Yes, Box Office Misses Like 'Novocaine' And 'Mickey 17' Are Still The Exact Movies Hollywood Needs To Save Itself

Tinseltown must flood the theaters with non-franchise and (mostly) lower-budgeted star vehicles if it hopes to reeducate audiences on the pleasures of casual moviegoing.

Five years after the “start” of the global COVID-19 pandemic (outside of China), this weekend’s box office will be on par with that of the same mid-March weekend in 2020 as everyone realized that this was about to be a “buckle down and hold tight” situation. Even putting aside a half decade’s worth of inflation, Paramount’s Novocaine topped with $8.7 million, below even the $9.1 million grossed by the respective openings of Bloodshot and I Still Believe, let alone the $10.6 million from Onward’s second frame. This is not the full circle moment theaters had imagined. All hope now rests on the live-action Snow White remake, which (sight unseen for now) Disney has treated like an embarrassingly drunk-n-handsy uncle to be hidden from pre-release view almost entirely due to capitulation to disingenuous or… uh… genuous racist/sexist Internet trolls. I’m old enough to remember when Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel *didn’t* ruin the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but I digress.

I won’t rehash how and why theatrical ended up here (blame audiences) three months into what was supposed to be its comeback year. However, even noting the grim normal, films like One of Them Days, Heart Eyes, Black Bag, Companion and Novocaine are still precisely what Hollywood should be releasing on the regular for the next few years. Every studio, not just A24 and NEON, needs to slowly, painfully reacclimate moviegoers to the pleasures of seeing younger, newer actors they know and like in films that aren’t just mega-budget franchise flicks. The young stars of today and tomorrow need more from Hollywood than just getting the chance to headline nostalgia-chasing relaunches of yesterday’s blockbusters. Yes, most non-franchise, non-IP, “just a movie” offerings – especially outside of the horror genre – will underwhelm, flop or earn just enough to get by without really “helping” theatres. But it’s the only way to get Hollywood off an unsustainable dependency on once-were-successful franchises.