by Conan Simmons – January 4, 2021 – 7:47 pm
The first weekend of 2021 sees mixed results at the box office. New Year’s Day kicked off the weekend on Friday as approximately one third of cinemas remain open across the country.
‘Wonder Woman 1984’ fell 67% from its opening weekend last week. This marks the steepest decline for a movie in its second weekend since the pandemic began. It should be noted On Genre reported ‘Tenet’ also fell 67% in its second weekend, due to some controversy over how Warner Bros. reports their numbers some sources claim ‘Tenet’ only fell 29%. Warner Bros. is continuing with questionable numbers as they claim unverified success of ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ on their streaming service HBO Max. With many claims of difficulties with streaming the title and mostly negative audience response the film is on track to be a loss for the studio.
It’s not all bad news for the superhero picture. A third installment has already been greenlit by the studio with Gal Gadot returning with Patty Jenkins directing. Jenkins recently hinted at a possible fourth installment as well, though she is set to direct an upcoming Star Wars film, entitled ‘Rogue Squadron’, for rival studio Disney first.
Last weeks other release, ‘News of the World’, fell an expected 29% which is near average for a movie in its second week.
Holdovers ‘The Croods: A New Age’ and ‘Monster Hunter’ both saw gains of 29% and 18% respectively. ‘The Croods: A New Age’ had been seeing declines since opening on Thanksgiving weekend. Being available to stream for the last two weeks makes it even more notable that it could gain at the box office as it contradicts what many wonder of the availability of streaming ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ leading to that picture’s decline in box office. ‘Monster Hunter’ has only declined 32% (adding back this weekends gain) since opening the week before Christmas.
No major releases are planned for theaters until March barring any delays due to the pandemic. Expect more rereleases like this weekends ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ to break into the Weekend Box Office Top 5 for the months to come.
In a small positive sign for theaters this is the first weekend that all five movies in the Top 5 made over $1 million each since the pandemic forced lockdowns and studios delayed releases.
WEEKEND BOX OFFICE TOP 5 (January 1-3, 2021 New Year’s Day Weekend)
- ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ – $5.5 million – fantasy (drop $11.2 million, 67% decline)
- ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ – $3.2 million – animation (rerelease debut)
- ‘The Croods: A New Age’ – $2.2 million – animation (gain $500k, 29% increase)
- ‘News of the World’ – $1.7 million – western (drop $700k, 29% decline)
- ‘Monster Hunter’ – $1.3 million – fantasy (gain $200k, 18% increase)
The total for this weekend comes to $13.9 million. Dropping $8.68 million from last weekends total of $22.58 million, it marks a decline of 38%.