The global coronavirus pandemic is still an ongoing concern for most of the world, but it hasn’t stopped a number of countries around the world to try to reopen parts of their economy, such as movie theaters. For instance, theaters have reopened in Canada, with the new Spongebob film Sponge On The Run topping the box office.

Variety reports that Canadian theaters recently featured two new films, Sponge On The Run and the Unhinged starring Russell Crowe. The two films topped the box office, although both raked smaller figures as they were only shown in a few theaters across the country.

Sponge On The Run was shown in 300 theaters in Canada and brought in $900,000. Unhinged also debuted in the same number of theaters, but only brought in $582,000. Despite only taking in half as much as Sponge On The Run, the studio behind the film called it a “good, solid start” and expects the film to draw more audiences as it is shown in more theaters.

Deadline points out that while the numbers seem unimpressive, they do actually reflect a “good, solid start” as these reopened theaters in Canada are operating at a reduced capacity as part of health and safety measures to stop the spread of COVID-19. The movie theaters are only using about 20 to 40 percent of their actual capacity.

The publication also points out that theater chains like Regal and AMC will also be reopening on Friday in the United States, while Cinemark also reopening more theaters. This gives Unhinged an opportunity to increase its box office take as people now have an opportunity to go to the theaters.

Chinese theaters have already reopened a month ago, with the Robert Downey, Jr.-starred Doolittle ruling the Chinese box office with its $4.71 million take over three days. Bloodshot, which starred Vin Diesel, came in second place with earnings of $2.61 million.

Theaters in South Korea have also reopened, with Train to Busan sequel Peninsula taking the top spot in the South Korean box office. The movie was the top film over two successive weekends, bringing in a total of $21 million. 

Peninsula also performed well in other Asian countries that have already reopened their theaters. The film made $4.1 million in Malaysia and $4.7 million in Taiwan.

These small successes are something to look forward to, as it looks like 2020 is going to be a horrible year for the film industry. The global film industry is already expected to lose $5 billion because of the closure of big markets like South Korea and Japan.

Whether movie theaters will ever be able to operate at full capacity is also an unanswered question, as the global coronavirus pandemic continues unabated throughout most of the world. According to the World Health Organization’s situation report for Aug. 16, there are now 21,294,845 confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide. The number of people that have died from COVID-19 is now at 761,779.