8h41 PST 3/6/2021
in
Pamela McClintock
In a much needed boost to the besieged box office, overall revenue could increase by up to 14% over the weekend.
Early Friday afternoon, several displays of Disney’s new animated photo Raya and the Last Dragon were sold out on AMC 19th Street in Manhattan. Ditto for the Searchlight specialty photo Nomadland.
The multiplex was among dozens of cinemas across New York City – including the nation’s busiest theater, the AMC Empire 25 in Times Square – which reopened on Friday after nearly a year of closing due to the pandemic.
Although capacity is limited to 25 percent, or 50 people – a constraint that makes it difficult to make a profit – New York City is an important first step as the box office tries to recover (Los Angeles, the other biggest cinema market in the world). country, should follow soon) Theaters in San Francisco, another important market, are starting to reopen.
Hollywood studios and movie theater owners say consumers are gradually becoming more comfortable returning to cinemas, and Friday’s traffic in New York has proved their point.
If initial estimates remain, weekend box office revenue is expected to increase by up to 14% from the previous weekend. Although the overall number is still low compared to other years, the outlook is improving.
Raya is expected to win the weekend with an opening in the $ 8 million range. The animated film is also premiering simultaneously on Disney + for $ 30, so some major movie chains are not showing the film, including Cinemark. That’s ruining the movie at the box office. Other chains of passage include Harkins, Cinepolis and Cineplex.
Warner Bros. ‘ Tom Jerry it seems to follow with an estimate of $ 6 million or more in its second weekend, a good performance.
New entry Chaos Walking is aimed at $ 3.5 million to $ 4 million, while the special photo Boogie seems to debut with more than $ 1 million.