IFC Films' 'The Wretched' Is The 'Avatar' Of The Pandemic Box Office, Achieving A Rare Milestone

We are now officially into June and in any normal year, we would have already had about a month’s worth of “summer movies” at the box office. Typically, the first weekend in May (or last weekend in April) is the unofficial start to Summer Movie Season, with the release of a Marvel Studios feature. But this year, thanks to COVID-19, that hasn’t been the case, as most major films have either skipped theaters and gone to PVOD or are being delayed until the fall or 2021. But that doesn’t mean the box office doesn’t have surprises. In fact, the horror film, “The Wretched,” is on a pretty great run and quickly becoming the breakout box office hit of the year. Relatively speaking, of course.

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As was pointed out by Forbes, after another #1 showing at the weekend box office, IFC Films’ “The Wretched” has reached an exclusive modern milestone of box office dominance, with its fifth-straight weekend win. Now, it’s important to put things in perspective, and though “The Wretched” does technically share the feat with films like “Titanic,” “Avatar,” “Black Panther,” and “Sixth Sense,” there’s likely going to be an asterisk placed beside the horror film.

The other four films all achieved this incredible streak while competing at a box office that featured open theaters and plenty of screens. “The Wretched,” on the other hand, is able to lead a depleted box office with thousands of cinemas closed and with hardly any noteworthy competition, as the COVID-19 global pandemic is forcing the film industry to come to a halt. That being said, money is money, and “The Wretched” is earning some decent money, especially for a film that would have likely been in and out of theaters quickly in a normal year.

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After its five-weekend run atop the box office, “The Wretched” now sits with a box office total of almost $842k. When you consider that the biggest IFC FIlms release of 2019 was “Red Joan,” with only $1.42 million, the performance of “The Wretched” is actually pretty great. And honestly, the film is actually pretty good, with our review saying the film does a great job of “mixing a witches brew of moody atmospherics and bone-crunching, head-spinning scares.”

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Now, in a summer that is likely going to be the lowest in the history of the modern box office, it’s important to point out when films actually do better than expected. So, in that sense, congrats to “The Wretched” and the folks at IFC Films for taking advantage of a culture’s need for new films and finding a way to deliver a quality film in a time when most studios are keeping their best goods on the shelf.

Damn, it’s fun to talk about the box office again! It’s been a minute. Let’s see how long until there’s even more to discuss.