by Conan Simmons – August 24, 2020 – 5:24 am
Box office numbers are in and the road rage thriller starring Russell Crowe has topped the U.S. box office with a $4 million opening weekend. This is the first major release since the Covid-19 crisis closed theaters to break over $1 million on its opening weekend. Most of its take came from drive-in theaters in California and Texas. Many states have strict policies in place for social distancing and face masks while New York theaters remain closed.
Rounding out the top 5 at the U.S. box office for this weekend of August 21-23, 2020:
- ‘Unhinged’ – road rage thriller starring Russell Crowe. $4.1 million
- ‘The Spongebob Squarepants Movie: Sponge on the Run’ – animation. $600k
- ‘Words on Bathroom Walls’ – a young romance. – $500k
- ‘The Goonies’ – rerelease of classic adventure film. – $300k
- ‘Cut Throat City’ – crime film directed by RZA. – $200k
Christopher Nolan’s ‘Inception’ is also in rerelease for Imax theaters but the numbers are not being reported. Could be a bad sign as most of the box office for the top winners are coming from drive-ins.
The numbers do bode well for the next couple of weekends releases including the highly anticipated ‘Tenet’, latest X-Men film ‘The New Mutants’ and ‘Bill and Ted Face the Music’ the reuniting of Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter.
What does this mean for Disney’s ‘Mulan’? The historical action film was largely expected to be an easy box office blockbuster until Disney pulled its theatrical release completely and forced it onto their streaming service Disney+. It really feels like the film would do better with a theatrical release no matter how limited now that movies are proving there is still demand for the theatrical experience even at drive-ins. I can’t help but wonder if Disney is hurting ‘Mulan’ and its Oscar eligibility.