Top 5 Breakdown
- Kingsman: The Golden Circle – £ 4,187,105 – £ 15,623,613
Down 50.8% in its second weekend (down only 32% not including Wednesday/Thursday previews) holding close to the first film which dropped 48% in its second weekend in February 2015 taking £2,190,090 taking £8.24m of its final box office of £18.29m but while Kingsman: The Secret Service was second to Big Hero 6 in its second weekend Kingsman: The Golden Circle held #1 taking 42.9% of the top 10 box office.
Kingsman: The Golden Circle will, of course, loose #1 to Blade Runner this weekend which is expected to open with £6m+ but Kingsman is still likely to hold well as Blade Runner 2049 is likely to target an older audience as the five-star reviews could work against it as it did with the original film released in 1982. While younger under 35 audiences could keep Kingsman holding strongly in second with £2m+.
Kingsman: The Golden Circle has become the eighteenth biggest film of the year and overtook Alien: Covenant to be 20th Century Fox’s fourth biggest film of the year over the coming weeks should overtake War for the Planet of the Apes and Logan. 20th Century Fox remaining film of the year include The Mountain Between Us opening on Friday, Murder on the Orient Express, Battle of the Sexes and Ferdinand; Fox have released 18 films this year taking £135.3m.
Kingsman: The Golden Circle has overtaken Matthew Vaugh’s previously directed Kick-Ass £11.8m, Stardust £15.0m X-Men: First Class £15.1m and will by the weekend overtake Kingsman: The Secret Service to be his biggest film in the UK. As with so many British films Kingsman: The Golden Circle is performing far stronger in the UK than the US thanks to the Brit Boost that Dunkirk recently had and Bridget Jones’s Baby, James Bond, Harry Potter and Paddington and its upcoming sequel will do.
While of course Kingsman: The Golden Circle won’t get anywhere near James Bond success depending on how it holds against Blade Runner 2049 could overtake Mission Impossible and Jason Bourne to be #2; 2015’s Mission: Impossible: Rogue Nation took £21.05m and 2016’s Jason Bourne £23.4m. Tom Cruise is currently shooting Mission Impossible 6 for release next summer but opening against Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again and Hotel Transylvania 3 and sandwiched between Alita: Battle Angel and The Equalizer and The Predator faces his toughest Mission.
In recent years Tom Cruise has had little success other than his Mission Impossible films with both The Mummy and American Made disappointing at the box office which is probably why he finally gave in to make Top Gun: Maverick which will be released 33 years after the first film when he is getting close to turning 60. Arnold Schwarzenegger has recently announced he will star in a new Terminator trilogy produced by James Cameron the first released in 2019 (James Cameron also has finally started filming the first two Avatar sequels last week Avatar 2 opening in December 2020 11 years after the first film and Avatar 3 opening a year later he also started up the Wonder Woman controversy up again last week) when he will be 72, Harrison Ford will be 78 when Indiana Jones 5 is released and Liam Neeson recently announced he hasn’t retired from action films while Daniel Craig will be 51 when he stars in Bond 25 and so could still be more Jason Bourne after the last film took $415m globally last year.
- It – £1,742,629 – £29,444,212
Down 39% in its fourth weekend has overtaken The Lego Batman Movie to become Warner Bros second biggest film of the year in the UK behind Dunkirk;
It is currently eighth biggest film of the year and will shortly overtake the Fat of the Furious, Spider-Man: Homecoming and La La Land to become the fifth biggest film of the year but Thor: Ragnarok, Paddington 2, Justice League and Star Wars VIII The Last Jedi will all overtake It over the next couple of months.
I Am Legend had 5.12m admissions in 2007 be £39.1m today and The Sixth Sense 6.03m £45.97m today It has currently had 3.86m admissions.
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- Victoria and Abdul £943,300 – £ 7,022,063
Down 23.8% in its third weekend predictably has to overtake Oscar nomination Hidden Figures to become the biggest drama of the year but can’t really be described as the original film with Judi Dench returning playing Queen Victoria again in what many see as Mrs Brown 2 not to be confused with Mrs Brown’s Boys 2.
Depending on how Victoria and Abdul holds in the coming weeks it should overtake both 2006’s The Queen £9,009,127 and 2013’s Philomena £10,792,731 to become Stephen Frears biggest film ever in the UK
- Goodbye Christopher Robin – £ 781,110 – NE
Was director Simon Curtis biggest opening in the UK overtaking My Week with Marilyn opened 25th November 2011 £753,886 taking £3,106,156 and The Woman in Gold opened 10th April 2015 £494,512 taking £2,833,478.
Opening close to Finding Neverland opened 29th October 2004 with £776,124 taking £3,306,342 but almost half of Miss Potter opening in January 2007 with £1,400,943 taking £6,115,011.
Goodbye Christopher Robin opened close many other films targeting similar audiences this year’s Jackie (£0.66m) Viceroy’s House (£0.92m), Their Finest £0.85m), My Cousin Rachel (£0.63m) highlights the problem with cinema currently as these types of films are being squeezed at the box office while these films are also opening far too wide in over 450 screens
The divide is getting bigger and bigger each year with the top 20 films this year in the UK likely to take close to 60% of the total box office. While cinemagoers will keep coming out to see these films it’s the other 800 films being released that are continually being squeezed sharing about £500m this year; Goodbye Christopher Robin opening with £780,000 which was the same as Finding Neverland but that was released 13 years ago this is one of a number of films targeting similar audience which has been squeezed in recent years as people have become far pickier with the films they pay to see and those they want to see and I’m sorry to say this as I’m like broken record as this always comes back to price. If it’s this tough for a studio to open a film an independent which doesn’t receive the same media coverage as a film like Goodbye Christopher Robin has little chance to make an impact in cinemas anymore unless it gets outside help from film festivals or awards as Moonlight did last year.
- Flatliners – £486,720 – NE
After not being screened for critics the sci-fi remake arrived on life support and won’t last that long in cinemas.
Opening 27 years after the original which became a cult favorite starring Julia Roberts in her follow up role to Pretty Woman, Kiefer Sutherland, William Baldwin, Oliver Platt, and Kevin Bacon.
The remake didn’t have anywhere as strong and recognizable cast with Ellen Page leading the film 10 years ago she starred in Juno and was expected to kick-start her career but none of her follow-up films did so. Which made the Flatliners remake as wanted as much as the 2015 Point Break remake opening with similar box office £421,818.
Many critics who saw Flatliners asked the question why? Why was Flatliners remade as the original film released 27 years ago wasn’t a massive became a bigger success on home entertainment and became a cult success. Sony Pictures release Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle a sequel to the 1995 film in December many were outraged Sony announced the sequel so soon after Robin Williams death can Dwayne Johnson really replace Robin Williams in the sequel?
Also released
Home Again – STX – £484,023 from 434 screens; a disappointing opening for the Reese Witherspoon rom-com which received strong media coverage as she traveled to the UK last week while received positive reviews it’s another sign that the old-fashioned rom-com days are over.
As with the US apart from Bridget Jones’s Baby regular non-gross-out rom-com have underwhelmed at the box office despite all the hype surrounding The Big Sick with reviews calling it the best rom-com since Four Weddings and a Funeral it opened with a similar £0.48m in July taking £1.74m. Reese Witherspoon recent films not including animated films Sing and Monsters Vs Aliens; Hot Pursuit opened with £311,673 in July 2015, Wild £524,941 in January 2015; 2012’s This Mean’s War £1,821,698 was her biggest opening in recent years;
Two years ago, the same weekend Hallie Meyers-Shyer mums Nancy Meyers last film The Intern which Reese Witherspoon was originally attached to before being replaced by Anne Hathaway opened with £758,713;
Earlier this year Reese Witherspoon had huge success starring and producing the fantastic HBO drama Big Little Lies which recently won several Emmys and produced Gone Girl but her film starring roles have sadly disappointed at the box office.
STX’s third release Andy Serkis’s Breathe opens the London Film Festival starring Andrew Garfield and Claire Foy this week opening at the end of the month but is unlikely to match the success Stephen Hawking’s Biopic The Theory of Everything being described by critics as a crude copy of the film.
UK box office in detail
This weekend’s top 10 box office took £9,737,687 down 32.4% from last weekend £14,426,112
The weekend admissions 1,277,912 down 32.4 % from last weekend 1,893,191 (average price £7.62 by UK Cinema Association/BFI for 2017).
Kingsman: The Golden Circle took 42.9% of the top 10; 21 films opened at weekend taking £2,137,034; Flatliners 22.7% (£486,721); Goodbye Christopher Robin 36.5% (£781,110); Home Again 22.6% (£484,124) remaining 18 films shared £385,079 (18%);
The weekend was down 25.5% from last year (£13,075,476): Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children £3,473,781, Deepwater Horizon £1,984,340, Supersonic £542,263, Free State of Jones £118,635.
Down 14.2% from 2015: (£11,352,036): The Martian £6,531,734, The Intern £758,713, Macbeth £746,642, Il Trovatore – Met Opera 2015 (Opera) £234,387
Next weekend in 2016: (£14,587,631) The Girl on the Train £6,957,945, War on Everyone £187,564, My Scientology Movie £106,720, Blood Father £68,808
UK Box Office Top 10
US Box Office Top 10
US Box office
20th Century Fox – Kingsman: The Golden Circle – $16.935m down 56.9% in its second weekend taking $66.37m; this compares to Kingsman: The Secret Service taking $18.34m and $67.92m.
On Sunday 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros and Universal Pictures reported Kingsman: The Golden Circle, It and American Made all took $17m. On Monday, it was claimed to be #1 but then when final figures were revealed on Tuesday Kingsman: The Golden Circle squeezed it with only $33,123 separating it from It but as It was in its fourth weekend while Kingsman: The Golden Circle was in its second It was by far the biggest winner of the weekend as it has been for all of September.
Was the 13th smallest gaps between #1 an #2; the smallest gap ever was in March 1993 between CB4 and Fire in the Sky with only $5,966 separating the two films.
Nowadays studios are very quick and announcing Sunday estimates with those are the figures most media pick up. But the closeness of the three films and the late reporting of the final figures does make you think that some of those figures aren’t as they claim to be. It was reported this week that China skimmed 9% of Hollywood studios box office takings last year and these were a regular occurrence in the US and UK before the likes of ComScore collate box office totals from almost all the cinemas in the US.
It took $50.5m taking $192.9m worldwide; the first film took $414.35m worldwide
Warner Bros – It drops 43.2% taking $16.9m in its fourth weekend taking $290.77m; will shortly become the biggest horror overtaking 1999’s The Sixth Sense $293.5m by next weekend; It has become the fifth biggest film of the year.
It took $35.6m internationally and $264.8m internationally and $556.7m globally; after 10 days on release its #12 biggest film of the year globally overtaking The Boss Baby and Dunkirk and will shortly overtake Kong: Skill Island, Transformers: The Last Knight and Logan to be the ninth biggest film globally in 2017; #146 biggest ever ahead of The Revenant, World War Z, X-Men: Apocalypse and American Sniper and will shortly overtake Fifty Shades of Grey, Iron Man, I Am Legend to now likely to take over $600m worldwide. It had a budget of less than a quarter of the 11 films that have taken more than It but will probably be one of the most profitable films of the year and the biggest profitable film for Warner Bros despite Wonder Woman and Justice League both likely to take more.
2017 has been the year of the underdog from Wonder Woman becoming the second biggest film of the year in the US and being both a critical and box office success after the previous DC films were a critical disappointment to Logan. Dunkirk, Get Out, The Boss Baby, Split, Girls Trip and Baby Driver all performing strongly against far bigger opposition it shows again that audiences what variety and different films not that they will get much of this in the next couple of years with wall to wall sequels, remakes, reboots, reimaginations and comic-book movies.
Universal Pictures – American Made opens $16.77m; received B+ CinemaScore.
Was Tom Cruise’s smallest opening in the US since 2012’s Jack Reacher despite 87% Rotten Tomatoes score; its disappointing opening was predictable ever since Universal Pictures made the crazy decision to open the film internationally early first. While often makes sense to open films that have a global plot like James Bond or The Mummy American Made was as American as its title.
The film has a similar plot to the 2014 film Kill the Messenger which was also poorly released by Focus Features opening limited wide on $941,809 but never going wider taking only $2,450,846 despite positive reviews and a 77% Rotten Tomatoes score. The film is also close to the 1990 comedy Air America which curiously opened the same weekend on August 10th, 1990 Air America also opened #3 taking $8.06m with Flatliners opening with $10.03m #1.
The film took $3.8m international and has taken $81.7m globally
Warner Bros – The Lego Ninjago Movie – drops 43% with $11,64m and $35.2m; September over recent years has been a lucrative time for animation with Hotel Transylvania 2, Cloud with the Chance of Meatballs 2, Hotel Transylvania, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Dolphin Tale, Storks, The Boxtrolls and Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole.
While The Lego Ninjago Movie disappointed maybe the issue was two Lego movies in a year was too many but maybe the issue was more than being a martial arts film it was still targeting the male audience who would prefer Kingsman: The Golden Circle and It. There has been little choice for younger female audiences for several weeks now so My Little Pony might be able to do what The Lego Ninjago Movie wasn’t.
Much has been written asking if The Lego Ninjago Movie harms the Lego movie franchise the problem Warner Bros didn’t expect was it was squeezed by Kingsman targetting similar male audience.
The Lego Ninjago Movie took $10.6m international and $22.8m to date but opens in most international territories this month.
Sony Pictures – Flatliners – opened with $6.57m; after not being screened to critics it received 0% Rotten Tomatoes score currently climbed to 2% and received B- CinemaScore. There was confusion over if it was a sequel or a remake but the real confusion why Sony Pictures remade the film as original was a success more for its cast than the film while the remake without the strong cast is just an unwanted film that no one has any interest in seeing.
The original film opened with $10.03m on August 10th, 1990 (strangely the same say as Air America many compared America Made to) went on to take $61.48m was Julia Roberts follow-up to her breakthrough role Pretty Woman is still her leading role to date. (Ocean’s trilogy films are bigger but she had cameo roles)
In recent years have been reboots of many 90s films with very mixed success (opening BO in brackets) Total Recall ($25.57m), Dredd ($6.27m), Point Break ($8.51m), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ($65.57m), Beauty and the Beast($174.75m), Power Rangers ($40.3m) and It ($123.4m) with Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle opening in December and are many more 90s remakes in current development.
Fox Searchlight – Battle of the Sexes – $3.41m added 1,192 screens up 563% and $4.09m total; after strong reviews at Venice and Toronto Film Festivals, Emma Stone on Saturday Night Live and strong media coverage might have expected a stronger expansion but expands again this weekend adding another 700 screens.
Opened October 6th
Opening UK
- Blade Runner 2049 – Sony Pictures
Science Fiction film starring Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford, Ana de Armas, Sylvia Hoeks, Robin Wright, Mackenzie Davis, Carla Juri, Lennie James, Dave Bautista and Jared Leto and directed by Denis Villeneuve.
Development of the sequel started almost 20 years ago based on The Edge of Human called Blade Runner Down but film was canceled due to rights issues. Ridley Scott for many years developed a sequel called Metropolis. In 2009, it was reported Ridley and his brother Tony were developing a prequel Purefold again canceled due to rights issues. For many years after staying in development until late November when it was announced Ridley Scott would produce the sequel and Harrison Ford would return a few months later Denis Villeneuve was announced as director and Ryan Gosling also joined the cast. Filming started in July 2016 and in October 2016 Warner Bros announced it would be titled Blade Runner 2049.
As with many films, these days Warner Bros and Columbia Pictures released an announcement teaser December 19th, 2016 with the first trailer released in May and a second in July. Three shorts were released to show what has happened between Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2049 first 2036: Nexus Dawn, second, 2048: Nowhere to Run and third Runner Black Out 2022.
Earlier this year Sony Pictures released T2: Trainspotting opening 21 years after the original and over recent years there have been many sequels released many years after previous films American Reunion and Anchorman: The Legend Continues, Before Midnight was 9 years after Hannibal, Men in Black 3, X-Files: I Want to Believe 10 years Scream 4, Terminator: Rise of the Machines 11 years Jurassic World 14 years, The Godfather 3, Rocky Balboa, Star Wars: Episode 1: The Phantom Menace, The Two Jakes 16 years, Blues Brother 2000 18 years later, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull 19 years, Dumb and Dumber 20 years, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps 23 years, Tron Legacy 28 years, Mad Max: Fury Road 30 years and now Blade Runner 2049 35 years later.
As in the US, the original film wasn’t a success at the UK box office but became a cult classic over the years that followed.
Blade Runner 2049 being compared to the original could be its biggest weakness as is not as accessible sci-fi as Gravity and The Martian were to regular audiences and while critics orgasmed watching the film and reviewed the hype sure many regular cinemagoers will find it long and pretentious which was the problem with the original when it was first released before it was later heralded as a masterpiece and re-issued many times in different cuts.
Tron Legacy opened December 17th, 2010 £1,970,692
Gravity opened 8th November 2013 £6,238,375 (Gravity £619,086 from 478 previews)
Interstellar opened 7th November 2014 £5,378,220 (£59,467 from 178 previews
Mad Max: Fury Road opened May 15th, 2015 £4,538,933 (£638,690 from 498 previews)
The Martian opened October 2nd, 2015 £6,531,734 (£1,630,490 from 552 previews)
Arrival opened 11th November 2016 £2,924,059 (£1,354,250 from 461 previews
This year T2: Trainspotting opened 27th January £5,146,791 21 years after the original
Logan opened 3rd March £9,443,363 (£2,497,845 from 551 previews)
Alien: Covenant opened 12th May £5,178,531 (£348,270 from 332 previews) 38-year-old 8 film title franchise)
War for the Planet of the Apes 14th July £7,195,773 (£1,974,695 from 471 previews) 49-year 9 film title franchise)
Will be interesting to see if audiences decide to see the film in 3D after the film was retrofitted into 3D as it will be the first major film released in 3D since IMAX announced in July that 3D IMAX won’t be the default and they will be moving to many more 2D screenings. That said Thor: Ragnarok, Justice League and Star Wars: The Last Jedi will all be screened in 3D and IMAX 3D but won’t be playing in the largest screens as had previously.
With Blade Runner 2049 opening on Thursday would expect a 4-day opening close to The Martian but the big question is will younger audiences be as excited about the film as critics have been which is unlikely. As previous legacyquels including Jurassic World, and Star Wars: The Force Awakens crossed audiences old and young while Blade Runner 2049 is likely to play older rather than younger. Once the hype has faded Blade Runner 2049 will likely be seen similar to Star Wars: The Force Awakens with critics overdosing on memberries and hype
- The Mountain Between Us – 20th Century Fox
Romance disaster starring Idris Elba and Kate Winslet and directed by Hany Abu-Assad based on the novel of the same name by Charles Martin; premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival receiving mixed reviews.
In March 2012 was announced Michael Fassbender will star and was replaced by d Charlie Hunnam. Margot Robbie also came on board and was replaced by Rosamund Pike both then left the project and replaced by Idris Elba and Kate Winslet.
Six Days, Seven Nights opened with £908,713 in July 1998 taking £4,535,477
Earlier this year there was The Space Between Us now The Mountain Between Us
- The Glass Castle – Lionsgate
Biographical drama starring Brie Larson, Naomi Watts, Woody Harrelson, Max Greenfield and Sarah Snook and directed by Destin Daniel Cretton based on Jeannette Walls’s 2005 memoir of the same name; received mixed reviews but praised performances of Larson and Harrelson. Had a disappointing opening in the US when it opened in August with $2.6m and will have a similar poor opening in the UK.
Opening in US
- Blade Runner 2049 – Warner Bros
Being released 35 years after the original film there was always the question why it took so long for the sequel to be made part of this was despite the original film post released heralded as a Sci-Fi masterpiece it flopped when it was first released. In 1982 Blade Runner opened second to the third weekend of E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial with half of its box office $6.15m Vs $13.72m (admissions 2.09m Vs 4.66m) with average ticket price up 204% since would be $18.72m Vs $41.76m today; but of course, the way cinemagoers watch films were different then to today; E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial took only 3.3% of its total box office in its opening weekend staying in cinemas for a year this compares Blade Runner instead was 26.2% which is similar to a films performance today.
My biggest question is despite Blade Runner 2049’s incredible marketing campaign which plays to its fanbase who is the audience for the film is it those few teenagers who saw it in 1982 who are now almost 60 or is it millennials who probably prefer watching CGI vaginas. While Ryan Gosling has starred in many great films he has yet to have a success as the star. Last years The Nice Guys which he starred alongside Russell Crowe directed by Shane Black was a sequel to 2005’s Kiss Kiss Bang Bang disappointed at the box office.
Critics have compared it to the original but critics get caught up in the hype many have compared it to Mad Max: Fury Road and are talking it up as a potential Oscar contender while likely to do similarly at the box office. Early October in recent years has been a strong for adult dramas Gone Girl and adult Sci-Fi Gravity, the Martian and Arrival and Blade Runner 2049 is likely to be similar.
Tron Legacy opened December 17th, 2010 $44.02m
Gravity opened 4th October 2013 $55.78m
Interstellar opened 5th November 2014 $47.51m
Mad Max: Fury Road opened May 15th, 2015 $45.42m
The Martian opened October 2nd, 2015 $54.3m
Arrival opened 11th November 2016 $24.07m
Early tracking predicted Blade Runner 2049 to open with $40m but that was before reviews estimates have gone up to $47m with advance bookings stronger than Mad Max: Fury Road which would point it towards an opening close to 2004’s I, Robot $52.17m and The Martian $54.3m
Blade Runner 2049 is expected to open with about $100m worldwide for its opening weekend which would be close to 2015’s The Martian which took $55m in the US and $45.2 million from 49 territories. Mad Max: Fury Road took $109.4 million globally with $65 million from 68 territories.
- The Mountain Between Us – 20th Century Fox
While Blade Runner 2049 is targeting males over 35 The Mountain Between Us starring Idris Elba and Kate Winslet will be hoping to target the female audience reviews have been mixed calling it The Grey meets The English Patient or Alive meets Before Sunrise or Cast Away Tom Hanks horny for Wilson but instead its Six Days, Seven Nights stranded after a plane crash on a snow-covered mountain.
Six Days, Seven Nights opened June 12th, 1998 with $16.48m starring the unbelieving couple Harrison Ford and Anne Heche but The Mountain Between Us opening 19 years later will probably open with half $8-$10m.
- My Little Pony – Lionsgate
Animated musical fantasy based on the television series My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic featuring the voices of Tara Strong, Ashleigh Ball, Andrea Libman, Tabitha St. Germain, Cathy Weseluck, Emily Blunt, Kristin Chenoweth, Liev Schreiber, Michael Peña, Sia, Taye Diggs, Uzo Aduba, and Zoe Saldana and directed by Jayson Thiessen.
