Hurricane Sandy, Frankenstorm Disrupt Weekend Box Office

The impending arrival of Frankenstorm and Hurricane Sandy may put a considerable dent into the weekend box office numbers, Deadline is reporting.

Since quite a few people are preparing to batten down the hatches for the arrival of Frankenstorm, a historic weather event that will peak with Hurricane Sandy’s arrival on the East Coast, weekend box office numbers haven’t been impressing studio executives.

“Nothing called Frankenstorm is inviting people to go out of their houses,” one executive explained, stating that figures could be down as much as 25 percent. “It looks like people are shopping for bottled water and putting up their storm shutters instead of going to the movies.”

“OK, people — let’s step away from The Weather Channel and go to a theater!” another studio suit said in an email to Deadline.

If weekend box office estimates are to be believed, then none of the new releases performed particularly well. Cloud Atlas, the latest cinematic effort from Matrix masterminds the Wachowskis, is expected to land in second place, allowing Ben Affleck’s acclaimed drama Argo to move up into the top spot.

Silent Hill: Revelation 3D, which received mostly negative reviews upon its release, is estimated to land in fifth place. The PG-13 Nickelodeon teen comedy Fun Size isn’t expected to make much of an impact, either; studio estimates place the film at the bottom of the Top 10.

According to The Associated Press, Frankenstorm is threatening to disrupt the lives of nearly 60 million Americans over the next few days. The forecast of high winds, heavy rains, and a possibility of snow may have prompted people to hit the supermarket instead of the movie theater.

Louis Uccellini, environmental prediction chief for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration meteorologists, explained that the impending storm has the potential to be something extremely hazardous for those in harm’s way.

“The total is greater than the sum of the individual parts,” Uccellini explained to the AP. “That is exactly what’s going on here.”

Did the impending arrival of Frankenstorm and Hurricane Sandy keep you away from the box office this weekend?