March 13-15: "Onward", "I Still Believe", "Bloodshot"
Coronavirus Theater Closings Destroy Box Office
By: Keaton Marcus
Diving into the weekend, Onward repeated on top, but did so by plummeting an unheard of amount for an animated movie. Otherwise, new release I Still Believe had a mediocre debut, but did beat comic-book movie Bloodshot for runner-up position. The Invisible Man faced a steep drop, but is still getting along fine, and managed to top the third newcomer The Hunt, which rounded out the top five.
Topping the charts again was Disney and Pixar’s Onward which is currently in a very sticky situation, plummeting an unheard of 73% from last weekend, earning only 10.5M over its pitiful sophomore session, and clambering over just 60.2M after 10 days in release. The movie is even pacing around six million behind The Angry Birds Movie, which finished with 107.5M in North America and if this 150 million production keeps falling like this, it won’t even hit the 100M mark. Of course, it’s a bit unfair to compare, considering the Coronavirus outbreak is really beginning to affect film.
Internationally, the situation is even worse with markets closing around the globe. Onward hauled in another 6.8M from 47 markets, a severe 76% dip from last weekend’s overseas haul. This indicates a foreign gross of only 41.4M and a worldwide bout of 101.6M. With around 350-400M needed to break even with its expensive cost, the children’s movie can forget about profit, the first flop for Pixar.
In runner-up, Lionsgate’s faith-film I Still Believe led the newcomers with an estimated 9.5M from 3,250 locations, averaging a below-average $2,923 per-screen. This ho-hum debut is behind its original 15M expectations, and the underperformance can be attributed to the Coronavirus. The reviews for the film were mixed-to-negative, but the audience score was superb, with an “A” CinemaScore.
Thirdly, Sony/Columbia’s Vin Diesel-starring Bloodshot didn’t do anything magnificent either, bringing in 9.3M from 2,861 theaters, averaging a mediocre $3,250 per-screen. This is nearly on its 10M pre-weekend expectations, and the modest opening isn’t fatal as the film carries a moderate budget of 45 million. The reviews, as expected, were generally negative, but audiences disagreed, giving the film a solid “B” CinemaScore.
Overseas, Bloodshot opened in 50 material markets with an estimated 15.1M for a worldwide launch of 24.4M, which isn’t that horrible if you think about it. The overseas openings were led by both Russia (2.4M) and Mexico (1.2M). With the 45M cost, the movie needs about 110M to break even, which could happen, but the Coronavirus could prevent that.
In fourth place we saw Universal’s horror reboot The Invisible Man which earned 6M in its third weekend, facing a a meaty drop of 60%, but still topping a solid 64.4M after 17 days in release. Overseas, the film added another 6.2M, contributing to an international gross of 58.3M and a global total of 122.7M.
Rounding out the top five was also Universal, this time with their controversial thriller The Hunt, which grossed an estimated 5.3M from 3,028 sites, averaging a mere $1,756 per-screen. Overseas, the movie opened in only four markets with 700K for a worldwide opening of 6.020M. Critical reception was extremely mixed and audiences gave it a strictly average “C+” CinemaScore.
Next weekend sees no new wide releases.
TOP FIVE:
Onward
I Still Believe
Bloodshot
The Invisible Man
The Hunt