You cannot say that we did not warn you. Despite a mountain of economic and social challenges, Sony still released the new Monster Hunter movie last Friday. As predicted, moviegoers responded in a predictable fashion with anemic box office sales. While critics were not surprised by the film’s lackluster performance, the question remains as to whether the movie can still generate a profit. Many options exist; however, the box office is not the vehicle for the Monster Hunter movie to succeed. Let’s dive in. 

Strategic Pivot

As we analyzed back in October, the Monster Hunter movie likely needed to earn $30 million at the domestic box office to break even. Given the challenges of the global pandemic, such as theater closings and limited capacity, it was highly unlikely that Sony would achieve $30 million in domestic sales. The only question was how far Sony Pictures would fall short of the target. On Monday, we analyzed the box office numbers, and the results were worse than expected.

Although the movie was the top-grossing film over the weekend, Monster Hunter is on a path to financial disaster. According to Forbes, Monster Hunter grossed a total of $2.2 million in the United States and Canada. The international box office accounted for $8.8 million in sales, which increased Monster Hunter’s global total to $11 million. While $11 million in sales accounts for almost 20 percent of the total needed to break even, the history of second-weekend sales is even more dismal.

In recent times, the drop-off in box office sales during a movie’s second weekend is around 50 percent. Although the global pandemic could skew the data, there is no indication that moviegoers will increase their viewing habits over the next few weeks. As a result, the Monster Hunter movie will likely not reach the $60 million in sales necessary to break even. Simply put, Sony Pictures needs to adjust its strategy. The following are a list of options that we could see in the coming weeks:

• Partner with a streaming service (Amazon Prime, Apple TV) to release the movie as a video-on-demand
• Offer the movie through movie ticket applications, such as Fandango or Vudu
• Release the film on the PlayStation store as part of a marketing promotion for the PlayStation 5

Conclusion

The Monster Hunter movie had such an intriguing premise; however, the global pandemic will likely prevent the film’s success. But we want to know what you think. Do you think the poor box office numbers will force Sony Pictures to reevaluate the Monster Hunter movie because of the poor box office numbers? Will you watch the movie on opening night? Let us know in the comments below or the social media links on the right. Also, be sure to check out our other news items on Mario, Zelda, Monster Hunter, Call of Duty and more.

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