As box office ticket sales sank this weekend amid concerns over the coronavirus outbreak, the Vin Diesel thriller Bloodshot was one of the casualties.
The Sony Pictures release opened in third place in North America after bringing in an estimated $9.3 million from 2,861 theaters, according to Comscore.
That was slightly below the studio’s revised projections, yet disappointing with a global action star in the lead and a $45 million dollar production budget.
Based on the bestselling “Bloodshot” comic books, Vin Diesel stars as Ray Garrison, a soldier recently killed in action and brought back to life as the superhero Bloodshot. The film also stars Guy Pearce, Eiza González, Toby Kebbell, Sam Heughan, Lamorne Morris and is directed by Dave Wilson.
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Taking the top spot at the box office for a second straight weekend was Disney’s presentation of Pixar’s Onward with $10.5 million. That brings the two-week North American total for the animated family film to $60.3 million.
Faith-based film I Still Believe opened in second place with $9.5 million from 3,250 theaters. The romantic musical from Lionsgate and Kingdom Story Company tells the true story of Christian music star Jeremy Camp and his journey of love and loss that proves there is always hope in the midst of tragedy. The film stars Britt Robertson, K.J. Apa, Gary Sinise, Melissa Roxburgh, Nathan Parsons, Shania Twain, Abigail Cowen, Reuben Dodd, and is directed by Jon Erwin & Andrew Erwin.
As mentioned Bloodshot debuted in third. In fourth place was Universal and Blumhouse Productions’ The Invisible Man with $6.0 million. Now in its third weekend, the film has earned $64.4 million in North America.
Rounding out the Top 5 was another release from Universal and Blumhouse — satirical thriller The Hunt with $5.32 million.
The controversial film centers on “liberal elites” who hunt down and kill “deplorables” for sport. The Hunt was supposed to be released this past fall, but got put on hold in the wake of mass shootings in the U.S. and outcry from conservatives, including President Trump, who complained on Twitter that the film was “made to inflame and cause chaos.”
The overall box office tally is expected to drop to its lowest level in two decades with moviegoers staying home amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
When the final numbers are released Monday, they could be as low as $55.3 million between Friday and Sunday. The last time the box office saw ticket sales that low was the weekend of Sept. 15 to 17 in 2000, when movie theaters brought in $54.5 million. Among the films playing that weekend were The Watcher, Bait, and Bring It On.
