Box Office Week: The US box office returns (kinda) as theaters begin to reopen. Still the US is qwite cautious as the first new wide release in five months Unhinged barely cracked $4M despite opening on 1,800 screens. Meanwhile Spongebob: Sponge on the Run releases in Canada to a miserable $550K.

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Rank	Title	Domestic Gross (Weekend)	Worldwide Gross (Cume)	Week #	Percentage Change	Budget
1	Unhinged	$4,060,000	$13,061,000	2	+576%	$33M
2	The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run	$550,000	$1,415,824	2	-36%	$60M
3	Words on Bathroom Walls	$462,050	$462,050	1	N/A	UNK
4	The Goonies (re-release)	$260,000	$1,176,852	N/A	N/A	$19M (in 1985)
5	Cut Throat City	$240,000	$240,000	1	N/A	$9M

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Notable Box Office Stories

• The Great(?) Reopening - Yeah, you really think I would sit this one out? Come on this is the biggest asterix year in box office history and we could easily end it with Doolittle in the top 5! I have to discuss now that wide releases are starting again in the US...for now. Yes it has been five whole months since Bloodshot officially closed cinemas as one of the last wide releases and now we finally have another one as Unhinged opened in as many theaters as it could to a paltry $4M on 1,800 screens. Now of course there was some bad weather, and some fires, and a global pandemic which means in many major cities theaters aren't even open and those theaters that are open likely have extremely limited attendance for fear of their patrons of catching a deadly disease, but I think the marketing is really to blame here. Look, obviously Russel Crowe grumbles at people he then shoots was never going to be a box office game changer even in the best of times, but now are people really rushing to literally potentially risk their lives for the Nth remake of Taken with whatever actor is willing to hold the gun?
• The Great(?) Reopening (cont.) - Of course this weekend really ultimately was a test run for Nolan as Tenet quickly approaches the US shores as it rolls out worldwide where in many countries the COVID pandemic is slowly down and more people may be willing to go. The film is set to open domestically on September 3rd, giving theaters two whole weeks to sort out their safety measures and hope they aren't the ones who start the next outbreak of the virus. Tenet has been a frustrating venture, one of the few big releases that refuses to budge more than it has to, possibly due to a Nolan mandate or corporate pressure on WBs biggest tentpole of this year that's not DC releated. If theaters fail this test don't be shocked if Tenet is gone from the schedule for another term. With The New Mutants coming out Tenet has an extra weekend to see just how risky people will get/how much drive-ins actually mater. That said is a long delayed film barely marketed as even coming out (see mildly funny story in comments) really even count the same? We'll see.
• The Great(?) Reopening (cont.) - There were a couple other new releases this week, though none as wide as Unhinged. Highest on the list was Spongebob Movie: Sponge on the Run the third of the SBCU and first 3D CGI animated one. The film has a rather interesting strategy ala COVID, planning a big VOD push in 2021 alongside distribution via Netflix overseas . But they decided, hey that Canada place seems to be doing aight with the virus, let's release just there. The results were not great as Canadians did not seem super eager to see the film as it only score $550K in 326 screens, an okay $1,687 per screen average considering but not exact let's fling all the doors wide open kind of success. Cut Throat City, the latest film from Wu-Tanger RZA was not as well attended with $240K in 395 cities, despite not being released on VOD.
• The Great(?) Reopening (cont.) - There was also three new releases that opened day and date also on VOD. First is Words on Bathroom Walls a YA mental illness romantic drama (yes, really) that was the second widest release at 925 screen but scored under the Canadian reign of the squared panted man with $462K. The second was Peninsula the sequel to the cult Korean zombie epic Train to Busan. This scored lower overall than Words with $210K, but had a higher per screen average with $1,700 per screen, likely due to the small but devoted following of Bustans. And finally Tesla released on 108 screens but only scored $42K so that clearly was one that should have stayed VOD exclusive, but that said this is all a losers game.

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Films Reddit Wants to Follow

This is a segment where we keep a weekly tally of currently showing films that aren't in the Top 5 that fellow redditors want updates on. If you'd like me to add a film to this chart, make a comment in this thread.

As always r/boxoffice is a great place to share links and other conversations about box office news.

My Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/Les_Vampires/

Submitted August 24, 2020 at 08:38PM by mi-16evil https://ift.tt/2EyuIOx