Playing in around 2,400 theaters in America, the movie grossed $7 million, with an average per theater of $2,902.
In a vacuum, those might not sound like good opening weekend numbers, but remember: In many parts of the country movie theaters remain closed.
Deciding to see The New Mutants right now might be a life and death choice.
All it took to turn The New Mutants into a #1 movie was a global pandemic, almost no competition, and being the first big movie released to theaters in more than five months.