The Weekend Box office results are in, and as expected, Disney debut another winner to place under its belt with Pixar’s Onward. The modern time fantasy story of two brothers, Ian and Barley Lightfoot, who go on a journey to discover if there is still magic left in the world. The movie debut with $40 million domestically, easily earning the top spot. However, despite making $40 million, the movie was filmed with a budget of between $100- $200 million, meaning that Onward not only debut at a loss, but it is also one of the lowest Pixar’s box office openings. Critics have praised the movie despite calling it a standard Pixar fare. Pixar’s Onward is sitting at an 86% fresh critic rating and a 96% audience response.
Now it is essential to mention that these numbers are only domestic. The worldwide market can help Onward make its money back. However, the biggest question to come out from this is, how did this happen? Onward was slated to make its money back, backed with strong early reviews, fans excitment over social media, and the Pixar name behind it. One of the things to consider is that Pixar usually debuts their movies around the summertime, or holidays in order to capture the largest children audience. This is not a strong argument mainly because Zootopia (2016) premier in March, and it was one of the most successful movies of that year. While not a Pixar movie, Zootopia was developed by the larger Disney studio. Another, (and most likely) reason is the rising tension with the Coronavirus. The widespread virus has forced China to close down theaters along with other public events. Despite the slow start, I believe that Onwards will still be able to make its movie back.
Taking second place is The Invisible Man making $15.3 million, earning an estimated total gross of $52.7 million. Despite the large gap between The Invisible Man and Onward, it can’t be underestimated the success of The Invisible Man, and hopefully Universal will adapt this formula going forward.
Taking third place is The Way Back, directed by Gavin O’Connor, the movie stars Ben Affleck as a widowed, former basketball player who struggles with addiction while planning a comeback as a coach of a high school team. The Way Back does not come off as anything exciting; however, what I believe helped to elevate this movie is the number of Ben Affleck interviews that came out throughout the last few days. These interviews shinned a light during his time playing Batman. These interviews raised public interest in Ben Affleck that must of help this movie. The movie is sitting at 87% on rotten tomatoes making $8.6 million. Finishing up the top five is Sonic The Hedgehog Movie at fourth place, making $8.1 million with a total gross of $140.8 million. The Call of the Wild takes fifth place earning $7 million with a total gross $57. 5 million.
Weekend Box Office Top 10 Results:
- Onward- $40M
- The Invisible Man- $15.3M
- The Way Back- $8.6M
- Sonic the Hedgehog- $8.1M
- The Call of the Wild- $7M
- Emma- $5M
- Bad Boys for Life- $3.1M
- Birds of Prey (And The Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)- $2.3M
- Impractical Jokers: The Movie- $1.9M
- My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising- $1.6M
Box office results, courtesy of Boxofficemojo.