Top 5 Breakdown
- Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom – £14,334,894 – NE
Took £2.16m from Wednesday compared to £2.51m for Jurassic World opening day (Thursday) and £1.49m Thursday.
Had the second biggest opening of the year after Avengers: Infinity War and the second biggest Fri-Sun but is that big enough for a Jurassic Park film? The weather might have been sunny again at the weekend but how long can that be used as an excuse as its June its often sunny this time of year and studios release their biggest films of the year and people still go to the cinema.
Had the 31st biggest opening in the UK (5-day opening) 43rd biggest Fri-Sun £10,684,894 and 30th biggest previews despite having two days; three years ago, Jurassic World was the sixth biggest opening of 2015 now the eleventh biggest opening in the UK; 64th biggest opening in the UK if including inflation.
Down almost 30% from 2015’s Jurassic World with one more day and 7%+ ticket inflation. On Saturday Deadline estimate Fallen Kingdom opening with $18.9m and it opened exactly as its estimate.
In June 2015 Jurassic World opened with £19,350,727 taking £63,674,773 the 10th biggest film in the UK after Solo underperformed and Deadpool targeting older audiences thought Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom would take the slack and challenge Avengers: Infinity War as the biggest film of the year.
With mixed reviews and the World Cup starting Thursday can expect a 65%+ second-weekend drop taking £4.5m+ and unlikely to take more than £50m it might not match Jurassic Park’s 1993 box office £47,790,337 which is now £114,190,618 inflation inflated and The Lost World: Jurassic Park £25,799,961 is now £48,620,565.
Inflation inflated Jurassic Park would have opened £11,708,100 and The Lost World: Jurassic Park £10,741,769 both included Thursday previews but they were one evening show while Jurassic World and Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom had whole day of previews with many multiplexes having 20+ shows on Wednesday and Thursday.
Jurassic World had Minions opening two weeks after and Terminator Genisys a week later while Fallen Kingdom only has Ocean’s Eight opening next Monday but has the World Cup from Thursday which is cinemas kryptonite more than sunshine.
25 years ago, the first Jurassic Park film opened 6 weeks after US was when distributors dated films to give them the best date for their individual country rather than now with most opening day and date with the US, so the release date isn’t always the optimal date for the film. Jurassic Park opened July 16th at the start of the summer holidays as the two sequels, but Jurassic World and Fallen Kingdom opened in June.
Back in 1993, Thursday previews were limited to one main evening preview on Thursday night Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom in comparison has two full days of previews extended its opening weekend boosting its opening with £3.66m.
Jurassic Park opened on 16th July 1993 with £4.9m having small drops on its following weeks as it played in cinemas for almost a year taking £47,790,337 currently 38th biggest film in the UK. In 1993 average ticket price was £4.12; the inflation inflated box office today would be £114,190,618 sixth biggest film in the UK.
In 1997 The Lost World: Jurassic Park opened with £5.7m (£10.74m 2018 BO) taking £25.79m (£48.62m 2018 BO).
In 2001 Jurassic Park 3 opened with £4.76m (£8.82m 2018 BO) taking £18.1m (£33.54m 2018 BO) as probably with Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and Disney upcoming Indiana Jones 5 it is the ignored in Jurassic World as the events feature after The Lost World: Jurassic Park.
In the trailers for Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom Clare says do you remember the first time you saw a dinosaur you don’t believe it, it’s a miracle which was the truth when audiences saw dinosaurs for the first time in Jurassic Park 25 years ago and in the sequel 4 years later. But in the fifth film 25 years later they don’t feel as exciting, could be a metaphor for Hollywood and the tentpoles being released today having no sustenance anymore are all hype no substance why they open big and then drop big as audiences want more and different.
While previous Jurassic Park films wrapped up their storyline within the film Fallen Kingdom sets up the sequel set for release in June 2021. Jurassic World 3 will see dinosaurs across the US, apart from the ending of The Lost World: Jurassic Park all the films up to now have been set in an enclosed location.
Always question the logic behind an international early release apart for James Bond as they rarely work and end up damaging their US opening which especially when the film receives mixed reviews.
Universal Pictures has opened internationally early several films in recent years including The Huntsman and Warcraft both saw their US opening suffer as negative word of mouth spread ahead of its US opening. They will release Bond 25 internationally early next year, but recent Bond films have performed far stronger internationally than US and Wonder Woman 2 opening
While it made sense to open the film early internationally to open ahead of the World Cup as so many films have in the past but if then why wasn’t it also released the same time in the US as opening ahead of Pixar’s The Incredibles would have made more sense as Jurassic World did in 2015 with Inside Out rather than the week after.
Distributors always run scared of the World Cup
In 2014 Warner Bros brought forward the release of Edge of Tomorrow forward a week internationally due to the World Cup but that saw it open against Maleficent and a week after X-Men: Days of Future Past; Edge of Tomorrow despite receiving positive reviews opened with only £1,886,096 having one of Tom Cruise’s lowest openings in the UK behind Maleficent £6,590,071 and second weekend of X-Men: Days of Future Past £3,518,389 taking £27,005,508; Edge of Tomorrow took £7,756,477 while Maleficent took £18,703,391 and 22 Jump Street opened the following week with £4,854,991 taking £18,322,998 while The Fault in Our Stars took £11,006,752 and Mrs. Brown’s Boys d’Movie took £14,290,727 showing audiences will still come out to the cinema during the World Cup if it’s a film they want to see.
In 2010 20th Century Fox delayed The A-Team 6 weeks in the UK opening with £3,569,505 was delayed two weeks after the ending of the World Cup due to The Twilight Saga: Eclipse opening July 9th (£13,756,653) Inception (£5,912,814) and Toy Story 3 (£21,187,264).
In 2006 while 20th Century Fox, UIP and Disney didn’t change their release plans for The Omen opening with £2,096,002, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift £1,813,359 and Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man’s Chest 13,740,784 but Warner Bros delayed Superman Returns by two weeks opening a week after Dead Man’s Chest opening second with £4,337,637.
In 2002 Sony Pictures opened Spider-Man in the middle of the World Cup opening with £9,426,969 opening 6 weeks after the US which was more likely the reason 20th Century Fox delayed Minority Report UK opening by two weeks opening July 4th with £4,506,315 and that also saw Warner Bros delay Scooby-Doo two weeks opening with £5,129,109
But while Disney held back the UK release of Brave in 2012 due to the London Olympics The Dark Knight Rises took £7,275,558 in its second weekend with children’s films Dr Seuss’ The Lorax and Ice Age: Continental Drift performing well The Dark Knight Rises performed strongly throughout the London Olympics and Ted opened with £9,333,700 in the second weekend.
With a summer World Cup distributor can delaying the film to July and won’t have any effect on the films box office the problem with happen in 2022 with the Qatar World Cup that starts before Thanksgiving and ending days before Christmas. Qatar is 10 hours ahead of the US won’t likely have much effect on the US but its only 2 hours ahead of the UK as this year’s World Cup so will have effect UK and Europe. Currently, there are only a couple of Untitled films set during those four weeks in 2022.
I believe if it’s a film audience want to see nothing will stop them from seeing it so as with excuses in recent years about the weather having an impact on films box office they are just an excuse as I saw the first Pirates of the Caribbean at packed out Odeon Leicester Square in 2003 on the hottest day of the year.
Globally marketing for the film started two weeks ago in Spain home of director J. A. Bayona social media reaction was very positive but needs to be taken with a pinch of salt as premiere audiences are always hyped up see Justice League reaction and Spain is the home of its director.
The marketing moved to the UK a few days later where some of the films was shot and part of its marketing was a dinosaur being transported on the Thames and ending up at City Hall. In 2015 Universal Pictures did similar with a mysterious crate in the middle of Waterloo station arriving on Friday but by Monday the four velociraptors had escaped.
The first trailer was released in December was viewed 64 million timed in its first 24 hours (18th most watched trailer in the first 24 hours Avengers: Infinity War trailer was released the week before was seen by 230m in first 24 hours and the second in March 179m) the second was Super Bowl spot which was the most viewed seen 3.56m times in the first 12 hours (69,000 times on YouTube and 2.7 million times on Facebook) Mission Impossible: Fallout was second with 2.09 million views.
Both trailers received a mixed reaction from fans as many felt it looked like it was taking the action from the acts of the film, but writer Colin Trevorrow said it came from the first 57 minutes of the film describing the film as “The Impossible meets The Orphanage with dinosaurs.” The final trailer released in April seemed to be much more revealing with many feeling it felt far too similar to The Lost World as the first film felt to the original film.
While the first trailer might have been from the first hour of the film the final trailers had forage from the final scene as the trailers for Jurassic World. Filmmakers make a big issue telling critics and audiences not to spoil films but then they put massive spoilers in the trailers. Jurassic World as its sequel is part of the massive Jurassic Park franchise so a trailer only needs to tease the audience.
Nostalgia and memberries for Jurassic Park with Jurassic World opening 22 years to the day of the original US release date helped it open with £19.35m including previews of £2.51m (in 2015 it was the sixth biggest opening in the UK now it’s the eleventh). It was only the second film to take over £10m in its second weekend after Skyfall (Spectre and Beauty and the Beast have since overtaken it while The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi and Infinity War have also taken over £10m in their second weekends) going on to take £63.67m.
When The Greatest Showman became the peoples favourite outlasting and outperforming many other films it was seen as a surprise as in the film a reporter asks Barnum does it bother you everything your selling is fake, and he replies do the smiles seem fake. While it might be as fake as a Hollywood set it connected with its audience unlike films like The Last Jedi, Solo and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is all hype and no substance.
Jurassic Park took 9.75x opening (£4.9m); The Lost World: Jurassic Park 4,53x (£5,700,000); Jurassic Park 3 3.8x (£4,762,155): Jurassic World 3.32x (£19,350,727): Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom will likely hold lower than Jurassic World taking about 3.2x opening.
In Jurassic World much was made about Clare wearing a white skirt suit and a pair of nude stilettos in the sequel the first time we see Clare is shoes first her life has changed a lot since the events in Jurassic World but she is still wearing those shoes.
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom opened with $151.1m from 48 territories compared to $158.6m for Jurassic World in 2015 more than the $140m it was expected to open with; expands int China this week before US next weekend. It had the fifth biggest international opening this year behind Avengers: Infinity War, Monster Hunt 2, Deadpool 2 and Black Panther.
- Solo: A Star Wars Story – £1,192,220 – £16,390,659
Down 62.1% in its third-weekend previous weekend dropped only 48% due to it being half-term holidays; now the 10th biggest film of 2018 in the UK overtaking Three Billboards and Ready Player One but by next weekend Justice World: Fallen Kingdom would have overtaken Solo.
After 18 days on release Solo in the UK -41.33% Phantom Menace -37.19% Attack of the Clones -49.82%Revenge of the Sith (ticket prices were 85% less for prequels) -83.17% The Force Awakens -68.52% Rogue One -75.99% The Last Jedi.
As in the US Solo: A Star Wars Story is holding similar to last years Justice League which took £1,486,953 in its third weekend and £15,554,643 with a total of £17,420,228 that Solo will overtake. Justice League for months had a lot of negative media coverage and after previous DC Extended Universe films apart from Wonder Woman receiving poor reviews Justice League always had low expectations.
Solo might have had similar negativity over the replacing of its directors the previous three Star Wars films were both critical and box office successes and tracking for Solo opening was always strong. As Wonder Woman last year Solo won’t be one of the biggest 20 films of 2018 in the UK
While Justice League was a terrible film Solo was an enjoyable film and as Rogue One probably the best of Disney Star Wars films and doesn’t deserve the negativity, it received but it is the backlash to the polarized reaction to The Last Jedi. Last week Kelly Marie Tran left social media after the abuse she received for The Last Jedi, Daisy Ridley also left social media after the abuse she received in 2016 after she posted a comment about gun control.
While I found Kelly Marie Tran character Rose very annoying in The Last Jedi she was just playing a role and the trolls should be targetting the filmmakers. Director Rian Johnson and Lucasfilm were responsible for making The Last Jedi while the actors were just saying the lines they were given.
Rian Johnson responded on Twitter to Tran’s leaving social media “On social media, a few unhealthy people can cast a big shadow on the wall, but over the past 4 years I’ve met lots of real fellow SW fans,” Johnson wrote. “We like & dislike stuff but we do it with humour, love & respect. We’re the VAST majority, we’re having fun & doing just fine.”
Ron Howard responded on Twitter about fan reaction to Solo and its poor performance at the box office tweeting “I’m proud of Solo and the cast & crew worked hard to give fans a fun new addition. As a director I feel bad when people who I believe (& exit polls show) will very likely enjoy a movie… don’t see it on a big screen w/great sound”.
Solo was a poisoned chalice for Ron Howard who was a safe pair of hands to finish the film after Lucasfilm fired Phil Lord and Chris Miller and the end film is an enjoyable film if completely unnecessary he did what he was asked to do. But after the reaction to The Last Jedi Solo was likely to be the film fans took out their anger against.
Solo will likely take about £20m at the UK box office
-60.58% of 1999’s The Phantom Menace
-46.29% of 2002’s Attack of the Clones
-48.96% of 2005’s Revenge of the Sith
-83.74% of 2015’s The Force Awakens
-69.7% of 2016’s Rogue One
75.81% of 2017’s The Last Jedi
At the end of Solo Han Solo flies to Tatooine after Tobias Beckett told him, earlier that he was going there to do one final job settling up the sequel as this job would be for Jabba the Hut. According to director Ron Howard Jabba, the Hut was considered to be the leader of Crimson Dawn but he said it would be a little bit too much like sequel-baiting.
Instead, Darth Maul was revealed to be the leader Crimson Dawn surprising many as most thought he died in The Phantom Menace while viewers of the animated The Clone Wars TV series know that he survived. Having Maul as the leader of Crimson Dawn is was also sequel-baiting as including Jabba as it sets up the sequel which is now unlikely to happen.
After the polarized reaction to The Last Jedi in December and Solo: A Star Wars Story also underperformed at the box office and could lose up to $80m with some Star Wars fans blaming Kathleen Kennedy and were rumours last week that she might step down from her role in September.
- Deadpool 2 – £1,182,010 – £29,042,739
Down 49.7% in its third weekend taking less than £10,000 than second-placed Solo showing how 20th Century Fox’s January gamble moving forward its release by two weeks really played off.
Will shortly cross the £30m barrier; was surprised to see despite 20th Century Fox have had a lot of success with a wide mix of films over recent years they have only had about a dozen that has taken over £30m.
Eight of those released over 10 years ago with Deadpool £37,616,432 and The Greatest Showman £46,409,385 their most recent two films to join the club with almost 100 members.
20+ years ago, £10m+ was often seen as a success as $100m+ was in the US with only a handful of films taking £20m+. Now it’s £20m+ and $200m+ and then there is the £30m+ club of 100 members and then the £50m+ club with only 31 current members; 20th Century Fox have 4 £50m+ while Disney has 9 all sequels while three of Fox’s are original films Avatar, Titanic and The Full Monty.
Deadpool dropped 50% in its fourth weekend taking £1,487,073 and £34,065,741 with new arrivals London Has Fallen £3,229,675 and Hail, Caesar! £1,520,788 ahead of it.
Taking only 20% less than Deadpool in its fourth weekend against Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and Solo shows audiences have enjoyed the film as much as the original. Opening the sequel only three weeks after Avengers: Infinity War was a massive risk and probably squeezed several million off its box office as Infinity War was still holding strong when Deadpool 2 opened. But had Deadpool 2 opened as it was originally on June 1st it would have been sandwiched between Solo and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.
The 13 Marvel X-Men films have taken almost £245m at the UK box office over the last 18 years. 20th Century Fox has three X-Men film set for release next year but who will release them is unknown will they be Fox, Disney or Universal.
At CineEurope 20th Century Fox’s Stacey Snider spoke of the need to make films that aren’t comic-book movies. Over the last two decades, 20th Century Fox has made 13 X-Men films that were most successful, but they have also had steady success with original films for adult audiences Gone Girl, The Martian, The Greatest Showman and Murder on The Orient Express films that will last far longer in the memory of audiences. While also had strong success from Fox Searchlight most recently with Oscar wins for both Three Billboards and The Shape of Water.
I might seem to be anti-Disney in my comment and pro-Fox but its only because Disney used to do similar with their slate of films before they acquired Marvel and Lucasfilm and became focussed on making properties with Touchstone Pictures and less so with Hollywood Pictures they had a similarly strong slate of films from the late 80s to early 00s many were box office successes and are the films I watch again and again whenever they are on Sky Cinema.
This is the case with films like The Martian and The Greatest Showman and why they were both big box office hits as audiences want a mix of films and have an experience at the cinema they haven’t had before.
You don’t get seeing a Disney Star Wars, Marvel or Disney reimagination as see the previous film or the original and you will have a far more enjoyable experience. Maybe for younger audiences who didn’t grow up with these originals, these Disney remakes are more enjoyable but for me, they don’t have the sustenance the original films had which made them so watchable on repeat.
- Book Club – £507,917 – £2,037,605
Down 29.54% in its second weekend as with US its release has been good alternative for older audiences not interested in dinosaurs and spandex; with the World Cup starting on Thursday Book Club is likely to be the film that will have the smallest drop in the top 10 of a wide release again this weekend as last weekend.
Over recent years distributors have seen April (after Easter holidays) and June as a good time to release films targetting older audiences last year Going in Style opened in April £0.56m having one of the lowest second weekend drops for a wide release last year only 12.5% taking £0.49m it went on to take £2.77m. In April this year, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society opened with £825,777 and has taken £5,625,119.
Last June My Cousin Rachel opening with £0.63m taking £2.53m, Churchill £0.39m taking £1.6m and Hampstead with £0.45m taking £1.5m. This might be small totals compared with comic-book movies and dinosaurs. The older audience is much more loyal and regular who will go to the cinema more often than fickle younger audiences and have been key to the success of Event Cinema over the last decade.
Older audiences will also more likely go to the cinema during the weekday rather than a weekend so often these films will play stronger on weekdays. The trailer before the start of the films is a key part of making older audiences see the films wit Book Club playing with The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.
- Avengers: Infinity War – £406,119 – £69,563,230
Down 61.63% in its seventh weekend has become the tenth biggest film in the UK and after Solo and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom opened below expectations it’s now likely Infinity War will be the biggest film of the year.
Ant-Man and the Wasp is the final Marvel Cinematic Universe film of 2018 the first Ant-Man film released in 2015 was the worst performing MCU released by Disney taking £16,309,117. Believe was partly down to using the MCU marketing guidebook to market the film as it was very different MCU film than other films as was much more a family film rather than a comic-book feeling more like a Disney film before comic-book movies like The Rocketeer.
Ant-Man and the Wasp open in the UK a month after US opening to separate it from The Incredibles 2 as in 2015 Disney released Ant-Man the week before their Pixar film Inside Out which also likely squeezed its box office. Likewise, the film plays separately to events that featured in Infinity War despite Ant-Man appeared last in Captain America: Civil War which is likely to confuse?
Ant-Man and the Wasp are followed next year by Captain Marvel which is likely to include some time travelling which is likely to change the events of Infinity War before Avengers 4 opens the month after.
Despite opening with almost double Avengers Assemble and Avengers: Age of Ultron Infinity War has taken almost £300,000 less than Avengers Assemble in its seventh weekend and only £60,000 more than Avengers: Age of Ultron. This shows how front-loaded it was as after opening with almost £30m UK box office of £80m+ should have been expected.
While £70m+ is a huge total and for most films it would be a massive success but 6 years on from Avengers Assemble and the nineteenth film should have taken much more as its just squeezing past the $2 billion barriers globally while coming short of Black Panther’s US total.
In 2012 Avengers Assemble dropped down to fifth taking £676,678 and £50,338,151 behind Prometheus £3,135,504, Men in Black 3 £2,533,051, Snow White and the Huntsman £2,210,929 and The Pact £932,325
In 2015 Avengers: Age of Ultron dropped down to sixth in its seventh weekend taking £341,491 and £47,795,614 behind Spy £2,557,824 San Andreas £1,794,747 Insidious Chapter 3 £1,440,299 Pitch Perfect 2 £749,903 and Mad Max: Fury Road £804,148.
The 19 Marvel Cinematic Universe films have taken almost £575m at the UK box office over the last 10 years.
UK box office in detail
This weekend’s top 10 box office took £18,642,162 up 90.1% from last weekend £9,802,655;
The weekend admissions 2,404,239 up 91.84x% from last weekend 1,253,238; 2018 average ticket price is probably up about 3% from last year’s £7.49 to £7.67 for 2018;
8 films opened at weekend taking £14,747,764; Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom took 97.2% (£xx); remaining 7 films shared 2.8% (£412,870): Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom took 76.89% (£14,334,894) down from 81.1% for Jurassic World in 2015
The weekend was up 52.45% from last year (£12,227,826) The Mummy £3,343,650, Take That: Wonderland Live from the O2 2017 £1,004,918, My Cousin Rachel £637,704, Peter Pan – NT Live 2017 £119,127, The Shack £96,580, Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer £18,017, Wilson £5,347, From the Land of the Moon £4,547
Up 158.67% from 2016: (£7,206,704) The Boss £594,672, Mother’s Day £419,532, When Marnie Was There £99,352, Miracles from Heaven £20,420
Next weekend in 2017: (£5,745,646) Churchill £392,732, Gifted £305,323, Rock Dog £13,351
Other news
UK Box Office Top 10
US Box office
- Ocean’s Eight – Warner Bros
Opens with $41.6m; received 78% Rotten Tomatoes Score and B+ the same score as Ocean’s Eleven and Ocean’s Thirteen while Ocean’s Twelve received a B-.
Ocean’s Eight had the biggest opening of the franchise but as the previous parts were released over a decade ago.
Ocean’s Eleven opened 7th December 2001 with $38.1m taking $183.41m
Ocean’s Twelve opened 10th December 2004 with $39.15m taking $112.54m
Ocean’s Thirteen opened 8th June 2007 with $36.13m taking $117.15m
After Avengers: Infinity War, Deadpool and Solo and female comedies I Feel Pretty and Life of the Party Ocean’s Eight while being a sequel was also giving audiences something different that they haven’t had for months.
Much was made why Ocean’s Eight didn’t get the Ghostbusters trolls the reason was a Ghostbusters sequel had been planned ever since Ghostbusters 2 was released in 1989 and it was originally conceived as a direct sequel becoming a female reboot over decades of development. Ocean’s Eight was conceived as a female spinoff in 2015 while the audience demographic is to an older non-fanboy audience. There was huge nostalgia to the original Ghostbusters film and cast in the similar way Harrison Ford is Han Solo no one could possibly replace him the same was with Ghostbusters.
In December Sandra Bullock told potential online trolls: “I’ll tell you, we’ve got some feisty women that will fight right back,” in an interview for Entertainment Weekly but she didn’t need to worry as the first trailer released in December was well received. While I don’t condone the misogynistic comments, but Ghostbusters filmmakers didn’t help the cause with the first teaser which as terrible and was only very late on with a final trailer a few weeks before it opened saw elements that the film might be good (it wasn’t), the marketing for Ocean’s Eight was completely different.
Ocean’s Eight took $12.2m internationally from 16 countries opening across Europe over the next couple of weeks as an alternative to the World Cup.
- Solo: A Star Wars Story – Disney
Drops 46.5% in its third weekend taking $15.78m and $176.7m; #254 biggest film in the US just overtaken The Greatest Showman
After 17 days Solo has taken-192.71% The Last Jedi, -140.51% Rogue One, 320.04% The Force Awakens, -74.25% Revenge of the Sith, -31.48% Attack of the Clones and – 44.74% Phantom Menace.
Solo is holding similar to last year’s Justice League which took $16.65m in its third weekend taking $197.4m and $229.2m total with a similar budget it was rumoured to lose up to $100m.
While Solo might have had similar media coverage it was coming on the back of three Star Wars films that were massive successes and was tracking to open with $150m for the weekend so its failure must be far bigger. Justice League went on to take $229.02m in the US a similar total is likely for Solo.
Solo took $11.3m internationally with a total of $136.1m and globally total of $312.2m; currently #312 biggest film globally and Disney’s 78th biggest film globally of 114 released since 1988 overtaking 1996’s Ransom and will shortly overtake 1988’s Who Framed Roger Rabbit $329.8m. Solo is unlikely to take more than $350m unless by some miracle it’s a success in Japan where it opens at the end of the month.
- Deadpool 2 – 20th Century Fox
Drops 39% in its fourth weekend taking $14.14m and $279.16m (’92 biggest film in the US)
Deadpool 2 holding similar to the first film which took $16.72m in its fourth weekend taking 10% less than Deadpool’s $311,484,061;
Deadpool went on to take $363.07m Deadpool 2 should take about $320m which is far more than many people thought when 20th Century Fox brought forward its release by 2 weeks to open the week before Solo.
Deadpool 2 is 20th Century Fox’s ninth biggest film in the US and will overtake Home Alone, Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones, Independence Day and Star Wars shortly.
The 11 Marvel X-Men film has taken over $2.32bn at the box office over the last 18 years in the US and almost $5.65bn globally.
Deadpool 2 took $18.5m internationally and $376.6m total and $655m globally; #117 biggest film overtaking Justice League, Man of Steel and Doctor Strange shortly.
- Adrift – STX Entertainment
Drops 56.5% in its second weekend taking $5.27m and $21.96m
Holding similar to last years The Mountain Between Us $5.75m and $20.6m taking $30.35m and 2016’s The Finest Hours $4.82m and $18.49m taking $27.6m.
- Avengers: Infinity War – Disney
Drops 34.9% in its seventh weekend taking $7.23m and $655.13m.
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 $1.9bn Avengers: Infinity War is expected to be the biggest film globally of 2018.
The 18 Marvel Cinematic Universe films have taken $6.62bn in the US and $16.85bn
Infinity War took $10.9m internationally ($368.4m the third biggest Hollywood release in China) taking $1.434.3bn and $1.999bn worldwide.
On Monday it took $2bn worldwide after opening seven weeks ago with $630m globally $2bn should have been easy but its just squeezing past the $2bn barrier thanks to almost $370m from China but as rentals are only 20% this artificially inflates its global box office. It is the fourth film to take over $2bn worldwide behind Star Wars: The Force Awakens (which was expected to top both Titanic and Avatar when it opened in 2015).
Despite all the massive films that have opened over the last 9 years and the huge box office, they have taken worldwide for Avatar and Titanic to still be the biggest two films globally highlights how front-loaded all these films have become. 34 films have taken over $1bn globally but 28 of those have been since Avatar was released.
- Hereditary – A24
Opens with $13.57m; received positive reviews from critics 94% Rotten Tomatoes but only D+ CinemaScore which saw its Sunday estimates drop it to fourth.
Was tracking to open under $10m but with low CinemaScore unlikely to last long in cinemas but with a budget of only $10m it will be profitable for A24 which created a strong marketing campaign for the film since it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January.
Hereditary was compared to The Witch it also received critical acclaim but mixed audience response getting C- CinemaScore opening with $8.8m taking $25.13m wit a$4m budget.
- Hotel Artemis – Global Road
Opens with $3.23m; mixed reviews 59% Rotten Tomatoes and C- CinemaScore Hotel Artemis had a disappointing opening.
UK Box Office Predictions
With the Word Cup opening Thursday all films except for Book Club are excepted to drop over 60%.
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom will drop 65%+ from its 5-day opening; only £10k separated Solo with Deadpool 2 last weekend and Solo will again drop heavier.
The first couple of weeks of June has become a dumping ground for distributors clearing the cupboard before the summer or films targetting older audiences. But occasionally some films are successful, but distributors like to play it safe and hold back their key summer titles till after the World Cup, European Championships or Olympics.
The first weekend of previous World Cups
In 2014 22 Jump Street #1 took £2,255,100 dropping 54% in its second weekend with new entries Oculus opening with £413,578 and Belle £407,120.
In 2010 female-focused films topped the chart third weekend of Sex and the City 2 £1,489,833; 1st week Letters to Juliet £793,425 and fourth week of Streetdance £715,317; as the worst weekend of the year.
In 2006 The Omen opened on the 6th of June 2006 taking £2,096,002 over six days; while holds X-Men 3, The Da Vinci Code, Poseidon and Mission: Impossible III all dropped over 60%; again, was the worst weekend of the year with the following two weekends similar poor.
In 2002 Star Wars Ep II – Attack of the Clones, About A Boy, The Panic Room and Bend It Like Beckham all dropped heavily with 40 Days and 40 Nights opening with £1,027,578 and The Time Machine £808,389
But the opening of London Olympics in 2012 The Dark Knight Rises took £7,275,558 in its second weekend showing that if it’s a film audience want to see they will still go and see it. The weekend was Olympics Super Saturday, but Ted still opened with £9,333,700 The Dark Knight Rises took £4,290,605 and children’s films Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days, Ice Age: Continental Drift, Dr Seuss’ The Lorax and Brave in Scotland also did well.
Opening in the UK
- Hereditary – Entertainment Film Distributors
Supernatural horror starring Toni Collette, Alex Wolff, Milly Shapiro, Ann Dowd, and Gabriel Byrne and directed by Ari Aster. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival receiving critical acclaim (94% Rotten Tomatoes) has been called for months the scariest film of the year and being compared to Jennifer Kent’s The Babadook and Robert Eggers’ The Witch; should open with about £500k.
- Super Troopers 2 – 20th Century Fox
Comedy starring Jay Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter and Erik Stolhanske and directed by Jay Chandrasekhar. Sequel to the 2001 film Super Troopers.
Originally announced at 2006 Comic-Con as a prequel to the original film but three years later it was announced that it would be a sequel. The budget for the film was funding by crowdfunding in 2015 $2m target was raised within 26 hours and ended up raising $4.4m.
The original film released in November 2002 opened with £269,696 taking £454,517 and the sequel will be lucky to match it as little interest to the sequel in the UK surprising 20th Century Fox are even bothering to release the film in the UK but maybe they were contractually obliged to give the film a theatrical release dumping it out the weekend the World Cup starts.
- The Happy Prince – Lionsgate
British biographical drama starring Rupert Everett, Colin Firth, Colin Morgan, Emily Watson, Edwin Thomas and Tom Wilkinson and written and directed by Rupert Everett. Premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival was shown at the BFI Flare: London LGBT Film Festival and Sundance London. Received 62% Rotten Tomatoes score.
Lionsgate acquired UK rights in May 2014 with BBC Films acquiring broadcast rights to the $13.7m budget film and production started in October 2014.
- Ocean’s Eight – Warner Bros (Monday)
Heist comedy and female spin-off of Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean’s trilogy starring Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway, Mindy Kaling, Sarah Paulson, Awkwafina, Rihanna, and Helena Bonham Carter and directed by Gary Ross.
With many cameos including Matt Damon, Carl Reiner, Anna Wintour, Zayn Malik, Katie Holmes, Maria Sharapova, Serena Williams, Kim Kardashian, Adriana Lima, Kylie Jenner, Alexander Wang, Kendall Jenner, Olivia Munn, Zac Posen and Hailey Baldwin.
Gary Ross previously directed The Hunger Games, 2003’s Seabiscuit (opened £767,371 taking £2,971,592) and Pleasantville in 1999 (opened £322,622 taking £790,203 (did a screening of it at 20th Century Fox and remember the guy from Entertainment Films came to pick up the print immediately after to take it to the Odeon West End was sworn to secrecy as it was to be the surprise film at the London Film Festival) 2016’s Free State of Jones opened with £116,686.
Gary Ross first screenplay was Big celebrates its 30th anniversary earlier this month the Tom Hanks film directed by Penny Marshall became an instant classic. The film has many classic scenes including the scene where Josh doesn’t understand why a building that transforms into a robot was fun despite what research shows which 30 years later the film industry often fails to do believing more in the search than audience opinion.
After the release of Oceans Thirteen in 2007 (opened exactly 11 years to the day Ocean’s Eight opens) Steven Soderbergh said would be no Oceans Fourteen but 2015 a female spinoff was put into development and Ocean’s Eight is produced by Steven Soderbergh.
Trailers have been viewed 22.74m times which is close to Jumanji 24m and Red Sparrow 21.23m and more than Murder on the Orient Express 20.5m.
Ocean’s Eleven opened 13th February 2002 with £5.09m taking £2.07m
Ocean’s Twelve opened 4th February 2005 with £3.39m taking £12.03m
Ocean’s Thirteen opened 8th June 2007 with £3.02m taking £13.08m
Opens on Monday 18th June the day England play Tunisia their first World Cup match and Warner Bros will be hoping football widows will come to the cinema to see Ocean’s Eight as well as some long-suffering England supporters. Extended seven-day openings don’t normally inflate films opening but stretch it out over more days.
With Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom likely to drop over 60% in its second weekend and over 50% in its third against the World Cup Ocean’s Eight with its extended opening should top the chart with £4m+ over its 7 days taking about £2m over Fri-Sun.
Opening in the
- The Incredibles 2 – Disney
Sequel to the 2004 animated superhero film The Incredibles featuring the voices of Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Sarah Vowell, Samuel L. Jackson, Catherine Keener, Sophia Bush and Isabella Rossellini and directed by Brad Bird; has received 97% Rotten Tomatoes score.
In a May 2013 interview Brad Bird spoke of his interest in making a sequel, a year later Bob Iger said Pixar was developing a sequel which Brad Bird was writing and would be his next film after 2015’s Tomorrowland.
When the first Incredibles was released in 2004 was several years before Marvel Cinematic Universe and comic-book films were limited to X-Men and Spider-Man films. While the only sequel Disney released was The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement with four out of their five biggest films original The Incredibles, National Treasure, The Village and Ladder 49.
Was originally set for release in June 2019 but in October 2016 it was brought forward to 2018 after Toy Story 4 production was behind schedule.
The first teaser premiered on November 18, 2017 received 113 million views in its first 24 hours becoming the most viewed trailer for an animated film, and the 7th most-viewed trailer. The trailer was released on April 13th.
The Incredibles opened in November 2004 with $70,467,623 and took $261,441,092; inflation inflated opening $103,942,581 total $385,636,136.
In April The Incredibles 2 was tracking to open with $110m+ in May this was upped to $140m+ but after Solo underperformed it’s likely that Incredibles 2 will open much bigger. The big question is how it will hold in its second weekend against Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.
In 2016 Finding Dory dropped 46% taking $72.95m in its second weekend; year earlier Inside Out opened with $90.44m the week after Jurassic World which held #1 with $106.58m. After Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom received mixed reviews its likely to hold strongly in its second weekend against it
ComScore data sees the summer box office currently $1.24bn which is similar to the same time last year and last year was one of the worst summers for 11 years. The Incredibles 2 and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom will both open $100m+ and Ant-Man and the Wasp might but the remaining films of the summer are unlikely to top $60m with Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation and Mission: Impossible: Fallout the two that could.
Two years ago, Finding Dory opened 13 years after Finding Nemo opened with $135,060,273 taking $486,295,561; Finding Nemo opened with $70,251,710 taking $339,714,978; inflation inflated opening $106,717,357 taking $516,051,277.
- Tag – Warner Bros
Comedy starring Ed Helms, Jake Johnson, Annabelle Wallis, Isla Fisher, Rashida Jones, Leslie Bibb, Jon Hamm and Jeremy Renner and directed by Jeff Tomsic; film is based on a story that was published in The Wall Street Journal in January 2013.
Warner Bros have had mixed success from New Line Cinema comedies over recent years game Night, Going in Style, Fist Fight and Life of the Party have performed well but then last years The House didn’t; Tag is likely to open with $12-16m similar to last years Fist Fight.
- Superfly – Sony Pictures
Remake of the 1972 blaxploitation action film SuperFly starring Jennifer Morrison, Trevor Jackson, Michael Kenneth Williams, Esai Morales and Jason Mitchell and directed by Director X; expected to open with up to $12m for its five day opening; has recieved positive reviews currently 68% Rotten Tomatoes score.
