In any other year, a movie topping the domestic box office for three consecutive weekends would be worn as a badge of honor, with the title in question typically posting healthy numbers. Obviously, though, the last nine months have been about as close to a total write-off as you can get when it comes to the theatrical industry, and animated sequel The Croods: A New Age, starring Ryan Reynolds and Emma Stone, among others, has retained the number one spot after facing competition from precisely zero new wide releases.
The good news is that the pic only cost $65 million produce, which is over $100 million less than its Academy Award nominated predecessor, and having raked in over $75 million globally so far, it’ll actually turn a profit by the time it leaves theaters. However, the prognosis is still not great for the chances of a resurgence happening any time soon.
A New Age claimed the weekend with a gross of $3 million, while runner-up Half Brothers took just $490,000 as the Top 10 combined for a paltry $5.6 million. To put that into perspective, the same weekend last year saw the ten most popular movies in the United States and Canada bring in over $110 million, with Jumanji: The Next Level leading the charge after opening to more than $59 million.
The next major release on the calendar is Paul W.S. Anderson’s Monster Hunter, which has already been pulled from theaters in China and appears destined for failure on this side of the world as well, while Wonder Woman 1984‘s simultaneous HBO Max debut will ensure that millions of people gather round the TV in their living rooms to catch the DCEU blockbuster on Christmas Day instead of braving a colder and altogether more expensive trip to the local multiplex.
