‘Freaky’ leads box office with $1.2M weekend amid pandemic
Vince Vaughn’s horror comedy dominates box office in its second week
National Association of Theatre Owners President and CEO John Fithian gives his thoughts on the future of the movie theater industry in wake of the coronavirus outbreak.
Horror comedy is winning at the box office on the weekend leading up to Thanksgiving.
Vince Vaughn and Kathryn Newton’s body-swap flick “Freaky” has racked up $7.4 million in the global box office as of Sunday afternoon, according to figures from Box Office Mojo by IMDbPro.
'FREAKY' HITS NO. 1 AT THE WEEKEND BOX OFFICE, MARKING BIG WINS FOR UNIVERSAL, BLUMHOUSE
The R-rated film from Universal pictures was released on Nov. 13 and had an opening weekend of $3.6 million throughout the 2,472 theaters that are reportedly operating amid the coronavirus pandemic, as noted by the box office resource.
It is not clear if “Freaky” will be able to maintain its number one spot in the box office for Thanksgiving weekend with Universal’s animated sequel “The Croods: A New Age” releasing on Wednesday and the critically acclaimed indie film “Princess of the Row” making its silver screen debut on Friday.
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Thanksgiving weekend has typically been a critical time for blockbusters. In the last four years, the number one spot has belonged to The Walt Disney Company with “Frozen” bringing in a cumulative gross of $35 million in 2019, “Ralph Breaks the Internet” at $41 million in 2018, “Coco” at $35 million in 2017 and “Moana” at $33 million in 2016.
These multimillion-dollar earning weekends took place long before the pandemic and were being shown at around or more than 4,000 theaters nationwide, unlike the challenges facing “Freaky” and other feature films slated for a 2020 release.
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However, in the weekend of Nov. 20 to 22, “Freaky” earned $1.2 million in the box office – surpassing Robert De Niro’s “The War with Grandpa” ($733,067), Kevin Costner’s “Let Him Go” ($710,000) and Gillian Jacobs’ “Come Play” ($550,000).
If the $5 million budget that IMDb estimated is correct, “Freaky” is close to breaking even while other distributors toy with fully digital or hybrid releases.
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The dark comedy has earned a 6.9 out of 10 stars from reviewers on the online movie database. It follows Newton who plays Mille, a teenage girl who accidentally switches places with a deranged serial killer (played by Vaughn) and has less than 24 hours to break the body swap curse lest it becomes permanent.