- Elf – £98,157 – £188,992
Up 103.46% from last weekend adding 77 screens
17 years after opening Elf topped the chart for a second weekend; in 2003 Love Actually held 1 for four weeks stopping Elf from becoming #1 with Eld hold in second for five weeks. 17 years later Elf is #1 for two weeks and Love Actually is #5; in 2003 Elf took £2,318,282 in its second weekend down 31% but only 19% not including previews with Live Actually #1 (£3,202,417).
While both were original films Elf was a far biggest surprise as despite Love Actually being his directorial debut after Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill and Bridget Jones’s Diary cinemagoers knew what they were going to get from a Richard Curtis film. While Elf was a new Christmas story which has become a Christmas favourite ever since as The Muppets Christmas Carol and Miracle on 34th Street.
Elf stayed #2 for 5 weeks behind Love Actually for three weeks and then Lord of the Rings: Return of the King for two weeks, over the Christmas period and as most Christmas films dropped down the chart quickly in January, down to #7 (£578,001) in week 6 and #10 (£174,296) in week 7, going on to take £16,263,471 (£26,446,455 inflation inflated).
Elf was the 13th biggest film of 2003 after LOTR: The Return of the King, Finding Nemo, Love Actually, The Matrix Reloaded, The Pirates of the Caribbean, Bruce Almighty, X-Men 2, Calendar Girls, Johnny English, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, The Matrix Revolutions and American Pie: The Wedding.
Since its release in 2003 Elf has become a Christmas favourite regularly re-released at Christmas and always popular, it was last re-released the same weekend last year opening #9 but with over 200% more £148,489 from 274 screens; showing again that films are taking less than 10% of their normal box office this weekend’s box office would have placed Elf in 10th slightly ahead of Home Alone £88,011 from 163 screens. (The top four films Jumanji: The Next Level, Frozen 2, Last Christmas and Knives Out took over 90% of the weekend box office squeezing all others).
Christmas films as Christmas songs are re-released every November and December and people will watch (and listen) to them, again and again, each year over the Christmas period, as they are the perfect antidote for the time of year being fun and feel-good and will be what people will crave even more this year.
On Sunday, December 13th, the cast including Will Ferrell, Zooey Deschanel, Bob Newhart, Mary Steenburgen, John Lithgow, Jon Favreau and Ed Helms had charity live table read of the film to raise money for the Georgia Democratic Party to support the January 5th Senate runoff elections.
This was one of many cast reunions there have been over the last few months to raise money for other events including the cast of Father of the Bride to reunite for The third film. The cast of Legally Blonde coming together to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the original film and announce plans for a third film and the cast of That Thing You Do reunite for the films 24th anniversary and the 20th anniversary of X-Men.
There have also been cast reunions of TV shows including The Office (on John Krasinski wonderful Some Good Newsweekly video show) and there were reunions of many others including Parks and Recreation, Frasier, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, The West Wing and High School Musical. While Josh Gad’s ’80s-obsessed Reunited Apart brought together many casts of classic films including Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
All of these are far from the cringing Imagine video made by many Hollywood stars in March and helped raise a lot of money for charity while fans of these classic film and TV shows got to see the casts back together again which was one of the massive positives of lockdown. The big TV reunion was meant to be Friends as part of the launch content for HBO Max in the US, but this will now be next year.
- Home Alone – £87,809 – £552,517
Up 138.11% adding 56 more screens; 30 years Home Alone was #1 in the UK for its second weekend
Home Alone was last re-released in cinemas by Park Circus in December 2019 opening with £88,011 from 163 screens
Home Alone originally opened December7th 1990 with £987,706 taking £12m (£27m inflation inflated).
Home Alone was voted as the fifth best Christmas film in a Radio Times poll in 2018; It’s A Wonderful Life #1; Elf #2; The Muppet Christmas Carol #3; Love Actually #4 with Die Hard #6 and National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation #7 both were also re-released over the weekend.
- Little Mix: LM5 – The Tour Film – £83,519 – NE
As with Katherine Jenkins: Christmas Spectacular last weekend (opening with £21,563 (including previews) from 134 screens) tickets for Little Mix: LM5 – The Tour Film were similarly priced £14.99 at Vue and £15+ at Odeon cinemas and playing to a younger tween audience it would be too expensive for many to see in the cinema.
Most Event Cinema screenings have unperformed since cinema reopened as they target older demographic, not comfortable returning to the cinema anytime soon but BTS: Break The Silence opened with £374,060 in September including £124,063 from previews.
Love Yourself In Seoul – BTS World Tour 2019 #10 opened on January 26th taking £518,810 from 291 screens
Burn the Stage: The Movie #6 opened 17th November 2018 taking £644,308 from 212 screens
Had exhibitors charged regular prices it could have attracted a much wider audience as seen with After We Collided opened with £65,797 in September and held strongly over the following weeks.
Take That Greatest Hits Live £1.1m opened within June 2019; Take That: Wonderland Live from the O2 2017 took £1,004,918 from 481 screens and in June 2015 Take That Live 2015 took £965,000
Event Cinema screenings normally have over 100% surcharges but tickets for Take That Greatest Hits Live at Vue West End were only £10 over 50% cheaper than regular prices but a month later Westlife: The Twenty Tour Live were £26.24 (26% more than regular prices) opened with £899,488; 2012’s Westlife: The Final Concert opened with £573,000.
Event Cinema is a great addition to cinema, exhibitors love it as they are normally one day often mid-week and with 100% surcharges so get one big hit, the problem has been the sheer number being released over 100 a year which must dilute the brand as does the cost of seeing them in the cinema. Event Cinema has also squeezed the independent film sector in the UK as exhibitors are more willing to give an Event Cinema distributor one evening weekend slot for Event Cinema rather than a week for an independent film.
In 2018 Event Cinema/Secret Cinema added over 6m admissions to the UK which helped UK admissions grow to the highest for almost 40 years.
The most popular Event Cinema over the last five years has been André Rieu’s Maastricht Concert; 2018’s André Rieu’s Maastricht Concert, ’Amore £1,783,222; Andre Rieu’s 2017 Maastricht Concert £1,439,604; Andre Rieu’s 2016 Maastricht Concert £1,414,075; Andre Rieu’s 2015 Maastricht Concert (Concert) £1,107,000; Andre Rieu’s 2014 Maastricht Concert £830,586.
- Superintelligence – £72,574 – NE
The second HBO Max film released in the UK after American Pickle opened #4 with £27,732 from 162 screens in August starring Seth Rogen, his films rarely travel well internationally as Superintelligence’s Melissa McCarthy.
If Warner opted to release Superintelligence straight to streaming in the US as they did with American Pickle In the US the one territory both films could have possibly found an audience in cinemas, then it made no sense at all to release them internationally in cinemas.
While both Superintelligence and American Pickle had very limited international box office potential Zack Snyder’s Justice League due to be released next year will likely receive a very limited US cinema release alongside HBO Max but internationally could have a bigger theatrical release.
The problem for Warner Bros is HBO Max is currently the US only as Warner like Universal with Peacock rushed the launch of their streaming services to try to stay competitive with Disney (after they launched Disney+ last year) and weren’t able to launch either service globally as much of their content is tied up for many years with output deals. This has also been an issue in the US with many films and TV shows made by both studios not available on either streaming service, this has is less on Disney+ as Disney has let deals run down over the last few years.
It was originally due for a theatrical release in the USA on December 25th but in October 2019 Warner Bros announced the film would be released on HBO Max in the US instead, but Warner Bros opted to release the film theatrically internationally. Melissa McCarthy films with the exception of Spy and Bridesmaids don’t travel well internationally and the other three films Ben Falcone has directed starring Melissa McCarthy have all poorly performed internationally (Tammy, The Boss and Life of the Party).
2018’s Life of the Party opened May 2018 with £618,311 taking £1,660,250
2016’s The Boss opened June 10th £594,672 taking £1,692,452
2015’s Spy opened June 5th £2,557,824 taking £9,654,086
2014’s Tammy opened 4th July £471,429 taking £1,433,635
2013’s The Heat opened 1st August £2,500,522 taking £6,825,860
2013’s Identity Thief opened 22nd March 2013 £1,313,162 taking £4,716,437
Warner launched HBO Max in the US in May 2020 with Warner deciding to instead extend output deals with Sky in the UK and other Sky territories including Germany and Italy for another five years. Warner announced last week that they would launch HBIO Max in Central & East Europe, it is not known if this will mean that Sky’s deal with HBO will be shortened. It does cause complications when Warner will release their films same day in cinemas on HBO Max as certain countries will get films day and date and the others will have a theatrical release.
To quote Argo, there are only bad options, this is the best bad idea we have, US box office is down over 90% week on week and the UK box office was down last weekend 99% from the same weekend last year and unlikely to improve much before April, what else can be done when 80%+ of people don’t feel comfortable going back to the cinema anytime soon. (all of the research has said this since March)
All of this is on Nolan as had Warner delayed Tenet in March as all other studios did with their summer releases exhibitors wouldn’t have rushed to reopen cinemas over 3 months too soon and cinemas would have reopened in September. Nolan’s messiah complex took over after his op-ed in March and Tenet became ‘the saviour of cinema’ to exhibitors but predictably it was the complete opposite and made studios push many more films to stream and PVOD.
- Love Actually – £42,508 – £36,528,362
Up 191% from last weekend adding 101 screens; last weekend took £14,651 from 58 screens in #12 missing out of the top 10 by only £1,148.
Since Love Actually was released in 2003 it has been a Christmas favourite for many; opened November 21st, 2003 with £6,657,479 staying #1 for four weeks staying in the top 10 for 7 weeks taking £36,447,227.
In 2016 Love Actually was voted Britain’s favourite Christmas film by the Radio Times; it was ahead of 1946’s It’s A Wonderful Life 2003’s Elf, 1992’s The Muppet Christmas Carol and 1990’s Home Alone, all of them regularly re-released at Christmas in cinemas.
In 2017 as part of Red Nose Day 2017, Richard Curtis directed Red Nose Day Actually short film featuring many of the original cast, it was broadcast on BBC1 in March 2017.
Also released
Other Christmas re-releases included The Polar Express (£28,350 from 78 screens), The Muppet Christmas Carol (£24,610 from 112 screens), Die Hard (£22,884 from 110 screens ) and Home Alone 2: Lost In New York (£13,798 from 51 screens).
Royal Opera House’s Nutcracker took £16,056 from 71 cinemas compared to £187,697 from 169 cinemas the same weekend last year.
Everyman Cinemas screened several James Bond films in their cinemas over the weekend; Casino Royale £3,862 from 22 screens; Goldfinger £3,330 from 22 screens; Dr No £3,214 from 21 screens; GoldenEye £1,511 from 15 screens; From Russia With Love £1,358 from 14 screens; The Spy Who Loved Me £1,219 from 14 screens; Live And Let Die £1,057 from 14 screens; On Her Majesty’s Secret Service £857 from 13 screens; Licence To Kill £368 from 8 screens
It was great for Everyman Cinemas to show these James Bond films in cinemas again as they should have been part of the reopening slate of film that cinemas should have shown when they reopened in July allowing cinemagoers a chance to see the biggest movies over the last 60 years on the big screen, the problem was Everyman cinemas charged regular prices which meant only cinephiles would be willing to pay up to £15 to see a film they have seen countless times on TV.
Warner Bros’s also re-released Wonder Woman in 27 screens taking £4,125 (£22,188,308) ahead of Wonder Woman 1984’s release this week. When Warner confirmed Wonder Woman 1984 would be released in the UK on December 16th it was expected to open with upwards of 400 screens but with 34m in tier 3 the screen numbers will be halved.
It will be interesting to see the box office Wonder Woman 1984 will open with not opening in London and the South East which is normally responsible for about a third the box office, this has been similar to the last five months in the US with films opening but New York and Los Angeles cinemas have been closed as they both contribute a similar amount to the US box office.
UK box office in detail
This weekend’s top 10 box office took £520,600 up 111.3% from last weekend (£246,409); down xx% from the same weekend last year (£15,983,967)
The weekend admissions 67,046 up 100.2% from last week (33,488); admissions last year this week was 1,198,163 (94.4% down)
The latest estimate for 2020 box office is £300m about a third of last year’s £1.227bn; UK BO was only £294m after 37 weeks and is likely to be the lowest annual box office since 1995 £383m but that is £814.10m inflation inflated) so really the lowest since 1984 (£102.22m and £382.52m inflation inflated)
Top 3 took 45.2% of £269,484; Elf 18.8% (£98,157); Home Alone 16.8% (£87,809); Little Mix: LM5 – The Tour Film 16.1% (£83,518);
Down 96.8% from 2019 (£16,232,465); Top three took 85.9% (£13,950,015) of the top 10; Jumanji: The Next Level 58.3% (£9,464,661); Frozen 2 19.7% (£3,196,708); Last Christmas 7.9% (£1,288,646); #1 Jumanji: The Next Level £9,464,661 1st week from 637 screens (58.3% of the top 10)
Down 96.4% from 2018: (£14,579,804); Aquaman (£5,230,285); Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (£2,279,995); Mortal Engines (£1,269,441); Free Solo (£387,402); La Traviata – Met Opera 2018 (£274,847); CBeebies Christmas Show: Thumbelina (£195,580); It’s a Wonderful Life (4K Restoration) (£114,865); #1 Aquaman £5,230,285 1st week 604 screens (35.8% of top 10)
Down 98.4% from 2017: (£31,690,287); Star Wars: The Last Jedi (£28,010,841); It’s a Wonderful Life (Re: 2017) (£61,102); #1 Star Wars: The Last Jedi £28,010,841 1st week 723 screens (88.4% of top 10)
Down 93.9% from 2016: (£8,465,385); Office Christmas Party (£1,198,176); Snowden (£209,352); The Birth of a Nation (£135,162); Life, Animated (£25,612); The Pass (£18,673); #1 Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them £2,734,960 4th week 620 screens 40% drop (32.3% of the top 10)
Down 91.1% from 2015; (£5,906,053); Grandma (£35,916); By the Sea (£24,770); When Harry Met Sally (Re: 2015) (£4,975); #1 The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2 £1,286,244 4th week 513 screens 43% drop (21.7% of top 10)
Down 97% from 2014: (£17,095,720); The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (£9,753,642); Tinker Bell and the Legend of the NeverBeast (£395,454); Merchants of Doubt (£323); #1 The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies £9,753,642 1st week 594 screens (57.1% of top 10)
Down 96.9% from 2013: (£16,740,270); The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (£9,325,626); Cinema Paradiso (Re: 2013) (£12,374); #1 The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug £9,325,626 1st week 580 screens (55.7% of top 10)
Down 96.9% from 2012 (£16,530,942); The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (£11,601,538); Tinker Bell and the Secret of the Wings 3D (£528,820); Smashed (£1,991); Home Alone (Re: 2012) (£1,716); Neil Young Journeys (£423); Code Name: Geronimo (£388); #1 The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey £11,601,538 1st week 1st #1 598 screens (70.2% of top 10)
Down 93.1% from 2011 (£7,474,721); Puss in Boots (£1,975,758); New Year’s Eve (£1,285,552); A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas (£183,798); Another Earth (£90,950); #1 Puss in Boots £1,975,758 1st week 1st #1 510 screens (26.4% of top 10)
Down 93.5% from 2010: (£8,015,202); Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (£2,460,118); The Tourist (£1,341,143); Somewhere (£125,581); The Shop Around the Corner (Re) (£8,038); #1 Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader £2,460,118 1st week 536 screens (30.6% of top 10)
Down 92.4% from 2009; (£6,826,766); Where The Wild Things Are (£883,990); Carriers (£69,224); The Stepfather (£40,056); The Red Shoes (re) (£13,336); #1 A Christmas Carol £1,544,226 6th week 2nd #1 week 1 and week 5 7% drop 434 screens (22.6% of top 10)
Down 94.1% from 2008; (£8,742,920); The Day the Earth Stood Still (£2,752,132); Inkheart (£700,146); Dean Spanley (£42,898); White Christmas (re) (£7,518); #1 The Day the Earth Stood Still £2,752,132 1st week 465 screens (31.5% of top 10)
Down 94.5% from 2007: (£10,130,524); Enchanted (£2,547,975); Bee Movie (£2,281,393); Mr Magorium’s Wonder Emporium (£459,734); We Own the Night (£441,416); It’s a Wonderful Life (RE) (£15,025); Youth Without Youth (£8,174); My Kid Could Paint That (£2,336); #1 The Golden Compass £3,002,951 2nd week 509 screens 59% drop (29.6% of top 10)
Down 94.6% from 2006; (£9,614,556); Eragon (£1,317,687); Déjà Vu (£1,098,295); Black Christmas (£367,743); Grounded (£240,378); The Wizard of Oz (re) (£22,973); #1 Happy Feet £2,034,916 2nd week 466 screens 45% drop (21.6% of top 10)
Down 96.1% from 2005 (£13,287,703); The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (£8,884,111); March of the Penguins (£183,798); #1 The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe 1st week £8,884,111 498 screens (66.9% of top 10)
Down 95% from 2004 (£10,315,744); Blade: Trinity (£2,633,626); The Polar Express (expansion) (£2,136,898); Phantom of the Opera (£1,219,310); Garden State (£128,366); #1 Blade: Trinity £2,633,626 1st 329 screens (25.5% of top 10)
Down 92.8% from 2003 (£7,288,995); The Fighting Temptations (£151,994); Touching the Void (£115,332); Dead End (£52,130); Lord of the Rings: The 2 Towers (Sp. Ed) (£42,378); #1 Love Actually £2,273,706 4th week 486 screens 29% drop (31.2% of top 10)
Down 91.7% from 2002 (£6,276,464); Like Mike (£246,169); Dirty Pretty Things (£141,865); #1 Die Another Day £2,220,351 4th week 463 screens 35% drop (35.4% of top 10)
Down 90.1% from 2001 (£5,249,630); The Deep End (£68,988); #1 Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone £2,391,251 5th week 537 screens 29% drop (45.5% of top 10);
Next weekend in 2019 (£30,884,264) Top three took 87.4% (£27,004,256) of the top 10; Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker 67.5% (£20,864,500); Cats 10.4% (£3,207,471) Jumanji: The Next Level 9.5% (£2,932,285); #1 Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker 740 screens (£20,864,500) 1st week
UK Box Office since the restart
On Monday was announced London and the South East would go into Tier 3 Tuesday midnight less than a week after cinemas in the Midlands, Yorkshire and North West would close after they were put into Tier 3. Both areas of the country had a similar number of admissions last year (61.2m in London Vs 54.5m in the Midlands, Yorkshire, and North West) but the real difference is ticket prices as London and the South East is over a third more than the rest of the country. That said with event Cinema prices are similar across the country.
Before lockdown in March were 848 UK cinemas open, on October 9th Cineworld closed 127 Cineworld and Picturehouse cinemas (1,180+ screens) they won’t reopen before March.
UK cinemas were open 18 weeks before the first English lockdown, then English cinemas closed, and Scottish cinemas stayed open for the next four weeks; box office from a low of £189,000 when UK cinemas reopened July 4th (dropping to a low November 6th £22,908 from 119 screens when Scottish cinemas were only open (£32,804 November 13th from 143 screens, £26,250 November 20th from 128 screens, £23,597 November 27th from 125 screens) 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.
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% £1.2m from 4,031 screens in 488 cinemas (closure of Northern Ireland cinemas); The top five took £570,127 down 38.7% from £1,139,278 last week
Week 17 Up 54.2% £1.85m from 4,124 screens in 461 cinemas (Wales cinemas closed); 20 new releases taking almost £1m between them.
Week 18 Up 9.7% £2.03m from 469 cinemas; box office has risen well over the last two weeks, but they were boosted by over 30 films being released and being half-term and Halloween.
Week 19 Down 98.9% £22,908 from 119 screens in Scotland only; the first week of second English Lockdown; #1 The Three Kings £3,521 from 2 screens most films in the top 15 dropped close to 98%
Week 20 Up 43.2% £32,804 from 143 screens in Scotland; the second weekend of second English Lockdown; #1 The Secret Garden £5,147 from 15 screens up 201%; box office increased strongly for most films
Week 21 Down 20% £26,250 from 128 screens in Scotland; the third weekend of second English Lockdown; #1 Two By Two: Overboard! £3,422 from 16 screens many films increasing box office from last weekend despite box office down from the weekend before.
Week 22 Down 10% £23,597 from 125 screens in Scotland; the fourth weekend of second English Lockdown; #1 Home Alone £2,705 from 4 screens
Week 23 Up 2,069% £512k from 1,549 screens in 231 cinemas 20% of UK cinemas reopened with 50 Vue cinemas reopening next weekend
Week 24 up 91% £980k TBC from 3,068 screens (up 98% of screens from last weekend) about 70% of UK screens were open in the UK out of 4,500 with Cineworld being 1,100+ screens still closed along with cinemas who went into tier 3 last week. With London, the South East, Essex, and parts of Herts closing on Wednesday this will probably see over 1,000 screens closing.
This weekend’s box office was 94% down on the same weekend last year taking £16,232,465); Top three took 85.9% (£13,950,015) of the top 10; Jumanji: The Next Level 58.3% (£9,464,661); Frozen 2 19.7% (£3,196,708); Last Christmas 7.9% (£1,288,646); #1 Jumanji: The Next Level £9,464,661 1st week from 637 screens (58.3% of the top 10)
UK cinema admissions will drop to less than 40m the lowest since 53.8m in 1984 (was the lowest ever but the years that followed saw a renaissance of cinema with admissions growing steadily for almost 20 years along with box office) would see 2020 box office drop 80% from £1.25bn to £310m, 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).
Ever since cinemas closed in March exhibitors and studios should have set aside their differences and worked together as they previously did in 1985 with British Film Year (started the renaissance of cinema in the UK and the launch of the first multiplex cinemas in the UK) and National Cinema Day in 1996 (repeated the following year) when all cinemas across the UK were £1 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of cinema.
Over the years that followed from 1985 to 2002 admissions grew steadily in the UK, they were boosted in 1996 with admissions increasing 226% from 54m to 175.9m (between 2003-2019 admissions only increased by 0.6%). A similar-sized event was needed to relaunch cinema and get people back into the cinema habit again, it is the 125th anniversary next year and this could have been part of a celebration of British cinema. As despite what exhibitors thought there is no pent-up demand away from the cinephiles, but they only make up less than 20% of cinemagoers.
The issue with cinema since July has been confidence not streaming recent YouGov survey said 55% are not comfortable going to the cinema as whatever exhibitors have said the majority won’t return anytime soon and WW84, as Tenet did, will attract cinephiles and fans. Exhibitors always say why do cinemas need to close as there haven’t been any COVID cases traced back to cinemas but that’s because tracing is poor and less than 10% are going to the cinema so there aren’t the crowds, and most customers are self-distancing themselves from others in the cinema.
The US box office is expected to drop over 80% from $11.3bn last year to $2.4bn this year; dropping 95% in the third quarter and 85% in the fourth quarter. While there will e some improvement in 2021 despite what many exhibitors believe box office won’t get back to pre-COVID levels probably until 2022 at the earliest.
The UK cinema industry said 93% of current cinemagoers feel safe going to the cinema now, what the industry fails to understand is that is 93% of the 20% who have been comfortable returning to cinemas since they reopened in July, but cinema should be for the many, not the few, and is still 80%+ who aren’t comfortable and won’t return anytime soon.
Exhibitors behaved like a bull in a china shop rushing to reopen far too soon and didn’t think of the consequences targeting the pent-up demand of 20% of cinemagoers (who would have continued going to the cinema if they were open between March and June had they stayed open) rather than the 80% who have always said it would take 6 months or more to return
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 current 10 biggest films of the year are 1917 (£43.94m); Sonic the Hedgehog (£19.28m); Tenet (£17.36m); Bad Boys For Life (£15.95m); Dolittle (£15.93m); Parasite (£12.03m); The Gentlemen (£11.53m); Birds of Prey (£8.82m); Onward (£7.55m); Jojo Rabbit (£7.54m).
At the start of the year, only 1917 and Tenet would have been expected to still be in the top 10 in November, the one positive is the £160m box office is shared out much more evenly through 9 distributors rather than one or two, while there is only one sequel, one remake and one comic-book film and it’s not Marvel.
Wonder Woman 1984 opens today in the UK but with London, the South East, Essex, and parts of Herts joining parts of the Midlands, Yorkshire, and the North West in tier 3 today which will see 34 million people not having access to cinemas. The industry predictably criticised this decision probably more so because London is part of the lockdown using the same excuse that there haven’t been any cases traced back to cinemas. But the issue is that since July with the exception of one-week audiences haven’t felt comfortable returning to the cinema. As with the decision to keep schools open there are much more important businesses to the UK economy that are far more important to stay open ahead of cinema.
Wonder Woman 1984 is only the second major film to be released in cinemas since March but as Tenet it was wrongly dated to open now and should have bee delayed to next year, rival distributors have said Warner were right to open it now, but surely if they were right to open a film would be opening films too, but have opted to delay.
Wonder Woman 1984 will open in about 200 screens in the UK with Odeon Aylesbury and Hatfield being two of the closets cinemas to London still open showing it. As Tenet Wonder Woman 1984 wasn’t big enough film to be the saviour of cinema it will be interesting to see if the loosening of restrictions are still lifted between December 23rd-27th if cinemas would reopen over those 5 days and how long London will be in tier 3 for. The obvious issue with parts of the country potentially changing tiers every two weeks means it will be hard for film distributors to plan any film openings, but saying that there was always the expectation after London entered tier 2 last week it would soon go into tier 3.
The National Audit Office said that only 37% of the UK population could be vaccinated in 2021, this will mean half the population won’t get the vaccine until 2022. This will mean there will be a need for an immunity passport for people who have taken the vaccine to get access to places like cinemas while many airlines have already said they would want proof passengers to have the vaccine before they would be allowed to fly. The key cinemagoing demographic will be the last to get the vaccine after the 20m+ over 50s and it could util May before they are all vaccinated.
While studios have dated many films to open from February onwards its unlikely many of these will keep their release dates as it’s unlikely there will be much difference in the US until April, this does question if MGM will risk keeping No Time To Die in April, but the problem they will have as Warner had with Wonder Woman 1984 is they can’t keep delaying these films as they will start to feel dated.
US Box Office
- The Croods: A New Age – Universal Pictures
Down 32% in its third weekend taking $3.06m and $24.31m total.
The Croods: A New Age took 85.5% less than 2013’s the Croods took $20.75m opened with ($43.63m) taking $125.35m (49.3% of $187.16m in the US and $587.2m worldwide.
The Croods: A New Age will be Universal Pictures latest film to be released on PVOD after 17 days this week and will also continue to play in cinemas. The film is currently due to be released in the UK on February 5th in the UK for half-term holidays along with Peter Rabbit: The Runaway (opening two months ahead of the US).
The Croods: A New Age took over 50% of the top 10 box office, Half Brothers in second taking $490k; Universal Pictures/Focus Features had 5 of the top 10 (other three were Freaky, All My Life and Come Play taking $600k between them) Universal Picture/Focus Features films have topped the chart for the last 7 weeks (Come Play, Let Him Go, Freaky and The Croods: A New Age) with these four films taking $50m between them and The Croods: A New Age almost 50%.
Over the same period last year, those 7 weeks took almost $1bn showing how soft the US box office is and has been since cinemas reopened in July. Unless the industry changes its tactics over the 6 the next few months nothing is likely to change until May at the earliest. Disney announced several date changes last week including Raya and the Last Dragon moving to March 5th opposite Tom & Jerry the Movie, both films will also be available on streaming (Disney+ and HBO Max in the US). But then days later Warner brought Tom & Jerry the Movie forward a week.
The King’s Man March 12, Free Guy May 21 and Black Widow will still open May 7, this was done more for show after Warner Bros announcement they were releasing all of their 2021films on HBO Max same day as theatrical.
If The King’s Man does open March 12 it will be Disney’s canary in the coalmine and is the one film they are happy to take the gamble on as while King’s Man producers might be planning up to seven more films it doesn’t fit into Disney’s future plans.
Raya and the Last Dragon opening March 5th will be Disney’s first theatrical release for a year, while they have released Fox films since it will be the first Disney made a film since Onward last March opening weeks before cinemas closed. Disney has dated all these films against Warner Bros films.
Four of the other films in the top 10 were re-releases Elf, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, Polar Express and Wonder Woman.
With streaming services fragmenting it’s getting expensive for people to have access to all the content legally so if exhibitors were clever would use this as their advantage bring in several subscription cinema packages $19.99 single/$29.99 couples/$39.99 families and sell cinema as the only place where you can see all the movies for one monthly fee.
While exhibitors rejected Moviepass in 2018 it was hugely popular with cinemagoers and subscribers when to the cinema far more often. While the UK has had subscription cinema since 1999 it always amazed me the US didn’t launch subscription cinema. Since Moviepass US exhibitors have launched their own service but none are as popular as Moviepass.
Warner Bros announced they were going to release all of their 2021 releases theatrical and HBO Max day and date received much hostility mostly from filmmakers including Christopher Nolan. One film they have had to change their plans with is the Hugh Jackman film Reminiscence, as the studio acquired the film and is produced by the other Nolan it probably has a clause in the contract for theatrical release opening in 2,000+ screens.
Took $8.43m from 22 territories taking $52.1m and $76.34m worldwide; taking 88% of its international box office in China ($46m) overtaking Mulan to be the second biggest US release I China this year after Tenet.
The Croods: A New Age is due to be released in Spain and Australia just before Christmas and the rest of the world in early 2021.
UK Box Office Top 10
