‘Cinema Day’ Helped But Theaters Still Need More Big Movies

As the prophecy foretold, Tom Cruise’s Top Gun: Maverick roared back to the top of the domestic box office charts, ending the summer at #1 for the Labor Day weekend. Of course, it and all the movies in play were aided by ‘national cinema day,’ whereby every ticket at most theaters was $3 in all formats. As a result, the raw grosses for Saturday doubled from Friday despite the deeply discounted tickets, with around 8.2 million tickets sold theatrically yesterday. And while I’m guessing theaters didn’t make much from the ticket sales, I’m assuming they made bank from concession sales.

There’s a more extended conversation to be had about comping ticket sales to boost concessions (which is where the real profit comes from). Yes, it plays into the long-term value of MoviePass, AMC A-List and related subscription services. Condensed version: If my ticket is free, I’m much more likely to drop $15 on popcorn, soda and/or a menu item. If taking a family of five to see DC Super Pets in theaters costs closer to $25 than $50, more families will make the trip and will almost certainly make up the difference in snack sales.

Top Gun: Maverick is the weekend’s biggest grosser yet again because there are essentially no big newbies in the marketplace, a problem we’ve had here and there since the theatrical recovery. There were six weeks between Godzilla Vs. Kong and A Quiet Place part II way back in early 2021, and some months were held up by a single big-deal tentpole (Shang-Chi last September, The Batman this past March, Bullet Train last month, etc.). As I (and others) have said a bazillion times, movie theaters need big or bigger movies to thrive.

We know the demand is there because Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness outgrossed Captain America: Civil War in North America while Top Gun: Maverick is flirting with $1.5 billion without a penny from China. We know this because Elvis is the second-biggest musical biopic ever in global grosses and The Black Phone is Blumhouse’s fourth or fifth (if you count Split as an original) biggest non-sequel horror flick domestically. We know this because Where the Crawdads Sing is passing $80 million domestic from a $17 million debut on a $24 million budget.

The films that were treated like big-deal theatrical releases, save for Lightyear (whose reception was complicated by the last three Pixar films being released on Disney+ instead of theaters), either performed to par or massively overperformed. And yet, Cineworld is filing for bankruptcy protection. The top movies of the weekend are a 15-week-old summer release and a reissue of a 38-week-old MCU flick. The moviegoers are there, but the movies are not. Maybe Barbarian, The Woman King and Don’t Worry Darling will all break out. Let’s get to the one new release and the high-profile reissues.

Focus Features’ Honk for Jesus, Save Your Soul debuted in theaters and on Peacock concurrently. Adamma Ebo’s modestly budgeted mocumentary, starring Sterling K. Brown as a disgraced megachurch pastor trying to make a comeback and Regina Hall as his long-suffering wife, is closer to a dark dramedy than a Christopher Guest-style farce. That’s probably part of why it pulled a C- Cinemascore grade. Regardless, it was never going to break out theatrically, so its $1.75 million Fri-Mon weekend isn’t much of a surprise. Maybe those decrying a lack of big screen comedies in theaters should try seeing one in a theater.

Sony’s Spider-Man: No Way Home – The More Fun Stuff Edition earned $6.5 million over its Fri-Mon Labor Day weekend. It’s technically the top-performing opener of the weekend. That brings its lifetime domestic total up to $811 million. Steven Spielberg’s Jaws returned to 3-D and/or IMAX screens, another bitterly ironic way to close the summer. Its $2.73 million Fri-Mon gross brings its unadjusted lifetime domestic total to $266.6 million ($1.2 billion adjusted for inflation). When you’re nostalgic for the $9.4 million Fri-Sun/$20 million week-long debut of Chris Nolan’s Tenet, the studios need to step up.