- The Batman – £13,531,854 – NE
48th biggest opening between Fifty Shades of Grey and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (close to Twilight: Breaking Dawn – Part 1, Furious 8, Casino Royale and Joker); 18th biggest Fri-Sun opening between Fifty Shades of Grey and Toy Story 4 (close to The Dark Knight Rises, Batman Vs Superman, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Captain Marvel); 81st biggest inflation inflated between Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and Deadpool 2 (close to Tomorrow Never Dies, War of the Worlds, Toy Story 2 and Independence Day).
13th biggest comic-book opening between iron Man 3 and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (close to Deadpool (£13,729,803), Spider-Man: Far From Home (£14,148,624), Deadpool 2 (£12,974,669) and Captain Marvel (£12,750,000) and 18th biggest inflation inflated comic-book movie between Hancock and Deadpool 2 (close to Spider-Man 2, Captain America: Civil War, The Amazing Spider-Man and Men In Black).
Industry uses 10% of US opening as a guide to predict UK openings but film openings are normally 7-8% or 11-12% but The Batman is 10.1% always find it a strange coincidence when openings are so close to previous films or just above as was the case with The Batman taking £976,526 more than Joker (£12,555,328), £2,340,030 more than The Dark Knight (£11,191,824) while £830,589 less than The Dark Knight (£14,362,443) and £1,089,153 is less than Batman Vs Superman (£14,621,007).
Took £4.8m from Friday (similar to Beauty and the Beast and Captain America: Civil War (Suicide Squad took £4.7m; Joker £3.81m and The Dark Knight £3.26m) the second-highest opening day of the pandemic taking 89% of the top 5. Friday opening to 35.5% of opening weekend similar to Birds of Prey, Captain America: Civil War and Captain Marvel. (harder to make any real comparison as Friday BO data isn’t often available so have fewer films to compare to, but 31% and under shows a film has good legs (Joker 30.4%; Black Panther 29.3% and Avengers: Endgame 28.8%).
This was surprising as being a 15 Its target demographic would be older than both Uncharted and Sing 2. But was probably more to the cannibalization of screens that happens when a film this size opens squeezing the box office of all other films taking 73% of the top 10.
Opening similar to Batman Vs Superman (£14,621,007); Captain America: Civil War (£14,466,681); The Dark Knight Rises (£14,362,443); Deadpool (£13,729,803); Deadpool 2 (£12,974,669); Joker (£12,555,328); Suicide Squad (£11,252,225); The Dark Knight (£11,191,824).
The Batman had the widest opening ever for Warner Bros in the UK opening in 709 cinemas (84% of 846 cinemas in the UK); ahead of 677 for 2018’s Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald and 671 for 2019’s Joker having the 10th widest opening in the UK. As with all tentpole releases The Batman was playing in 2,658 screens (almost 60% of 4,596 screens in the UK)
In 1989 Batman opened in 400 cinemas (taking £2,058,159 (£6,642,642 inflation inflated) taking £12,034,291 inflation inflated £38,840,287) including the Warner West End (now Vue) it had showings 24 hours a day and there were ticket touts outside the cinema as so many shows were sold out; Batman was the second-biggest film of the year after Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
The buzz around both Batman in 1989 and The Dark Knight Rises in 2012 was organic fan lead this time around The Batman is a huge buzz but feels manufactured as general audiences away from fan reaction will likely be far more polarised as it’s far too dark and long?
1992’s Batman Returns opened £2,774,796 (£6,500,457 inflation inflated) taking £10,979,599 and £25,721,677 inflation inflated.
1995’s Batman Forever opened £4,714,153 (£10,186,905 inflation inflated) taking £20,015,001 and £43,250,807 inflation inflated.
1997’s Batman and Robin opened £4,900,000 (£9,053,563 inflation inflated) taking £14,676,429 £27,117,137 inflation inflated.
2005’s Batman Begins opened £4,427,802 from 514 screens including £856,317 from previews (dropped 34% (18% not including previews) 2nd weekend taking £2,926,042 and £9,388,835) was #1 for two weeks and was in the top 10 for 8 weeks taking £16,179,376.
2008’s The Dark Knight opened £11,191,824 including £2,504,511 from 502 screens (dropped 40% (22% not including previews) 2nd weekend taking £6,737,306 and £25,374,829) was #1 for two weeks and was in the top 10 for 8 weeks taking £48,586,304.
2012’s The Dark Knight Rises opened £14,362,443 from 594 screens dropped 49%) 2nd weekend taking £7,275,558 and £30,551,765 was #1 for 2 weeks and was in the top 10 for 8 weeks taking £56,257,144.
The Batman received PG-13 in the US but a 15 in the UK, (received 15A certificate in Belfast as the council overruled the decision due to the Republic of Ireland giving it a 15A), this started the debate that the UK should have a 15A certificate (Batman in 1989 was the first film to receive 12 certificate and Spider-Man in 2002 was the first 12A). In 1993 Jurassic Park was given a PG certificate with a warning attached “contains sequences which may be particularly disturbing to younger children or those of a sensitive disposition”. (the PG helped it become the biggest film at the UK BO).
The 12A has been very lucrative for the cinema industry as films that would have been a 12 now allow parents to bring much younger children to the cinema that are causing disturbances ruining the experience for many others. Underage children will always sneak into films that have higher certificates, I went to see Fatal Attraction when I was 14 as friends wanted to see it and I looked the oldest, 30+ years later still nervously look at covered saucepans.
While there have been many complaints about 12A certificate films (including The Woman in Black, Spectre, Star Wars The Force Awakens and The Dark Knight Rises), what I always find interesting is that these 12A films are often 12 on home entertainment. I’m sure many underage children brought tickets for Uncharted and Sing 2 and sneaked into The Batman over the weekend.
No surprise Vue West End is far more popular than both Cineworld and Odeon Leicester Sq. as the ticket price is almost 100% less, surely if one cinema charges £13.99 need to be price competitive and not charge double when your less than 300ft apart? This is what I don’t understand with Odeon economics, as Odeon Leicester Square since refurbishment has less than half the capacity, tickets are more than a third expensive but cinema for the opening night of The Batman was less than half full.
Exhibitors are in the popcorn selling business not the cinema industry so surely the more people who go to the cinema the more popcorn they will sell? Last Saturday was Cineworld Day all their cinemas were £3 with over 650,000 attendees and they probably sold more popcorn and syrup than they normally sell at weekends, as similar to supermarkets selling certain items at cost cinemagoers were more likely to buy the overpriced concessions. A film like The Batman with a running time of almost 3 hours would expect high levels of concessions sold but spending £30 on a ticket will cut back on the spending of concessions or just sneak them in.
The third reboot of the Batman film franchise (after 1989’s Tim Burton’s Batman that included sequels Batman Returns, Batman and Robin and Batman Forever and Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins with sequels The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises).
Development of a new Batman film started in 2013 after Ben Affleck was cast as Bruce Wayne/Batman for Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad and Justice League and he was attached to also direct the film. After Batman Vs, Superman and Justice League underwhelmed critically and at the box office as did the film Live By Night Ben Affleck first dropped out as director (in January 2017) Matt Reeves replaced him as director in February 2017 and them a few months later also as Batman as the new director wanted a younger actor to play Batman.
In January 2019 Warner Bros announced June 25th, 2021, release date and Robert Pattinson was cast as Bruce Wayne/Batman in May 2019, there was the predictable backlash from some fans over his casting as there was for Heath Ledger to be the Joker in The Dark Knight.
It started shooting in London in January 2020 under the name Vengeance and production was delayed due to COVID which saw Warner Bros first delay the film to October 1st, 2021, and then to March 4th, 2022, due to production delays.
The film has been given a 15 certificate and runs for almost 3 hours (176 minutes) making it the longest Batman film and the third-longest comic-book film after Zack Snyder’s Justice League and Avengers: Endgame. The original cut of the film was 4 hours.
The film received PG-13 in the US but a 15 in the UK, highlighting the problem with UK certification. Exhibitors in Ireland have requested the film gets a 15A as it has received in the Republic of Ireland as they fear underage will just travel across the border to see it. Of course, 1989’s Batman was the first film to receive a 12 certificate as the problem used to be PG-13’s used to get 15 certificates.
The first trailer was released in August 2020 receiving 34m views in its first 24 hours, while some critics disliked the trailer’s dark tone fans’ reaction was very positive, a second trailer was released in October 2021 with many comparing it to the toe of Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight film only darker and more violent. A Japanese trailer showing more footage was released in December 2021 with a viral marketing campaign launched ahead of a third trailer, again generating positive reactions. In February more footage was released as part of a trailer montage of Warner Bros 2022 releases.
Logan opened the same weekend in 2017 with £9,443,363 including £2,497,845 (26.4%) 10.7% of US opening ($88,411,916).
Not having access to booking data always use BFI IMAX as the guide to see how its bookings are (the UK booking data is rarely made publicly available on Tuesday evening as writing this there are no sold-out screenings of The Batman, a few evening shows are almost sold out.
In comparison 10 years ago two days before The Dark Knight Rises opened BFI IMAX sold 62,300 tickets for The Dark Knight Rises taking £1,001,300 (£16 average price)
It had beaten the cinema’s previous best-ever advance sales for Avatar in December 2009 (£607,000 sales for 47,000 tickets (£13 average price)
The Dark Knight Rises also had the highest first-day sales (24,754 tickets taking £409,838) and the highest first week (38,658 tickets taking £634,013). Those records were previously held by Prometheus. There were 43 shows now sold out, including screenings at 04.25 and 04.55.
These records surely have been broken since with massive openings of Star Wars, Avengers, James Bond and Spider No Way Home opening there over the years since and ticket prices for The Batman £27.50 double the price of Avatar tickets 12 years ago. But there is no data online for sales.
While BFI IMAX is one of only a handful of real IMAX cinemas in the UK there are now over 45 IMAX cinemas in the UK so many who might have gone to BFI IMAX previously probably will see films in a more local IMAX cinema despite not being real IMAX as the screen is small despite having similar price.
It used to be when a massive film like The Batman opened it would sell out almost all shows in Leicester Square but there were very few sell-out performances, of course, it doesn’t help that films used to open in one Leicester Square cinema but now they open in all of them. The Batman opened at the Odeon Leicester Square main screen and also studio (had a few sell-outs), Odeon West End, Cineworld Leicester Square in 4 screens including IMAX and 4DX and several screens at Vue West End,
it wasn’t a surprise the busiest cinema was the Vue with prices half that of the Odeon Leicester Square which was up to £30. There is no need for films to play on so many screens so close to each other as Leicester Square isn’t as popular as it was 20 years ago for cinema with Vue Westfield Shepard’s Bush probably now as popular. (problem is there is no per cinema data released anymore), 25+ years ago Screen International would publish West End box office cinema data, and in the late ’80s and 90s Odeon and Empire Leicester Square would often take £150k over the weekend, when tickets were less than a quarter of the price they are now. This was the time when there was a real difference in seeing films in Leicester Square than elsewhere around the UK and I would go to Leicester Square cinemas weekly, but probably haven’t paid to see a film in one of those cinemas in almost 20 years.
Odeon and Empire Leicester Square’s main screens now have less than half of the capacity they used to have a decade ago but even with the reduced capacity they rarely sell out beyond opening weekend evening performances. What I never understand is cinemas aren’t in the film business they are in the popcorn selling business, so why have entrance fees so expensive as that lessens the amount of highly profitable items sold, as Cineworld probably sold more popcorn over Cineworld Day than they did for The Batman.
One of the first countries to get The Batman was to be Russia on March 2nd but after they invade Ukraine last week Warner Bros announced on Monday they would not release it in Russia and Disney, Paramount and Sony also announced wouldn’t also release upcoming films in Russia.
After Eurovision announced last Friday Russia was banned from this year’s competition why did it take several more days for US studios to announce a ban. But as with COVID two years ago when individual studios announced the delay for film releases globally it should surely be the MPA announcing it on behalf of the industry, as was the case with FIFA and UEFA banning Russia and Russian football teams after individual countries refused to play against them. Why did it take the film industry so long to decide up to Monday afternoon Warner Bros were still planning to open The Batman in Russia on March 2nd, but then late Monday Disney became the first studio to pull their films which forced Warner Bros to do too.
When a tentpole opens they will normally cannibalize the box office taking 80%+ of the weekend’s BO (in October 2019 Joker took 67% of the top 10).
The big question for films like The Batman is not their opening weekend as the hype and fan-power will normally give them a big opening weekend as was the case with Batman Vs Superman and Suicide Squad The more important question is their second-weekend drop as it’s not going to hold as strongly as Joker down only 22.2% (taking £9,766,608 and £30,030,142) but also not drop as heavily as Suicide Squad (62.31%) or Batman Vs Superman (68.1%) probably close to Captain Marvel and Logan. The major advantage is The Batman has no real competition for the next three weeks so likely to hold #1 until Morbius. A few British comedies are opening in two weeks but they aren’t likely to have much impact.
2. Uncharted – £1,335,671 – £20,287,935
Down 56.7% in its fourth weekend;
Uncharted has overtaken Clash of the Titans (£20.1m), Night at the Museum (£20.02m), Batman Forever (£20.01m), Despicable Me (£19.67m), Night at the Museum 2 (£19.6m), Maleficent (£19.3m), Hotel Transylvania 3 (£19.2m) and Sonic The Hedgehog (£19.2m).
259th biggest film in the UK (272nd film to take £20m+) between The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and Babe (close to The Mummy Returns, Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves, Clash of the Titans and Crocodile Dundee) and 475th biggest inflation inflated between Die Hard 4.0 and Rush Hour 2 (close to Flubber, 22 Jump Street, Lost in Space and Gremlins 2: The New Batch).
It was all about timing for Uncharted, while it might have received poor reviews (calling it a Tomb Raider, National Treasure (took £7,054,178) and Raiders of the Lost Ark (£13.9m/£64.5m inflation inflated) rip-off) its target demographic won’t read them and also attracted the Tom Holland’s tween/teen girl fanbase who had to seem Spider-Man No Way Home.
The Uncharted video games have sold almost 50 million copies worldwide with the latest Uncharted 4 selling over 15m copies making it one of the best-selling PlayStation 4 games of all time. So if just 10% of those who brought the video game and 10% who saw Spider-Man No Way Home then Uncharted was on its way to having a successful launch.
Recent video game fourth weekends
2020’s Sonic The Hedgehog down #4 51% £951,104 602 screens and £18,459,138 95.7% of £19,280,822 (dropped heavily due to Onward opening and COVID affecting BO despite industry believing otherwise at the UKCA conference).
2010’s Prince of Persia #4 dropped 38% £507,855 453 screens and £7,373,367 83.5% of £8,829,805
2019’s Pokémon Detective Pikachu #5 dropped 34% £664,469 527 screens and £12,492,311 93.4% of £13,368,175
Sonic The Hedgehog (sequel opening in April) with sequels for Mortal Kombat and Tomb Raider in development.
While a similarly themed film based on a fictional video game
2017’s Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle #2 dropped 38% £2,435,626 570 screens and £29,912,422 80.9% of £36,968,605
2019’s Jumanji: The Next Level down 16% £3,069,462 595 screens and £28,461,093 and £14,724,635 78.8% of £36,079,399
Again Uncharted can’t be compared with most of these films as they either had previews inflating their openings, so dropped more heavily or the films opened during term time, the only film it can compare directly with is Sonic The Hedgehog which had a similar drop which had Dolittle #2 down 5% (similar to Sing 2)
3. Sing 2 – £1,036,217 – £30,346,498
Down 61.2% in its sixth weekend; took £1,196,440 more than Sing in its fifth weekend and has taken £2,487,016 more than Sing £26,553,860 after 5 weeks taking only £351k less than Sing took £29.2m, but the first film had far tougher competition from The LEGO Batman Movie taking £26.78m
Holding strongly in its sixth weekend despite being released on VOD showing again as with Onward, Trolls World Tour and Encanto audiences will still go to see children’s films in cinemas despite being available to watch at home cheaper.
Sing 2 is the 130th film to take £30m+ at the UK box office since Jurassic Park in 1993 between War of the Worlds and Twilight: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 (close to The BFG, Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the WereRabbit, Chicken Run and A Bug’s Life) and 267th biggest inflation inflated between The Amazing Spider-Man and The Croods (close to Superman III, Hook, Star Wars Special Edition and Monsters vs. Aliens).
5th Illumination Entertainment to take £30m+; 3rd film to take £30m+ since cinemas reopened after No Time to Die and Spider-Man: No Way Home and the 3rd biggest film since cinemas reopened and the biggest animated film since Frozen 2.
Sing 2 is Illumination Entertainment’s 11th film and biggest sixth weekend close to 2017’s Despicable Me 3 £1,189,440 #4 down 47% 603 screens £39,340,831 82.7% of £47,562,575;
2013’s Despicable Me 2 £1,289,450 #6 down 38% taking £38,451,837 527 screens 80.8% of £47,436,199;
2015’s Minions £1,007,186 #5 down 56% taking £40,042,323 580 screens 84.1% of £47,645,626
2017’s Sing £799,947 #4 down 46% taking £27,486,464 556 screens 93.2% of £29.4m);
2016’s The Secret Life of Pets £730,459 #5 down 40% taking £30,541,752 477 screens 85.2% of £35,825,195;
2010’s Despicable Me £648,479 #3 down 0% 521 screens taking £19,066,830 96.9% of £19,670,786;
2019’s The Secret Life of Pets 2 £294,598 #9 down 39% 574 screens taking £18,010,746 96.6% of £18,638,365;
29th biggest animated film between Ice Age: Continental Drift and Shrek (close to Monsters University, Chicken Run, The Croods and Ratatouille) and 42nd biggest animated film inflation inflated between Monsters vs. Aliens and Sing (close to Wall·E, Madagascar, Wreck-It Ralph and Despicable Me).
145th biggest film in the UK between The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 and Shrek (close to A Bug’s Life, The BFG, The Boss Baby and The LEGO Batman Movie) and 280th biggest inflation inflated between Prometheus and Sing (close to Superman III, Stuart Little, Kung Fu Panda and Happy Feet).
Sing 2 is the first of three Illumination Entertainment films released this year with Minions The Rise of Gru (delayed from 2021) opening in July (two weeks after Lightyear the first time Pixar and Illumination Entertainment have gone head-to-head with two major franchises out of school holidays) and Mario opening December 23rd (based on Super Mario Bros video game previously made in a live-action film in 1993 both a critical and box office flop)
Illumination Entertainment announced release dates for Migration June 30, 2023, and Despicable Me 4 July 3, 2024.
With no children’s films released now until Sonic the Hedgehog 2 in 4 weeks (April 1st) Sing 2 will likely have similar long legs as other children’s films have recently including Clifford The Big Red Dog and Encanto.
While No Time To Die and Spider-Man No Way Home received plaudits from the industry it’s children’s films that have been the strongest performing genre of films since cinemas reopening in July 2021. What is surprising is many of these children were available to watch at home but parents still choose to take their children to see these films in cinemas despite being more expensive to watch them in the cinema than at home.
4. The Duke – £682,096 – £2,740,233
Down 31.3% in its second weekend; (had the lowest drop in the top 10) after climbing to #1 Mon-Thurs taking more during the weekdays (£1,065,478 Mon-Thurs) than the weekend as older audiences prefer going to the cinema during the weekdays; took £2,058,137 over 7 days.
Second weekends; normally films playing to older audiences have longer legs as older demographics don’t rush out to see films over opening weekend and the box office is shared more across the week.
1,214th biggest second weekend between Silent Hill and The Predator (close to The Thomas Crown Affair, Miss Congeniality 2, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps and Hide and Seek) and 1,305th biggest second-weekend inflation inflated between Pacific Rim: Uprising and Storks (close to In The Heights, Gemini Man, The Book Thief and The Good Liar)
Second weekends
2017’s Murder on the Orient Express dropped only 12% taking £4,376,429 (from 642 screens) £12,989,387 taking 53.6% of £24,224,914; it took £8.21m in its opening week and £3.6m Mon-Thurs.
2019’s The Good Liar took £609,236 down 36.5% and £2,469,093 64.2% of £3,844,314
2021’s House of Gucci took £1,511,982 dropped 37.6% and £5,584,060 57.8% of £9,649,005
Normally films playing to older audiences have longer legs
2012’s The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel took £2,342,095 up 5.4% and £7,014,101 34.5% of £7,014,101; took £4.79m in its opening 7 days including £2.57m Mon-Thurs
2015’s The Lady in the Van took £1,609,943 down 28.6% and £6,437,140 50.8% of £12,660,028; took £4.82m in its opening week taking £2.58m Mon-Thurs;
2015’s The Second-Best Marigold Hotel took £1,957,256 down 48.1% and £8,640,646 55.47% of £15,575,797; took £6.69m in its opening 7 days taking almost £3m Mon-Thurs.
As with Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast opening 7 weeks ago (the B&W film has taken £14.5m overtaking £14.4m 1994’s Schindler’s List and The Artist’s £9.8m with BAFTA awards this weekend). The Duke received strong media coverage due to its cast Jim Broadbent and Helen Mirren as much as its subject matter telling the story of a man who stole a Goya painting from the National Portrait Gallery in the 1960 and ransomed it for pensioners to get free TV licence.
The film had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival in 2020 and was originally due to be released via Disney through Pathe’s distribution deal with 20th Century Fox in November 2020 (Pathe’s distribution deal with 20th Century Fox ended in 2020). In June 2021 Pathe announced a distribution deal with Warner Bros and the film was moved to September 2021.
In July 2021 was delayed to February 25th, 2022, due to increasing cases of COVID and that older audience was very slow to return to the cinema. Opening February The Duke opened after Belfast and Death on the Nile both attracting older audiences targetting a similar demographic as The Duke; the film received critical acclaim (94% Rotten Tomatoes)
Still playing in 651 screens films like The Duke are opening in about a third as more screens they would have done only a few years ago as Roger Michell’s previous film 2017’s My Cousin Rachel dropped 58% in its second-weekend #7 £273,345 and £1,563,091 (added 127 screens in its second weekend from 374 to 501 screens) taking £2,361,939
The Duke is the second film released this year by Pathe via Warner after Parallel Mothers in January opened with £301,877 from 186 screens and has taken £1.3m to date.
2015’s Woman In Gold dropped 25% #5 £372,423 from 245 screens and £1,319,381 taking £2,781,173 and 2015’s Mr Holmes dropped 46% £396,282 #4 and £1,695,740 from 516 screens taking £2,268,824.
5. Death on the Nile – £283,550 – £7,150,696
Down 63% in its fourth weekend; taking £722,904 less than Murder on the Orient Express fourth weekend.
Fourth weekends; normally films playing to older audiences have longer legs as older demographics don’t rush out to see films over opening weekend and the box office is shared more across the week.
2017’s Murder on the Orient Express #4 dropped 40% £1,373,756 (from 599 screens) taking £20,442,641 84.3% of £24,224,914; stayed in the top 10 for 7 weeks (taking £196,186 in its 7th) Death on the Nile has a 45-day theatrical window and will be available on Disney+ on March 28th.
Murder on the Orient Express held stronger than The Girl on the Train taking £1,215,472 in its fourth weekend and £20,427,279 (went on to take £23,372,415) while also close to the fourth weekend of 2014’s Gone Girl which took £1,597,962 in its fourth weekend and £17,064,765 went on to take £21,945,199.
2021’s House of Gucci #5 £289,041 dropped 63% 440 screens and £8,074,049 81% of £9,964,144
2012’s The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel #3 £1,530,112 down 14% 479 screens and £13,855,438 68.2% of £20,308,480.
2015’s The Lady in the Van #7 £470,763 down 51% 504 screens and £10,450,946 82.5% of £12,660,028.
2015’s The Second-Best Marigold Hotel #3 £671,088 down 53% 518 screens and £13,413,705 86.1% of £15,575,797.
2015’s Suffragette #7 £404,805 down 32% 438 screens and £8,579,916 80.9% of £10,600,616
926th biggest film between The Danish Girl and The Exorcist (RE) (close to Prisoners, The Shape of Water, West Side Story and The Duchess and 1,242nd biggest inflation inflated between The Equalizer 2 and I Give It A Year (close to Little Women (1995), Munich, Up In The Air and The Hateful Eight).
In a recent interview, Kenneth Branagh has talked about wanting to make a Christie-Verse, that would include Miss Marple alongside Hercule Poirot, Agatha Christie always kept the two detectives in her novels.
In an interview with 20th Century Studios President last week he said they have a script for a third Poirot film likely to be an adaptation of Agatha Christie’s The Mysterious Affair at Styles. It’s surprising the studio seems to be going ahead with the third film after Death on the Nile has taken $105.48m worldwide to date a third of the worldwide box office of Murder on the Orient Express ($352.79m). But post-pandemic the industry seems to have lowered its box office targets needed to greenlit a sequel.
Other Box Office News
For all of the positivity of Spider-Man No Way Home box office, the first two months of 2022 are down from the same first two months of 2019 and 2020. 2022 took £141m 36.2% less than the 2020s £221m and 23% down from 2019 (£183m). As the problem was there wasn’t a must-see award contender opening in January and older audiences were still slowly returning to cinemas. This weekend expected BAFTA Best Picture winner Belfast has taken far less than many recent winners including 12 Years A Slave, The Revenant, La La Land, Three Billboards and 1917. While Spider-Man No Way Home cannibalized Christmas releases so they weren’t the normal strong holdover into January that the previous have been.
While the industry heralds the success of films like No Time To Die and Spider-Man No Way Home, it is far better for the industry to have films like Sing 2 and Uncharted and then a mix of other genres targetting different demographics as has been the case over the last few weeks.
Despite a soft start to 2022 analysts predicted box office would double from last year’s £557m (was almost double 2019 £297m) to taking about £1.1bn this will still be down about 10% from 2019’s (£1.25bn). Many massive films are opening this year but one of the biggest questions is will Avatar 2 be as big as the first film released 12 years ago which is a long time, the release date has been delayed many times but in a recent interview 20th Century Studios said that Avatar 2 will be released this Christmas. Cinema is in a very different place now than in 2009 as then Marvel was just finding its legs only released Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk.
Vue’s Tim Richards said, “We have had false starts,” but they were caused by an industry trying to run before it could walk reopening far too soon without any plan or strategy beyond Tenet would be the saviour, Bond and Spider-Man were huge but normalcy only returned over the last few weeks as BO has been shared over multiple films. But then last weekend The Batman still cannibalized the box office despite being a 15 so Uncharted and Sing 2 shouldn’t have been affected and dropped so heavily as played to different demographics.
With no restrictions and huge films opening over the rest of the year the industry has no more excuses as exhibitors have talked for the last two years there will be an unprecedented demand for cinema post-pandemic and will be a second golden age of cinema. The first golden age of cinema was between 1939 and 1956 with 1bn admissions yearly. The previous second golden age of cinema was between 1985 (starting with British Film Year and the launch of multiplex cinemas in the UK) and this went on for 17 years till 2002 with steadily yearly admission growth going from 53.8m in 1984 to 176.9min 2002. While box office has almost doubled since admissions have grown only 1% in 2018 as industry average price has increased 74% since 2002 but the real average is probably up almost 200% since.
So if we are to have the second golden age of cinema then admissions should finally top 200m this year about 20 years later than many industry analysts predicted in 1994.
UK box office in detail
This weekend’s top 10 box office took £17,731,344 up 76% from last weekend’s £10,074,419
The weekend admissions were 2,357,891 up 76% 1,339,683 from last week; using the average price of £7.52 calculated by CAA 2021 admissions 74m with UK BO of £556.9m; This is up 11.4% from 2020 (£6.75)
Top 3 took £15,903,746 89.7% of the top 10; The Batman 76.3% (£13,531,854); Uncharted 7.5% (£1,335,675); Sing 2 5.8% (£1,036,217);
2021 n/a cinemas closed
Up 91.5% from 2020 (£9,259,952); Onward (£3,419,500); Military Wives (£968,468); Blumhouse’s Fantasy Island (£392,857); Riverdance 25th Anniversary Show (£313,001); The Photograph (£29,579); #1 Onward £3,419,500 1st week 632 screens (36.9% of top 10)
Up 2.9% from 2019; (£17,220,357); Captain Marvel (£12,750,000); The Sleeping Beauty – Bolshoi Ballet 2019 (£176,849); Everybody Knows (£118,080); Miss Bala (£18,832); #1 Captain Marvel £12,750,000 1st week 655 screens (74.1% of top 10)
Up 84.4% from 2018: (£9,614,433); You Were Never Really Here (£288,344); Gringo (£215,029); Walk Like a Panther (£91,333); Wonder Wheel (£42,976); #1 Black Panther £2,931,682 4th week 585screens 22% drop (30.5% of top 10)
Up 9.7% from 2017: (£16,157,614); Logan (£9,443,363); Viceroy’s House (£921,309); Fist Fight (£400,112); Trespass Against Us (£32,569); #1 Logan £9,443,363 1st week 602 screens (58.4% of top 10)
Up 90% from 2016: (£9,333,112); London Has Fallen (£3,229,675); Hail, Caesar! (£1,520,788); Manon Lescaut – Met Opera 2016 (£279,586); The Other Side of the Door (£262,955); The Choice (£139,669); Truth (£26,701); #1 London Has Fallen (£3,229,675 1st week
Up 114.7% from 2015; (£8,258,448); Chappie (£1,015,058); Still Alice (£401,565); Unfinished Business (£394,177); It Follows (£229,927); Romeo & Juliet – Bolshoi 2013 (£189,674); Kill The Messenger (£57,666); #1 The Second-Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (£1,957,256); 2nd week down 48%
Up 72.4% from 2014: (£10,284,056); 300: Rise of an Empire (£2,761,612); The Grand Budapest Hotel (£1,532,239); Escape from Planet Earth (£395,392); #1 300: Rise of an Empire (£2,761,612) 1st week
Up 110.1% from 2013 (£8,440,254); Oz: The Great and Powerful (£3,712,948); Side Effects (£904,746); Parker (£568,777); Guilt Trip (£432,068); Robot & Frank (£106,346); Broken (£68,423); Fire with Fire (£19,201); The Princess Bride (Re) (£11,273); #1 Oz: The Great and Powerful £3,712,948 1st week 530 screens (44% of top 10)
Up 64.4% from 2012 (£10,782,506); This Means War (£1,821,698); Project X (£561,655); Wanderlust (£490,592); Hunky Dory (£31,930); #1 The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel £2,342,095 2nd week 1st #1 509 screens 5% up (21.7% of top 10)
Up 91.3% from 2011 (£9,268,880); Rango (£1,638,613); The Adjustment Bureau (£1,395,715); Unknown (£1,356,345); Ironclad (£52,470); The Tempest (£8,445); #1 Rango £1,638,613 1st 470 screens (17.7% of top 10)
Up 19.8% from 2010: (£14,805,412); Alice in Wonderland (£10,555,220); Legion (£212,328); Case 39 (£183,088); Ondine (£102,138); #1 Alice in Wonderland £10,555,220 1st week 533 screens (71.3% of top 10)
Up 64.4% from 2009; (£10,781,295); Watchmen (£3,243,001); The Young Victoria (£1,016,053); The Secret of Kells (£25,657); #1 Watchmen £3,243,001 1st week 419 screens (30.1% of top 10)
Up 170.7% from 2008; (£6,550,070); Vantage Point (£1,454,636); The Other Boleyn Girl (£954,994); The Game Plan (£767,143); In Bruges (£343,760); Diary of the Dead (£201,571); #1 Vantage Point £1,454,636 1st week 350 screens (22.2% of top 10)
Up 152.2% from 2007:(£7,028,900); Norbit (£1,962,913); Becoming Jane (£649,323); Outlaw (£582,434); #1 Hot Fuzz Norbit (£1,962,913) 1st week
Up 177.3% from 2006; (£6,392,804); Syriana (£864,796); The Weather Man (£406,217); Last Holiday (£399,524); The Matador (£335,017); Kidulthood (£100,056); #1 Date Movie £1,057,768 2nd week 356 screens 18% drop (16.5% of top 10)
Up 294.4% from 2005 (£4,495,350); Boogeyman (£788,439); The Flight of the Phoenix (£292,012); Harold & Kumar Get the Munchies (£284,050); #1 Boogeyman £788,439 1st week 318 screens (17.5% of top 10)
Up 215.8% from 2004 (£5,614,199); 21 Grams (£582,951); Torque (£503,318); Uptown Girls (£304,525); Suzie Gold (£65,089); #1 Along Came Polly £1,572,126 2nd week 385 screens 30% drop (28% of top 10)
Up 129.5% from 2003 (£7,726,649); Maid In Manhattan (£2,424,584); Far From Heaven (£452,369); #1 Maid In Manhattan £2,424,584 1st week 422 screens (31.4% of top 10)
Up 146.2% from 2002 (£7,202,296); We Were Soldiers (E757,760); Hearts in Atlantis (£110,793); #1 Ocean’s Eleven £1,850,350 3-week #1 split 4th week 437 screens 29% drop (25.6% of top 10)
Next weekend in 2020 (£5,045,549); The Hunt (£542,475); Bloodshot (£444,917); Misbehaviour (£347,643); My Spy (£345,575); #1 Onward £1,272,748 2nd week 636 screens 63% drop (25.2% of top 10)
US Box Office
- The Batman – Warner Bros
Opened with $134m final BO was up from $128.5m Sunday estimates); received positive reviews (84% Rotten Tomatoes) and A- CinemaScore (65% of the audience was male and 67% was between 18 and 34 which does suggest it will be more front-loaded than Joker.
As has been the case with all tentpoles post-pandemic 33%+ came from IMAX/PLF with IMAX taking $12m in the US and $22.3m while AMC openly admitted what cinemagoers had known for more than a decade that they increased the prices for the film by $1.50.
According to research by EntTelligence The Batman took over 80% of all tickets sold on Friday (in the UK it was 89%) 22% from IMAX/PLF and 8 out of 10 moviegoers who went over the weekend to the cinema in the US saw it and 23% saw it in IMAX/PLF
Had the 33rd biggest opening between Finding Dory and Suicide Squad; just ahead of Deadpool #34 ($132.43m); Iron Man 2 #37 ($128.12m); Deadpool 2 #38 ($125.5m); #24 Spider-Man 3 ($151.1m); #22 Captain Marvel ($153.43m); #19 The Dark Knight ($158.41m); #18 The Dark Knight Rises ($160.8m); #17 Batman Vs Superman ($166m); #15 Iron Man 3 ($174.1m).
The Batman had the 5th biggest March opening after Beauty and the Beast ($174.7m), Batman v. Superman ($166m), Captain Marvel ($153.4m), The Hunger Games ($152.5m) and ahead of Alice in Wonderland ($116.1m).
2012’s The Dark Knight Rises took $30.6m (19%) from Thursday midnights and $76.1m from opening day
2008’s The Dark Knight took $16.5m (10.5%) from Thursday midnights and $66.4m from the opening day having the biggest ever opening day ahead of 2007’s Spider-Man 3 ($59.8m)
Similar first days
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 $61m opened $125m
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom $58m opened $148m
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 $56m opened $146m
Pirates of the Caribbean; Dead Man’s Chest $55m opened $135m
While Batman Vs Superman took $27m (16.2%); Joker $13m (13.5%) and Justice League $13m (13.8%)
Batman BO
1989’s Batman opening $40,489,746 US $251,348,343 Int $160,160,000 WW $411,508,343
1992’s Batman Returns opening $45,687,711 US $162,902,340 Int $103,990,656 WW $266,892,996
1995’s Batman Forever opening $52,784,433 US $184,069,126 Int $152,498,032 WW $336,567,158
1997’s Batman and Robin $42,872,605 US $107,353,792 Int $130,881,927 WW $238,235,719
2005’s Batman Begins $48,745,440 US $206,852,432 Int $166,809,514 WW $373,661,946
2008’s The Dark Knight $158,411,483 US $534,858,444 Int $471,115,201 WW $1,005,973,645
2012’s The Dark Knight Rises $160,887,295 US $448,139,099 Int $633,003,513 WW $1,081,142,612
2016’s Batman Vs Superman $166,007,347 US $330,360,194 Int $543,277,334 WW $873,637,528
2017’s Justice League $93,842,239 US $229,024,295 Int $428,902,692 WW $657,926,987
It was always expected The Batman would open with $120m+ what is far more important with these films is how it holds it’s second weekend as while it might have had comparisons with 2019’s Joker opening with $96.2m, Joker held strongly over the next 6 weeks dropping 41.9% in second weekend taking $55.86m and $193.99m of $335.45m and $1.07bn worldwide.
Despite not having any competition until The Lost City in three weeks and then Morbius week after The Batman will likely drop 50%+ in its second weekend taking a similar second weekend as Joker ($55m-560m).
Internationally it’s hard to compare The Batman openings with The Dark Knight trilogy as the three films didn’t open the globally same day as the US
Opened with $120m from 74 territories (#1 in 73 territories) taking $252m worldwide; having the biggest international opening of the year and Warner Bros biggest international opening since Joker; the UK $18.4m; Mexico $12m; Australia $9.2m; Brazil $8.8m; France $8.5m; Germany $5.1m; Korea $4.4m; Italy $4.1m; Spain $3.7m; India $3.4m.
Took $22.3m worldwide from IMAX taking $7.3m from 320 IMAX screens internationally.
Opens in Japan this week and then China next weekend and has the market to itself until Morbius at the end of the month.
- Uncharted – Sony Pictures
Down 52% in its third weekend taking $11.1m and $100.37m
747th biggest in the US between Eraser and Noah; 1,362nd biggest inflation inflated between Poltergeist 2: The Other Side and Look Who’s Talking Too; 96th biggest Sony Pictures film between This Is The End and Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle.
EntTelligence estimated an average of $13.48 due to about a third of BO from IMAX/PLF
Video games third weekends include
2018’s Tomb Raider dropped 51.3% $4.92m taking $50.71m 87.1% of $58.25m and $274.65m WW
2001’s Tomb Raider dropped 48.4% $10.21m and $101.6m 77.5% of $131.16m and $274.7m WW
2010’s Prince of Persia dropped 53.7% $6.48m and $72.22m 79.6% of $90.75m and $336.36m worldwide
2019’s Pokémon Detective Pikachu dropped 46.6% $13.41m and $116.23m 80.6% of $144.1m and $433.51m worldwide
2020’s Sonic The Hedgehog dropped 37.7% $16.31m and $128.6m 86.3% of $148.97m and $319.71m worldwide;
2018’s Rampage dropped 64.1% $7.2m and $78.03m 77.2% of $101.02m and $428.02m worldwide
While a similarly themed film based on a fictional video game
2017’s Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle down 25.6% $37.23m and $245.6m 60.7% of $404.54m and $962.54m worldwide
2019’s Jumanji: The Next Level up 33% $35.24m and $175.48m 54.8% of $320.31m and $800.05m worldwide
Took $17.4m (down 50.3%) from 64 territories and $171.3m total and $271.6m worldwide; UK $27.5m; France $14.9m; Russia $14.8m; Spain $10.5m; Australia $9.7m.
573rd biggest film worldwide between Baby Boys 2 and Grown Ups and 58th biggest Sony Pictures film worldwide.
- Dog -MGM
Down 40% in its third weekend taking $6.11m and $40.8m
2015’s Max dropped 46.5% $3.54m and $33.82m 79.3% of $42.65m
1989’s Turner and Hooch dropped 25.6% $6.33m and $38.85m 54.6% of $71.07m
Taken $4.1m internationally
- Spider-Man No Way Home – Sony Pictures
Dropped 22% in its twelfth weekend taking $4.51m and $786.6m
3rd biggest film in the US between Avengers Endgame and Avatar and Black Panther (the 5th film to take over $700m since Avatar in 2009) and the 2nd biggest comic-book movie between Avengers Endgame and Black Panther; 12th biggest inflation inflated between Star Wars Ep. I: The Phantom Menace and Forrest Gump.
Twelfth weekends
2019’s Avengers Endgame #11 down 32.5% taking $2.1m and $851.62m 99.2% of $858.37m
2009’s Avatar #5 down 40.5% taking $8.11m and $720.6m 96.1% of $749.76m
2015’s Star Wars The Force Awakens #13 dropped 37.6% taking $1.84m and $928.84m 99.2% of $936.6m
2017’s Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle #10 dropped 38.2% taking $2.74m and $397.25m 98.2% of $404.54m
Took $4m from 63 territories $1.079bn total and $1.86bn worldwide; 6th biggest film worldwide between Avengers: Infinity War and Jurassic World (46th film to take over $1bn worldwide since Jurassic Park in 1993);
UK Box Office Top 10
UK Box Office Preview
With the massive hype, buzz and marketing The Batman were always likely to open big and similar to The Dark Knight and Joker, but how films hold in their second weekends are now far more important.
The Batman was compared to Joker in its opening weekend taking £13,531,854 Vs £12,555,328, but Joker only dropped 22.2% in its second weekend taking £9,766,608 and £20,263,534 but despite not having any major releases opening against it The Batman will likely drop about 50%-55% taking £5.5m-£6.5m similar to Captain Marvel (£6,643,217); Iron Man 3 (£6,307,191); Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (£6,097,082); Deadpool (£5,694,280); Spider-Man 3 (£5,596,612).
Joker was #1 for 6 weeks in 2019 taking £57.8m but The Batman is likely to take about £35m despite not having any major competition until Morbius opens at the end of the month.
After having surprisingly high drops against The Batman despite neither targetting the same demographic Uncharted and Sing 2 will have far smaller drops with Sing 2 likely to switch places with Uncharted despite being available to watch at home.
BTS Permission To Dance On Stage Live is showing in cinemas on Saturday morning screened live, three years ago Love Yourself In Seoul – BTS World Tour 2019 #10 with £518,810 from 519 screens. If all cinema bookings were like Vue Westfield then it could have a very lucrative opening especially as tickets are about £20.
Universal Pictures has been heavily advertising Red Rocket on TV and has received positive reviews it’s directed by Sean Baker who previously directed 2017’s The Florida Project opened 8th with £241,490 from 100 screens and 2015’s Tangerine opened #29 with £18,611 from 15 screens.
Opening next week
- The Nan Movie – Warner Bros
British comedy starring Catherine Tate and Mathew Horne and directed by Josie Rourke spin-off of The Catherine Tate Show TV series.
There have been many films spinoff based on British TV shows over the years and they have had mixed success in cinemas, including Mrs Brown’s Boys D’ Movie, Guest House Paradiso, David Brent: Life On the Road, Absolutely Fabulous The Movie, Ali Gi Indahouse, Borat, Bruno, The Bad Education Movie, Kevin & Perry Go Large, The League of Gentlemen’s Apocalypse, People Just Do Nothing: Big in Japan, Bean, Keith Lemon: The Film, Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa and The Inbetweeners Movie.
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 US content and there is room for British films to find audiences as while in mid-August US schools are getting ready to return to UK schools don’t return until the end of the first week in September.
1997’s Bean opened £2,563,326 (£4,547,227 inflation inflated) taking £17,902,161 (£31,757,642)
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)
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 Mrs Brown’s Boys D’Movie opened £4,301,306 taking £14,290,727
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 Dad’s Army opened £2,077,942 taking £8,372,614
2016’s Fabulous: The Movie opened £4,042,959 taking £15,297,486
2016’s David Brent: Life on the Road opened £1,460,290 taking £3,639,605
2021’s People Just Do Nothing: Big In Japan opened £896,992
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 as few would have expected Mrs Brown’s Boys D’ Movie to opened with £4,301,306 taking £14,290,727.
- X- Entertainment Film Distributors
Slasher horror combines 70s porn, horror, a behind-the-scenes drama starring Mia Goth, Jenna Ortega, Martin Henderson, Scott Mescudi and Brittany Snow and written, directed and edited by Ti West; premieres at SXSW on March 13.
Ti West made horrors The House of the Devil, V/H/S and The Innkeepers and is made by indie A24 who released critically acclaimed horrors The Witch, Hereditary and Midsommar.
- The Phantom of the Open – eOne
Comedy-drama based upon the biography The Phantom of the Open: Maurice Flitcroft, The World’s Worst Golfer starring Mark Rylance, Sally Hawkins, Rhys Ifans, Jake Davies, Christian Lees, Jonah Lees, Mark Lewis Jones and Johann Myers and directed by Craig Roberts
Had world premiere at the London Film Festival in October
Underdog films used to be very popular at the cinema but despite positive reviews 2016’s Eddie the Eagle opened with £2,828,427 taking £8,613,352. These films normally have a heavy talker screening program to build up awareness and word of mouth but this doesn’t always translate into box office anymore.
As seen recently with films like Our Ladies (opened #12 last August with £124,295 from 388 screens) and Dream Horse (opened in June #5 with £209,389 from 515 screens).
Received positive reviews and eOne are heavily promoting the film on TV with the song Make Me Smile running through the TV spot which featured in The Full Monty which all these feel0good underdog comedies have tried to imitate ever since, but nowadays these films don’t get a chance to find their audience in cinemas.
After a film like The Batman opens there is a gap in the market for a couple of weeks but the problem is the week after The Phantom of the Open is released the Easter films start opening and this Easter is more crowded than ever with Morbius, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, The Bad Guys, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets Of Dumbledore and The Lost City opening over three weeks.
Surprisingly, two British comedies open the same weekend as The Nan Movie opens with The Phantom of the Open.
Have been many great American under-dog feel-good sporting films over the years based on real events Rudy, Invincible, Seabiscuit along with fictional ones like Rocky and The Mighty Ducks. Have been a few British sporting underdog films upcoming we could have Vardy The Movie and the recently announced AFC Wimbledon.
The British equivalent is more The Full Monty or Billy Elliot which Eddie the Eagle’s three-day opening was similar to £1,541,109 in 2000 but impossible to compare the two. (14 years later Billy Elliot Live topped charts with £1.9m).
