As the product pipeline dries back up and the box office continues to shrink, theaters seem to be on the verge of going back into hibernation until (at least) Thanksgiving.
The tagline of Tenet is "Time Runs Out", which seems to be describing what's happening to both the film's box office and to the general state of theaters, as Covid cases start to rise once again. The thriller spent its fourth weekend topping the box office, but according to Forbes, its $3.4 million weekend is the worst performance by a #1 movie (while most theaters were open) since Dead Ringers made just over $3 million in September 1988. And next weekend is likely to be even worse. If Wikipedia is to be believed, the lowest-grossing #1 movie since weekend totals began being publicly released in 1982 was E.T. which topped the chart for the final time the first weekend of December 1982 with a gross of $2.4 million. We'll see if Tenet, which is now up to $41.2 million, is able to clear that low bar. If not--and even if it does--there's a pretty good chance that we could see theaters sharply cutting operating hours, if not closing entirely, in the coming weeks.
The New Mutants was the only other movie to top $1 million, as it spent its fourth straight weekend at #2. It brought in a total of $1.2 million, for a gross of $19.5 million. Coming in 3rd was Unhinged, which finished just under $1 million. Its total is up to $17.2 million.
Disney had re-released The Empire Strikes Back back in July to drive-ins and the handful of indoor theaters that had re-opened. This weekend, the film re-expanded, and came in fourth with $0.9 million, giving it a pandemic total of $1.9 million.
Coming in 5th and 6th are Infidel and The Broken Hearts Gallery, whose total grosses now stand at $2.7 million and $3.3 million, respectively.
Three new films went wide this weekend, to little notice and little business. The British/Italian horror film Shortcut fared the best, taking in just over $300,000. That was followed by two comedy-dramas, both starring Richard Jenkins and both of which premiered at Sundance. The Last Shift, in which Jenkins played a retiring restaurant employee, took in just under $250,000. Kajillionaire, in which he and Debra Winger play the con-artist parents of Evan Rachel Wood, took in $216,000.
Rounding out the Top Ten is The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run, which took in under $150,000 for a total of $4.4 million.
Outside the top ten, two 2018 movies about Ruth Bader Ginsburg were re-released in the wake of the beloved Supreme Court justice's death. The biopic On the Basis of Sex, which starred Felicity Jones as the justice as an up-and-coming attorney, did slightly more business than the Oscar-nominated documentary RBG, but neither came close to making $100,000.
This weekend was supposed to see the release of Wonder Woman 1984, but that's now scheduled to open at Christmas (to be technical, this weekend was supposed to see the release of Venom 2, the Tom Hanks sci-fi flick Bios, and Aaron Sorkin's The Trial of the Chicago Seven. Venom is now set for June, Bios for August, and Chicago got sold to Netflix, which gave it a limited theatrical release last weekend before it arrives on the service in two weeks). Replacing it will be...nothing, which should allow Tenet to win for at least one more weekend. Will it be able to make more than the $2.4 million E.T. made back on that very slow weekend in December, 1982? Or will we have a new record for lowest gross for a #1 movie in the modern era (not counting during the theater shutdown)? We'll find out next weekend.
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