US Box Office Has Worst Weekend Since 1998 As People Stay Home Amid Virus Concerns

The US box office just had its worst weekend in more than two decades. The latest domestic box office numbers show that all movies made just $55.3 million this weekend, marking the lowest box office results for the US in 22 years.

Deadline reports that the previous low for a US weekend was the October 30-November 1 weekend in 1998 when Vampires was No. 1, pushing the weekend to $55.2 million.

The very low number was expected, as the US has declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19 (coronavirus). People have been encouraged to practice "social distancing," and going to a crowded community center like a movie theatre is probably not something people are excited about doing.

The box office numbers come from Comscore, whose senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian said this weekend was "predestined to be a very low grossing weekend" due to the social distancing protocols in place, according to EW.

Pixar's Onward was No. 1 this weekend with $10.5 million, falling a dramatic 73% compared to last weekend. Box office numbers typically fall after the first weekend, but the massive drop-off for weekend two was surely due to concerns around COVID-19. Onward beat out newcomers I Still Believe ($9.5 million) and Bloodshot ($9.3 million), which finished in the second and third positions, respectively. The Invisible Man ($6 million) and The Hunt ($5.3 million) rounded out the top five.

You can see the full Top 10 list for the March 13-15 weekend below.

Seemingly in response to how people are staying home instead of going out, Disney has released Frozen II on Disney+ ahead of schedule, while Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker was also released early on home video.

Lots of finished movies have been delayed, and the production of upcoming movies have been paused as well, due to COVID-19. Check out GameSpot's roundup for an overview of all the virus-related delays.

March 13-15 US Box Office

1. Onward— $10.5 million
2. I Still Believe— $9.5 million
3. Bloodshot— $9.3 million
4. The Invisible Man—$6 million
5. The Hunt— $5.3 million
6. Sonic the Hedgehog — $2.6 million
7. The Way Back—$2.4 million
8. The Call of the Wild—$2.2 million
9. Emma —$1.4 million
10. Bad Boy for Life — $1.1 million