[ad_1]
(Bloomberg) – A film’s highest-grossing debut since the pandemic began was not enough to boost theater stocks, which fell on Monday after Walt Disney Co. reported that its new movie “Black Widow “was almost as popular online as it was in the movies.
The Marvel superhero image generated around $ 80 million in theater ticket sales in the United States and Canada in its first weekend. It was on the lower end of some estimates. Disney, first reporting such numbers, said the film also generated over $ 60 million in revenue from fans paying around $ 30 to watch “Black Widow” at home.
An additional $ 78 million was generated from overseas markets.
The film broke “F9: The Fast Saga”, which held the previous record for the biggest movie premiere since Covid-19. “F9,” the latest installment in the “Fast & Furious” series, generated $ 70 million in domestic ticket sales when it debuted three weeks ago. While the film’s performance is solid in a time of a pandemic, it fell below the $ 93 million opening that research site Boxoffice Pro had predicted.
The shares of the biggest movie chains fell. AMC Entertainment Holdings Co. fell 7.8% on Monday, its sixth drop in seven trading days, despite news of a pandemic attendance record. Cinemark Holdings Inc. fell 6.6%. Disney, meanwhile, saw its share climb 4.2%.
“Black Widow’s weekend performance on its cinematic and premium streaming windows probably asks more questions than it answered,” said Doug Creutz, analyst at Cowen Group Inc. “The takeover of the Global box office still appears to be painfully slow and potentially definitely incomplete.
“Black Widow,” which stars Scarlett Johansson as a highly skilled assassin turned superhero, suggests that while the appetite for movies has not been killed by the combination of the pandemic and growing popularity streaming is still not where it was before the Covid-19 virus hit. Box office revenue is down 31% year-to-date compared to 2020, according to Comscore Inc.
Plus, it’s one of the worst domestic openings for a movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Compared to the 23 films the franchise has produced since 2008, “Black Widow” is below the nationwide opening average of $ 135 million, according to Box Office Mojo data.
The film may inform other studios that want to test a faster streaming release, especially as the pandemic continues to trouble some parts of the world. Some of the larger movie markets, like Australia, have seen spikes in Covid cases, meaning theaters are closed or in-person gatherings are severely limited.
(Updates with sharing reaction starting in the first paragraph.)
More stories like this are available at bloomberg.com
Subscribe now to stay ahead of the game with the most trusted source of business information.
© 2021 Bloomberg LP
[ad_2]
Source link