There were some eyebrows raised when Disney announced that Onward, the next Pixar movie, would be released not during the summer or at Thanksgiving, the two slots in which every previous Pixar movie had opened, but during the first weekend of March. The explanation was that the studio had three Disney movies to release that year, and one of them had to open during the off season (Another Pixar movie, Soul, got the summer slot, and Disney Animation Studio's Raya and the Last Dragon got November). Besides, the last time the studio had to release a major animated title in March, in 2016, it worked out very well for Zootopia.
Unfortunately, 2020 turns out not to be 2016, and Onward turns out not to be Zootopia. For whatever reason, audiences weren't that interested in the film or its "Fantasy creatures living normal suburban lives rediscover magic" storyline. The film opened to $39.1 million, slightly less than what The Good Dinosaur made in its first weekend. But then, this isn't a completely fair comparison, as Dinosaur opened the day before Thanksgiving, and it had earned $55.5 million total by Sunday night. Indeed, the only opening weekends lower than this for Pixar movies are A Bug's Life and the original Toy Story, both of which were also Thanksgiving weekend releases, and both of which also were released over 20 years ago. Onward is easily the lowest opening of any Pixar movie that opened wide on a Friday.
The good news is that not is all lost. While the film has almost no chance at $200 million, it should still have no trouble clearing $100 million. It also has the family field to itself, other than the fading Sonic the Hedgehog and Call of the Wild. The next major family film opening is stablemate Mulan at the end of the month, followed by Trolls World Tour two weeks later, and there's at least a decent chance that one or both could move in the wake of the coronavirus. Assuming that said virus doesn't lead to mass closing of theaters and/or audiences deciding its too scary to venture outside and to just wait for the film to show up on Disney+ in six months, that means it should have some decent legs.
Last week's top film, The Invisible Man, isn't disappearing from multiplexes anytime soon, as it had a solid hold for a horror movie, coming in with $15.1 million. Its ten-day total stands at $52.7 million, and it looks like it won't vanish until it earns at least $75-$80 million.
The Ben Affleck vehicle The Way Back is the type of modestly budgeted drama that major studios rarely make these days, as these type of projects either are made independently or are turned into an 8-episode limited series on HBO. Unfortunately, the grosses explain why major studios don't usually make films like this anymore. The film opened to $8.2 million, and will likely have trouble earning back its budget, which is estimated to be in the mid-$20s.
Even with Onward's disappointing opening, it still negatively affected the aforementioned Sonic the Hedgehog and The Call of the Wild, both of which dropped roughly half from last weekend. Sonic took in $7.7 million to bring its gross to $140.5 million golden rings, and Call made $6.8 million for a total of $57.3 million.
Jumping into the Top 10 is the latest remake of Emma (or Emma., as the title actually has a period at the end, because, as its director points out, it's a period film. Har har har). The latest adaption of Jane Austin's comic masterpiece (which, in the last 25 years, has been turned into a movie with Gwyneth Paltrow, a BBC movie with Kate Beckensale, a 4-part BBC miniseries, and of course, Clueless). The film did OK, if not world-beating business, taking in $4.8 million for a total of $6.7 million. This looks to be heading to a final gross of between $15-$20 million.
With Onward down for the count and No Time to Die having no time in theaters till Thanksgiving, Bad Boys For Life tightened its grip to be the top movie of the first third of 2020. It took in $3.2 million, enough to get it past the $200 million mark at $202 million. Expect a final gross of around $210-$215 million.
Birds of Prey (And Blah Blah Blah Harley Quinn) grossed $2.1 million for a total of $82.5 million. At least it should finish a bit better than last February's big-budged, female-driven action movie, Alita: Battle Angel.
Rounding out the Top 10 are two TV spinoffs. Impractical Jokers: The Movie brought in $1.9 million for a gross of $9.7 million. My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising nosedived from last weekend, earning $1.7 million for a total of $12.9 million.
Onward is likely the favorite to win this weekend again, but three new titles have an outside chance of pulling the upset (there were four, but My Spy was pushed back a month at the last minute to take advantage of the hole left by No Time to Die). The Hunt, yet another redo of The Most Dangerous Game, this time as a hyperviolent political satire, stars Betty Gilpin as one of several extreme conservatives forced to fight for their lives as rich liberals (led by Hilary Swank) hunt them down. This was supposed to open last fall, but after the shootings in El Paso and Dayton and criticism from the president on down over its premise, it got postponed to here, where its almost opening unnoticed. On the other end of the spectrum is the PG-rated true(ish) story I Still Believe, a spiritual (if not actual) sequel to surprise 2018 hit I Can Only Imagine, starring KJ Apa (without his Riverdale dye job, thankfully) as Christian music star Jeremy Camp, whose blissful life with his fiancee (Britt Robinson) takes a tragic turn when she is diagnosed with advanced cancer. Gary Sinise and Shania Twain play Apa's parents. Finally, comic book adaption Bloodshot is Vin Diseal's latest attempt to have a successful film away from the Fast & Furious franchise. He plays a recently deceased Marine brought back to life, enhanced with nano technology so he's now a super-soldier, but he keeps having flashbacks to his former life, which is not part of the plan. If you're thinking "Hey, that's the plot of Robocop and Universal Soldier, with big dollops of Upgrade and Venom!", well, you're not wrong. Will Onward be able to have a small decline and prevail for a second weekend? Will one of the newcomers pull a shock and take the top spot? Or will no one go see anything this weekend in fear of the coronavirus? We'll find out soon.
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