The 35th week of the year continued to show positive momentum by beating the same weekend last year by 59%. This was to be expected “Candyman’s” opening last weekend compared with a 2019 Labor Day weekend when there were no significant new openers. This brought the 4-week run rate comparison of 2021 and 2019 results up to 55%, the highest point since we have been reporting this calculation. At this rate, the industry remains on track to produce 75% of 2019 box office revenues by 12/17.
With this weekend’s strong opening for “Shang-Chi”, look for the positive momentum to continue next week when we will report results for week 36. After that, the balance of September looks very weak so the industry will be relying on the newest Marvel hero to keep working his magic.