Welcome back to Box Office Breakdown, the weekly segment where I analyze the top ten highest grossing films of the past weekend.
Unfortunately, since most theatres are still closed down due to the COVID-19 and will continue to be for a while, we are unable to analyze the box office as studios are not reporting weekend projections. Due to this situation, studios are prematurely pulling films from theatres and releasing them on VOD, allowing audiences to watch them within the comfort of their own home. While theatres are temporarily shut down for an indefinite amount of time, we are dedicating this segment to analyzing how each film fares on VOD.
While the majority of theatrical releases over the next few months postponed until further notice, Dreamworks Animation and Universal Pictures decided to release Trolls World Tour on VOD the day it was supposed to hit theatres. Disney and Pixar’s Onward proved that family movies generally do well on VOD, so it was a smart move to release it rather than delay it. It seemed to have payed off as the film currently occupies the #1 spot on the iTunes Charts and is the top seller on the Amazon Charts as well. As strange as it may sound, this is one of the most significant films of the year as the degree of its success may have an impact on how distributors market and release films for years to come.
Studios may come to the realization that certain films don’t need theatrical releases to succeed financially. On the flip side, if the film underperforms compared to studio expectations, there’s a possibility that theatres will play an even bigger role in the industry going forward. Unfortunately, iTunes and Amazon don’t release the exact sales numbers to the public, so there’s no way of to tell how big of a gap there is between how much it’s made and what the studio was initially expecting it to make opening weekend in theatres. However, it has been reported by Universal that Trolls World Tour landed the biggest digital debut in history, so it’s very possible that we will start to see more direct to VOD releases in the near future.
Aside from new releases, we wanted to report which films have been generating the most sales on the iTunes Charts. Apple doesn’t release statistics or a weekly chart, so these are the top 10 films on iTunes based on the moment this article was being written:
1. Trolls: World Tour
2. The Gentlemen
3. Little Women
4. 1917
5. Dolittle
6. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
7. Birds of Prey
8. Dora & the Lost City of Gold
9. Jumanji: The Next Level
10. Knives Out
In other news, Disney recently announced that the highly anticipated new Pixar film Soul will move from June 20th to November 20th, 2020. The decision to move it to that specific weekend is significant for a few different reasons. Not only has it dropped in the heart of Oscar season, but that weekend marks the 25th anniversary of Toy Story, which is their very first feature length Pixar film.
In the coming weeks, we will continue to analyze the state of VOD releases and will provide updates regarding upcoming films.
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