Honest Thief starring Liam Neeson took top spot at the box office in its opening weekend, earning $3.7M while playing at 2,125 locations across North America. The action/revenge thriller marks the return of Open Road Films to theatres, in partnership with Briarcliff Entertainment.  The War with Grandpa starring Robert De Niro dropped down from its perch as last week's top performer, earning $2.5M in week two and a cume of $7.3M after 10 days. Warner Bros.' Tenet earned $1.7M, putting the Christopher Nolan thriller over $50M in box office after 7 weeks in theatres.

We feature Netflix's The Trial of the Chicago 7 in our Popcorn Previews Boxoffice Buzz.  Chicago 7 debuted on Netflix this weekend, after playing in select theatres over the past two weeks.  The legal/political drama tells the timely story of the trial of seven defendants who were arrested for protesting at the 1968 Democratic National convention.  It was written and directed by Aaron Sorkin, and is being billed as one of Netflix's key contenders at this year's industry awards.

Our summary of Industry News presents this week's scorecard on progress the industry is making on its long road to recovery. Over half of US theatres are open and operating again, while studios are trickling out a steady stream of low- to mid-budget new releases and classic film re-releases. New York announced that it would allow theaters in low-risk communities - mostly up-state - to reopen starting next Friday, 10/23.

Gower Street highlights the essential role Independent films are playing in luring audiences back to theatres. While studios are pushing back the release dates for their big-budget tentpoles, or redirecting them to streaming, Indies are filling up the suddenly avaialble screens at cinemas, keeping the lights on and the doors open.  In the Hollywood Report, Martin Grove discusses changes in how studios will market their films for consideration in this year's industry awards.

We conclude with our regular film data tables. The Weekly Film Calendar provides details on film releases through the end of the year. We list last week's studio release changes, MPAA film ratings and important new trailers.