During the current worldwide pandemic, movie studios are no longer providing box-office figures because theaters have been shut down around the nation and the world. Because we are less interested in the actual figures themselves and more interested in what people are watching over the weekends, each week we will dive into Most Streamed and Bestseller Lists on Fandango, iTunes, Netflix, and Hulu to pinpoint the weekend’s most watched films.
Technically, we’re still a month away now from the release of Tenet, which is tentatively set for August 12th, although no one actually believes that the Christopher Nolan film will open this summer (in fact, it’s too long to open in China, where theaters are set to reopen). With the way things are going in the States, it’s looking more and more likely that not only will the summer be wiped out, but potentially the fall, as well. Sitting in an inside space for two and a half hours with others is how the virus is spread.
However, over in Asia, where the curve has been flattened and beaten to submission, movies theaters are beginning to open up. In fact, South Korean zombie action film Peninsula, set four years after director Yeon Sang-ho’s Train to Busan, is burning up the box office over there, scoring the highest ever opening day for a Korean film in Singapore.
Meanwhile, back in the States, we’re still feasting on VOD and streaming platforms from inside our homes, including … Trolls World Tour, released back in the beginning of April, and still the top film on Fandango’s charts, and the second most popular film on iTunes. Meanwhile, The Outpost — in only its third weekend — is the top film on iTunes and the second most popular film on Fandango.
While the Fandango VOD charts are more of the same (Pete Davidson’s King of Staten Island, Kevin Bacon’s You Should Have Left, and Mel Gibson’s Force of Nature), there are at least some new titles on the iTunes charts. Arkansas, starring Liam Hemsworth, was the top film a few weeks ago and has jumped back to number three thanks to a $.99 rental fee. Meanwhile, Archive, the solid sci-fi flick starring Theo James, joins one of the best horror films of the year, Relic starring Emily Mortimer, to round out the top five. Relic is sitting at 91 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, and has been described by more than a few critics as the best horror film of the year, so far.
We don’t have figures or even charts for some of the other streaming services, but HBO Max says that Scoob, is the top trending movie on their service, and Hamilton, no doubt, is still getting all the views on Disney Plus. Meanwhile, over on Hulu, Andy Samberg’s Palm Springs has broken Hulu’s record — it has officially netted more hours watched over its first three days than any other film on Hulu during the same period. Hulu spent $17.5 million on the film out of Sundance, a record itself, and it was apparently worth the price.
Over on Netflix, ’90s royalty Omar Epps and Nia Long, reunite for the thriller A Fatal Affair, which is the top film on the streaming service this weekend. Neither critics (17 percent on RT) nor audiences (21 percent on RT) have been kind to the film. Last week’s top film, Charlize Theron’s The Old Guard, falls to number two, although I expect that it will be around in the top five for awhile. It’s very good. In at number five on Netflix is a French comedy making its debut on the streaming service called MILF. It’s getting very bad reviews (17 percent), but I suspect that the title is a big draw (see also The F**k It List at number 9). In at number three is Lorax and at number four, strangely, is How Do You Know, a thoroughly mediocre Paul Rudd, Owen Wilson, and Reese Witherspoon rom com that I was really excited about in 2010, but that ended up being a huge disappointment.
Next weekend looks to be a slow-ish one for new releases. Radioactive: Marie & Pierre Curie: A Tale of Love and Fallout starring Rosamund Pike will be released on Amazon Prime Video, while The Kissing Booth 2 debuts on Netflix.
