Godzilla vs. Kong brought in a new era for post-pandemic cinema, as it seemed to showcase that there was a future for indoor sitting after all. Now, the trend is being continued as Paramount’s A Quiet Place Part II opened with $19.3M on a Friday. Even with a weaker Sunday, the film managed to gross $47.4M over three days and $57M with the four-day opening weekend. It’s not too far away from the pre-pandemic predicted $60M opening for the film. Currently, the film is slated to hit Paramount+ after a 45-day theatrical release, which might become the new norm for other projects moving forward.
On the flip side, there was Disney’s latest cinematic release with Cruella that managed to earn $26.5M over the four-day weekend. While it wasn’t able to compete with the A Quiet Place sequel, it still managed to pull in a respectable number. The guess is that its release on Disney+ Premier Access strongly afflicted its release. Disney’s Global Theatrical Distribution Head, Tony Chambers, shared his enthusiasm over the weekend performance:
This weekend repped for many their first experience going back to the theater and seeing the security measures in place. Audiences got to watch the trailers for the upcoming summer blockbuster movies this summer. It will invite them to come back and do it all over again.
As to be expected, no numbers were revealed on Cruella’s performance on the mouse’s streaming service. Still, US cinemas managing to cross the $80M mark over a 3-day weekend is a good sign for where cinemas are heading. July could see another uptick in overall performance within cinemas. Of course, Memorial Day weekend would normally peak around $200M to $300M, but we are still some time away from returning to a pre-pandemic Box Office. It’ll be interesting to see how strong Disney’s next major entry, Marvel Studios’ Black Widow, will do once it premiers on July 9th.
Source: Deadline
