Disney/20th Century Studios’ new mutants increased last weekend, generating $750,000 in a pandemic market where 62% of all movie theaters are open.
Studies have said the preview figures are not the best signs of the weekend box office. I disagree: it was more predictable during pre-pandemic periods. Now we don’t know what to expect. One of the reasons Disney is leading the film with this film in the reopening of theaters is that studios show that the crowd of 18- to 34-year-olds is more open and eager to return to theaters. The Atom Tickets survey indicates that 40% of viewers feel comfortable returning to the cinema immediately. A reminder of why it’s hard to draw conclusions about the last facet of the 3 days is that rigid-roofed theaters in California, New York, New Jersey, Arizona (partial), North Carolina, Michigan, Maryland, and New Mexico remain closed. Seattle, Miami, Portland and Philadelphia. That said, New Mutants plays in the movie parks that are open in those areas. Last night, Marvel’s photo directed through Josh Boone showed the Rose Bowl drive-in in Pasadena, California.
Thursday night compositions for which Disney is for new mutants come with 20th’s Stuber ($750K, $8.2M opening), Aviron’s Strangers: at Prey Night ($610K, $10.4M), 20th’s Bad Times at the Royale ($575K) Array $7.1M), 20th’s The Darkest Minds ($550KK $5.8M), 47 meters under entertainment studios: Uncaged ($500K) Array $8.4 million) and 20th’s Underwater ($500KK , $7M). The weekend estimate for new mutants is $8 million to $10 million.
It’s the first notable Thursday night previews for a major studio movie that have been reported since the weekend of March 13-15, the last time all the major circuits were open, and the last time that domestic weekend box office was reported in full before the pandemic shutdown. On the evening of March 12, Sony’s Bloodshot posted $1.2M (before grossing a $9.1M opening weekend) off previews that started at 5pm at 2,631 screens; Lionsgate’s I Still Believe had $780K (also a $9.1M opening) at 2,600 sites plus Imax previews; while Universal/Blumhouse’s The Hunt made $435K at 2,200 theaters from showtimes starting at 7pm (translating into a $5.3M opening). And all of that was in a weekend when moviegoer sentiment was ratcheting down over coronavirus jitters.
Disney’s Searchlight also premiered last night The David Copperfield Personal Story of Armando Iannucci, but let’s see if they report. The PG-rated era comedy is reserved in 1,360 theaters and expects at least $700,000.
Canada has Warner Bros. ‘Tenet in more than three hundred places. Yesterday we heard that lunch hours were the right ones, however, the study has no compatibility to report until next week, when they will release the numbers at the US opening. The film is presented in 40 offshore markets with an eye on a $25 million foreign B.O. Starting. Christopher Nolan’s film in South Korea grossed $2 million in its first two days: the release of progress towards a weekend of $6 million to $7 million, that is, if theaters do not close due to the accumulation of COVID-19 cases.
United Artists released Bill and Ted Face the Music in 1,007 theaters, while Picturehouse has booked its Roman Catholic film Fatima in 215 locations. Both are in PVOD and are played in independent theaters, on primary channels.