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Movie theater owners are finally smiling again after a big Memorial Day weekend. Over four days, it is estimated that A Quiet Place Part II brought in around $57 million across North America [originally written as $80 million, which was the international box office]. That’s the best opening since before the COVID-19 pandemic began. The Paramount movie was originally slated for last year and it matched early tracking predictions for that release date. For the first time, there were no caveats attached to a film’s performance.
Rogers Cinema in Houghton continues to operate at 50 percent capacity. Every other row is marked by a flag in the cupholder nearest the aisle marking it as off limits. The staff says A Quiet Place didn’t bring in quite the audience locally that Godzilla vs. Kong did two months ago, where a couple of shows sold out. Still, it’s a sign that things are normalizing and full capacity is coming.
The theater is looking to hire to capitalize on the expected return of business. There are some warning signs though. Coming in second was Disney’s Cruella, an origin story for the villain of 101 Dalmatians. It brought in a disappointing $27 million. Cruella was a longer film, clocking in at well over two hours in length, so it had two screenings for every three that A Quiet Place managed. Factoring that in, it still underperformed. Maleficent starring Angelina Jolie raked in around $70 million over just three days back in 2014 by comparison.
Disney’s Raya and the Last Dragon was thumped by Warner Brother’s Tom and Jerry earlier this year in their respective opening weekends. During the company’s last earnings release, its Disney+ streaming service missed subscriber estimates by over five million customers. It is trying to manage a backlash related to the company’s increasing engagement in hot button cultural issues.
Following its acquisition of 20th Century Fox the movie house has become the dominant filmmaker. In 2019, Disney had seven of the year’s top eight films and accounted for over 40 percent of overall revenue. That jumps to around half with Fox added to the tally. If customer boycotts continue, the effects will be significant.
