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Movie theaters in the United States have a major problem: they’re open for business but have little to drive said business. With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic keeping movie studios from releasing their highly anticipated productions in theaters, there’s hardly anything that will attract large groups of people to come out to the movies. Granted, theaters are already contending with a fixed drop in revenue; social distancing mandates have restricted the amount of people that can be in an auditorium at a given time, which in turn limits the number of tickets that can be sold. Still, this may not be as big of an issue if theaters were selling out as many screenings as possible given the limitations, but with even the newest releases struggling to make as much as a few million dollars in a given week, this doesn’t appear to be the case.
For the first time in weeks, “Tenet”, the Christopher Nolan directed blockbuster action film that had held on to the #1 spot at the box office ever since its Labor Day weekend releases, was finally outgrossed, specifically by the family comedy “The War with Grandpa”, which had originally been set for a 2018 release before being held back indefinitely due to the controversy surrounding its original distributor, The Weinstein Company (101 Studios now has distribution rights for the film). While it may appear to be an impressive feat at first glance, the film’s $3.6 million weekend gross leaves much to be desired, and with this being the most any movie has made over the past weekend, it’s no wonder that Hollywood is still hesitant to get their more expensive work out into theaters.
Interestingly enough, looking past “Tenet” and “The War with Grandpa”, the biggest ticket-seller of the weekend was not anything new, but rather a film that had already made an impact on popular culture. Coming in at #3 at the box office was the 1993 Halloween cult classic “Hocus Pocus”, earning just over $1.1 million over the Halloween weekend after already accumulating $1.9 million the previous weekend (where it ranked #2 behind “Tenet”). Given that most re-releases do not tend to rank very highly at the box office (one would have to go back to the 2011 re-release of “The Lion King” to see the return of a classic film perform so well), seeing an older film rank so high might come across as a surprise in any other context. However, with little to work with in terms of new films, it makes sense that a large handful of the few people who are going out to the movies right now are viewing something they find familiar and comforting.
That being said, seeing classic films appear so high up on the box office charts is nothing new, at least when looking at the year 2020. When the majority of movie theaters closed down earlier this year, and studios started pulling back their films, the few venues that were still open (predominantly drive-in theaters that posed less of a health risk) had to rely on older films in order to draw in audiences. The result was the likes of “Jaws” and “Jurassic Park”, iconic blockbusters that dominated the box office in the decades prior, reclaiming the top spots that they had once held many years ago. As the months of this year passed and movie theaters began to reopen once again, classic films still found a way to lure audiences, perhaps not in particularly high numbers but just enough to help them climb the box office charts. The previous month saw the return of “Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back” to theaters, and the 2017 animated Pixar film “Coco” also came back to theaters this weekend, ranking just under the top 5 highest grossing films of the weekend. The next few weeks will see even more classic films come back to the big screen, with many, such as “The Nightmare Before Christmas” arriving back in theaters just in time for the Halloween season.
In some respects, showing classic films can be a more profitable venture for theaters than showing a new feature. Unlike new releases, theaters do not have to share as much of their ticket sales with studios, meaning that they are able to keep more of what they have earned from showing classic films. Lately, theaters have been charging significantly less than what they would for a newer film (usually about $5), but because theaters are allowed to keep most of this money and not give it back to studios, they can still make just of a profit (if not a larger profit) on selling these tickets for less than usual. Combined with the fact that lower prices tend to encourage people to buy tickets more than higher prices would, it’s possible that despite earning less revenue, theaters are making a larger profit through their sales of “Hocus Pocus” tickets than they are with the newer “Tenet”.
With all this in mind, one may think that classic films are an essential tool in keeping movie theaters alive until Hollywood is comfortable with releasing their newer products into theaters. However, the one major downside to classic films is the fact that they are classic films, older works that have already been made available by other means. The silver screen is considered by many to be the definitive means of film viewing, but for others, watching the same film at home for free (or at least a lower price) is the more feasible option. “Hocus Pocus” may have made a decent amount for a re-release at the box office, but chances are that there are more people watching the film on television or through the Disney+ streaming service than the number going to see the film on the big screen. The same can be said for every other film being re-released to theaters right now: for many people, the cheapest option is the most preferable.
So does this mean classic films aren’t what will keep theaters up and running until the time comes for newer, bigger releases? From the numbers seen so far, it seems that they alone will not be enough to keep theaters open in the long run. Still, if “Hocus Pocus” and its high box office ranking are any indication, there is still an audience (though not one that is particularly large) willing to see classic films on the big screen, and with theaters needing all they can get in order to stay in business, a small audience is better than no audience, and with the holiday season just around the corner, re-releasing holiday classics might be something theaters want to consider.
