'Unhinged' makes US$4m in encouraging US theatrical debut

[LOS ANGELES] The Russell Crowe thriller Unhinged brought in US$4 million in North American box-office sales this weekend, an encouraging debut for the biggest new-movie release since the Covid-19 virus closed theatres in March.

The film, from the independent movie company Solstice Studios, opened in 1,823 locations in the US and Canada, the industry researcher Comscore said Monday. Only about one-third of the 5,800 theatre locations have reopened, Comscore said.

Though the results for Unhinged are meager by pre-pandemic standards, the debut showed that more consumers are willing to return to theatres. But it will be slow going for some time. Cinema owners like AMC Entertainment Holdings and Cinemark Holdings have yet to reopen many locations. And they're limiting ticket sales within their auditoriums to maintain social distancing, effectively capping revenue.

Plus, Unhinged was never expected to produce the kind of sales that come from big summer movies like Walt Disney's Mulan. The first big test will be Tenet, a major Warner Bros film that's set for Sept 3 release in the US.

Revenue per location provides clues to consumer demand, taking into account that so many multiplexes remain closed.

Unhinged produced an average of US$2,194 in ticket sales on that basis. By comparison, the industry leader one year ago was Angel Has Fallen, an action film that debuted with sales of US$21.4 million and a per-location average of US$6,507.

REASSURING PUBLIC

Theatre operators have tried to reassure the movie-going public by adopting new safety protocols that include more-frequent cleaning and mask-wearing.

Unhinged features Oscar-winner Crowe in an R-rated story about road rage. The film cost about US$33 million to make, according to IMDb.com, plus additional millions to market. It's recommended by just 48 per cent of critics, according to Rotten Tomatoes.

In China, where movie theatres have been reopening since July 20 with reduced capacity, Huayi Brothers Media's war film The Eight Hundred became the first blockbuster in 2020, Comscore said. That contributed to most of Imax Global Network's US$7.5 million box office this weekend, 2.5 times last weekend's number.

BLOOMBERG