- Tenet – £187,275 – £16,877,908
2D took £160,469 (92.4%) of £14,990,363 (88.8%); IMAX took £13,169 (7.6%) of £1,873,908 (11.2%)
Down 41% in its eighth; the first film since Avatar in 2010 to remain #1 for 8 weeks took £4,865,081 29th January 2010; Avatar was #1 for 11 weeks; Tenet is the third-longest #1 after Avatar 11 weeks and 1998’s Titanic the longest ever #1 with 13 consecutive weekends (both Avatar
With Two By Two: Overboard! Taking £104,398 in previews last weekend opening this weekend against The Honest Thief and The Secret Garden, Tenet will be knocked off #1 this weekend, if it drops to third or fourth will depend on if Sky Cinema report box office figures for The Secret Garden.
Exhibitors have spoken of the confusion over the rules of the different tiers of lockdown as a reason why box office was down almost 40% from last week but that could be said for the reason why cinema attendance hasn’t grown over the 16 weeks cinemas have been reopened for, only having a Tenet boost but those new cinemagoers not returning to see any others films over the last four months.
Had Tenet opened on it’s original July 17th date Tenet might have never opened #1 as it was due to open against Top Gun: Maverick, the week after Ghostbuster, two weeks after Minions: The Rise of Gru and a week before Jungle Cruise. When Tenet was delayed would have only lasted one-week #1 with Mulan opening weekend after, three weeks if The King’s Man had not been delayed and five weeks if Wonder Woman 1984 had opened last weekend.
Lowest #1 since The Hunt For Red October (May 1990 5th weekend) £206,863 and Mississippi Burning (May 1989 3rd weekend) £242,420; not having access to ComScore data don’t know if this is correct but average ticket prices were about 150% less than they are today. (didn’t include the last 16 weeks of films opening since cinemas reopened with 9 of those weeks having lower #1 than Tenet but none of those was expected to hold as Tenet was expected to do. All the box office analysts said Tenet was going to have long legs, while its legs were slightly longer, they were nowhere nearly as long as expected by the industry.
Dunkirk #1 for 4 weeks; Interstellar #1 for 2 weeks; The Dark Knight Rises #1 for 2 weeks; Inception #1 for 1 week; The Dark Knight #1 for 2 weeks (returned #1 in 5th week); Batman Begins #1 for 2 weeks; Insomnia #1 for 1 week
8th weekend
Batman Begins £73,127 #10 dropped 48% (9 films took more than Tenet) #1 Charlie And The Chocolate Factory (£4,441,851); Madagascar (£854,865); Wedding Crashers (£842,270); Fantastic Four (£821,595); Herbie: Fully Loaded (£774,412); War of the Worlds (£572,379); Stealth (£525,902); The Skeleton Key (£430,100); The Devil’s Rejects (£323,196).
The Dark Knight £355,239 #10 dropped 39% in 229 screens; (11 films took more than Tenet) #1 Pineapple Express (£1,372,911); Mamma Mia! (£1,059,102); Rocknrolla (£910,485); The Women (£865,310); The Duchess (£844,020); Step Brothers (£625,575); Disaster Movie (£589,012); The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (£513,653);
Inception £417,302 #10 dropping 40% in 258 screens; (13 films took more than Tenet) #1 The Last Exorcism (£1,104,856); Dinner for Schmucks (£940,586); Toy Story 3 (£934,423); Grown Ups (£878,141); Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (£702,542); The Switch (£666,018); The Expendables (£627,776); Salt (£509,319); Piranha 3-D (£446,895); Marmaduke (£364,098); Diary of a Wimpy Kid (£307,031); Avatar (£274,145);
The Dark Knight Rises #8 54% drop in 256 screens; (11 films took more than Tenet); #1 Dredd (£1,049,345); Lawless (£973,234); Anna Karenina (£875,702); Total Recall (£675,280); Brave (£649,057); The Possession (£533,334); Ted (£479,943); The Dark Knight Rises (£352,587); The Watch (£338,1843); The Bourne Legacy (£270,180); That’s My Boy (£254,621).
Interstellar n/a
Dunkirk #3 £629,435 dropped 34% in 502 screens (10 films took more than Tenet); #1 It (£10,002,443); American Made (£674,106); Dunkirk (£629,435); The Emoji Movie (£546,248); The Hitman’s Bodyguard (£484,936); Wind River (£437,899); Despicable Me 3 (£380,436); Logan Lucky (£373,417); The Limehouse Golem (£237,824); Detroit (£228,950).
Had a similar 8th weekend close to Quantum of Solace, Spectre, Avengers: Endgame, Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith; Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
Took more than +1,369% Interstellar (£12,751); +264% Blade Runner 2049 (£51,451);+ 63% The Martian (£102,322); +40% Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (£134,030); 11.8% Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith (£167,452);
But less than -47% The Dark Knight Rises (£352,587); -47.2% The Dark Knight (£355,239); -48.4% Gravity (£363,143); -60.3% A Star Is Born (£746,986); -63.1% Joker (£506,763);-65.1% Bohemian Rhapsody (£537,344); Dunkirk -70.2% (£629,435); 72.6% Black Panther (£684,430); -72.6% 1917 (£1,083,286); -75.3% Star Wars: The Force Awakens (£759,950); -84.5% The King’s Speech (£1,207,963); -90.2% The Greatest Showman (£1,927,367); Titanic -92.4% (£2,469,191); 95.7% Avatar (£4,338,774).
Had the 3rd biggest 8th weekend of 2020 after 1917 (£608,2027#6); Jumanji: The Next Level (£597,326 #6); Little Women (£155,706 #13) ahead of Bad Boys For Life (£136,447 #15); Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker (£89,803 #19)
In normal circumstance would expected Tenet to take similar to 1917 and Joker in its 8th weekend taking about £600k+.
335th biggest film in the UK between Trainspotting 2 and Daddy’s Home (close to Mission: Impossible II, Mad Max: Fury Road, Batman Begins and Kingsman: The Secret Service) and 531st biggest inflation inflated between Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and Captain Phillips (close to The Favourite, The Great Gatsby, Justice League and Venom).
54th biggest Warner Bros opening between Mad Max: Fury Road and Batman Begins (close to The Matrix, It Chapter 2, Ready Player One and Kong: Skull Island) 80th biggest inflation inflated between Mad Max: Fury Road and Justice League (close to The Last Samurai, Ocean’s Twelve, Disclosure and JFK).
First, 12 days took 59.2% of its current box office similar to X-Men, A.I, Iron Man and Face/Off; Tenet has currently taken 3.16x opening similar to Shazam!, World War Z, Ready Player One and Jupiter Ascending.
Independent cinemas had a far more realistic approach when it came to reopening, majors exhibitors were all about opening asap having predictable results of only a 20% of audience returning and cinemas closing again within months. When lockdown started in March many independents didn’t expect to reopen this year, with the Prince Charles cinema reopening last week four months after the major exhibitors had reopened.
China closed cinemas 189 days while the UK closed for 109 days, opening 13 weeks earlier all because of Tenet, but despite his delusion of grandeur it wasn’t big enough to ‘save cinema’ needed to open alongside several similar-sized films (originally it was to open against Top Gun: Maverick and between Ghostbusters and Jungle Cruise in the UK).
While studios will be blamed for delaying films it’s the fault of the industry having no plan apart from Tenet, no strategy apart from Tenet since before lockdown and has always been reactive never proactive. Predictably this will cause long-term damage to cinema that won’t get back to pre-lockdown levels before 2022, with China replacing the US as the world’s highest-grossing cinema country.
Tenet was comparable to Blade Runner 2049 as both films were critical darlings but regularly cinemagoers would see Tenet as pretentious style over substance film, while positive reviews often help films find their audience as soon as critics called Tenet the film for Nolan fans this probably turned off many; Blade Runner 2049 took £18,820,009 and Tenet will take similar BO.
Tenet is the 3rd biggest film of the year after 1917 and Sonic the Hedgehog; at the start of the year, most people would have expected Tenet to be one of the biggest films of the year which it still will be but taking less than half many expected, about £18m less than Interstellar.
While China is getting back to pre-lockdown levels and Demon Slayer The Movie: Mugen Train broke box office records in Japan over the weekend opening with $44m (being the biggest Japanese IMAX opening ever), everything that is happening now is predictable and can be traced back to the opening of Tenet in August. China and Japan both had far stricter safety measures than the UK and the US when they reopened which gave people more confidence to return to the cinema much quicker. Since cinemas reopened in China at the end of August, The Eight Hundred took $441m, My People, My Homeland $366m; Legend Of Deification $228m and Leap! $115m.
Exhibitors repeatedly say there hasn’t been any Coronavirus outbreak traced back to a cinema anywhere in the world, but this message isn’t getting out or people just don’t believe them as cinemas have historically had hygiene issues. The issue isn’t about the cinema it’s more about the hygiene of your fellow cinemagoer with 70% of men not washing their hands when going to a public toilet before lockdown. Surely if the admission levels haven’t increased apart from the weekend Tenet opened you would think exhibitors would realise that the issue is as the research showed before cinemas reopened that over 80% won’t feel that comfortable return to the cinema anytime soon and find ways to get them back.
We will of course never know if it was Warner Bros or Christopher Nolan; s decision to open Tenet in the summer but the facts with Christopher Nolan’s op-ed in March in the Washington Post which made Tenet’s release political all point to Nolan. As Christopher Nolan has always seen himself as the saviour of cinema more than any other director, no other director would command such power over the release of an original film fully financed by a studio as Christopher Nolan. (Steven Spielberg and James Cameron only have when the projects are produced by Amblin or Lightstorm).
The problem started in March when Warner and Disney kept their summer release dates for Tenet and Mulan while most other films were delayed, this always meant cinemas would reopen far quicker outside of China which would see cinemas reopen far too soon. Had both films been removed from summer exhibitors wouldn’t have been in such a rush to reopen and we wouldn’t be facing a second closure within three months.
Am not singling out the cinema industry with this as Western governments were far too slow to react and when they did it was too little too late as they were scared to bring in the draconian measures Asian countries brought in immediately. China kept its cinemas closed for over 7 months while the US reopened after only 5 months despite this China overtook the US to become the biggest global cinema territory. Despite China closing down for 7 months they are the only major country that has seen its GDP growth over the last few months up 5% compared to the US down 9% and the UK down 22%.
Showing Tenet was never going to be the saviour of cinema that the industry believing it would the only Christopher Nolan film other than Tenet to be #1 for four weeks was Dunkirk. All other Christopher Nolan films opened in crowded marketplaces and that helped them attract a wide audience.
Exhibitors want studios to gamble with their biggest movies, but the exhibitors close their cinemas despite there being plenty of other content to fill the screens if exhibitors willing to work with exhibitors.. but they are pig-headed over not booking the biggest films that are available to them last week The Trial of the Chicago 7, next week the remake of Rebecca and then the week after The Secret Garden.
Tenet was meant to open July 16th against Top Gun: Maverick a week after Ghostbusters, two weeks after Minions: The Rise of Gru and a week before Jungle Cruise, which would have likely seen it open #1 but as with Inception be replaced from #1 by Jungle Cruise as inception was with Toy Story 3.
Cinema industry had a once in a lifetime chance to relaunch cinema to the world China has seen attendance almost return to normal after two months, but the US and UK won’t get back to pre-lockdown levels before 2022 due to their bull in a china shop rush to reopen far too soon.
Unlike Asia, the reopening of cinemas has been poorly handled in the UK and the US with exhibitors behaving like a bull in a china shop despite all the research telling them it could be 6 months or more for before the majority return and cinemas should be for the many, not the few.
There doesn’t seem to have been any planning as soon as China closed cinemas in January before their most lucrative time of the year the rest of the world should have been concerned but it was business as normal until mid-March. 6th March ‘not seeing any discernible impact in terms of cinema admissions’ despite Pixar having the worst opening that weekend in the UK for Onward.
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, given that 80% not willing to return to the cinema anytime soon a chance to see it legally.
The problem was Tenet was the wrong film to reopen cinema, while it might have been the film that generated huge media coverage after Christopher Nolan’s op-ed in the Washington Post in March this made the film’s release political and heralded by the industry as the saviour of cinema.
The 9 Christopher Nolan films have taken £258m at the UK box office (£300m inflation inflated).
Warner Bros have surprisingly dated the Melissa McCarthy comedy Superintelligence they moved to HBO Max several months ago to open in cinemas on November 27th despite her comedies apart from Spy not being very popular in the UK apart from Spy. But then didn’t give The Witches a theatrical release in the UK this week as Roald Dahl adaptations are hugely popular in the UK, instead of going to PVOD on Friday.
- Michael Ball & Alfie Boe – Back Together – £175,778 – NE
Event Cinema has suffered the most since cinemas reopened in July as the target demographic is older and they don’t feel comfortable going back to the cinema anytime soon. While exhibitors say there haven’t been any Coronavirus outbreaks traced back to cinemas anywhere in the world cinemas have historically had hygiene issues as most people don’t feel comfortable sitting in a darkened room with a group of strangers.
While exhibitors have talked a lot about their safety measures they don’t go nearly far enough for the majority and surely they should have seen this over the last 16 weeks and gone further in showing how safe cinemas are.
Last month Andre Rieu’s Magical Maastricht: Together In Music took £124,101 from 403 cinemas about 10% of what previous Andre Rieu concerts have opened with; similar last week Romeo And Juliet – Bolshoi Ballet 2020 (Ballet) took £10,531 from 85 cinemas about 5% of what previous Event Cinema ballets have taken pre-lockdown.
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
While Michael Ball & Alfie Boe might have opened with a similar amount as several other films that have opened since cinemas reopened in July tickets for these screenings are up to 100% more than regular prices so have audiences of less than half.
The one Event Cinema screening that did have a decent opening was Break The Silence with £249,996 but that was targetting a much younger audience.
Last year Event Cinema had it’s best year ever but until there is a vaccine or exhibitors can attract older audiences back to the cinema Event Cinema will suffer and the loss of Event Cinema impacts doubly with inflated box officer and admissions. Last year Event Cinema took over £50m at the UK box office adding over 7m admissions but the real admissions were nearer 3m if Event Cinema admissions were removed off the last couple of years box office 2018 wouldn’t have been the record-breaking year it claims.
- Saint Maud- £132,282 – £520,311
Down 49.7% in its second weekend (32% not including previews) was #1 last Monday and Tuesday and #2 on Wednesday and Thursday as word of mouth spread boosted by the strong word of mouth and opening over World Mental Health Day weekend.
The British psychological horror had its world premiere at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival receiving positive reviews (93% Rotten Tomatoes) and received a special commendation in the official competition section of the London Film Festival and as originally due for release in April in the US and May in the UK, in June it was moved to October.
As seen by Saint Maud-and Akira are still films being released that people will go to the cinema to see but these are films they need to work with distributors to find audiences for them, Cineworld closing all of their cinemas two weeks ago and Odeon and Vue leaving closing them part-time doesn’t help the situation.
There was a complete lack of imagination over the relaunch of cinema the Film Distributors Association gave exhibitors a library of 450+ films but cinemas on July 4th in major exhibitors cinemas looked as they did on March 17th.
The whole relaunch of cinema was poorly handled, and cinema is predictably suffering now for this mismanagement. As soon as cinemas went dark on March 17th exhibitors and studios should have planned the reopening of cinema as it gave them a once in a lifetime chance to relaunch cinema and it likely to get huge free media coverage.
Cinemas should have reopened with classics over the last 50 years with all seats £5 and the Meerkat Movies 2for1 should have run 7 days a week from July to the end of the year.
Despite Christopher Nolan and exhibitors belief Tenet was never going to be the film that was right to relaunch cinema on its own, studios should have worked together all putting up one or more high-profile release to open during a mega-movie month having films like Free Guy and Everybody’s Talking About Jamie comedies, popcorn movies and feel-good films not a pretentious film about people wearing masks.
- After We Collided – £107,472 – £3,759,883
Down 44.6% in its seventh weekend; While most films have underperformed since cinemas reopened 16 weeks ago the two genres of films that have performed well are children’s films (Onward, 100% Wolf, Trolls World Tour and Pinocchio) all held well over the weeks from their low starting points and pre-teen/young teen films as they are a demographic who have been happy to return to the cinema since they reopened in July.
After We Collided is the 14th biggest film of 2020 between The Personal History Of David Copperfield and The Call of the Wild and the 2nd biggest film since cinemas reopened between Tenet and Unhinged.
After We Collided (as Blue Story last year) probably helped many children films as being a 15 many of its target audience weren’t legally allowed to see it, so brought tickets for other films and then sneaked into After We Collided.
Have been several articles since After We Collided talking about its surprise success and In an article for the Financial Times on Friday David Shear said they would have been delighted if After We Collided made £300k from it’s a limited run in cinemas, as the first film After didn’t open in cinemas in the UK last year, going to Netflix didn’t know what they had. I had no close what after was until reading many disappointed tweets and comments on social media last year talking about After and that it wasn’t being in cinemas.
Must admit that before After We Collided opened completely ignored it but as soon as I realised what it was then its box office performance wasn’t such a surprise as many claims it to be. As there has been much doom and gloom for so long they have gone overboard with ‘the surprise hit of the year’ claims. The fact was as it wasn’t released by a well-known distributor it was off the radar.
As with 50 Shades of Grey being fanfiction of Twilight, I had no idea After was a fan fiction of One Direction as I’m not a teenage, but after seeing so many tweets and comments I saw there was a small but strong fanbase. This fan-base knew when films are released they don’t need, TV adverts to tell them it was opening, they knew it was being released, likewise, the fans also knew and were disappointed when they found out that the first film wasn’t being released in cinemas.
The problem is that on paper After We Collided after the first went straight to Netflix and without any knowledge of the number of people who watched it on Netflix, the booking algorithm says don’t book especially as its opening against Tenet and the same booking algorithm says book more screens for Tenet. As seen with the recent exam fiasco that also used algorithm
Over the years studios have released many films based on young adult novels, they have received strong marketing and generate strong coverage on social media but this rarely becomes bums on seats and after the first film went to Netflix might have expected that the fans would then wait to see the sequel also on Netflix, but there was a lot of disappointment from the fanbase that the original film wasn’t released in cinemas which fuelled the demand for the sequel.
Away from breakout franchises including The Hunger Games, Harry Potter, Twilight and Maze Runner most other young adult films have taken similar between 2015’s Paper Towns £3.4m and 2012’s The Perks Of Being A Wallflower £2.1m
Anna Todd One Direction fanfiction has been compared to 50 Shades of Grey fanfiction of Twilight and described as a PG-13 rated version of 50 Shades of Grey. After the first film went straight to Netflix in the UK last July after soft box office in the US in April 2019 the sequel was off the radar of all major exhibitors and distributors as neither saw much box office potential for the film.
Always go back to the film Big and Josh saying he doesn’t get it, despite being told if he read the industry breakdown their success in the action figure has climbed from 27% to 45%, while industry algorisms might see this cinemagoer don’t choose their films by algorithms, why William Goldman’s famous quote from his 1983 book Adventures in the Screen Trade still rings true today “Nobody knows anything…… Not one person in the entire motion picture field knows for a certainty what’s going to work. Every time out it’s a guess and, if you’re lucky, an educated one.”
When After We Collided opened far stronger than many expected taking £256k from 42 screens three weeks ago, major exhibitors took notice and immediately booked into 336 more screens taking £442,661 up 72% from 378 last weekend. In its third weekend increased another 30% and is expected to play in over 500 screens next weekend.
The sequel After We Collided was directed by Roger Kumble best known for directing 1999’s Cruel Intentions (took £4,080,631) and The Sweetest Thing (took £2,163,344) 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; After opened in April 2019 with $6m taking $12.13m but took $57.59m internationally and $69.73m worldwide; After We Collided has taken $30m from 18 territories over the last three weeks.
- Cats & Dogs: Paws Unite! – £107,072 – £870,536
Dropping 41.9% in its third weekend
Cats & Dogs: Paws Unite! Had a decent opening three weeks ago as it was a new family film but has dropped off heavily over the following weekends with The Elfkins last weekend and Two By Two: Overboard! Taking £104,398 from previews last weekend which will likely see it replacing Tenet as #1 next weekend
The third part of the Cats and Dog’s film series-opening 19 years after the first film was released, in normal circumstances, it would go straight to DVD as it did in the US on digital in September and on DVD in October. `
Cats and Dogs opened in August 2001 took £23,013,391 (£40,134,464 inflation inflated); despite poor reviews, the film performed strongly and played for 14 weeks in the top 15 and was one of the biggest films of 2001.
Cats & Dogs: Revenge of Kitty Galore in August 2010 took £3,972,149 (£4,819,986 inflation inflated).
Films about cats and dogs have immensely popular over the years in cinemas with films including om 2009’s Marley And Me opening with £4.4m taking £15.4m; 1992’s Beethoven taking £6.8m; 1993’s Beethoven’s 2nd taking £5.8m; 2017’s A Dog’s Purpose opened £1,300,097 (including £667,168 previews) taking £3.2m and 2010’s Hachi: A Dog’s Tale opened £442,753 taking £1,048,876 and also the two The Secret Life of Pets films, the first opened with £9,580,039 in 2016 taking £35,825,195, the second in £3,490,598 taking £18,638,365.
The one genre of films that have performed well over the last 15 weeks has been children’s films. Disney re-releasing Onward despite being released on digital and DVD it has performed well over the last 14 weeks taking over £2m. Similarly, Universal Pictures released Trolls World Tour in cinemas and again despite it being released on digital and DVD during lockdown still taken £900k since cinemas reopened.
The first new children’s film Dreambuilders opened July 17 taking £12,407 from 51 cinemas released by Signature Entertainment went on to take £358,188 over 8 weeks. Followed by 100% Wolf opening two weeks later with £33,130 from 146 screens from Vertigo taking £1.4m after 10 weeks. Pinocchio opened 2 weeks later with £108,626 from 272 screens also released by Vertigo taking £829,967 after 8 weeks.
The rebuilding of confidence with people going to the cinema will belong as while exhibitors have talked a lot about the safety measures they come short of the far stricter safety measures seen in Asian countries that helped boost confidence with cinemagoers much quicker and with a mix of local films and smaller releases admissions in many of those countries is slowly getting back to normal.
Over the last 16 weeks, it has been films released by independent distributors including Vertigo, Signature Entertainment, Trafalgar, and Altitude have released the majority of new releases. They took the gamble to release films ahead of the major studios and many of the films have been steady performers with films like 100% Wolf in the top 10 for 10 weeks. In normal circumstances, Vertigo would be lucky if it lasted more than a week in the top 10.
Also released
- Rebecca – Netflix
The biggest film opening will be Netflix’s Rebecca remake starring Lily James, Armie Hammer, Kristin Scott Thomas, Keeley Hawes, and Sam Riley, and directed by Ben Wheatley from a screenplay by Jane Goldman based on the 1938 novel of the same name by Daphne du Maurier.
The film will be released in Everyman, Curzon, and many other independent cinemas but Netflix won’t report box office, the film has generated strong media coverage as The Trial of the Chicago 7 a few weeks ago and probably would be #1 film this weekend if major exhibitors didn’t refuse to book it.
If the issue really was about lack of content to major exhibitors they would book films like Rebecca, The Trial of the Chicago 7 and The Secret Garden next week and ask Warner Bros if they could also book The Witches as seen by how films like onward and Trolls World Tour there is an audience out there that will still go to the cinema to see these films even if they are on streaming, digital and home video, all they are doing is harming themselves.
UK box office in detail
This weekend’s top 10 box office took £880,276 down 37.4% from last weekend (£1,406,295)
The weekend admissions 110,804 down 44% from last week (197,791); admissions last year this week was 1,957,605 (94.3% down)
The latest estimate for 2020 box office is £340m about a third of last year’s £1.227bn; UK BO was only £294m after 37 weeks; with Black Widow, Death on the Nile and No Time To Die delayed box office is likely to be the lowest annual box office since 1995 (£383m)
Top 3 took £495,335 56.3% of £xx; Tenet 21.3% (£187,275); Michael Ball & Alfie Boe 20% (£175,778); Saint Maud 15.1% (£132,282);
Down 94.1% from 2019 (£14,701,610); Top three took 68.6% (£10,095,227) of the top 10; Joker 37.3% (£5,489,716); Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil 22.4% (£3,300,000); A Shaun The Sheep Movie: Farmageddon 8.8% (£1,305,511);
Down 93.9% from 2018: (£14,380,280); Halloween (£2,656,097); Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween (£2,119,165); Hunter Killer (£368,082); Samson Et Dalila – Met Opera 2018 (£176,889); Fahrenheit 11/9 (£56,814); #1 A Star is Born £2,883,000 2nd week 663 screens 7% drop (20.1% of top 10)
Down 91% from 2017: (£9,783,969); Geostorm (£1,625,895); Happy Death Day (£998,388); The Death of Stalin (£995,458); My Little Pony (£916,123); Paw Patrol: Big Screen Tails (£35,332); Marshall (£14,967); The Princess Bride (30th Anniversary) (£1,128); #1 Blade Runner 2049 £1,791,027 3rd week 2nd #1 (w1 and w3) 617 screens (18.3% of the top 10)
Down 94.3% from 2016: (£15,448,907); Trolls (£5,440,878); Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (£2,688,561); Ouija: Origin of Evil (£779,626); I, Daniel Blake (£444,800); Keeping Up with the Joneses (£271,306); Don Giovanni – Met Opera 2016 (£254,469); Queen of Katwe (£73,754); #1 Trolls £5,440,878 1st week 608 screens (35.2% of the top 10)
Down 95% from 2015; (£17,426,172); Hotel Transylvania 2 (£6,317,438); Suffragette (£2,938,446); Pan (£2,738,758); Crimson Peak (£967,168); The Lobster (£229,619); Otello – Met Opera 2015 (£172,773); The Program (£144,181); #1 Hotel Transylvania 2 £6,317,438 1st week 557 screens (36.2% of top 10)
Down 93.1% from 2014: (£12,738,897); Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (£4,785,448); The Judge (£420,720); Northern Soul (£278,829); Black Butler (£1,327); #1 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles £4,785,448 1st week 522 screens (37.5% of top 10)
Down 91.8% from 2013: (£10,812,691); Turbo (£3,892,774); Captain Phillips (£3,483,981); Escape Plan (£961,470); Enough Said (£170,357); #1 Turbo £3,892,774 1st week 528 screens (36% of top 10)
Down 94% from 2012 (£14,670,714); Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted (£6,030,904); Paranormal Activity 4 (£2,544,701); Frankenweenie (expansion) (£741,683); Beasts of the Southern Wild (£181,801); #1 Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted £6,030,904 1st week 532 screens (41.1% of top 10)
Down 92.1% from 2011 (£11,227,673); Paranormal Activity 3 (£3,405,036); Contagion (£1,463,638); Monte Carlo (£237,469); Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer (£33,605); Restless (£11,270); #1 Paranormal Activity 3 £3,405,036 1st week 390 screens (30.3% of top 10)
Down 91.2% from 2010: (£10,027,140); Despicable Me (£3,664,376); The Social Network (£2,486,454); Vampires Suck (£1,089,339); #1 Despicable Me £3,664,376 1st week 522 screens (36.5% of top 10)
Down 91.6% from 2009; (£10,447,511); Couples Retreat (£1,825,142); The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (£905,786); Triangle (£260,626); #1 Up £5,162,325 2nd week 535 screens 19% drop (49.4% of top 10)
Down xx% from 2008; (£7,332,004); Burn After Reading (£2,045,565); Eagle Eye (£1,096,777); Igor (expansion) (£981,750); The Rocker (£217,745); #1 Burn After Reading £2,045,565 1st week 396 screens (27.9% of top 10)
Down 88% from 2007: (£7,694,181); Stardust (£2,245,143); Rendition (£583,345); Dark is Rising (£214,058); Nancy Drew (£135,753); The Last Legion (£125,540); Daddy Day Camp (£65,989); Once (£65,256); Razzle Dazzle (£6,185); #1 Ratatouille £3,056,938 2nd week 535 screens 31% drop (39.7% of top 10)
Down 89.6% from 2006; (£8,486,228); Barnyard: The Original Party Animals (£1,022,890); The Guardian (£826,569); The Grudge 2 (£773,422); The Last Kiss (£431,071); Marie Antoinette (£283,883); #1 The Departed £1,456,564 3rd week 2nd #1 358 screens 14% drop (17.1% of top 10)
Down 93.5% from 2005 (£13,473,346); Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (£9,374,932); Lord of War (£723,406); Domino (£481,409); #1 Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit £9,374,932 1st week 501 screens (69.6% of top 10)
Down 93% from 2004 (£12,551,675); Shark Tale (£7,545,074); White Chicks (£884,955); Inside I’m Dancing (£219,256); Boo, Zino and the Snurks (£131,020); Fat Slags (£58,252); 5 Children & It (£37,132); #1 Shark Tale £7,545,074 1st week 504 screens (60.1% of top 10)
Down 93.4% from 2003 (£13,372,837); Kill Bill Volume One (expansion) (£2,693,742); The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (£2,005,435); Mystic River (£295,135); Bollywood Queen (£27,020); #1 Finding Nemo £5,923,138 3rd week 2nd #1 475 screens (44.3% of top 10)
Down 90.3% from 2002 (£9,046,691); XXX (£3,435,891); Slap Her, She’s French (£210,321); All Or Nothing (£164,291); The Powerpuff Girls (£92,007); #1 XXX £3,435,891 1st week 435 screens (37.9% of top 10)
Down xx% from 2001 (£9,463,581); America’s Sweethearts (£1,719,897); Jeepers Creepers (£1,533,151); Atlantis (expansion) (£1,282,458); Brotherhood of the Wolf (£123,245); #1 American Pie 2 £2,823,776 2nd week 420 screens 49% drop (29.8% of top 10);
Next weekend in 2019: (£14,176,042); Top three took 57.7% (£8,488,929) of the top 10; Joker 23.5% (£3,464,682); Terminator: Dark Fate 19.5% (£2,864,941); Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil 14.7% (£2,159,306);
UK Box Office since restart
848 cinemas were reopen before lockdown last weekend, with the closure of 127 Cineworld and Picturehouse cinemas (1,180+ screens) drops the number down to 532 cinemas open, independent cinemas continue to reopen thanks to BFI grants over the next few weeks
UK cinemas have now been open for 16 weeks with box office from allow of £189,000 to high when Tenet opened 6,224,288; first weekend (from 42 cinemas+ drive-ins (460 screens) to 670 cinemas+ drive-ins 6,372 screens I
Week 1 £189,000 from 460 screens (73 cinemas) 141 films on release ; top 5 took £81,880
Week 2; Up 76.2% £333,002 (182 films) from 1,059 screens (123 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); top 5 £148,675;
Week 3: Down 7.5% £308,154 (191 films) from 151 cinemas and 1,286 screens up 21.4%; top 5 took £136,559; top 5 took £169,911
Week 4: Up 30.7% £402,752 (214 films) from 185 cinemas and 1,734 screens Up 34.8%; top 5 took £328,783
Week 5: Up 61.8% £651,914 (218 films) from 3,016 screens (326 cinemas reopened) up 74%; Unhinged opened with £175,263 from 243 screens); top 5 took £328,783
Week 6: Down 17.4% £538,716 (236 films) from 338 cinemas and 3,393 screens up 12.5%: American Pickle opened with £27,732 from 162 screens; top 5 took £262,058
Week 7: Up 85.2% £997,837 (269 films) from 366 cinemas; Inception: 10th Anniversary opened £207,675 from 313 screens; top 5 took £628,678
Week 8: Up 10.9% £1,107,153 (264 films) from 3,889 screens (491 cinemas) up 21.5%; top 5 took £643,139
Week 9: Up 462.2% £6,224,288 (204 films) from 3, 856 (629 cinemas); Tenet opened with 85.7% (£5,335,654); top 5 took £5,868,018
Week 10: Down 39.8% £3,746,637 (198 films) 658 cinemas 4,607 screens (198 films on release; 487 England); top 5 £3,167,757
Week 11: Down 25% £2,812,496 from 5,522 screens; top 5 took £2,223,661; top 5 took £2,086,954
Week 12: Down 7.4% £2,603,624 from 5,401 screens; 613 cinemas; top 5 took £1,598,935
Week 13: Down 18.9% £2,112,443 from 5,564 screens 620 cinemas; top 5 took £1,598,935
Week 14: Up 24.6% £2,633,473 from 6,372 screens; top 5 took £1,753,045
Week 15: Down 36.5% £2,425,745 from 4,527 screens (closure of 1,180+ Cineworld screens); top 5 took £1,139,278
Week 16 Down 59.3% £986,032 from 4,031 screens (closure of Northern Ireland cinemas); The top five took £570,127 down 38.7% from £1,139,278 last week
This time last year UK box office was 1,391% more taking £14,701,610 top three took (£10,095,227) Joker 37.3% (£5,489,716); Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil 22.4% (£3,300,000); A Shaun The Sheep Movie: Farmageddon 8.8% (£1,305,511);
UK cinema admissions will drop to between 40m-45m which will be the lowest since 53.8m in 1984, this would see 2020 box office drop almost 75% from £1.25bn to £334m, the lowest total since 1992, but with 150% ticket inflation since really have to go back to 1984 box office levels of £102.22m (£382.52m inflation inflated).
The US box office is expected to drop almost 80% from $11.3bn last year to $2.4bn this year; dropping 95% in the third quarter and 85% in the fourth quarter
The following year was British Film Year which started the renaissance of cinema in the UK and the launch of the first multiplex cinemas in the UK. Over the years that followed from 1985 to 2002 admissions grew steadily in the UK, they were boosted in 1996 with National Cinema Day (repeated the following year) when all cinemas across the UK were £1 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of cinema, Ever since cinemas closed in March I have been suggesting a similar-sized event was needed to relaunch cinema and get people back into the cinema habit again, it’s the 125th anniversary next year and this could have been part of a celebration of British cinema.
As soon as lockdown happened exhibitors and distributors should have worked together on a restart plan with multiple scenarios including the one if UK cinemas reopened before the US working with distributors and seeing what films they could release as there are many British films that have been delayed since lockdown. Films like Dream Horse and Our Ladies could have been part of a keep up and carry on the campaign…..as the 1997 Star Wars re-release trailer said… “for an entire generation, people have experienced Star Wars the only way it’s been possible on the TV screen, but if you have only seen it this way, you haven’t seen it at all”… “See it again for the first time”
Always thought a similar trailer would be the best way to sell cinema experience again to get people off their phones and tablets, ‘for the last six months you have seen films the only way possible on the on-TV screen.. but you haven’t seen them all.’
UK cinemas should have extended Meerkat Movies to 7 days and offered 2for1 to everyone or as some exhibitors did in July all seats £5 all the time until November. As the key part of this was to get people back to the cinema feeling safe and get them into the cinemagoing habit again as once they do they will be back many times over those months for £5 people will take a chance on seeing films they might not normally see at the cinema.
Major exhibitors have complained about the lack of studio releases but we are in a chicken and egg situation as after the soft performance of Tenet it’s now down to exhibitors to show studios that there is the audience going to cinemas now that will justify them risking another tentpole release, this was always likely to happen if the first film failed to be as big as expected.
The problem with the UK exhibitors has been dependent on US films to fill their cinemas and many ‘British’ films that are made by the US studios. The countries that have had success relaunches have had strong success from local releases including China and South Korea. China, Korea & Japan are now stable because unlike other countries including the USA and UK government demanded far stricter safety measures when cinemas reopened, and exhibitors are now reaping the benefits.
I have followed the Coronavirus outbreak and how it has affected the cinema industry since January, so my comments are in hindsight I believed in late January when China shut their cinemas days before their New Year, the most lucrative time of the year for cinema in China, that the west should have prepared for the worst then, but I believe as cinema attendance was very strong in January and February the industry was in denial of the incoming pandemic, the fault must go with the industry bodies who weren’t prepared and have been reacting to issues ever since.
Much was made from the news last week that Disney had restructured the company to focus on streaming, this immediately made many believe that they would release their upcoming releases straight to Disney+, but I feel it is more flexing of muscles by Disney to exhibitors after they criticised the company for releasing 5 films straight to Disney+. After 2019 was all about cinema for Disney’s global box office (Avengers: Endgame, Toy Story 4, The Lion King, Frozen 2 and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker) Coronavirus allowed 2020 to be all about growing Disney+.
Disney isn’t going to give up theatrical as their properties like Marvel, Star Wars, Avatar, and Indiana Jones are made for the big screen cinema experience, but then three months later will be forever on Disney+ and pirate streaming sites worldwide. As that is the problem with releasing a $200m+ film straight to streaming it will also be released immediately in 4K on illegal streaming sites worldwide. If you have a theatrical window you at least have a few weeks before this happens. While Disney has 60m+ Disney+ subscribers how many more have seen these films illegally for free that might have seen them in the cinema? Is there the problem with Disney+ is a year after launch is still the lack of new content, unlike Netflix and Amazon, original to Disney also means reboots, reimaginations.
On Thursday Gov Andrew Cuomo announced movie theatres in New York State outside New York State could reopen on October 23rd. Over the last few weeks, exhibitors have personalised their attack over movie theatres not being allowed to reopen in New York against Gov Cuomo over the last few weeks as they believe the reason why studios won’t release their biggest films is that New York and Los Angeles movie theatres are closed.
Major exhibitors have been in denial ever since movie theatres reopened in July despite all their research showing that it would take the majority over 6 months before they felt comfortable going back and nothing has changed over the months they have reopened if anything it’s gotten worse, nothing will change with New York movie theatres reopening.
US Box Office
- The Honest Thief – Signature Entertainment
Opened with $3.7m; received poor reviews (35% Rotten Tomatoes)
Took $225k from previews on Thursday comparable to recent Liam Neeson action films when accounting that all bar seven (in California) Regal theatres are closed along with most Los Angeles and all of New York movie theatres still closed; 2019’s Cold Pursuit took $540K (opened with $11.03m taking $32.13m); The Commuter took $700K (opened $13.7m taking $36.34m); Run All Night took $455K (opened $11.01m taking $26.46m)
While The Honest Thief opened in 180+ IMAX theatres, it didn’t open in Regal Theatres unlike Unhinged did in August opening with 7.5% more ($4m) has taken $20.03m to date in the US and $39.23m worldwide.
In 2017 Liam Neeson said he wasn’t going to make any more action films, but then two years later he said he will keep starring in them as long as audiences stop watching them, but since Taken in 2014 they have gotten less successful at the box office.
Last week New York Gov Andrew Cuomo said movie theatres outside New York City could reopen from October 23rd, there is a 25% capacity cap of a maximum of 50 cinemagoers per screen, which of wasn’t enough for exhibitors who wanted 50%. Regal blamed the closure of movie theatres in New York as the reason why they closed their theatres and started a campaign on their cinema display screens with comments like “48 states have reopened theatres safely. Why not New York, Governor Cuomo?”
Just reopening movie theatres in New York won’t change anything unless exhibitors go much further with their safety measures as while exhibitors might believe they are good enough the vast majority still feel uncomfortable to return to movie theatres anytime soon. This weekend it was announced that China had overtaken the US to become the world’s biggest cinema nation this year, despite their cinemas being closed for two months longer than the US. China cinemas reopened in August (after closing in January) with far stricter safety measures, that included masks mandatory at all times, no food and drink allowed, temperatures checked and checkboard seating.
These stronger safety measures were also implemented across Asia when their cinemas reopened and saw admissions grow steadily and as confidence grew the safety measures were lessened and the capacity increased from 25% to 75%.
Had the West followed in the footsteps of Asia movie theatres wouldn’t have reopened in the US or the UK before September (not just saying this in hindsight, but in March when cinemas were closing in March did say October would have been the most sensible time to reopen) with similar stronger safety measures box office levels could have been back to pre-lockdown levels in 2021, but now this won’t be until 2023 if at all, as can see major changes ahead with the way many studios release their films with many more theatrical planned releases going straight to streaming.
- The War With Grandpa – 101 Studios
Dropped 31% in its second weekend taking $2.5m and $7.26m
The film was made in 2017 and was originally due for release in February 2018 by Weinstein Company and delayed several times before rights were reclaimed by producers and US rights were sold again to 101 Studios in June.
27th biggest film of 2020 between Downhill and The Hunt; 5,628th biggest film in the US between Big Trouble and Friends with Kids; 5,888th biggest inflation inflated between Shut In Happily Ever After
- Tenet – Warner Bros
Down 24% in its seventh weekend taking $1.6m and $50.6m total (14% of total worldwide box office) Tenet is expected to take about $65m; took $355k down 25% from IMAX taking $5.1m (12.4% of US BO); IMAX, PLF/Premium Large Formats, and Dolby Cinema took 32%
8th biggest film of 2020 between Onward and The Gentlemen; 1,731st biggest film in the US between The Net and The Tuxedo; 282nd biggest Warner Bros film between Bonnie and Clyde and Music and Lyrics; 2,633rd biggest inflation inflated between A Nightmare On Elm Street: The Dream Child and Fargo.
As always the West only thinks short-term, movie theatres shouldn’t have reopened in the West before September but the reason they did was due to the saviour of cinema Christopher Nolan who believed Tenet had to open in the middle of a pandemic and did more damage than good. This was predictable when China waited 7 months to reopen cinemas while US (and the UK) rushed to reopen after only 5 and implemented far stricter safety measures than US and UK, Asian cinemas are getting close to pre-lockdown levels while the West won’t get back to normal before 2023.
As always it’s not Netflix or Coronavirus that is doing the most damage to the future of cinema it’s exhibitors, as their rush to reopen movie theatres in the US and UK will do long-term damage that will impact this year and 2021 while China overtakes the US to become #1 as it waited.
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.
Took $6.8m from 63 territories (down 30.6% from last weekend) $283.3m total and $333.9m worldwide (41m admissions worldwide make the average ticket price $8.14 worldwide but when a third of the tenet’s BO came from PLF/IMAX/Dolby Cinema tickets for these are close to three times the average so real admissions are closer to half; China $66.3m; the UK $22.1m; France $21.9m; Japan $21.6m; Germany $18.2m;; Korea $14.9m
Took $612k from IMAX in 43 markets from 264 screens taking $38.3m globally worldwide from IMAX 11.3% of the total global box office and 32% of its box office came from PLF/Premium Large Formats including IMAX and Dolby Cinema and took $2.5m from film formats from 41 cinemas in 11 countries; UK (IMAX 70mm), Italy, Spain, and Denmark being the highest countries for film formats.
Tenet is the 3rd biggest film of the year in the world between Bad Boys For Life $424.61m and Sonic the Hedgehog $306.76m.
261st biggest international film between Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines and Independence Day: Resurgence; 2nd biggest film internationally in 2020 between The Eight Hundred and Bad Boys For Life; 48th biggest Warner Bros film internationally between Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines and Godzilla: King of the Monsters.
424th biggest film worldwide between Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Back to the Future Part II; 76th biggest Warner Bros film worldwide between Batman Forever and 300: Rise of an Empire; (Batman Begins #71; Dunkirk #26; Inception #21; The Dark Knight #6; The Dark Knight Rises
UK Box Office Top 10
The UK this weekend
Seven new releases this weekend in normal circumstances many would struggle to get into the top 15 but most of them will.
After 8 weeks at #1 Tenet it will lose top spot with Two By Two: Overboard! After taking £104,398 last weekend from previews with five day opening of The Honest Thief in second and if Sky Cinema report box office The Secret Garden in third.
Major exhibitors continue to cut off their nose to spite their face after complaining about the lack of studio releases but then refuse to book Netflix titles Rebecca and The Trial of the Chicago 7 and The Secret Garden, Independent cinemas will benefit as The Secret Garden will open in about 150 cinemas. Cinemas are closed in Northern Island and Wales due to a second lockdown.
As seen with Onward taking £2m+ over last 16 weeks and Trolls World Tour almost £1m despite being on digital/video family films like The Secret Garden over half-term holidays with little competition could have had a decent run as children’s films have been the one genre that has regularly attracted audiences over the last 16 weeks.
Major exhibitors refuse to book Sky Cinema films as they do Netflix but then do book Event Cinema screenings of BBC TV programmes broadcast live on TV and have complained recently about a lack of content, The Secret Garden could have had a decent run in cinemas during half-term.
Sky Cinema films get an audience of about 1.5m so are plenty of people out there without access who would go to see The Secret Garden in cinemas, it’s just puerile for major exhibitors to refuse to book these films especially as Sky Cinema always heavily promote them?
What exhibitors fail to get is that it’s not the lack of films it’s the confidence the majority of cinemagoers have going to the cinema again as exhibitors have failed to make the majority believe cinemagoers is safe at the moment. This has been partly caused by their rush to reopen cinemas far too soon and in doing so has caused longer-term damage that will see this year and next year affected. While countries that reopened far slower are now seeing admissions getting close to pre-lockdown levels, this was sadly predictable due to their bull in a china shop mentally.
UK Coming Soon
- Relic – Signature Entertainment
Horror starring Emily Mortimer, Robyn Nevin and Bella Heathcote and directed by Natalie Erika James and produced by Anthony Russo and Joe Russo; had the world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January and was acquired by IFC Films and was released in July in the US opening #1 taking $192,352 from 69 theatres.
Received positive reviews (91% Rotten Tomatoes)
- The Burnt Orange Heresy – Sony Pictures
Drama thriller starring Elizabeth Debicki, Mick Jagger, and Donald Sutherland and directed by Giuseppe Capotondi based on the book of the same name by Charles Willeford; was selected as the closing film at the 2019 Venice Film Festival, soon after Sony Classic acquired rights and it was released ion limited release in the US in March receiving mixed reviews.
While the major studios immediately delayed their tentpoles Sony Pictures and Universal Pictures have brought forward the release of many of their smaller films, that will receive far more attention than they might otherwise have done but a film like The Burnt Orange Heresy would struggle to find an audience in normal circumstances.
The Burnt Orange Heresy faces a similar fate as their other films since cinemas have reopened The Broken Hearts Gallery, the Climb, The Craft: Legacy, Words On Bathroom Walls, The Last Shift, The Kid Detective and Monster Hunter. Sony still currently have Peter Rabbit 2 currently dated for December which they delayed in March two weeks before it was due to open which will be their first major release since Bad Boys For Life, they did release The Grudge, A Beautiful Day In The Neighbourhood, Greed and Bloodshot just before lockdown but none found a wide audience.
