With ‘Unhinged,’ Hollywood Cautiously Returns to Movie Theaters

Twenty-six percent of U.S. screens were open this weekend in some 44 states, each operating at limited capacity with additional safety protocols like mask wearing and touchless ticketing. Seven states, including California, New Jersey and New York, which account for close to 25 percent of the national box office, are still not permitted to open their cineplexes. Drive-in theaters in three California locales, including Los Angeles and San Francisco, generated the highest grosses of the weekend.

The results, although modest, have Hollywood carefully optimistic about what’s possible for the remaining weeks of summer. Next weekend, Disney will open in theaters its long-delayed X-Men spinoff “New Mutants,” while “Unhinged” adds some 500 screens to its release. On Sept. 3, Warner Bros. will finally debut the highly anticipated and oft-delayed Christopher Nolan thriller “Tenet” in the U.S. The theater industry hopes to have 70 percent of the nation’s screens open by that date.

For Mr. Gill, the added competition should help make the case for returning to the movies.

“Theaters that have been open for a while did better comparatively because people knew they were open,” he said. “Some of this is just about getting people to understand that. Another movie is only going to help. God knows there is plenty of room.”

The other wide release for the weekend, the young-adult drama “Words on Bathroom Walls,” had a more subdued debut, generating $462,050 on 925 screens despite the “A” rating from audience survey company CinemaScore and overwhelmingly positive reviews.

The theater business has been decimated by the coronavirus. AMC, the nation’s largest circuit, lost $561 million during its second quarter this year with revenue down 99 percent due to the virus. The chain reopened a portion of its 630 theaters this weekend for the first time.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/23/business/media/unhinged-box-office.html