Things are looking for the internal box office.
In recent months, ticket sales have accelerated, a sign that moviegoers are ready to return to cinemas. Encouraged by the trend, some studios have increased release dates.
Over the weekend, ticket sales reached about $ 24 million, which would be the best show, as the pandemic forced cinemas to close about a year ago, if those numbers hold when the final issue comes on Monday. Late.
Sales growth comes as the US continues a robust vaccine launch, and states have begun to ease restrictions on domestic cinemas. Last Friday was the first time that cinemas in New York managed to reopen in almost a year. While Regal theaters remain closed internally, AMC locations and a number of independent cinemas have been eagerly reopened.
Over the weekend, 45% of all theaters in North America were open, up from 42% the previous weekend, according to Comscore.
“The road back will take some time,” said Paul Dergarabedian, a senior analyst at Comscore. “We haven’t been here overnight and we won’t see the industry return in a single weekend, but the basics of theatrical recovery are being placed one by one.”
“Raya and the Last Dragon”, Disney’s first film release in March 2020, had an easy opening, raising about $ 8.6 million over a three-day period. The film was released simultaneously on Disney + for another $ 30, but it is currently unknown how many opted to watch the movie on streaming.
The film generated considerably less than $ 14.1 million, which “Tom & Jerry” called during its opening the previous weekend. It should be noted that Cinemark has chosen not to show “Raya” in the 345 domestic theaters due to a disagreement report on the rental price with Disney.
“Tom & Jerry” raised another $ 6.6 million last weekend. These results, combined with ticket sales from “Chaos Walking”, “Boogie”, “The Croods: A New Age” and “Wonder Woman 1984”, helped boost box office results over the weekend.
While the internal box office is still a fraction of where it was at the beginning of last year. However, the studios noticed that there was a strong increase when there is a major launch in the studio.
Over the Christmas weekend, the box office garnered $ 23.8 million in ticket sales as “Wonder Woman 1984” and “News of the World” debuted. Then, on the weekend of “Tom & Jerry’s” arrival, the box office reached $ 20.2 million.
These increases in ticket sales, combined with the opening of more theaters and a wider distribution of vaccines, have given some studios the confidence to increase the release dates of major films.
In January, Warner Bros. led the package by positioning “Godzilla v. Kong” on March 31, increasing it from its launch date in May. Then, in the last week, Sony moved “Peter Rabbit” on May 14th, and Paramount Pictures brought “A Quiet Place II” on May 28th.
“Confidence in the studio is essential and if this weekend was an indication, the industry is on the right track,” Dergarabedian said. “The theater square wakes up like a sleeping giant and we see slowly but surely the signs of a rebirth at the box office.”
“2021, although still affected by a limited percentage of open cinemas, may end up working better than expected, even if release dates continue to change,” he said. “The fact that studios are now moving titles with days and weeks, not months, is a really wonderful sign.”
Emily Blunt, Millicent Simmonds and Noah Jupe play in “A Quiet Place Part II”.
Paramount Pictures
Of course, there are still a few titles that have moved back. Universal’s “F9” has postponed its launch on Memorial Day weekend to June 25, and Minions: Rise of Gru’s animated feature has been replaced by 2022.
It seems that Universal is trying to position the film, which has a production budget of 200 million dollars, for an opening weekend as big as possible, both domestically and internationally. As the box office recovers, placing the film deeper in the summer could give it a better chance of selling more tickets.
Similarly, pushing “Minions: The Rise of Crane” to 2022 allows Universal to secure a high-profile release date and avoid the overcrowded 2021 calendar. The hope is that by moving it for another year, the film, which, like “F9”, is ready to do well internationally, will capture significant ticket sales.
Both the Fast and Furious franchise and the Minions franchise have released billions of dollars in recent years. Postponing these versions would put them on the right track to get that mark again.
“Given a handful of overseas trends since last fall, which we believe have helped demonstrate the underlying demand for film distribution, as well as one of the most impressive success stories of successful films scheduled for the next two years, ”Eric Wold, a senior analyst at B. Riley Securities, said in a note to investors Monday. “We remain extremely optimistic about the potential for the US box office, as additional filming markets reopen after New York City.”
The next big blockbuster to hit theaters will be “Godzilla v. Kong” on March 31st. The film also hits HBO Max on the same day.
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC.