Welcome back to Box Office Breakdown, the weekly segment where I analyze the top ten highest grossing films of the past weekend. As theatres continue to reopen and prepare for an onslaught of new theatrical releases, we will be analyzing the state of the box office, as well as VOD and streaming.
With a recent spike in COVID cases across Canada and worldwide, its uncertain how theatres will respond. As of now, theatres remain open, but many upcoming anticipated releases have been postponed. The most notable example is Wonder Woman 1984, which was scheduled to be the only major release in October, but has been postponed to Christmas Day. Meanwhile, Steven Spielberg’s highly anticipated West Side Story remake has been moved to December 2021, making it ineligible to compete at this year’s Academy Awards.
That being said, the lack of major studio releases makes room for independent films to make waves at the Box Office. The survival-horror film Shortcut, which follows five classmates who are trapped in a school bus with a mysterious creature lurking outside, was the highest grossing new release this past weekend. The film received negative reception from both critics and audiences, but it may see a boost in profit during October as it is one of the only horror movies currently playing in theatres.
Sony Picture Entertainment released their R-rated fast food comedy The Last Shift, which was given an even wider release than Shortcut, opening in over 870 theatres domestically. Despite having some notable names on board such as Richard Jenkins, Ed O’Neil and Emmy award-winning screenwriter Andrew Cohn, the film doesn’t seem to have much traction and received generally mixed to negative reviews.
A24 finally broke their silence and released their first film theatrically since before the pandemic. Miranda July’s heist-comedy Kajillionaire did quite well at Sundance and has already started to gain a small cult following, but the film likely won’t reach a wider audience until it is released on VOD or a streaming platform.
Here are the top 10 highest grossing films domestically from the past weekend:
10) The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run (Week 7: $142K)
9) Kajillionaire (Week 2: $216K)
8) The Last Shift (Week 1: $246K)
7) Shortcut (Week 1: $305K)
6) The Broken Hearts Gallery (Week 3: $501K)
5) Infidel (Week 2: $761K)
4) Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (Week 12: $908K)
3) Unhinged (Week 7: $968K)
2) The New Mutants (Week 5: $1.2M)
1) Tenet (Week 4: $3.4M)
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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