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 Moviegoing has been incredibly
slow in North America because theaters New York
City and Los Angeles, two vital markets, remain
closed. With those venues shuttered, studios are
wary of releasing big-budget potential
blockbusters. For the time being, studios are
siphoning off smaller movies like "Come Play,"
supernatural thriller "The Empty Man" and family
flick "The War With Grandpa." It's a chance for
theater owners to offer audiences new product,
sure, but such offerings are hardly moving the
needle for ticket sales.
"Come Play" actually came in ahead of
expectations: pre-release tracking suggested
inaugural weekend sales around $2 million to
$2.5 million. Yet analyst David A. Gross, who
runs the movie consulting firm Franchise
Entertainment Research, referred to the opening
of "Come Play" as "soft." However, he noted that
"like all recent wide releases, 'Come Play's'
theater count is somewhat low and in line with
the proportion of theaters closed across the
U.S."
"Come Play" sold the most tickets in Dallas,
followed by New York -- despite New York City
venues still shuttered. Drive-in theaters have
been a boon during the pandemic, and this
weekend was no different. Mission Tiki Drive-In
near Los Angeles and West Wind Sacramento 6
Drive-In were among the highest-earning
theaters. Directed by Jacob Chase and starring
Gillian Jacobs ("Love") and John Gallagher Jr.,
"Come Play" follows two parents as they attempt
to protect their young son from getting abducted
by a villainous humanoid creature. It cost $10
million to produce.
"We're thrilled that audiences came out to
celebrate Halloween making 'Come Play' the No. 1
movie this weekend," said Lisa Bunnell,
president of distribution at Focus Features.
Liam Neeson's action adventure "Honest Thief"
collected $1.35 million from 2,360 theaters,
enough to secure second place. After three
weekends of release, the movie has generated
$9.5 million.
Since launching over the Columbus Day holiday
weekend, Robert De Niro's "The War With Grandpa"
has made $11.2 million in total. The comedy
landed at No. 3 on charts this weekend after
adding another $1.1 million from 2,365 screens.
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 "The Empty Man," from Disney's
20th Century Studios, plummeted nearly 60% from
initial weekend sales. Given essentially zero
promotion from the studio, it scraped together
$561,000 this weekend for a North American total
of $2.2 million.
"The Empty Man" came in behind Christopher
Nolan's "Tenet," which has been in U.S. theaters
for over two months. The sci-fi epic, starring
John David Washington and Robert Pattinson,
brought in $665,000. That brings "Tenet's"
domestic total to $53.8 million, disappointing
results for a movie that cost over $200 million.
Overseas, the film has enjoyed stronger box
office receipts, with ticket sales reaching
$293.3 million internationally and $347 million
globally.
Elsewhere, Paramount unveiled "Spell" on premium
video-on-demand and in 369 theaters, where it
earned $210,000.
In honor of Halloween, Disney brought some
spooky holiday favorites back to the big screen,
including "Hocus Pocus" ($456,000), "The
Nightmare Before Christmas" ($386,000) and
"Monsters Inc. ($232,000).
Sluggish box office sales come as parts of
Europe are enacting new lockdowns, prompting
theaters in England, France and Italy to close
down again. In the U.S., there are concerns that
chilly temperatures during winter could cause
coronavirus to continue surging.
"The cold, indoor weather is going to be a
challenge around the world," Gross said.
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