As one chain prepares to close down again, Tenet barely holds off a 27-year-old movie.
With it now obvious to everyone that Tenet did not save movie theaters, many of them continue to sharply reduce their hours, or re-close entirely. Among them is the giant Regal chain, which announced that it was closing down every single one of its theaters at the end of the week. That move seemed to be prompted by the latest movie casualty of the pandemic, No Time to Die, which back in March, was the first movie to hightail it out of its original April opening day and move to Thanksgiving, which is when nearly every Bond movie since GoldenEye has been released anyway. Now, we have to wait at least 006 more months for 007, which is now scheduled to open roughly a year after its original date. Also moving was Dune, though that was less of a surprise because releasing studio Warner Bros. moved Wonder Woman 1984 to only a week later, and no one expected that the studio would release two major blockbusters on top of each other.
Getting back to this weekend, Tenet won its fifth straight title, but only with $2.7 million. That's not the worst performance by a #1 movie in history, but it's awfully close, and those previous sub-$3 million chart-toppers were released in an era when ticket prices were far cheaper. The thriller has now grossed $45.1 million domestically, and might struggle to pick up the remaining $4.9 million to top $50 million. Luckily, it has done $250 million overseas, so it's not a total disaster, and its box office will always have an asterisk beside it.
With new releases becoming few and far between, re-releases, which ended up dominating what little moviegoing there was over the summer, are beginning to find their way back onto the chart. Such is the case with the weekend's #2 movie, Disney's beloved cult Halloween comedy Hocus Pocus. The 1993 film, which starred Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy as three long-dead witch sisters who get revived on Halloween night in then-current times, was a flop upon its original release (due both to poor reviews and poor timing--Disney sent it out in July, and it opened against that summer's biggest sleeper smash, Free Willy), but now has a devoted audience, thanks to frequent reruns on various Disney-owned channels and Midler's over-the-top performance (pretty much the only good thing about the film, but I digress). The film re-opened to a surprising $1.9 million, and could do solid business throughout October.
After a four-week run at #2, The New Mutants finally slipped to #3, and is the only other film to top $1 million this weekend. The X-Men spin-off grossed $1 million, for a total of $21 million, which to be honest, could be more than it might have made if it had opened amid much stiffer competition.
Below the $1 million mark, Unhinged keeps chugging along at #4, taking in $0.9 million for a total gross of $18.4 million. Infidel came in fifth, earning $0.5 million for a gross of $3.4 million.
Underneath them, no other movie was able to top $0.4 million. The Empire Strikes Back and The Broken Hearts Gallery came in 6th and 7th. Opening in 8th was the sci-fi horror movie Possessor Uncut, directed by Brandon Cronenberg, son of David. It took in $0.3 million. Shortcut came in 9th, and opening in tenth was the alien invasion horror-comedy Save Yourselves, which brought in $0.1 million.
It is interesting that Regal is choosing this weekend to shut down, because Friday brings the highest-profile release since Tenet. The War With Grandpa stars Robert De Niro as an old man who has to move in with his kid's family, and Oakes Fegley as his grandson who has to give up his room to him. Deciding he likes his room better than his grandfather...well, see the title. For a throwaway family movie, it sure attracted a strong cast, including Uma Thurman and Christopher Walken. This was originally a Weinstein film set to open in early 2018, but it got caught up in the fallout and has bounced all over the schedule since. It should probably knock Tenet off the top rung this weekend, though I'll be surprised if it manages to gross more than $3 million. We'll find out next weekend.
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