Weekend Box Office (September 25 - 27, 2020)
THIS WEEKEND With no major new films entering the marketplace, the steadily-eroding box office was once again topped by Christopher Nolan's Tenet which grossed an estimated $3.4M in its fourth full weekend of domestic play sliding by an encouraging 26%. Warner Bros. has upped its cume to $41.2M and that's with about 25% of the market still having theaters closed and with those that are open limited to smaller auditorium capacities.
Passing $50M seems likely especially since October has very little competition arriving. If major markets like New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco can all reopen then reaching $60M is possible. Status in those high grossing cities is still unknown as local governments need to give the green light.
Overseas, Tenet took in an estimated $15.8M from 56 markets boosting the international total to $242M led by China's $64.3M. Global box office now sits at $283.2M and should cross the triple century mark next weekend. 85% of the worldwide take has been from offshore markets.
Close to becoming only the second film in the pandemic era to break $20M at the domestic box office, 20th Century's The New Mutants followed with an estimated $1.1M for a nice slide of only 30% in its fifth weekend. Cume is now $19.5M from North America plus $19.4M overseas for a $38.9M global take. Next up was Russell Crowe's Unhinged which collected an estimated $1M this weekend in its sixth round pushing the overall gross to $17.2M with a possible $20M final.
Disney re-released The Empire Strikes Back which went back out into a very wide 2,097 locations coming in with an estimated $908,000 for a $433 average. The Star Wars sequel (seen by many as the best of the whole franchise) is readily available at home on Disney+ as well as VOD services, but this release is meant for fans who want to experience it again (or for the first time) up on the big screen.
Dropping 46% in its second weekend was the thriller Infidel with an estimated $745,000 for a new total of $2.7M for Cloudburst. Sony followed with the rom-com The Broken Hearts Gallery which grossed an estimated $470,000, off 41%, for a new cume of $3.2M.
The studio also debuted the new film The Last Shift in 871 theaters and saw an opening weekend estimate of $235,000 for an average of $270. A second new release starring Richard Jenkins followed as Kajillionaire bowed to an estimated $215,000 from 529 sites for a $406 average. The Sundance hit scored excellent reviews for Focus. Also scoring over $100k this weekend was The SpongeBob Movie sequel with an estimated $140,000 from its Canada-only run, down 33%, for a $4.4M sum.
Disney's Mulan got a premium streaming release in North America but is playing in cinemas in other parts of the world including much of Asia. In its fourth weekend, the live-action adventure collected just $3.3M from 20 markets for a cume of $64.4M heading to just over $70M. China accounts for about two-thirds of the tally with $40M but it has faded fast there.
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| # | Title | Sep 25 - 27 | Sep 18 - 20 | % Chg. | Theaters | Weeks | AVG | Cumulative | Distributor |
| 1 | Tenet | $ 3,400,000 | $ 4,600,000 | -26.1 | 2,850 | 4 | $ 1,193 | $ 41,200,000 | Warner Bros. |
| 2 | The New Mutants | 1,172,088 | 1,631,833 | -28.2 | 2,305 | 5 | 508 | 19,484,246 | 20th Century |
| 3 | Unhinged | 1,000,000 | 1,280,000 | -21.9 | 2,182 | 6 | 458 | 17,200,000 | Solstice |
| 4 | Empire Strikes Back RE | 908,000 | 2,097 | 1 | 433 | 908,000 | Disney | ||
| 5 | Infidel | 761,136 | 1,384,296 | -45.0 | 1,885 | 2 | 404 | 2,690,735 | Cloudburst |
| 6 | The Broken Hearts Gallery | 500,000 | 800,000 | -37.5 | 2,141 | 3 | 234 | 3,300,000 | Sony |
| 7 | The Last Shift | 235,000 | 871 | 1 | 270 | 235,000 | Sony | ||
| 8 | Kajillionaire | 215,000 | 529 | 1 | 406 | 215,000 | Focus | ||
| 9 | The SpongeBob Movie 2 (Canada Only) | 140,000 | 210,000 | -33.3 | 250 | 7 | 560 | 4,433,000 | Paramount |
| 10 | After We Collided (Canada only) | 96,000 | 220,000 | -56.4 | 297 | 3 | 323 | 1,049,000 | VVS |
| Below the Top 10: | |||||||||
| Words on Bathroom Walls | 79,673 | 147,175 | -45.9 | 495 | 6 | 161 | 2,343,492 | Roadside Attr. | |
| Bill & Ted Face the Music | 74,153 | 189,014 | -60.8 | 353 | 5 | 210 | 3,269,863 | United Artists | |
| The Personal History of David Copperfield | 57,296 | 146,339 | -60.8 | 512 | 5 | 112 | 1,783,313 | Searchlight | |
| On The Basis of Sex RE | 55,000 | 829 | 1 | 66 | 55,000 | Focus | |||
| The Secrets We Keep | 43,000 | 90,000 | -52.2 | 449 | 2 | 96 | 212,000 | Bleecker Street | |
| RBG (RE) | 34,000 | 878 | 1 | 39 | 34,000 | Magnolia |
Last Updated: September 29, 2020 at 4:00PM ET
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