There’s a new film on top of the American box office: Monster Hunter. But while this is usually a cause for celebration, it is instead being seen as a sign of how little it takes to top the box office in the age of COVID-19.
Forbes reports that Monster Hunter managed to become the number one film in the United States with just $2.2 million at the box office. The publication points out that this may be the smallest box office take ever in the past 40 years.
Any expectations for the Paul W.S. Anderson film to also top the international box office also needs to be tamped down as the film has encountered trouble in China. While Anderson’s Resident Evil: The Final Chapter made $159 million in China back in 2017, it did not suffer the allegations of racism that Monster Hunter has.
A couple of weeks ago, the film was pulled from Chinese cinemas because of a joke that local Chinese audiences claim “insults China.” The uproar resulted in a censored version of the film being made and the filmmakers and stars apologizing for the allegedly racist line.
Monster Hunter is taking the crown away from The Croods: A New Age, which had topped the American box office for three weeks in a row. Last week, the animated film took in $3 million from the box office. This week, it only earned $2 million, allowing Monster Hunter to take the crown.
The million-dollar drop from its box office take is actually pretty good, all things considered. Not only is the animated film now available on paid video-on-demand, but more and more theaters in the United States are also closing again because of the global coronavirus pandemic. The Croods: A New Age can still bring in that amount is impressive.
Deadline reports that another new movie takes the third spot in the box office after Monster Hunter and The Croods: A New Age. Fatale, a thriller which stars Hillary Swank and Michael Ealy, brought in $925,000 at the box office.
In fourth place is a re-release of the holiday movie Elf, which made an additional $371,000. In fifth place is the film Half Brothers, at $260,000. Last week, it was the second-highest earning movie in the United States.
Whether the American box office can recover anytime soon will depend heavily on the global coronavirus pandemic state. According to the Dec. 21 update from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are now 17,592,760 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country. The number of people that have died from COVID-19 is now at 315,260.