Honest Thief Steals the Box Office
In its inaugural weekend, Liam Neeson’s latest film Honest Thief stole away the top of the box office, grossing $3,7 million. Directed by Mark Williams and based on a script co-written by Williams and Steve Allrich, Honest Thief follows master thief Tom (played by Neeson) who, after a life of crime, wants to go straight, only to find himself set up by corrupt FBI agents. This action thriller features Jai Courtney (Terminator Genisys), Robert Patrick (Terminator 2: Judgment Day), and Kate Walsh (The Umbrella Academy) alongside Neeson.
In the second place of the last weekend’s box office is The War with Grandpa, featuring Cheech Marin, Robert de Niro, Jane Seymour, Uma Thurman, and Christopher Walken. Now in its second weekend in cinemas, this family comedy earned $2,5 million. In the third place is Christopher Nolan’s spy-fi thriller Tenet with approximately $1,6 million. This week, fourth and fifth places at the weekend box office both belong to re-releases of old movies. Henry Selick’s The Nightmare Before Christmas is in fourth place with $1,3 million. Disney’s Hocus Pocus is in fifth place with $756,000. Of course, usually, these box office returns – provided by the good folks at the Box Office Mojo – wouldn’t be impressive but, well, here we are.
Ghostbusters: Afterlife and Candyman Get New Release Dates
Last we wrote about Ghostbusters: Afterlife was when Sony postponed its release back in early April. Ivan Reitman’s sequel to his father’s classic 1980s comedy was to come out on July 10, 2020. However, with COVID-19 in full swing, the studio chose to postpone the film until March 5, 2021.
Well, the studios (and others) underestimated the pandemic. By July 10, there were over 120,000 fatalities in the US alone. Currently, that number passed 200,000. Some projections claim fatal cases might reach 400,000 by February 2021. It’s no wonder then that Sony executives pushed the release of Ghostbusters: Afterlife even further – to August 13, 2021. Hopefully, by that time, the coronavirus pandemic will be under control.
Ghostbusters sequel isn’t the only upcoming film with a new release date. Universal Pictures slated Nia DaCosta’s Candyman sequel to come out on June 12, 2020. Since then, the studio pushed it several times: first to September 25 and then to October 16. Last we wrote about Candyman the studio announced plans to postpone the film until sometime in 2021. Now, according to BloodyDisgusting, it will come out on August 27, 2021.
But this is 2020. Movie release schedules are more of a suggestion than a hard fact.
Quibi is No More
Alas, poor Quibi! After a mere six months of existence, this streaming service is shutting down. According to AVClub, its founder Jeffrey Katzenberg only just began informing investors about the decision.
Quibi was a high-concept idea: a streaming service specializing in quick bites of content – or qubis, if you will – delivered in short installments. Quibi was available only on mobile devices. The idea was to provide users with fun content while they commute to work or wait in lines. But then coronavirus made short work of both commuting and lines. As distressed people binge-watched Tiger King on Netflix at home, they weren’t interested in watching five-minute episodes on their smartphones. Quibi launched to underwhelming numbers. Within the first two weeks after its launch, it pivoted to TV and began streaming some of its shows for free on Apple Plus, but it was too little, too late.
There were some interesting shows there, like Sam Raimi-produced 50 States of Fright or Reno 911! revival. Hopefully, some of them will find a new home elsewhere. As for Quibi, it is neither the first nor the last pandemic casualty within the entertainment industry.
