After months of movie theater closures, the U.S. box It opened to the greatest extent from the pre-pandemic era.
Theaters in Florida, Texas, Georgia and other parts of the country that were able to reopen safely hosted the first primary theatrical premiere since March: Unhinged from Solstice Studios, a mystery starring Russell Crowe. The film was screened in 1823 theaters in North America, marking the largest premiere since the beginning of the pandemic.
Unhinged pocketed more than $4 million over the weekend, a promising result given the environment.
Normally, that figure would be a lot to say. However, only a fraction of the country’s 6,000 theaters are in operation lately, and primary markets such as New York, California, and New Jersey are still closed without a constant reopening date.
Sales of the highest priced tickets for Unhinged come from movie parks in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Sacramento, as well as multi-screen theaters in Dallas, Houston, Chicago, Atlanta and Orlando. Solstice plans to expand the film to more than 2,300 north american theaters as of next weekend.
“All in all, it’s a moderate opening,” said David A. Gross, who runs film consulting firm FranchiseRe. He gives Solstice the credits for making an ambitious resolution as the first new film to be released.
On the one hand, there is not much party among price ticket buyers. But on the other hand, studios and operators still have the extent to which the audience will be eager to return to the cinema.
For their part, cinemas have taken rigorous and costly measures to make consumers feel safe. They stay between seats, restrict the number of tickets sold according to the film, and inspire others to buy tickets online to reduce contact.
They also made hand sanitizer easier to get and made sure theaters were cleaned more frequently. And consumers will have to wear masks.
Shari Hardison, Solstice’s head of distribution, said the company’s purpose is to raise $30 million in the box until the end of its North American tour.
After its functionality this weekend, it is a reference point that you think will be reached without problems. Unhinged charges $33 million to produce, adding marketing or distribution fees.
“We have a lot of stairs to go up, the first steps are encouraging,” he said.
Solstice President and CEO Mark Gill repeated a mantra that many film actors turned to during the global fitness crisis: “Slowly and win the race.”
Considering the few theaters that are in operation lately and the possibility that audiences will still feel uncomfortable inside (where the virus would spread faster), movie sellers do not expect their films to have eye-catching opening weekends. Instead, they depend on a given movie to have a longer duration on the big screen than it would have.
“We are pleased and relieved to see viewers take the first step to return to theaters this weekend,” Gill said. “As noted around the world, and the smooth edition release schedule suggests for next month, the film will last a long time.”
Meanwhile, The SpongeBob: Sponge on the Run film raised another $550,000 in 326 locations in Canada, bringing its total transportation to $2 million.
The animated adventure founded on nickelodeon is not played in American cinemas. It is expected to be introduced on premium video on demand next year before landing on the CBS All Access streaming service.
In the United States, a number of independents continued to populate film parks. This weekend, IFC Films presented Tesla, a biographical drama starring Ethan Hawke as Nikola Tesla and Kyle McLaughlin as Thomas Edison.
It generated US$42,000 in 108 theaters, an amount of US$389 consistent with the location.
Dave Franco’s thriller, The Rental, also from IFC, once again earned false revenue. The film grossed $108,000 in 105 theaters this weekend, bringing the national total to $1.5 million.
Another new feature of the weekend, the youth drama Words on Bathroom Wall, grossed $462,050 on 925 screens.
The film has won a CinemaScore “A” from the public and has 82% in review aggregation Rotten Tomatoes, two points that its sponsors, Roadside Attraction and LD Entertainment, hope to imply a positive word of mouth.
The procedure to restart the exhibition industry has been delayed in many parts of the country as the virus continues to increase, but Warner Bros. expects a major release of Christopher Nolan’s sci-fi epic Tenet on September 3.
Last weekend, the mystery of Disney and Fox superheroes The New Mutants landed in national theaters. While the box would possibly take time to succeed at pre-pandemic levels, analysts are confident that cinema will return.
“This weekend is the first step,” Gross said. “The next few weeks will tell us much more. The reconstruction procedure will take nine to 18 months. Our conviction of the long-term good fortune of theatrical activity is unwavering.” Reuters
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