Box office down despite blockbusters
Hollywood’s staggering revenue disparity at the box office was on full display this weekend as 2019 neared its close. “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” grossed an estimated $176 million (U.S.) in domestic ticket sales Thursday through Sunday, according to Disney. It made space dust out of Universal Pictures’ widely panned adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webbe r’s musical “Cats,” which collected $6.5 million, less than half what analysts were predicting.
With the opening results of “Skywalker” and “Cats” in the bank, 2019 is on pace to close with a total of roughly $11.4 billion in the U.S. and Canada, down 4 per cent from last year. These results reflect a vexing problem for North American cinema owners, who have grown increasingly concerned about the vast delta between the haves and have-nots at the box office.
Yes, this was the year of “Avengers: Endgame,” as well as Disney’s “Lion King” remake and “Frozen 2.” But it was also a year of historic flops. “Playmobil: The Movie,” for example, grossed just $656,000 in its opening weekend.
Every year has its share of clunkers, but to many, the theatrical market is becoming a business that’s dominated by intellectual-property-powered blockbusters, at the expense of almost everything else, including the midlevel films that used to keep theatres humming year-round. This year, the top 10 films at the domestic box office have accounted for 38 per cent of ticket sales. That’s up from 33 per cent in 2018 and 24 per cent five years ago.