“Croods 2” crosses $ 50 million; Searchlight does not report box office on ‘Nomadland’ – Deadline

Yeah, yeah, yeah, Universal / DreamWorks Animation’s Croods: a new age led the box office for its fifth of 13 consecutive weekends and broke $ 50 million, coming one step closer to becoming the highest-grossing pandemic and potentially life-changing Warner Bros. movie. ” Principle ($ 57.9 million in total nationwide).

However, in a business where transparency of numbers has always been public, for better or for worse, Disney’s Searchlight Pictures does not report box office numbers or location counts. This includes on the film directed by Chloe Zhao, Frances McDormand four feature films nominated for the Golden Globe Nomadland, which went wide this weekend on its third outing to 1175 locations.

The photo has already been released on Imax and PLF screens in the past two weeks, where sources say it grossed $ 170,000. Last weekend, Nomadland reported an estimate 503,000 USD, which is on par with Searchlight’s opening weekend David Copperfield’s personal story at the end of August, when theaters reopened, which debuted at $ 475.8K across 1,360 sites. Add it up, the total BO of Nomadland is about $ 673,000.

Interestingly, for a film about a woman who decides to reject society and live on her own in the vast wilderness, Searchlight likewise throws out box office commercialism. Look, the numbers for Nomadland are what they are during the pandemic, and with 53% of US / Canadian exhibits closed, no one is posting large numbers.

For Searchlight to generate the typical uber-arthouse opening weekend they’d get at four theaters in Los Angeles and New York on a film like Nomadland, they must distribute the photo widely and play the title in many small markets; those who are generally ready to appear with a platform version that precedes it in notable DMAs.

Nomadland would have placed 7th in the top 10 this weekend. It seems prestigious enough to be highlighted for now.

Searchlight’s decision not to report figures on Nomadland talks about an interesting trend happening with box office contenders during Covid. It won’t be an awards season where the box office determines the prestige or tarnish of a nominee. Arguably all of these movies, most of them come from non-box office streamers – Netflix’s Mank, the trial of Chicago 7, the black background of Ma Rainey, From Amazon One night in Miami, Focus Features’ Promising young woman, Warner Bros. ‘ Judas and the black Messiah, and Nomadland will be judged on their pure aesthetics by voters. Not on business prospects. Remember how the poor Universal box office Steve Jobs stifled the prospects for this photo’s awards season? It’s not going to happen this season in any way, shape or form. I mean, these streamers don’t even report the number of views! And you think that would be something to brag about during awards season, that millions of people have watched your movie. No.

“Conventional business practices were abandoned for the industry during the pandemic. The traditional Oscar box office bump that we see every year (for obvious reasons) just isn’t going to happen, ”Comscore senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian told Deadline.

“Usually it’s a choice of love or money when it comes to Oscar. Do you want to love the Oscars or do you want to increase your income? Well, this year love will be the most important motto, because the movies that make the Oscars buzz are not going to make a big dent in their box office fortunes like many did in. the past, ”Dergarabedian adds.

Searchlight also didn’t NomadlandPostTrak audience exit report available. Critics love this 95% certified fresh slow-burning film. RelishMix noticed a mixed to positive attitude for the photo on social media from McDormand and van-living fans.

Nomadland, as you would expect with an arthouse title, has a very small social media universe of 16.5 million on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Searchlight has posted 15 videos of the film over the past six months to YouTube, a combo of trailers and Q&A with the cast / filmmakers, with a featurette on the premiere of the car photo at the Rose Bowl earlier in autumn.

“While the distribution is entirely non-social, analysis on YouTube shows that the materials are exceptionally well published, reposted, and reviewed – not just on movie fan channels, but by super fan reviews. The video count for the majority of clips in the past two weeks is low, but review posting is very high with over 350 videos in the past 2 weeks, ”says RelishMix.

On the flip side, don’t fetch a soundtrack, there’s no room for a victory round in today’s market, and it would be ridiculous to tout any sort of box office bump in rewards. What will Focus say about Promising young woman? That the total soundtrack of the four-time Golden Globe nominee (now at $ 5.1M) has jumped 16% since his Golden Globe nomination? There is nothing to cry out for, nor any indicator of the public fever surrounding the film.

The only small hope that lies in what film distributors call a “crossover” with a candidate for a soundtrack award – when its box office shifts from big-chain art and movie theaters – it could eventually happen. produce after the Oscars on April 25. Movies like Promising young woman, Nomadland, etc. will likely still be out, and if other theaters, especially Regal, are open by then and multiplexes in New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles reopen, then the industry might be able to tout the glow. of an Oscar victory. .

Heard that Searchlight doesn’t want to report numbers on Nomadland because there is no context in the current pandemic market to make sense of the numbers; especially with the simultaneous release of the photo on Hulu this weekend. This despite the fact that Warner Bros. sets up numbers like $ 3.3M at BO on Judas and the black Messiah, while this movie is simultaneously playing on its HBO Max streaming service. Searchlight, like Warners, wanted to help theaters by giving them access to the movie, and as we can see there is a population that chooses to go to the movies and not to subscribe to streaming (Don’t get me wrong – I don’t subscribe to this mad man theory: “Let the audience choose to see the movie where they want to see it.” This is a recipe for film industry collapse and financial disaster).

What is shattering about Searchlight’s decision not to report the box office, however, is that more and more notable distributors are choosing to go Netflix and Amazon’s path to protect their numbers. I hope this does not continue when we reopen; that successes are boasted and bad news concealed. It would be a shame. All this “box office cover-up” is setting a precedent for bad habits to continue in a healthy financial atmosphere. The accessibility of the box office by all distributors and exhibitors helps the industry as a whole to make decisions.

Imagine for a minute, if we didn’t have access to Universal’s daily box office Get out? This film broke new ground for socially conscious genre titles, grossing over $ 176 million in the United States. Knowing what the exhibitor is tracking and marketing this film and how they did it informs the industry and gives confidence to other studio executives to take risks on what would be considered a risky project on paper.

Information at the counter is power.

The weekend ticket office from February 19 to 21:

1.) The Croods: A New Age (Uni) 1913 theaters (+23), 3 days: $ 1.7M (-18%) / Total: $ 50.8M/ Week 13

2.) The small things (WB) 2061 theaters (-29), 3 days: $ 1.2M (-39%) / Total: $ 11.7M/ Week 4

3.) Judas and the Black Messiah (WB) 1906 theaters (+18), 3 days: $ 905,000 (-55%) / Total: $ 3.3M/ Week 2