There was just one new wide release this weekend, which is yet more evidence that the biggest threat to theatrical is not Covid but rather studios’ unwillingness to supply theaters with regular product.
There was just one new wide release this weekend, which is itself inexcusable and yet more evidence that the biggest threat to theatrical is not Covid but rather studios’ unwillingness to put movies into theaters on a regular basis. Those complaining that AMC charges more for The Batman or more for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness should wonder why those are essentially the only huge movies for their respective month (Top Gun: Maverick opens in late May and will hopefully boost June’s overall domestic earnings). Kudos I guess to Universal for offering Blumhouse’s remake/re-adaptation of Stephen King’s Firestarter into theaters. The film, which got miserable reviews and a C- from Cinemascore amid a noticeably quiet ad campaign, earned just $1.5 million yesterday for a likely $3.7 million weekend gross. To be fair, this is reminiscent of when Universal and Focus were almost single-handedly keeping theaters in business in late 2020 with a slew of small(er) scale studio programmers (Let Him Go, Freaky, etc.
