The War with Grandpa

Background

Based on the 1984 novel with the same name by Robert Kimmel Smith, The War with Grandpa was directed by Tim Hill (Alvin and the Chipmunks) with a screenplay by Tom J. Astle and Matt Ember.

Filming was supposed to take place in Toronto but was moved to Georgia instead.

The movie was originally intended for earlier release and filmed back in 2017 – however several delays (not least the closure of the Weinstein Company) meant that it was eventually released to theatres in the U.S. on October 9, 2020.

Hill is known for casting his wife – actress Veronica Alicino – into minor roles in most of his films. But nepotism played no part in bringing the Goodfellas actor to this movie – with the quickie comedy genre becoming something of a fait accompli for De Niro.

Despite featuring the heavyweight talents of De Niro, Uma Thurman, and Christopher Walken, The War with Grandpa received only mixed to negative reviews and legged out at a little over $40 million.

Another financial casualty of the pandemic?

Possibly.

The War with Grandpa Box Office Numbers

The War with Grandpa ranked 13th at the box office for 2020 and pushed Tenet off the top spot on a weekend where the top 10 grossed almost $10 million – all this despite the closure of 500 Regal Theatres.

The lack of any real competition clearly played a part, in addition to a slew of known faces being cast. Remembering for a moment that Tenet had a production budget of some $205 million – that in itself was an impressive feat.

With its eventual October 9th release, The War with Grandpa took $3,623,880 (17% of total gross) in its opening weekend and played to some 2,250 theatres in the U.S. – with an average theatre gross of $1,610 and 11.9 weeks average run per theatre.

The second weekend saw better numbers, again playing across 2,250 theatres and taking $4,048,493. That number halved in the third weekend and then continued to decline. In total, the U.S. and Canada Gross came in at $21,277,892.

The return must of course be viewed in the context of shuttered theatres throughout New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seatle.

The extent of these closures can be seen by taking a look back to 2019. Where, by comparison, the Columbus Day weekend took some $141 million.

In normal times undoubtedly the gross would be far higher, it would not be unrealistic to assume an opening weekend something in the order of at least $10 million to 15 million for the film. By comparison, Hop (2011), Hill’s last movie release prior to 2020, took $37 million in its opening weekend, with an average of $10,490 per theatre.

101 Studios pushed the marketing panic button and went all out on a safety-first agenda – this mixed with a heady concoction of fresh product. They had to retreat somewhat however as further safety concerns gripped moviegoers with rising coronavirus case numbers.

The War with Grandpa was released to a total of 34 countries internationally taking in just shy of $19 million all in. The main markets were Australia ($7,841,861), Russia ($3,125,483), the United Kingdom ($2,657,407 ), and Mexico ($2,205,919).

It’s a Wrap

101 tried everything to put bums back on theatre seats – even releasing testimonials on TV spots that featured families who had enjoyed the film and were happy to return to theatres.

But with a mediocre B+ Cinemascore posted by audiences (slightly less than average for the comedy genre) it wasn’t enough.

The War with Grandpa would have needed to earn at least $80 million at the box office to break even.

That really is a big ask, at a time when a number of studios had already vacated the theatrical release calendar in the wake of Tenet’s poor showing at the box office.

In terms of gross loss, The War with Grandpa pales to insignificance against other pandemic era big-buck picture releases such as Tenet. But reinforces the view that 2020 was not the time for studios to spend big.