Top 5 Breakdown
- Rampage – £1,413,973 – £6,483,777
Down 67.5% in its second weekend including £953,659 previews or down 57.7% without previews recent action films Pacific Rim: Uprising dropped 60% in its second weekend raking £655,858. Tomb Raider dropped 62% in its second weekend and 54% without previews taking £1,186,436 and £5,472,541
Dwayne Johnson’s previous films directed by Brad Peyton 2015’s San Andreas dropped 61% in its second weekend (54% not including previews) taking £1,794,747 and £8,334,562 73.6% of total box office of £11,316,171 and 2012’s Journey 2: The Mysterious Island dropped 25% in its second weekend taking £902,857 and £2,419,809 36.7% of total box office of £6,587,326.
Most recent computer game adaptation Tomb Raider dropped 62% in its second weekend £1,186,436 and £5,472,541 71.2% of total £7,677,778 and Ready Player One dropped 53% taking £2,395,663 and £11,483,687 74.3% of current £15,439,019. While Dwyane Johnson’s last film Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle dropped 36% taking £5,210,725 and £17,835,902 49% of total £36,387,543.
Comparing Rampage to recent disaster films it has overtaken last years Geostorm and will shortly overtake 2009’s Knowing but unlikely to get close to either San Andreas or Independence Day: Resurgence.
Disaster films used to be hugely successful in the 90s with Independence Day, Armageddon, The Day After Tomorrow but apart from 2012 in 2009 and San Andreas which had more to do with Dwayne Johnson it is another genre of movies that comic-book movies have killed off.
Cinema Con is currently in Las Vegas and NATO’s John Fithian said the movie business doesn’t need saving as is in great shape while Black Panther has been a huge success many other films that have been released this year including Ramage, Tomb Raider and Ready Player One have underperformed due to audiences being much more selective. In the 90s and 00s, audiences would see guilty secret films like Rampage that as silly and great fun if completely mad but they are now getting squeezed at the box office.
2. A Quiet Place – £1,024,722 – £8,262,665
Down 46.2% in its third weekend after dropping only 29.5% last weekend dropped slightly more than expected in its third weekend like most other films affected by the sunny weather.
A Quiet Place took similar to Get Out took in its third weekend £1,095,500 (£6.79m 68.9% of £10.1m total) while also similar to third weekend total Split (taking £1,246,171 in its third weekend) £8.26m 73.8% of £11.20m total.
While A Quiet Place is looking towards a $200m total in the US which would be close to £20m if using the 10% calculation for UK box office but will be closer to 6% which is close to Get Out, John Wick: Chapter 2, Den of Thieves, XxX3: The Return of Xander Cage.
With the positive reviews and strong word of mouth, why didn’t A Quiet Place open as strongly in the UK and the US and hold as well? My answer is the 15 certificate the film received a PG-13 in the US while Split and Get Out deserve their 15 certificates A Quiet Place is another borderline 15 film that suffers as its target audience isn’t legally allowed to see it.
While recent 10% films include The Hitman’s Bodyguard, Logan, Kong: Skull Island, The Mummy, Thor: Ragnarok and Guardians of the Galaxy 2.
- The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society – £825,777 – NE
While other film releases were affected by the hot sunny weather The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society opened as expected close to Their Finest opened the same weekend last year that opened with £850,328 dropping only 26% in its second weekend with £630,544.
With strong word of mouth, the film will likely hold strongly over next weekend while also perform well during the week as older audiences will likely go to the cinema more mid-week than weekends.
Six years ago, against Avengers Assemble Salmon Fishing in the Yemen was one of a few films that held strongly against it dropping only 7% in its second weekend taking £1,085,697 and £3,186,574.
Mid-April after the schools return from Easter holidays as early June has been when distributors have opened films targetting older audiences. Last year Their Finest opened the same weekend last year with £850,328 and took £4,019,741. While the year earlier in 2016 Eye in the Sky opened with £1,110,959 from 428 screens holding well in its second weekend taking £826,374 and £2,617,312 and went on to take £5,026,117.
As with so many other similar films it opened far too wide in almost 500 screens as a film like this would be better to open on 300 screens and then expand over following weekends as it will be one film that will likely hold its own against Avengers: Infinity War this weekend targetting to a completely different demographic.
The film was made by the producers of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel opened with £2,222,051 in February 2011 taking £18,994,423 and the sequel The Second-Best Marigold Hotel opened three years later with £3,733,969 (including £704,965 previews) taking £15,575,797.
Critics have called it a return to form for director Mike Newell best known for 1994’s Four Weddings and a Funeral (taking £27.8m its inflation inflated box office is £42.8m the third highest grossing independent British film after The King’s Speech and The Inbetweeners Movie) after which he went Hollywood directing Donnie Brasco, Pushing Tin, Mona Lisa Smile, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. This is his first film since directing 2012’s Great Expectation opened with £544,000n taking £2.5m.
Lily James breakthrough role was in TV series Downtown Abbey which saw here cast as Cinderella in 2015 and more recently in Baby Driver and Darkest Hour will next appear in Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again in July as the young Donna and stars in the Untitled Danny Boyle musical themed film written by Richard Curtis filming starts in the summer and set for release in September 2019.
Over the years have been many films that have had long film titles from Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café which had the shortened Fried Green Tomatoes title in the UK to The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain.
Sometimes long film titles attract audience’s other times they confuse originally Shawshank Redemption was to be called Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption after the Stephen King short story it was shortened to Shawshank Redemption which just confused audiences while since its release its become fan favourite despite rave reviews it flopped.
While the film is getting a theatrical release in the UK, Australia, France, and Germany Netflix have acquired the film in many other countries including the US.
- Ready Player One – £503,099 – £15,439,019
Down 57% in its fourth weekend
Before Ready Player One opened Chris Miller tweeted saying there was a film coming soon that features “a bunch of famous characters from different movies and TV shows and games that all interact in the same shared universe.” The film he was talking about was The Lego Movie 2 which his has co-written but is also the plot of Ready Player One. Steven Spielberg could have responded to Chris Miller saying The Lego Movie shared universe is also similar to Who Framed Roger Rabbit made 30 years earlier featuring animated characters from both Disney and Warner Bros studios.
Ready Player One is a very enjoyable Steven Spielberg film while the shared universe might not be as original as first thought it doesn’t take away from it being a very enjoyable cinema experience and still probably more original than most other blockbusters this year. Which is why its a real shame that its only the ninth biggest film of the year (after Black Panther, Peter Rabbit, The Greatest Showman, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, Darkest Hour, Coco, Fifty Shades Freed and Three Billboards) but by the end of the year won’t be one of the biggest 30 films of the year.
Originally believed Ready Player One would take close to Blade Runner 2049 and similar to 2002’s Minority Report which it has almost overtaken in the US but instead will be his ninth biggest film released over the last 30 years in the UK.
Originally Ready Player One was due to be released December 15th, 2017 before Disney moved Star Wars: The Last Jedi had it of kept its opening would it have done any better seeing how well Jumanji did opening a week after The Last Jedi. While Black Panther and Peter Rabbit openings could have been predicted neither of the strong holdovers was expected which has affected almost all other films that have been released since.
Last week was announced Steven Spielberg was attached to possibly direct the adaption of DC Comics Blackhawk as one of many projects he is attached to. Was expected Indiana Jones 5 would be his next film with West Side Story following in 2020 but where Blackhawk fits in between those two films is unknown. Will it be one of the many films he gets attached to and then passes onto other directors like Robopocalypse he developed for years but Michael Bay recently announced it would one of the two films he will direct.
Steven Spielberg previously said comic-book films will go the way of westerns as all genres of films have a lifespan (last week James Cameron talked about comic-book fatigue) but maybe similar to the reason he decided to direct Indiana Jones 5 a comic-book film will play better to the millennials who didn’t grow up with his films and doesn’t command the same level of respect he does from older audiences.
- Peter Rabbit – £487,412 – £38,892,842
Down 76% in its sixth weekend was always likely to drop heavily after the Easter holidays ended; in comparison, The Boss Baby dropped only 38% over the weekend after Easter holidays which was its fourth weekend taking £1,293,372 and £23,930,280. While Peppa Pig: My First Cinema Experience dropped 45% taking £115,054 (also in its fourth weekend) and £3,195,586.
As with all the other films in release its box office was affected by the hot sunny weather but still would have expected to of not dropped as heavily as it did showing that it was a babysitter to younger children with the bad weather over the last 5 weeks.
Peter Rabbit became Sony Pictures biggest non-James Bond film in the UK overtaking 2017’s Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle £38.4m and 1997’s Men in Black £36.2m, 2007’s Spider-Man 3 £33.45m and Spider-Man: Homecoming £30.48m.
Has also become the 59th biggest film in the UK overtaking Shrek the Third; after overtaking Paddington last week was looking like it would overtake Paddington 2 but now it’s unlikely to do so.
Sony Animation have three more films to be released in 2018 Hotel Transylvania 3: A Monster Vacation opening in July (only two weeks after The Incredibles 2) Goosebumps: Slappy Halloween and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
2012’s Hotel Transylvania opened with £1.73m taking £8.1m and 2015’s Hotel Transylvania 2 opened with £6.31m including £3.21m from two weekends of previews taking £19.72m.
Goosebumps opened in February 2016 with £2,686,105 taking £8,824,457.
UK box office in detail
This weekend’s top 10 box office took £5,699,055 down 55.2% from last weekend £12,710,943
The weekend admissions 1,657,229 down 4.34% from last weekend 1,732,548; 2018 average ticket price is probably up about 3% from last year’s £7.49 to £7.67 for 2018;
13 films opened at weekend taking £1,159,296; The Guernsey Literary took 71.2% (£825,777); remaining 12 films shared 28.7% (£333,519):
The weekend was down 39.5% from last year (£9,428,676) Their Finest £850,328, Eugene Onegin Met Opera 2017 (Opera) £274,598, Unforgettable £270,610, The Belko Experiment £129,942, The Zookeeper’s Wife £101,407, Rules Don’t Apply £47,158
Down 54.7% from 2016: (£12,580,441): Bastille Day £762,598, Friend Request £624,996, Shakespeare Live! £250,893, Miles Ahead £168,397, Jane Got a Gun £31,448
Next weekend in 2017: (£18,596,685) Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 £13,092,657. The Promise £178,388, Lady Macbeth £174,989, Mad Max: Fury Road – Black & Chrome Edition £39,399, Lowriders £6,543
Other news
It was the worst weekend since October 11th, 2013 when The Fifth Estate opened but as ticket inflation since 2013 is up over 15% from £653 to £7,67 and the top 10 included Blade Runner Secret Cinema with tickets £75 the weekend was really much worse. Last weekend was lower than the most recent lowest weekend June 16th, 2017 when Churchill £392,732 and Gifted £305,323 opened with the top ten taking £5,745,646.
Of course, this weekend Avengers: Infinity War opens with cooler temperatures box office will see an increase over last year for the first time since Black Panther opened 10 weeks ago.
The Greatest Showman suffers its biggest weekend drop due to the sunny weather in its 17th weekend taking £304,478 and £45,446,913 has overtaken The King’s Speech and The Inbetweeners Movie becoming the 44th biggest film ever in the UK and will shortly overtake Harry Potter and The Prisoner Of Azkaban. After its big drop caused by the sunshine, its unlikely to go much higher but is now close to The Jungle Book, Despicable Me 2, Minions, Despicable Me 3 and Jurassic Park showing how incredible its box office performance has been; the films soundtrack returned to #1 again for the second time.
Also opened
Warner Bros – Wilding – £20,111 frim 133 screens
Universal Pictures – The Leisure Seekers – £105,021 from 374 screens – the Helen Mirren and Donald Sutherland film opened surprisingly wide with an average of only £279.
eOne – Funny Cow – £74,142 from 62 screens – despite positive reviews only had a limited release and yet another film that premiered 6 months ago at the London Film Festival but then underwhelmed at the box office.
Park Circus – Grease – £377,001 including £300,000 from screenings on Thursday and was #1 was the also the hottest April day since 1949.
Previously had a nationwide re-release in July 1998 opening with £707,726 from over 200 screens taking £3,989,870
UK Box Office Top 10
US Box office
- A Quiet Place – Paramount Pictures
Down 33.3% in its third weekend taking $20.91m and $131.27m
A Quiet Place is already Paramount Pictures #51 biggest film in the US and has become their biggest film since 2016’s Star Trek Beyond.
In Get Out’s third weekend it took $20.74m and $110.72m 63% of its final box office of $176.1m if a Quiet Place was to hold similar could take upwards of $200m which will be Paramount’s biggest film since 2015’s Mission: Impossible: Rogue Nation $195m.
Took $15m internationally from 57 territories and $74.8m total and $207.16m globally with several major countries still to come including China (horror films don’t normally open in China). Internationally performing ahead of Don’t Breathe, Get Out, Lights Out and The Conjuring.
- Warner Bros – Rampage
Down 41.8% in its second weekend taking $20.09m and $65.69m total
Dropping much less than recent action films Pacific Rim Uprising 66.7% and Tomb Raider 57.3% in its second weekend.
Holding stronger than Dwayne Johnson’s San Andreas which had taken 36% more after 10 days $98.46m and similar to 2016’s Central Intelligence which took $18.24m in its second weekend and $69.17m going on to take $127.44m.
Rampage is Dwayne Johnson’s third film directed by Brad Peyton’s San Andreas opened in May 2015 with $54,588,173 taking $155,190,832 and 2012’s Journey 2: The Mysterious Island opened with $27,335,363 taking $103,860,290. But with Avengers: Infinity War opening next weekend it will be lucky if it crosses $100m.
A high school student in the US invited Dwyane Johnson to the prom he declined saying that he was filming Jungle Cruise when the party was happening but instead he rented out a cinema, so she and her friends could see Rampage announcing it over the school’s intercom
Rampage is performing stronger internationally taking $57m from 61 territories taking $216.4m total (48% from China $106.6m taking more than Black Panther but rental is only 25% less than half for the US but with Avengers: Infinity War not opening for three weeks it will have a longer playing time than most releases) and $283m globally.
IndieWire asked why if Dwayne Johnson is the current world’s biggest action star did Rampage open with only $35m less than Kong: Skull Island opened last year and Dwayne Johnson’s San Andreas. Dwayne Johnson responded to the article saying “Our projected domestic opening was always $35m. We exceeded at 35.7m. The projected worldwide opening was $120m. We exceeded big w/ $151m. My personal biggest opening ever in China and 60-70% market share in many territories. No scoreboard pointing yet my friend”.
But the softer than expected opening I believe has much more to still do with Black Panther as it has affected all other films that have opened since apart from A Quiet Place. While Black Panther might have broken records it also has cannibalized the market since while films like Red Sparrow, Tomb Raider and Pacific Rim Uprising were never going to be huge they would have opened stronger had it not been for Black Panther as normally success breeds success as it did last spring.
But Black Panther did as Titanic and Avatar did squeeze the marketplace and people weren’t seeing the other films instead of going back to see Black Panther as it was playing to a much wider audience than anyone predicted. Saying that for the last few years there have been films that have performed far beyond tracking targetting non-white audiences and with the hype and rave reviews Black Panther was always likely to be that film that brought many who wouldn’t ever see a comic-book film.
- STX Entertainment – I Feel Pretty
Opens with $16.03m; received 36% Rotten Tomatoes score and B+ CinemaScore
Took $1m from previews more than Amy Schumer’s previous films Snatched which received similar Rotten Tomatoes score but opened with $19.54m taking $45.85m and 2015’s Trainwreck opened with $30.9m taking $110.21m.
When the trailer was released received backlash over the central theme which many believed was close to the 2001 comedy Shallow Hal, Amy Schumer went on the defensive for the film saying audiences shouldn’t judge the film on just the trailer, but the problem was the film was not much better.
While Amy Schumer is very funny on TV apart from Trainwreck (which she wrote the screenplay) she has yet to find a role that suits her comedic talents. Both Trainwreck and Snatched were R-rated but I Feel Pretty was a PG-13 which probably hindered the film.
- Fox Searchlight – Super Troopers 2
Opens with $15.18m; received 33% Rotten Tomatoes score and B+ CinemaScore taking took $1.35m from Thursday previews normally previews take about 9% of the film’s opening weekend.
The film was tracking to open close opening of the original film released in 2002 opened with $6.2m and took only $18.49m; original film received similarly poor reviews getting only 35% Rotten Tomatoes score.
After the original film underwhelmed at the box office, Fox Searchlight had little interest in making a sequel and was instead funded by crowdfunding in 2015 the $2m target was raised within 26 hours and ended up raising $4.4m with 43 of them receiving a producing credit. Fox Searchlight coming on board only to release the film.
- Universal Pictures – Truth or Dare
Down 58.3% in its second weekend taking $7.93m and $30.26m
Holding 25% down from Blumhouse Productions teen horror Happy Death Day which took $9.36m and $40.67m taking $55.68m and 37% less than Insidious: The Last Key which took $12.31m and $48.66m taking $67.43m.
Truth or Dare took $4.1m and $7.9m internationally and $38.3m globally
- Warner Bros – Ready Player One
Down 35.6% in its fourth weekend taking $7.41m and $126.1m; has become Steven Spielberg’s 16th biggest film in the US overtaking Hook and will shortly overtake Minority Report, and Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
Ready Player One should take about $140m in the US would see it become his 13th biggest film in the US.
Steven Spielberg directed films have taken $4.64bn in the US and $10.09bn worldwide far ahead of any other highest grossing directors box office is due to one franchise while Steven Spielberg’s is for a30+ year career; Peter Jackson #2 $6.52bn, Michael Bay #3 $6.41bn, #4 James Cameron $6.13bn and David Yates #5 $5.34bn.
Took $23m internationally and $395.4m total ($200m from China the biggest Hollywood film in China this year) and $521.6m globally. #178 biggest film globally overtaking Saving Private Ryan, Ant-Man and Terminator 2: Judgment Day and will shortly overtake Dunkirk and The Boss Baby and should take $550m+ globally
- Fox Searchlight – Isle of Dogs
Up 36.8% in its fifth weekend down to #10 taking $3.4m and $24.42m;
In its fifth weekend, The Grand Budapest Hotel took $6.11m and $33.19m going on to take $59,301,324.
After five weeks Fantastic Mr Fox took $1.39m and $11.61m going on to take $21.01m.
After five weeks Moonrise Kingdom took $3.39m and $11.61m going to take $45.51m
The Darjeeling Limited took $1.76m in its fifth weekend taking $1.29m and $6.12m going on take $11,902,715.
Isle Dogs took $5.6m internationally with a total of $15.2m from 14 territories with the UK taking $7.7m
Wes Anderson’s nine films have taken $256.12m at the US box office (taking $487.6m globally with The Grand Budapest Hotel his biggest film taking $175m).
UK Box Office Predictions
After a sun affected box office last weekend which saw it have the lowest weekend since October 2013 Avengers: Infinity War will see it bounces back with the biggest weekend of the year ahead of February 16th Black Panther weekend taking £29,122,391 with Avengers: Infinity War likely to open with about £23m over its four-day opening weekend which will be one of the top 5 openings in the UK. Last weekend had the hottest temperatures of the year while this weekend is cooler and rainy have Disney acquired the weather along with everything else they have bought recently?
Avengers Assemble took 76.92% of the top 10 box office in April 2012 and Avengers: Age of Ultron took 80.2% of top 10 in April 2015
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society should hold strongly similar to last year’s Their Finest which dropped only 26% in its second weekend. As should The Greatest Showman in its 18th weekend in the top 10 and A Quiet Place but others will fair much worse.
Opening UK
- Avengers: Infinity Wars – Disney
The nineteenth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and sequel to 2012’s Marvel’s The Avengers and 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron. Starring Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Don Cheadle, Tom Holland, Chadwick Boseman, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Danai Gurira, Letitia Wright, Dave Bautista, Zoe Saldana, Josh Brolin, and Chris Pratt and directed by Anthony and Joe Russo.
In October 2014 Marvel announced there would be a two-part sequel to Avengers: Age of Ultron infinity War Part 1 to be released May 4th, 2018 and Infinity War Part 2 to be released May 3rd, 2019. In May 2016 it was announced that they would be two films rather than one film split in two with the first film called Infinity War and the second film Avengers 4 currently untitled due to it being a spoiler for Infinity War.
When it was announced it was going to be a two-part film there were rumours that the two films would have a shared budget of $1 billion in comparison Avengers: Age of Ultron had a budget of $280m, Captain America Civil War $250m, Avengers Assemble $220m while the first MCU film Iron Man had a budget of $140m.
Has been reported Infinity War is the second most expensive film ever after 2011’s Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides had cost $380m. But as Infinity War was shot back-to-back with Avengers 4 its unlikely was much change from $1 billion when including the production costs and marketing for the two films. While Disney is happy enough to spend $300m+ on a franchise
With Avengers: Infinity War featuring all the Avengers from the previous 18 films are over 30 actors all commanding big salaries; was reported in Variety in 2015 Robert Downey Jr getting $40m+, Scarlett Johansson and Chris Evans $6.9m and Jeremy Renner, Chris Hemsworth $5m+ with Mark Ruffalo getting $3m.
This compares to for Avengers Assemble Robert Downey, Jr. $50m, Scarlett Johansson and Samuel L. Jackson $6m and Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner, and Mark Ruffalo $3m each. So, salaries alone for the two films could be over $400m and then add $200m+ budgets for both films the budget could easily top $1bn that is before the $150m+ marketing campaign each film is receiving (of course it also has big promotional partners also spending millions).
Unlike previous Marvel Cinematic Universe films, Infinity Wars didn’t have regional premieres but had its world premiere in Los Angeles on April 23rd. Instead, they screened 30 minutes of footage during the films press tour in March/April. According to the directors, this was done to avoid spoilers being leaked and the trailers were similar to what Disney has done with their Star Wars films trolling fans with misinformation as the film won’t go the way fans think.
Social media embargo ended after its Los Angeles premiere on Monday and review embargo ended at 11pm on Tuesday early reviews have been mostly positive with 89% Rotten Tomatoes score this compares to 75% for Avengers: Age of Ultron and 92% for Avengers Assemble are many more mixed reviews that were expected partly being the film it is also following Black Panther.
Starting its international release from Wednesday. The one-day opening before the embargo is similar to Valerian, The Mummy, King Arthur and A Wrinkle in Time compared to 10 days for Black Panther and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 and eight days for Spider-Man: Homecoming, this is similar to the embargo schedule for Star Wars films.
Early social media reaction was predictable positive but there were a few comments saying that after Black Panther it wasn’t able to match it which will be part of its problem as like Disney’s Star Wars films they can never live up to the hype surrounding it. But most said if you liked previous MCU films will enjoy Infinity War but those that didn’t like Captain America Civil War airport scene (like me) might not like it.
The airport scene went on far too long and was never going to be a conclusion to the film as these are Avengers fighting each other was similar to Batman fighting Superman in Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice. It reminded me of the end scene in War Games when the computer leans through playing tic-tac-toe that nuclear war is “a strange game” in which “the only winning move is not to play.” and instead offers to play “a nice game of chess.”
Avengers: Infinity War was the first film to be entirely shot with IMAX/Arri 65 2D cameras; IMAX released a video last week showing why cinemagoers should see the film in IMAX. Of course, are many different forms of IMAX from Laser IMAX, 70mm IMAX to Digital IMAX aka fake IMAX when exhibitors converted regular cinemas screens into IMAX cinemas but with a screen more than half the size of regular IMAX but charge the same for the experience.
The first trailer was released in November 2017 was viewed almost 500,000 times in the first 15 minutes on YouTube and seen 230m times in its first 24 hours overtaking the teaser trailer for It which was the previous most watched trailer in its first 24 hours seen 197m times. Of course, the two films can from previews. ’t be compared as Avengers: Infinity War teaser trailer was released with far more hype and anticipation around it. The second trailer released in March was seen 179m times normally the official trailer is viewed more times than the teaser (apart from It). The teaser for Beauty and the Beast was seen 91.4m times but the trailer 127.6m times.
With so many previous Marvel Cinematic Universe films having extended opening weekends as Doctor Strange, Thor: Ragnorok and Black Panther it’s much harder to compare openings. Eight years ago, Avengers Assemble opened with £15,778,074 including £2,553,440 from previews. Three years later Avengers: Age of Ultron opened with £18,015,774 (15% bigger) and £3,599,937 from previews.
Since then with the exception of Ant-Man opening with only £4,011,345 all other MCU films have opening with over £9m. Avengers: Infinity War will likely open with upwards of £22m including £3.9m from previews. What will be interesting to see is how 3D and IMAX box office share is as back in 2012 3D was still very popular while Infinity War was shot in IMAX.
While Avengers: Infinity War is expected to have one of the biggest opens in the US close to Star Wars: The Force Awakens it won’t in the UK but will have the biggest opening un the UK for an MCU film. But as it doesn’t open in China until May 11th won’t have the biggest global opening weekend
Avengers: Infinity War is it’s selling the film as the culmination of the last ten years with s Thanos saying the end is near but like the Star Wars anthology films is no real tension as we know Marvel have another 1000+ films planned. After Star Wars: The Last Jedi we know one that it won’t go the way you think from the trailers so while most will be expecting some conclusion to the story and some deaths of major Avengers instead will set up the next phase of the MCU with Thanos returning again in Avengers 6.
10 years ago, MCU was fresh and new but now after 19 films with similar plots and similar characters arrogant egotistical rich males seeking redemption as with most of the X-Men and the DC Extended Universe films are feeling tiresome and seeing them is feeling like Groundhog Day.
I was never a huge comic-book fan, but I enjoyed many of the earlier Marvel Cinematic Universe films up to Ant-Man with the exception of Avengers: Age of Ultron (as I did with Tim Burton’s Batman, Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, Bryan Singer’s X-Men films) but as all of the films since have been as successful as the earlier films audiences don’t seem to care. But after Deadpool in 2016 and Wonder Woman and the trailers for Deadpool 2 Avengers: Infinity War feels unexciting to me of course I’m in the minority and the millions who pre-booked will be seeing it over its opening weekend.
My issue with Avengers: Infinity War is that it being marketed as the culmination of 10 years of Marvel Cinematic Universe but as with Star Wars we know are infinite films planned makes the battles with Avengers Vs Thanos and Resistance Vs The First Order feel like Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner after 48 shorts over 31 years they do finally catch up and roles reverse.
In an interview over the weekend director James Cameron said, “I’m hoping we’ll start getting ‘Avenger’ fatigue here pretty soon,” “Not that I don’t love the movies. It’s just, come on guys, there are other stories to tell besides hyper-gonadal males without families doing death-defying things for two hours and wrecking cities in the process. It’s like, oy!” James Cameron is currently in pre-production of four Avatar films and another Terminator reboot. Marvel Studios Kevin Feige was asked about James Cameron’s comments saying “Uh, he loves the movies!” “That’s awesome! Wow, James Cameron loves our movies! That’s exciting!”
The 18 Marvel Cinematic Universe films have taken over £500m at the UK box office over the last 10 years.
Avengers Assemble is currently the biggest MCU film in the UK taking £51,873,408 which is the 28th biggest film in the UK with Black Panther #31 with £49,858,826 and Avengers: Age of Ultron #36 with £48,338,124; Avengers: Infinity Wat is expected to have the biggest opening for an MCU film in the UK taking £22m+ for its four-day weekend becoming the third biggest 4 day opening weekend behind The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi and take £55m+.
Opening in US
- Avengers: Infinity Wars – Disney
It’s US release was originally set to be released May 4th a week after its internationally as most Marvel Cinematic Universe have been over the last 10 years, but its release date was brought forward to April 27th in March.
Avengers: Infinity War was voted unsurprisingly the most-anticipated summer blockbuster by Fandango along with Deadpool 2, Solo: A Star Wars Story, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Incredibles 2,
A month before opening Avengers: Infinity War was tracking to open with $200m (similar to Black Panther $202m) but two weeks out after advance ticket sales had outsold all previous Marvel Cinematic Universe films in the US selling over $50m behind only The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi) was looking at $220m+ (similar to Star Wars: The Last Jedi $220m but is likely to get closer to Star Wars: The Force Awakens $247.96m.
Fandango reported on Friday over 1,000 shows were already sold out but tickets went on sale over a month ago and more people are booking tickets in advance while there will be 100,000s of screenings of the film over its opening weekend in the 4,500 cinemas its showing at.
Will mean Disney will have nine of the ten biggest openings in the US with only Universal Pictures Jurassic World being the only non-Disney film with Marvel Cinematic Universe having six of the top ten (Avenger: Infinity War, Marvel’s The Avengers, Black Panther, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: Civil War and Iron Man 3. Iron Man 3 still being the tenth biggest film in the US despite it being release 5 years ago and being the seventh MCU film shows that the growth of these films has been more ticket inflation than audience growth in the US. While of course, Black Panther played beyond the comic-book regular audience this was a one off being seen as how it held far stronger than previous MCU films and stronger than Infinity War will do.
But while Black Panther took 3.41x opening Avengers: Infinity War will likely holder closer to Avengers: Age of Ultron 2.4x opening and Marvel’s Avengers 3x opening which would take about $650m which would be less than Black Panther. While Black Panther took more in the US than internationally Avengers: Infinity War will be as most other recent MCU films a take upwards of $1 billion internationally.
In 2015 Avengers: Age of Ultron was the fourth biggest film globally taking $1.4bn behind Furious 7 $1.51bn, Jurassic World $1.67bn and Star Wars: The Force Awakens $2.06bn while Marvel’s The Avengers was the biggest film globally in 2012 taking $1.51bn; Black Panther has taken $1.31bn.
The 18 Marvel Cinematic Universe films have taken $5.951bn in the US and $14.82bn globally over the last 10 years.
- Disobedience – Bleecker Street
Drama starring Rachel Weisz, Rachel McAdams, and Alessandro Nivola and directed by Sebastián Lelio based on the novel of the same name by Naomi Alderman; had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 10, 2017, receiving positive reviews with a 94% Rotten Tomatoes score. The Hollywood Reporter said it was “beautifully acted by Rachel Weisz, Rachel McAdams and Alessandro Nivola as the three points of a melancholy romantic triangle, this is a deeply felt drama that exerts a powerful grip.”
