Box Office Report :: September 18•20

 

There has not been a lot of action at the box office aside from more new releases shifting dates later into this year and into next year but before we get to this week's report, let's catch up and look at the past two weekends' grosses.

Below are the Top Ten grosses for the weekend of September 4-6.

1. [N] Tenet - $20,200,000 [NEW]
2. [1] The New Mutants - $3,037,702 [$11,790,329]
3. [2] Unhinged - $1,808,429 [$11,439,637]
4. [3] Bill & Ted Face the Music - $773,108 [$2,267,572]
5. [6] The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run - $345,000 [$3,314,145]
6. [4] The Personal History of David Copperfield - $327,438 [$990,911]
7. [5] Words on Bathroom Walls - $275,642 [$1,535,180]
8. [8] The Eight Hundred - $61,957 [$250,215]
9. [9] Peninsula - $59,867 [$850,967]
10. [7] Cut Throat City - $56,395 [$618,347]

Source: Box Office Mojo

Below are the Top Ten grosses for the weekend of September 11-13.

1. [1] Tenet - $6,700,000 [$29,500,000]
2. [2] The New Mutants - $2,089,204 [$15,329,572]
3. [3] Unhinged - $1,516,422 [$13,842,978]
4. [N] The Broken Hearts Gallery - $1,126,401 [NEW]
5. [4] Bill & Ted Face the Music - $292,653 [$2,748,235]
6. [7] Words on Bathroom Walls - $230,951 [$1,942,487]
7. [5] The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run - $225,829 [$3,964,145]
8. [6] The Personal History of David Copperfield - $194,528 [$1,405,572]
9. [9] Peninsula - $52,110 [$943,460]
10. [10] Cut Throat City - $41,029 [$695,812]

Source: Box Office Mojo

Warner Bros. Pictures was certainly hoping that Tenet was going to be the film that got people back into theaters ... except theaters in major cities like New York and Los Angeles were not open yet, and other studios have been cautiously keeping an eye on the situation and then moving their releases to later in the year. WB and theaters owners were really counting on Mulan to help deliver a one-two punch at the box office, but with the move to streaming in the US and other countries where theaters are still not operating a full capacity, Tenet has floundered in the States (although it has flourished in international markets where people didn't object to wearing masks and staying home for their health). The next big movie to come along was supposed to be Wonder Woman 1984, but the performance of Tenet forced Warner to move that to Christmas, leaving October with one major release, Death on the Nile -- if 20th Century Studios/Disney sticks with the date. November will be the next big month but even that is iffy if rumors of Disney pushing Black Widow to a later date -- or to Disney+ Premium Access like Mulan -- come to pass. After that it's the 25th Bond film No Time to Die if Universal sticks to its November 20 release. Also scheduled for release the same day is Pixar's Soul, but there are rumblings that it may now go directly to Disney+ without the premium price attached to it as they did with Artemis Fowl, Hamilton and Onward. So it's really difficult at this point in time to even guess what may be coming down the pike.

As it stands now, after its third week of release in the US, Tenet took a 30% hit from last weekend, earning just $4.7 million (estimated, as Warner has not provided actual totals for the film the past two weeks) which gives it a cumulative total of $36.1 million. The one thing Tenet's performance seems to indicate is that a vast majority of Americans are just not ready to sit in a box of recirculated air with a bunch of strangers. Overseas, the film is going strong in 52 markets, topping out at $5.6 million in China. The film bowed at Number 1 in Japan with $4.3 million. The cumulative international total stands at $203 million, with a global tally of $239.1 million against a $205 million budget. 

Taking second once again is The New Mutants in its fourth week, seeing just a 13% decrease and earning $1.82 million, bringing its domestic total to $17.74 million. Overseas the film has earned a total of $17.3 million, giving it a global total of just over $35 million against a budget anywhere between $65 and $80 million. Unhinged saw its fortunes drop by 15.5%, moving down one spot to Number 4 with $1.28 million for a six week domestic total of $15.69 million.

Sony may be rethinking its decision to release the decidedly low key rom-com The Broken Hearts Gallery theatrically. Even with a modest budget of $8 million, it seems the film's target audience would have been more receptive to the film had it been released theatrically during the summer months, which was not possible so going to PVOD would have been the better option. The film opened at Number 4 last week and this week it slipped by 29% to Number 5 with $802,322, giving it a domestic two week total of $2.40 million. Internationally, the film has earned a total of $212,980, for a worldwide total of $2.62 million.

There were some new releases this weekend but nothing from any of the major studios. Two of them even managed to crack the Top 10. At Number 3, Infidel made its mark with a weekend gross of $1.38 million on 1,724 screens (with an $802 per screen average). At Number 8, Alone made its debut on 174 screens, earning $182,473 ($1,084 average).

Disney isn't releasing any numbers for its premium presentation of Mulan, but some sources have suggested the film has earned well over $200 million to date. Where Disney hoped to make a splash with the film theatrically was in China, but as the film has been dogged by controversy over where it was filmed, the box office response has been lackluster to say the least with the grosses tumbling 72% in its second weekend, bringing the two week total in China to $36.08 million. Worldwide the film's theatrical box office total stands at $57 million.

The weekend of September 25 has a long list of smaller films set to open but none of them except for Kajillionaire have any name recognition so the films at the top of the charts should be secure there for a while.

Below are the Top Ten grosses for the weekend of September 18-20.

1. [1] Tenet - $4,700,000 [$36,100,000]
2. [2] The New Mutants - $1,823,448 [$17,741,422]
3. [N] Infidel - $1,384,296 [NEW]
4. [3] Unhinged - $1,281,563 [$15,695,476]
5. [4] The Broken Hearts Gallery - $802,322 [$2,409,216]
6. [7] The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run - $205,700 [$4,236,803]
7. [5] Bill & Ted Face the Music - $189,014 [$3,117,463]
8. [N] Alone - $182,473 [NEW]
9. [8] The Personal History of David Copperfield - $172,601 [$1,652,515]
10. [6] Words on Bathroom Walls - $147,175 [$2,189,346]

Source: Box Office Mojo

Image © Warner Bros. Pictures