- No Time To Die – £3,514,308 – £85,944,606
Down 24.8% in its fifth weekend; after taking only £93,070 less than Dune last weekend Fri-Sun and holding #1 Mon-Thurs last week No Time To Die was always likely to return to #1 as other previous James Bond films have done taking £202,149 more this weekend.
This is despite Dune still having 50 IMAX cinemas, PLF and other premium screens, but both No Time To Die and Dune will likely drop much heavier this weekend with the arrival of Eternals despite it receiving poor reviews the fanbase will still come out for it to open similar to Black Widow and Shang-Chi.
It has taken over £1m a day for the last 30 consecutive days the most days a film has done so in the UK; the previous record was 24 days by Skyfall, Mamma Mia! and Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
£4.37m Mon-Thurs 4th weekend down 22% taking £10.24m 4th week (7 days)
£4.72m Mon-Thurs 3rd weekend down 37.1% taking £13.12m 3rd week (7 days)
£7.51m Mon-Thurs in its second weekend taking £22.74m from 2nd week (7 days)
down 35% from opening Mon-Thurs £11.54m taking £32.57m from 1st week (£37.45m including previews)
4th biggest 5th weekend between Titanic (£3,657,613) and LOTR: The Fellowship of the Rings (£3,276,912); #1 Avatar (£5,527,039) and #2 Skyfall (£3,809,893)
6th biggest film in the UK between Avengers: Endgame (£88,719,051) and Star Wars: The Last Jedi (£82,676,198) (7th film to take over £70m since Avatar in 2009) and 18th biggest inflation inflated film in the UK between Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 and Casino Royale. (on Monday No Time To Die overtook Avengers Endgame to become the 5th biggest film in the UK).
No Time To Die has taken £85.94m after 30 days compared to Spectre taking £88.4m after 35 days and Skyfall’s £90m after 29 days.
Biggest Universal Pictures film in the UK overtaking Mamma Mia! (£68,823,998)
Gower Street Analytics predicted No Time To Die will take 12.8% of the total box office for 2021 with one in eight cinema tickets in 2021 is for the film.
James Bond fifth weekend drops
2002’s Die Another Day dropped 47.8% £1,158,430 and £29,200,006 81% of £36,043,520 (£62,858,506 inflation inflated)
2006’s Casino Royale down 47.4% £1,440,607 and £44,612,070 80.4% of £55,495,547
2008’s Quantum of Solace down 49.6% £1,453,184 and £47,662,819 93.3% of £51,089,938
2012’s Skyfall down 31.5% £3,809,893 and £89,620,677 87.2% of £102,816,893
2015’s Spectre down 42.9% £2,179,154 and £88,374,402 92.8% of £95,183,468
2021’s No Time To Die down 48% £4,672,560 and £78,027,818 78% of £96m
Had a similar fifth weekend drop as
-29.40% Joker: -28.99% Jurassic World; -28.86% Toy Story 4; -28.52% Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone; -27.8% Free Guy; -26.81% Bohemian Rhapsody; -26.44% Dunkirk; -25.04% The LOTR: Fellowship of the Rings; -24.63% The Kings Speech; -23.89% The Jungle Book; -20.89% Yesterday
James Bond film stands above any other film franchise or series in the UK their success in the UK for almost 60 years is incomparable to any other with only Star Wars: The Force Awakens taking more than Skyfall and Spectre. There is no other film series that galvanizes the UK media as James Bond, while MCU, Star Wars and Harry Potter have been successful at the box office none of those films receives the media coverage a James Bond film does.
Showing how big James Bond is in the UK from the box office data I have available of 20 of the 25 films they have taken over £600m adding rough estimates of the missing box office that’s over £800m but as 19 of them were released over 20 years ago their inflation inflated totals would be over £1.5bn which is about twice as much as MCU films have taken at the UK box office since 2008.
Previous inflation inflated box office of earlier James Bond films.
1964’s Goldfinger £98,956,471
1965’s Thunderball £101,423,810
1967’s You Only Live Twice £59,400,909
1973’s Live and Let Die £65,315,814
1977’s The Spy Who Loved Me £90,602,195
1979’s Moonraker £68,104,407
1981’s For Your Eyes Only £43,687,898
Goldfinger, Thunderball and The Spy Who Loved Me took as much as Skyfall and Spectre, probably a lot more as used industry average but Skyfall and Spectre had many IMAX and PLF screens with tickets more than three times the industry average.
The last 5 Bond films didn’t have any direct competition opening in the weeks leading up to release and at least 4 weeks afterwards as the films around them were targeting families and children. The biggest film that opened before any of them was Harry Potter Chamber Of Secrets the weekend before Die Another Day.
Die Another Day opened on 430 screens on November 20th, 2002
4th weekend £2,220,351 down 35% 463 screens; Harry Potter Chamber Of Secrets #2 £1,802,435 5th weekend
5th weekend £1,158,430 down 48% #3 467 screens; Lord of the Rings: Two Towers opened #1 £13,063,560; Harry Potter Chamber Of Secrets #2 £1,164,992
6th weekend £1,506,915 down 30% #3 457 screens; Lord of the Rings: Two Towers opened #1 £ 8,177,801; Harry Potter Chamber Of Secrets #2 £1,558,543
Stayed in the top 5 for 8 weeks and top 10 for 9 weeks
Casino Royale opened in 505 cinemas (988 screens) on 19th November 2006
4th weekend £2,741,362 dropped 48% #3 495 screens; Happy Feet opened #1 £3,689,166; #2 The Holiday £2,826,520
5th weekend £1,440,607 dropped 47% #3 447 screens; Happy Feet #1 £2,034,916; #2 The Holiday £1,597,633
6th weekend £1,011,491 dropped 30% #3 428 screens; Happy Feet #1 £2,048,266; #2 The Holiday £1,054,447
Stayed in the top 5 for 8 weeks and top 10 for 12 weeks
Quantum of Solace opened on 540 screens on 31st October 2008
4th-weekend £2,884,789 dropped 44% 527 screens; #2 Body of Lies opened £991,979
5th weekend £1,453,184 dropped 49.6% #2 500 screens; Four Christmases #1 opened £2,275,585
6th weekend £720,390 dropped 50% #5 429 screens; #1 Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa £6,342,997; #2 Four Christmases £1,498,592; #3 Transporter 3 £958,615; #4 Changeling £721,221
Stayed in the top 5 for 6 weeks and top 10 for 8 weeks
Skyfall opened on 587 screens on 26th October 2012
4th weekend £5,566,537 #2 dropped 47% 545 screens; ; The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 opened #1 £15,850,825
5th weekend £3,809,893 #2 dropped 32% 550 screens; The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 #1 £5,344,508
6th weekend £2,275,469 #1 dropped 41% 532 screens; ; The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 #2 £2,180,909 3rd weekend
Dropped to #2 7th weekend taking £1,428,708 (513 screens); #1 Rise of the Guardians #1 £1,602,689
Dropped to 4th 8th weekend taking £809,406 (434 screens); #1 The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey £11,601,538.
Stayed in the top 5 for 8 weeks and top 10 for 11 weeks
Spectre opened in 651 cinemas and on over 2,500 screens on October 26th, 2015
4th weekend £3,821,156 #2 dropped 51% 607 screens; #1 The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2 £11,255,566
5th weekend £2,179,154 #3 dropped 44% 536 screens; #1 The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2 £4,534,464; #2 The Good Dinosaur £2,926,448
6th weekend £1,241,619 #3 dropped 43% 467 screens; #1 The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2 £2,240,723; #2 The Good Dinosaur £1,701,333
Stayed in the top 5 for 7 weeks and top 10 for 10 weeks
Have been so many articles saying No Time To Die will ‘save cinema’ but this will only be the case if the 12m who went to see No Time To Die will see other films opening over the next few months as the big question is what would be the next £50m+ film?
In 2019 there were 6 films taking £50m+ Avengers: Endgame (£88,719,051); The Lion King (£76,019,595); Toy Story 4 (£65,802,558); Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (£58,265,708); Joker (£58,166,427); Frozen 2 (£53,549,035) and four more taking £30m+ Captain Marvel (£39,234,293); Spider-Man: Far From Home (£37,333,748); Aladdin (£37,236,939) and Jumanji: The Next Level (£36,079,399) as apart from Spider-Man: No Way Home there probably won’t be another £30m+ film until Downton Abbey 2 in March 2022.
2. Dune – £3,312,159 – £13,214,527
After being separated by £93,070 its opening weekend to No Time To Die it took £202,149 less at its second weekend.
183rd biggest second weekend in the UK between Guardians of the Galaxy and The Croods (close to 2012, Star Trek, The Day After Tomorrow and Blade Runner 2049 (£213,287 more) and 286th biggest inflation inflated between Fifty Shades Darker and Dinosaur (close to Transformers, Prometheus, Thor: The Dark World and 300)
34th biggest Warner Bros second weekend between Wonder Woman and It Chapter 2 (close to I am Legend, Interstellar, Inception and A Star Is Born) and 47th biggest inflation inflated Warner Bros second weekend between Wonder Woman and The Last Samurai (close to The Matrix Revolutions, The Matrix, Troy and Superman Returns).
Taking £1,160,669 more than Tenet’s second weekend (£2,151,490) showing that Tenet needed to open with several other similar sized films as it was never big enough to be the saviour of cinema on its own despite Christopher Nolan’s delusions of grandeur.
Christopher Nolan’s biggest films have all opened in crowded marketplaces with several other films targetting different demographics. Dune had a similar second weekend as 2010’s Inception as Dune only had one-week #1 with Toy Story 3 (opening with £21,187,264) taking £4,172,568 down 29% while Interstellar held #1 for two weeks taking £3,777,804 down 30% had The Imitation Game opening #2 with £2,742,725 and then The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1 opening #1 in its third weekend.
2017’s Dunkirk was a different story as it played to all demographics so didn’t need the support down only 18% in its second weekend (£8,235,532) but that was never going to happen with either Tenet or Dune as they both weren’t going to play as wide.
As Dune Blade Runner 2049 was #1 for only 1 week with The LEGO Ninjago Movie opening with £3,642,038 (ahead of half-term) it would have held #1 without The LEGO Ninjago Movie £1,554,074 from previews taking £3,098,872 in its second weekend, but as Dune would have opened second last weekend without previews box office needs to be compared with previews of other films.
Showing again how to preview box office makes it impossible to make direct comparisons with film openings as you can’t just take away preview BO and compare Fri-Sun BO as many of those who saw the film in previews would have normally seen the film over Fri-Sun if it just had a three-day weekend.
72nd biggest Warner Bros film in the UK between Pokemon Detective Pikachu and Ocean’s Thirteen (close to Mad Max: Fury Road, Ready Player One, Shazam! and Batman).
After Warner Bros and Legendary Pictures greenlit the second Dune film last week the Denis Villeneuve said a third film made sense to him, but while a third Hobbit film made sense after the first film The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey took over $1bn worldwide. As the industry was far too quick to call Dune a success (as they have been with all films opening post-pandemic) as to quote Yoda “Victory you say? Master Obi-Wan, not victory. The shroud of the dark side has fallen. Begun the Clone War has”
When the decision was made about the second film Dune had yet to take a quarter of that amount as the decision to make a second film was more a sign of intent by Warner Bros and their commitment to theatrical releases in the future after their decision in December 2020 to release all of their 2021 slate on HBO Max same day as cinemas.
In a Hollywood Reporter article, Denis Villeneuve said “I love streaming. I use streaming all the time. But I still think that contemporary movies need to have their chance. All movies need to have proper time in theatres. The theatrical experience is at the very heart of the cinematic language for me.”
This decision was slated by the likes of Denis Villeneuve and Christopher Nolan, but to quote Argo it was the best bad idea Warner had after being forced by Christopher Nolan to release Tenet in the middle of a pandemic as everyone except Nolan knew that opening Tenet in August/September was far too early and was likely to cause long-term damage which it did as UK BO as it needed the real thing No Time To Die not an imitation Bond which Tenet was.
While all of Denis Villeneuve previous films Prisoners, Sicario, Arrival and Blade Runner 2049 have received widespread critical acclaim but they haven’t been hugely successful at the box office compared with other blockbuster directors with all of his films performing far stronger internationally than the US.
Prisoners $46m budget took $61m US, $61.12m international and $122.12m worldwide
Sicario budget $30m took $46.88m US, $38.23m international and $85.12m worldwide
Arrival budget $47m took $100.54m US, $102.84m international and $203.38m worldwide
Blade Runner $150m budget took $92.05m US, $167.28m international and $259.33m worldwide
Dune budget $165m took $69.28m* US, $182.2m international and $236.07m worldwide
3. Venom: Let There Be Carnage £1,515,356 – £14,785,420
Down 38.7% in its third weekend; 2018’s Venom dropped 48% in its third weekend dropped from #2 to #5 (behind A Star is Born £2,883,000 3rd week; Halloween £2,656,097 1st week; Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween £2,119,165 1st week; Johnny English Strikes Again £1,681,394 3rd week) taking £1,568,433 and £16,652,223
Took 3.4% less than 2018’s Venom (£1,568,433) and after 17 days took 11.2% less than Venom took in 19 days (£16,652,223) 82.7% of £20,123,186 despite receiving poor reviews staying in the top 15 for 7 weeks (30% Rotten Tomatoes) but the audience score was far more positive.
413th biggest film in the UK between The Good Dinosaur and Stardust (close to X-Men, X-Men: First Class, Batman and Robin and The Suicide Squad) and 627th biggest inflation inflated between Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil (close to Judge Dredd, Lucy, Scream 2 and Alien3).
41st biggest Sony Pictures film between Captain Phillips and The Emoji Movie (close to Bad Boys For Life, Trainspotting 2, Terminator Salvation and Baby Driver) and 64th biggest inflation inflated between My Best Friend’s Wedding and Addams Family Value.
56th biggest comic-book movie between Superman Returns and Batman and Robin (close to X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Batman Begins, Thor and Batman).
Spider-Man: Far From Home opening December is the next Spider-Man film but currently features in the Marvel Cinematic Universe but the end credit scene in Venom 2 (with Eddie and Venom in a hotel room, watching a Mexican soap opera and are transported to a different universe, with a news report Peter Parker is Spider-Man which was also seen at the end of Spider-Man: Far From Home) makes it look like the two universes could be combining in the future.
Morbius is the third film in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe opening in January 2022. Last week Sony Pictures announced two more Marvel films to be released in June and October 2023 with one of them expected to be Venom 3.
Audiences who see the sequel can see footage from Matrix 4 as the two films were being filmed in San Francisco in February 2020 at the same time using the same helicopters that feature in Matrix 4.
4. The Addams Family 2 – £1,465,350 – £8,910,674
Up 65.5% in its fourth weekend due to half-term and Halloween
As in 2019 (The Addams Family and Abominable), Universal Pictures are competing against itself with The Addams Family 2 and The Boss Baby 2 with children’s films for half-term holidays.
122nd biggest animated film between Fantastic Mr Fox and Mulan (close to Ferdinand, The Addams Family, The Boxtrolls and Abominable) and 134th biggest inflation inflated animated film between The Boxtrolls and Hotel Transylvania.
717th biggest film in the UK between Dumb and Dumber and Scary Movie 3 (close to Fantastic Mr Fox, Bee Movie, Mulan and Garfield) and 993rd biggest inflation inflated between Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief and Pan (close to The Boxtrolls, The LEGO Ninjago Movie, The Magic Roundabout and Hotel Transylvania).
1991’s The Addams Family took £10m total (£23.82m inflation inflated) and 1993’s sequel Addams Family Values took £6.5m (£14.61m inflation inflated)
2019’s The Addams Family dropped 36% in its fourth weekend taking £646,751 and £9,069,446 95.3% of £9,514,907.
Children’s films have been the one genre that has performed strongly since cinemas reopened the first time in July 2020 and children’s films have had very long legs The Croods 2: A New Age and Space Jam: A New Legacy opened the same weekend with £696,563 and £1,363,556 but took 13.38x and 9.12x opening BO with £9.8m and £12.8m.
Despite both The Addams Family 2 and The Boss Baby 2 receiving poor reviews both films have cannibalized Ron’s Gone Wrong that opened between the two taking far less £3,610,265 despite receiving positive reviews.
5. The Boss Baby 2 – £1,339,100 – £4,966,321
Up 12.2% in its second weekend due to half-term holidays
666th biggest second weekend in the UK between Central Intelligence and Rush (close to The LEGO Ninjago Movie, Yogi Bear, The Boxtrolls and Turbo) and 926th biggest second-weekend inflation inflated between Fury and Baby Driver (between Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked, Bee Movie, Ferdinand and Alice Through the Looking Glass),
As with The Croods 2, it’s impossible to compare the opening of The Boss Baby with any other animated film and the two original Dreamworks Animation films as both opened several months after they were released in the US, The Boss Baby 2 opened in the US in July in cinemas and on Peacock taking $57.22m and $112.98m worldwide; 2017’s The Boss Baby took $175m in the US and $527.96m worldwide.
The Croods: A New Age opened in UK cinemas 8 months after its US release but despite opening far less than the original in July it has had very long legs taking almost £10m over 12 weeks despite opening with only £696,563 it has taken an incredible 13.8x opening; 2013’s The Croods opened £5,372,290 (including £1,850,943 previews) taking £26,328,511 4.9x opening.
2017’s The Boss Baby dropped 55% in its second weekend (29% not including previews) taking £3,619,765 and £16,733,174 58.3% of £28,682,992 3.57x opening;
The Boss Baby 2 is the third family film opening ahead of half-term holidays after The Addams Family 2 and Ron’s Gone Wrong. But it won’t have the same legs The Croods: A New Age had as it opened ahead of the summer holidays but The Boss Baby 2 only has a half-term week.
Also Opened
• Last Night In Soho – Universal Pictures
Opened £731,950 from 519 screens
Despite receiving positive reviews since having its world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival in September (69% Rotten Tomatoes). The film was due originally for release in September 2020 but delayed a year due to COVID, but the delay probably boosted the film’s profile after the enormous success of Netflix’s The Queen Gambit starring Anya Taylor-Joy and the last on-screen roles of Diana Rigg and Margaret Nolan.
The film received its UK premiere on Saturday 9th October during the London Film Festival with 11 preview screenings across the country the same day.
Despite this Last Night In Soho had Edgar Wright’s worst opening in the UK, do have to ask why the distributor dated it October 29th as like Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch opening last week (dropped 38.7% in its second weekend taking £531,526 and £2,068,519) didn’t need to open in such a crowded marketplace with No Time To Die, Dune and children’s films for half-term, as it was originally set for release in September 2020 before being delayed a year due to COVID. While the film is a horror it didn’t need to open on Halloween.
It’s Edgar Wright’s second film released in cinemas this year after The Sparks Brothers documentary had a limited release in the summer. Edgar Wright has been very vocal about his love of the cinema experience, in Empire Magazine interview in May he said, “As for me, I can’t wait to get back in there and support my favourite cinemas in any way I can, even if it means watching way too many commercials, sitting through trailers that I’ve already seen several thousand times and watching a franchise film that could easily lose 15 to 20 minutes”.
Edgar Wright films perform strongly in the UK Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and The World’s End 2010’s Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
2017’s Baby Driver opened £3,605,705 (including £1,219,345 previews 34%) taking £13,024,392
2013’s The World’s End opened £2,123,576 taking £8,731,367
2010’s Scott Pilgrim vs. The World opened £1,604,545 (including £531,796 33% previews) taking £5,081,181
2007’s Hot Fuzz opened £5,918,149 (including £1,563,067 26%) taking £20,792,585
2004’s Shaun of the Dead opened £1,603,410 (£2,578,312 inflation inflated) taking £6,737,460 (£10,833,956 inflation inflated).
Last Night In Soho was rated 18, unlike Edgar Wright’s previous films that were all 15s apart from 2010’s Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World a 12A, but that shouldn’t have much impact on the performance of the film
Universal Pictures released many of the biggest 18 films in the UK including 2015’s Fifty Shades Of Grey £35.1m; Fifty Shades Darker £23.2m; Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf Of Wall Street £22.7m.
• Antlers – Disney/Searchlight
Opened with £251,100 from 340 screens
Scott Cooper previously directed Crazy Heart (opened £102,917 taking £1.2m), Out of the Furnace (opened: £191,011 taking £341,532), Black Mass (opened £1.3m taking £3.3m) and Hostiles (opened £384,815 taking £915,072).
The film has received positive reviews (86% Rotten Tomatoes) it’s a horror for fans that don’t do horror but see films like Hereditary (opened £1,863,913 taking £5,498,016).
- Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone – Warner Bros
Opened £965,007 from 426 screens
Celebrating the 20th anniversary of the release of the original film released in November 2001.
Showing how popular the film series is audiences came out strongly to see the film in cinemas again despite most owning the film on multiple formats at home.
Other Film News
The Welsh government announced plans to introduce vaccine passports this month for the hospitality sector due to rising COVID cases in Wales over recent weeks and the reaction from the UKCA was predictable. This is despite vaccine passports being required in many countries across Europe and many states in the US including New York and Los Angeles as the industry celebrates its best month post-pandemic. Showing that the requirement of vaccine passports wasn’t a negative but probably made many people feel more comfortable to return.
The UKCA are very quick to say there hasn’t been any COVID traced back to cinemas but was probably more due to the poor track and trace service and many cinemagoers not giving correct information to be traced. As only need to see two high profile industry events in the UK the closing film of the London Film Festival had several COVID cases and many attendees of the recent UKCA conference were pinged. It was also reported Jason Momoa likely caught COVID when he attended the UK premiere of Dune on October 22nd.
The problem has been from the start of the pandemic in January 2020 the West were always never proactive in the way they dealt with COVID always looking for short-term options which all caused predictable long-term damage that won’t see Western BO get back to pre-lockdown levels before 2023 while China becomes the #1 cinemagoing nation. This weekend 13% of Chinese cinemas closed due to a small outbreak of COVID as they have COVID zero policies.
The industry has blamed No Time To Die’s $28.2m openings, a third less than Spectre $44.5m but as the film was tracking very softly in the weeks leading up to its opening the cinema closures probably had little effect on its performance as Dune poorly opened the week earlier dropping heavily in its second weekend.
While most US movies have performed poorly in China since cinemas reopened in August 2020 except for F9 and Free Guy as audiences have preferred local films. James Bond hasn’t been big in China with Spectre taking $83.5m and Skyfall $59m, so No Time To Die was always likely to take less than $50m. While Korean film The Battle of Lake Changjin took $19.2m in its 5th weekend taking $859m, the biggest film in the world in 2021. Only one film has taken more in the US Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens $936.66m with Avengers: Endgame $856.73m.
When it opened with $357m in the US and $1.2bn worldwide most expected it to take $1bn+ in the US and $3bn+ worldwide but instead only squeezed past Avatar $2.79bn, Avatar overtook it last year after China re-release taking $2.84bn worldwide. Next year Avatar 2 opens 14 years after the original film opened, things have changed dramatically since the first film opened with comic-book movies being the biggest films and of course Disney now owning 20th Century Fox so Avatar isn’t such an important franchise to them having also MCU and Star Wars.
IMAX has performed very strongly over the last few months as audiences want to watch Black Widow, Shang-Chi, No Time To Die and Dune on the biggest screens possible. The only shame is that over the last decade IMAX has opened more and more cinemas but they have been retrofitted from conventional cinemas so audiences aren’t getting the real IMAX four double-decker busses screen height but most are less than three. While films like No Time To Die which was shot in 70mm IMAX wasn’t released on film anywhere in the world. The problem is people are paying extra for the IMAX experience but this experience differs from one IMAX cinema to the next with many IMAX cinemas having screens smaller than the Odeon Marble Arch which used to have the biggest screen in Europe.
The UK weekend BO has topped £15m for the past 5 weekends for the first time since the end of 2018, but doing my look back at the same weekend over the last 20 years despite ticket inflation of over 75% since this weekend is only 85% up from the same weekend in 2001; American Pie 2 £1,626,438; Legally Blonde £1,453,148; Jeepers Creepers £1,138,642; Atlantis £1,115,767; America’s Sweethearts £961,575. If we are to have this second golden age of cinema weekend BO should be at the £12-£15m level for most weeks of the year with several £20m+ weekends for tentpoles.
It’s a unique phenomime when the James Bond film opens the question is will all those millions who came to see No Time To Die come back to see other films over the next two months as November feels soft in comparison to October.
Biggest Films of 2021
The top 10 biggest films of 2021 are currently
No Time To Die £85.94m; Shang-Chi (£21.2m); Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway (£20.4m); Black Widow (£18.83m); Free Guy (£16.78m); F9 (£16.44m); Venom 2 £14.78m; The Suicide Squad (£14.2m); Dune £13.21m; Space Jam 2 (£12.85m);
No Time To Die is the only film that is performing as it would in normal circumstances all others opened about a third less than they would but many have had much longer legs than they would normally do; Free Guy 6.79x; Space Jam: A New Legacy 9.46x; 14.3x The Croods: A New Age.
The following 10 biggest films from 11-20
Jungle Cruise (£12.55m); A Quiet Place 2 (£11.54m); The Croods 2 (£9.8m); Cruella £9.45m; The Conjuring 3 £9.36m; The Addams Family 2 £8.91m; PAW Patrol: The Movie £8.47m; Candyman £4.73m; Halloween £4.6m; In The Heights £4.28m.
Morning Consultant tracking to the normal has seen comfort going to the cinema in the US comfort going to the movies increased 3% to 51% this week. Gen Zers and millennials remain most comfortable seeing a movie in theatres, at 65% and 60%.
This is a far better guide to cinema confidence rather than the surveys done by the industry as they survey a much wider demographic of people that are a mix of regular cinemagoers, cinema surveys are slanted to get the result they want, but you can see from the box office we are still far from normal. Until the industry realises this nothing will change, as after a strong October
After the mixed reception to Marvel’s Eternals, November looks much more mixed than October as while Ghostbuster: Afterlife received positive reviews still a big unknown as is the new Disney animation Encanto which is likely to perform similar to Coco. In December West Side Story, Spider-Man: No Way Home, The Matrix 4 and The King’s Man open within 12 days of each other which could be problematic as Spider-Man: No Way Home, The Matrix 4 and The King’s Man are targetting similar demographics.
UK box office in detail
This weekend’s top 10 box office took £14,743,116 down 16.3% from last weekend £17,614,553 and up 1,161% from 2020 (£1,169,275)
The weekend admissions 2,073,575 down 16.3% 2,477,434 from last week; (161,949 admissions in 2020 this week was (up 1,161%);
Top 3 took £8,341,823 56.6% of the top 10; No Time To Die 23.8% (£3,514,308); Dune 22.5% (£3,312,159); Venom Let There Be Carnage 10.3% (£1,515,356);
October BO took October 2021 is £147m up 15.7% from October 2019’s £127m with over 50% of the month’s BO from No Time To Die
Up 1,161% from 2020 (£1,169,275); Blumhouse’s The Craft: Legacy (£119,680); Halloween (Re: 2020) (£71,264); The Nightmare Before Christmas (Re) (£43,172); Burnt Orange Heresy (£14,546); V For Vendetta (Re: 2020) (£5,346); #1 Two By Two: Overboard! £190,761 2nd week down 42% 332 screens
Up 4% from 2019 (£14,176,042); Terminator: Dark Fate 19.5% (£2,864,941); The Addams Family (£2,117,740); Countdown (£390,873); Black And Blue (£25,840); #1 Joker £3,464,682 37% drop 4th weekend 657 screens
Down 27.8% from 2018: (£20,418,070); Bohemian Rhapsody (£9,530,463); The Hate U Give (£911,309); La Fanciulla Del West – Met Opera 2018 (£186,621); Die Walkure – ROH, London 2018/19 (£185,066); Beetlejuice (30th Anniversary) (£33,825); #1 Bohemian Rhapsody £9,530,463 1st week 659 screens (46.6% of top 10)
Down 23.4% from 2017: (£19,248,577); Thor: Ragnarok (£12,375,804); Jigsaw (£1,851,249); Breathe (£535,675); Call Me by Your Name (£235,760); The Shining (Re: 2017) (£1,448); #1 Thor: Ragnarok £12,375,804 1st week 611 screens (64.3% of the top 10)
Down 21% from 2016: (£18,662,678); Doctor Strange (£9,288,898); Ethel & Ernest (£19,202); #1 Doctor Strange £9,288,898 1st week 602 screens (49.7% of the top 10)
Down 68.8% from 2015; (£47,258,977); Spectre (£41,299,090); Tannhauser – Met Opera 2015 (£162,876); #1 Spectre £41,299,090 1st week 651 screens (87.4% of top 10)
Up 51.6% from 2014: (£9,722,282); Ouija (£1,373,907); Nightcrawler (£1,003,822); Mr. Turner (£904,947); Horns (£396,042); Carmen – Met Opera 2014 (£326,430); Aliens (Re: 2014) (£27,134); The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman (£12,180); The Woman in Black (Re: 2014) (£4,743); #1 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3rd week 2nd #1 over 3 weeks 514 screens 26% drop (14.7% of top 10)
Down 16.2% from 2013: (£17,605,847); Thor: The Dark World (£8,668,172); Philomena (£1,509,726); Haunting in Connecticut 2: The Ghosts of Georgia (£102,955); Drinking Buddies (£18,379); #1 Thor: The Dark World £8,668,172 1st week 510 screens (49.2% of top 10)
Down 44.6% from 2012 (£26,591,268); Skyfall (£20,180,369); #1 Skyfall £20,180,369 1st week 587 screens (75.9% of top 10)
Down 6.2% from 2011 (£15,727,396); The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn (£6,758,724); The Help (£896,597); The Ides Of March (£665,387); Anonymous (£183,194); Ghostbusters (Re: 2011) (£55,934); #1 The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn £6,758,724 1st week 512 screens (42.9% of top 10)
Up 14.1% from 2010: (£12,911,776); Saw 3D (£3,600,083); Burke and Hare (£942,894); The Kids Are All Right (£411,960); #1 Saw 3D £3,600,083 1st week 382 screens (27.8% of top 10)
Down 11.3% from 2009; (£13,240,462); Michael Jackson’s This Is It (£4,877,255); 9 (£468,455); An Education (£399,122); Dead Man Running (£198,442); An American Werewolf in London (re) (£35,151); #1 Up Michael Jackson’s This Is It £4,877,255 1st week 498 screens (36.8% of top 10)
Down 31.1% from 2008; (£21,398,860); Quantum of Solace (£15,384,217); Hunger (£136,413); Midnight Meat Train (£20,444); #1 Quantum of Solace £15,384,217 1st week 540 screens (71.9% of top 10)
Up 37.5% from 2007: (£10,717,468); Saw IV (£2,482,889); Eastern Promises (£623,491); Sicko (£156,173); #1 Ratatouille £3,056,938 2nd week 525 screens 19% drop (33.5% of top 10)
Up 64.4% from 2006; (£8,965,508); Saw III (£2,522,521); Step Up (£1,212,725); A Good Year (£376,962); #1 Saw III £2,522,521 1st week 373 screens (28.1% of top 10)
Down 12.1% from 2005 (£13,142,985); Saw II (£2,189,212); The Legend of Zorro (£1,899,689); #1 Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit £3,593,266 3rd week 495 screens 23% drop (27.3% of top 10)
Up 95.2% from 2004 (£7,550,271); Finding Neverland (£776,124); Exorcist: The Beginning (577,128); House of the Dead (£107,045); Saved! (£80,772); #1 Shark Tale £2,435,188 3rd week 503 screens 24% drop (32.2% of top 10)
Up 60.9% from 2003 (£9,161,054); The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (£1,357,534); In America (£284,259); In the Cut (£279,068); Alien – Director’s Cut (£208,081); #1 Finding Nemo £3,393,575 5rd week 4rd #1 501 screens 13% drop (37.1% of top 10)
Down 106.6% from 2002 (£7,135,820); 28 Days Later (£1,500,079); Mr Deeds (£879,441); Changing Lanes (£808,268); They (£225,867); #1 28 Days Later £1,500,079 1st week 318 screens (21.1% of top 10)
Up 86% from 2001 (£7,926,562); Legally Blonde (£1,453,148); The Man Who Wasn’t There (£419,609); #1 American Pie 2 £1,626,438 3rd week 417 screens 42% drop (20.5% of top 10);
Next weekend in 2019 (£12,078,831; top three took 54.3% (£6,563,938) of the top 10; Joker 20.2% (£2,446,199); The Addams Family 18.5% (£2,234,172); Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil 15.6% (£1,883,567); #1 Joker £2,446,199 29.4% drop (20.2% of top 10) 5th weekend #1
US Box Office
- Dune – Warner Bros
Down 62% in its second weekend taking $15.41m and $69.28m
1,204th biggest film in the US between The Thomas Crown Affair and Game Night; 2,006th biggest inflation inflated between The Long Kiss Goodnight and Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous; 13th biggest 2021 film between Space Jam: A New Legacy and The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It; 198t biggest Warner Bros film between The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood and Game Night.
Friday was 71% down from opening day ($5m Vs $17.5m) compared to Blade Runner 2049 Friday dropping 65.9% ($12.59m Vs $4.29m) showing that being available on HBO Max had little impact on the film second-weekend drop. (impossible to make comparisons with Tenet second weekend).
In comparison 2017’s Blade Runner 2049 dropped 52.7% taking $15.49m and $60.97m of $92.05m
October was the best month in the US since the start of the pandemic taking $637m with Venom 2 ($190.4m), No Time To Die ($133.3m), Halloween Kills ($85.6m) and Dune ($69.4m) with all four opening with $40m+.
EntTelligence estimated 50m trips to the cinema in a month for a population of 333.59m 15% of the population going to the cinema weekly in the US compared with 65% during the Golden Age of cinema. With an average ticket price of $12.76 more than a third more than the industry claimed average of $9.16 with 69m admissions.
They compared it to the live baseball and basketball attendance but can’t compare the two as average prices for sporting events are more than three times more. A better comparison would be trips to McDonald’s about 775m a month as the average cinema ticket used to be for many years in the 70s and 80s the price of a Big Mac Meal (now $5.99). 25m people still go to McDonald’s every week. Or in the 30s to 60s, a pint of Guinness was the same as a cinema ticket.
The one thing EntTelligence does get right is the average price is much closer to $12.76 and if cinema admissions were calculated using that as the average then they would be back to 90s levels. With the huge growth of IMAX, PLF and other premium formats, it’s farcical the industry can still use the $9 price as the average. This is similar to the UK claiming the average is about £7, while some cinemas charge less than £5 and Vue are from £6.99 the vast majority are closer to double.
The previous best month was July 2021 ($583m), while last October BO took only $55m; in 2019 it was $789m; 2018 $832m; 2017 $579m; 2016 $659m and 2015 $721m.
US BO for 2021 is expected to be $4.7bn compared to $2.2bn in 2020 with $11.4bn in 2019 and $11.8bn in 20218 while China will top $7.3bn in 2021 up from $3bn in 2020 with 2021 worldwide BO expected to be $21.6bn.
Despite many possibilities surrounding Dune box office, it’s still performing similar to 2012’s John Carter dropped 55% in its second weekend taking $13.56m and $53.22m in the US taking $73.07m and $284.13m. Last year Tenet took $58.45m in the US and $363.65m worldwide and lost Warner Bros $50m+. Dune has a similar budget to Tenet and will surely need to take at least $400m to turn a profit which is currently unlikely. Dune was always going to struggle to find an audience in the US long before the pandemic and perform far stronger internationally similar to Blade Runner with 30%/70% BO split, why it was always surprising exhibitors were seeing it as similar to comic-book movies, Bond and F9.
Films receiving critical acclaim will normally benefit a film and help it find a much wider audience but that’s not the case with Dune as similar to Denis Villeneuve’s Blade Runner 2049 and Christopher Nolan’s Tenet they come off as pretentious alienating mainstream audiences. It’s fine if these films have low budgets but not when they have $200m budgets and then massive marketing costs. Tenet took $363m last year globally but Warner would have surely expected it to take double but after Christopher Nolan forced them to open in the middle of a pandemic it lost at least $50m.
As with Blade Runner 2049 the visuals dazzled audiences with the fans this was highlighted by many critical responses to the film including Variety who said it was “Spectacular and Engrossing…Until It Isn’t” this is similar to the reaction to Christopher Nolan’s Tenet
The seven films Denis Villeneuve directed have taken $380m in the US and $974.1m worldwide
Dune opened internationally in 36 territories 6 weeks ago taking $129.3m as the choice for Warner was to either open before or after No Time To Die, going before they would benefit from the media coverage generated from the world premiere two weeks earlier at Venice Film Festival. While opening in October could benefit from audiences seeing the trailers in cinemas with No Time To Die and the buzz generated from its earlier release.
Took $21.4m from 75 territories $222.7m total and $292.7m worldwide (on Monday topped $300m worldwide taking 76.1% internationally to date); 524th biggest film worldwide between G-Force and Pacific Rim: Uprising; 12th biggest 2021 film worldwide between A Quiet Place: Part II and Cruella; 93rd biggest Warner Bros film between Sex and the City 2 and The Green Mile.
In China, it took $21.9m only managed to open #2 behind The Battle at Lake Changjin taking $32.3m in its fourth weekend and $828.1m to date which puts the international box office into perspective since cinemas reopened.
- Halloween Kills – Universal Pictures
Dropped 39% in its third weekend taking $8.74m and $85.87m
904th biggest film in the US between Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip and Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams; 1,625th biggest inflation inflated between Cruella and Alita: Battle Angel; 124th biggest Universal Pictures film between Dumb and Dumber To and Green Book.
2018’s Halloween dropped 65.5% taking $10.83m and $150.22m taking $159.34m in the US and $255.61m worldwide
Took $8.2m from 63 territories and $29.47m total and $115.1m worldwide; 1,483rd biggest opening worldwide between The Iron Lady and Bride Wars; 29th biggest 2021 film between Raya and the Last Dragon and PAW Patrol: The Movie and 190th biggest Universal Pictures film between Pitch Perfect and Changeling.
- No Time To Die – Universal Pictures
Dropped 36% in its fourth weekend taking $7.75m and $133.26m
469th biggest film in the US between Troy and Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked; 923rd biggest film inflation inflated between Couples Retreat and Any Given Sunday; 6h biggest film of 2021 between A Quiet Place: Part II and Free Guy.
Variety reported that No Time To Die needs to take over $900m worldwide to make a profit but that’s no different than any of these other films that need to take two thirds more than their budget. No Time To Die budget was reported $250m+, with marketing $200m+ including the marketing costs from the first postponed release in April 2020 along with interest of about $1m every month it was delayed. F9, Black Widow, Shang-Chi and Venom Let There Be Carnage all have similar high budgets of over $200m with similar marketing costs.
Fourth weekends
1995’s Goldeneye down 38.6% #3 $5.42m and $78m 73.3% of $106.42m in the US, $245.76m internationally, $352.19m worldwide
1997’s Tomorrow Never Dies down 45.4% #5 $7.53m and $103.4m 82.5% of $125.3m US, $207.7m internationally, $333.01m worldwide
1999’s The World Is Not Enough #4 down 42.2% taking $6.15m and $99.4m 78.3% of $126.94m in the US, $234.88m internationally $361.83m worldwide
2002’s Die Another Day down 39.4% #4 taking $7.78m and $131.85m 81.9% of $160.94m US, $271.02m internationally $431.97m worldwide
2006’s Casino Royale down 40.9% #4 $8.92m and $129.02m 77.1% of $167.44m US, $449.05m internationally $616.5m worldwide
2008’s Quantum of Solace dropped 64.1% #5 taking $6.75m and $151.62m 90.1% of $168.36m US, $421.21m internationally $589.58m worldwide
2012’s Skyfall dropped 53.4% #2 taking $16.55m and $245.58m 80.6% of $304.36m US, $804.2m internationally $1.1bn worldwide
2015’s Spectre dropped 14.3% taking $12.88m #4 taking $176.12m 88.1% of $200.07m; $680.6m internationally $880.68m worldwide
The 25 James Bond films have taken $2.269bn in the US and $7.72bn worldwide but inflation inflated this is almost $20bn
The five Daniel Craig James Bond films have taken $3.56bn worldwide to date while the last 6 Mission Impossible films have taken $1.15bn in the US and $3.57bn worldwide (Mission Impossible 1 and 2 were released in 1996 and 2000 taking $1bn worldwide but inflation inflated would be close to $2bn).
Took $51.9m from 72 territories internationally ($28.2m from China) and $471.63m total and $605.8m worldwide; 164th biggest film worldwide between War of the Worlds and Transformers: The Last Knight; 5th biggest 2021 film worldwide between Detective Chinatown 3 and Godzilla vs. Kong.
- Last Night in Soho – Focus Features
Opened with $4.16m; received positive reviews (73% Rotten Tomatoes) and B+ CinemaScore (Baby Driver received A-)
Previous Edgar Wright films openings
2017’s Baby Driver opened $20.55m taking $107.82m and $226.94m worldwide
2013’s The World’s End opened $8.81m taking $26.08m and $46.09m worldwide
2010’s Scott Pilgrim vs. The World opened $10.6m taking £32.77m and $48.91m worldwide
2007’s Hot Fuzz opened $5.83m taking $23.63m and $80.74m worldwide
2004’s Shaun of the Dead opened $3.3m taking $16.55m and $30.09m worldwide
Opened with $2.3m from 19 territories
- Antlers – Searchlight Pictures
Opened with $4.1m; received mixed reviews (62% Rotten Tomatoes) and C+ CinemaScore
Opened with $2.5m from 31 territories and $6.7m worldwide
- Venom: Let There Be Carnage – Sony Pictures
Dropped 38% in its fifth weekend taking $5.75m and $190.44m;
2018’s Venom dropped 26.% in its fifth weekend taking $7.87m and $198.69m
232nd biggest film in the US between Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Men in Black 2; 530th biggest inflation inflated between Star Trek: First Contact and Clash of the Titans; 47th biggest comic-book movie between Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse; 20th biggest Sony Pictures film between 22 Jump Street and Men in Black 2.
Fifth weekends
Shang-Chi dropped 53.1% taking $6.1m and $206.18m and $218.13m total
Black Widow dropped 39.3% taking $3.92m and $174.28m of $183.63m
After opening similar to both Black Widow ($80.4m) and Shang-Chi ($75.38m), it was always expected that it would hold similar m its second weekend as despite Venom: Let There Be Carnage not being part of the MCU the fanbase is the same so those who saw Black Widow would go to see both Shang-Chi and Venom: Let There Be Carnage and then will also go to see Eternals and Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Of course, much was made that Venom: Let There Be Carnage was released exclusively in cinemas as Shang-Chi unlike Black Widow but all three opened similarly and will take similar box office.
Venom went on to take $213.51m in the US (the sequel is likely to take about $200m) and $856.1m worldwide.
Took $21.4m from 53 international territories $205.4m total and $395.8m worldwide; 320th biggest film worldwide between Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again! and Solo: A Star Wars Story; 8th biggest 2021 film worldwide between Shang-Chi and Black Widow; 49th biggest comic-book movie worldwide between X-Men 2 and Superman Returns; 28th biggest Sony Pictures film worldwide between Bad Boys For Life and Hotel Transylvania
- Ron’s Gone Wrong – Disney
Dropped 47% in its second weekend taking $3.82m and $12.63m
As the UK despite receiving positive reviews the film was always likely to struggle to find an audience and would have gone straight to Disney+ in the US had it not been for the HBO Pay TV deal 20th Century Fox have in place until next year for all theatrical made releases.
Disney showed immediately after acquiring 20th Century Fox they had no interest in their animation labels closing Blue Sky Studios and ending the production deal with Locksmith Animation makers of Ron’s Gone Wrong ho moved their production deal to Warner Bros.
Took $6.5m from 49 territories and $20.73m and $33.3m worldwide
- The Addams Family 2 – MGM
Dropped 27.1% in its fifth weekend taking $3.27m and $52.8m
168th biggest animated film in the US between Corpse Bride and Hoodwinked; 1,667th biggest film in the US between Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules and Beethoven’s 2nd;
2019’s The Addams Family dropped 49.9% in its fourth weekend taking $4.16m and $91.42m of $100.72m (took $203.78m worldwide). 3,083rd biggest inflation inflated between The Fog and He Got Game; 23rd biggest 2021 film between Mortal Kombat and Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway.
Took $6.42m from 32 international territories and $34.2m total and $87m worldwide
- The French Dispatch – Searchlight Pictures
Up 93% in its second weekend expanding from 52 screens to 788 taking $2.6m and $4.47m
The film has predictably performed well in major cities New York and Los Angeles (both requiring proof of vaccine) but failed to find an audience elsewhere why the film needed a slower expansion as happened with previous Wes Anderson films. It will expand even further to 1,200 screens this weekend which is again far too wide far too quickly so by week 4 will be losing many of them.
2nd weekend
2018’s Isle of Dogs up 81.7% adding 138 screens to 165 screens #11 taking $2.94m and $6.05m slowly expanded into 1,939 screens after 4 weeks taking $32.01m and $64.24m worldwide
2014’s The Grand Budapest Hotel up 348.5% adding 62 screens to 66 screens #8 taking $3.63m and $4.77m slowly expanding into 1,467 screens over 6 weeks taking $59.3m and $172.93m worldwide
2009’s Fantastic Mr Fox down 23.5% taking $203,512 and $562,048 from 4 screens expanded into 2,033 screens after 3 weeks taking $21m taking $46.47m worldwide
2012’s Moonrise Kingdom up 67.7% added 12 screens taking $876,881 and $1.7m #15 from 16 screens slowly expanded into 924 screens after 8 weeks taking $45.51m taking $68.26m worldwide
2007’s The Darjeeling Limited up 316.2% added 17 screens taking $561,628 and $790,245 #25 $134,938 from 19 screens slowly expanded into 698 screens after 5 weeks taking $11.9m taking $35.3m worldwide
Wes Anderson 10 directed films have taken $264m in the US and $500m worldwide; The French Dispatch is the 5th film he has directed for Fox Searchlight since The Darjeeling Limited previously directed four films for Disney.
UK Box Office Top 10
UK Box Office Preview
Marvel’s Eternals received the lowest Rotten Tomatoes score for MCU film (55%) but that won’t stop it opening similar to recent MCU films Blade Widow (£6,889,187 taking £18,834,584) and Shang-Chi (£5,759,504 taking £21,124,329) as reviews have little impact on these films.
Have been many issues highlighted with Eternals about the MCU movies one being the now-famous post-credits scene having a major spoiler being revealed online immediately after the world premiere about a surprise new addition to the MCU. The other which was the issue with 2000’s X-Men that Eternals spends much of the time introducing the many Eternals that weighs down the film.
Some have said the reason why Eternals has been ‘review bombed’ was due to its LGBTQ representation but that’s just an excuse but what’s surprising about the issues many have with Eternals many have with most other MCU films, which are the issues I have had with them for many years. As with Shang-Chi, it is the ninth MCU film not to have previews inflating its opening,
Also, opening is biographical about Prince Diana Spencer, while it received critical acclaim premiering at Venice and London Film Festivals it will struggle to find an audience and will unlikely match the opening of 2013’s biopic Diana that received poor reviews opened #5 in September with £623,051 from 523 screens taking £1,847,427 lasting only two weeks in the top 10.
STX is hoping that Spencer could be alternative programming for Eternals, early November has been used often over recent years to open a British film 2019 The Good Liar opened £960,536; 2018 Widow opened £2,409,112; 2017 Murder on the Orient Express £4,985,600; 2015 The Lady in the Van £2,256,121; 2014 The Imitation Game £2,742,725; 2013 Philomena £1,509,726; many of these films also received UK premiere at the London Film Festival.
But it’s opening into a still very crowded marketplace and many will wonder why need to go to the cinema to see the Diana story when they can watch The Crown at home on Netflix.
With half-term over and the release of Eternals, all films will see big drops from the previous weekend with most over 50% and many over 60%. Dune will lose all of the IMAX and PLF screens to Eternals which will hurt it badly as a large audience has seen it in IMAX with evening shows at BFI IMAX sold out all this week.
With the arrival of Eternals Venom: Let There Be Carnage will drop heavily as will The Addams Family 2 and Halloween Kills.
After the industry celebrated the last 5 weeks taking £15m this weekend and next will likely take less
Opening in two weeks
- Ghostbusters: Afterlife – Sony Pictures
Sequel to the first two films set 30 years after Ghostbusters 2 and the fourth film of the Ghostbusters franchise. Starring Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace, Paul Rudd and Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver and Annie Potts and directed by Jason Reitman.
Ghostbusters 3 had been in development since 1989 but Bill Murray refused to sign on to the film and after the death of Harold Ramis in 2014 Sony decided to reboot the film instead. 2016’s female Ghostbusters reboot had a lot of backlash with a lot of misogynistic comments. Removing the misogyny comments the reboot was very disappointing lacking all the charm and humour of the original films. After the film was a box office disappointment Ivan Reitman started developing a sequel featuring several of the original cast. Ghostbusters Afterlife ignores the events that featured in 2016’s Ghostbusters.
Ghostbusters: Afterlife was screened in August at CinemaCon and New York Comic Con receiving positive reviews (with some critics comparing it to Stranger Things). The nostalgic elements had a mixed reaction, but this has been a problem with many long-gap sequels the need to connect to the original film and fanbase and also attract new younger demographics.
As fans who saw the original film in UK cinemas would be in their 40s now but the film needs to play to younger audiences for it to be a success, but as with Top Gun: Maverick older audiences who grew up with the original film are excited to see the sequel will younger audiences be as eager to see it.
This was also one of the issues with Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull released almost 20 years after Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade; Indiana Jones 5 opened 15 years after the fourth film was recently delayed to 2023.
It was originally due to be released in July 2020 but was delayed to March 2021 and then to November 2021 due to COVID. Was pushed back a week to November 19th after Top Gun; Maverick was delayed in September.
If I had access to box office data from Ghostbuster and Ghostbuster 2 (opened with about £1.5m in 1989 (£3.8m inflation inflated) taking £8.3m (£25.71m inflation inflated).
it would be impossible to make comparisons to the box office performance as the way audiences watch films in cinemas has changed dramatically over the last 30+ years.
2016’s Ghostbusters reboot opened with £4,388,944 (including £1,702,528 previews) taking £10,554,557 but a better comparison is 2017’s Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle opening £8,154,548 (including £4,114,058 previews) Fri-Sun £4,040,490 taking £36,968,605 and 2014’s 22 Jump Street £4,854,991 taking £18,322,998.
- King Richard – Warner Bros
Biographical drama about the life of Richard Williams, the father and coach of Venus and Serena Williams; starring Will Smith, Aunjanue Ellis, Saniyya Sidney, Demi Singleton, Tony Goldwyn, and Jon Bernthal and directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green and written by Zach Baylin, and follows the life of Richard Williams, the father and coach of famed tennis players Venus and Serena Williams. It stars
Received its world premiere at Telluride Film Festival and also received UK premiere at the London Film Festival receiving positive reviews (93% Rotten Tomatoes) and highlighting Will Smith’s performance; the film features original song Be Alive by Beyoncé.
Sporting dramas often have mixed success at the box office with Will Smith comparisons could be made with his Ali biopic released 20 years ago but while Bad Boys for Life, Suicide Squad and Aladdin reimagination were successful at the box office it’s 15 years since his last original drama The Pursuit of Happyness.
King Richard might have received positive reviews but in this current marketplace, it will struggle to find an audience as the film will be targetting older demographics who might have come out to see No Time To Die, but will they come out to see films like King Richard as they would struggle to find an audience pre-pandemic.
- Rocky IV: Rocky Vs. Drago (Director’s Cut) – Park Circus
Sylvester Stallone recut the 80s classic film adding 40 minutes of new footage but removing Paulie’s robot scene; Rocky IV was the highest-grossing Rocky film when it was released in 1985
- Encanto – Disney (Wednesday 24th November)
60th animated musical fantasy-comedy made by Walt Disney Animation Studios featuring the voices of Stephanie Beatriz, John Leguizamo, María Cecilia Botero, Diane Guerrero, Jessica Darrow, Angie Cepeda, and Wilmer Valderrama and directed by Byron Howard and Jared Bush including songs written by Lin-Manuel Miranda.
Buzz on the film is very soft likely to perform similar to 2018’s Coco opened £5,209,214 including £2,315,450 previews) £2,893,764 Fri-Sun taking £18,013,336
While Disney released Ron’s Gone Wrong in October (was made by 20th Century Fox) it’s their first Disney produced animated film since Frozen 2 in 2019 and Pixar since Onward in March 2020 just before the first lockdown. It’s the first animated film Disney opened in November since 2015 with The Good Dinosaur opening with £2,926,448 taking £14,810,130.
Normally November family film openings are slow burners having long legs playing throughout December and into January but Encanto has a 30-day theatrical window released on Disney+ on December 24th.
