Weekend Box Office (October 16 - 18, 2020)
THIS WEEKEND Liam Neeson's latest revenge thriller Honest Thief opened at number one generating a solid premiere by pandemic box office standards. The PG-13 pic debuted to an estimated $3.7M from 2,425 locations for a $1,526 average. Released in Canada a week early, the running North American cume is now $4.2M.
Reviews were not so good for Thief with many critics saying it was the actor's umpteenth dip into the revenge thriller well with little new to add here. However, audiences were generally pleased and good buzz plus little competition should carry this one through the fall. The opening weekend performance was about on par with the $4M launch of Russell Crowe's Unhinged from August which targeted many of the same moviegoers.
Holding up well in its second weekend of play was the Robert DeNiro comedy The War with Grandpa which dipped 31% to an estimated $2.5M for a ten-day total of $7.3M. Reaching $15M seems likely for 101 Studios and hitting $20M (the new magical mark in the pandemic era) cannot be ruled out at this time.
Chris Nolan's Tenet ranked third with an estimated $1.6M for a decline of only 24%. The Warner Bros. release became the first pandemic pic to cross the $50M threshold this weekend with a new total of $50.6M. Overseas markets have amassed $283.3M to date accounting for a hefty 85% of the global tally of $333.9M.
Disney re-released the 27-year-old holiday classic The Nightmare Before Christmas in 2,194 theaters and saw a nice opening weekend estimate of $1.3M for a $603 average. With most major movies postponed to winter and beyond, the studio has been re-releasing hits from its library to cater to families which choose to go out to the movies for some fall fun.
That wasn't the only re-release of a 1993 hit for Disney this weekend. The witch comedy Hocus Pocus dropped 35% in its third round to an estimated $756,000. The studio is not reporting a cume on the re-release but the tally is in the vicinity of $5M.
Comic flick The New Mutants followed with an estimated $465,000 in its eighth weekend, down 34%, for a $22.7M cume for 20th Century.
Paramount opened its post-apocalyptic adventure Love and Monsters day and date in theaters and on digital platforms this weekend. Many top chains do not play those types of releases so the 387-theater release collected an estimated $255,000 this weekend for a $659 average.
Sony opened the new festival film The Kid Detective in 865 theaters and grossed an estimated $135,000 for the weekend for a mild $156 average.
The re-release of Coco was next with an estimated $131,000 for the weekend for Disney.
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| # | Title | Oct 16 - 18 | Oct 9 - 11 | % Chg. | Theaters | Weeks | AVG | Cumulative | Distributor |
| 1 | Honest Thief | $ 3,607,966 | 2,425 | 1 | $ 1,488 | $ 4,115,249 | Open Road | ||
| 2 | The War with Grandpa | 2,506,523 | 3,623,880 | -30.8 | 2,260 | 2 | 1,109 | 7,260,855 | 101 Studios |
| 3 | Tenet | 1,700,000 | 2,100,000 | -19.0 | 2,001 | 7 | 850 | 50,700,000 | Warner Bros. |
| 4 | The Nightmare Before Christmas RE | 1,323,000 | 2,194 | 1 | 603 | 1,323,000 | Disney | ||
| 5 | Hocus Pocus RE | 756,000 | 1,161,000 | -34.9 | 1,640 | 3 | 461 | Disney | |
| 6 | The New Mutants | 468,278 | 705,822 | -33.7 | 1,293 | 8 | 362 | 22,724,804 | 20th Century |
| 7 | Unhinged | 425,000 | 680,000 | -37.5 | 1,276 | 9 | 333 | 20,000,000 | Solstice |
| 8 | Love and Monsters | 255,000 | 387 | 1 | 659 | 255,000 | Paramount | ||
| 9 | The Kid Detective | 135,000 | 865 | 1 | 156 | 135,000 | Sony | ||
| 10 | Coco RE | 131,000 | 603,000 | -78.3 | 775 | 2 | 169 | Disney | |
| Top 10 vs. 2019 | 11,307,767 | 129,823,222 | -91.3 | ||||||
| Top 10 vs. 2018 | 11,307,767 | 155,990,869 | -92.8 | ||||||
| Below the Top 10: | |||||||||
| Empire Strikes Back RE | 79,000 | 145,000 | -45.5 | 480 | 4 | 165 | Disney | ||
| Infidel | 71,757 | 205,602 | -65.1 | 471 | 5 | 152 | 3,970,531 | Cloudburst | |
| Possessor Uncut | 70,685 | 150,843 | -53.1 | 188 | 3 | 376 | 661,154 | Neon | |
| Yellow Rose | 67,000 | 150,000 | -55.3 | 900 | 2 | 74 | 306,000 | Sony | |
| The Call | 61,928 | 89,201 | -30.6 | 160 | 3 | 387 | 366,873 | Atlas |
Last Updated: October 20, 2020 at 7:00PM ET
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