Beauty and the Beast tops box office on 18th week of movie theater shutdowns

July 21st 2020, 10:05am

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

There are currently about 1200-1500 movie theaters back online across the U.S. that are mostly driven by drive-ins which continue to bring in significant money as the big three theaters (AMC, Regal, and Cinemark) mostly remain closed. On a weekend that originally saw TENET looking to dominate the box office, the number one movie in America is another catalog title and this time it's from Disney.

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST led all movies this weekend with an estimated $467,000 at 527 locations. Disney/Marvel also claimed second place with IRON MAN grossing $430,00 at 462 sites. This is a far cry from the massive opening weekend of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST when it opened the weekend of March 17, 2017. The film still holds the March record for the best domestic opening with $174.7 million. BEAUTY AND THE BEAST has grossed $504.5 million to date.

In the 18 weekends that AMC, Regal, and Cinemark have been closed, drive-ins continue to lead the pack and are accountable for the bulk of the grosses that you will see. IFC continues to make its product work on the drive-in circuit with THE WRETCHED grossing $1.7 million to date and THE RELIC soon approaching $1 million as well. The leading drive-ins over the weekend include the Fort Wyoming in Dearborn, MI; Cine-Drive In Saint Eustache, Quebec; the Mission Tiki 4 in Montclair, CA; the Van Buren 3 in Riverside, CA; and the Starlight 4 in Atlanta, GA.

This still doesn't mean we're close to any box office normalcy. With TENET delaying its release indefinitely due to Los Angeles and New York City not providing a clear reopening date for their theaters, a lot of the box office remains in limbo. Other August releases like MULAN, UNHINGED, or BILL AND TED FACE THE MUSIC, could likely move as well if Los Angeles and New York City locations don't come back online soon. Until then, a few throwback releases get a second life and give the box office what little pulse it has left.

Have YOU checked out any classic titles at the drive-in?