Clifford the Big Red Dog beat expectations in its North American box office debut, hightailing it to a five-day opening of $22 million even though it was also available stream via Paramount+. That’s among the best starts of the pandemic era for a family film.
The movie, which launched Wednesday in order to take advantage of Veterans Day, earned $16.4 million for the three-day weekend proper from 3,700 theaters to place No. 2 domestically behind Marvel and Disney’s Eternals.
From Marvel and Disney, Eternals — which has been hampered by middling reviews and not-so-great audience scores — grossed $27.5 million from 4,090 cinemas in its sophomore outing for a 10-day domestic total of $118.4 million. The ensemble superhero pic fell 61 percent, less than Venom 2 and Black Widow but more than Shangi-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
Eternals continues to impress overseas, where it earned another $48 million from 45 materials markets for a foreign tally of $162.6 million and $281.4 million globally.
Eternals is only available in theaters, while Clifford launched simultaneously in theaters and on Paramount+ in North America, a hybrid release designed to reach as many families as possible amid ongoing concerns over COVID-19. (Paramount used the same strategy for sleeper hit PAW Patrol: The Movie.) Studio executives say it will take time for younger moviegoers to be vaccinated.
“We know that segments of the family audience are not ready to come back,” says Paramount Pictures domestic distribution president Chris Aronson. “Until vax levels are more robust, this release strategy is very successful because it is priming the exhibition pump, which we very much believe in.”
Paramount+ did not release opening viewership numbers.
