UK Box Office September 4th-6th 2020 week 36: “At times it is folly to hasten at other times, to delay. The wise do everything in its proper time.”

 

 

1. Tenet – £2,151,490 – £10,006,540

Down 59.7% in its second weekend (30% not including previews) opening week played in 3,114 screens dropped 146 screens in its second weekend to 2,968 screens (last year this weekend It Chapter Two had the second-biggest September opening in the UK after It Chapter One ahead of 2016’s Bridget Jones’s Baby’s £8.11m opening in 1,998 screens in 700 cinemas).

Had the 365^th biggest second weekend in the UK between Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil and Godzilla (close to Kingsman: The Secret Service, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, The Imitation Game and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy) and 347^th biggest inflation inflated between Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation and How to Train Your Dragon 3 (close to Pearl Harbour, Oblivion, Wanted and Legend).

Tenet had the 5^th biggest second weekend of 2020 after 1917 (taking 65.3% less) , Sonic the Hedgehog, Bad Boys For Life, Parasite and just ahead of Dolittle; in normal circumstances would expect Tenet to hold much closer to 1917 as other Christopher Nolan films.

615^th biggest film in the UK between A Peanuts Movie and The Village (close to Get Out, Tron Legacy, The Truman Show and Walk the Line) and 841^st biggest inflation inflated between Hollow Man and Just Friends (close to Phone Booth, Miami Vice, Black Hawk Down and The Thomas Crown Affair).

91^st biggest Warner Bros opening between Miss Congeniality and Horrible Bosses (close to Interview with the Vampire, Batman Returns, Heat and Birds of Prey) 121^st biggest inflation inflated between Beowulf and Three Kings (close to Blood Diamond, Swordfish, Constantine and Wrath of the Titans).

Tenet second weekend took +1670.50% Memento; +273.79% The Prestige;  +155.83% Insomnia

But less than -26.47% Batman Begins; -43.05% Interstellar -48.44% Inception; -68.07% The Dark Knight; -70.43% The Dark Knight Rises; -73.88% Dunkirk

Took £7,855,050 over its opening week (9 days) 247^th biggest between Alien: Covenant and American Pie 2 (close to The Revenant, Interstellar, Ocean’s Eleven and Legend); took £7.2m over 7 days Weds- Tues 278^th biggest between Van Helsing and X-Men (close to The Wolf of Wall Street, World War Z, Minority Report and Mad Max: Fury Road).

As with the end of August releases, the first weekend in September is often soft as it’s Labour Day weekend in the US and the first weekend back of schools from summer holidays, but over the last two years, Warner has had strong openings with It Chapter Two and The Nun.

Are now 90% (756) cinemas open in the UK out of 840 the remaining cinemas are independents that will be opening over the next few months thanks to BFI grants; Tenet played in 611 cinemas and 2,968 screens 65% of screens in the UK (4,564);

Tenet is already the 7th biggest film of the year after 1917, Sonic the Hedgehog, Bad Boys For Life, Dolittle, Parasite and The Gentlemen becoming Warner Bros biggest film of the year; at the start of the year most people would have expected Tenet to take £40m+ and be one of the biggest films of the year but now it’s unlikely to take over £20m.

Of the remaining films for the year only Wonder Woman 1984, No Time To Die, Black Widow and Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway is likely to open bigger than Tenet, but many will suggest their success is thanks to Christopher Nolan being allowing Tenet to be the canary in the coalmine to be the saviour of cinema ads statues will also be built outside exhibitors offices.

To quote the great Ian Malcolm Warner were so preoccupied with whether they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should release Tenet now. If Warner had any sense they would announce Tenet going PVOD in the next few weeks alongside theatrical to avoid many watching it illegally online over the next few months, giving those 80% not willing to return to the cinema anytime soon a chance to see it legally.

As many expected when Nolan forced Warner’s hands to keep Tenet opening this summer it will be a third of the size could have been if delayed to October or next summer, and as expected Nolan is not the Messiah, he’s a very naughty boy!

Christopher Nolan said he’s “very pleased” with the release of Tenet and that it’s “completely understandable and completely fine” if some audiences don’t feel ready to rush back to theatres, but surely he would want as many people as possible to see the film as he intended people any more will be waiting to see it on their phones and tablets to see in the cinema, but by releasing it now m

Nolan also said, “The world we’re in right now, the concept of releasing the film absolutely everywhere for everyone to go and see on the same weekend, clearly that’s absolutely not an option for the foreseeable future,”…“So if that pushes the industry into different ways of thinking and some of them being older distribution models, that hopefully can work.”

The problem is that he has a nostalgic opinion of cinema, it would be lovely to live in that world but the way people watch content has changed, the roadshow released of the 60s and 70s with films going from city to city will never return, if people can’t watch something legally or if it’s not available to them legally they will seek it out illegally.

Ahead of the release of Tenet in the US Warner Bros CEO Ann Sarnoff gave an interview with Hollywood Reporter talking about their release strategy saying Christopher Nolan didn’t force their decision and looked at different ways to release the film, saying that it will be a marathon, not a sprint but then said exhibitors offered the up to four times more screens. If they were going for the long game they would have limited the screen numbers and then expanded them over weeks., instead it will open and then drop off as most films do.

The problem is that with The King’s Man delayed till next year there are few films that are likely to take many screens away from Tenet till Wonder Woman 1984 in a months’ time.  The New Mutants took a few screens away from Tenet over the weekend, but exhibitors will be wanting to dump it very quickly.

She said they did a lot of research over the last few months about cinemagoers concerns and monitoring behaviour of people going out giving them and when they would go back to the cinema saying “Our approach is to never make anyone go to a theatre if they aren’t comfortable. But it isn’t one size fits all. Some people are more comfortable than others.”

But surely by releasing Tenet in cinemas only with the current theatre window, they are doing that as Tenet won’t be legally available online till the end of November, so anyone who wants to see Tenet legally has to go to the cinema, this is why many will seek it out illegally.

She said they never considered releasing Tenet on PVOD as Disney did with Mulan over the weekend “No. It is a remarkable, cinematic, beautiful film. It is so impactful. It is a movie meant for the big screen. I’m very proud of our approach. A lot of people are pushing stuff into next year. Tenet absolutely deserves to be seen in theatres. She said she went to see Tenet in Connecticut said it was amazing. It was safe. There were no crowds. I even found a way to eat popcorn with a mask on. Of course, my mask smells like popcorn now.” She didn’t say how she managed to do this but surely had to pull the mask away from her face to put popcorn into the mouth making which surely stopped her from getting the protection from the mask.

Also last week at the Venice Film Festival last week Pedro Almodovar spoke of his passion for cinema saying the lockdown “forced us all to stay at home and I think that has proved a lot of things including to what extent we all depend on fiction… The platforms have had an essential role in this period of time, but it’s nevertheless also a negative result and reason for concern.”…. And the antidote is the cinema,” going out, sitting next to strangers in a movie theatre where “you find yourself crying or rejoicing with other people.” … he said they had also contributed to the “dangerous” phenomenon of people growing increasingly comfortable living, working, and eating at home – a type of “imprisonment” that he said must be resisted. “If I put my film on a platform like Netflix, then I somehow lose that contact and that meeting point with the spectator,” he said. “So you have to tell people to go to the cinema, to go to the theatres, because some things will only be discovered on the big screen, in the dark with people that we do not know.”

The Venice Film Festival director Alberto Barbera said, “We must support cinemas,”… “Venice has been accused in the past of opening up to Netflix, accepting one of their movies in competition years ago when it was still considered an enemy for cinema production and was fought against by cinema operators and the establishment somehow… Today, during the lockdown, streamers have acquired fundamental importance.”… “There are many aspects to discuss [going forward], that are different from what we have been discussing these last years… We risk having a reduction of the role of cinemas, which would be detrimental. The theatrical experience is in the very nature of the film industry, so we have to fight and support the sector. This is a battle for civilization and for culture. We cannot lose this experience.”

In another interview, he said, “I understand the concerns of producers that it is a risk to release their film when not all theatres are open,”…  “And a certain amount of people are afraid to go to the cinema. But I see another risk when we are waiting one more year to release a film because we need good films when the theatres are open again. The audience won’t have the stimulation to go to the cinema again after it spent months watching films on platforms at home. It is a risk to wait one more year in this particular situation.”…. “Why should somebody be convinced to return to his old habits after one or one-and-a-half years and give up the commodity of watching films at home for a small amount of money? Most distributors are waiting for the good moment to release their films, but that is a risk which could damage the entire distribution system and especially the theatres.”

While Cate Blanchett also said “I think it will be a very important conversation to have… It’s a global issue,” said Blanchett. “As we re-emerge, it really is a strong chance to robustly examine things that we haven’t been forced to examine which is streaming technology and its implications on the cinema – the way we view it and how we make it. There’s a lot of opportunities now to ask the deep questions.”

Three months ago at CineEurope sent a taped message saying “We’re in the final throes of it. I don’t want to say too much about it other than we’re extraordinarily excited about what we’ve been able to do with this material. I think of all the films that I’ve made, this is perhaps the one that is most designed for the audience experience, the big screen experience. This is a film whose image and sound really needs to be enjoyed in your theatres on the big screen and we’re very excited for you to see what it is we’ve done.

We’ve made big films in the past, but this is a film whose global reach and level of action is beyond anything we’ve ever attempted before. I think we only would have been able to pull off this film with the level of experience we’ve had doing action films in the past. The movie has an incredible ensemble cast led by John David Washington who gives the most extraordinary and iconic performance as the protagonist at the heart of Tenet and I cannot wait for you guys to see what he’s done with his character. I’m very much looking forward to sharing the film with you. I’m going to get back to finishing it right now and I look forward to your reaction.”

While cinephiles and Nolanites will think differently the aim of a filmmaker is for cinemagoers to understand the plot the first time they see a film, but Tenet is just too clever for its own good and will end up confusing many with polarised reactions from regular cinemagoers? Just think that cinemagoers should be able to watch an original film and be able to understand it without having to do research before or after watching it or have to watch it multiple times as most people will only see a film one in the cinema.

The audience who came out to see Tenet probably won’t return until Death on the Nile (opening October 23^rd) and No Time To Die (November 12^th).

How Tenet holds over the next few weeks will show if it is the success the industry has already said it is and if Christopher Nolan is really the Messiah or if he is just a naughty boy. As after The King’s Man has been delated until 2021 the next major release isn’t until Wonder Woman 1984 in four weeks’ time, but as the original film wasn’t as huge as success as the US, the majority of cinemagoers who will see Tenet won’t return to the cinema again until No Time To Die in November.

There is a need to put the opening of Tenet into perspective as last week BFI Chief Executive was on Newsnight and said: “Tenet is obviously the first time we’ve heard of a big piece of new popcorn cinema released, so all eyes on it, I think it’s the slightly unfair level of pressure to put on one film to be honest, but it has somewhat positioned itself to be the saviour”… “cinemas had been losing £5.7m since lockdown, so clearly there’s been a huge urgency to get cinemas reopened and films back on screen, but Tenet is going to take an incredible amount of noise over the next few weeks, but it will take more than one film to get audiences back into cinemas, and there will be multiplex films for some audiences and some great independent films over the next few weeks including Rocks in September which we expected to be a big hit in the independent cinemas. So we think audiences will get back, but it’s going to take more than one film and one weekend to get audiences comfortable and back to where we were in March”.

So if cinemas have been losing £5.7m a day over the last 24 weeks Tenet opening with less than that over 5 days with all the media coverage it has received, positive reviews and hype along with being the film playing in 75% of the screens in the UK isn’t nearly as impressive as the media has made it out to be this is probably why Warner didn’t want to reveal box office and if they could have would have preferred not to release box office for Tenet as over it’s the opening weekend but they put the attention on the film being the canary in the coalmine so everyone wanted to know how it opened.

As with the first-weekend Nolanites flocked again to the spiritual home of Christopher Nolan films the  BFI IMAX, in 2012 The Dark Knight Rises took over £1 million in advance bookings at BFI IMAX in 5 weeks before opening selling 62,300 sales (£16 average today tickets for Tenet are £24.75).

This beat the previous advance sales record at the BFI IMAX by James Cameron’s Avatar in December 2009 sold 47,000 tickets, grossing £607,000 (£12.90 average).

Forty-three shows ahead of opening were sold out for The Dark Knight Rises including early morning screenings at 04.25 and 04.55; the film broke BFI IMAX records for highest first-day sales (24,754 tickets taking £409,838) and the highest first-week sales (38,658 tickets, taking £634,013) breaking the records previously set earlier in 2012 by Ridley Scott’s Prometheus.

The 9 Christopher Nolan films have taken over £250m at the UK box office (almost £300m inflation inflated).

After many reviews compared Tenet to a James Bond film, Eon might have been worried, but this was just hype but then MGM released the new trailer for No Time To Die last week and there’s no comparison.

Unlike there was in 2015 with Spectre when several other spy films opened including Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation and The Man from U.N.C.L.E. which were both vastly superior. The Man from U.N.C.L.E starred Elizabeth Debicki in a similar villainess role and was a vastly superior and far more enjoyable film than Tenet, but sadly wasn’t successful so unlikely to get a sequel.

Having seen what Christopher Nolan did with the spy genre it’s probably good that he didn’t direct James Bond film, but saying that it would be style over substance as all of the recent James Bond films have been since Casino Royale reboot.

As with all Christopher Nolan films, there are many theories about the film including who is Robert Pattinson’s character Neil, as at the end of the film he tells Protagonist that it’s “the end of a beautiful friendship” with many believing that Neil is the grown-up Max, the son of Sator (Kenneth Branagh) and Kat (Elizabeth Debicki). As Max is short for Maximilien and if you reverse the last four letters you get Neil.

The problem with Christopher Nolan films is that watching the film is only the first part of trying to understand the film as then have to read many articles about what different things in the film really mean as he wants you to see the film multiple times in cinemas, this is why for many his films are seen as pretentious as most people go to the cinema to the cinema to switch their brain off and enjoy a popcorn movie and not have to do research before and after to try to understand the plot.

Robert Pattinson is currently in the UK shooting The Batman and it was reported that production had to be shutdown again last week as he was tested positive for Coronavirus, this will be a major issue over the next 6 months or more shooting films and TV shows as people are working very close together and people will get infected. Over the last few weeks there have been several actors who have test positive, this will likely delay many films current release dates, but as so many films have been delayed from this year to next it won’t have much effect but it will more likely affect TV shows.

The problem with Christopher Nolan films is they are style over substance and while previous Nolan films this was possible as they were based on comic-books, historical events or had big star name actors Leonardo DiCaprio or strong ensemble casts, Tenet is all about Christopher Nolan. While Nolanites and cinephiles will love that it is, any many comments have been that Tenet is for Nolan fans the question will be how it plays to a wider audience and if that wider audience is willing to go to the cinema.

Warner Bros have done their job with Tenet, they have marketed the sh*t out of it, now it’s all down to exhibitors to show that cinemas are safe as they were so desperate for the film to open in the summer so it’s now up to them to show that Warner Bros made the right decision to stand by them.

We will only know in 2+ weeks’ time if the UK is really fine as surely as within the 700k+ cinemagoers who saw Tenet over the last 5 days will be some who have COVID and others who are asymptomatic? If there was a breakout in a cinema could exhibitors really trace all attendees?

In April one of the suggestions was all tickets would need to purchase online but while some cinema chains like Curzon have said that all tickets must be purchased online the major chains still allow you to buy at the cinema.

It’s understandable that reopening movie theatres is far down on the list of priorities for Cuomo as while cinema seems huge to those that work within in and go to the cinema it is still only a small cog in the US economy, last year Movie Theatres added about 10% ($11.3bn BO and similar amount concessions) to the $21.44 trillion US economy and while the risk might be similar to hospitality but is worth over 3000% more ($660bn) than cinema employing far more people.

With $200m+ budget Tenet will need to take $500m+ worldwide to turn a profit; Dunkirk took $520m WW; Interstellar $654m WW: The Dark Knight Rises $1.08bn WW; Inception $834m WW; The Dark Knight $1bn WW: Batman Begins $359m WW; Insomnia $114m WW.

Christopher Nolan films have taken almost £250m in the UK (almost £290m inflation inflated) $2.6bn in the US and $6.35bn worldwide since Memento in 2000.

One film can’t save cinema, and similar to Disney’s dominance of BO last year calling Christopher Nolan out as the Messiah does more damage as the majority of cinemagoers for Tenet won’t be returning again until No Time To Die in November.

Tenet is the latest Christopher Nolan film to receive complaints about its sound mixing which makes much of the dialogue hard to understand, many had issues with Bane’s dialogue in The Dark Knight Rises and the overpowering score of Interstellar and loud explosions in Dunkirk making dialogue hard to hear. With a film like Tenet where dialogue is vital to understand the confusing plot but as Forbes critic Scott Mendelson wrote “I don’t know what Chris Nolan has against dialogue,”

Cinema is a visual medium but Tenet has lots of exposition cinemagoers need to hear if they are to try to understand what is going on, maybe this is all part of Nolan’s plan to make people go multiple times to see his films in cinemas so they can understand what’s going on. While Tenet has been sold on the cinema experience by Christopher Nolan people might be able to understand the plot better watching it at home on DVD with subtitles.

After complaints about the sound mix on Interstellar in 2014 Nolan said ““There are particular moments in [“Interstellar”] where I decided to use dialogue as a sound effect, so sometimes it’s mixed slightly underneath the other sound effects or in the other sound effects to emphasize how loud the surrounding noise is,” Nolan said in 2014 in response to the “Interstellar” sound complaints, proving to his fans that the divisive sound mix was purposeful and not some audio mistake”..  “I don’t agree with the idea that you can only achieve clarity through dialogue,”… “Clarity of story, clarity of emotions — I try to achieve that in a very layered way using all the different things at my disposal — picture and sound. I’ve always loved films that approach sound in an impressionistic way and that is an unusual approach for a mainstream blockbuster, but I feel it’s the right approach for this experiential film.”

Nolan also said in a 2017 interview “We made the decision a couple of films ago that we weren’t going to mix films for substandard theatres,”… “We’re mixing for well-aligned, great theatres.”… “At a certain point, you have to decide if you’ve made the best possible version of the film and you’re trying to account for inadequacies in presentation,”.. . “That’s chasing the tail. It doesn’t work. I will say, with our sound mixes, we spent a lot of time and attention making sure that they work in as predictable a way possible.”… “It’s important to complain if you don’t like something you hear because theatre owners need to step up.”

2. The New Mutants – £686,407 – NE

Took £326,798 from previews last week on Sat/Sun/Mon and £220,071 from Sat/Sun in 507 screens taking only £359,562 Fri-Sun

The 17 X-Men films have taken almost £270m at the UK box office over the last 20 years (over £320m inflation inflated); the biggest opening of an X-Men film was 2016’s Deadpool (£13,729,803) and its lowest previously was 2005’s Elektra (£791,914) but The New Mutants could open lower.

The 17th and last 20th Century Fox Marvel film based in the X-Men Universe. The release of The New Mutants feels like the end of the era of 20th Century Films as the film was meant to be the start of a new generation of X-Men films and the first of a trilogy but instead it will be the final film before they are rebooted into the Marvel Universe in the coming years.

In 2000 20th Century Fox took a massive gamble making X-Men as at the time comic-book films were poorly received both at the box office and critically with films like Batman and Robin and Barb Wire.

The studio had little faith in the film bringing its release forward 6 months from December to July to fill a gap in their schedule, but it’s success launched a new generation of comic-book films and saw Sony finally make Spider-Man two years later that had been in development for many years.

The success of both X-Men and Spider-Man allowed Marvel to take the risk ad self-finance a series of films that Paramount Pictures would release, and their success saw Disney acquire Marvel for $4bn in 2009.

The writing was on the wall for The New Mutants for months, but Disney could have given the film a decent opening had they not held previews last weekend as that made the film DOA. Disney should have either opened The New Mutants against Tenet last weekend or held it’s release till September 4^th as having previews killed it off before it’s the official release date.

Disney has had little interest in any of the films they inherited when they acquired 20^th Century Fox last year and was, even more, the case with the final two X-Men Marvel films, X-Men: Dark Phoenix was dumped last June, and The New Mutants was dumped last week as Disney

Fox was happy with the original cut of the film but after the success of It Chapter One wanted the film to focus on the scary moments which is when the trouble started as the filmmakers had to turn the film into a completely different film it was intended to be.

In 2000 20th Century Fox took a massive gamble making X-Men as at the time comic-book films were poorly received both at the box office and critically with films like Batman and Robin and Barb Wire. The studio had little faith in the film bringing its release forward 6 months from December to July to fill a gap in their schedule, but it’s success launched a new generation of comic-book films and saw Sony finally make Spider-Man two years later that had been in development for many years. The success of both X-Men and Spider-Man allowed Marvel to take the risk ad self-finance a series of films that Paramount Pictures would release, and their success saw Disney acquire Marvel for $4bn in 2009.

The New Mutants started filming in July 2017 and was originally due to be released in April 2018 but was delayed many times until it’s the final release date in May, with it opening August 28th in the US and September 4th in the UK. After the film was delayed many times  many expected it to be released straight to Disney+ or Hulu but the film was contractually bound to have a theatrical release

The first trailer was released in October 2017 a new trailer was released incorporating changed made to the film in January 2020, the trailer felt remarkably similar in tone to all of Disney’s MCU trailers and a further trailer was released in July during Comic-Con @Home

The long delays for the release were partly to do with the film needing extensive reshoots and took time to get the cast together and the acquisition of the studio by Disney as immediately after Disney acquired the studio all plans for the X-Men universe 20th Century Fox had started in 2000 were over and the film had little value to Disney (as Dark Phoenix) and it was always likely they would dump it and end of August is normally where studios dump their films.

In a parallel universe where 20^th Century Fox wasn’t sold to Disney, Fox would have released both The New Mutants and X-Men: Dark Phoenix much sooner and both with less tinkering and they probably would have been far more successful. Dark Phoenix was delayed several times before opening in June 2019 after the ending had to be reshot as it was similar to Captain Marvel, had  Dark Phoenix opened in its original date March 2018 and The New Mutants opening in April 2018 they probably would have done far better as the problem was the negativity surrounding them overtook the films and at that point, they are always likely to be DOA.

20^th Century Fox originally planned both The New Mutants and X-Men: Dark Phoenix as more than one film and as seen with what happened with Justice League after they squeezed two films into one this doesn’t work. We will of course never get to see the X-Men movies 205^th Century Fox had planned to make in the following years including the long in development Channing Tatum Gambit.

Director Josh Boone said the film was never going to go straight to streaming service as the last scene of the film the last act of the movie was designed to be seen on IMAX screens, he said “people should be going to the movies” instead of going to “a house party with 700 people without masks on.”

In January 2020 Disney’s official fan club website D23 called the film a “new addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe”, which was picked up by fans, but soon after all mentions of the film was removed from the website and Disney said it was an error and it wasn’t part of the MCU.

The New Mutants many US critics are refused to review the film unless Disney offers them safe screenings options to watch the film, the only way is in a public cinema screening.

AV Club wrote an in-depth article about why they won’t be reviewing the film he wrote “Science experts did not mince words: There’s a very good chance you could get sick. And that’s a risk The A.V. Club will not be taking to review a movie, any movie,”… “We are, in fact, adopting the official policy of only reviewing films our writers can safely watch, whether in a socially distanced press screening or with a digital screener. And yes, that applies to all our writers, even those willing to take the risk for an assignment, because we’re not willing to monetize that risk, either.”

Disney will be incorporating X-Men within the MCU in the years to come and will likely be as they previously did launching other new characters feature them within their existing MCU films as they did with Spider-Man and Black Panther in Captain America; Civil War in 2016 but the biggest question will be ho they will incorporate Deadpool within the MCU universe.

3. After We Collided – £255,000 – NE

On Monday After We Collided was reported to open with £65,797 from only 22 cinemas (screen average of £2,991) on Tuesday Charles Gant reported in his excellent weekly box office report that it took and estimated £175,000 from 40 cinemas and £255,000 including previews last Wednesday and Thursday.

Checking with ComScore on Twitter they said that they were still trying to collate final box office figures for the film, the reason is probably as the film was released by Shear Entertainment a small independent distributor that isn’t set up to collate the box office as quickly as other distributors can.  

If the number is correct this would be a screen average of £4,366 (or £6,369 including previews) which would be an amazing achievement showing that cinemagoers will return in high numbers if it’s a film they want to see. So blaming Coronavirus on the soft open of Tenet last week and it’s 60% drop in its second weekend is just an excuse. Iif people really wanted to see Tenet they would have come out in far bigger numbers and it would have held far stronger in its second weekend.

After We Collided is the sequel to 2019’s After based on the Young Adult novel by Anna Todd (One Direction fan fiction about Harry Styles, Liam Payne and Zayn Malik being students at Washington State University.

In 2014 Paramount Pictures acquired rights but similar to what they did over a decade earlier with Twilight they put the film into turnaround in 2017 and the film was independently financed. After was released in the US in April 2019 (receiving poor reviews) opening with $6m taking $12.13m but was far more successful internationally taking $57.59m and $69.73m worldwide but the film was never released theatrically in the UK instead was released on Netflix in July 2019.

Films based on young adult novels will often generate strong social media coverage, but this won’t turn into box office, it’s interesting that After We Collided opened the same weekend as The New Mutants in the UK as he previously directed one of the biggest films based on a young adult novel in recent years 2014’s The Fault In Our Stars opened with £3,434,334 taking £11,006,752. Films based on young adult novels are normally very front-loaded but then after often much more successful when they are on streaming platforms.

The sequel After We Collided was directed by Roger Kumble best known for directing 1999’s Cruel Intentions and The Sweetest Thing but in the years since is best known for directed many TV series including Pretty Little Liars and Suits.

After We Collided will be released in cinemas and on VOD in the US in October

Two more sequels were announced this week

While Warner Bros and Christopher Nolan have been seen as the saviours of cinema it’s independent distributors including Vertigo Releasing and Signature Entertainment that took the bigger gamble opening films including 100% Wolf and Dreambuilders without the massive marketing campaigns opening them in cinemas within a week of cinemas reopening.

6 weeks ago 100% Wolf opened with £33,130 from 146 screens and now 6 weeks later has taken over £1m an incredible achievement for any film but more so now as in normal circumstances 100% Wolf, Dreambuilders and Pinocchio would barely get into the top 10 for a week but 100% Wolf has been in the top 10 for the last 6 weeks.

With school holidays now over 100% Wolf will continue to hold on with weekend matinees until Connected opening in 5 weeks’ time.

While the US struggles to get back to pre-lockdown levels it has given the opportunity for smaller films and local releases to have wider releases and be more successful than they might have done in normal circumstances. While international exhibitors were calling out US studios to release their films internationally early it gave some local distributors to take the gamble and open films much wider than they would normally and receive far more media coverage than they would have normally.

Last weekend 100% Wolf was in 456 screens and Pinocchio 381 screens these films would normally play in a third as many screens, similarly, two weeks ago Shannon Murphy’s Babyteeth opened in 140 screens (last week was still playing in 81 screens) but normally would open in a third as many screens.

In normal circumstances, Unhinged would barely last a week in the top 10 but has taken £1.5m over 6 weeks after opening with £175,263 from 243 screens and took £97,221 this weekend. Normally these box office numbers wouldn’t be seen success but when cinema attendance in the first 5 weeks of reopening was less than 5% of regular attendance of the time they showed what was possible if a distributor took a chance, saying that the market wouldn’t have been ready for at tentpole film like Tenet and won’t be until at least October.

With Coronavirus cases on the increase again in the UK with almost 3,000 infected on Sunday and Monday and young people now being more affected than older people do fear a potential outbreak at a cinema, the question is are cinemas keeping records of customers for track and trace as there have been reports that many pubs and restaurants aren’t, over the last weeks there have been outbreaks in pubs, restaurants and other places so surely a cinema will be likely with people eating and drinking for several hours.

4. Onward – £135,669 –  £6,942,823

Down 26.6% in the 12th week of its cinema release 26 weeks after opening in cinemas in March is still managing to attract cinemagoers; it took 76% of its total box office after 2 weeks on release due to lockdown; (Toy Story 4 was 41%)

Onward has taken £1,666,470 24% of its total box office over the last 10 weeks since cinemas reopened on July 4th despite being available on digital download since May and on video since June; showing again that exhibitors shouldn’t care about VOD if people want to go to the cinema to see a film even if they can watch it at home cheaper. 

Onward is the 901st biggest film in the UK between Fun with Dick and Jane and Sin City (close to Dr Seuss’ The Lorax, Muppets Most Wanted, Cheaper by the Dozen and Rango) and 1,127th biggest inflation inflated film between Paul Blart: Mall Cop and The Hitman’s Bodyguard (close to Spies In Disguise, Shaun The Sheep Movie 2, Storks and Ice Age: Collision Course).

Onward is currently the 11th biggest film of 2020 between The Invisible Man and The Personal History Of David Copperfield and will likely be Disney’s third-biggest film of 2020 with their next film (not including 20th Century Studios) with Black Widow and Soul both still set to be released in November.

Disney has been the #1 biggest studio in the UK since 2016 but will likely lose it’s crown this year and next to Universal Pictures (who were also #1 in 2015) as even if Black Widow and Soul took £80m+ combined Disney it will be less than No Time To Die will take in November (Skyfall and Spectre both took £90m+).

While Universal Pictures and other studios delayed many of this year summer films to next year Disney only delayed Jungle Cruise, while Universal Pictures delayed  Minions: The Rise of Gru and F9 and already had Jurassic World: Dominion dated for next year. Disney’s slate for next year is also softer than rivals.

After Disney’s record-breaking £464.50m 37% (plus £75.10m 6% share from Fox) they could take less than £100m this year probably double next year but will probably be back to #1 in 2022 with a small film called Avatar 2 finally due to be released amongst their slate for the year.

146th biggest animation film in the UK between ParaNorman and The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (close to Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Spies In Disguise, The Angry Birds Movie 2 and Wonder Park).

Onward is Disney’s second-lowest grossing animated film just ahead of 2001’s Atlantis: The Lost Empire £5.9m and £9.83m inflation inflated).

23 Pixar films have taken almost £692m at the box office since Toy Story in 1996 and almost £892m inflation inflated; Soul is Pixar’s 24h release opening in November receiving its world premiere in October at the London Film Festival and Luca is due for release next June.

5. Unhinged – £97,221  –  £1,436,243

Down 13.5% in its sixth weekend; 

90% of UK cinemas have now reopened 800 of 959 cinemas, which includes all of the cinemas from the major exhibitors, but most independent cinemas are unlikely to be reopened until at least October. 

UK cinemas have now been open for 9 weeks with box office up 3193.2% from £189,000 to  £6,224,288 but with 1,426% more screens open than the first weekend (from 42 cinemas+ drive-ins (460 screens) to 641 cinemas+ drive-ins (3,856 screens up 738.3%) last weekend) (Tenet took 85.7% of the weekend’s box office, last year #1 Once Upon A Time In Hollywood 24.5%).

Week 1 £189,000 from 460 screens (42 cinemas)

Week 2; Up 76.2% £333,002 from 1,059 screens (122 cinemas 85 from the UK the rest from Ireland and drive-ins) up 130.2%; The Empire Strikes Back (40th Anniversary opening with £50,406 from 1012 screens)

Week 3: Down 7.5% £308,154 from 1,286 screens up 21.4%

Week 4: Up 30.7% £402,752 From 1,734 screens Up 34.8%

Week 5: Up 61.8% £651,914 from 3,016 screens (326 cinemas reopened) up 74%; Unhinged opened with £175,263 from 243 screens)

Week 6: Down 17.4% £538,716 from 3,393 screens up 12.5%: American Pickle opened with £27,732 from 162 screens

Week 7: Up 85.2% £997,837 from 3,200 screens approx.: Inception: 10th Anniversary opened £207,675 from 313 screens

Week 8: Up 10.9% £1,107,153 from 3,889 screens (503 cinemas) up 21.5%

Week 9: Up 462.2% £6,224,288 from 3, 856 (641 cinemas); Tenet opened with 85.7% (£5,335,654)

Week 10:  Down 39.8%  £3,746,637

This time last year UK box office was 219.1% more taking (£11,954,747): Top three took 76.4% (£9,148,510) of the top 10; It Chapter 2 80.5% (£7,368,586); Once Upon A Time In Hollywood 11.8% (£1,084,302); Angel Has Fallen 7.6% (£695,622)

Unhinged has similarities to Steven Spielberg’s Duel; Joel Schumacher’s Falling Down; Roger Michell’s Changing Lanes (took £2,823,244); John Dah’s Joy Ride (aka Roadkill internationally) written by J. J. Abrams (took £2,215,996).

More recently Russell Crowe starred in HBO drama The Loudest Voice and 2016’s critical acclaim The Nice Guys which failed to find an audience; (took £3,792,002) which was a sorta sequel to Shane Black’s Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, also received positive reviews but failed to find an audience in cinemas.

Also released

• Black Panther – Disney

Took £48,334 from 239 screens and £50,674,103 total

Black Panther was re-released in selected cinemas this weekend as a tribute for the sudden death of Chadwick Boseman aged 43, he kept his illness secret from everyone as he wanted it to not overshadow his career.

Chadwick Boseman starred in four MCU films as the Black Panther Captain America: Civil War, Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame and was expected to start work next year on Black Panther 2; his last two films Da 5 Bloods and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (to be released) were for Netflix.

Black Panther is the 40^th biggest film in the UK between Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince and Harry Potter & The Order Of The Phoenix; Black Panther is the 6^th biggest comic-book film in the UK after Avengers: Endgame, Avengers: Infinity War, Joker, The Dark Knight Rises and Marvel’s Avengers Assemble.

Disney will release their next MCU film in November after delaying Black Widow from May; it will be the first MCU film since Spider-Man: Far From Home opening July 2019 the longest gap between MCU films since they launched in 2008.

With three for 2021 Eternals, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Spider-Man: Far From Home sequel and four for 2022 Thor: Love and Thunder, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Black Panther 2 and Captain Marvel sequel it’s unlikely there will be as long a gap in future,.

Of course, there are now big questions over Black Panther sequel in how Marvel move forward as there would be a fan outcry if he were just recast, the other option is his sister T’Challa’s sister becomes the new Black Panther which is similar to what will happen with Captain America.

UK box office in detail

This weekend’s top 10 box office took £3,625,642 down 40.5% from last weekend (£6,099,807)

The weekend admissions 509,936 down 40.5% from last week (856,536)

The latest estimate for 2020 box office is £605m less than half of last year’s £1.227bn

Gower Street Analytics predicted next year’s box office could be down up to 30% on last year levels but I believe had UK exhibitors done what Chinese exhibitor has done bringing in far stricter safety measures at the start and delayed the reopening of cinemas till early August with the right product admission levels could be up from last year.

Top 3 took £3,092,897 85.3% of £3,625,642; Tenet 59.3% (£2,151,490); The New Mutants 18.9% (£686,407); After We Collided 7.1% (“255,000);

Down 69.7% from 2019 (£11,954,747): Top three took 76.4% (£9,148,510) of the top 10; It Chapter 2 80.5% (£7,368,586); Once Upon A Time In Hollywood 11.8% (£1,084,302); Angel Has Fallen 7.6% (£695,622)

Down 61.4% from 2018: (£9,386,760); The Nun (£4,098,198); American Animals (£347,486); The Miseducation of Cameron Post (£142,996); Puzzle (£23,565); Final Score (£9,945); #1 The Nun £4,098,198 1st week 548 screens (43.6% of top 10)

Down 74.1% from 2017: (£13,995,695); It (£10,002,443); Wind River (£437,899); Poster Boys (£24,964);  #1 It £10,002,443 1st week 606 screens (71.4% of the top 10)

Down 67.1% from 2016: (£11,014,615); Sausage Party (£2,690,156); Brotherhood (£1,979,309); Cafe Society (£494,457); Morgan (£193,686); Equity (£12,923); #1 Sausage Party £2,690,156 1st week 525 screens (24.4% of the top 10)

Down 32.7% from 2015; (£5,392,011); No Escape (£637,630); Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (£431,726); The Transporter Refuelled (£352,278); American Ultra (£347,401); Ricki and the Flash (£220,032); Dope (£39,787); #1 Straight Outta Compton £1,366,741 2nd week 456 screens (25.3% of top 10)

Down 46.7% from 2014: (£6,808,576); Sex Tape (£1,431,058); Before I Go to Sleep (£790,271); The Hundred-foot Journey (£694,875); The Guest (£313,003); They Came Together (£21,951); Island of Lemurs: Madagascar (£3,341); #1 Sex Tape £1,431,058 1st week 440 screens (21.1% of top 10)

Down 54.3% from 2013: (£7,942,235); About Time (£1,761,079); Riddick (£1,415,141); #1 About Time £1,761,079 1st week 556 screens (22.1% of top 10)

Down 41.5% from 2012 (£6,196,846); Dredd (£1,049,345); Lawless (£973,234); Anna Karenina (£875,702); That’s My Boy (£254,621); #1 Dredd £1,049,345 1st week 415 screens (16.9% of top 10)

Do2wn 58% from 2011 (£8,618,765); Friends with Benefits (£1,947,272); Jane Eyre (£1,012,111); Colombiana (£424,049); Troll Hunter (£200,607); #1 The Inbetweeners Movie £3,679,555 3rd week 475 screens 42% drop  (24.9% of top 10)

Down 49.9% from 2010: (£7,227,858); The Last Exorcism (£1,104,856); Dinner for Schmucks (£940,586); The Switch (£666,018); Jonah Hex (£36,456); #1 The Last Exorcism £1,104,856 1st week 313 screens (15.3% of top 10)

Down 56.3% from 2009; (£8,704,321); District 9 (£2,288,378); 500 Days of Summer (£1,242,631);#1 District 9 £2,288,378 1st week 447 screens (26.3% of top 10)

Down 59.4% from 2008; (£8,929,646); Rocknrolla (£1,565,439); The Duchess (£1,402,200); Disaster Movie (£925,655); Bangkok Dangerous (£307,420); #1 Rocknrolla £1,565,439 1st week 362 screens (17.5% of top 10)

Down 48.2% from 2007: (£7,003,476); Run, Fat Boy, Run (£2,010,250); Atonement (£1,634,065); Rise of the Footsoldier (£85,903); #1 Run, Fat Boy, Run £2,010,250 1st week 413 screens (28.7% of top 10)

Down 5.3% from 2006; (£3,829,476); Right at your Door (£441,548); Little Miss Sunshine (£349,810); Pulse (£210,409); Beerfest (£208,782); Snow Cake (£23,944); #1 You, Me and Depree £746,602 3rd week 410 screens 36% drop (19.5% of top 10)

Down 40.4% from 2005 (£6,082,782); The 40-Year-Old Virgin (£1,757,540); Red Eye (£891,582); The Business (£531,267); On a Clear Day (£58,257); #1 The 40-Year-Old Virgin £1,757,540 1st week 394 screens (28.9% of top 10)

Down 43.3% from 2004 (£6,394,789); The Terminal (£1,451,168); Hellboy (£1,058,375); Stage Beauty (£128,035); #1 The Terminal £1,451,168 1st week 436 screens (22.7% of top 10)

Down 32.1% from 2003 (£5,338,138); Calendar Girls (expansion) (£1,762,505); Tears of the Sun (£406,324); Sin Eater (£161,779); Spirited Away (£152,504); #1 Calendar Girls £1,762,505 2nd week (1st #1) 462 screens (33.1% of top 10)

Down 42.5% from 2002 (£6,305,370); The Bourne Identity (£2,150,511); Importance of Being Earnest (£554,413); Once Upon A Time In The Midlands (£129,920); #1 The Bourne Identity £2,150,511 1st week 419 screens (34.1% of top 10)

Down 51.5% from 2001 (£7,473,347); Moulin Rouge (£2,403,378); Scary Movie 2 (£1,553,796);  #1 Moulin Rouge £2,403,378 1st week 284 screens (32.1% of top 10);

Next weekend in 2019: (£12,155,175): top three took 79.7% (£9,695,506) of the top 10; Downtown Abbey 42.6% (£5,180,865);  It Chapter 2 26% (£3,161,317); Hustlers 11.1% (£1,353,324);

US Box Office

• Tenet – Warner Bros

Opened with $20.2m; received positive reviews (74% Rotten Tomatoes) with predictably British reviews far more positive than the US seen by US poster quotes from UK publications; and B CinemaScore  

Warner Bros hasn’t released official daily box office for Tenet instead are doing the same trick UK distributors have been doing for years combining 9 days of previews into it’s opening weekend? So then next w/e will drop 60%+ to $8m rather than 30%?

68% of the cinemas have reopened In the US, but cinemas haven’t reopened in California (minus San Diego), New York, North Carolina, Michigan, New Mexico, Maryland (50%), New Jersey (50%) and parts of Seattle, Miami, & Portland. This is why many people have said Tenet opened has performed well but Warner knew the risk when they decided to date Tenet for September 4^th knowing that many states wouldn’t reopen by then so the only have to take responsibility as Tenet should have never been in this situation.

Tenet and Mulan are going to be costly failures for both Warner and Disney as both studios were too busy playing chicken with each other rather than setting release dates that could have seen then take up to $2bn between them; surely Warner will learn from this and delay WW84 now

People will make excuses for Tenet saying it’s in only 80% of screens with 50% capacity but as it opened on four times the amount of screens in the open states should have open far better and six months ago or in a months’ time could have opened with three times as much?

Warner Bros came out with the standard “we always knew this release plan would be a marathon, not a sprint as we await openings in more markets and theatres in the coming weeks.” And that “We are in unprecedented territory, so any comparisons to the pre-COVID world would be inequitable and baseless,” The only problem with this is that by opening the film in so many screens in the states it did open in there is the room for it to build on that box office and the only way is down. If Warner really believes it was a marathon, not a sprint they would have opened in far fewer screens and then expanded over the following weeks.

While many have praised the $20.2m opening as it had the story behind those numbers tells a completely different story as that opening total is from 12 days on release, as similar to regularly extended opening weekends Warner Bros included preview screenings in Canada and the US to its opening weekend, removing those previews its opening weekend was $14m (Friday occupancy was 7.5% less than The New Mutants 8%), with Canada taking 20% of daily box office compared to normal 8%).

Canada (Aug 26 – Sep 2) $3.75m; US Sneaks (Aug 31-Sep 2): $3.4m;

Thursday: $1.6m; Friday: $2.9m; Saturday: $3.5m; Sunday: $3m; Monday: $2.1m; total: $20.2m

Canada: $5.9m; US: $14.3m

Tenet took $2.8m from 272 IMAX screens (including Labour Day); only 2 of the Top 10 (and 7 of the Top 20) IMAX screens for Dunkirk’s opening weekend are open this weekend for Tenet; this again shows if Tenet can’t open in the biggest IMAX cinemas in the country it shouldn’t have been released at this time.

 

The problem was ever since Christopher Nolan’s op-ed in the Washington Post in March he made the release of Tenet political propaganda and in so forcing their hand to release the film as the canary in the coalmine, the film that saves cinema. Instead, as everyone expected became the third of the film it could have been if delayed to October or next year.

When cinemas shut in March most people expected Warner to delay the film to October as the studio has had much success over the years releasing adult dramas over the first weekend of the month.

While previous Christopher Nolan films all received critical acclaim their CinemaScore didn’t always match their Rotten Tomatoes scores as audience reaction hasn’t been the same as critics; Insomnia B (92%); Batman Begins A (84%); The Prestige B (76%); The Dark Knight  A (94%); Inception B+ (87%); The Dark Knight Rises A (87%); Interstellar B+ (72%); Dunkirk A- (92%)

Warner Bros and exhibitors are expecting Tenet to have ling legs as seen by the some of the contract terms Warner Bros have demanded from exhibitors.

Nolan was asked I an interview if he was the “saviour of cinema” and wanted Tenet to be that film that brings people back to the cinema again after lockdown, but of course, he wasn’t willing to take that responsibility eve though his op-ed in March is why Tenet is opening now rather than in a few months’ time, he just said he was happy Warner was releasing the film now. “All I can really take responsibility for is making the best film that I can,”..

“I think cinema is bigger than anyone films one way or another, and I think people tend to simplify things a bit, particularly at a time like this. I’m just very pleased that the studio feels they can let the film play in places where theatres have been able to open.”… “Obviously, that’s not the release we imagined when we were making the film.

But then, the world is not as we had imagined it would be when we made the film, and we had to adapt like everybody else. I’m just very, very pleased that audiences around the world are beginning to be able to respond to the film because, for me as a filmmaker, the film is not finished until the audience gets to see it and tell me what it is that I’ve done.”

The three-days of preview screenings must start no earlier than 5pm with one screening a night but premium format cinemas can have 2.

Movie theatres have to comply with local laws and with safety standards from NATO including wearing a face mask anywhere in a cinema apart from when eating as everyone knows eating in a cinema is far more important than customers health and safety, as exhibitors are in the popcorn and syrup business not the film business and see food as Intrinsically to the cinema experience as they are highly profitable to exhibitors.

“These special terms are being offered to its exhibitor customers specifically for ‘Tenet’ to address the special circumstances in the market… including the high commercial risk from uncertain consumer demand, reopening rules, health and safety regulations, and socially distancing capacity issues.”

“Exhibitor specifically represents and warrants to Warner that it shall comply at all times with all applicable laws and regulations at its theatre(s), including without limitation, all laws, orders and standards relating public health and safety, such as rules and protective measures against the contraction and spread of COVID-19 or other illnesses and applicable voluntary health and safety measures and protocols regarding these matters as may be promulgated by the exhibition industry, such as NATO’s published health and safety protocols.”

Warner Bros have demanded 63% share of the box office and that Tenet must have the largest non-IMAX screen each week until otherwise agreed; Single screens – 4 weeks, with a third-weekend holdover figure determinant in place; Twins – 5+ weeks; 3 to 8 screens – 8 weeks; 9+ screens – 12 weeks

This would mean Tenet would play in the main screen of cinemas until Wonder Woman opens on October 2nd but with The King’s Man delayed till next year there aren’t any major releases until then.

Warner also requires maximum theatre marketing directed to publicizing Tenet at no extra cost to the studio and that three trailers for upcoming Warner Bros. films before Tenet, Warner also plans film rental collection in a shorter time frame, and ties collection to digital print access and won’t let exhibitors use Tenet to pay other bills.

These are terms only Disney can demand with Star Wars and Marvel films and would never possibly be able to demand in normal circumstances but are able to as exhibitors are so desperate for the film despite Tenet likely to take a quarter of what those films took and far less than other Christopher Nolan films have taken.

In 2010 Inception opened internationally along with the US on July 16th in 7 other territories taking $15.6m with the UK leading the way taking 55% of the box office ($8.6m).

In 2014 Interstellar opened with $82.9m from 62 territories (the UK $9.05m 11% of opening) and $132.6m worldwide (opened in China the week after); Interstellar opened in the US with $52.2m from 5 days opened early in 250 screens in IMAX and 70mm taking $13.4m (25%) from IMAX and large format screens; male (52%) and 75% over 25.

In 2017 Dunkirk opened with $55.4m from 46 territories and $105m worldwide; the UK was its biggest international territory taking $12.4m (22.4%) with IMAX taking 14% of its box office with the BFI IMAX the top IMAX cinema in the U, which is normally is and is the spiritual home for Nolanites.

Doctor Strange director Scott Derrickson tweeted last week “Don’t go see Tenet or any other movie in a theatre, There, I said it” following up the AV article.

While in May Spike Lee said “They ain’t doing a thing until the vaccine,” Lee said. “I know I’m not going to a movie theatre. I know I’m not going to a Broadway show. I know I’m not going to Yankee Stadium. Corona is a bitch. Corona is not playing. You fuck around you’re going to get killed, you’re going to die. I’m not ready to go.”

Cinemagoers at Alamo Drafthouse cinemas have to sign a disclaimer similar to the one Disney World have ““By visiting this cinema, you voluntarily assume all risks related to exposure to COVID-19.” As people don’t read terms and conditions and just click yes when they sign up to services online could exhibitors of hidden similar disclaimer on the back of cinema tickets?

In April AMC Adam Aron said the chain was “pricing out temperature-reading machines.”  While exhibitors will check staff temperatures daily they won’t check the temperatures of customers> It’s crazy that I had my temperature checked before I went into the hairdressers also wearing a mask, but people can go into a cinema mixing with complete strangers for up to 3 hours without temperature checks. This does put cinema staff at risk as staff in restaurants having to interact very closely with people that could be infected or asymptomatic having no symptoms themselves but being able to infect others.

Originally Mulan was due to open the week after Tenet in July and then August but instead, Disney chooses to release the film on Disney+ PVOD on September 4^th and in selective countries and in China the week after. A survey for Omdia said  17% would pay to watch Mulan at home compared to 21% who would see it in theatres opening weekend.

These surveys are always hard to trust as you never know if the questions asked are trying to lead the people being surveyed into getting the result they want. As there have been many surveys over the last few months and the majority have all said that it would take the majority (up to 80%) several months or maybe into 2021 before they went back to the cinema.

While the surveys run by exhibitors or industries that work with exhibitors were far positive, but still showed that it would take time for the most people to get back into the cinemagoing habit, this is why the first film opening needed to be carefully handled and cinemagoers needed to feel safe going back to the cinema.

There have been many articles saying how safe cinema experience is, but there have been many more from scientists and medical experts that have said going to the cinema at this time is a risk not worth taking.

It was surprising Disney didn’t date the Chinese release first for Mulan before Disney+ as China was always going to be the key global territory for the film, but instead, Disney will predictably be experiencing Déjà vu with Mulan in China when the release was delayed, as the original animated film in 1998 delayed till 1999 in China after Disney was banned in China after they released Martin Scorsese’s Kundun.

Mulan was released over 6 months after the US and China were flooded with pirate videos, the same will happen with Mulan now as there are many illegal streams of the film online before it’s Chinese release this week.

The Mulan reimagination has been surrounded with controversy for over a year, last year #BoycottMulan was trending on Twitter after actress supporting HK police and #BoycottMulan has been trending recently again after it was revealed some of the films was shot in in Xinjiang.

Maybe this is the real reason Disney released Mulan on Disney+ was it became a poisoned chalice that would have seriously impacted BO as have received much more negative media coverage than it is doing now.

Mulan was having it’s UK premiere in early March the same time Disney announced they were delaying it’s March release to July at that time it was tracking to open with $80m and expected to take over $1bn worldwide with $300m+ in China, the $200m+ budget film will now take a fraction of this with PVOD and about a third of it’s expected BO in China.

Took $78.3m from 46 territories (down 36% from last weekend) $126m total and $146.2m worldwide; China $30m; UK $13.1m; France $10.7m; Germany $8.7m; Korea $8.2m

Tenet took $3m international from 248 IMAX screens taking $8.2m total internationally from IMAX with 23% drop from last weekend; took $11.1m in IMAX from 1,168 screens in 43 markets, 14.2% of the total box office, the vast proportion of IMAX screens from China taking $5.3m from 649 screens taking $16.3m globally worldwide from IMAX 11% of the total global box office (IMAX tickets are up to three times the average ticket price).

Tenet failed to open #1 in China with The Right Hundred holding #1 for the third weekend taking $34m and $336m; Christopher Nolan films are big in China with Interstellar taking $122m and Inception $69m; The Dark Knight Rises $53m; Dunkirk $50m; Tenet was expected to open with $50m+

Tenet is already the 6^th biggest film of the year in the world; 1) Bad Boys For Life $424.61m; 2) The Eight Hundred $336.35m; 3) Sonic the Hedgehog $306.76m; 4) Dolittle $245.91m; 5) Birds of Prey $201.85m; Tenet should overtake Bad Boys For Life but many would have expected 6+ months ago for it to take close to double $800m+.

• The New Mutants – Disney/Fox

Dropped 57% in its second weekend taking $3.03m and $11.79m total

Dropping 70% in its second weekend if there was a 17-day window it could be released on PVOD on September 14th rather than 26th November, if exhibitors will pull the film within a few weeks and it is already widely available illegally online it doesn’t benefit anyone for it not to be legally available anywhere for 2+ months?

Rival exhibitors to AMC are concerned about the 17-day window they announced with Universal Pictures a few months ago but nothing will change it just means that films like The Turning and The Rhythm Section would be released on PVOD the same time exhibitors have dropped them after three weeks. As Universal won’t be pushing Minions 2, F9, Jurassic World 3 or No Time To Die on PVOD after 17 days this was just panic-inducing propaganda from rival exhibitors.

The 15 20^th Century Fox X-Men films have taken over $2.56bn in the US; $2.8bn international and $6.05bn worldwide; X-Men films were the 7^th biggest franchise series worldwide after MCU, Star Wars, Harry Potter, Spider-Man, James Bond, and Batman.

The 17-day window is the minimum time a film could be released on PVOD so films that are performing strongly will continue playing wide in cinemas,  but then The New Mutants which will drop upwards of 70% in its second weekend could be released on PVOD on September 14th rather than 26th November?

The film will be out of cinema within a few weeks and piracy is circulating strongly online it doesn’t benefit either exhibitors or studio for films not to be legally available anywhere for over 2 months?

Always go back to Paramount’s 2015 idea films would be available on PVOD after 17 days if they drop below 1,000 screens so in exhibitors interest to keep successful films playing wide as long as possible but then flops can go PVOD within 17 days?

Took 54.2m from 30 territories $8.5m total and $20.1m worldwide

• Unhinged – Solstice Studios

Down 31% it’s fourth weekend taking $1.81m and $11.43m

Solstice Studios were hoping Unhinged would take over $30m in the US but it’s unlikely it will now do that, but foreign sales probably will see the film turn a profit.

The two busiest cinemas in the US were drive-ins, the Paramount and The Van Buren in Southern which was showing The New Mutants and Unhinged over the weekend, but Tenet won’t be allowed to play in drive-ins in states that regular cinemas aren’t open.

Unhinged was originally due to be released in September before it was brought forward to July 1^st to be the first film to open when movie theatres reopened, but then Warner and Disney delayed Tenet and Mulan and Solstice Studios delayed the US release to August 24^th, but the film still opened internationally in mid-July and the UK on July 24^th.

The film has received mixed reviews (48% Rotten Tomatoes).

Solstice Studios gave social media badges to anyone brave enough to see Unhinged in cinemas first “I Saw Unhinged In A F*!#king Theater!”

• Bill & Ted Face the Music – Orion Pictures

Dropped 31% taking $773,108 and $2.67m; the film was also released on PVOD,  the film was originally only going to have a cinema release but 4 weeks ago Alex Winter announced on Twitter that it was opening a week earlier than planned and on PVOD.

1989’s Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure opened with $6.16m taking $40.48m

1991’s Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey opened with $10.24m taking $38.93m

The film was originally due to open in the UK on August 28^th, but Warner Bros delayed it to September 18^th after Tenet was dated in its place. While the first two films have become cult hits on video they failed to find an audience in cinemas and opening the film three weeks after the US many will stream it illegally.  

MGM relaunched Orion Pictures in 2014, Orion Pictures was the studio released the sequel in the US, Orion Pictures was an independent studio originally launched in the late 70s and one of many who tried to compete directly with the big 6 studios.

They originally released films through Warner Bros before setting up US distribution which is always where things go wrong as Orion Pictures didn’t have the same structure in place as the major studios and were much more dependent than they were on their films being successful in cinemas.

What helped Orion was they pre-sold international rights through output deals, the UK was through Rank Film Distributors and they released most of their films from Terminator to Oscar-winning The Silence of the Lambs.  

At the 63rd Oscars in March 1991, host Billy Crystal made reference to the studio’s debt in his opening monologue, saying that “Reversal of Fortune is about a woman in a coma, Awakenings is about a man in a coma; and Dances with Wolves released by Orion, a studio in a coma.”

The year later Billy Crystal said ate Oscars “Take a great studio like Orion: a few years ago Orion released Platoon, it wins Best Picture. Amadeus, Best Picture. Last year, they released Dances with Wolves wins Best Picture. This year The Silence of the Lambs is nominated for Best Picture. And they can’t afford to have another hit! But there is good news and bad news. The good news is that Orion was just purchased, and the bad news is it was bought by the House of Representatives.”

UK Box Office Top 10

 

UK Coming Soon

With Mulan going to PVOD on Friday and The King’s Man delayed to next February there are few films that will get a wide cinema release until Wonder Woman 1984 on October 2^nd, this will see Tenet be #1 for the next four weeks.  Tenet will be #1 for 5 weeks the same amount of weeks Joker did last year which was the first film since Avatar; Joker took £2,446,199 in its fifth weekend, but doubtful Tenet will take anywhere nearly as much.

1998’s Titanic was the longest ever #1 with 13 consecutive weekends; 2000’s Toy Story 2 and Gladiator 7 weeks; 1999’s The World’s Not Enough and 2009’s Avatar 6 weeks and 1995’s Star Trek Generations, 1999’s A Bugs Life, 2001’s Bridget Jones’s Diary and Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone all 5 weeks.

Only films that might spark a little interest before Wonder Woman 1984 are The Broken Hearts Gallery, Bill And Ted Face The Music, Andre Rieu’s Magical Maastricht: Together In Music, Rocks, VE Day 75 Live (delayed from May) and David Attenborough: A Life On Our Planet.

The Broken Hearts Gallery opens on Friday the feel-good rom-com has received positive reviews and will play well with teens and tweens but will find bigger success on streaming.

Netflix has had strong success over the years with teen romcoms including To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, The Kissing Booth and Set It Up.

With no major releases, this weekend and big drops for The New Mutants 70% and 40%+ for Tenet box office will drop again this weekend from £3,746,637, all the momentum generated for the reopening of cinemas with the release often quickly fading away and unlikely Bill And Ted Face The Music and Andre Rieu’s Magical Maastricht not seeing that much increase the following weekend. It won’t be until Wonder Woman 1984 opens in 4 weeks’ time before the box office will be seeing any dramatic rise.

Exhibitors hedged their bets on Tenet to be the saviour of cinema but it was never likely to be and it couldn’t do it on its own, the industry had months to prepare for the reopening of cinemas and should have worked together to have a slate of films opening close together targeting different demographics.

The problem is that if there is the second wave of Coronavirus the soft performance of Tenet could see other distributors push back more films to next year. Only need to see the strong opening of The Eight Hundred three weeks ago in China taking over $336m to date to see what UK cinema could be if the industry planned their reopening better and cinemas brought in for stricter safety measures when reopening which would give customers the confidence to return far quicker in larger numbers. The problem is many don’t think the UK and US and other international countries won’t return to pre-lockdown levels till 2022.  

It is due to systemic failures within the industry that also looks short-term and fails to be proactive as soon as China shut cinemas in January the industry should have prepared, I’m not singling out film industry as most didn’t prepare globally as they didn’t think it would affect them and many still don’t why infection numbers have gone up over the last few weeks since restrictions were lifted.

Lockdown gave cinema a once in a lifetime chance to relaunch cinema globally but nothing changes as people at the top are set in their ways not willing to change, always remember someone saying a few years ago Odeon cinemas have been around over 80 years and they will be around another 80 years, but all businesses need to change with their customers. Cinema will never die, but it’s losing its status as younger people are fine with watching the same film on their phones as in cinemas.

• Bill And Ted Face The Music – Warner Bros

The third film of the Bill & Ted series after 1989’s Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure and 1991’s Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey, both films have become cult hits on video since their release but weren’t so successful when they originally were released in the cinema.

The first film had a limited release in the UK, went to see it at the Cannon Oxford Street (now part of Primark) was showing in one of the smallest screens of what was a fleapit fie screen cinema slightly better than the Cannon Panton Street (now Odeon Haymarket). The sequel had a wider release in the UK and was Columbia Tristar’s biggest hit of the Orion Pictures films they released internationally.

In 1991 to generate cash they sold international rights to their upcoming slate to Columbia Tristar Pictures that included Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey, Love Field, RoboCop 3, The Dark Half, Blue Sky,  Car 54, Where Are You?, The Favor, and There Goes My Baby, but soon after they filed for bankruptcy and in 1997 MGM acquired Orion Pictures 2,000+ library.

Alex Winter, Keanu Reeves and William Sadler return in the sequel and is directed by Dean Parisot (previously directed the fabulous Galaxy Quest) Steven Soderbergh is one of the producers.

Despite the moderate success of the films, there were rumours for many years of a third film as the first two films were loved by fans, Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter started talking about the third film in 2008 and Dean Parisot was attached to direct in 2012.

After the success of John Wick Keanu Reeves career was back on a high and sequel plans continued to be developed and approached MGM in 2017 and was greenlit in May 2018, in March 2019 production started and August 21^st, 2020 release date was announced; Warner Bros acquired many international rights in May 2019 (Warner had previously released many MGM films internationally, MGM since signed distribution deal with Universal Pictures).

The first trailer was released on 9^th June on Bill & Ted Day (as the date featured a 6 and a 9 their favourite numbers) and was positively received and a second trailer was released in July.

The film was originally due to be released in the UK on August 28^th but it’s released date was delayed three weeks due to Warner opening Tenet, but the film still opened on August 28^th in the US and on VOD which will harm it’s UK and international box office as the film had a limited audience, and now many of those people will seek it out on illegal streams.

It has received positive reviews (81% Rotten Tomatoes) saying it recaptures the charm of the original film, which not many sequels manage to do as they are often trying too hard.

• Andre Rieu’s Magical Maastricht: Together In Music – Piece Of Magic

Over the last 6 years Andre Rieu’s concerts have been very popular but as they will attract older audience will they be wanting to go to the cinema at this current time, it also is showing the same weekend as the delayed VE Day 75 concert original due to being broadcast live from Royal Albert Hall in May before being delayed to August and then to September due to Coronavirus lockdown. (both will be targetting same demographic)

In January Andre Rieu: 70 Years Young opened with £1,717,073 from screenings on Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon.

2019’s Andre Rieu’s New Year Concert from Sydney opened £1,745,941

2019’s Andre Rieu 2019 Maastricht Concert – Shall We Dance? Opened £1,492,154

2018’s André Rieu’s Maastricht Concert, ’Amore opened £1,783,222

2017’s Andre Rieu’s 2017 Maastricht Concert opened £1,439,604;

2016’s Andre Rieu’s 2016 Maastricht Concert opened £1,414,075;

2015’s Andre Rieu’s 2015 Maastricht Concert opened £1,107,000;

2014’s Andre Rieu’s 2014 Maastricht Concert opened £830,586

Event Cinema had a record-breaking year at the UK box office in 2019 but it’s no wonder when prices are almost 250% more than regular prices. My local Vue has recently reduced prices to £6.74 but tickets for Andre Rieu: 70 Years Young are £23.24. Event Cinema as Secret Cinema is the greatest addition to cinema.

Event Cinema box office also includes Secret Cinema events which included Casino Royale Secret Cinema last year but tickets for these events are over £80 when industry claims average ticket price is £7.08 how can they possibly include Secret Cinema box office?

• Rocks -Altitude

British coming-of-age drama directed by Sarah Gavron, the film premiered at the Toronto Film Festival last year receiving positive reviews (95% Rotten Tomatoes) had it’s UK premiere at the London Film Festival. The film was one of many that were delayed due to the lockdown but while before lockdown could have found an audience will struggle to do so now.

Sarah Gavron previously directed 2015’s Suffragette and 2007’s Brick Lane also received their premieres at the London Film Festival.

Suffragette opened with £2,938,446 (including £1,394,771 previews) taking £10,600,616

Brick Lane opened #10 with £194,745 from 92 screens taking £633,541