• by Wayne Friedman , June 1, 2021

Paramount Pictures’ “A Quiet Place Part II” registered the best U.S. box-office results since the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the theatrical movie business over a year ago -- pulling in an estimated $58.5 million in its opening Memorial Day weekend (May 28-May 31), according to IMDb Box Office Mojo.

Walt Disney’s “Cruella” -- also opening this weekend -- at $26.5 million -- was in second place..

Although “A Quiet Place” and “Cruella” did have a more standard wide-release movie opening in terms of the number of U.S. theaters -- 3,726 (“A Quiet Place”) and 3,892 (“Cruella”) -- it is presently unknown what limited seating capacity specific theater chains instituted due to the pandemic.

Paramount spent $7.7 million on national TV advertising since February 2 on the movie (1,622 airings/412 million impressions), according to estimates from iSpot.tv. Walt Disney came in at $11.8 million in national TV spend since March 1 this year for “Cruella” (with 4,146 airings/1.09 billion impressions).

In 2018, the first edition of the franchise “A Quiet Place” pulled in $50.2 million in box-office revenue.

Overall, movie theaters tallied a collective $98.5 million for the Memorial Day weekend for all movies currently running --- about half of how Memorial Day weekend movies typically perform.

For example, in 2019, movie studios produced $220.4 million in overall box-office revenue. The big hit for that weekend, in that year, was Disney’s “Aladdin” -- $116.8 million in U.S. box-office revenue.

Since the pandemic started in mid-March 2020, “A Quiet Place Part II” bested Warner Bros. “Godzilla vs. Kong” (which came in a $34.2 million and debuted April 2-5) for top U.S. box-office opening-weekend dollars. In third place over that time span is Warner Bros.' “Mortal Combat” -- $23.3 million on April 23-25.

A year ago, on Memorial Day weekend -- two months into the growing pandemic -- IFC Films' "The Wretched" pulled in an under-the-radar $236,334.