Did You Catch A Movie In A Theater This Weekend?
Heading to the movies, an American pastime returns…
I finally made my way back to a “normal” movie this weekend. Of course, my theater was socially distanced, semi-masked, and had only 6 patrons. But, I was seeing a first-run movie — Cruella — on its debut weekend on a big screen.
It was awesome.
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back returned to theaters during the pandemic. Image: Shopify
Having rented out theaters, attended to a drive-in, and taken in sparsely-populated showings of Demon Slayer and Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, it wasn’t the complete juxtaposition that I expected. However, it made my thinking about returning to a flight and a theme park at some point feel that much more feasible.
“Movie In A Theater” Moves Americans
Image: Paramount
In terms of feeling the need to return to a communal showing of a new flick, I was not alone.
Jonathan Berr, who covers media companies, networks, podcasts, and streaming for Forbes, posted “People Are Returning To The Movies As Masks Requirements End.”
He wrote:
Image: Disney Springs
According to Box Office Mojo.com, weekend box office receipts topped $100 million for the first time in more than a year thanks to stronger-than-expected debuts over the Memorial Day Weekend from Paramount’sA Quiet Place Part II and Walt Disney’s Cruella.”
A Not So Quiet Place
Berr added, “A Quiet Place Part II is a sequel to the 2018 horror film A Quiet Place, a surprise hit for the ViacomCBS-owned Paramount. The film, directed by The Office’s John Krasinski, generated $48.4 million in the three-day window between Friday and Sunday.”
Emily Blunt stars in A Quiet Place 2. Image: Alberto E. Rodriguez—Getty
Coming in second on the weekend, Cruella stood around $25,500,000 domestic, $42,600,000. Of course, that does not include any streaming revenue.
Disney’s Cruella Comes In Second
Image: Disney
Of Cruella, Box Office Mojo posted:
The PG-13-rated film also came out of the gate to solid numbers despite being available on Disney+ for an additional $30 fee. Cruella pulled in $21.3 million in the first three days of the long weekend, earning a $5,472 per-screen average in 3,892 locations. Its four-day gross is projected to hit $26.5 million. The film currently has a 72% score on RottenTomatoes and received a straight ‘A’ CinemaScore grade. One interesting footnote: female ticket buyers turned out to be a critical factor in the holiday weekend’s booming business, with women making up 53% of A Quiet Place Part II’s audience and 64% of Cruella’s.”
But Cruella and A Quiet Place Part 2 are just (a big) part of the equation.
Image: MickeyBlog.com
The bottom line, as penned by Berr says, “When the Coronavirus Pandemic began more than a year ago, Americans quit going to the movies. Now that theater chains no longer require vaccinated patrons to wear masks, they are returning in droves.”
Feature Image: Paramount
Image Credit: AMC
