Top 5 Breakdown
- Night School – £1,596,377 – NE
855th biggest opening in the UK between Sicario and Hide and Seek (only £3,000 less than Crazy Rich Asians opened three weeks ago and £40,000 more than last year’s Girls Trip (took £399,537 from previews).
1028th biggest inflation inflated opening between Poltergeist and Brokeback Mountain
Had the biggest opening for a comedy film in the UK; would be a bigger deal if the comedies opened this year had performed strongly but the biggest so far has been Blockers £1,349,627, I Feel Pretty £1,272,154, Game Night £1,094,478 and The Spy Who Dumped Me £1,057,211.
It also depends on your interpretation of what a comedy is as of course Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again and Deadpool 2 are also comedies (along with other things) as regular comedies as regularly romantic-comedies haven’t had the success they had a decade ago with both being mainstays of cinema for decades. Now for a comedy to successful needs to have an edge to it, likewise rom-coms needing gross-out elements.
Night School also opened bigger than 2015’s Get Hard £1,438,389, 2017’s Girls Trip £1,557,981 and 2014’s Horrible Bosses 2 £1,257,808 comparing its performance against any of these films isn’t something to get excited about. Night School was Tiffany Haddish’s follow up to Girls Trip while it was Kevin Hart first film since Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.
But to put Night School’s opening in perspective You Don’t Mess with the Zohan opened with £1,520,637 in 2008; the film starred Adam Sandler and it opened just a similar successful period for him as Kevin Hart is having now.
Many have compared Night School as a sorta remake of Billy Madison which was one of Adam Sandler’s first leading films. Billy Madison had a limited release in the UK in 1995 and it wasn’t until 1998’s The Wedding Singer before he had a success in the UK.
While in the US Kevin Hart is a big name on his own internationally he is still the Martin Lawrence to Will Smith he is great supporting the lead in films like Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and Central Intelligence (both Dwayne Johnson) and Ride Along 2 (Ice Cube) and Get Hard (Will Ferrell) without he is still The Wedding Ringer (opened February 2015 with £990,445 taking £2,119,244).
Similar is likely for Tyler Perry’s Nobody’s Fool which is the first film as a director to have a major release in the UK also starring Tiffany Haddish
With Venom, A Star is Born and Johnny English Strikes Back opening this weekend is likely Night School won’t last long in the charts.
- The House with A Clock in Its Walls – £1,547,626 – £5,521,152
Down 54.1% in its second weekend, only £48,751 separated it from Night School #1
470th biggest second weekend between Spy and Fantastic Mr. Fox close to Percy Jackson and The Olympians: The Lightning Thief £1,487,446; The Maze Runner £1,458,300; The Maze Runner: Scorch Trials £1,510,494; The Fault in Our Stars £1,699,690
In comparison, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children took £2,224,702 having the 308th biggest second weekend between X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Gnomeo and Juliet
Will shortly become eOne’s second biggest film of the year after The Post £9.1m; over the last few years eOne have had their biggest success from Amblin with A Dog’s Purpose, Office Christmas Party, The Girl on the Train and The BFG and upcoming have A Dog’s Journey, The Turning and Bios
Output deals are the lifeblood of an independent distributor which gives them a regular slate of films which allows them to supplement them with individual acquisitions. But the only problem is independent distributors can become dependent o the films are Rank Film Distributors did with Orion Film in the 80s and early 90s Polygram in the early 90s and more recently Entertainment Film Distributors had a long-term output deal with New Line Cinema from the 90s to mid-00s but then Warner Bros brought New Line in-house from 2010.
Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief in February 2010 took £1,487,446 in its second weekend taking £5,225,096 of £7,347,672 total
Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters in August 2013 took £834,538 in its second weekend and £4,264,614 of £6,725,848 total
The House with A Clock in Its Walls is performing similarly to 2008’s The Spiderwick Chronicles took £1,305,968 in its second weekend (£1,976,532 inflation inflated) and £5,756,577 and £10,530,519 total and £15,937,535 inflation inflated
10 years ago, The Spiderwick Chronicles was the 14th biggest film of the year are currently 22 films that have taken over £10m released so far this year; its inflation total £15,937,535 would be the 15th biggest film of the year.
This again highlights that while box office might be increasing for the biggest 10 films of the year it shrinking for rest which to me isn’t a very healthy state, this seen by the way box office has its peaks and then fails this week the top 10 took £7.5m but then next weekend it will double. Similarly, July box office was down but then August was the highest since 2011 but then September is likely to be down again. With the films that are being released the marketplace should be much more stable.
eOne remaining films include Mike Leigh’s Peterloo opening next month after receiving its UK premiere at the London Film Festival, Nativity Rocks! (fourth part of the Nativity series) Starting next year as they have done in recent years with several potential award contenders On the Basis of Sex, Stan and Ollie, If Beale Street Could Talk, Vice and Green Book,
- A Simple Favour – £1,001,620 – £3,407,225
Down 38.2% in its second weekend
765th biggest second weekend between The Fighter and The Santa Clause 3
Its second-weekend box office is close to 2004’s Mean Girls £983,547 and £3,015,271 (taking £5,411,323 and £9,484,880 inflation inflated); Mean Girls is one of many films A Simple Favour could be better compared to than Gone Girl or The Girl on the Train. Wednesday, October 3rd is Mean Girls Day with selected cinemas in the UK showing the film.
Ts second weekend was also close to 2003’s How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, 1998’s The Wedding Singer, 2001’s America’s Sweethearts and 2011’s Friends with Benefits does again show how these kinds of films are getting squeezed at the box office over the last decade, but for me it’s the type of film that makes going to the cinema enjoyable again as its something different with lots of twists.
920th inflation inflated the second weekend between Dirty Grandpa and Dracula Untold similar to I Feel Pretty second weekend earlier this year taking £931,614
While the film’s marketing has sold it to be similar to Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train (and that was the reason 20th Century Fox put the film into turnaround) the film is very different.
But thanks to the performances of Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively made the film to be a very watchable and enjoyable film.
Blake Lively has been promoting the film over recent weeks which has seen her husband Ryan Reynolds troll her on Instagram after she posted a picture of her in a suit against a naked male model with the caption to the photo “my turn” (viewed 1.9m times) Ryan Reynolds replied, “He seems nice.”
Over recent months Blake Lively has used her Instagram account (has 23.5m followers) to promote the film, in early May she deleted all of her Instagram posts following only people called Emily Nelson with her Instagram bio ‘What happened to Emily? A few days later the first trailer was released for the film and her account returned to
Bridesmaids opened June 2011 second weekend with £2,007,171 and £7,915,726 taking £22,318,130
The Heat opened August 2013 second weekend with £1,149,926 and £4,900,666 taking £6,825,860
Spy opened June 2015 second weekend £1,549,756 and £5,549,333 taking £9,654,086
Ghostbusters opened July 2016 second weekend £1,320,048 and £7,194,619 taking £10,554,557
Blake Lively next stars in action thriller The Rhythm Section opening in February produced by Eon based on Mark Burnell’s Stephanie Patrick series of four books. While Anna Kendrick will be seen in Noelle next year and heard in Trolls World Tour in 2020. The Bella’s reunited recently which made people believe that there could be a Pitch Perfect 4, while the original was very enjoyable the two sequels were poor imitations.
- Crazy Rich Asians – £731,157 – £4,819,713
Down 34.9% in its third weekend
The film didn’t match the huge success has been in the US which was always expected of course the question will be would it have done better had it kept its November release date has had competition from A Simple Favour and Night School.
After opening similar to My Big Fat Greek Wedding and Bride and Prejudice despite being released 10 and 14 years ago but they still managed to take more than Crazy Rich Asians in their second weekend, this again shows how these films which used to be mainstays of cinema are now being squeezed at the box office as cinemagoers have become much more selective in the films they pay to see and those they wait to see.
In 2002 My Big Fat Greek Wedding took £1,394,953 in its third weekend and £6,211,497 going on to take £13,441,558 (£24,658,522);
Bend It Like Beckham took £1,233,315 and £6,443,981 taking £10,914,247 (£20,747,614);
2004’s Bride and Prejudice third weekend £447,614 and £4,184,363 taking £4,993,561 (£8,752,634.
While industry might be celebrating the highest August since 2011 the majority of its box office came from five films but were another 71 films also released. In recent years over 800 films released in the UK but the top 100 takes almost 90% of the box office, how is that healthy?
- The Nun – £659,153 – £10,597,539
Down 35.4% in its fourth weekend; despite poor reviews, The Nun has overtaken all previous films of The Conjuring Universe apart from The Conjuring 2 £10,896,992 which it will overtake by next weekend.
The five-film franchise has now taken over £46m over the last five years; The Nun was seen as the weakest part of the series to date so for it becoming the biggest of the series in the UK and globally shows there is much more life in the franchise. Next summer the third Annabelle film will be released and the third The Conjuring film will be shot for release in summer 2020.
Normally horrors drop off heavily after opening for The Nun to stay in the top five for four weeks despite many films opening over the past four weeks was surprising.
Despite The Nun’s success, it has taken only a third of the total box office It took last September (£32.34m) but was the biggest film released in September.
Warner Bros next release A Star is Born on Wednesday which will likely have to settle for third place behind Venom and Johnny English Strikes Back; Smallfoot opens the following weekend for half-term and then Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald opens mid-November (the second trailer was released last week) with Creed 2 (second trailer released last week) and Aquaman opening end of November and December with 20th Century Fox delaying Alita: Battle Angel to February 2019 Aquaman now only has Bumblebee and Mary Poppins Returns to deal with.
UK box office in detail
This weekend’s top 10 box office took £7,468,933 down 31.56% from last weekend £10,913,233
The weekend admissions 949,039 down 31.56% from last weekend 1,386,688; average ticket up 3.87% from last year’s £7.49 to £7.87 for 2018 according to six-month box office results.
15 films opened at weekend taking £2,341,895; Night School 68.16% (£1,596,377): remaining 14 films shared 31.83% (£745,517): Top two took 42.09% of the top 10; Night School 21.37% and The House with A Clock in Its Walls 20.72%
The weekend was down 23.29% from 2017 (£9,737,689); Goodbye Christopher Robin £781,110; Flatliners £486,721; Home Again £484,124; Supersonic £542,263;
Down 42.87% from 2016: (£13,075,476): Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children £3,473,781; Deepwater Horizon £1,984,340; Free State of Jones £118,635;
Up 4.6% from 2015; (£7,140,352); Miss You Already £487,247; Solace £340,537; Life £38,237; McFarland £12,773; Captive £52,227;
Down 6.9% from 2014: (£8,023,248); Billy Elliot The Musical Live 2014 (Theatre) £1,904,098; The Equalizer £1,890,146; What We Did on our Holiday £811,087; Maps to the Stars £131,057; I Origins £14,953;
Up 65.69% from 2013: (£6,429,080); Prisoners £1,365,527; Blue Jasmine £833,798; Runner Runner £764,886; Filth £247,860; Austenland £12,384;
Up 16.17% from 2012 (£7,641,350 ); Looper £2,427,994; Resident Evil: Retribution £792,265; The Campaign £772,102;
Up 43.68% from 2011 (£5,198,264): Abduction £900,782; The Phantom of the Opera (25th Anniversary Concert) £550,955; The Debt £417,977; Shark Night 3D £416,770; What’s Your Number? £320,331; Melancholia £132,437; Red State £105,753;
Up 17.19% from 2010: (£6,372,852): Buried £820,631; Made in Dagenham £674,059; Back to the Future (Re) £461,194; Takers £208,390; The Secret of Kells £6,151
Up 6.54% from 2009 (£7,010,262); Fame £2,408,242; Surrogates £961,271; The Soloist £373,151; Creation £199,477; Thomas and Friends: Hero of Rails £64,310; The Crimson Wing £746
Up 18.51% from 2008 (£6,302,076); Taken £1,165,986; Righteous Kill £768,803; Death Race £683,038; I’ve Loved You So Long £116,990; Appaloosa £90,673; Redbelt £10,303;
Up 20.39% from 2007 (£6,203,477); Halloween £620,844; Michael Clayton £601,196; The Brave One £497,838; Mr Woodcock £483,017; War £207,091; Hot Rod £44,241; Across the Universe £27,471;
Up 108.8% from 2006; (£8,159,980); Click £1,797,073; Hoodwinked £1,764,419; World Trade Centre £1,667,589; Life and Lyrics £95,724
Down 8.46% from 2005 (£6,378,025 ); A History of Violence £1,135,345; Goal! £857,253; Four Brothers £789,718; Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo £280,414;
Up 4.15% from 2004 (£7,170,652): Saw £1,239,813; Layer Cake £1,090,561; Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow £628,808; Ma n About Dog £134,924; The Life and Death of Peter Sellers £125,748; De-Lovely £117,789; Dead Man’s Shoes £44,361;
Up 4.09% from 2003 (£7,175,270); Once Upon a Time in Mexico £846,100; Matchstick Men £564,481; Young Adam £228,692; Ned Kelly £211,643;
Up 6.22% from 2002 (£7,031,358): Road to Perdition £1,318,382; Van Wilder £707,783; Divine Secrets of The Ya-Ya Sisterhood £124,269;
Up 59.96% from 2001 (£7,048,276); Mike Bassett: England Manager £835,219; Enigma £796,776; The Score £736,742; The Brothers £59,542
Next weekend in 2017: (£11,370,381); Blade Runner 2049 £6,071,625; The Mountain Between Us £777,646; Norma – Met Opera 2017 (Opera) £224,794; The Glass Castle £49,425
Also opened
- The Wife – Picturehouse Entertainment
Opened with £392,635 from 119 screens
Other News
When Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again opened 11 weeks ago with £9,735,930 box office experts said it was going to have similar strong legs as the original, but 11 weeks after opening it is out of the top 10 in comparison 10 years ago Mamma Mia! was #2 in its 11th weekend taking £708,489 and £61,653,876.
Has overtaken Jurassic World to become Universal Pictures second biggest film in the UK and the 13th biggest film ever in the UK and the 43rd biggest inflation inflated film in the UK
The Greatest Showman was also second in its 11th week on release taking £1,567,366 and £37.33m 79.4% of its final total of £47m; staying in the top 10 for 18 weeks a week longer than Mamma Mia!
40 weeks after release the film’s soundtrack is still #2 (after being #’1 for 11 weeks) compared with #8 for Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again
August Admissions
Admissions increased 32.8% in August with 19.22m the biggest August since 2011 21.41m million) with The Inbetweeners Movie and Rise of The Planet of The Apes
Depending on what the UK Cinema Association claim as this year’s average ticket price august box office took about £151.26m with the top seven films taking about 80% of the month’s box office. Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again predictably was the biggest film in August.
The sequel has taken £65,222,094 becoming Universal Pictures second biggest film in the UK but won’t match Mamma Mia! 2008 total of £68,162,804 with over 50% ticket inflation since 2008 that would be £103,161,782 today.
The weather in August was similar to previous months with mostly hot sunny days so the excuses having a poorer July don’t stack up while June suffered from having little content apart from Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and Ocean’s Eight, both performed well but less than previous parts of their franchises.
While cinema attendance often drops off in August in the US its strong in the UK with 6-week school holidays weekdays are as lucrative as weekends for family films. The top three films Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, Incredibles 2 and Ant-Man and The Wasp performed as expected.
Mamma Mia 2 opened a third bigger than the original opened 1 0 years ago and was expected to have long legs, while it held in second for all of August it then dropped down the chart much quicker than Mamma Mia which stayed in the top 10 for several months. Similarly, Incredibles 2 has taken £55m at the box office took almost double what Incredibles took in 2004 (£31,900,893) but that is close to ticket inflation (£55,915,374).
August admissions also brought annual admissions close to last year; up to the end of August admissions 120.31 million up 3.3% from last year but as ticket inflation from last year is about the same they are holding steady with 2017. At the end of July, admissions were 0.9% down from last year. Admissions for the first 8 months of the year are the highest since 2010 (120.64 million).
Last year eight films took over £20m at the box office that was released between September and December Star Wars: The Last Jedi, The Greatest Showman, Paddington 2, Jumanji, It, Thor: Ragnarok, Kingsman: The Golden Circle, Murder on the Orient Express.
In September last year, It took £32.34m and Kingsman: The Golden Circle took £24.88m while the biggest film of September 2018 has been The Nun with £10.5m
The major distributors release 36 films between October- December similar to last year but doubt they will match the £400m+ they took; Star Wars; The Last Jedi £82.67m; The Greatest Showman £47.00; Paddington 2 £42.64 and Jumanji £36.80m
Away from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them 2 and Mary Poppins Returns both expected to take £50m+ and Wreck-It-Ralph 2 £30m+ it’s hard to see many others take over £20m+ with Venom, Johnny English Strikes Back, Bohemian Rhapsody, The Grinch, and Aquaman leading the way. But the problem with them is they all play in a crowded marketplace and they aren’t big enough to break free so low high teens/low 20s are most likely for them.
UK August Top 5
- Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (July 20) £29.9m
- Incredibles 2 (July 13) £17.2m
- Ant-Man and The Wasp (Aug 3) £16.4m
- Mission: Impossible – Fallout (July 27) £13.38m
- The Meg (Aug 10) £13.35m
UK Box Office Top 10
US Box office
- Night School – Universal Pictures
Opened with $27.25m; received poor reviews 30% Rotten Tomatoes but better audience reaction with A- CinemaScore
Originally looking towards an opening similar to 2016’s Central Intelligence $35.5m opening and $127.44m total and Ride Along 2 $35.2m opening and $91.22m
Central Intelligence received A- ; Ride Along 2 B+; Get Hard B; Girls Trip A; Ride Along A.
The comedy is a remake of the Adam Sandler 1995 film Billy Madison opened with $6.64m taking $25.58m which Night School took in its opening weekend, but of course, opened 23 years ago when average ticket price was only $4.35 it’s up over 115% since.
While Billy Madison was Adam Sandler’s first solo lead role having had small parts in various films before including Airheads and Mixed Nuts which both took $6m. In 1995 Batman Forever had the biggest opening of $52.78m with most films having openings in their teens with Billy Madison 61st biggest opening; Toy Story was the biggest film of the year with $191.79m and Billy Madison was 65th between Houseguest and Desperado.
In comparison Kevin Hart has starred in more than a dozen films and his most recent Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, Central Intelligence, Ride Along 2 and Get Hard have all performed strongly but benefited with the likes of Dwayne Johnson as co-stars. Have to go back to 2015 The Wedding Ringer for the last film he toplined opened with $20.64m taking $64.46m.
Opened with $5.5m internationally from 19 territories and $33.5m worldwide
- Smallfoot – Warner Bros
Opened with $23.04m; positive reviews 69% Rotten Tomatoes score and A- CinemaScore (same as 2016’s Storks)
It is the fifth film from Warner Animation Group after The Lego Movie, Storks, The Lego Batman Movie and The Lego Ninjago Movie and The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part is released next February.
Pixar and Illumination are leading the way with animation today opening $100m+ which has pushed companies like Warner Animation Group and Dreamworks Animation into second place with their films opening instead in their 20’s and 40’s even The Lego Movie and the Lego Batman Movie opened with $69.03m and $53.03m openings are half the size of Pixar and Illumination films.
The same is the case with Dreamworks Animation their original films open in the 20’s to 40’s The Croods and Trolls while sequels including How to Train Your Dragon 2 opened with $49.51m.
While Dreamworks Animation is currently following the sequel heavy route Pixar and Illumination have been doing for the last few years Warner Animation Group as their feature films are mixing it up more with Storks and Smallfoot alongside The Lego Batman Movie and The Lego Ninjago Movie.
While Warner Bros launched Warner Animation Group in January 2013 the studio has a long history in animation Warner Bos Cartoons was launched in 1933 making Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons.
In 1980 this became Warner Bros Animation and moved into feature animation in 1991 with their first Space Jam released in 1996 starred Michael Jordon opposite the Looney Tunes (Looney Tunes had appeared on the big screen 8 years earlier in Who Framed Roger Rabbit that saw Bugs Bunny share the screen with Mickey Mouse) it took $90.4m in the US opening with $27.52m (18th biggest film of the year) Warner Bros have been wanting to make a sequel ever since and are rumours that it will finally start production next year.
Warner Bros Animation The Quest for Camelot only took $22.5m at the US box office in 1998, their third Brad Bird’s Iron Giant received rave reviews but was poorly dated opening early August 1999 with only $5.73m in ninth, The Sixth Sense opened #1 with $26.68m. Over the years since Iron Giant has been called one of the best-animated films ever and but it is often the case films don’t get the audience they deserve, and it takes home video for them to find their audience as was the cast four years earlier with The Shawshank Redemption.
Their next Osmosis Jones in 2001 also performed poorly at the box office taking only $13.59m and 2003’s Looney Tunes: Back in Action took only $20.99m. While Warner Bros films underwhelmed they were having much better success with their TV animation which is strangely similarly the case with their comic-book adaptations while their recent films apart from Wonder Woman have been received poorly, their TV shows have been well received which is positive to Marvel who have had tremendous success with films but their TV shows apart from the ones made for Netflix have been mostly poorly received.
The animated films Warner Animation Group are currently developing they include Dr. Seuss’ The Cat in the Hat, adaptation of The Ice Dragon, a children’s fantasy book by George R. R. Martin, Toto based on the children’s book Toto: The Dog-Gone Amazing Story of The Wizard of Oz, Coyote Vs. Acme a Wile E. Coyote animated film and Scooby-Doo reboot set for May 15th, 2020.
Smallfoot took $14m from 49 territories and $15.6m total and $38.6m globally
- The House with A Clock in Its Walls – Universal Pictures
Down 52.6% in its second weekend $12.6m and $44.85m
In September Tim Burton’s Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children dropped 47.6% $15,141,789 and $51,195,272 taking $87,242,834 and $296,485,719 worldwide
2015’s Goosebumps dropped 34.3% $15,525,901 and $43,738,043 taking $80,080,379 – $150,170,815 worldwide
The Spiderwick Chronicles dropped 31.1% $13,100,192 and $44,076,043 taking $71,148,699
Took $9.4m from 43 territories (shared between Universal Pictures and Amblin) $21m total and $65.8m worldwide
- A Simple Favour – Lionsgate
Dropped 36.2% in its third weekend taking $6.54m and $43.01m total
Took $5.2m internationally from 36 territories total $10m
- The Predator – 20th Century Fox
Drops 59.7% in its third weekend taking $3.86m and $47.79m
Predator in June 1987 took $59.73m – $98.3m worldwide
Predator 2 in November 1990 took $30.66m – $57.1m worldwide
Predators in July 2010 took $52m– $127.2m worldwide
Alien Vs. Predator in August 2004 took $80,28m – $172.5m worldwide
Aliens Vs. Predator: Requiem in December 2007 took $41.79m – $128.9m worldwide
Internationally took $15.4m and $54.5m total from 82 territories
- The Nun – Warner Bros
Down 45.5% in its fourth weekend taking $5.42m and $109.01m
Has overtaken all of the other parts of The Conjuring franchise apart from The Conjuring 2 $137.4m; The five Conjuring films have taken $535.25m in the US and $1.53bn worldwide;
A large proportion of its US box office came from Spanish speaking territories; Mexico $21.5m, Brazil $17m, Spain $10.5m and Columbia $6.2m with a third of the US box office from Hispanic audiences.
While studios have become focussed on megamovies over recent years The Nun has a budget of $22m will see a profit of over $100m similar to last year’s Annabelle: Creation which had combined P&A and production cost of $115m taking $306.5m globally and $108.7m of profit.
Took $16.2m internationally from 80 territories with $221m total and $330m worldwide; has become the highest grossing film of the series globally overtaking Annabelle $257m, Annabelle: Creation $306.5m The Conjuring $319.5m; The Conjuring 2 $320.4m
- Crazy Rich Asians – Warner
Down 35.4% in its seventh weekend taking $4.1m and $165.63m
Continues to perform similar to 2011’s The Help taking $4,370,051 in its seventh weekend and $154,414,153 and went on to take $169,705,587; final box office for Crazy Rich Asians is expected to be $180m+.
it is the 6th biggest rom-com in the US overtaking 2009’s The Proposal with There’s Something About Mary and Pretty Woman in its sights but of course, as both were released over 20 years ago can’t be compared to Crazy Rich Asians current box office.
Internationally took $7.3m from 29 territories with total of $37.9m;
- Assassination Nation – Neon
Dropped 80.7% in its second weekend taking $202,817 and $1.72m total
- Life Itself – Amazon Studios
Dropped 63.7% in its second weekend taking $770,085 and $3.75m total
- The Old Man & the Gun – Fox Searchlight
Opened with $142,131 from 5 screens
Other News
- Johnny English Strike Back – Universal
Took $14.2m from 38 territories and $44.2m total opens in the UK this weekend which was the key territory for the first two films.
Was surprising the film opened internationally a month before opening in the UK which will be its key territory as the first two underwhelmed in the US.
UK Box Office Predictions
Five-day openings for both Venom and A Star Is Born along with Johnny English Strikes Back opening on Friday should see box office light up at the weekend all three are targetting different demographics.
Despite early social media reviews comparing it to Fantastic Four and Catwoman Venom is expected to open #1 with £5m+ taking £1.5m+ from previews
A Star is Born is harder to predict after The Greatest Showman opened last December with £4,754,049 (including £2,178,902 from previews) and La La Land in January 2017 with £6,596,256 (including £943,672 from previews)
Musicals have performed strongly over the years in the UK including 2008’s Sweeney Todd £4,525,246, 2007’s Hairspray £2,045,912 and 2001’s Moulin Rouge £2,403,378 must compare their inflation inflated openings being over 10 years old £6,848,786, £3,188,382 and £4,568,740 while 2013’s Les Miserables opened with £8,127,991.
A Star Is Born has been generating strong buzz for weeks now so an opening similar to The Greatest Showman could be possible as it still managed to open that strongly despite Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and Pitch Perfect 3 also opening, but of course, it was Christmas holiday.
Johnny English opened April 2003 with £3,435,342 (£6,089,221 inflation inflated) and Johnny English Reborn opened September 2011 £4,965,000 (£6,447,946 inflation inflated) both with similar poor reviews.
Both films opened #1 taking far more than the film in second in 2003 The Jungle Book 2 £1,436,730 and The Lion King 3D in October 2011 £2,746,763. Johnny English Strikes Back opens 15 years after the first film and over 25 years after his character began as a spoof James Bond character In Barclaycard adverts
Opening in the UK
- A Star is Born – Warner Bros
Musical romantic drama starring Bradley Cooper, Lady Gaga, Andrew Dice Clay, Dave Chappelle, and Sam Elliott and directed by Bradley Cooper (his directorial debut) remake of the 1937 film that was also remade in 1954 musical and then again in 1976 rock musical with Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson.
In 2011 Clint Eastwood was first attached to direct the remake with Beyoncé set to star, was delayed after she got pregnant with several actors including Christian Bale, Leonardo DiCaprio, Will Smith and Tom Cruise attached to star. In March 2016 Bradley Cooper signed to star and direct and Lady Gaga joined the cast in August 2016.
Received its world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival receiving critical acclaim with praise for Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga’s performances and seen as an early award favourite.
In recent years Venice and Toronto Film Festivals have become the key film festivals to launch award contenders but has seen Cannes and London Film Festivals relegated into more local festivals that still believe they are the global festivals they were decades ago.
Normally when a studio delays a film it’s a sign the studio is concerned about the film as seen with Warner Bros perennial delayed Mowgli that was originally set for release in October 2016 but was delayed many times with the studio selling the film to Netflix a few months ago.
Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge and The Great Gatsby are two films that benefited from delayed release dates both originally set for December release dates but delayed to May openings with Cannes Film Festival international premieres.
2018 has been the year of the musical after the performance of The Greatest Showman while opening the end of last year is still one of the 10 biggest films of the year with 2018 box office and was followed by Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again performing similarly to the original film that was released 10 years ago.
Later this month the Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody and then year ends with Mary Poppins Returns. While next year Elton John biopic Rocket Man (first teaser trailer was released this week) and Cats based on Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical that Steven Spielberg original developed over 25 years ago as an animated musical.
A Star is Born whilst being a remake has much more in common with The Greatest Showman as features original songs as the songs are a major part of the film’s identity. The first song from the film’s soundtrack Shallow was released last week which sets the tone of the film has been viewed almost 7m times.
While This is Me from the soundtrack of The Greatest Showman has been viewed over 70m times since January. As with The Greatest Showman soundtrack the music from A Star Is Born wasn’t known before going into the cinema but will be played again and again after audiences have seen the film.
Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again had 40+ years of ABBA nostalgia with millions of album sales so audiences knew exactly what to expect,
Baz Luhrmann took a similar approach he did with Romeo & Juliet that blew me away the first time I saw it with Moulin Rouge using modern day music as A Knight’s Tale also did which made the films immediately much more accessible as audiences knew the music.
The music in a musical is part of the plot as 3D was to Gravity so much harder for audience to take it all in when the music is also new to them. Similar was done with the underrated Across the Universe featuring Beatles songs.
Similar to romantic comedies musicals were a mainstay of cinema for decades but after the failure of A Chorus Line in 1985 they disappeared for a decade returning briefly in 1996 with Everyone Says I Love You and Evita (took £14,218,510 now be £30,243,155).
Moulin Rouge in 2001 and Chicago a year later were both box office and award successes
Moulin Rouge opened September 2001 £2,403,378 (inflation inflated £4,568,740) holding strongly for several months taking £17,934,410 (inflation inflated £34,092,707)
Chicago opened wide January 2003 (after three weeks on limited release) £1,983,505 (inflation inflated £3,515,807) taking £15,927,431 (inflation inflated £28,231,730)
October has been a strong time in recent years to launch film targetting older audiences last year Blade Runner 2049 opened with £6,071,625; in 2016 The Girl on the Train opened with £6,957,945; in 2015 The Martian opened with £6,531,734; in 2013 Gone Girl opened with £4,109,628;
With positive reviews and strong buzz for A Star Is Born since its world premiere 6 weeks ago the same would be expected this year but while those films were the biggest films opening A Star is Born has to Venom and Johnny English Strikes Back to deal with.
While all three are targetting different demographics they could cannibalize A Star is Born box office especially with First Man opening the following weekend which would be targetting a similar audience to A Star Is Born.
The problem is that all studios have the same data when dating their films and select their openings comparing them with historical performances of similar films and how they did on specific dates, as the first weekend in October has been a good launch date for films in recent years Warner Bros choose to open A Star is Born day and date with the US even though it meant opening against Venom and Johnny English Strikes Back.
Warner Bros might have possibly thought of repeating what they did so successfully five years ago with Gravity held it back four weeks but with Bohemian Rhapsody opening in three weeks’ time they needed to open A Star is Born ahead of it or else would have had to of delayed it to December as they did with Sully two years ago, but again that would of put in the line of fire to Mary Poppins Returns opening a few weeks later.
By opening A Star is Born we have two of the frontrunners of award season battling it out with themselves with only a week apart which won’t be good for either of them, as was the case in 2015 when The Walk was expected for months to be a major Oscar contender but after receiving strong buzz from Toronto Film Festival it overshadowed The Walk opening the week after.
- Venom – Sony Pictures
The first film in Sony’s Marvel Universe sharing the same world as Spider-Man: Homecoming minus the other Avengers who share the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Sony Pictures originally started developing the Venom spinoff after he appeared in 2007’s Spider-Man 3 Starring Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams, Riz Ahmed, Scott Haze, and Reid Scott and directed by Ruben Fleischer.
In 1997 David S. Goyer wrote script for New Line Cinema with Dolph Lundgren in the lead but the rights moved to Sony Pictures when they acquired Spider-Man rights.
Marvel Cinematic Universe films like all the big blockbusters are given 12A’s in the UK and PG-13’s in the US but Venom received PG-13 in the US. In the UK received a 15 as Suicide Squad was two years ago similar to Logan and Deadpool but they both received R-rating in the US.
Over recent years IMAX has reduced the number of screenings in 3D but for Venom all screenings in IMAX cinemas will be in 2D.
Early social media reaction has been poor comparing it to Catwoman and Fantastic Four so makes sense embargo ends at 3am UK time on Wednesday only hours before its first screenings in the UK. But as seen with Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad for their opening weekends audiences don’t listen to critics.
The difference with Venom is normally when a big comic-book film opens rival studios don’t open other big films, but this weekend also has A Star Is Born which has been generating strong buzz for several weeks and Johnny English Strikes Back, while it received poor reviews it didn’t stop the first two films open strongly and take £20m.
Fantastic Four opened July 2015 with £2,686,176 including £414,852 previews
Justice League opened November 2017 with £7,264,784 including £2,990,474 previews
X-Men: Apocalypse opened May 2016 with £7,354,293 including £2,047,586 previews
Fantastic Four opened August 2005 with £3,541,391 including £817,192 previews
Batman and Robin opened June 1997 with £4,900,000 including £500,000 from previews (would be £9,474,939 inflation inflated)
Venom was tracking three weeks ago to open with $60m in the US for most comic-book movie the UK box office is close to the 10% guideline much use to predict UK box office but with films including Justice League and Wonder Woman Black Panther and Ant-Man and the Wasp its 7-8% which would be £5m+ opening despite having two extra days opening.
While having a 15 didn’t harm either Suicide Squad or Logan audiences will be expecting to see a darker film due to that certificate than it is.
Having two days of previews and likely mixed word of mouth will push previews to take 40%+ of its opening similar to Thor, The Expendables and Twilight films as opening will be front-loaded.
- Johnny English Strikes Back – Universal Pictures
Spy action comedy starring Rowan Atkinson, Ben Miller, Olga Kurylenko, Jake Lacy, Emma Thompson and directed by David Kerr; the third part of the Johnny English film series launched in 2003 based on 90s series of Barclaycard TV adverts spoofing James Bond.
Johnny English opened 11th April 2003 – £3,435,342 (£6,089,221 inflation inflated) taking £19,209,597 (inflation inflated £34,049,443)
Johnny English Reborn opened 7th October 2011 – £4,965,000 (£6,447,946 inflation inflated) taking £20,632,010 (inflation inflated £26,794,376)
Opened in Asia three weeks ago which was surprising as the key territory for the previous two films was the UK; the film has received poor reviews but Johnny English and Johnny English Reborn received 33% and 38% Rotten Tomatoes scores and they still performed strongly in the UK but both films did poorly in the US and little is expected for the third film opening at the end of October in the US.
But with Studiocanal releasing King of Thieves in September (also made by Working Title) Universal Pictures had limited options as released Night School last weekend and open First Man next weekend and Halloween the following weekend and want Johnny English Strikes Back out for half-term.
Johnny English opened #1 April 11th, 2003 with £3,435,342 was the 15th biggest opening of 2003 (biggest openings of the year were Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions, Finding Nemo, Bruce Almighty, X-Men 2, Love Actually and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. Only the first two had openings over £10m but now 15 years later all of them inflation inflated openings are £10m+
Johnny English dropped only 26.36% in its second weekend taking £2,529,665 and £8,641,414
- Blindspotting – Lionsgate
Comedy-drama film starring Daveed Diggs, Carlos López Estrada, Janina Gavankar, Jasmine Cephas Jones, Ethan Embry, Tisha Campbell-Martin, Utkarsh Ambudkar and Wayne Knight and directed by Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal; had its world premiere on Sundance Film Festival receiving positive reviews and was acquired by Lionsgate Film.
Was released in the US in July on a limited release taking $4,314,103 will have a limited release in the UK too.
Opening in US
- A Star is Born – Warner Bros
Tracking to open with $30m but after receiving positive buzz for the last 6 weeks it could open bigger to tracking while Venom opens lower than expected
First week of October over the last five years has been a good date to open a film targetting older audiences 2013 Gravity opening $55,785,112 taking $274,092,705; 2014 Gone Girl opening $37,513,109 taking $167,767,189; 2015 The Martian opening $54,308,575 taking $228,433,663; 2016 The Girl on the Train opening $24,536,265 taking $75,395,035; 2017 Blade Runner 2049 opening $32,753,122 taking $92,054,159.
The difference for A Star Is Born this year is that it opens against Venom which is expected to open up to twice as big, but while Venom it expected to drop heavily in its second weekend A Star is Born will likely hold much stronger, the only issue for it is First Man opening next weekend as both will be targeting similar demographics.
Similar films include
2016’s La La Land opened wide with $10,132,213 taking $151,101,803 – $446,092,357 WW
2013’s Les Miserables opened with $27,281,735 taking $148,809,770 – $441,809,770 WW
2017’s The Greatest Showman opened with $8,805,843 taking $174,340,174 – $434,993,183 WW
2005’s Walk The Line opened with $22,347,341 taking $119,519,402 – $186,438,883 WW
2006’s Dreamgirls opened limited wide with $8,953,734 taking $103,365,956 – $154,937,680 WW
2010’s Burlesque opened with $11,947,744 taking $39,440,655 – $89,519,773 WW
2007’s Hairspray opened with $27,476,745 taking $118,871,849 $202,548,575 WW
2001’s Moulin Rouge opened wide with $13,718,306 taking $57,386,607 – $179,213,434 WW
2002’s Chicago opened wide with $10,786,533 taking $170,687,518 – $306,776,732 WW
1996’s Evita opened wide with $8,918,183 taking $50,047,179 – $141,047,179 WW
1992’s The Bodyguard opened with $16,611,793 taking $122,006,740 – $411,006,740 WW
Singers turned actors have had mixed success over the years including Madonna, Mariah Carey, Jennifer Lopez, Harry Connick Jr, Eminem, Mandy Moore, Dolly Parton, Jennifer Hudson, Justin Timberlake, Barbra Streisand, Cher, Will Smith and Whitney Huston.
Who can forget Mariah Carey in 2001’s Glitter, Madonna in 2002’s Swept Away and Jennifer Lopez in 2003’s Gigli but unlike those performance Lady Gaga has received praise for her performance in A Star is Born
- Venom – Sony Pictures
Trailers made the film look as most assumed it would be a dark R-rated comic-book film similar to Logan or Deadpool was embracing the adult nature of the character but has been revealed was always planned as a PG-13 and no R-Rated version exists, saying that was up to 40 mins of footage cut from the film according to Tom Hardy, (theatrical version is 112mins long).
But the footage in the trailers would suggest differently that maybe studio changed their mind during production to go for the PG-13, when audiences realise its not going to be as dark as they expected will that have a positive or a negative reaction to audiences?
Venom has been compared to Deadpool and Suicide Squad but the PG-13 would suggest the film won’t be as dark as fans want or expect.
It’s expected to open with $60m+ would see it have the biggest October opening ahead of 2013’s Gravity but would suggest will likely drop heavily in its following weekends.
While being a spinoff to Spider-Man it’s hard to compare Venom to previous Spider-Man films as Venom is far less well known away from comic-book fans more like Doctor Strange to Captain America.
While fans might have been expecting a film similar in tone to 2016’s Suicide Squad opened $133.68m BO $325.1m worldwide $745.84m; Deadpool $132.43m BO $363.1m worldwide $783.11m and 2017’s Logan $88.41m BO $226.3m and worldwide $619.02m
They will be getting something more like 2007’s $45.38m BO $115.8m worldwide $228.73m and 2015’s Fantastic Four $25.68m BO $56.1m worldwide $167.97m
Review embargo ends 7.30pm PT on Tuesday only hours before the first screenings in the UK which is never a good sign, (was similar to how Warner Bros handled Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League) but of course, reviews for comic-book films rarely mater for opening weekend but will likely mean a 60%+ second weekend drop. Someone broke the embargo on Sunday saying it was Catwoman bad (opened July 2004 with $16.72m taking $40.2m).
It would be great to think cinemagoers would choose to see A Star is Born over yet another comic-book movie as while it might also be a reboot there is a lot that is fresh and original about it.
- The Hate U Give – 20th Century Fox
Drama film starring Amandla Stenberg, Regina Hall, Russell Hornsby, KJ Apa, Algee Smith, Lamar Johnson, Issa Rae, Sabrina Carpenter, Common, and Anthony Mackie and directed by George Tillman Jr based on Angie Thomas’ 2017 novel of the same name; premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival receiving critical acclaim; opens on limited release on October 5th and expands over the following two weeks.
