“This weekend’s three new wide releases were not expected to do big business,” David A. Gross, who runs Franchise Entertainment Research, a movie consultancy, said in an email on Sunday. “Still, these openings are down 30 percent or more from where they would be under normal circumstances.”
The No. 1 movie was a holdover: “Onward,” the Disney-Pixar fantasy about two elf brothers who have an accident with magic, collected an estimated $10.5 million at 4,310 theaters in the United States and Canada — a 73 percent drop from its first weekend. Pixar movies typically decline between 30 percent and 45 percent from their first to second weekends, demonstrating the impact of coronavirus fears on moviegoing.
Overseas, where theaters have been closed in some countries in Europe and Asia, “Onward” took in $6.8 million. The animated film’s global total now stands at $101.7 million, Disney said.
In a surprise — at least for Hollywood — an under-the-radar new release rooted in religion, “I Still Believe,” sold the most tickets of the newcomers. It collected about $9.5 million from 3,250 theaters. “I Still Believe” (Lionsgate and Kingdom Story Company) cost less than $10 million to make. A romantic drama, the film stars KJ Apa (“Riverdale”) and Britt Robertson (“Under the Dome”) and is based on the true story of the Christian singer-songwriter Jeremy Camp and his first wife Melissa Henning-Camp, who was diagnosed with terminal cancer while on their honeymoon.
Directed by Andrew Erwin and Jon Erwin, known for the 2018 faith-based hit “I Can Only Imagine,” “I Still Believe” received middling reviews. But ticket buyers gave it an A grade in CinemaScore exit polls.
Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/15/arts/box-office-bloodshot.html
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