The theatrical industry could be irrevocably changed by the Coronavirus pandemic, even after business returns to anything close to normality. Over the last eight months, we’ve seen countless high profile titles pulled from the schedule and delayed until 2021, while others have skipped the big screen entirely and been sent straight to VOD. Occupying the middle ground are the movies that get a release in cinemas but end up arriving on home video just a few weeks later, and Vince Vaughn’s slasher comedy Freaky is next up.
The Blumhouse horror has scored solid praise from critics and currently holds a strong 84% rating on Rotten Tomatoes with over 175 reviews in the bag, and it’s topped the domestic box office for the last two weekends. However, business is in such a bad state that the number one movie in the United States has so far earned a grand total of $5.5 million after ten days in theaters. Admittedly, Freaky only cost $6 million to produce, so it isn’t too far away from turning a profit, but still.
Universal have now announced that the pic will be heading to VOD on December 4th, just fifteen days after premiering theatrically, which is something that we’ll have to get used to in the age of COVID-19, especially when $200 million blockbusters like Wonder Woman 1984 are also going right to streaming from day one.
The combined weekend box office gross of the entire domestic Top 10 has only exceeded $12 million once since the beginning of September, which paints a pretty dire picture of how things are these days, and movies like Freaky only stand to generate a decent amount of revenue from the home video market regardless of great reviews or a number one opening.