'Freaky' Leads a Disastrously Slow Theater Weekend
by EG
As the coronavirus pandemic continues through an unprecedented peak, the movie theater business is reeling. Many more theaters closed their doors last week, and ticket sales for the weekend before Thanksgiving were historically miniscule. As the situation plays out, the movie industry is trying to figure out its next steps. Read on for details.
It's no surprise why box office observers are trying to not freak out.
Over the Nov. 20-22 weekend, Blumhouse and Universal's campy body-swap reboot Freaky came in at no. 1 with $1.2 million in its second outing, a steep 66 percent drop. That's by far one of the lowest chart-topping grosses of all time — much less for the weekend before Thanksgiving, one of the most lucrative corridors of the year for moviegoing. Normally, the film itself would be blamed. But not in this case.
Heading into the weekend, 646 movie theaters in the U.S. closed down again virtually overnight amid an alarming surge in COVID-19 cases, according to Comscore. There were also 60 cinemas reclosures in Canada, meaning that in the span of several days, the North American box office lost 706 locations compared to a week ago.
Domestic revenue for the weekend came in at anywhere from $4 million to $5 million — a final tally will be revealed Monday — down as much as 50 percent from the previous frame and the lowest since the box office recovery began in late August with the release of Unhinged and then Tenet.
That recovery was already strained. Cinemas in Los Angeles and New York City have never been allowed to reopen, posing a major hurdle. Without the two largest moviegoing markets in play, most Hollywood studios delayed their fall and year-end holiday event pics, leaving cinema operators without tentpole product to show. Some circuits began reducing hours, while Cineworld last month indefinitely closed the 400 or so Regal locations it had reopened in the U.S.
However, the latest round of closures has been the most dramatic to date. Nor is anyone sure how many more are yet to come amid the surge. Last week, in a preemptive move, Warner Bros. announced that Wonder Woman 1984 will debut on Christmas Day in whatever North American cinemas remain open as well as on HBO Max. (Overseas, including China, the superhero sequel will attempt a traditional theatrical run.)
Get the rest of the story at The Hollywood Reporter.
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