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Source: Box Office Mojo
Although Memorial Day weekend has long been revered as a crucial period of the year when it comes to the film industry and its anticipation of abundant box office revenue, this most recent one might have been the most important in years. With a grand majority of movie theaters closed throughout most of last year (including the previous Memorial Day weekend) as a result of the still ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it has only been recently that the business has been able to safely start making a full recovery. Although the amount of product had been limited when theaters began to reopen (albeit with the enforcement of strict anti-COVID measures), major studios have gradually become more willing to start providing theaters with their work.
While the availability of many of these films on streaming platforms like Disney+ and HBO Max has been worrying for theaters, fearing that audiences will prefer in-home viewing to the theatrical experience, this has proven to be not quite as big of a concern as was previously anticipated. Despite being available to stream, films like “Raya and the Last Dragon” and “Godzilla vs Kong” have so far received surprising strong runs at the box office; their grosses would most likely be much higher under normal circumstances, but because the pandemic still remains, revenue that might otherwise be seen as underwhelming has instead been viewed with great enthusiasm.
However, none of what has been seen so far can compare to the overwhelming success of this last Memorial Day weekend, the first in well over a year where the total domestic box office gross has surpassed $100 million. Although a normal (or at least favorable) situation would result in one single film making over $100 million over the Memorial Day weekend, the fact that even the most optimistic of expectations were exceeded with the total revenue received is more than enough for analysts and industry experts to celebrate the coming comeback of American cinema. Many have pointed to the decision of not one, but two major studios to release a big-budget release over the holiday weekend as a sign of confidence that the industry is slowly getting back into business, but the results of both films’ performance can only strengthen such a hopeful outlook of the future.
Of the two big releases of the past Memorial Day weekend, it was Paramount’s “A Quiet Place Part II” that shined as the ultimate victor, not just for the past four days, but arguably for any film released during the pandemic. Having earned a total of $58.5 million over the period between Friday and Monday ($48.4 million excluding Monday), the film has received the largest opening weekend of any film released since the beginning of the pandemic, soaring past the previous holder of the title, Warner Brothers’ “Godzilla vs Kong” by over $20 million. The total is even more impressive when one considers the performance of the original film, as “A Quiet Place” earned just over $50 million when it came out back in 2018. Because that film was released during a time when the idea of a global epidemic was hardly on anyone’s minds during that time, the sequel’s overperformance comes across even more remarkable, with not even the limitations of auditorium maximum capacity being enough to prevent the film from being able to outdo its predecessor. Considering the largely positive reception it has received from critics and audiences (as indicated by a 91% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and an “A” score on Cinemascore), there’s a strong chance that the fortunes of “A Quiet Place Part II” will only grow over the course of the next couple weeks.
Coming in right behind was “Cruella”, Disney’s live-action villain-centered prequel to its animated classic “One Hundred and One Dalmatians”. Although the film was not able to make even half as much over the four-day weekend as its competition, its performance has been deemed to be more impressive than expected, ranking in around $26.5 million between Friday and Monday ($21.3 million excluding Monday). It’s worth noting that the film was simultaneously made available on Disney+ for a $30 fee at the exact same time it came out in theaters, meaning that the overall revenue the film made over the weekend is likely much greater than what is being reported from the box office, perhaps even greater than what “A Quiet Place Part II” was able to receive from ticket sales alone.
If Memorial Day weekend is still seen as the beginning of the summer movie season, then the exceptional results of this most recent holiday weekend should be a sign that a string of similar successes will most likely appear over the course of the next few months. With what has been announced so far, there does seem to be a decent variety of big-budget blockbusters that the industry hopes will drive ticket sales to respectable levels (or at least as respectable as they can be given that the COVID-19 has not yet been announced to be officially over), with such films as Warner Brothers’ musical “In the Heights”, Universal’s action-adventure “F9” (which is already doing incredible business overseas), and Disney/Marvel’s superhero epic “Black Widow” being among those most highly anticipated by an eager movie-going public.
If there is one sign that success isn’t entirely guaranteed, it would have to be the massive drop in revenue for “F9” and its overseas totals when compared to the previous weekend. Earning only $20.8 million as opposed to the $136 million earned last weekend, the film was subjected to a drop of over 85%, a percentage much greater than what is often desired by major studios. Still, Universal doesn’t seem to be too concerned with this drop-off, especially considering the skyrocketing of sales that the film will most certainly receive when released in the United States at the end of June.
If things go as well as planned, “F9” will join “A Quiet Place Part II” and countless others as the films that contributed to the revival of the American box office.
