel as an American journalist who is kidnapped from Cairo by the Iranian regime and put on trial for being a spy. The film's executive producer is convicted felon and far-right gadfly Dinesh D'Souza, which should probably tell you everything about both the film's quality and its target audience. Given that said target audience might be more willing to turn out, this might have a somewhat decent opening, though I'd still be shocked if it tops $3 million. We'll find out how it did, and if there are any upcoming movies ever again, next week.

Six weeks into the experiment to reopen America's theaters in the midst of a pandemic, and three weeks into the experiment of seeing if a heavily hyped, very expensive thriller would get people back into those theaters, we seem to have a verdict. Maybe everyone should have waited a tad bit longer.

Repeating at #1 for the third straight week is Tenet, which took in $4.7 million to bring its total to $36.1 million. That's not a terrible total, considering, but it's not a great one, either. At this point, its looking like the Christopher Nolan thriller will top out around $50 million domestic, which once upon a time would have been a disappointing opening weekend figure. That said, that's enough to make it, for now, the year's 8th highest grossing film, which it probably has already achieved, as it was just a few hundred thousand below The Gentlemen.

The New Mutants continues to hold off all newcomers, spending its third straight week in second with a gross of $1.8 million. Its total now stands at $17.7 million. Given the rock bottom expectations, that number might actually count as a win for the film.

Opening in third is Infidel, a right-wing thriller starring Jim Caviezel, who may not be identifed with the Republican Party as much as, say, Scott Baio, but seems to star in a lot of these types of films. Here, he plays an American kidnapped by Iran. Reviews were surprisingly not awful, but the film still opened to $1.4 million, which at least is a bit more than last week's flop The Broken Hearts Gallery opened to.

Unhinged continues to chug along in 4th, taking in $1.3 million for a total of $15.7 million. The aforementioned Gallery didn't hold up too well in its second weekend, making only $0.8 million for a ten-day total of $2.4 million.

After that, the number drop off really fast. In 6th is Canada-only The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run, which took in only $0.2 million for a total of $4.2 million. From 7-9, Bill & Ted Face the Music, newcomer Alone, a thriller about a woman trying to outwit a serial killer, and The Personal History of David Copperfield were all bunched up between $170,000 and $190,000. Rounding out the Top 10, Words on Bathroom Walls finished a tad below the films above it, at just under $150,000.

The one movie set to open wide this weekend (exactly how wide is still up in the air) is Shortcut, which appears to be an Italian-shot horror movie with a mostly British main cast, about a bunch of teens in the middle of nowhere trying to outrun a monster. With no publicity and no famous cast members, this one might be lucky to top $1 million for the weekend, even if wide does mean wide. After that, however, who knows? With yesterday's postponements of Death on the Nile and Black Widow, the only two major films set for theatrical release before November 20 are The War With Grandpa on October 9 and Honest Thief on October 16. Odds are good that both will also move. If that happens--and even if it doesn't--I expect to see multiplexes starting to shut back down en masse in the next couple of weeks.

Worldwide Box Office for September 25-27

1: Leap / Some Chinese company that I couldn't find after 5 minutes on Google, $24.7m int = $24.7m ww, $24.8m total (NEW)
2: Tenet / Warner Bros., $15.8m int + $3.4m dom = $19.2m ww, $285m total (-1, -36%)
3: The Eight Hundred / CMC Pictures Holdings, $8.4m int = $8.4m ww, $440m total (-1, -52%)
4: Greenland / STX, $3.7m int = $3.7m ww, $17.7m total (NEW, +428%)
=5: Mulan (2020) / Disney, $3.3m int = $3.3m ww, $64.7m total (-2, -70%)
=5: After We Collided / Open Road Films, $3.3m int = $3.3m ww, $29.7m total (-1, -31%)

Of the six movies listed today, only one of them is even registers a domestic box office. So yeah that's where America is at right now. It'd be easier to accept the potential death of theatrical exhibition if America was at least making some progress in addressing the pandemic. Instead they're both killing movie theatres and... you know, a whole bunch of people. Pick a lane, America. If America closes down to address the pandemic, movie theatres have a good excuse to approach their landlords like 'well it's not our choice we have to close for the public good and we'll have your rent later'. Or if America rushes forward into the meat grinder, hey, why not go to see movies like you're going to die tomorrow. It's about committing.

Leap, a sports biopic about China's women's volleyball, team, opened impressively for a pandemic, but weaker than expected considering China is clearing the field for a slate of blockbusters. We'll see next week when Vanguard, Legend of Deification, and My People, My Homeland open whether the Chinese box office is back or still hobbled by that pesky global pandemic.

Tenet remains the 'tentpole' for the American box office, and will remain that for a while if domestic hits keep fleeing the field. Big distributors know movie theatres need to remain alive to promote their blockbusters, or more movies would be following Mulan (2020) to PVOD. But they're not willing to move the product into cinemas to keep them afloat, so... yeah, things look kind of grim. Support your local movie theatres folks (provided you live somewhere you don't face risk of pandemic and death every time you leave the house).

The Eight Hundred continues racking up its lead over the rest of the global box office, though it's probably coming to an end next week when the Chinese market is flooded with other blockbusters. The Chinese market will either notch hit after hit and flex on the rest of the world as China greatly enjoys doing, or it falls flat on its face because we're still in a pandemic. Either way The Eight Hundred is probably done somewhere around $450m.

Greenland, which I today learned is a Gerard Butler and Morena Baccarin disaster thriller about a comet that's about to hit the earth so a bunch of survivors take shelter in Greenland, exists. It's been having a slow rollout overseas and opened in 19 new markets this weekend. Next week is Korea and New Zealand, we'll see if that can get this scrappy underdog into the top 5 again.

Mulan (2020) and After We Collided tie at pretty low amounts. As always it's a matter of context - Mulan (2020) is a crushing disappointment given the sheer lengths and expense it went to to pander to the biggest market in the world that just happened to overcome the pandemic first. And it doesn't seem to be a VOD star either since Disney hasn't pushed anything else to Disney+ since. Meanwhile, After We Collided is working off a shoestring budget for a loyal fanbase of people with haven't gotten their fix of deeply unhealthy romance just yet and need that non-union Mexican equivalent 50 Shades of Grey. Note, it's an extremely awkward movie to watch with your family.

Top 10 remains basically the same, except I remembered The Gentlemen this time. It's a motley crew. We'll see if Tenet keeps legging it out to pass Sonic the Hedgehog, and how the upcoming China releases land.

1: The Eight Hundred (=) / CMC Pictures Holdings, $440m
2: Bad Boys For Life (=) / Sony Pictures, $424m
3: Sonic The Hedgehog (=) / Paramont Pictures, $305m
4: Tenet (=) / Warner Bros., $285m
5: Dolittle (=) / Universal, $249m
6: Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) (=) / Warner Bros., $201m
7: The Invisible Man (2020) (=) / Universal, $134m
8: Onward (=) / Walt Disney, $129m
9: The Gentlemen (=) / STX, $115m
10: The Call of the Wild (2020) (=) / 20th Century, $107m

China Box Office for October 2-4 (feat. Tenet)

1: My People, My Homeland / China Lion Film Distribution, $158m int = $158m ww, $158m total (NEW)
2: Jiang Ziya: Legend Of Deification / Beijing Enlight Pictures, $152m int = $152m ww, $152m total (NEW)
3: Leap / Jetsen Huashi Media, $19.1m int = $19.1m ww, $71.3m total (-2, -23%)
4: Tenet / Warner Bros., $11.5m int + $2.7m dom = $14.2m ww, $308m total (-2, -26%)
5: Vanguard / GSC Movies, $7.7m int = $7.7m ww, $26.1m total (NEW)

"Covid-19? Oh, you mean that thing we had a bit of trouble a while back? Yeah, we're over it now." - China

This was the week for China to flex on the global box office, and oh boy did they flex. They flexed so hard this column is now property of and propaganda for the China Film Group Corporation. I think the reason China is leading the world is the superior moral philosophy that underpins their society, the very same moral philosophy China is so generously teaching to displaced Uyghur citizens. Furthermore, Chinese men on average have larger penises than American men and are generally at least 20-30 IQ points higher. All hail God-Emperor Xi Jinping, he of the largest penis and highest IQ.

My People, My Homeland, an anthology movie on what precisely makes China a better country than all the other loser countries and sequel to the 2019 movie My People, My Country, opened in second on Friday but accelerated through the week to claim a thrilling first place. Look for it to continue rocketing up the charts as it displaces inferior American movies like the Chinese government displaces ethnic and religious minorities.

Jiang Ziya: Legend of Deification, a fantasy movie based on traditional Chinese folklore and sequel to the highly successful 2019 movie Nezha, opened strongly and carried through for a triumphant second place. Look for it to exert its will on the global box office the way China financially blackmails anyone who wants to look too closely into where Covid-19 started.

Leap, a sports biopic about the triumph of the Chinese women's volleyball team who won Gold at the 2004 and 2016 Olympics, held excellently to land in a resplendent third place. Something something I think the Publicity Department of the Chinese Communist Party has stopped reading by now.

Tenet, a lonely sad figure standing alone for American cinema, is lonely and sad. Given the complete absence of follow up product, Tenet has been unsuccessful in propping up the domestic box office and keeping cinemas open. And now tens of thousand of people are out of work. It's worth noting that the largest market for this movie has been China - its $65.5m China gross significantly outpaces the pitiful $45.1m that the anaemic American economy was able to raise.

Vanguard, a Chinese action-adventure movie that Jackie Chan nearly died filming (but what else is new) carries up the rear, much in the way that Hong Kong is going to carry up the rear of the global economy if they don't get in line behind their glorious Chinese overlords. Jackie Chan would also like to ask that you please stop harassing and beating good honest Chinese loyalists and police officers in Hong Kong.

This has easily been the weirdest thing I've ever written. Anyway, Tenet moves up a spot, and two Chinese heavy hitters jump onto the board. Also, the Chinese box office is going to outgross the American box office this year possibly and that's the first time that's ever happened. Sorry Sonic, you're not long for the top 5.

1: The Eight Hundred (=) / CMC Pictures Holdings, $449m
2: Bad Boys For Life (=) / Sony Pictures, $425m
3: Tenet (+1) / Warner Bros., $308m
4: Sonic The Hedgehog (-1) / Paramont Pictures, $305m
5: Dolittle (=) / Universal, $249m
6: Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) (=) / Warner Bros., $201m
7: My People, My Homeland (NEW) / China Lion Film Distribution, $158m
8: Jiang Ziya: Legend Of Deification (NEW) / Beijing Enlight Pictures, $152m
9: The Invisible Man (2020) (-2) / Universal, $134m
10: Onward (-2) / Walt Disney, $129m