This weekend, Hollywood took a tea dip back into theaters with the wide-ranging release of ‘Unhinged’, the Russell Crowe thriller that opened Friday at 1,823 locations across the country, including drive-ins in California and large cineplexes in San Antonio, Tex. ., Oklahoma City and Orlando.
The film cost $ 33 million to make and just earned its opening weekend $ 4 million – a figure that would normally disappoint. But with theaters operating at a maximum of 50 percent capacity, it is seen as a relative success. Five months after all theaters were closed due to the coronavirus, this weekend showed the country’s cautious interest in returning to the movies.
Mark Gill, CEO of Solstice Studios, the independent studio behind the film, said he expected “Unhinged” to generate at least $ 30 million in North American cash. It has already earned $ 8 million internationally.
“The fact that we will reach our goal in these crazy uncertain times feels like a gigantic relief,” he added.
Twenty-six percent of U.S. screens were open this weekend in some 44 states, each operating on limited capacity with additional security protocols such as mask wear and touchless ticketing. Seven states, including California, New Jersey and New York, which make up well over 25 percent of the national union, are still not allowed to open their cineplexes. Submitted theaters in three California venues, including Los Angeles and San Francisco, generated the highest grosses of the weekend.
The results, though modest, have left Hollywood certainly optimistic about what is possible for the remaining weeks of the summer. Next weekend, Disney will release in theaters its long-delayed X-Men spinoff “New Mutants”, while “Unhinged” added about 500 screens to its release. On September 3, Warner Bros. finally debuting the highly anticipated and often delayed Christopher Nolan thriller “Tenet” in the US. The theater sector has hoped to have 70 percent of the nation’s screens open by that date.
For Mr. Gill would have to face the added competition to make the case for return in the movies.
“Theaters that were open for a while did the comparison better because people knew they were open,” he said. ‘Some of this is just about getting people to understand that. Another movie will only help. God knows there is a lot of space. ”
The other wide-ranging release for the weekend, the young adult drama “Becoming on Bathroom Walls,” had a more immersive debut, generating $ 462,050 on 925 screens despite the CinemaScore’s’ rating ‘A’ rating and overwhelmingly positive reviews.
The theater company is decimated by the coronavirus. AMC, the nation’s largest circuit, lost $ 561 million in the second quarter of this year with revenue down 99 percent due to the virus. The chain opened some of its 630 theaters for the first time this weekend.
Many of Hollywood’s greatest movies, including the next installment of James Bond and the ninth iteration of the ‘Fast And Furious’ franchise, have completely abandoned the 2020 calendar, while others, like Disney’s ‘Mulan,’ switch to streaming services. Analysts are counting on additional theaters opening in the coming months to cover the releases, including “Wonder Woman” on October 2 and Marvel Studios’ “Black Widow” on November 6.
“Our belief in the long-term success of the theater business is not shaken,” said David A. Gross, chief executive of Franchise Entertainment Research in a statement. “This weekend is the first step. The next few weeks we will see a lot more. The rebuilding process takes nine to 18 months. ”
