After months of cinema closures, the U.S. office has opened in the most significant degree since pre-pandemic times.
Cinemas in Florida, Texas, Georgia and other parts of the country that could safely reopen welcomed the first major theatrical premiere since March: ‘Unhinged’, by Solstice Studios, a thriller starring Russell Crowe. The film played in 1,823 locations in North America, and marks the widest release since the pandemic hit.
“Unhinged” has more than $ 4 million in its hands over the weekend, a promising result given the challenging environment. In normal times, that figure would not crawl around much. Only a fraction of the nation’s 6,000 movie theaters are currently in operation – and major markets such as New York, California and New Jersey are still closed without a specific date to reopen. The biggest ticket sales for “Unhinged” came from drive-ins 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 cinemas in North America next weekend.
“All things considered, this is a submerged opening,” said David A. Gross, who leads film consulting firm FranchiseRe. He gives Solstice credit for taking a bold move in being the first new film to open. On the one hand, it does not have much competition among ticket buyers. But on the other hand, studios and exhibitors have yet to determine how eternal audiences will be to return to the films.
For their part, cinemas have taken strict and expensive steps to make customers feel safe. They keep space between seats, limit the number of tickets sold per movie and encourage people to buy tickets online to reduce contact. They also made hand tools more readily available and ensured that theaters were cleaned regularly. And patrons will be required to wear masks.
Shari Hardison, head of distribution at Solstice, says the company’s goal is to raise $ 30 million in office by the end of its North American theatrical production. After her performances this weekend, that’s a benchmark she feels is easy to reach. “Unhinged” cost $ 33 million to produce, not including marketing or distribution costs.
“We have a lot of stairs to climb, but the first steps are encouraging,” she said.
Solstice President and CEO Mark Gill reiterates a mantra that many in the film industry are looking for in the global heath crisis: “Slow and steady wins the race.”
Given the sheer number of cinemas currently in operation and the potential that audiences might still feel uneasy about being inside (where the virus is likely to spread rapidly), film distributors do not expect their films to have splashy opening weeks. . Instead, they rely on each given movie to have a longer run on the big screen than normal can have.
“We are delighted and relieved to see filmmakers taking the first step to return to theaters this weekend,” Gill said. “As we’ve seen all over the world – and the light release schedule for next month suggests – the film will have a long run.”
Elsewhere, “The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run” raised another $ 550,000 from 326 locations in Canada, bringing the total to $ 2 million. The animated adventure based on the Nickelodeon cartoon is not played in American theaters. It is expected to launch premium video-on-demand next year before landing on streaming service CBS All Access.
In the US, a number of indie films continued to populate the drive-in theaters. This weekend, IFC Films released “Tesla,” a biographical drama starring Ethan Hawke as Nikola Tesla and Kyle McLaughlin as Thomas Edison. It generated $ 42,000 from 108 theaters, averaging out to $ 389 per location.
Dave Franco’s thriller “The Rental”, also from IFC, once again drew solid receptions. The film raised $ 108,000 from 105 theaters this weekend, improving its domestic number to $ 1.5 million.
Another new release of the weekend, teen drama “Words on Bathroom Wall,” made $ 462,050 from 925 screens. The film received an ‘A’ CinemaScore from audiences and contains an 82% on the rating aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes – two factors that its supporters, Roadside Things and LD Entertainment, hope will point to positive word-of-mouth.
In its third weekend of release, “The Tax Collector” – starring Shia LaBeouf and directed by David Ayer – grossed $ 121 out of 121 locations. The crime drama, which received brutal reviews, had so far earned $ 813,336.
The process of restarting the exhibition sector has been delayed in many parts of the country as the virus continues, but Warner Bros. expects a major release for Christopher Nolan’s sci-fi epic “Tenet” on Sept. The weekend before, Disney and Fox’s superhero thriller “The New Mutants” hits theaters. Although the office may be slow to reach pre-pandemic levels, analysts are optimistic that filmmaking will return.
“This weekend is the first step,” Gross said. “We will see a lot more in the next few weeks. The rebuilding process takes nine to 18 months. Our belief in the long-term success of the theater business is not shocked. ”
