UK/US Box Office July 5th-7th week 27 and previews

 

 

1. Spider-Man: Far From Home – £14,148,624 – NE

Took £5.75m from previews Tuesday- Thursday

Had the second-biggest opening in the UK after Avengers: Endgame (£43.4m) and fourth biggest three-day weekend after Avengers: Endgame (£31.4m), Toy Story 4 (£13.3m), and Captain Marvel (£12.8m).

Had the 34^th biggest opening between Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and Furious 8 and 58^th biggest inflation inflated between The Matrix Revolutions and Spider-Man 2 (£14.1m inflation inflated).

Sony Pictures UK fourth biggest opening after Spectre (£41,299,090); Skyfall (£20,180,369); Quantum of Solace (£15,384,217);

Having the biggest opening for a Spider-Man film in the UK boosted by the 3 days of previews; 2007’s Spider-Man 3 opened with £11.8m without previews (£16.9m inflation inflated)

Opened 161.39%+ Spider- Man 2; 157.01%+ The Amazing Spider-Man 2; 151.01%+ Spider-Man: Homecoming; 150.09%+ Spider-Man; 127.56%+ The Amazing Spider-Man; 119.63%+ Spider-Man 3

Spider-Man: Homecoming opened in July 2017 with £9,369,166 taking £30,380,216 a year after Spider-Man made his first appearance in the MCU I Captain America: Civil War, this time Spider-Man: Far From Home is the follow-up film to Avengers: Endgame so should be much more interest in the sequel and open much bigger.

Had the 7^th biggest MCU opening in the UK behind Avengers: Endgame; Avenger Infinity War; Avengers: Age of Ultron; Black Panther; Avengers Assemble; Captain America: Civil War (taking £320k less in 6 days compared with Civil War 3 day opening) despite it being the lead film into Spider-Man: Homecoming story arc)

9th biggest comic-book opening in the UK between The Dark Knight Rises and Deadpool and 12th biggest inflation inflated between Batman Vs Superman and Spider-Man 2

The 9 Spider-Man films Sony have taken over £208m in the UK (£262m+ inflation inflated) includes the 7 Spider-Man films and Venom and Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse

Morbius is Sony’s second Marvel Universe film due for release next summer with Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse sequel also in development while the ending of Spider-Man: Far From Home sets up sequels.  

Tom Holland has a habit of spoiling the film and he did it again when he was on the Graham Norton Show recently when he said that Spider-Man: Far From Home follows on from the death of Tony Stark in Avengers: Endgame. As the film has been released for over two months and it is mentioned in the trailer is it really a spoiler?

2007’s Spider-Man is currently the biggest Spider-Man film in the UK and worldwide so was always surprising Sony Pictures cancelled plans for Spider-Man 4 and 5 (was expected to shoot back to back in 2010). Instead opted to reboot the franchise with The Amazing Spider-Man in 2012 with a sequel in 2014 but neither were as successful as the Sam Raimi trilogy.

Sony Pictures seemed to of had similar issues making the IMAX poster for Spider-Man: Far From Home as they did two years ago with the first poster for Spider-Man :Homecoming both posters were poorly photoshopped. There was also issues with Nick Fury’s eye patch on different eyes, but this could have been done on purpose to tease the twist.

The 23 MCU films have taken over £735m in the UK and £755m inflation inflated; Marvel have yet to announce the two MCU films set for release in May and November next year but one of them will be Black Widow that has already started shooting.

Avengers: Endgame has taken £88,537,016 is now the 5^th biggest film in the UK behind Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Skyfall, Spectre and Avatar ahead of release box office experts predicted it would top Star Wars: The Force Awaken; Spider-Man Homecoming is the 119^th biggest film in the UK

2. Toy Story 4 – £5,543,052 –  £36,039,107  

33.1% drop in its third weekend

Had the 14^th biggest third weekend between Avenger Infinity War and Casino Royale (close to The Jungle Book £5,758,824 and Alice in Wonderland (£4,847,129).

Toy Story 4 is now 83^rd biggest film in the UK between Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice and Love Actually and 103^rd biggest inflation inflated between Gravity and The Inbetweeners Movie 2

Disney’s 6th biggest third weekend between after Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Beauty and the Beast, The Jungle Book and Avenger Infinity War.

To Story 4 is the 8^th biggest Pixar film in the UK behind Toy Story 3, Incredibles 2, Toy Story 2, Finding Dory, Inside Out, Monsters Inc and Finding Nemo; by next weekend Toy Story 4 will have overtaken Toy Story 2 and become Pixar’s third biggest film in the UK.

While its unlikely Toy Story 4 will match the box office of Toy Story 3 it depends on how it holds over the coming few weeks against The Lion King and The Angry Birds Movie 2 it should overtake last years Incredibles 2.

Comparisons with Toy Story 3 are difficult as its opening was inflated with £9,693,440 from weekend previews and then its following weeks were during summer holidays removing preview box office Toy Story 3 took £41,831,079 after 17 days 14% more than Toy Story 4 with 21.2% ticket inflation.

If Toy Story 4 continues to hold similar to Toy Story 3 which is unlikely with The Lion King opening in two weeks, (but also summer holidays start in two weeks) will take £60m+ about 20% less than Toy Story 3 (£73.4m) ahead of release expected it to match Toy Story 3 box office.

Toy Story 4 second weekend box office is 2% more than Toy Story 3 (£8,284,437 Vs £8,115,193) but with 21.3% ticket inflation since.

148th biggest film in the UK after 10 days between X-Men: Days of Future Past and The LEGO Batman Movie and 233rd biggest inflation inflated between A Christmas Carol and The Hunger Games.

Since 2010 88 films have taken over £30m and Disney now have 31 (40%); 66 films have taken over £40m Disney 21 (31%); 35 films taken over £50m Disney 11 (+5  from Fox)

In 2010 Toy Story 3 was Disney’s biggest ever film in the UK (until Star Wars: The Force Awakens  in 2015) previous highest was 2006’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (£51,998,590)

Toy Story 3 was in the top 5 for 9 weeks (taking £1m+ for 6 weeks) and in the top 10 for 12 weeks (taking £261,359 in its 12th weekend);

Toy Story 3 was #1 for four weeks before The Expendables opened with £3,935,700 but Toy Story 4 has only lasted two weeks could possibly return to #1 next weekend as Spider-Man; Far From Home will likely drop 70%+ but with The Lion King, Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw and Angry Birds 2 unlikely to stay in the top 5 as long as Toy Story 3.

21 Pixar films have taken £655m in the UK and almost £855m inflation inflated.

In the first 10 years of Pixar they released 6 films with only one sequel. Over the last 13 years they have released 15 films, several years released two films and in upping the films 7 of the last 11 have been sequels. When Pixar can make such wonderful original films like Inside Out and Coco really don’t understand why they made so many sequels, its different for the likes of Dreamworks Animation and Illumination as they are not in the same league as Pixar.

Pixar have called Toy Story 4 the final film of the series, but they said similar with Toy Story 2 and Toy Story 3, while Toy Story 4 is the end of Woody’s story it does also set up the possibility of Toy Story 5 and spinoff Forky films. Pixar have said that they will concentrate on original animated films after Toy Story with Onward and Soul next year are both original films, Disney are releasing both films day and date in the UK as US.

3. Yesterday – £1,628,468 –  £5,620,084

With strong word of mouth and cooler temperatures dropped only 26.3% in its second weekend (similar drop to Bridget Jones’s Baby, Moulin Rouge, A Star Is Born, Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again and Love Actually).  

469th biggest second weekend between Big Momma’s House 2 and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (close to Instant Family, The Truman Show, My Big Fat Greek Wedding and The Holiday) and 643^rd biggest second weekend inflation inflated opening between Yogi Bear and G-Force (close to Good Will Hunting, Sliding Doors, You’ve Got Mail and 127 Hours).

100^th biggest Universal Pictures UK film between ParaNorman and Ride Along 2 (close to The Boat that Rocked, Get Him to the Greek, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World and Identity Thief) and 106th biggest inflation inflated between Warcraft: The Beginning and Kick-Ass 2.

Third biggest Danny Boyle film opening after T2 Trainspotting (£5,146,791) and The Beach (£2,418,321) but can’t be compared with either of them as T2 Trainspotting was a sequel to the classic 90s film while The Beach starred Leonardo DiCaprio (his third film after starring in Titanic.

Has overtaken the box office of The Boat that Rocked and About Time and become Danny Boyle’s seventh biggest film in the UK (overtaking Shallow Grave, Trance, Sunshine, Steve Jobs, A Life Less Ordinary and Millions) and should overtake 127 Hours and 28 Days Later by next weekend.

Now a week after release can mention the scene that many have mixed feelings about when Jack finds out that there are two other people that remember The Beatles and they give him an address to meet someone.

Jack opens the door to see John Lennon staying there (played by Robert Carlyle) no Beatles means no Mark David Chapman shooting Lennon but does this mean that he moved on to his other target David Bowie instead?  Some people found the John Lennon scene as poor taste, but is disappointing that we don’t find out what happened to the other Beatles.

4. Westlife – The Twenty Tour –  £899,488 – NE

Opened bigger than Love Yourself In Seoul – BTS World Tour 2019 £518,810 from 291screens in January but less than half of last month’s Take That Greatest Hits Live £1,834,379 (became the biggest Event Cinema release of 2019 last week and the 7th biggest Event Cinema title)

Opened bigger than 2012’s Westlife: The Final Concert £573,000 and close to 2015’s Take That Live (£965,000) their first Event Cinema concert; 2017’s Take That: Wonderland Live from the O2 2017 (£1,004,918 from 481 screens).

The most popular Event Cinema over the last five years has been André Rieu’s Maastricht Concert; 2018’s André Rieu’s Maastricht Concert, ’Amore £1,783,222; Andre Rieu’s 2017 Maastricht Concert £1,439,604; Andre Rieu’s 2016 Maastricht Concert £1,414,075; Andre Rieu’s 2015 Maastricht Concert (Concert) £1,107,000; Andre Rieu’s 2014 Maastricht Concert £830,586. Piece Of Magic release Andre Rieu 2019 Maastricht Concert – Shall We Dance? July 27^th and BTS: Bring The Soul: The Movie in released in August.

Event Cinema/Secret Cinema took £19.1m Jan-June this year 3% more than the first half of 2018 and thanks to Take That Greatest Hits Live and Casino Royale Secret Cinema June was the biggest month ever; Event Cinema has added 2.6m+ admissions to the year but every Event Cinema ticket sold added 3 admissions (due to 100%+ surcharges on regular ticket prices) while Secret Cinema adds 11; over 1000% more than regular ticket prices so actual admissions are closer to 660k.

Last year Event Cinema/Secret Cinema added over 6m admissions to the UK which saw admissions grow to the highest for almost 40 years.

Part of the problem with Event Cinema now is the sheer number of titles released n ow which must be about 100 a year which dilutes the brand as due to the cost of seeing them in the cinema. Event Cinema has also squeezed the independent film sector in the UK as exhibitors are more willing to give an Event Cinema distributor one evening weekend slot for Event Cinema rather than a week for an independent film.

I’ve always said Event Cinema is a great addition to cinema, but price is a factor a month ago Vue West End reduced their prices for Take That Greatest Hits Live, but they were the normal inflated prices for Westlife – The Twenty Tour at the weekend. F

5. Midsommar £812,052 – NE

Took £176,114 from previews

As with Ari Aster previously directed 2018’s Hereditary,  Midsommar received positive reviews (92% Rotten Tomatoes score) but audience reaction was very poor while Hereditary still managed to open with £1,863,913 (including £300k from previews) taking £5,498,016, Midsommar opened with half and likely to drop heavily next weekend.

As with all Entertainment Film Distributors films they had a very strong marketing campaign, but the problem was audiences were never going to like the film.

Without previews Midsommer opened close to Jennifer Kent’s The Babadook opened 24th October 2014 with £347,512 taking £1,191,222 and Robert Eggers’ The Witch opened 11th March 2016 with £447,626 taking £883,088.

UK box office in detail

This weekend’s top 10 box office took £24,700,057 up 82.3% from last weekend £13,549,874

The weekend admissions 3,303,355 up 80.4% from last weekend 1,831,437; average ticket £7.22 down from last year’s £7.49 but Applaudience estimate ticket price of £10.28

15 films opened at weekend taking (£16,669,409); Spider-Man: Far from Home 84.8% (£14,148,624); Westlife – The Twenty Tour Live 5.4% (£899,488); Midsommar 4.8% (£812,052); The Queen’s Corgi 3.1% (£520,540); Anna 1.2% (£198,390); remaining 10 films shared 0.5% (£90,315)

Top three took 86.3% (£21,320,144) of the top 10; Spider-Man: Far from Home (57.3%) (£14,148,624); Toy Story 4 (22.4%) (£5,543,052); Yesterday 6.6% (£1,628,468)    

The weekend up 343.4% from 2018: (£5,570,742); The First Purge (£1,778,157); The Beatles Yellow Submarine (50th Anniversary) (£163,155); Uncle Drew (£151,337); Whitney (£142,936); The More You Ignore Me (£8,420); #1 The First Purge £1,778,157 1st week 481 screens (31.9% of top 10)

Up 40.2% from 2017: (£17,613,700); Spider-Man: Homecoming (£9,369,846); It Comes at Night (£226,688); Paw Patrol: Mission Big Screen (£42,460); #1 Spider-Man: Homecoming £9,369,846 1^st week 616 screens (53.2% of top 10)

Up 51.5% from 2016: (£16,304,545); The Legend of Tarzan (£3,570,350); Now You See Me 2 (£2,964,641); The Neon Demon (£126,996); Maggie’s Plan (£102,534); #1 The Secret Life Of Pets £3,624,751 3^rd week 612 screens 24% drop (22.2% of the top 10)

Up 57.9% from 2015; (£15,633,889); Terminator: Genisys (£3,793,617); Magic Mike XXL (£1,575,092); Amy (£523,192); Guillaume Tell – Royal Opera, London 2015 (£114,673); #1 Minions £6,238,498 2^nd week 586 screens (39.9% of top 10)

Up 326.2% from 2014: (£5,795,536); Tammy (£471,429); The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed out the Window and Disappeared (£102,570); Don Giovanni – Glyndebourne 2010 (£32,205); A Hard Day’s Night (Re: 2014) (£9,935); Vampire Academy (£111); #1 Mrs. Brown’s Boys d’Movie £2,188,761 2^nd week 529 screens 49% drop (37.7% of top 10)

Up 132.7% from 2013: (£10,613,251); Now You See Me (£2,898,997); The Internship (£1,248,431); The Bling Ring (£141,425); A Field in England (£21,399); Chasing Mavericks (£21,985); #1 Despicable Me 2 £3,996,837 2^nd week 539 screens 73% drop (37.6% of top 10)

Up 73.6% from 2012 (£14,221,408); The Amazing Spider-Man (£11,091,972); Katy Perry: Part of Me (£449,491); #1 The Amazing Spider-Man £11,091,972 1^st week 552 screens (78% of top 10)

Up 139.3% from 2011 (£10,318,687); The Guard (£473,878); The Tree of Life (£406,062); Trust (£2,069); #1 Transformers: Dark of the Moon £4,750,519 2^nd week 522 screens 56% drop (46.1% of top 10)

Up 122.7% from 2010: (£11,090,024); Shrek Forever After (£8,955,554); Heartbreaker (£119,742); ); #1 Shrek Forever After £8,955,554 1^st week 539 screens (80.7% of top 10)

Up 59.2% from 2009; (£15,513,026); Ice Age III (£7,639,884); Public Enemies (£2,228,291); #1 Ice Age III £7,639,884 1^st week 526 screens (49.2% of top 10)

Up 22.5% from 2008; (£20,154,893); Hancock (£9,589,095); Kung Fu Panda (£6,069,679); The Mist (£157,394); #1 Hancock £9,589,095 1^st week 450 screens (47.6% of top 10)

Up 102.3% from 2007:( £12,207,040); Die Hard 4.0 (£5,004,916); Dead Silence (£22,580); #1 Shrek the Third £5,084,641 2^nd week 538 screens 70% drop (41.6% of top 10)

Up 40.7% from 2006; (£17,550,776); Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man’s Chest (£13,740,784); District 13 (£98,747); #1 Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man’s Chest £13,740,784 1^st week 514 screens (78.3% of top 10)

Up 272.3% from 2005 (£6,632,112); The Descent (£570,850); #1 War of the Worlds £4,219,120 2^nd week 506 screens 51% drop (63.6% of top 10)

Up 24.1% from 2004 (£19,891,077); Shrek 2 (£16,220,752); Godsend (£491,506); Highwaymen (£44,388); Club Dread (£32,265); #1 Shrek 2 £16,220,752 1^st week 512 screens (81.5% of top 10)

Up 193.6% from 2003 (£8,411,961); Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle (£3,273,078); Dark Blue (£70,049); #1 Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle £3,273,078 1^st week 473 screens (38.9% of top 10)

Up 207.4% from 2002 (£8,034,538); The Minority Report (£4,506,315); Spirit: Stallion of Cimarron (£719,681); #1 The Minority Report £4,506,315 1^st week 426 screens (56.1% of top 10)

Next weekend in 2018: (£14,198,894); Incredibles 2 (£9,650,000); Skyscraper (£1,829,830); The Secret of Marrowbone (£171,161); First Reformed (£73,233); Vertigo (60th Anniversary) (£10,845); #1 Incredibles 2 £9,650,000 1^st week 664 screens (67.9% of top 10)

Also opened

• The Queen’s Corgi – Lionsgate

Opened with £520,540 from 483 screens

Played stronger in Scotland and Ireland were summer holidays have already started but with Toy Story 4 and The Secret Life of Pets 2 it was unlikely to find a wide audience.

• Anna – Lionsgate

Opened with £198,390 from 300 screens

Luc Besson has had strong female characters in many of his films; 1985’s Subway; 1990’s La Femme Nikita (John Badham directed Point of No Return US remake in 1993 starring Bridget Fonda); 1994’s Léon: The Professional; 1997’s The Fifth Element; 1999’s The Messenger; The Story of Joan of Arc;  2011’s The Lady; 2014’s Lucy and now 2019’s Anna.

2014’s Lucy opened £3,076,997 taking £14,129,734

1997’s The Fifth Element opened £3,182,983 taking £6,923,356

1994’s The Professional opened £1,678,766 taking £3,400,349

Luc Besson films have taken $327.1m in the US and $1.22bn worldwide

Anna is Luc Besson’s first film since 2017’s Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets took $225m worldwide but flopped in the US due in part to poor dating opening against Dunkirk and Girls Trip opened two weeks later in the UK with £1,861,916 taking £3,211,172.

Other Box Office News

Weekend box office was up 343.4% from 2018 when The First Purge #1 £1,778,157 as it was in the middle of the World Cup and there was a lack of new release since Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom opening early June and Ocean’s Eight mid-June. This weekend last year over 20m people watched England beat Sweden in the quarter finals a few days later 26.5m watched England lose in the Semi-Finals to Croatia.

This year there are no major sporting events that will affect cinemagoing but next year have the European Football Championships between 12 Jun – 12 Jul (Candyman, Soul, Free Guy, Next Purge Chapter, Minions 2, Ghostbusters 2020 all open during) and Summer Olympics in Tokyo are from 24 July –  9 August (Jungle Cruise, Mobius, Infinite and Rumble all open).

While the industry has gotten used to dealing with the European Football Championships and the summer World Cup, the next World Cup in Qatar will be challenging as it runs from 21 Nov 2022 – Sun, 18 Dec 2022 currently Untitled Star Wars and Aquaman 2 are dated to open the weekend before it ends.

Studios avoiding releasing any major releases until July 13^th with Incredibles 2 and Skyscraper with Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, Hotel Transylvania 3 and Mission Impossible: Fallout opening shortly after. This year after The Lion King opens in two weeks apart from Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw opening two weeks later August is much softer.

UK Box Office Top 10

US Box office

• Spiderman: Far From Home – Sony Pictures

Opened with $92.57m and $185.06m over 6 days); received positive reviews (91% Rotten Tomatoes) and A CinemaScore

Industry celebrated Spider-Man: Far From Home having the record openings for Tuesday and Wednesday taking $66.3m which was 12% more than 2012’s The Amazing Spider-Man $59.2m but there was ticket inflation of 14.5%.

Three years ago Spider-Man made his first appearance in the MCU in Captain America: Civil War starting this story arc opening with $179.13m and now Spider-Man: Far from Home closes the story opening with $92.57m ($185.06m from 6 days).

While the industry celebrated its opening would have expected Spider-Man: Far From Home to open more than 3.3% than the film that started the story off especially as it’s the epilogue to Avengers: Endgame that opened less than three months ago with $357.11m.

Two years ago Spider-Man: Homecoming was tracking to open with $90m-$108m and opened $117.02m taking $334.2m in the US and $880.16m worldwide.

Including its 6 day opening Spider-Man: Far From Home had the fifth biggest MCU opening but as none of those films had extra days box office included inti their openings it needs to be compared with its weekend box office dropping it down to 16^th biggest MCU this is the problem with extended opening weekend you can’t compare like for like.

The fourth film this year to open with $100m+ after Captain Marvel, Avengers: Endgame and Toy Story 4.

Took $195.9m over its opening 7 days was 3% down from Spider-Man 2 ($202.12m) opening week 15 years ago despite  47% ticket inflation since

The seven Spider-Man films have taken $2.28bn in the US and $5.79bn worldwide

Opened with $244m from 66 territories and $395m total; 163^rd biggest film worldwide between Ready Player One and Operation Red Sea          

• Toy Story 4 – Disney

Dropped 43.3% in its third weekend taking $33.86m and $306.11m

Toy Story 4 continues to hold similar to Toy Story 3

Taking 11.8% more in its third weekend $33,860,355 Vs $30,280,024 and  1.4% more $301,883,298 Vs $306,117,899 but with ticket inflation of over 20% since and production and marketing costs also up has suffered similar sequel fatigue as many of the other sequels this summer. The Hollywood Reporter described Toy Story 4 as the most creative film this summer, but all Toy Story film feature  similar plots toy goes missing friends go to find them.

The most creative thing Pixar have done is similar to what Disney do with their reimaginations make audiences believe they need to see it despite it not being better than the previous film, as most people would say that Toy Story 3 ended the trilogy perfectly but as with Spider-Man: Far From Home Toy Story 4 is the epilogue most people didn’t think we needed.

Toy Story trilogy has taken $1.18bn in the US and $2.62bn worldwide

20 Pixar films have taken $5.78bn in the US and $13.87bn worldwide since 1995

Toy Story took $191.79m in the US and $374.6m worldwide

Toy Story 2 took $245.85m in the US and $597.4m worldwide

Toy Story 3 took $415m in the US and $1.067bn worldwide

Took $43.1m from 45 territories and $343.4m m and $650m worldwide; #131 biggest film worldwide between The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 and Star Wars: Episode II: Attack of the Clones; (overtaking Toy Story 2 ($497.4m); Mexico $60.1m; UK $44.8m; China $27.6m; Brazil $22m; Korea $20.4m; Argentina $18.6m; Australia $17.6m; Spain $14.5m; France $12.8m; Colombia $11.6m;

• Midsommar – A24

Opened with $6.33m ($10.92m over 6 days); critical reaction to Midsommar has been positive (83% Rotten Tomatoes) bur audience reaction has been polarized as it was for Hereditary receiving C+ slightly better than last year’s Hereditary D+  opened June 2018 with $13.57m takin $44.06m

• Annabelle Comes Home – Warner Bros

Dropped 53.4% in its second weekend taking $9.45m and $49.83m  

The five Conjuring Universe films have taken $593m in the US and $1.7bn worldwide; The Conjuring 3 will be released September 2020.

Second weekends:

2014’s Annabelle took $15.85m and $61.64m total $84.27m and $257m worldwide

2017’s Annabelle: Creation took $15.61m and $64.15m total $102.1m and $306.5m worldwide

Took $20.4m from 69 territories and $84.6m total internationally and $134.8m worldwide; Mexico: $12.1m; Indonesia: $8m; India: $4.3m; Brazil: $4.2m; Russia: $3.4m; Malaysia: $3.5m; Colombia: $3.2m; Vietnam: $2.91m; Korea: $2.9m; Australia: $2.6m; Taiwan: $2.24m; Argentina: $2.20m

• Yesterday – Universal Pictures

Dropped 40.9% in its second weekend taking $10.05m and $49.33m

Has overtaken overtake The Beach ($39.78m) and 28 Days Later ($45.06m) to become Danny Boyle’s  second biggest film in the US after 2008’s Slumdog Millionaire ($141.31m) Fox Searchlight’s second biggest film ever and $377.91m worldwide.

Danny Boyle’s 12 films have taken almost $340m in the US and almost $866m worldwide

Will shortly overtake Richard Curtis 1994’s Four Wedding and a Funeral $52.7m and 2004’s Love Actually $59.69m

Took $7.9m from 35 territories and $20.1m total and $57m worldwide

opened similar to Me Before You; 18%+ The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel; 31%+ The Intern; 67%+ About Time

• Aladdin – Disney

Dropped 25.7% in its seventh weekend taking $7.51m and $320.7m

39^th biggest seventh weekend between Spider-Man and Ghost; #19 Beauty and the Beast; #24 Aladdin; #35 The Greatest Showman; #58 The Lion King; The Jungle Book #57

66^th biggest film in the US between Shrek the Third and Transformers; Disney’s 25^th biggest film in the US between Guardians of the Galaxy and Thor: Ragnarok.

It’s not a surprise Aladdin is performing strongly despite mixed buzz ahead of release as the original animated film was the biggest film in 1992 taking $217.35m in the US (#171 biggest film in the US between The Da Vinci Code and Alvin and the Chipmunks) taking $504.1m worldwide; adjusted for inflation Aladdin is 102nd biggest film in the US taking $472.5m.

Has overtaken the global box office of 1996’s Independence Day $817.4m to become Will Smith’s biggest film worldwide but impossible to compare the two films as he wasn’t the main reason for either films success.

As like other Disney reimaginations Aladdin played best with younger audiences (as Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle) older audience who grew up with Will Smith in the 90s in Men in Black and independence Day were also growing up with Robin Williams in Aladdin and Jumanji so were the ones vehemently opposed to him being the genie as were also apposed to Dwyane Johnson starting in Jumanji but younger audience were fine about it.

Took $16.2m from 55 territories and $600.9m total and $921.7m worldwide #53 biggest film worldwide between The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and Shrek 2; Japan $79.2m; Korea $66.9m; China $53.3m; UK $43.8m; Mexico $32.3m; Spain $25m; Australia $22.4m; Russia $20.4m; Brazil $20m; Indonesia $18.1m; Italy $17.2m; France $17m; Germany $16.6m; Philippines $11m

• The Secret Life of Pets 2 – Universal Pictures

Dropped 36.1% in its fifth weekend taking $4.67m and $140.65m;

The Secret Life of Pets dropped 39.2% in its fifth weekend taking $11.5m and $316.51m 85.9% of $368.38m total; if The Secret Life of Pets 2 held similar will take about $160m 43% of The Secret Life of Pets and similar amount worldwide.

With Pixar concentrating on original animated films after Toy Story 4 Illumination Entertainment will have better success next summer opening Minions: The Rise of Gru in their regular two weeks after Pixar’s Soul.  

Illumination Entertainment films have taken $2.58bn in the US and $6.48m worldwide

Took $22.4m from 54 territories $121.4m total and $262.5m worldwide; #554 biggest between Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason and Knight & Day; 2016’s The Secret Life of Pets took $875.45m worldwide

UK Box Office Predictions

Spider-Man: Far From Home will drop 70%+ in its second weekend (55%+ not including previews) taking £4.2m-£4.5m and Toy Story 4 will drop 40%+ in its fourth weekend £4m+.

Annabelle Comes Home to be the biggest new release previous two Annabelle films opened with similar box office £1,939,963 and Annabelle: Creation £1,960,203 opening so soon after Midsommar will likely open slightly less

After Event Cinema Westlife The Twenty Tour opened this weekend with £899,488 Take That Greatest Hits Live opened last month £1,834,379 Ron Howard’s Pavarotti documentary

Ron Howard’s last documentary The Beatles: Eight Days a Week – The Touring Years opened with  £654,726 in September 2016 from 96 screens was released as a regular film Pavarotti is being released as Event Cinema with 100%+ ticket surcharges and unlike most Event Cinemas eOne has marketed it heavily

Action comedy Stuber feels more like a late summer release than middle of summer looking towards 2014’s Let’s Be Cops as comparison opened with £1,650,912 but with £505,612 from previews.

This weekend will be the calm before the storm with the arrival of The Lion King opening next weekend which will likely be the biggest 3 day opening ever in the UK continuing the domination Disney have had at the box office this year.

Opening in UK Next Week

• The Lion King – Disney

Musical drama photorealistic computer-animated remake of the 1994 animated film of the same name featuring voices Donald Glover, Seth Rogen, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Alfre Woodard, Billy Eichner,  John Oliver, Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, and James Earl Jones and directed by Jon Favreau.

 

The Lion King is the 12^th Disney reimagination over the last 9 years since Alice in Wonderland (opening with £10,555,220 taking £42,169,542); the 12 reimaginations have taken over £300m; it is the third of four reimaginations opening this year after Dumbo took £24m in March and Aladdin £35m in May with Maleficent: Mistress of Evil opening in October. Released on  Disney+  Lady and the Tramp in November with The Sword in the Stone also released next year and Peter Pan in development.

Next year Mulan (first teaser was release on Sunday) opens in March and Cruella in December with The Little Mermaid and Pinocchio possibly coming in 2021 and The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Lilo & Stitch, Snow White, The Jungle Book 2, Pocahontas and Hercules all in development.  

As Disney are making about 3 reimaginations and have made 56 animated films with about half unlikely to be turned into films they only have a few more years of making reimaginations unless they will then make sequels to them all.

 In 1996 Disney made a live-action remake of 101 Dalmatians (and 2000 sequel, 102 Dalmatians)  starring Glenn Close as Cruella De Vil and Emma Stone will star in a second reboot Cruella (opening Christmas 2020). Fan reaction was mixed to the news of the second reboot, but fans are fickle as gave similar response to the news of Aladdin reboot and its on its way to take over $1bn worldwide.

Disney used to re-release their animated classic films in cinemas every few years and then release them on video for a limited time and then re-release the film again several years later. Could possible suggest this is what Disney have been done with their reimaginations, with the reimaginations attracting the children who were children when the originals opened in the cinema.

Reaction to Disney reimaginations have been mixed to older audiences who grew up with the original films as they see the reimaginations as money for old rope, as they are ruining their childhood, but the films aren’t for them as younger audiences have enjoyed them as was also the case with Jumanji remake.

The original animated film was the biggest film of 1994 taking over £34,077,997 (would be £108,944,735 today, the seventh biggest film in the UK between Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and Jurassic Park. Opening the start of the summer holidays it will open bigger than 2017’s Beauty and the Beast (£19.7m) and could be the biggest film of the year (£100m+).

While much is made about the film reimagination of The Lion King it is just a small cog of The Lion King empire as its just the software that powers the hardware as is the Star Wars films Disney have made are just an added bonus for the fans. The real reason why they brought Lucasfilm and Marvel and why their rivals never did was they could merchandise the hell out of the properties. Probably the reason why Viacom rejected Paramount Pictures request to buy Marvel before Disney as they didn’t see the bigger picture that the Marvel Cinematic Universe films are just trailers to launch merchandise and theme parks.

Three years after the animated film was released The Lion King (musical) opened in the US and two years later opened in London; it’s the third longest-running show in history on Broadway has grossed more than $1 billion the highest grossing Broadway production of all time and over 100 million people worldwide have seen the stage musical taking over $8.5bn worldwide currently far more valuable property to Disney than Star Wars.

While the majority of the box office for film remake of The Lion King will be taken in its opening weeks with a budget $200m+ and marketing a similar amount the costs for The Lion King musical are much lower (up to £20m) but with ticket prices from £57-£255 can take £1m a week playing for years rather than weeks the film will do. As going to see a West End musical is a once a year treat to many (a trip to Leicester Square cinema is going that way to with prices up to £40.75) they will also commemorate the day buying merchandise, something people don’t do when they go to the cinema.

The trailers made it look like it was a shot-by shot remake as the trailers for Beauty and the Beast had previously done but Disney said while the film will “revere and love those parts that the audience wants”, will be “things in the movie that are going to be new”.  While Jon Favreau said, “some shots in the 1994 animated film are so iconic” he couldn’t possibly change them, but “despite what the trailers suggest, this film is not just the same movie over again”, and “It’s much longer than the original film. And part of what we’re doing here is to (give it more dimension) not just visually but both story wise and emotionally”.

Trailer comparisons with the 1994 animated film and the 2019 animation remake

The 11 Disney reimaginations have taken over £310m since 2010

My biggest problem with The Lion King is there really any need to make another animated version of it after the original was a masterpiece and worked perfectly 2D while the remake has photorealistic animation its unlikely to generate the same emotions audiences had watching original animated film.  I was in tears when I saw The Lion King in 1994 in the cinema as I did with Iron Giant five years later (both 2D animation) the remake of The Jungle Book was technically stunning but didn’t have the emotional pull of the original animated film as has been the case with all of Disney’s reimaginations.

What I find amazed is that Universal Pictures were heavily criticised for making an unnecessary shot-by shot remake of Psycho in 1998 but critics and audiences are much more accepting of Disney remaking their classic animated films maybe it’s the pixie dust they spray into the cinema before screenings that make people forget they are watching a remake. The pixie dust fades away a few weeks after release by which time the film has taken almost $1bn worldwide.

Mid-July release date has been the launch date of many of summers biggest films over the years as studios would often hold back their biggest summer release a month or more from the US (including Jurassic Park, Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, several Harry Potter films and Disney’s Pixar releases) as it was the weekend the summer school holidays began.

As with 2017’s Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King has the traditional three day opening; biggest 3-day openers are 2012’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 £23,753,171; Skyfall #2 £20,180,369; Beauty and the Beast #3 £19,700,000; would expect The Lion King to become the #1

Has its European premiere on Sunday July 14^th Prince Harry will attend along with most of the cast including Donald Glover, Beyonce Knowles-Carter, Seth Rogen, Chiwetel Ejiofor and John Oliver.

Opening in US Next Week

• The Lion King – Disney

The first teaser trailer was released in November was viewed trailer was viewed 224.6 million times in its first 24 hours at the time the second most watched trailer in 24 hours after Avengers: Infinity War (230m) now the fourth behind the two Avengers: Endgame trailers (289m and 268m views for trailer #1 and #2); in April the trailer was released and viewed 174 million times in its first 24 hours (7^th most watched trailer in 24 hours).

Original The Lion King opened in June 1994 had a one-week platform release Disney used to do with their animated films in New York and at the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles taking $1,586,753 (opening #10); (in 1994 average ticket price was less than half today); expanded the following week into 2,552 screens taking $40,888,194.

Took over $1m at the US box office for 35 weeks (till February 1995) taking $31285m; re-released in IMAX in 2002 taking $15.68m and in 2011 in 3D taking $94.24m with $422.78m total; 24^th biggest film in the US between Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom; in 1994 The Lion King was the second biggest film in the US

Inflation inflated $803.2m the 20^th biggest film in the US between Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace and The Sting.

Globally took $968.5m 42^nd biggest film worldwide between Despicable Me 2 and 2016’s The Jungle Book; would be about $2.5bn worldwide inflation inflated.

The Lion King opens in China a week earlier than the rest of the world opening before the foreign film black out, the only problem with this is the film will be widely available illegally online before opening in the rest of the world as Spider-Man: Far From Home was also opened a week earlier in China. Had it not opened a week earlier the Chinese release date would have been delayed to September. The original animated film didn’t open in China but 2016’s The Jungle Book reimagination to $150m of its $967m global box office in China.

Early tracking for The Lion King was $150m+ a month before release, most Disney film will open 30%+ more than tracking (the exception was Toy Story 4 opening slightly under) would see The Lion King open with $200m+.

 

The audience demographic is much wider than the Marvel Cinematic Universe similar to Star Wars as its cross-generational from teens and their parents in the 1990s who have now their own children now.

A new TV spot was released at the weekend featuring Beyoncé with some complaining she sounded too like Beyoncé, the problem with many animated films the actors often sound like they are just speaking the words not acting them. While James Earl Jones voice booms over as King Mufasa, Donald Glover and Beyoncé voices don’t have the same impact

While The Lion King has being tracked to open with $150m always thought $200m was the minimal it should open with opening with more like $250m+ to be the third biggest opening in the US after Avengers: Endgame and Avengers: Infinity War but have far stronger legs than MCU films as seen with Aladdin and be the first $1bn+ film.