by Conan Simmons – December 15, 2020 – 5:04 am
Animated sequel starring Emma Stone, Nicolas Cage and Ryan Reynolds continues to dominate at the box office with expected declines. The hit film is expected to maintain the top spot through next weekend.
Robert DeNiro hit family film, ‘War with Grandpa’ continues to hold on inside the Top 5 weekend films, as does Vince Vaughn horror comedy ‘Freaky’.
The rerelease of 2003 holiday family film starring Will Ferrell, ‘Elf’ slides into the Top 5 as audiences crave holiday family fun.
Hollywood was taken by surprise last week when Warner Bros. unexpectedly announced their entire film slate for 2021 would be released day-and-date on their sister streaming service HBO Max. The studio had failed to inform the producers of these films and understandably many became outraged. Director Denis Villeneuve, who helms the upcoming remake of ‘Dune’, stated in interviews that he found out about his film being released to HBO Max by seeing it in the headlines just as the rest of the world was finding out.
Warner Bros. is experiencing financial stress, not uncommon with any business this year, but their way of handling it has left many feeling betrayed. As the studio scrambles to renegotiate distribution deals the rest of Hollywood is applying the pressure.
Even within their current productions filmmakers are none too happy with the company’s decision. Zack Snyder, returning to reshoot his original version of the 2017 flop ‘Justice League’, is currently putting together the final touches that will see his version arrive on HBO Max as a four part miniseries. Snyder hopes he can convince Warner Bros. to give his nearly 4 hour version a theatrical release as well, though that is currently looking slim. Warner Bros. is spending $70 million to make the recut of ‘Justice League’.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly over the weekend Snyder made this statement about the Warner Bros. decision to move their film slate to HBO Max. “It felt like a pretty bold move and that maybe the implication wasn’t 100% thought out.” He continued, “I feel like there’s a lot of people panicking during COVID. I hope that, in the end, that’s what this was – some sort of knee-jerk to COVID and not some sort of greater move to disrupt the theatrical experience. I thought we were kind of already getting very close to the ideal theatrical window where you still had marketing material out there and you hadn’t forgotten about the film by the time it came out on DVD or streaming. I thought we were starting to hone in on that sweet spot, but this kind of throws a monkey wrench in the works.”
All eyes will be on ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ when it releases Christmas Day. The film is fully expected to take the number one spot at the box office. All eyes in Hollywood will be watching to see how its box office returns will be cannibalized by the same day availability on streaming. Depending on how well ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ performs on its opening weekend will determine if Warner Bros. stays the course with their decision or if they backtrack.
The HBO Max streaming deal is reportedly only in the United States as the streaming service is not available in overseas markets. As some countries return to lockdown for the rest of the year, like the U.K. and the Netherlands just did today, the profitability of ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ is looking slim at best. The recent developments with the vaccine may help theaters get back in business, helping the films chances. It will be up against the western starring Tom Hanks, ‘News of the World’, a movie that won’t be available on streaming until at least two weeks after its theatrical premiere.
WEEKEND BOX OFFICE TOP 5 (December 11-13, 2020)
- ‘The Croods: A New Age’ – $3.1 million – animated (dropping 1.3 million, 30% decline)
- ‘Half Brothers’ – $495k – comedy (dropping 225k, 31% decline)
- ‘Elf’ – $400k – family film (debut, rerelease)
- ‘Freaky’ – $314k – horror comedy (dropping 146k, 32% decline)
- ‘War with Grandpa’ – $264k – family film (dropping 65k, 20% decline)
The weekend box office total comes to $4.5 million, dropping $1.7 million from last weekend’s total of $6.2 million for a decline of 27%.