Weekend predictions: Tenet to top glum box office for fifth week

October 1, 2020

Tenet

September is normally the slowest month of the year at the box office as the Summer season winds down and studios start prepping for the holidays and Oscar season. The build-up to the end of the year usually starts in early October. This weekend last year, for example, Joker opened with a massive $96 million weekend that kicked off a big Fall season. This year, a re-release of Hocus Pocus is the highlight, and $3 million will be enough to top the chart. Times really are dismal, and our model is predicting another down week. Unless a new release surprises in October (something that looks unlikely, given the slate), we’ll be headed for a down month at the box office, at a time when the industry desperately needs some good news.



The only film that might break up this group in the top 5 is Hocus Pocus. It seems plausible that film might earn about the same as The Empire Strikes Back did last weekend. If so, its $900,000-or-so could be enough for a place in the top 3. How many families decide now’s a good time to go to a movie theater remains to be seen, though.

Filed under: Weekend Preview, Star Wars Ep. V: The Empire Strikes Back, Hocus Pocus, Ruth Bader Ginsburg