Box Office

The 4th of July has always brought big-time fun for Americans and big money for Hollywood. This year the USA, more so than the rest of the world, finds itself mired in an uncertain battle with the deadly Coronavirus.

Once again, the coronavirus extended its lethal tentacles into the box office in the US and pretty much in every other market. It did it in ways significantly more dramatic than in the past few weeks, as the number of countries in a complete lockdown and where movie theaters were ordered to close their doors has increased: besides China, Italy, and South Korea, Spain, France are also closed for a total of 32 international markets.

Disney and Pixar’s youthful fantasy flick Onward was the top finisher in this weekend’s exciting box office race. It opened wide in the US at 4,310 locations and took in a relatively healthy $40 million from its showings over the three-day Friday through Sunday period.

Blumhouse and Universal shrugged off the coronavirus and opened their horror remake The Invisible Man to $29. 0 million.

Paramount’s Sonic the Hedgehog showed no signs of slowing down as their bright blue ball of lightning claimed a second world number one this weekend, after bringing in $64. 6 million this frame.

Back in April of 2019, when Paramount released the first trailer of its much-anticipated Sonic The Hedgehog movie, the target audience’s reaction was not what the studio expected. Fans of the game hated the big-screen version of their beloved furry blue hero, taking to social media to loudly chastise its “creepiness” and “horrible teeth” that looked “terrifyingly human”.

When is the number one spot on the box office charts, not enough? When a studio expects a $60 million to $70 million at the international box office and some $50-60 million domestically (the US and Canada) for a healthy $110 million- $120 million total and the movie limps back with $81. 3 million receipts worldwide.

Theaters were shuttered in China for the second weekend in a row as the country deals with the Coronavirus outbreak growing to over 18,000 reported cases and 362 dead. This drove global box office receipts to unexpected lows.

Since the onset of the Arab Spring, the Sundance Film Festival has been a platform for in-depth documentaries. From Egypt, Libya, Syria, Iraq, and the Yemen, audiences have been taken behind the news headlines and introduced to the people who risk their lives facing brutal regimes for freedom and democracy.

This weekend’s global box office sales were severely diminished by the outbreak of the SARS-like coronavirus in China and its rapid spread to neighboring countries and beyond. Authorities in the PRC ordered the closure of all movie theaters and the cancellation of New Year’s celebrations in an effort to contain the virus, whose mortality and rate of transmission is, as yet, unclear.