- Free Guy – £2,477,891 – NE
7th biggest opening in the UK in 2021 between The Conjuring 3 and PAW Patrol: The Movie and 50th biggest opening since January 2019 between Stan & Ollie and instant Family (close to Last Christmas, Men in Black International, Yesterday and Ad Astra).
620th biggest opening weekend in the UK between G-Force and Into the Woods (close to Kick-Ass 2, Tropic Thunder, Green Lantern and Instant Family) and 881st biggest inflation inflated opening between Tomb Raider 2 and Horrible Bosses (close to Groundhog Day, After Earth, Grown Ups and The Other Guys).
Free Guy took (£2,477,891) just £4,922 more than 2011’s Green Lantern (£2,472,969) separated by only one film (Into the Woods) Free Guy 620th biggest film in the UK and Green Lantern 622nd but with 10 years between them, Green Lantern’s inflation inflated opening would be £2,946,343.
Had Free Guy been released by 20th Century Fox and in normal circumstances they would have expected a similar opening to 2006’s Night at the Museum opened with £7,690,312 (including £3,704,789 from 381 previews on from 3 days during Christmas Holidays) and 2014’s The Lego Movie and Free Guy would similarly launch a new franchise as both films.
While 20th Century Fox acquired the Matt Lieberman script in 2016 and was announced in September 2018 Ryan Reynolds and Shawn Levy were attached. It was one of the first films to start production after the studio was acquired by Disney in March 2019. Immediately after Disney acquired 20th Century Fox they shut down many films that were in pre-prediction and Fox 2000 but was one of a few that went into production.
Ryan Reynolds and Shawn Levy have credited Disney’s ownership for Fox to be the reason why they were able to get the cameos that featured. Disney has been praised by exhibitors for giving Free Guy an exclusive 45-day theatrical window but as the HBO Pay TV deal with 20th Century Fox doesn’t end until next year they couldn’t have released it same-day on Disney+ as they did with Cruella, Black Widow and Jungle Cruise. As with The Woman in the Window, Disney would have had to sell the film to streamers for that to be possible, but with the cameos included this wasn’t likely to happen.
As with other 20th Century Fox films like The New Mutants last year Free Guy feels like it’s being a canary in the coalmine for Disney films to test the waters for films like Shang-Chi opening in three weeks which also has a 45-day theatrical window.
In July 2021 Ryan Reynolds released a video featuring Deadpool and Korg reviewing the latest Free Guy trailer.
Ahead of the release of a new trailer in October Ryan Reynolds suggested other potential dates for the film if it was going to be delayed again. Ryan Reynolds and Jodie Comer are fronting an NHS Blood Drive campaign telling the public that the guy in the film “always gives 100% at everything he does” and you can get an “I’m a great guy” badge.
The film has been compared to Truman Show but instead of being set inside a TV show, it’s set inside a computer game like Wreck-It-Ralph.
1998’s The Truman Show opened £2,210,999 (£3,961,145 inflation inflated) taking £9,929,680 (£17,789,650)
2013’s Wreck-It Ralph opened with £4,526,380 taking £23,607,542
2018’s Ready Player One opened with £5,113,041 (including £1,081,559 previews) taking £16,114,011
2014’s The Lego Movie opened with £8,051,140 (including £2,155,094 previews) taking £32,887,286.
Free Guy opened similar to 2008’s Tropic Thunder (£2,483,271); The Wild Wild West (£2,487,176); The Heat (£2,500,522); Spy (£2,557,824); Rush Hour 3 (£2,731,998); Armageddon (£2,732,785); Bad Boys (£2,434,072); Knight & Day (£2,404,163); A.I. (£2,285,786.
In normal circumstances would have opened similar to Ready Player One (£5,113,041); Bumblebee (£5,103,382); Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn (£6,758,724); Men In Black 2 (£6,191,428); The Lego Movie and The Lego Batman Movie without previews £5,896,046 and £5,457,428, Night at the Museum £3,985,523 without previews; as had Free Guy opened as originally opening July 3 in normal circumstances the studio would have expected it to open with more than double.
As with many summer films, it was surprising Free Guy didn’t have an extended opening weekend opening on Wednesday/Thursday as Black Widow and F9.
Early reaction to Free Guy has been very positive calling it the best video game movie and it’s Truman Show meets Ready Player One meets The Lego Movie, films often get the tag, “this is the film we need now” a fun, silly popcorn, but with Free Guy, it does exactly what it says on the tin. Free Guy is similar to the feel-good Ted Lasso on Apple TV a film you can watch and just enjoy no need to do research before or after to understand the plot.
Most of the film 20th Century Fox released since Disney acquired the studio in March 2019 have disappointed except for Le Man’s 66 but their upcoming slate is far stronger including Free Guy, The Last Duel, The French Dispatch, West Side Story, The King’s Man and Death on the Nile. All studios have blips, and it can’t have been easy for the studio to operate normally with the sale of the studio looming large from 2017. It is just sad seeing this slate knowing that the films the studio will be making in the future won’t be so varied.
Ryan Reynolds has had mixed success at the box office now best known for Deadpool and vocally in The Croods and Pokémon: Detective Pikachu, before that 2002’s National Lampoon’s Van Wilder and 2006’s Definitely, Maybe showed off his comedic charm and 2009‘s The Proposal starring with Sandra Bullock was his biggest non-comic-book movie.
Away from Deadpool his biggest film recently was The Hitman’s Bodyguard, the sequel The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard released in June was poorly received critically and at the box office. While continues to poke fun in 2011’s Green Lantern which was both a critical and box office disappointment. He said recently “I think it’s more about just laughing at myself, not laughing at other people, necessarily, that are involved in a project. But laughing at myself and my own contribution to that failure or however you want to characterize it. It was just something that I thought was worth examining, you know. And in examining it, you take that energy that is – typically, maybe it’s hurtful or maybe it’s something that’s dragging you down – and you end up creating a sort of mental Judo with it. You’re using its energy against it and creating something positive out of it.
Green Lantern is far from the worst comic-book movie over the last decade, and still more watchable than many that have been made since.
The trolling of Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds continued with Hugh Jackman getting Free Guy director Shawn Levy to troll him on Instagram, previously worked together on Real Steel a decade ago and recently reteamed to make Netflix’s The Adam Project. With Free Guy and Reminiscence opening a week apart there will likely be more to come from both Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds in the coming weeks.
Much has been made about the cameos featured in Free Guy while I won’t mention who they are but if you have seen previous Ryan Reynolds and Shawn Levy films some won’t be as big a surprise as others.
On Saturday Ryan Reynolds tweeted “Aaaannnnd after 3 years messaging #FreeGuy as an original IP movie, Disney confirmed today they officially want a sequel. Woo hoo!! #irony” A sequel was always on the cards for Free Guy and Disney knew they had something special with the film why they allowed Ryan Reynolds to add his humour to the marketing, with the first trailer saying from the studio that brought you Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and The Lion King twice.
You can often tell from the trailer that the studio believes in the film as was the case with films like The Lego Movie, Bohemian Rhapsody and Free Guy that studios have taken their time to make the trailer like so many trailers are made during production or even before a shot of the film has been filmed.
In the months leading up to the sale and acquisition of 20th Century Fox the studio went through a bad patch of films after they had huge success with The Greatest Showman, Deadpool 2 and Bohemian Rhapsody. This was always expected as there was concern over the future of the studio and employees were concerned if they were going to have jobs, so the films were a second thought. While all studios even Disney have had massive failures and their two biggest recent failures John Carter in 2012 and The Lone Ranger in 2013 changed the focus of the content the studio made going for nostalgia and IP driven content.
20th Century Fox was one of the few studios that were willing to take the risk on films with The Greatest Showman, Deadpool and Bohemian Rhapsody, but Disney have over the last decade become the most risk-averse studio, it never felt likely that 20th Century Fox would be able to make those films under Disney ownership so it wasn’t a surprise that Disney immediately shutdown Fox 2000 which had given Fox so many great original movies including Hidden Figures, Life of Pi, Walk the Line, In Her Shoes and Fight Club.
Ryan Reynolds next two films are for Netflix Red Notice released in November starring Dwyane Johnson and Gal Gadot and The Adam Project reteaming up with director Shawn Levy and Spirited for Apple. With Disney eager for a Free Guy sequel Ryan Reynolds will surely want Deadpool 3 to be part of the deal but which will we see first?
2. The Paw Patrol Movie – £2,410,496 – NE
Took £1,152,309 from previews Mon-Thurs (47.8%) and £1,258,187 Fri-Sun (9.1% more) showing that weekdays during school holidays for children’s films are as strong as weekdays.
8th biggest opening in the UK in 2021 between Free Guy and Jungle Cruise and 53rd biggest opening in the UK since January 2019 between Jojo Rabbit and Ad Astra (close to instant Family, Abominable, The Addams Family and Wonder Park).
641st biggest opening in the UK between RoboCop and Widows (close to Coraline, G-Force, Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked and Smallfoot) and 909th biggest inflation inflated opening between King Arthur and Widows (close to Open Season, Grown Ups, The Magic Roundabout and Captain Underpants).
102nd biggest animated opening in the UK between Coraline and Aladdin (1992) close to Captain Underpants, Pixels (£2,660,772), SpongeBob Movie: Sponge out of Water (£2,262,498) and The Angry Birds).
53rd biggest Paramount Pictures opening in the UK between Instant Family and Ghost in the Shell (close to Sherlock Gnomes, Megamind, Bee Movie and SpongeBob Movie: Sponge out of Water).
Up 398% from 2020’s Paw Patrol: Ready, Race, Rescue opened #10 £483,886 from 524 screens taking £1,772,296
Up 362% from 2019’s Paw Patrol: Mighty Pups opened #5 £521,505 from 507 screens taking £1,265,526
Up 5,577% from 2017’s Paw Patrol: Mission Big Screen opened from 83 Vue Cinemas with £42,460
The animated TV show Paw Patrol is a huge favourite for younger children and with the only other film targetting this audience Spirit Untamed on release it was always likely to have a good opening but its open has been inflated with four very lucrative days of previews Mon-Thurs, this time of year weekdays perform almost as strongly as weekends especially with children’s films.
Other big-screen outings of animated toddler TV shows include
Bing at the Cinema opened from 85 Vue Cinemas in April 2018 with £65,535
Hey Dugge At, The Cinema opened in January 2019 from 88 Vue Cinemas with £67,672
Peppa Pig: Festival of Fun in April 2019 with £982,617, Vue Cinemas were the one exhibitor that had the 60-minute film at reduced prices
2017’s Peppa Pig: My First Cinema Experience opened #3 with £1,050,962 from 531 screens
Unlike many of these made up from multiple episodes, The Paw Patrol Movie is a one-part film.
GB News was mocked in June after the Welsh language version of The Paw Patrol received higher ratings. (161,000 Vs 31,000).
As often with animated films, voice cameos were added in local territories so the UK had Ronan Keating, Richard Arnold, Sam Faiers and Tom Fletcher replacing voices that weren’t so well known in the US.
As Its opening was inflated with four days of previews The Paw Patrol Movie will likely drop about 60% in its second weekend
3. The Suicide Squad – £1,067,025 – £10,821,372
Down 52.9% in its third weekend.
9th biggest DC Extended Universe third weekend between Justice League (£1,486,953) and Shazam! (£979,787) taking 38.1% more than the third weekend of Birds of Prey (£772,416)
Despite receiving poor reviews 2016’s Suicide Squad took 58.1% more (£2,549,043) taking £27,668,748 (83.4%) of £33,191,023
What these summer releases do highlight is the effect of preview box office how it inflates weekend box office and then sees films drop much more heavily but it was surprising that as The Suicide Squad was opening against Jungle Cruise and Space Jam: A New Legacy against The Croods 2: A New Age they didn’t have previews to have the head start over the other.
Despite all the negativity surrounding 2016’s Suicide Squad still managed to take a 2.95x opening dropping 62% taking £4,241,508 taking £22,214,243 66.93% of £33,191,023, stayed #1 for two weeks. Taking only £319,416 less than Find Dory in its third weekend dropping down #2 (£2,868,459 Vs £2,549,043) was in the top 5 for 5 weeks and top 10 for 6 weeks.
It was surprising the BBFC tweeted last week “The DC Comics reboot you’ve been waiting for is finally here. This version of The Suicide Squad packs quite a punch compared to the first film & the violence is much stronger. We rated it 15 for strong bloody violence, gore, language, brief drug misuse”.
The BBFC rated the last film 15 so if the sequel packs quite a punch compared to the first film and the violence is much stronger why was the certificate the same? Many on social media were surprised the film was only a 15 as it is very violent and opening in the middle of the summer holiday children 12 or younger will likely see it as children will always try to sneak into a higher certificate film. Was a non-story this week about some Z list celebrity 10-year child who was refused entry at Vue Cinema from seeing The Suicide Squad, saying her child was a huge fan of Suicide Squad and he has seen other 15 certificate films?
In a recent interview, James Gunn talked about Martin Scorsese’s comments about comic-book movies saying there was a lot of things that he agreed with saying “There are a lot of heartless, soulless spectacle films out there that don’t reflect what should be happening. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve talked to film directors before they went and made a big movie, and said, ‘Hey, we’re in this together, let’s do something different with these big movies. Let’s make them something different than everything that has come before them.’ And then see them cater to every single studio whim and be grossed out, frankly.”
With Black Widow, The Suicide Squad, Shang-Chi, Venom 2, Eternals and Spider-Man: No Way Home opening within 6 months surely Martin Scorsese’s comments are correct as other films and older blockbusters Bond, Ghostbusters and Top Gun will be squeezed to make room for them by exhibitors.
11 DC Extended Universe Films have taken over £250m
After Warner had massive success with Joker in 2019 all seemed very positive with DC with Aquaman and Shazam! also received positively by critics and fans it looked like they had moved on from Batman Vs Superman, Suicide Squad and Justice League. It is hard to make comparisons with the box office of Birds of Prey, Wonder Woman: 1984 and The Suicide Squad with previous DC films but what it does do is put much more pressure on 2022 films including The Batman, Black Adam, The Flash and Aquaman 2 as they will have four MCU films opening alongside them which feels like a repeat of 2016.
After the disappointing performance of WW84, last Christmas could have thought Warner would have delayed The Suicide Squad to next year but with The Batman opening in March, this would have meant all other films being delayed as Disney did with MCU films, but Warner had already delayed both WW84 and The Batman before COVID so couldn’t delay them any further.
4. Jungle Cruise – £847,031 – £8,476,137
Down 56.8% in its third weekend
It’s the sixth Disney film based on a theme park ride after the Pirates of the Caribbean five-film series (between 2003 and 2017); 2003’s The Haunted Mansion, 2000’s Mission to Mars, 2002’s The Country Bears and 2015’s Tomorrowland
2003’s The Pirates of the Caribbean dropped 20% taking £2,091,524 #2 £14,120,710 taking £28,171,721 (£45,810,772 inflation inflated).
2004’s The Haunted Mansion dropped 53% taking £739,770 #2 £6,521,862 taking £8,078,765 (£12,990,798 inflation inflated)
2015’s Tomorrowland – A World Beyond dropped 70% taking £310,941 #7 and £4,758,221 of £4,971,372
While Disney had huge success with Pirates of the Caribbean films the others based on theme park rides weren’t as successful and Disney and after 2002’s The Country Bears Disney ended their plans to make any more. Disney did make Tomorrowland probably to get Brad Bird to direct Incredibles 2 a few years later, as the film was a film he had wanted to make for many years and is very much a Disney family film of old, but it failed to find an audience in cinemas.
Jungle Cruise wants to be Pirates of the Caribbean meets The Mummy with Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt similar to Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz in The Mummy in 1999 dropped 49.5% taking £1,278,869 and £10,950,165 taking £17,439,339 (£29,907,845 inflation inflated).
In 2001 The Mummy Returns dropped 36.1% taking £1,957,918 and £15,251,033 taking £20,390,060 (£35,559,477 inflation inflated); The Mummy box office is similar to Jumanji Welcome to The Jungle and Jumanji: The Next Level box office.
5. Space Jam: A New Legacy – £506,179 – £10,124,128
Down 51.4% in its fifth weekend; while Space Jam: A New Legacy opened with only £1.36m five weeks ago it’s taken 7.44x opening having the second long legs film of the year after The Croods: A New Age (10.44x) and the 5th longest since January 2019.
107th biggest animated film between The Angry Birds Movie and Pocahontas (close to Pokemon: The First Movie, Flushed Away, Megamind and The LEGO Ninjago Movie).
614th biggest film in the UK (624th film to take £10m+ at the UK BO) between Miss Congeniality and Twilight (close to Matilda, The Angry Birds Movie, Tron Legacy and A Peanuts Movie); 879th biggest inflation inflated between The Angry Birds Movie and Beowulf (close to Yogi Bear, Dark Crystal, Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse and Atlantis: The Lost Empire).
While Warner Bros would hope comparisons were going to be made with The Lego Movie, Wreck-It Ralph, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Space Jam and Ready Player One.
Instead, it was always more likely to perform similar 2017’s The Emoji Movie #4 up 4% in its fifth weekend taking £716,139 and £12,289,905 84.1% of £14,612,815; (29th biggest film of 2017 and the 7th biggest original film of the year).
2004’s Looney Tunes: Back in Action #6 dropped 15% taking £352,254 and £4,856,815 94.2% taking £5,153,828 and £8,287,447 inflation inflated
While
2013’s Wreck-It Ralph dropped 47% #3 taking £744,683 and £21,459,657 90.9% of £23,607,542
2018’s Ready Player One dropped 60% #10 taking £203,129 taking £15,884,060 98.6% of £16,114,011.
Space Jam opened in the UK 5 months after the US in March 1997 and was the third biggest film in April 1997 after A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back special editions and ahead of The English Patient and Romeo & Juliet taking £11,648,511 (£20,663,943 inflation inflated) was the 11th biggest film of 1997 behind The Full Monty, Men In Black. The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Tomorrow Never Dies, Bean, Star Wars Special Edition, Batman and Robin, Evita, Ransom and Liar Liar.
It’s surprising Space Jam: A New Legacy found an audience in the UK as it’s much heavily focussed on basketball and centred around LeBron James who isn’t as well known in the UK, while the original film had a similar plot featuring Michael Jordon it felt far more accessible. In Space Jam: A New Legacy felt they needed to try much harder and in doing so it was a far less enjoyable film as there wasn’t the need to include so many cameos from Warner Bros. properties especially from properties that target older audiences.
Also opened
• Don’t Breathe 2 – Sony Pictures
Opened #7 with £349,702 from 404 screens
The original film was both a critical and commercial success taking $89.2m in the US and $157.83m worldwide with a budget under $10m.
Don’t Breathe opened in September #3 with £1,028,938 from 446 screens; dropping 44% in its second-weekend #6 taking £574,782 and £2,250,373 against Blair Witch reboot opening #2 £959,401 went on to take £3,719,221 taking 3.61x opening.
• The Courier – Lionsgate
Opened with #8 £337,408 from 442 screens
As with last weekend openers eOne’s Stillwater #7 with £478,386 from 490 screens dropped 65% and Studiocanal’s The Last Letter From Your Lover opening #9 with £274,322 from 550 screens dropped 78%, it always surprises me when a distributor opens a film so wide.
Unlike those two films the positive for The Courier is that it will be released on Amazon later this month as these films targetting older demographics have struggled to find an udience since cinemas reopened in July last year.
Other Film News
On Thursday Sony Pictures announced they were delaying the release of Venom: Let There Be Carnage from September 24th to October 15th (opening against Halloween Kills and The Last Duel) due to a surge in COVID-19 cases. This was expected as the Australian release date was delayed to October 14th a few weeks earlier and a film like Venom 2 would open day and date globally same day.
At the same time, Universal Pictures had also delayed the Australian release date of Dear Evan Hanson from October to December. The week earlier Paramount removed Clifford the Big Red Dog from its September release date.
Venom 2 was delayed a week after a new poll by NRG that saw moviegoing confidence drop from 81% to 72% in only three weeks due to the growth of the delta variant with mums confidence dropping from 75% to 59%. Moviegoing comfort level dropped to 70% in Aug dropped from 81% on July 11 the fastest drop since the start of the pandemic in March 2020, 52% of consumers said it was due to the spread of new COVID19 variants and 42% said they’re “very concerned” about the spread of delta, up from 34% the week before.
What is interesting from this data is that in the US its mums and parents are most concerned but in the UK but younger children are going to the cinema with seen by BO taken by Space Jam: A New Legacy and The Croods 2: A New Age over the last 5 weeks, that said it’s still about a third of what it would normally be for these films.
On Monday after weeks of rumours, Sony announced they were selling Hotel Transylvania: Transformania to Amazon for $100m, it was previously dated to open October 1st against The Adams Family 2. Sony previously sold The Mitchells vs. the Machines and Vivo to Netflix and Cinderella also to Amazon.
The moviegoing comfort is the highest 70% is the highest under 18 and males which was predictable as this has been the demographic that has been most comfortable going to the cinema since movie theatres reopened.
Proof of vaccination will be needed to go to movie theatres in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and New Orleans but surprisingly US exhibitors have said they won’t oppose these plans, unlike the UK. Maybe exhibitors are finally realising they need an older demographic to return in the Fall if No Time To Die, Dune, Top Gun Maverick, The Matrix 4 and West Side Story are to be as successful as they need them to be as they will all play strongest to over 35s.
They are also needed in Germany, France, Italy and Greece, When there were murmurings of similar in the UK earlier this year the UKCA immediately rejected them and since then they have become political as mask-wearing has become. I always go back to Argo quote ‘there are only bad options, it’s about finding the best one, this is the best bad idea we have.”
This is the case with proof of vaccine as it is with face masks, going on public transport now there is a divide between old (over 40s) and under, while most older people are wearing masks as are teenagers older. The problem is the minority is far more vocal about being anti masks, anti-vaccine, and anti-proof of the vaccine but now the majority have had the vaccine and everyone over 18 has had the chance to have the vaccine industries need to think about the majority first rather than the minority.
Everyone thinks Black Widow underperformed but if you compare its BO with other polarized critics Vs audience fan-based films including Blade Runner 2049 and Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker it held very similar, so COVID and VOD had nothing to do with the shortfall to expectations; Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker took 2.78x opening very similar to 2.76x Black Widow and 3.1x Bladerunner 2049 took and similar to other heavily fan-based films Star Wars: The Last Jedi 2.95x, Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith 2.73x.
What all these films have in common are they fan-driven films but reaction/interest to non-fans would be limited, so they were always likely to open big and drop big. Would put Denis Villeneuve’s Dune into that category especially after Chloé Zhao recently saying It gives me hope that a filmmaker like Denis can really harness his vision and put together something so incredible, so cinematic,”…. “I’m just blown away by the experience I had in that room. But I’m terrified about how many people are or aren’t going to have that experience like I did, in a theatre, and what that means for the future. Her comments and that the world premiere is at the Venice Film Festival on September 3rd before opening in selective territories on September 15th before opening in the US and the UK on October 22nd now opening week after Venom 2 and three weeks after No Time to Die.
After Warner Bros announced plans to release their 2021 slate in cinemas and HBO Max, Dune director Denis Villeneuve responded writing “There is absolutely no love for cinema, nor for the audience here,”. “It is all about the survival of a telecom mammoth, one that is currently bearing an astronomical debt of more than $150 billion. Therefore, even though ‘Dune’ is about cinema and audiences, AT&T is about its own survival on Wall Street. With HBO Max’s launch a failure thus far, AT&T decided to sacrifice Warner Bros.’ entire 2021 slate in a desperate attempt to grab the audience’s attention.”… “Streaming can produce great content, but not movies of ‘Dune’s’ scope and scale. Warner Bros.’ decision means ‘Dune’ won’t have the chance to perform financially to be viable and piracy will ultimately triumph. Warner Bros. might just have killed the ‘Dune’ franchise. This one is for the fans.”
But it’s only because Warner Bros is this massive telecom mammoth they said they will release all out 2021 slate as planned and be willing to swallow up massive losses that they will likely get from these films underperforming, as the only other option would have been to delay the entire slate for another year, but the problem is many of these films already feel old with some being delayed over 18 months. 20+ years ago a studio wouldn’t be able to swallow up losses these studios are facing now on multiple films and would see the heads of studios fired and bankruptcy for indies. My concern with his comment is when he said Dune is for the fans, as what fans are these those who few who saw the original Dune film or those who saw Blade Runner 2049 as both films underperformed.
UK cinema tickets should have dropped 15% in July 2020 after VAT was dropped for the hospitality sector until 31st March 2022 most dropped prices cinemas didn’t. Exhibitors excuse was it would be only a few pennies saving but for 4DX £3.80 and £3.56 IMAX Cineworld Leicester Sq. per ticket. This also has a massive impact on BO taken since July 2020 as it’s been artificially inflated by 15%.
Over the last year, Cineworld’s public standing has become abysmal, so it was no wonder the 40% increase has gone viral. The problem was it was poorly written in the press release and after sacking thousands of employees immediately after the lockdown was announced in March only to then furlough them, then sack them in October by Twitter at the same time give bonuses to bosses while building up a debt of over $8bn and going to court next month over walking out on Cineplex acquisition. People believed it as they believed Amazon were interested in buying AMC Theatres when the company they were interested in for a short time was AMC Networks until they brought MGM.
Cineworld UK had 2.6m admissions in the first 6 months of the year down from 9.6m in the same period in 2020, (their cinemas were open for 2.5 months in 2020 compared with less than 6 weeks in 2021) box office sales down 61.9% to £21.8m, they said average ticket price rise “was driven by a mix of customer behaviour and timing of film releases”. Concession sales dropped 56.1% to £9.3m, but the average spend per customer was up 62%, which suggests to me that a lot of their sales came from their Cineworld Unlimited subscription cinema.
The other reason is that most people believe it as they can see how ticket prices have increased not over the last year but over the last 20 years. As with Odeon used to subsidise Scottish cinemas with Southern Cineworld have increased the price of regular tickets to subsidise their subscription cinema.
As soon as China shut down cinemas in January 2020 the industry should have explored opening up as many drive-in cinemas as possible if the same would happen in the US. Instead, independents opened up many in the UK last summer and Walmart opened 160 drive-in cinemas in car parks in August 2020.
Not being Mr Hindsight as back in early March last year someone gave me a very patronising comment on here and asked me what I would do, and I said open up as many drive-ins as possible as they will be the first cinemas people will feel comfortable returning to. The problem is the West failed to prepare for COVID and having no plan and no strategy predictably has caused long-term damage.
Have been many articles over the last 18 months asking if COVID changed the film industry but the issues that the industry are facing now being blamed on COVID have been facing the industry for almost 20 years. As cinemas have done over the years since they are first in denial of the situation and then pass the buck blaming studios normally for poor content, despite a few months early heralding that same content.
As soon as China shut down cinemas in January the West should have done their homework watched historical documents like Contagion to realise it’s going to be a global issue within months and planned for the worst-case scenario instead as BO was strong in Jan/Feb ignored it. The problem is cinema doesn’t do change, they are more interested in physical changes rather than changes that will improve customer experience, like the switch to digital a decade ago or the recent switch to recliners and restaurant-style food.
Always go back to asking why after 17 years of growth in the 80s to early 00s admissions stopped growing in 2002 but the films have been no different since, but the way people watch films has changed since. It’s the failure of the cinema industry to change why pay $20 to watch one film in the cinema when you can pay $20 for a month of Netflix, subscription cinema launched in the UK years before Netflix or Spotify but only came to the US after Moviepass shutdown.
COVID gave the industry a once in a lifetime chance to relaunch cinema experience in the streaming era, but the problem was predictably cinemas reopened and nothing had changed a year ago in July UK cinemas were even playing most of the same films they were showing the day they closed.
Last year was the first in 40+ years I haven’t been to the cinema and haven’t been this year, in the late 80s to mid-00s would go weekly to the cinema, as exhibitors have focussed the reopening on the fickle under 35s they alienated older audiences returning anytime soon. This is the reason why films are opening and then dropping heavily as younger audiences get caught up in the hype rushing out to see the latest film and then quickly move on to the next, but as older audiences aren’t returning to cinemas films drop heavily in the second weekend
Even Exhibitors are finally now admitting streaming isn’t the enemy with UKCA said in May “It’s not a competition between us and the streaming sites,” …. “People with a voracious appetite for films use streaming and want to go to cinemas. We’re more worried about bars and restaurants. That, and the reinvention of golf and darts as shared communal experiences.” And Vue said recently Vue said ‘The future is going to be one of integration, where you will have a content producer that could be Netflix, or it could be Warner Brothers… ‘Then they will release a film theatrically, on a big screen, and then on home entertainment, either through subscription service or premium on-demand service.’
Omdia predicted yearly UK box office won’t get to 2019’s £1.25bn until 2023 (which was expected). The most important thing for exhibitors to do since cinemas reopened is to get people back to the cinema but nothing seems to have changed with how they are operating now to how they did pre-pandemic, but consumer habits have changed as have confidence levels, so exhibitors should have done much more to get people back into the cinema habit.
Omdia said weekly box office will be returned to 80-85% of pre-pandemic levels by the end of the year, the last two weeks were down 35% from 2019 levels due to The Suicide Squad Vs Jungle Cruise but many of the weeks before were over 60% less. They predict the 2021 box office will be half of 2019 and expects the box office to return to 2019 levels by mid-2022.
We are now last than 50 days away from the release of No Time To Die in the UK and exhibitors have for the last 18 months seen it as their saviour, but it will only get close to matching Spectre (£95,183,468) and Skyfall (£102,816,893) box office if older audiences feel comfortable to return to the cinema, but that hasn’t been the case for the last year. I like many of the 50% haven’t been to the cinema since January 2020, this is the longest ever time I’ve not been to the cinema for over 40 years, and I almost lived in the cinemas in the late 80 to early 00s.
Surprisingly, the world premiere hasn’t been announced, Spectre was announced July 17 for October 26 (102 days) and No Time to Die originally was announced on January 20 for March 31 (72 days); probably either Sept 27/28 in 50 days at the Royal Albert Hall. There is also the possibility Barbara Broccoli could demand vaccine passports for its release as she has been in favour of them since April and they become mandatory in New York from September 13.
If No Time To Die does open in September as planned it won’t have an opening as big as Spectre and will be unlikely to take a similar box office as either Skyfall or Spectre and be more like Casino Royale (£55,495,547). As the long gap for its release as other films that have been delayed has affected their box office as they feel old before they open and there will still be a nervousness amongst many in going back to cinemas again and crowded cinema. While the other thing is will talent want to attend a premiere with 5,000+ other people and thousands of fans, will they want to walk the red carpet and meet random strangers?
Always feel Morning Consult’s weekly Tracking the Return to Normal gives a far better view of consumer confidence as it’s not working on behalf of the film industry the data can be far more reliable as there is no biased in the data or the questioning that was designed to get the data. As the panel of people polled would likely be a wide range of demographics and types of cinemagoers. All polling questioning has some unintentionally biased built-in as the company that has asked for the data is doing it to get the answer they want, and the questioning is tailored to get the answer that they want and the way it is laid out is the best possible for the client.
UK box office in detail
This weekend’s top 10 box office took £8,885,507 up 5.1% from last weekend £8,459,738 and up 984% from 2020 (£819,747)
The weekend admissions 1,249,720 up 5.1% 1,189,837 from last week; (115,295 admissions in 2020 this week was (Up 984%); admissions were higher due to high level of children’s tickets sold for films like Paw Patrol: The Movie
Top 3 took £5,955,412 62.6% of the top 10; Free Guy 27.9% (£2,477,891); Paw Patrol: The Movie 27.1% (£2,410,496); The Suicide Squad 12% (£1,067,025);
Up 984% from 2020 (£819,747); top three took 55.2% (£452,647) of the top 10); Inception (10th Anniversary) 25.3% (£207,675); Unhinged 16.6% (£136,346); Pinocchio 13.2% (£108,626); #1 Inception (10th Anniversary) £207,675 1st weekend
Down 29.7% from 2019 (£12,630,683) (Blinded by the Light (£966,095); Playmobil (£376,296); Bring the Soul: The Movie (Concert) (£237,537); The Art of Racing in the Rain (£197,009); #1 The Lion King £4,366,824 down 16% 4th week 714 screens
Down 46% 2018: (£16,439,374); The Meg (£3,651,111); The Darkest Minds (£388,325); Dog Days (£59,223); Heathers (30th Anniversary) (£43,462); Pope Francis – A Man of His Word (£21,593); #1 The Meg £3,651,111 1st week 499 screens (22.2% of top 10)
Down 16.7% 2017: (£10,664,274); Annabelle: Creation (£1,960,203); Atomic Blonde (£1,686,430); The Nut Job 2: Nutty By Nature (£354,276); A Ghost Story (£133,899); Overdrive (£60,043); Step (£5,039); #1 Dunkirk £2,634,839 4th week 677 screens 43% drop (24.7% of top 10)
Down 35% 2016: (£13,670,811); Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates (£1,068,522); Pete’s Dragon (£844,090); Nerve (£803,457); The Shallows (£800,963); Wiener-Dog (£86,423); #1 Suicide Squad £4,241,508 2nd week 587 screens 62% drop (31.1% of the top 10)
Down 21.1% 2015; (£11,265,417); Pixels (£2,660,772); The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (£1,448,298); Trainwreck (£931,981); Absolutely Anything (£487,147); Mistress America (£164,691); Precinct Seven Five (£21,441); #1 Pixels £2,660,772 1st week 511 screens (23.6% of top 10)
Down 23.7% 2014: (£11,641,259); The Expendables 3 (£1,689,927); Hector and the Search for Happiness (£240,222); The Rover (£73,696); Blood Ties (£20,258); #1 The Inbetweeners 2 £4,309,832 2nd week 509 screens 66% drop (37.1% of top 10)
Down 38.9% 2013: (£14,517,689); Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa (£2,175,850); Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters (£2,137,835); Grown Ups 2 (£2,075,831); The Lone Ranger (£1,342,196); Barbie Mariposa & The Fairy Princess (£33,161); #1 Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa £2,175,850 1st week 441 screens (14.9% of top 10)
Up 3.9% 2012 (£8,544,393); Step-Up 4: Miami Heat (£680,052); Offender (£74,154); The Lodger (Re: 2012) (£30,131); 360 (£25,834); The Dinosaur Project (£7,586); #1 Ted £3,174,766 2nd week 513 screens 66% drop (37.1% of top 10)
Down 45% 2011 (£16,161,288); Rise of the Planet of the Apes (£5,835,140); The Smurfs (£3,778,085); The Devil’s Double (£318,512); #1 Rise of the Planet of the Apes £5,835,140 1st week 488 screens
Down 29.2% 2010: (£12,550,727); The Last Airbender (£1,653,776); The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (£1,140,532); Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue (£288,544); The Secret in Their Eyes (£85,467); Black Dynamite (£6,400); #1 Toy Story 3 £4,666,021 4th week 569 screens 32% drop (25.2% of top 10)
Up 7.7% 2009; (£8,247,544); The Time Traveller’s Wife (£1,410,333); Aliens in the Attic (£1,323,575); Bandslam (£628,957); A Perfect Getaway (£418,703); Imagine That (£109,722); #1 The Time Traveller’s Wife £1,410,333 1st week 425 screens (17.1% of top 10)
Down 18.9% 2008; (£10,950,396); You Don’t Mess with the Zohan (£1,520,637); Wild Child (£1,177,472); Star Wars: The Clone Wars (£895,300); Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (£90,878); #1 The Dark Knight £2,302,866 4th week 499 screens (3rd week #1) 44% drop (21.1% of top 10)
Down 9.6% 2007: (£9,824,857); Rush Hour 3 (£2,731,998); Surf’s Up (£601,289); License to Wed (£268,016); Waitress (£105,910); The Walker (£44,623); #1 Rush Hour 3 £2,731,998 1st week 359 screens (27.8% of top 10)
Up 4.3% 2006; (£8,521,761); Monster House (£1,030,305); Nacho Libre (£993,948); Lady in the Water (£452,744); #1 Cars £1,340,219 3rd week (2 weeks #1) 498 screens 27% drop (15.7% of top 10)
Up 5% 2005 (£8,464,617); The Island (£1,481,647); Crash (£818,604); The Perfect Catch (£272,285); The Bad News Bears (£45,514); #1 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory £2,886,352 3rd week 523 screens 35% drop (34.1% of top 10)
Up 3.5% 2004 (£9,205,066); The Bourne Supremacy (£2,720,016); Catwoman (£557,583); Yu-Gi-Oh (£112,980); #1 The Bourne Supremacy £2,720,016 1st week 418 screens (29.5% of top 10)
Down 15.6% 2003 (£10,523,339); American Pie: The Wedding (£4,151,788); Freddy vs. Jason (£785,870); #1 American Pie: The Wedding £4,151,788 1st 426 screens (39.4% of top 10)
Up 38.3% 2002 (£6,423,296); The Sum Of All Fears (£1,144,501); Spy Kids 2 (£1,069,090); #1 Men In Black 2 £3,106,105 3rd week 489 screens 55% drop (21.8% of top 10)
Down 19.9% 2001 (£11,086,365); Planet of the Apes (£5,445,983); #1 Planet of the Apes £5,445,983 1st week 446 screens (49.1% of top 10);
Next weekend in 2019 (£8,636,602); top three took 71.3% (£5,325,890) of the top 10; Angel Has Fallen 39.8% (£2,122,408); Once Upon A Time In Hollywood 39.6% (£2,109,591); The Lion King 20.5% (£1,093,891); #1 Angel Has Fallen 1st week (£2,122,408) 537 screens (24.5% of top 10)
US Box Office
- Free Guy – 20th Century Studios/Disney
Opened with $28.36m; received positive reviews (81% Rotten Tomatoes) and A CinemaScore
Took $2.2m from Thursday previews; Jungle Cruise $2.7m; The Hitman’s Bodyguard $1.65m.
618th biggest opening between Mama and Nacho Libre (close to Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Edge of Tomorrow, Horrible Bosses and Starsky & Hutch).
29% of Free Guy BO on Fri-Sat came from PLF formats (including IMAX, 4DX and 3D)
Free Guy was one of a few summer releases that were going to have an exclusive 45-day theatrical window which should have if you believe exhibitors meant the film should have opened far bigger than it was tracking to open with between $15m- $18m, but often Disney lowball their estimates,
So Sunday estimates are higher than expected and then Monday final figures are up from estimates. But for Free Guy estimates came in very close to final figures.
While everyone said Free Guy opened bigger than expected the exit poll breakdown highlights the problem the industry failed to deal with since cinemas reopened last summer. 71% of the audience was under 35 with a heavily male-biased and low level of parents and children as a film like Free Guy should play across all demographics far stronger with 35+
Male 59% Vs Female 41%
General Audience 84%; Parents 8%; Kids 8%
9 & Under 1%; 10-12 7%; 13-17 12%; 18-24 25%; 25-34 25%; 35-44 16%; 45+ 13%
Compare this with audience breakdown for Black Widow six weeks ago while the male-female split was similar 58% Vs 42% Parents and Children were up to 10% and 13% while the age split was wider 9 & under 3%; 10-12 10%; 13-17 10%; 18-24 24%; 25-34 24%; 35-44 14%; 45% 15%
The one positive going for Free Guy is its received great word of mouth, but it does have Reminiscence, The Night House and Paw Patrol: The Movie opening this weekend which could split its audience.
In normal condition would expect Free Guy to have a 30%-40% second-weekend drop similar to The Lego Movie, The Truman Show, Wreck-It Ralph but it’s likely to be 50% similar to 2015’s Pixels (opened with similar $24.01m taking $10.5m in it’s the second weekend and $45.71m of $78.74m in the US and $244.87m worldwide.
But as everyone else realised over a year ago the reason why these films are opening much lower than expected had nothing to do with them being released on other platforms. Instead, the reason was something called COVID that has made many feel uncomfortable to return to movie theatres anytime, which is what their own research has said.
Free Guy looks like it could be Disney’s canary in the coal mine to see if Shang-Chi still has a 45-day exclusive window as the film has used to be marketed as “coming soon to theatres only” but this has recently been removed from its marketing. As with The New Mutants, last August Disney are using 20th Century Studios films as tests to check if the market is ready to open a theatrical only Disney release.
While Disney previously said Shang-Chi would have a 45-day window they haven’t announced anything about their plans for Marvel’s Eternals (Nov. 5), West Side Story (Dec. 10) and The King’s Man (Dec. 22) that said as West Side Story and The King’s Man are 20th Century Studios films they wouldn’t be able to go directly to Disney+ due to the studios deal with HBO ending in 2022. Disney’s CEO Bob Chapek previously said, “Flexibility is a key component of our distribution strategy.”
After Scarlett Johansson’s lawsuit, Disney will be double checking contracts before they announce any change in plans. This was the big error Disney made with Scarlett Johansson after Warner was threatened with a similar lawsuit in December they paid Patty Jenkins and Gal Gadot an extra $10m after they announced WW84 would be released day and date on HBO Max.
A Quiet Place Part II and F9 have taken $159m and $171m with 45-day windows, while Cruella $85m, Space Jam: A New Legacy $62m and Black Widow $175m were released in movie theatres and streaming.
1998’s Truman Show opened with $31,542,121 taking $125,618,201 and $264,118,201 WW
2012’s Wreck-It Ralph opened $49.03m taking $189.42m in the US and $471.2m WW.
2018’s Ralph Breaks the Internet opened $56.23m taking $201.09m in the US and $529.32m WW
2014’s The Lego Movie opened $69.05m taking $257.76m in the US and $468.06m WW
2019’s The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part opened $34.11m taking $105.8m and $192.3m WW
2010’s Tron Legacy opened $44.02m taking $172.06m and $4-00.06m WW.
2018’s Ready Player One opened $41.76m taking $137.69m taking $482.89m WW
2018’s The Emoji Movie opened with $24.53m taking $86.08m in the US and $217.77m WW
2006’s Night at the Museum opened with $30.43m ($45m inflation inflated) taking $250.86m in the US and $574.48m WW
Opened with $22.5m from 41 territories and $50.9m worldwide; UK $3.4m; Russia $2.9m; Korea $1.4m; Japan $1.3m; France $1.1m; Saudi Arabia $1m; Australia $1m; Hong Kong $0.9m; Germany $0.9m; UAE $0.8m; Mexico $0.8m
Took $3m from 620 IMAX cinemas in 32 territories including $1.4m from the US.
- Don’t Breathe 2 – Sony Pictures
Opened with $10.62m; received mixed reviews (50% Rotten Tomatoes) and x CinemaScore
Thursday previews took in $965k; Escape Room: Tournament of Champions took $1.2m openings with $8.8m; 2018’s Slender Man took $1m openings with $11.37m taking $30.65m.
2016’s Don’t Breathe opened with $26,411,706 taking $89,217,875 and $157,830,487 WW
Opened with $3.4m from 23 territories
- The Suicide Squad – Warner Bros
Dropped 71% in its second weekend $7.47m and $42.6m
After 2016’s Suicide Squad received scathing reviews despite dropping 67.4% in its second weekend taking $43.53m and $222.64m and 52.1% $20.85m and $262.42m still held on to #1 for three weekends, due to being the last major release of the summer. It dropped to second by Don’t Breathe opening with $26.41m in its fourth weekend.
2018’s Birds of Prey dropped #2 48% in its second weekend taking $17,172,686 and $59,330,988 with Sonic the Hedgehog opening #1 with $58,018,348
All Warner Bros releases have dropped over 50% since movie theatres reopened last summer; 67% Tenet; 68% WW84; 56% The Little Things; 57% Judas and The Black Messiah; 54% Tom & Jerry; 73% Mortal Kombat; 57% Godzilla vs Kong; 69% Those Who Wish Me Dead; 57% Conjuring 3; 63% In the Heights. 69% Space Jam: A New Legacy and now 72% for The Suicide Squad.
Will expect similar second-weekend drops for Reminiscence, Malignant, Cry Macho, Many Saints of Newark and Dune.
Warner will be wondering how they did everything right with The Suicide Squad this time, with James Gunn as director, strong cast, great reviews, and word of mouth but still, it’s likely to take half Suicide Squad took 5 years ago which had none of those things. Exhibitors keep demanding studios to release their biggest movies and keep to the theatrical window but if a fraction of the audience is going to see them in cinemas then studios have to release them on other platforms at the same time.
Warner has gambled with several films over the last year from Tenet to Suicide Squad but none of them has come close to take box office they would in normal circumstances so either exhibitors need to do much more to make people feel comfortable returning or studios will delay more of their films if exhibitors want studios to keep to the theatrical window.
20+ years ago studios couldn’t swallow back-to-back $200m+ films failures, but now the film studio is just a small cog in the mega-corporations value of $100bn+ many with debts of $50bn+ what’s another $200m loss when they are now seeing the value of streaming, Netflix has an annual income of over $20bn worldwide (from 209m subscribers) compared to $42.5bn global box office in 2019 and spent over $15bn on content.
Since cinemas reopened all of Warner films have fallen short of expectations with only Godzilla Vs Kong coming close to previous franchise success but that was mostly due to Asian BO.
Tenet ($58.45m US and $363.65m worldwide Vs Inception $292.57m US and $836.73m WW). WW84 ($46.53m US and $166.53m WW Vs Wonder Woman $412.81m VS and $822.82m WW), The Little Things ($15.4m US and $29.84m WW), Tom and Jerry ($46.1m US and £126.84m WW), Mortal Kombat ($42.2m US and $83.6m WW Vs Mortal Kombat (1995) $70.45m US and $122.19m WW), Godzilla Vs Kong $100.45m US and $467.63m WW Vs Kong: Skull Island $168.1m US and $566.65m WW), In the Heights ($29.74m US and $42.94m WW), Space Jam 2 ($80m* US and $200m* WW Vs Space Jam $90.41m US and $230.41m WW) and The Suicide Squad $80m* US and $180m* WW Vs Suicide Squad $325.1m US and $746.84m WW) * estimates while with Mortal Kombat and Space Jam due to ticket inflation must more than double their box office to make a proper comparison.
2,064th biggest film in the US between The Age of Adaline and Final Destination 5; 3,058th biggest inflation inflated between Widows and The Guilt Trip and 346th biggest Warner Bros film between Max and Final Destination 5.
Took $950k from 470 IMAX screens in 62 territories taking $8.3m worldwide including 38 screens in Japan taking 13.5% of its weekend BO.
Took $17m down 51% from 70 territories (13,922 screens) and $75.4m total and $118m worldwide; UK $14.8m; Russia $7.3m; France $4.3m; Germany $3.8m; Korea $3.5m; Mexico $3.5m; Spain $3.1m.
Exhibitors have used piracy as the excuse why Warner films have dropped heavily in second weekends in the US but as piracy is a global threat why did The Suicide Squad drop 36% in its second w/e in Australia (similar drop to the UK) and about half what it dropped in the US
1,443rd biggest film worldwide between Shall We Dance? And Star Trek: Insurrection; 18th biggest film worldwide in 2021 between Tom and Jerry and Raya and the Last Dragon and 223rd biggest Warner Bros film worldwide between Body of Lies and A Nightmare on Elm Street.
- Jungle Cruise – Disney
Dropped 42% in its third weekend taking $9.12m and $82.26m
To put Jungle Cruise second weekend into perspective and show how far away from normal US BO is currently this time in 2019 Hobbs & Shaw dropped 57.9% taking $25.26m and $108.37m and four months later Jumanji: The Next Level dropped 55.3% taking $26.5m and $102.31m, instead, it’s the second weekend was similar to 2015’s Tomorrowland dropped 56.7% taking $14.3m and $63.68m seen as a massive disappointment at the time.
SambaTV reported Jungle Cruise was watched by 777k US households Disney+ Premier Access over its opening weekend, 46% more than Cruella (531k US households). These numbers always seem so low when there are over 40m Disney+ subscribers in the US so that means only 2% of Disney+ subscribers paid $29.99 to watch, while at the same time almost five times the amount of people who saw Jungle Cruise in cinema.
It’s the sixth Disney film based on a theme park ride after the Pirates of the Caribbean five-film series (between 2003 and 2017).
Third weekends:
2003’s The Haunted Mansion dropped 34.7% taking $6.13m and $53.64m of $75.84m and $182.29m WW
2000’s Mission to Mars dropped 49.8% taking $5.72m and $49.22m of $60.88m and $110.98m WW
2002’s The Country Bears dropped 73.8% taking $824,211 and $14.32m of $16.99m and $18.01m WW
2015’s Tomorrowland dropped 49.7% taking $7.2m and $76.41m of $93.43m and $209.03m WW
2003’s Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl dropped 32% taking $23.13m and $176.83m of $305.41m and $654.26m WW
1999’s The Mummy dropped 44.5% taking $13.79m and $100.21m of $155.38m and $416.38m WW
2016’s The Legend of Tarzan dropped 45.5% taking $11.44m and $103.37m (64.6%) of $126.64m and $348.9m WW
963rd biggest film in the US between Beowulf and Star Trek: The Motion Picture; 1,697th biggest inflation inflated between Saw and Summer School; 163rd biggest Disney film in the US between Mr Holland’s Opus and Bridge to Terabithia.
Took $6.7m from 49 territories (57% drop) $72.2m total and $154.3m worldwide; UK $11.7m; Russia $7.4m; Japan $6m; France $5.1m; Saudi Arabia $3.3m; Spain $2.8m; UAE $2.6m; Holland $2.5m; Mexico $2.5m.
1,128th biggest film in the worldwide between Cool Runnings and Blade 2; 13th biggest 2021 film worldwide between The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It and Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway and 165th biggest Disney film worldwide between Cool Runnings and Beverly Hills Chihuahua.
- Respect – MGM
Opened with $8.8m; received mixed reviews (63% Rotten Tomatoes) and A CinemaScore
Took $650k from Thursday previews more than Harriet and Blackklansman $600K opening with $10.8m and Harriet did $11.6m.
MGM would have hoped to repeat the success of Paramount’s Dreamgirls in 2006 opening with $8.95m from 852 screens over Christmas after two weeks on platform release, expanding to 1,907 screens in its 5th weekend taking $14.1m going on to take $103.36m in the US and $155.43m worldwide. Dreamgirls was nominated for 8 Oscars and Jennifer Hudson won Best Supporting Actress.
Respect received mixed reviews called a standard biopic but Jennifer Hudson’s performance as Aretha Franklin could see her pick up a Best Actress Oscar nomination.
The film was originally due to be released in August, October and December last year but delayed due to COVID
- Space Jam: A New Legacy – Warner Bros
Dropped 55% in its fifth weekend taking $1.1m and $68.16m; 1,219th biggest film in the US between Blue Streak and Octopussy; 2,036th biggest inflation inflated between Walking Tall and God’s Not Dead; 199th biggest Warner Bros film in the US between Purple Rain and Outbreak.
Fifth weekends
1996’s Space Jam dropped 48.3% taking $2.34m and $76.53m taking $90.41m ($160m inflation inflated) and $230.51m worldwide $398m inflation inflated)
2017’s The Emoji Movie dropped 43.5% taking $2.5m and $76.59m of $86.08m in the US and $217.77m WW.
2018’s Ralph Breaks the Internet dropped 49.3% taking $4.7m and $162.2m taking $201.09m in the US and $529.32m WW.
2010’s Tron Legacy dropped 43.7% taking $5.67m and $156.91m of $172.06m and $400.06m WW.
2018’s Ready Player One dropped 65.4% taking $2.56m and $130.61m of $137.69m taking $482.89m WW
1,207th biggest film worldwide between Herbie: Fully Loaded and Charlotte’s Web; 15th biggest film of 2021 worldwide between Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway and Tom and Jerry; 197th biggest Warner Bros film worldwide between Music and Lyrics and Conspiracy Theory.
Took $3.5m from 67 territories $76.8m total and $144.9m worldwide; UK $13.8m; Australia $9m; Mexico $7.9m; Spain $4.1m; France $3m.
- Black Widow – Disney
Dropped 51% in its sixth weekend taking $1.91m and $178.1m.
267th biggest film in the US between Pretty Woman and Hitch; 598th biggest inflation inflated between 50 First Dates and Ordinary People and 72nd biggest Disney film between Pretty Woman and National Treasure.
The 24 MCU films have taken over $8.72bn in the US and $22.91bn worldwide.
There were murmuring Emma Stone might follow Scarlett Johansson with a lawsuit against Disney for releasing Cruella on similar hybrid theatrical and Disney+ release but she recently signed on for Cruella sequel that will include compensation if the film goes straight to streaming. After Scarlett Johansson lawsuit that guaranteed exclusive theatrical release, this clause will be changed on all contracts in future.
Dropped 62% taking $1.6m from 49 territories $189.6m total and $367.8m worldwide; Korea $26.1m; UK $24.8m; France $14.4m; Mexico $9.8m; Australia $9.7m; Russia $9.4m; Japan $8.5m; Germany $7.9m; Spain $7.1m.
388th biggest film worldwide between X-Men: First Class and Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb; 5th biggest film worldwide in 2021 between Godzilla vs. Kong and A Quiet Place: Part II; 79tht biggest Disney film between Dinosaur and Dumbo.
UK Box Office Top 10
UK Box Office Preview
Free Guy should hold its own against the new arrivals due to strong word of mouth
Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins will struggle to open anywhere near the previous two G.I Joe films even having a five-day opening weekend after poor reviews and underperforming in the US last month; either 2009’s G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra opening £1,708,760 (including £281,666 previews) taking £6,293,469; 2013’s G.I. Joe: Retaliation opening £2,792,861 (including £890,338 previews) taking £7,288,281.
From the trailer, Reminiscence feels like a grown-up sci-fi film like Moon, Transcendence, Sunshine, Solaris, Ex_Machina and Gattaca that will struggle to find an audience especially in these current circumstances and will surely make Warner nervous with Dune opening in October and premiering at Venice Film Festival in a few weeks.
The trailer includes the line “When the waters began to rise and war broke out… nostalgia became a way of life, there wasn’t a lot to look forward to, so people began looking back, nothing is more addictive than the past”. Sounds very much like things are now with nostalgia became a way of life and that nothing is more addictive than the past.
Reminiscence was originally set to open in April but was delayed to September 3rd in the US opening week earlier internationally In February (was later brought forward a week to avoid Shang-Chi). Late August/Labour Day is normally a time when studios dump films, that said Warner released Tenet over the same weekend last year and Disney are releasing Shang-Chi over Labour Day weekend in the US.
Reminiscence is likely to open similar to 2014’s Transcendence without previews opening with £586,000 from 433 screens (opened with £1.18m with previews), Reminiscence was originally due to open on Wednesday along with People Just Do Nothing and Snake Eyes.
As Reminiscence is also released the same day in the US on HBO Max the same piracy excuse will be made of its soft opening, but the issue is as it’s a grown-up sci-fi movie late August isn’t a good date for it in normal circumstances, Tenet opened only same time last year strongly due to the massive media coverage it received. Hugh Jackman has promoted Reminiscence with many interviews, but it was always likely to struggle to find an audience.
Reminiscence is Hugh Jackman’s first major cinema release since The Greatest Showman in 2017, The Front Runner and Bad Education had limited theatrical releases while Missing Link was animated. Reminiscence shares IMAX screens with Snake Eyes.
The big unknown is People Just Do Nothing: Big In Japan opening on Wednesday which could go either way as British TV spinoffs have had mixed success and many of them have opened mid-August in the UK as after the June-July rush August slows down for the US content and there is room for British films to find an audience. Early reviews for People Just Do Nothing have been similar to The Inbetweeners Movie (3-star reviews)
Other mid-August TV spinoffs include
1997’s Bean opened £2,563,326 (£4,547,227 inflation inflated) taking £17,902,161 (£31,757,642)
2011’s The Inbetweeners Movie opened £13,216,736 (£15,746,672 inflation inflated) taking £45,030,412 (£53,650,095)
2012’s Keith Lemon: The Film opened £1,196,310 taking £2,900,378
2013’s Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa opened £2,175,850 taking £5,223,520
2014’s The Inbetweeners 2 opened £12,538,114 taking £33,386,962
2015’s Bad Education opened £594,861 taking £2,013,108
2016’s David Brent: Life on the Road opened £1,460,290 taking £3,639,605
Other British TV spinoffs include
2000’s Kevin & Perry Go Large opened £2,404,517 (£3,945,594 inflation inflated) taking £10,247,636 (£16,815,439)
2002’s Ali G Indahouse opened £3,231,673 (£5,635,913 inflation inflated) taking £10,170,779 (£17,737,446)
2014’s Mrs Brown’s Boys D’Movie opened £4,301,306 taking £14,290,727
2016’s Dad’s Army opened £2,077,942 taking £8,372,614
2016’s Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie opened £4,042,959 taking £15,297,486
As with Keith Lemon: The Film and Mrs Brown’s Boys D’Movie these TV spinoffs might be terrible, but they do find an audience.
If People Just Do Nothing was to find an audience it will harm Free Guy the second weekend and could open similar to 2013’s Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa opened £2,175,850 (including £743,669 from previews). But the recent BBC Three spinoff 2015’s Bad Education opened £594,861.
It’s very hard to judge the popularity of a show like People Just Do Nothing especially three years after the TV series ended as often this age demographic have very short memories and had no clue what it was until I did my preview write-up two weeks ago, but that’s because I’m far from the demographic that this is aimed at.
Opening in two weeks
- Candyman – Universal Pictures
Horror starring Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Teyonah Parris, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett and Colman Domingo, along with Tony Todd and Vanessa Estelle Williams and directed by Nia DaCosta.
It’s a direct sequel to the 1992 film and the fourth Candyman film based on the short story “The Forbidden” by Clive Barker.
It was originally due to be released in June 2020 but due to COVID has been delayed three times; the first trailer was released in February 2020 with The Invisible Man and a second trailer was released in June 2021.
Horrors have been the one genre that has performed strongly since cinemas reopened in May and the gap opening two weeks after Don’t Breathe 2 and will give audiences some Bank Holiday scares.
Candyman opened with £1,044,843 in March 1993 (£2,350,896 inflation inflated) taking £1,803,720 (£4,056,965 inflation inflated)
- Our Ladies – Sony Pictures
Scottish drama starring Tallulah Greive, Abigail Lawrie, Rona Morison, Sally Messham, Marli Siu, and Eve Austin and directed by Michael Caton-Jones based on Alan Warner’s 1998 novel The Sopranos.
The film received its UK premiere at the 2019 London Film Festival (receiving positive reviews) and was originally due to be released in March 2020 but delayed several times due to the COVID pandemic.
Opens on the 34th anniversary of the UK opening of The Full Monty which all feel-good British dramas have tried to repeat ever since but fallen short; Sunshine on Leith is probably a better target opened #3 with £770,239 from 400 screens in October 2013, down only 5% in its second-weekend #2 taking £732,296 from 426 screens and £2,165,216 taking £4,550,851.
Sunshine on Leith was helped by Entertainment Films marketing the film heavily and October 2013 BO being very soft, its second weekend October 11-13 was one of the lowest weekends at the UK BO with no film taking over £1m and top 10 taking £5,001,792). Our Ladies opens during a quiet weekend but had a crowded September so will struggle to build momentum.
Michael Caton-Jones directed Scandal in 1988 following that up with Memphis Belle (1990), Doc Hollywood (1991), This Boy’s Life (1993), Rob Roy (1995), The Jackal (1997), City By the Sea (2002) but then directed Basic Instinct 2 (2006) and Our Ladies is his first film since. As often happens with massive flops the actors quickly move on to their next projects by the director struggles to get another film project.
- Andre Rieu’s 2021 Summer Concert: Together Again – Piece Of Magic
Andre Rieu’s 2021 Summer Concert is the canary in the coalmine for Event Cinema and films targetting older demographic as over the years before COVID his concerts were very popular Event Cinema screenings.
The last release was September 2021’s Andre Rieu’s Magical Maastricht: Together In Music opening with £124,101
2020’s Andre Rieu: 70 Years Young – Piece Of Magic Entertainment opened January 4th taking £1,717,073 from screenings on Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon, this is compared to 2019’s Andre Rieu’s New Year Concert from Sydney taking £1,745,941.
Other Andre Rieu concerts openings since 2014; Andre Rieu 2019 Maastricht Concert – Shall We Dance? – £1,492,154; 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 £1,107,000; Andre Rieu’s 2014 Maastricht Concert £830,586.
Event Cinema had a record-breaking year at the UK box office in 2019 but tickets are almost 250% more than regular prices, in 2020 my local Vue standard prices were £6.74 but tickets for Andre Rieu: 70 Years Young are £23.24.
