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.
Similar to last week, a slew of theatrical releases that were prematurely pulled from theatres were released early on VOD. Birds of Prey was released back in February to generally solid reception but it severely underperformed at the box office, failing to make back its hefty budget. Since many upcoming superhero movies have been delayed and fans are craving more comic book action, this could be its chance to break even. So far it is one of the more successful VOD releases and has been floating around the bottom half of the top 10 on iTunes.
The Way Back was one of the final films released before theatres closed down and was never given the opportunity to make back its $25M budget. It made almost $15M during its short theatrical run, receiving very strong critical reception. While it hasn’t done as well on VOD as some of its competitors (currently charting at #28 on the iTunes Charts), the word of mouth is strong and may help it to succeed in the coming weeks. Bloodshot was also one of the final films to be given a theatrical release. Considering the circumstances, the film did very well financially so it’s no surprise that it is one of the more successful VOD releases. It’s been floating around just outside of the top 10 on iTunes and seems to be quickly climbing the charts. A similar situation applies to the faith-based romance I Still Believe, which found a relatively large audience during its short theatrical run. It’s been doing fairly well on iTunes, charting just outside of the top 20.
Sonic the Hedgehog and Bad Boys For Life have done very well in their transition to VOD, which comes as no surprise as they are the two biggest box office hits of the year. Dolittle was not quite as successful and the box office, but seems to be doing fairly well on VOD as it’s satisfying younger audiences. Aside from theatrical releases, a few major direct-to-VOD films were released this past weekend including Vivarium – a thriller starring Jesse Eisenberg, and the teen comedy Banana Split, both of which are on the charts but are having a difficult time competing against the abnormally large amount of new releases.
The majority of major releases that were prematurely pulled from theatres have been released on VOD, so most of the new releases within the coming weeks will likely be smaller direct-to-VOD films. Within the next few weeks, stay tuned as we continue to analyze the state of VOD releases and provide updates regarding upcoming films.
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