Top 5 Breakdown
- The Hunger Games Mockingjay Part 2 – £11,247,588 -NE
2D £7,657,314 with previews £9,255,694 – 3D took £1,591, 875 with previews £1,991,894
Seventh biggest opening of the year but down from Mockingjay Part 1 £12.64m and Catching Fire £12.19m
Took £1.99m in Thursday previews 15% less than Mockingjay Part 1 last November £2.34m
Since the release of the first part the final part of The Hunger Games film series was highly anticipated by female audiences but was down surprising 11% from Part 1 the difference is more notable as the final part was retro-fitted into 3D.
Film generated strong media coverage over the past two weeks building from its world premiere in Germany and then premiers across Europe and in London on November 5th lead by coverage for Jennifer Lawrence.
Reviews have been more mixed with many complaining action has been stretched out which was done too split the final film into two.
Last year the first part dropped 52% in its second weekend against the opening of Paddington and Horrible Bosses 2. The Good Dinosaur and Bridge of Spies are targeting different audiences younger and older.
Its crazy a film can open these days with £11m and be seen as a disappointment but similarly in the US opening less than previous parts (except first film) isn’t good enough as these mega-movies will normally drop big in its second weekend.
Mockingjay Part 1 took £30.84m x2.43 times opening if Mockingjay Part 2 was to drop similar will end with £27.33m. Catching Fire took £32.2m opened with £12.19m (x2.64). While The Hunger Games took £23.8m in March 2012 opening with £4.4m (x5.41).
Posters in Israel featuring Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen have been “deemed unkosher” in the ultra-Orthodox Israeli cities of Jerusalem and Bnei Brak and have been removed. Despite these restrictions The Hunger Games films have been popular with Israeli moviegoers.
2. Spectre – £3,820,036 – total £84,311,911
2D took £3,382,608 total £77,670,627 – IMAX (40 screens) £437,429 – total £6,641,284
On Thursday became the third biggest film in the UK toppling Titanic.
Spectre also became the highest grossing IMAX release in the UK with ££6.6m ahead of Avatar’s £6.55m (Avatar opened on far less IMAX screens than Spectre with prices at BFI IMAX £12 compared with £22 were for Spectre).
Dropping 51.2% in its fourth weekend is now tracking below Skyfall (had taken £85.8m after 4 weeks) as expected and had dropped 5% less in its fourth weekend against the final Twilight film.
With another likely 50%+ decline this weekend with The Good Dinosaur and Bridge of Spies opening will likely come short of Avatar be at least 8% down on Skyfall’s final box office of £102m.
Indian censors cut four scenes James Bond kissing scenes with Léa Seydoux and Italian actor Monica Bellucci.
3. The Lady in the Van – £1,609,943 – total £6,437,140
Holding strongly in its second weekend down 28.1% thanks to good word of mouth.
Took £4.82m in its opening week with strong £2.58m Mon-Thurs slightly less than £3m The Second Best Marigold Hotel took earlier this year and more than Suffragette took £1.39m (before its opening weekend).
| 2nd w/e | % Ch | 2 w/e | ||
| The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel | £2.34m | +5% | March 2012 | £7.01m |
| Suffragette | £1.34m | -12.7% | October 2015 | £5.8m |
| The Imitation Game | £2.12m | -19% | November 2014 | £6.75m |
| The Iron Lady | £1.48m | -31% | January 2012 | £5.17m |
| The Second Best Marigold Hotel | £1.90m | -37% | March 2015 | £8.59m |
Oscar favourite Carol and Bridge of Spies could harm its performance next weekend as both will likely attract similar audience to The Lady in the Van.
4. Hotel Transylvania 2 – £538,2190 – total £19,188,274
3D took £3,622 – total £1,829,846 – 2D took £534,596 – total £17,358,428
Holding in fourth for a second weekend down 40.5% will overtake Big Hero 6 next weekend. But with the arrival of The Good Dinosaur it will likely drop down the charts.
While the sequel has taken 12% more than the original in the US it has taken over 131% more than the original in the UK. It’s no wonder Sony have already dated part 3 for October 2018.
- Brooklyn – £409,100 – total £3,782,618
Climbing back into the top five despite dropping 47.5% is still managing to hold its own again the competition due to strong word of mouth.
But with three major releases opening next weekend and another Oscar favourite Brooklyn is unlikely to be able to hold on to its screens and similar to a lot of films recently will lose screens to new releases even though it is still performing well.
Other box office news:
This weekend’s top 10 box office took £18,815,300 27.5% up from last weekend £14,753,814 was down 3.6% from same weekend last year. (£19,518,991); The Hunger Games Mockingjay Part 2 took 59.7% of weekends box office compares with 64.7% for Mockingjay Part 1 last year.
Last year The Hunger Games Mockingjay Part 1 opened with £12.64m and What We Do in the Shadows £127,765.
This weekend last year Paddington opened with £5,112,367, Horrible Bosses 2 £1,257,202.
Complete UK Box office top 10 – November 20th – 22nd 2015
| Film | Studio | Release date | Weeks | w/e box office | Change +/- | Total |
| THG: Mockingjay Part 2 | Lionsgate | 20/11/2015 | 1 | 11,247,588 | NE | 11,247,588 |
| Spectre | Sony | 26/10/2015 | 4 | 3,820,036 | -51.2% | 84,311,911 |
| The Lady in the Van | Sony | 13/11/2015 | 2 | 1,609,943 | -28.1% | 6,437,140 |
| Hotel Transylvania 2 | Sony | 16/10/2015 | 6 | 538,219 | -40.5% | 19,188,274 |
| Brooklyn | Lionsgate | 06/11/2015 | 3 | 409,100 | -47.5% | 3,782,618 |
| Steve Jobs | Universal | 13/11/2015 | 2 | 404,026 | -54.8% | 1,776,129 |
| The Dressmaker | Entertainment | 20/11/2015 | 1 | 235,668 | NE | 235,668 |
| Pan | Warner | 02/10/2015 | 6 | 230,282 | -52.4% | £8,693,310 |
| Prem Ratan Dhan Payo | 20th Century Fox | 13/11/2015 | 2 | 217,514 | -76.1% | 1,392,688 |
| The Perfect Guy | Sony | 20/11/2015 | 1 | 102,924 | NE | 102,924 |
US Box Office
- Lionsgate’s The Hunger Games Mockingjay Part 2 opened with $101m down 17% from last year’s Mockingjay Part 1 $121.9m; received mixed reviews but strong A- CinemaScore 63% of audiences was female and 52% was under 25.
- Sony Picture’s SPECTRE dropped 59% in its third weekend to $14.6m with total $153.7m; after three weekends Skyfall had taken $221m SPECTRE is 44% down and is now unlikely to get close to $250m.
- 20th Century Fox Peanuts Movie dropped 49% with $12.8m and $98.9m total.
- STX Secret in Their Eyes opened with $6.6m.
On limited released
Universal – opened with $83,000 from 4 screens. After opening wide in UK Legend is surprisingly opening limited before going wide on December 11th; received 59% score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Universal Pictures expanded By the Sea to 126 screens taking $185,000 and $313,000 total.
