‘Freaky’ Tops Box Office With Mere $1.45 Million Friday

The well-reviewed Katherine Newton/Vince Vaughn Blumhouse horror comedy didn’t break out despite being the most conventionally commercial offering since Tenet two months ago.

We’ll know that theatrical moviegoing is “back” not just when movie theaters are fully open and operational, nor even when Hollywood starts releasing their big movies on the regular. No, we’ll know that “movies are back” when I can do a box office report like this and discuss the results, be they good or bad, exclusively in terms of what went right or wrong with the movie itself as opposed to… (gestures at everything).

So, no, Blumhouse and Universal’s Freaky, starring Katherine Newton and Vince Vaughn, didn’t “break out” this weekend beyond the current normal. But with a new wave of Coronavirus infections ripping through the country, I can hardly blame folks for not going to a theater to see a pulpy little B-movie horror comedy that’ll be available on PVOD at the end of the month.

Christopher Landon’s $5 million Freaky, a body swap slasher homage from the guy behind the Happy Death Day movies, was the top movie on Friday with $1.45 million in domestic grosses. That points to around $4 million for the weekend. That’s squarely in the $4 million-$5 million ballpark of Unhinged, The War with Grandpa, Let Him Go and Honest Thief. This is a $5 million movie that will easily make its money back and more when it arrives on PVOD, but I was hoping it might (comparatively) break out.

Despite strong reviews, comparatively aggressive marketing and existing as arguably the most conventionally commercial theatrical release since Tenet two months ago, the R-rated, blood-soaked high school comedy played “par for the course.” It means that the newbies are snagging the folks who are going to the movies just to go to the movies, and essentially no one else. Your move, Jackie Chan’s Vanguard and/or DreamWorks’ The Croods: A New Age…

Diane Lane and Kevin Costner’s terrific Let Him Go earned $560,000 (-62%) on Friday. That’s a sharper-than-hoped drop that points toward a $1.8 million (-55%) weekend and $6.9 million ten-day cume. Alas, this is playing closer to Honest Thief (around $780,000 in weekend six for a $12.362 million running cume) than Unhinged ($20 million total).

I’m slightly disappointed, but I’d imagine the Focus Features flick will be a prime attraction when it comes to Peacock located at “If you liked all three seasons of Yellowstone.” The War With Grandpa earned another $600,000 (-17%) for a likely $1.26 million (-16%) sixth-weekend gross for a $15.2 million domestic cume. The Robert De Niro-starring family comedy is the closest thing we’ve had to a real hit since theaters reopened in late August.

Focus’ Come Play earned $330,000 (-39%) on its third Friday for a likely $1.08 million (-40%) weekend and $7.3 million 17-day total. Honest Thief earned $240,000 (-32%) on Friday for a likely $780,000 (-32%) weekend and $12.4 million cume. That’s usually what lower-end Liam Neeson actioners earn on their opening weekends, which gives you a pretty good idea of the “new normal.” Disney reissued Guardians of the Galaxy (around $405,000 for the weekend) amid a slew of Christmas reissues. Elf, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and The Polar Express all returned to theaters this weekend.

In terms of new Christmas flicks, Fatman (starring Mel Gibson as Santa Claus and Walton Goggins as the assassin hired to murder him) will earn around $90,000 in 250 theaters in advance of its VOD debut later this month. It’s an odd little movie, containing a few good ideas but frankly not having the money to deliver on its promises and barely holding together as a functional feature narrative. Gibson is fine (as he usually is, offscreen behavior notwithstanding), and Goggins gives it everything he’s got.

Meanwhile, Goggins’ terrific sitcom The Unicorn had a delightful second-season premiere this past Thursday. Neon’s Ammonite, a romantic melodrama starring Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan, debuted in 280 theaters this weekend in advance of its VOD debut on December 4. The would-be Oscar contender earned around $28,000 yesterday for a likely $80,000 opening weekend.