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While the nation was glued to the round-the-clock election results, the domestic box office suffered another slow weekend. For once, the blame couldn’t be pinned exclusively on the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic or the dearth of major-studio tentpoles in theaters.

There was no shortage of frights over the Halloween weekend as a pair of new big-screen chillers managed to break into the Top 10 in another eerily quiet weekend at the domestic box office.

The “Dadsploitation” genre continues to be very good to Liam Neeson as the aging action star’s latest thriller, Honest Thief, remained in the top spot in its second weekend with $2.4 million in North America.

Eight months ago, before the COVID-19 pandemic hobbled the movie business, every weekend felt like a heavyweight fight. Nowadays, each weekend is beginning to feel more like pillow fight. Still, in what turned out to be another soft weekend at the box office, Liam Neeson’s latest action thriller, Honest Thief, pulled in $3.7 million at the domestic box office and claimed the title of the No. 1 movie in North America.

In what proved to be yet another sluggish weekend at the domestic box office, the big news was that Christopher Nolan’s reigning theatrical champion, Tenet, was finally pushed from the top spot after five consecutive weeks at No. 1. The new title holder: 101 Studios’ The War with Grandpa, a long-delayed, kid-friendly comedy starring Robert De Niro as a feisty old coot who battles his young grandson over a coveted bedroom.

With the calendar turning the page to October, Halloween appeared to arrive early as things got even stranger and spookier at the domestic box office. Case in point: Christopher Nolan’s big-budget tentpole, Tenet, narrowly edged out the re-release of Hocus Pocus, a Bette Midler comedy that wasn’t exactly a smash hit when it first hit theaters 27 years ago.

In an acceleration of recent years' trends, international audiences have become increasingly critical to Hollywood’s bottom line during the current COVID-19 pandemic. While Christopher Nolan’s Tenet passed the $280 million mark at the worldwide box office, thanks to strong overseas turnout, the film continued to lose steam domestically, pulling in $3.4 million in its fourth weekend. In context of the current domestic theatrical space, that figure was still good enough to make the Warner Bros. tentpole the top movie in the US, pulling in $1,192 per-screen average in 2,850 theaters. Still, that only brings the domestic box-office total to a $41.2 million, representing 14.5% of the total worldwide gross.

With Tenet having dipped below $5 million at the box office last weekend and the studios holding most of their major releases until at least late November, domestic box office is looking at a slow period ahead, with low- and medium-budget films that are poised to play more like Unhinged and The New Mutants than Tenet. Tenet should lead the weekend yet again; it has its sights on crossing $40 million this weekend, and it may be the only film to do so domestically for the next few months.

Now three weeks into Tenet’s highly anticipated North American campaign, Warner Bros.’ wannabe blockbuster continues to tell two wildly divergent tales at the box office. While the Christopher Nolan thriller starring John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Kenneth Branagh, and Elizabeth Debicki continues to underperform at home, adding just $4.7 million in its third frame and bringing its domestic total to $36.1 million, it just keeps barreling along overseas, where it’s now racked up $203 million and counting.

Tenet’s lukewarm second weekend is a sign that the domestic box office still has a long way to go before things get back to normal, especially as New York and Los Angeles theaters remain shuttered.

What a difference a week makes. After its highly anticipated US debut last weekend, when it raked in $20.2 million, Christopher Nolan’s Tenet couldn’t continue its momentum at home, pulling in just $6.7 million domestically in its sophomore session. The tally was still good enough for a first-place finish thanks to a lack of splashy new competition, but the Warner Bros. thriller dropped a steep -66.8% from the previous weekend. Playing in 2,810 theaters, Nolan’s film earned a $2,384 average and has a $29.5 million cumulative at the domestic box office.

With no major new releases, Tenet is once again set to be the weekend’s biggest box office story. The film held strong in Germany, with a 24% drop, and had a steeper drop in the UK and in France, at 59.9% and 57% respectively. Internationally, the film’s largest new territory is in Hong Kong, but seeing what happens domestically is one of the keys to determining whether Tenet’s release strategy will pay off.

Labor Day weekend gave us our first glimpse at what a blockbuster looks like in the age of COVID-19. Christopher Nolan’s long-delayed brainteaser, Tenet, was the first major test of US movie exhibition in the coronavirus pandemic. Now, with receipts tallied, it appears the Warner Bros. film passed that test. The twisty, PG-13 thriller starring John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Kenneth Branagh, and Elizabeth Debicki opened with $20.2 million domestically in 2,810 theaters (an impressive $7,189 per-theater average) over the long holiday weekend.

After multiple delays since the initial planned release in July, Christopher Nolan’s Tenet is finally hitting US screens, giving audiences one of the first major new releases since US theaters shut down due to COVID-19. How the film will perform has been a major box office story, as Tenet’s numbers are expected to be an early signal of how well the film industry and theaters might recover from the pandemic.

With an estimated $7 million, Disney’s The New Mutants from 20th Century Studios fell on the lower end of pre-weekend predictions. Critical reception was mixed-to-negative heading into the weekend (35% on Rotten Tomatoes, 45 on Metacritic) as the X-Men universe spin-off found itself unable to build on its Friday performance. Opening in 2,412 theaters, the film took in $3.1 million on Friday and dropped 21% on Saturday ($2.45 million) and 40.8% on Sunday ($1.45 million). It had a $2,902 per-theater average. Still, as theaters across the country continue to re-open, there is a chance that the PG-13 film, which stars Anya Taylor-Joy and Maisie Williams, could attract more ticket buyers. For historical comparison, the last X-Men-related movie, Dark Phoenix, opened to $32.8 million domestically on June 5, 2019.

With the rise of global concerns over COVID-19, the film industry is just one of many in a state of upheaval. Announced today, both AMC and Regal will close all U.S. theaters, which totals over 1,200 between the two of them, for at least six to 12 weeks, effective March 17. In addition to theater closures, all the major distributors have been forced to move their upcoming releases, leaving something of a barren theatrical landscape looking forward.

Concerns over COVID-19 have continued to increase and the effect on the global box office has been felt. This weekend's top ten combined for an estimated $50.35 million, which is the lowest, week eleven combined gross for the top ten since 1995 with all holdovers dropping -60% or more compared to last weekend. With all new wide releases postponed until April 10, things are unlikely to improve.

SATURDAY AM UPDATE: Lionsgate's I Still Believe brought in an estimated $4 million on Friday and is looking at a three-day debut around $11 million. The film received an "A" CinemaScore from opening day audiences.

Disney and Pixar's Onward topped the weekend box office, but fell just a bit shy of expectations, a performance some may relate to the current COVID-19 concerns, though most everything else performed as expected if not better. Universal's The Invisible Man held on quite well, delivering a second place performance, while WB's release of The Way Back landed within expectations.

SATURDAY AM UPDATE: Disney and Pixar's Onward delivered an estimated $12.1 million on Friday, which includes over $2 million from preview showings. The film is expected to finish right around $40 million for the weekend and received an "A-" CinemaScore from opening day audiences.