In a way, Amityville: The Awakening got lucky: It’s far from the biggest problem the Weinsteins and their various companies will face this year. But the four-times-delayed 18th entry into the Amityville Horror franchise is still a disaster for Dimension films and The Weinstein Co., earning a mere $742 over its one-day special release in 10 theaters this past Saturday. Averaged out to $74.20 per theater, that puts Amityville: The Awakening in competition with some of the lowest box-office takes of all time, like Confession Of A Child Of The Century, which made $68 in its opening weekend and $74 total at one U.S. theater in 2015, and Dog Eat Dog (the Columbian crime movie, not one of the 38 other films and TV shows that share the same title), which grossed $80 at one New York theater in 2008.
It’s not entirely clear why Amityville: The Awakening got a theatrical release at all: The film was released for free on Google Play two weeks ago, and will remain there, for free, until November 8. Usually, a limited theatrical release for a streaming title indicates an awards run, but that’s clearly not the case here—not just because of the film’s dismal 20 percent Rotten Tomatoes score, but also because an Academy qualifying run requires a solid week of screenings in a Los Angeles-area theater, not one day. Perhaps it was a gesture towards longtime fans who don’t do the whole streaming thing, or a cynical attempt to cash in on devoted horror fans who felt the need to see it on the big screen for some reason. Either way, the tactic was about as successful as the script’s attempt to justify its existence with some of that sweet Scream meta-horror, which is to say, not very successful at all.