UK/US Box Office Report November 6th-8th 2015

Top 5 Breakdown

Spectre – £13,111,158 – total £63,931,838

2D took £12,079,760 total £59,179,566 – IMAX (40 screens) £1,031,398 – total £4,752,272

After 15 days has overtake Jurassic World to be the biggest film of the year in the UK (Jurassic World had taken £51.2m after 14 days on release). Crossed £50m barrier after 11 days.

Down 68.2% from its opening week box office or 34.1% from its Fri-Sun opening Skyfall dropped 20% in comparison having taken £53.4m in 10 days in 14 days had taken £61.71m.

Spectre is now only 3.5% up from Skyfall but with official ticket prices up 5.8% (in really much more) after Spectre’s massive opening it is now failing to match the success of Skyfall.

Be interesting to see how many tickets Odeon sold as each ticket boosted Spectre’s box office by £1 or in reality £2 to Skyfall as their “blockbuster tax” started in November 2014.

Distributors self-congratulate themselves with box office taken from these extended opening weekends but this will only concentrates earnings over a shorter window and also shortening overall playing time of the film. Last year’s Bad Neighbours opening was 53% of its total box office and Transformers Age of Extinction 61%. While Skyfall was only 19% with Spectre likely to be about 46%.

Skyfall

Spectre

w/e drop

w/e BO

Total

w/e BO

w/e drop

Week BO

Total

2012 prices

Week drop

w/e 1

N/A

£20.1m

£37.2m

N/A

£42.1m

£39.6m

N/A

w/e 2

-20%

£16.1m

£53.4m**

£13.1m

-34.1%

£22.7m

£63.9m

£60.8m

-44.9%

w/e 3

-35%

£10.4m

£72.1m**

£8.2m*

-35%*

£10.9m*

£74.8m*

£69.7m

w/e 4

-47%

£5.6m

£82.8m**

£4.4m*

-47%*

£5.94m*

£80.7m*

£76.1m

w/e 5

-32%

£3.8m

£89.6m**

£2.9m*

-32%*

£2.99m*

£83.7m*

£78.9m

w/e 6

-41%

£2.27m

£93.7m**

£1.8m*

-41%*

£2.39m*

£86.1m*

* estimates using Skyfall drops but Spectre will likely drop as did in w/e 2.

** Skyfall totals are 4 days less than Spectre

Average price is from BFI claimed average ticket price £6.37 in 2012 to 2014’s £6.74 (up 5.8%).

Spectre’s second weekend drop is less than Harry Potter the Prisoner of Azkaban’s 82% in 2004 but with that was due to schools going back as 60% of its £23.88m opening was taken Mon-Thurs compared with 51% for Spectre.

will be interesting to see how it holds compared to Skyfall which dropped 35% a similar drop would be £8.52 for a third weekend

Has already overtaken 2006’s Casino Royale £55.6m and 2008’s Quantum of Solace £51.2m

James Bond used to be the pinnacle of spy films but seen this year with Kingsman, Mission Impossible Rogue Nation and The Man From U.N.C.L.E.

These films have made Spectre look dated as are more superior in style, fun, sophistication from directors who can shoot action sequences that don’t feel staged or by the numbers.

There were several five star reviews within hours of media screening but reviews after were more mixed while reviews in the US have been mixed at best making it look like British critics believed the hype. Despite the early reviews by Friday was scoring lower than Quantum of Solace on Rotten Tomatoes.

Are many problems with SPECTRE one of the biggest is when James Bond “sneaks” himself into a private meeting using password Mickey Mouse (similar to when Tom Cruise in Eyes Wide Shut sneaks into the orgy)

He is caught out by Christoph Waltz saying “Welcome James”. Were rumours Christoph Waltz was playing Blofeld that he the cast and crew denied similar to rumours JJ Abrams denying Benedict Cumberbatch wasn’t Khan in Star Trek into Darkness.

Both these twists were expected by audiences unlike The Usual Suspect, The Others, The Sixth Sense and Fight Club. It’s almost as marketing geniuses behind these films forget with Twitter and internet it’s hard to keep things secret audiences won’t mind if they are honest with audiences but don’t like being lied to. With early script leaked within the Sony Hacks it was crazy for them to try to deny something everyone knew was true.

In Skyfall Moneypenny (Naomie Harris) was on the field working alongside Bond but in Skyfall she was limited to being his PA. Similarly Lea Seydoux’s Madeline Swann was meant to be a different kind of Bond girl but having daddy issues she fell passionately in love with Bond very quickly while Bond falls instantly in love with the daughter of the man who was responsible for killing the love of his life Vesper which he seems to of forgotten even though he comes across a VHS tape of Vesper Lynd interrogation in an office of Mr White.

Even though Daniel Craig has said would rather “slit his wrists” than do another Bond but he only has to look at acting careers of former James Bonds to realise that he should keep making Bonds as long as they keep paying him. With plotlines tied up at the end of Spectre Bond 26 will be a chance to hopefully take some of the bloatware out of Bond with a new director and probably a new studio.

2. Hotel Transylvania 2 – £1,103,480 – total £17,508,465

3D took £17,500 – total £1,815,667 – 2D took £1,085,980 – total £15,692,798

Down 54.1% unsurprisingly due to school holidays over and holding on to second place thanks to a quiet week of new releases.

It’s now unlikely to overtaken Big Hero 6’s £19.34m with it now limited to weekend matinees.

3. Brooklyn – £1,038,779 – NE

After receiving its UK premiere at London Film Festival a month ago the film has recieved much love from critics and cinemagoers.

With strong word of mouth should hold well in the coming weeks.

Had the biggest opening of an Irish film in Ireland since Michael Collins in 1996 taking £432,432 42% of its total box office from 87 screens in Ireland.

It’s the biggest opening for director John Crowley and will soon become his highest crossing film beating is 2003 Intermission.

4. Pan – £520,464 – total £7,861,305

3D took £16,724 – total £1,572,837 – 2D took £503,740 – total £6,288,468

Down only 33.9% in its fourth weekend which is amazing after the negativity surrounding the film after its world premiere on September 20th and the poor reviews. But similar to Hotel Transylvania 2 audiences have ignored the critics and come out in much bigger numbers in the UK compared to US.

Burnt – £445,777 – NE

After a big media campaign with a London premiere with both Bradley Cooper and Sienna Miller heavily promoting the film with many interviews its opening had a soggy bottom.

Opening was similar to 2014’s Chef £462,989 which was the title Burnt was originally going titled. Its slightly below director John Well’s biggest opening 2013’s August: Osage County £536,953.

With several new wide releases this weekend its unlikely to stay in the chart for long.

Other box office news:

Also released

He Named Me Malala – 20^th Century Fox – £97,238 from 203 screens

Kill Your Friends – Studiocanal – £102,221 from 170 screens

Last year Interstellar opened with £5,362,778, Say When £93,000, The Skelton Twins £19,204 and November Man £5,000.

This weekend’s top 10 box office took £17,777,621 down 62.3% from last weekend £47,149,888 was down 39.6% from same weekend last year. (£10,738,002);

Compared to November 2^nd-4^th 2012 (2^nd weekend of Skyfall) weekend is 22.7% down.

This weekend last year The Imitation Game opened with £2,683,498, Nativity 3 £1,786,952, The Drop £616,103.

Complete UK Box office top 10 – November 6^th – 8^th 2015

Film	Studio	Release date	Weeks	w/e box office	Change +/-	Total
Spectre	Sony	26/10/2015	2	13,111,158	-68.2%	63,931,838
Hotel Transylvania 2	Sony	16/10/2015	4	1,103,480	-54.1%	17,508,465
Brooklyn	Lionsgate	06/11/2015	1	1,038,779	NE	1,038,779
Pan	Warner	02/10/2015	4	520,464	-33.9%	7,861,305
Burnt	Entertainment	06/11/2015	1	445,777	NE	445,777
The Martian	20^th Century Fox	30/09/2015	6	435,399	-26.1%	22,590,986
Suffragette	Pathe	12/10/2015	4	404,087	-31.4%	8,579,198
PA: Ghost Dimension	Paramount	23/10/2015	3	290,232	-58.8%	2,559,325
Scout’s Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse	Paramount	06/11/2015	1	271,779	NE	271,779
The Last Witch Hunter	eOne	23/10/2015	3	156,466	-59.4%	2,555,470

US Box Office

Sony Picture’s SPECTRE opened with $70m; (was tracking to open in the mid-80s opening) Skyfall opened with $88.4m in 2012; SPECTRE was the first Bond since Casino Royale in 2006 to open with another major release which opened against Happy Feet; film received mixed reviews but surprisingly A- CiinemaScore; If it holds similar to Skyfall could take $250m but if it doesn’t might not break $200m.

With a $300m budget second biggest is not good enough. As seen early this year with Disney reportedly disappointed with Avengers Age of Ultron box office.

If Star Wars The Force Awakens is second to Avatar will it be seen as a success; 6 years after it was released and 18 years after Titanic was released no films have come close to beating either of them even with ticket prices doubling in the years since with 3D and IMAX surcharges.

2. 20^th Century Fox Peanuts Movie opened with $45m higher than estimates thanks to the surprisingly positive reviews; received A CinemaScore and should hold well in the coming weeks till The Good Dinosaur opens for Thanksgiving.

3. 20^th Century Fox The Martian continued to hold well taking $9.3m in its sixth weekend taking $197.1m to date. Now Ridley Scott’s biggest film in the US ahead of Gladiator.