While the spread of the coronavirus looks likely to negatively impact the box office hauls of a number of upcoming movies (particularly in China), it's still early days, and not something that's going to hurt Pixar's
Onward too much by the looks of things.
According to
Deadline, the animated magical adventure is taking aim at a $50 million opening weekend in North America after originally being projected to debut with $40 million. That's not massively surprising after the overwhelmingly positive reviews, and you can find our verdict on the Disney movie
by clicking here.
Internationally,
Onward is hoping to conjure up between $40 million - $55 million, for a total of anywhere between $90 million - $105 million. That's not bad considering the fact that theaters in China are completely closed. The film, which stars Chris Pratt and Tom Holland, doesn't open in Italy and South Korea (two countries which have been badly hit in recent weeks) until next month.
Onward is definitely a movie with sequel potential, but it looks set to be a hit for Disney regardless of whether they plan on expanding the franchise down the line.
It certainly isn't facing much in the way of competition, as both
The Invisible Man and
Sonic the Hedgehog are expected to fall down the charts, while
The Way Back and
Emma are unlikely to draw a large audience. With that in mind, expect
Onward to head straight to the #1 spot.
Will you guys be watching
Onward this weekend?