Before looking ahead, let us review the last weekend of April 9.
Domestic Box Office (Estimates) Weekend of April 9, 2021
| # | Title | Weekend Total |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Godzilla vs. Kong | $13,380,000 |
| 2 | Nobody | $2,650,000 |
| 3 | Unholy, The | $2,400,000 |
| 4 | Raya And The Last Dragon | $2,140,000 |
| 5 | Voyagers | $1,350,000 |
| 6 | Tom & Jerry | $1,110,000 |
| 7 | Girl Who Believes in Miracles, The | $576,744 |
| 8 | Courier, The | $436,560 |
| 9 | Chaos Walking | $265,000 |
| 10 | Croods: A New Age, The | $245,000 |
| 11 | French Exit | $150,696 |
| 12 | Marksman, The | $120,000 |
Last weekend’s lone big new release was Voyagers. The Lionsgate movie brought in $1,350,000 domestically across 1,972 locations. The Neil Burger film is about a crew of astronauts on a multi-generational mission.
Voyagers wasn’t well received by critics or audiences. CinemaScore’s opening night polling data showed it rated a “C” among audiences. Comparatively, Chaos Walking rated a “B” and Godzilla vs. Kong holds an “A” rating.
In the Earth in this weekend’s sole new wide release. The R-rated horror film is directed and written by Ben Wheatley. Stars include Joel Fry, Hayley Squires, Ellora Torchia and Reece Shearsmith.
The one sentence summary: “Terror strikes when a scientist and a park scout venture deep into the woods during a pandemic.”
Another current horror film, The Unholy, opened with $3.2 million on Easter weekend. Horror films have a core, enthusiastic and durable audience so we would have projected In the Earth to pace closer to The Unholy. However, it simply isn’t playing as many screens when scanning AMC theaters. It’s not showing at all at AMC’s Porter Ranch 9 theater, for example. However, a horror thriller about a cure to a disastrous virus has the potential to hit the zeitgeist.
The In the Earth official trailer has racked up 1.5 million views on YouTube since it was posted March 25, 2021.
On April 23, Mortal Kombat enters the arena. Like Godzilla vs. Kong, the fighting film is coming to theaters and streaming on HBO Max. Interest in the film is hitting new heights, according to Google’s Trend data.
