International movie box office suffers with 85% drop as Bloodshot tops modest weekend list

As the world continues to remain gripped in fear and uncertainty during the COVID-19 pandemic, the box office has taken a huge hit overseas, dropping 85% from the same frame last year. 

The top five movies worldwide this weekend took home under $31 million combined, led by Sony Pictures’ Vin Diesel-starring comic book actioner Bloodshot with $13 million.

The $30.7 million tally for the top five movies represents a stunning 85 percent drop versus the same weekend in 2018 when Black Panther won in its fifth weekend with $26.6 million

The low numbers can be most immediately attributed to massive cinema closures in countries that first experienced the disease outbreak, such as China and Italy, and now France and Spain.

As Deadline reports, current projections peg potential losses to global box office sales for this season somewhere in the vicinity of $17B+ from January and through May.

Disney/Pixar’s animated fantasy Onward managed to limp passed $100 million globally this weekend, after its inauspicious opening last weekend, adding just $6.8 million in 47 markets. 

There is some small hope that China, one of the most lucrative film markets in the world, will be able to get back on track by May 1.

But, as Box Office Mojo reports, with all new wide releases postponed until April 10th at the earliest, things are unlikely to improve anytime soon.  

Universal and Blumhouse’s The Invisible Man added $6.2 million to its international tally, pushing the overseas total over $58 million for a worldwide gross of $122.7 million.

Domestically, meanwhile, the US box office is poised for a 22-year low this weekend. 

Powered by new releases such as the faith-based I Still Believe, Bloodshot and the controversial thriller The Hunt, the weekend take came in at $50.1 million, according to Box Office Mojo.

That tally is the lowest since Sept. 11-13, 1998, when that weekend’s movies earned just $56.8 million at the box office.