Weekend Box Office Predictions
August 28 - August 30, 2020
Published on August 27, 2020 at 2:00PM Pacific |
| As theatres continue to re-open throughout the United States, the domestic box office will continue to slowly pick back up this weekend as one new wide release and two new semi-wide releases enter the marketplace.
This weekend's easing back of the marketplace in the world of COVID-19 will also be further slowed by the aftermath of Hurricane Laura. |
| Disney and 20th Century's The New Mutants is the weekend's widest new release, as the long-delayed (and final installment of 20th Century's long-running X-Men Universe) finally arrives in theaters this
weekend. The New Mutants had originally been scheduled to open way back in April of 2018, before being delayed multiple times. Anticipation for The New Mutants has been relatively low to begin with and the poor
consensus reaction to last year's Dark Phoenix hasn't helped matters either. But there should still be a bit of an audience for The New Mutants, especially by the box office's current re-opening standards. In addition to
opening in 2,412 locations this weekend, The New Mutants will also be helped out a bit from playing on multiple screens per location and from getting premium large format screens. A per-location average in the neighborhood of
$3,200 would give The New Mutants a $7.7 million first place start this weekend. |
| After taking first place last weekend with $4.0 million (from 1,823 locations), Solstice Studios' Unhinged is expected to receive an expansion this weekend to play in an estimated 2,300+ locations for the
frame. The expansion, in combination with solid word of mouth, should help lead to a strong second weekend hold for the film; though Unhinged also likely won't be getting as many screenings per location as it did last weekend
thanks to this weekend's new releases. A 28 percent decline from last weekend (and a 43 percent decline from last weekend's per-location average), would put Unhinged on course for a second place take of $2.9 million this weekend. |
| United Artists Releasing and Orion's Bill & Ted Face the Music will receive a semi-wide theatrical release this weekend, while simultaneously arriving on PVOD. Bill & Ted Face the Music will be an
interesting case study this weekend given its release strategy. The film's potential will be limited by opening in just 1,007 locations (and on PVOD), from not playing in theatres owned by larger theatre chains and from not receiving
the amount of showings per location that The New Mutants will. At the same time, over the past few months it has felt that overall anticipation for Bill & Ted Face the Music has been at least somewhat higher than that for
The New Mutants, so there should still be a bit of a theatrical audience for the third Bill & Ted film. A per-location average in the area of $2,300 (which would be very solid given the circumstances), would place
Bill & Ted Face the Music in third this weekend with $2.3 million. |
| Also receiving a semi-wide release this weekend is Disney and Searchlight's The Personal History of David Copperfield. However, awareness for the film appears to be low and the decision to go semi-wide
out of the gate with The Personal History of David Copperfield was a fairly last minute one. And while the film is receiving a semi-wide release, a limited amount of screenings in many locations will further limit potential
(especially in the current environment of seating capacity limits). On a positive note, critical reviews for The Personal History of David Copperfield have been very strong, which could help out slightly. A per-location average
in the area of $700 from 1,360 locations, would give The Personal History of David Copperfield a start of $950,000 this weekend. |
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Weekend domestic box office predictions.
| Rank | Film (Distributor) | Weekend Gross |
% Change |
Week # |
| 1 | The New Mutants (Disney / 20th Century) |
$7.7 M | NEW | 1 |
| 2 | Unhinged (Solstice Studios) |
$2.9 M | -28% | 3 |
| 3 | Bill & Ted Face the Music (United Artists Releasing / Orion) |
$2.3 M | NEW | 1 |
| - | The Personal History of David Copperfield (Disney / Searchlight) |
$0.95 M | NEW | 1 |
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