“The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It,” which opened in theaters alongside an HBO Max steaming exclusive, nabbed a decent $24 million debut this weekend at the North American box-office — the third best debut since theaters reopened.
The reigning champ for pandemic-era openings, “A Quiet Place Part II,” fell 59 percent in its second week in theatres. A disappointing, but not unexpected tumble. At #3, Disney’s “Cruella,” which might end up making a total of $75 million domestically when all is said and done. Not the numbers Disney wanted.
In all, the box-office was down 42 percent when compared to the first June weekend of 2019. There is a lot of work to be done for normalcy to creep back into moviegoing — maybe in the fall or, even, sadly, maybe next year. There are millions of Americans still hesitant in watching a movie indoors with maskless strangers all around them chewing on candy and eating their popcorn. Hell, there are even film critics I know who refuse to step foot inside a theatre until they feel safer.
Meanwhile, the Cannes Film Festival, the Mecca for cinephiles worldwide, will attempt to screen films in front of 2000 people and with no social distancing next month, go figure. Maybe I’ll be there.
While James L. Brooks teased last year that "we'll soon be seeing" Jack Nicholson, 89, act again, and that he was "reading scripts," that idea has now been shut down by his close friend Michael Douglas, 82.