Pixar released a new movie this weekend. That means Pixar was number one on the North American box office charts this weekend. That’s a no-brainer, right? When doesn’t Pixar land at the top? But Pixar’s latest, Onward, isn’t performing as well as previous films from the studio. In fact, its opening of $40 million is far lower than most of the films that came before it. It’s also lower than industry expectations, which had Onward coming in around $50 million. So, yes, Pixar is number one this weekend but the news isn’t as joyful as usual.
Why isn’t Onward a huge financial smash? The reviews were good, audiences like it, the market place isn’t too crowded with other family flicks. So what gives? I say a number of things. Number one, Onward just doesn’t look amazing. I don’t mean to dump on a film that so many people worked hard on but the movie didn’t look like it was in the same league as other Pixar films. Ever since the first trailer came out you could just feel that Onward wasn’t going to be one of Pixar’s finest. Hey, they don’t all have to be Finding Nemo or Wall-E but they also won’t all be runaway hits at the theater either.
Number two, this is a new Pixar property. It’s not a sequel like The Incredibles 2 or Cars 15 (I honestly can’t remember how many of those damn movies they made). While it seemed that Pixar was once very hesitant to make many sequels, they have churned out quite a few lately and they’ve all been pretty big hits. Not so with Onward, which is a standalone film. That means that it doesn’t have the built-in audience that the sequels did.
Then there is the issue of the release date. Typically Pixar drops their films in the summer or during the holiday season, perfect times for family movies. Kids are out of school during those periods and that means crowded showtimes. Onward was released in early March. Sure, that’s close to Spring Break for many schools but it’s not primetime for Pixar. So audiences are a little smaller because of that.
The question that many are asking is if Onward’s soft opening has anything to do with the spread of COVID-19. The answer to that is both yes and no. Did the coronavirus hurt the American box office total? I don’t think so. Did it hurt the international opening? That’s possible. Onward’s global take this weekend was just $28 million in 47 territories. That’s well below the estimated $40 million that Disney/Pixar was expecting. You have to assume that some of that lackluster take is because of COVID-19. Other countries have been hit much, much harder by the disease than America has. Even countries that aren’t experiencing the virus firsthand are consumed with fear, paranoia and preparation for what seems like an inevitable outbreak. Going to see a film is the last thing on a lot of peoples’ minds, especially if that film is aimed at kids. Who on Earth would want to risk the health of their child because of a movie?
My fear — and prediction — is that we will be experiencing something like that in America in the not-too-distant future. The number of infected is only growing in the states and you have already seen multiple major events cancelled for safety reasons. Concerts and conferences are being indefinitely postponed, schools are closing — and this is just the beginning of America’s experience with the coronavirus. I would expect that some theaters in parts of the country will indeed close in the months ahead, obviously in areas hardest hit by the disease. Who knows what effect COVID-19 will have on the box office? This is all unchartered territory.
Oof, that got depressing pretty quickly, didn’t it? Let’s get back to the movies. Ben Affleck’s The Way Back came in at number three with a good-but-not-amazing $8,500,000. That’s in line with expectations but I think a part of me expected this one to over-perform due to great trailers, marketing during NBA games and Affleck’s honest and refreshing promotional tour. Still, it’s not a bad haul.
The Invisible Man did really well in its second weekend. It took the number two position with just over $15 million. That means it’s already halfway to $100 million on a measly $7 million budget. That’s remarkable and great news for Universal, Leigh Whannell and fans of smart horror movies.
Bad Boys For Life crossed the $200 million mark in its 8th week, Sonic got closer to $150 million (which it’ll make) while Birds of Prey inched to $100 million (which it won’t make). Meanwhile, Impractical Jokers and My Hero Acadmeia slunk down to the bottom of the chart though they are both doing better than many predicted.
All in all, it was a rather predictable weekend. Next weekend (Friday the 13th!!!) brings us the Christian weepy I Still Believe, Donald Trump’s favorite film, The Hunt, and Vin Diesel’s comic book film Bloodshot. I would expect a quiet weekend, with Onward very much in the running to take number one again. But we will see what happens, there is a lot of uncertainty with this creepy coronavirus floating around and it definitely stands a chance to truly impact box office numbers. Things could change in just hours — for better or worse. I’m obviously hoping for the former.
