So a family film under-performed this weekend.
Why could that be?
Could it be because it’s hard to explain a non-sequel film? Or people are sick of elf movies?
Or . . . could it perhaps be related to the fact that the headlines are filled with the stock market collapsing, entire nations under lockdown, virus carriers being diagnosed in 25 states, Purell price gouging on Amazon, and Instagram filling up with photos of raided and emptied toilet paper sections of the supermarkets?
Given that environment and that corona can survive for days outside the body, parents might, perhaps, maybe, slightly, just a tiny bit hesitant to bring their children to auditoriums filled with hundreds of strangers, where thousands of other strangers have passed through in the past week, and where cleanliness at the best of times is, shall we say, a mixed bag? Is it possible that that might have had some impact on the performance of a family film this weekend?
Nah . . . people are just sick of cartoons about elves.
Or so you would think reading the box-office accounts of this weekend, which is whistling past the disinfectant counter in a manner that would make — proud.
“Don’t blame the coronavirus scare for these results,” says Deadline.
“I think there was zero impact,” Paul Dergarabedian tells Variety.
So there you have it!
You want evidence? Deadline cites filled tables at restaurants on Melrose last Wednesday night. And Variety notes, “But experts suggest it was the movies themselves—not fears of coronavirus—that stifled ticket sales,” as well as this weekend’s picks “getting solid scores from audiences, it looks like people are in the habit of going to the movies.”
So who you gonna believe, your own lying Instagram images of all hell breaking loose, or Cinemascore?
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