Refresh for updates: Solstice Studios braved the continuing pandemic and assisted the major exhibition circuits to reopen this weekend with their Russell Crowe road rage action movie Unhinged this weekend in the U.S. in what was a $1.4M Friday including some Thursday previews at 1,823 theaters. The projected weekend is expected to be $4.2M, and the
Unhinged
China was the big breakout this past weekend, leading the international box office for the fourth frame in a row and powered by the reissue of Warner Bros’ Harry Potter And The Sorcerer’s Stone in a 4K 3D restoration that conjured $13.6M on 16,000 screens over the three-day frame. With Monday and Tuesday’s Middle Kingdom
Refresh for updates The top grossing titles at the weekend domestic box office, were straight from Canada with Paramount’s SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run landing the No. 1 spot with $900K from 300 locations per the Melrose Ave studio with $345K on Friday, and $300K on Saturday, -13%. SpongeBob Movie, along with Trolls: World Tour, have been the only
Exhibition will slowly come back to life this Friday at the box office after largely being shutdown for 21 weeks due to the pandemic. However, the first notable ticket sales will be coming out of the Great White North. Paramount is giving a big screen release to The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run in Canada
There was further good news from the international box office this weekend, even as it continues to be clear that markets need fresh titles to keep the reopening momentum going — be they local, from Hollywood or even reissues of older event pictures. We remain in uncharted waters around the globe. But progress in the
Russell Crowe thriller Unhinged became the most high-profile UK cinema release in the pandemic era this week, taking a provisional $230K (£174,901) from 250 sites, an average of around $920, with venues still to report. That number may look fairly minor on first glance but in the current context it offers reason for optimism. Two
SATURDAY UPDATE: Since cinemas reopened in China’s low-risk areas on July 20, the market today had its biggest day yet. Box office was $5.74M (RMB 40M) overall for the day, according to Maoyan figures. That reps a 38% jump from Friday. After leading last weekend and the midweeks, then dropping to No. 2 on Friday,
China’s second Friday with cinemas back to business in low-risk areas rang up another $4M at local turnstiles, a 39% increase versus the same day last week. About 60% of movie theaters are now operating, with capacity limits and social distancing still in place, so all numbers are to be taken with a grain of
Update: Solstice Studios is looking to release Unhinged in August now with AMC reopening next month, but they’re not scheduling a definite date yet as I understand. They want to wait and see where Warner Bros.’ Tenet lands and if Disney moves Mulan off Aug. 21 (some sources believe the latter won’t happen). It would not be shocking if Tenet begins its
EXCLUSIVE: Lots of movement on the international box office front this past weekend, and into the beginning of the week. Korean zombie sequel Peninsula, as we reported Sunday, made a meal of five overseas markets with a $21M Wednesday-Sunday frame. That’s the best start we’ve seen since March when Onward opened to $28M in 47
EXCLUSIVE: As the international box office slowly limps back to life, the tendency for audiences to lean into fresh and local titles continues. France, for example, saw a 23% increase in ticket sales across the Top 10 over the most recent weekend, led by Gaumont’s new local comedy Tout Simplement Noir and followed by Warner
Solstice Studios had said that it wasn’t going to move Unhinged if Tenet moved, but the company had second thoughts and now is jumping the Russell Crowe road-rage movie from July 1 to July 10. That means no movie over the Fourth of July weekend. I’ve heard that AMC is planning an early-July opening, post-Independence Day, and it
EXCLUSIVE: Even if New York City theaters aren’t opening, and even if Warner Bros. decides to move Tenet to August, Solstice Studios’ Russell Crowe road rage movie Unhinged will still open on July 1. While Tenet is being pinned as the long-awaited launch of the summer season after exhibition’s great shutdown since mid-March, Unhinged is the warm-up act to get turnstiles primed