A Quiet Place Part II and Cruella are heading into the Memorial Day weekend box office hoping that the box pandemic woes are behind them as it seems people are really ready to go back to the movies. In a truly good sign for the sequel to A Quiet Place, it's being reported by Fandango that the film is currently selling twice as many advance tickets on its site and app as it did at the same point in its 2020 sales cycle before it was pulled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
That's an encouraging sign for the film's prospects which is tracking, per "Deadline", to open between $40-50 million over the four-day holiday weekend. Fandango Managing Editor, Erik Davis, had this to say about the film signaling a box office recovery:
"Strong presales for A Quiet Place Part II on Fandango may present another indicator of a possible domestic box office recovery, especially as we head into Memorial Day weekend, the official kickoff to summer movie season. Even though some theaters are still operating at reduced capacity, it’s encouraging to see the Fandango pre-sales momentum. This is the kind of experience theaters were made for. Audiences who have long been waiting for the big-screen debut of A Quiet Place Part II will not be disappointed."
Here's where we're at in terms of how movie theaters are operating this weekend. Regal Cinemas has about 96% of its locations reopened, albeit, at limited capacity. This pushes up the total percentage of domestic theaters that are open to 71%. Huge markets like Los Angeles, New York City, and San Francisco are all back online but Canada is still dealing with the COVID crisis on a different level than we are in the States. Big provinces like Alberta, Manitoba, and Ontario are still locked down and reports indicate that the tentative reopening timeline looks to be sometime in July. There is some good news to be had though. Maryland announced on May 15 that all businesses could reopen with no capacity restrictions and by June 11, there won't be any capacity restrictions for movie theaters in Washington D.C. The big one is California which will see all restrictions lifted on June 15. Even if A Quiet Place Part II doesn't make its total killing on its opening weekend, the long-term prospects look very promising.
It will be interesting to see how things play out over the long weekend. A Quiet Place Part II is currently 91% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes which is huge for a horror film and even more unheard of for a horror sequel (the first film registered a 96% rating on the site). What's even more impressive is that the audience score for the sequel is at 95%, compared to the 82% of the first film, which shows that word of mouth is already very strong. I saw the film last night and thought it was a masterclass in tension and the whole theater seemed to love it. Social media reaction has also been strong so all of these factors are likely to push the film towards a very strong opening weekend.
How do YOU think A Quiet Place Part II will perform over the weekend at the box office?