On Oscars weekend, empty seats plague US movie theaters

Los Angeles, California - Marvel and Disney's Captain America: Brave New World stayed on top of the North American box office on what is being called the slowest Oscar weekend in years.

Marvel and Disney's Captain America: Brave New World stayed on top of the North American box office on what is being called the slowest Oscar weekend in years.
Marvel and Disney's Captain America: Brave New World stayed on top of the North American box office on what is being called the slowest Oscar weekend in years.  © Unsplash/@jonatanmoerman

With no big new releases to compete against, the superhero movie earned an estimated $15 million for the Friday-through-Sunday period, just over half of last weekend's take, industry analyst Exhibitor Relations reported.

The weekend's poor performance reflects both the disappointing showing of big-budget Captain America and the fact that nearly every top Oscar-nominated film is now available for streaming or has ended its theatrical run, The Hollywood Reporter said.

One new release did make the weekend's top five: Focus Features' Last Breath, which earned $7.8 million to place second. Woody Harrelson, Simu Liu, and Finn Cole star in the film about deep-sea divers racing to save a stranded teammate.

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In third was Neon Studio's comedy-horror film The Monkey, based on a Stephen King short story, at $6.4 million. Theo James, Rohan Campbell, and Elijah Wood star in the tale of a toy monkey with homicidal tendencies.

Columbia and Sony's Paddington in Peru slipped one spot from last weekend to place fourth at $4.5 million. Ben Whishaw voices the floppy-hatted bear.

And fifth place went to Universal's superhero comedy Dog Man, inspired by the Captain Underpants books, at $4.2 million.

Cover photo: Unsplash/@jonatanmoerman

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