The total weekend box office was under $15 million as theaters are struggling in a COVID world.

Tenet lead the weekend with an estimated $6.7 million down from the $20.2 million from the previous weekend when it opened domestically. The film has now grossed $29.5 million domestically in its second week.

Internationally, the film is up to $177.5 million where it earned about $30.6 million over the weekend. The film has now crossed $207 million worldwide.

The New Mutants held on to second place with an estimated $2.1 million. The previous weekend saw $3 million dollars over three days and $3.7 million over the four day holiday. Domestically, the film has earned $15.3 million which is only slightly more than the $14 million earned so far internationally. Worldwide, the film has earned $29.3 million.

In new films, The Broken Hearts Gallery from Sony opened in fourth place with an estimated $855,000 domestically.

None of the above is good news.

What’s clear is, we’re in weird times and it’s hard to compare what’s going on with anything of the past. Still, the above is not a good sign for the short term future of movie theaters.

The good is, theaters need not worry about overcrowding and becoming major hotspots for the spread of COVID if no one is going.

The bad is that distributors have no reason to release major films which will not earn their costs back. Instead, we’re likely to see a string of nostalgic re-releases, events, and smaller titles fill the gap leaving theaters to struggle further.

With recent changes to release dates of Wonder Woman 1984 and Candyman, it’s clear studios are seeing the writing on the wall and saying it’s not worth it. For as little as theaters are bringing in, they may come to the same conclusion as well.