It’s The Product, Not The Marketplace
This article was originally published through social media channels on May 16, 2021. Information and analysis has not been edited.
In what seemed to be a box office in progress took ultimately went in reverse with the debuts of horror entry Spiral: From the Book of Saw, Angelina Jolie star vehicle Those Who Wish Me Dead, romance film Finding You, Netflix’s test in theatrical with Army of the Dead, and Focus Features’ Profile.
The Zing Movie Math:
- Spiral (Lionsgate) — $8.7M (n/a)
- Wrath of Man (MGM/UA) — $3.7M / $14.6M Total (-55%)
- Those Who Wish Me Dead (WB) — $2.8M (n/a)
- Demon Slayer (Sony/Funimation) — $1.77M / $41.9M Total (-36%)
- Raya and The Last Dragon (Disney)— $1.72M / $46.1M Total (-11%)
- Godzilla vs Kong (WB) — $1.46M / $95M Total (-27%)
- Mortal Kombat (WB) — $1.32M / $39.9M total (-45%)
- Finding You (Roadside Attractions) — $954k (n/a)
- Army of the Dead (Netflix) — $780k (n/a)
- Profile (Focus Features/Uni) — $670k (n/a)
Despite Box Office under-performance, it’s certainly possible that this was just one poor performance week before we continue onward. Spiral may have suffered from the “Dark Fate effect” — where franchise fatigue has hit audiences after previous reboot attempts.
Warner Bros’ Those Who Wish Me Dead suffered from a poor release date, which came in order for WarnerMedia to take advantage of the plan to simultaneously release films from WB in both theaters and HBO Max, which haven’t provided the results in subscriber numbers that WM and their parent company AT&T expected. Warner needed to hold onto the movie and release after Disney releases the Chloé Zhao-directed Marvel film Eternals, which would have provided the film with enough momentum to push the star vehicle for Angelina Jolie into a higher performance in the Box Office.
The real test is likely to come when more blockbusters release, such as A Quiet Place Part II, Cruella, F9, Black Widow, and more.
