Box Office Discussion: "Tenet" Won't Pay The Rent

 

Tenet doesn't inspire much confidence, as upcoming releases start to flee.

Last week, it looked like Hollywood was slowly getting back on its feet after the solid, but hardly revolutionary, opening gross of Tenet, Christopher Nolan's very expensive sci-fi blockbuster that was supposed to herald the reopening of movie theaters.  As it turned out, that impressive number was an illusion, and there was no sugercoating the awful truth in the film's second weekend.

Tenet grossed only $6.7 million in its second weekend, a huge plunge from what looked to be a $20.2 million opening.  As it turned out, that $20.2 million was earned over six days, not just from Friday through Sunday, making the film's release look far more successful than it was.  As a result, WB sent its own next movie, Wonder Woman 1984, to Christmas, and October opening Candyman and September release Greenland soon also moved, the latter to an undetermined date during the holidays and the former to sometime in 2021.  While the plug hasn't been officially pulled as of this writing, there are rumors that Disney is going to move Black Widow and Soul, both of which are currently set for November, as well.

To be fair, it may not all be doom and gloom.  There are still two major studio movies, Death on the Nile and the animated Connected, set for mid-October, and two minor studio star vehicles--Honest Thief with Liam Neeson, and The War With Grandpa with Robert De Niro, are also staying put for now.  But if any or all of those six movies do end up moving, it could be a long fall until No Time to Die finally arrives at Thanksgiving.

In second was The New Mutants, which took in $2.1 million in its third weekend, bringing its total to $15.3 million.  In third was the Russell Crowe road rage thriller Unhinged, which earned $1.5 million for a gross of $13.8 million.

In fourth was the weekend's one opening, the little-advertised romcom The Broken Hearts Gallery.  It pulled in $1.1 million.  

No other movie was even able to top $300,000 for the weekend.  Bill and Ted Face the Music, Words on Bathroom Walls, and The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run each grossed more than $200,000, while The Personal History of David Copperfield couldn't even manage that much.  At least it finished in six figures.  Rounding out the Top 10 were Peninsula and Cut Throat City, which made about $52,000 and $41,000 respectively.

This week does see one wide release, though how wide it actually goes remains to be seen.  It stars Jim Caviezel as an American journalist who is kidnapped from Cairo by the Iranian regime and put on trial for being a spy.  The film's executive producer is convicted felon and far-right gadfly Dinesh D'Souza, which should probably tell you everything about both the film's quality and its target audience.  Given that said target audience might be more willing to turn out, this might have a somewhat decent opening, though I'd still be shocked if it tops $3 million.  We'll find out how it did, and if there are any upcoming movies ever again, next week.