Paramount Takes ‘Love and Monsters’ to PVOD and It’s a Hit
Tom Brueggemann
After selling off a half-dozen titles to Amazon and Netflix, “Love and Monsters” is one of the few Paramount Pictures titles to receive a 2020 theatrical release. It’s not much of a release — 387 theaters this weekend, for $255,000 — but its PVOD performance (at $19.99) may suggest why Paramount chose to hold on to it.
Scheduled pre-COVID for theatrical release April 17, “Love and Monsters” (original title: “Monster Problems”) is no. 1 at both Apple TV and FandangoNow. Budgeted at $30 million, this adventure comedy led by”Maze Runner” and “Teen Wolf” star Dylan O’Brien, is not unlike “Zombieland” in its use of a young hero fighting off monsters in a dystopian society.
It’s the only new PVOD title this week, so it’s unsurprising to see its high placement at FandangoNow, which ranks its charts by revenue. Still, it beat out “Mulan,” which costs $29.99. More impressive: It leads at Apple TV, which ranks by number of transactions, where it beat out right-wing documentary “Trump Card” with the bargain price of $3.99. (“Trump Card” was no. 1 at Google Play, no. 2 at Apple, and no. 3 on Fandango.)
In its fourth week, Jessica Chastain-actioner “Ava” remained #1 at Spectrum and is the only title to appear on all four charts this week.
Along with “Love and Monsters,” two library titles now in theaters are also seeing a high level of home viewing. “Beetlejuice” and “Hocus Pocus,” both of which were in the box office top 10, received multiple rankings on VOD charts. Coexistence or coincidence? Major chains have no issue playing older films day and date, but continue to shun new ones (like “Love and Monsters,” which played independent outlets) despite the lack of new product available.
Five new titles made their debuts this week; only one appeared on more than one chart. Grindstone’s zombie thriller “Alone” (not to be confused with Magnolia’s thriller “Alone”) ranked as no. 3 at Google Play and also is on FandangoNow. The other “Alone,” which is a remake of the Swedish film “Gone,” was no. 8 at Google Play.
Also noted is “Into the Labyrinth,” an Italian thriller with a second-billed Dustin Hoffman in his first film since Netflix’s “The Meyerowitz Stories” in 2017. This was released in Italy a year ago and only now seeing U.S. play.
Alex Gibney’s COVID documentary “Totally Under Control” got as high as no. 2 at Apple Play last week, but has yet to break through elsewhere. D.C. Comics’ animated home video release, “Batman: A Death in the Family,” and “Spontaneous,” a comedy-fantasy with Katherine Langford and Charlie Plummer, also made single-chart initial debuts.
Netflix provides a curious top two titles, both originals. Adam Sandler’s “Hubie Halloween” has been #1 for 10 days, a long run for that rapid-turnover chart. Aaron Sorkin’s “The Trial of the Chicago 7” (a Paramount purchase), which debuted on Friday, is no. 2. That placement is higher than usual for a more-serious entry Netflix title. At no. 4 is “A Babysitter’s Guide to Monster Hunting” directed by Rachel Talalay, who broke out in the 1990s as a female genre pioneer with “Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare” and “Tank Girl.”
Apple TV
Ranked by number of transactions, with position as of Monday, October 19
1. Love and Monsters (Paramount) – $19.99
2. Trump Card (Cloudburst) – $3.99
3. Ava (Vertical) – $6.99
4. Relic (IFC) – $0.99
5. Mulan (Disney) – $29.99
6. Totally Under Control (Neon) – $6.99
7. The Secret: Dare to Dream (Gravitas Ventures) – $5.99
8. Beetlejuice (Warner Bros.) – $3.99
9. Hocus Pocus (Disney) – $3.99
10. The Doorman (Lionsgate) – $5.99
FandangoNOW
Ranked by revenue accrued not transactions, for October 12-18
1. Love and Monsters (Paramount) – $19.99
2. Mulan (Disney) – $29.99
3. Trump Card (Cloudburst) – $3.99
4. Antebellum (Lionsgate) – $19.99
5. My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising (FUNimation) – $12.99
6. Ava (Vertical) – $6.99
7. Alone (Grindstone) – $5.99
8. An Imperfect Murder (Quiver) – $5.99
9. Batman: Death in the Family (Warner Bros.) – $4.99
10. Cut Throat City (Well Go USA) – $12.99
Spectrum
Ranked by transactions between October 9-15; all priced $6.99 except where noted
1. Ava (Vertical)
2. Imperfect Murder (Quiver)
3. Happy Halloween: Scooby Doo! (Warner Bros.)
4. The Secret: Dare to Dream (Gravitas Ventures)
5. Then Came You (Vertical)
6. Spontaneous (Company 3)
8. Antebellum (Lionsgate) – $14.99
9. Beetlejuice (Warner Bros.)
10. Into the Labyrinth (Brainstorm)
Google Play
Ranked by number of transactions, with the daily position as of Monday, October 19
1. Trump Card (Cloudburst) – $3.99
2. Ava (Vertical) – $6.99
3. Alone (Grindstone) – $5.99
4. Mulan (Disney) – $29.99
5. Beetlejuice (Warner Bros.) – $3.99
6. 2067 (RLJE) – $6.99
7. The King of Staten Island (Universal) – $5.99
8. Alone (Magnolia) – $6.99
9. Sonic the Hedgehog (Paramount) – $4.99
10. Hocus Pocus (Disney) – $3.99
Netflix Movies
Most-viewed, current ranking as of Monday, October 19
1. Hubie Halloween (2020 Netflix original)
2. The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020 Netflix original)
3. Moneyball (2011 theatrical release)
4. A Babysitter’s Guide to Monster Hunting (2020 Netflix original)
5. In the Valley of Violence (2016 theatrical release)
6. American Murder: The Family Next Door (Netflix 2020 documentary original)
7. American Pie: Girls’ Rules (2020 Universal original)
8. Unfriended (2014 theatrical release)
9. The Grinch (2018 theatrical release)
10. I Am Vengeance: Retaliation (2020 VOD release)
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