“We haven’t had a three-movie weekend from major studios in a long time,” Sean McNulty says, noting it’s only happened two other times this year when, pre-Covid, it was a regular occurrence. “The volume problem could be more solidified. If you put movies out there, people are coming out. But if you don’t, what is this business?”
Richard Rushfield and Sean assess the three new studio movies that hit the marketplace this past weekend: Sony Crunchyroll release Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba — Infinity Castle, Focus Features’ Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale and Lionsgate’s The Long Walk.
Demon Slayer hit a massive $70 million opening in North America, and Downton Abbey and The Long Walk all finished in the top five. But a re-release of 1995’s Toy Story — oof — finished in fifth place. Further down the list was the second weekend of Disney’s theatrical stunt of putting Hamilton, the musical, into theaters. (The Lin-Manuel Miranda movie has been streaming on Disney+ for five years.)
“My takeaway is we just keep having these sorts of outliers,” Richard says of things like Toy Story and Hamilton drawing audiences to theaters, proof for him that viewers are crying out for something more than what the studios are willing to make in the current landscape. “The audience is saying give us anything that doesn’t look like one more action-comedy tentpole part 15.”
Elsewhere in Monday Morning Quarterbacks, Richard and Sean discuss the success of The Conjuring: The Last Rites and the ability of Downton Abbey to draw older audiences back to the theater. Plus: They preview the robust September release calendar, which, maybe, possibly could keep the good vibes from this weekend buzzing for the rest of the month.
