Yeahhhh...
So, aside from Shang-Chi, the last weekend of August and Labor Day weekend are abysmal theater weeks and to draw crowds they usually release movies that did well earlier in the year to draw people in, in case they missed out the first time around or wanted to see it again. I remember Avengers and Brave popping back up my first year in 2012, and I think Spider-Man No Way Home, Sing 2, and Minions last year?
But also new is National Cinema Day where it's really really cheap to go buy a ticket for a movie. And really really REALLY cheap if you've got a bunch of movie-crazy kids. Food's still the same price AFAIK, but getting like a 75% discount per ticket....
Our theater did about 700 on Friday, 500 Saturday (nearby event center slowing traffic considerably), and then about
4700
the $4 Sunday. Barbie and Oppenheimer were selling out again. Mario, Elemental, and Mermaid were back and near-capacity. Jurassic Park 30th Anniversary in 3D! Blue Beetle sold more tickets in that one day than it did in its first weekend! Spread that out across thousands of theatres? HUGE bump.
"In my headcanon, some staffer saw Trump pull out his phone and start typing so they just Terry Tate Office Linebacker'd him out of his shoes." - FFD