- Bullet Train – £2,857,695 – NE
Took £1m from previews 35.1% of opening; £570k from Wednesday #1; £435k on Thurs
Took £215,515 from 50 IMAX cinemas 7.54% of opening (£4,310 screen average); 3rd biggest 15 film of 2022 after The Batman (£13.5m) and Morbius (£3.2m)
538th biggest opening between Terminator: Dark Fate and Titanic 3D (close to Patriot Games, Knives Out, Django Unchained and GI Joe: Retaliation) and 872nd biggest artificially inflated between Terminator: Dark Fate and The Jackal (close to Safe House, The Usual Suspects, Enemy of the State and American Sniper).
83rd biggest action film opening between Patriot Games and GI Joe: Retaliation (close to Snatch (£3,180,002), Lucy (£3,076,997), Kill Bill – Volume 2 (£2,768,832) and Rush Hour 3 (£2,731,998) and 124th biggest inflation inflated between Safe House and The Jackal (close to The Mean Machine, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, Olympus Has Fallen and The Expendables 2).
799th biggest Fri-Sun opening (without previews) between Valkyrie and panic Room (close to Edge of Tomorrow, Beverly Hills Cop III, Kick-Ass and The italian Job).
Its UK opening including previews was 9.52% of the US opening; 10% is always used as a guide to a UK opening but it is rarely 10% normally 7%-8% or 11%-12%.
Two weeks ago Brad Pitt came to Europe for the promo tour for Bullet Train having premiered in Paris, Berlin and London but the film was embargoed until the 2nd of August day before opening in the UK.
David Leitch previously directed Deadpool 2 (Brad Pitt had a cameo), Atomic Blonde and Hobbs & Shaw (opened the same weekend as Bullet Train in the UK)
Received mixed reviews (57% Rotten Tomatoes) compared to early Quentin Tarantino and Guy Ritchie films thinking it’s far cleverer than it really is and has seen it all before in films like John Wick.
2017’s Atomic Blonde opened £1,686,430 (including £555,569 previews) taking £3, 063,918
2018’s Deadpool 2 opened £12,974,669 (including £5,240,000 previews) taking £32,501,893
2019’s Hobbs & Shaw opened £6,377,583 (including £1,468,289 previews) taking £20,448,914
While Brad Pitt’s biggest films have been
2004’s Troy opened £6,017,523 (including £2,273,204 previews) (£10,828,861 inflation inflated) taking £17,964,987 (£32,328,974 inflation inflated))
2005’s Mr and Mrs Smith opened £3,943,422 (including £405,373 previews) (£6,764,936 inflation inflated) taking £13,375,272 (£22,945,265 inflation inflated)
1996’s Seven opened £2,629,000 (£6,536,098 inflation inflated) taking £19,510,000 (£48,504,862 inflation inflated)
2013’s World War Z opened £4,535,899 taking £14,458,634
And ensembles including the Ocean Eleven trilogy, Inglourious Basterds, Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood, Interview with the Vampire, Sleepers and The Lost City (cameo)
It’s 31 years since Brad Pitt starred in Thelma & Louise and has starred in many iconic films over the years since from Seven to Fight Club, to 12 Monkeys to Moneyball.
Comparisons have been made with John Wick
2017’s John Wick: Chapter Two opened £2,232,055 (including £248,415 previews) taking £5,766,633
2019’s John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum opened £3,562,524 (including £849,972 previews) taking £9,587,828
2010’s Kick-Ass opened £3,881,704 (including £2,041,132 previews) taking £11,528,933
2013’s Kick-Ass 2 opened £2,482,187 (including £1,000,667 previews) taking £5,055,634
2014’s Lucy opened £3,076,997 taking £14,129,734
2003’s Kill Bill Volume 1 opened £2,693,742 (£4,902,125 inflation inflated) (after £162,857 1 screen platform) taking £11,453,044; the film never was #1 due to Finding Nemo
2004’s Kill Bill Volume 2 opened £2,768,832 including £438,230 previews (£4,982,664 inflation inflated) taking £9,024,046 (£16,239,263 inflation inflated)
The opening was compared to Kingsman: The Secret Service in the US but couldn’t be compared in the UK as The Kingsman films had the Brit Boost that many UK films get opening £4,241,292 (including £679,498 reviews) 11.7% of US opening taking £16,418,247.
Receiving mixed reviews and having an inflated opening Bullet Train will likely drop 60%+ in its second weekend again Jordon Peele’s Nope which will take all the IMAX screens.
- 2 DC: League of Super-Pets – £1,230,422 – £6,226,759
Down 54.3% in its second weekend; took £114,655 more than The Bad Guys (£1,115,767) but while the industry might be using it as a comparison title as Space Jam: A New Legacy (£1,397,044) expectations were surely much higher with Warner giving it a prime July date?
It’s hard to make direct comparisons with other animated films as being DC it won’t play to a similar audience as other animated films, that said The LEGO Batman Movie played across audiences, but that was of course helped by the hugely popular The LEGO Movie opening a couple of years earlier.
757th biggest second weekend between Saw II and Days Of Thunder (close to Pokemon: The First Movie, Jack the Giant Slayer, G-Force and ParaNorman) and 1,109th biggest second-weekend inflation inflated between John Wick: Chapter Two and Baywatch (close to Spies In Disguise, The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, G. I. Joe and Journey 2: The Mysterious Island).
121st biggest animation second weekend between Pokemon: The First Movie and Flushed Away close to The LEGO Ninjago Movie (£1,346,411), Encanto, Megamind (£1,205,320) and The Emoji Movie (£1,189,438) and 149th biggest second-weekend inflation inflated between SpongeBob Movie: Sponge out of Water and Arthur and the Invisibles (close to The Emoji Movie, Spies In Disguise, Shaun the Sheep 2 and The Bad Guys).
Other Warner Animation second weekends Smallfoot (£1,427,000); Storks (£668,760); The Lego Movie: The Second Part (£2,472,489); The Lego Movie (£5,978,904); The LEGO Batman Movie (£4,435,521).
While other similar animated film second weekends took
Spies In Disguise (£1,132,150); The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (£1,121,097); SpongeBob Movie: Sponge out of Water (£1,120,106); The Bad Guys (£1,115,767); The Paw Patrol Movie (£1,023,722); Hotel Transylvania (£1,014,844); Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse (£999,351); Looney Tunes: Back in Action (£993,581)
But hard to make direct comparisons with them as many had weekend previews inflating their openings so their second weekends were much bigger than normal, while some opened in the weeks before school holidays and others in the middle of school holidays. While being in the middle of the summer holidays weekday BO is often more evenly shared with weekend BO.
The combination of superheroes and pets should have been a winning combination before as has been family films about pets many times before in the UK BO. But, maybe the issue was it targeted the same audience as Minions The Rise of Gru, this was also one of the reasons why Lightyear was disappointed at the BO, why release three animated films targetting boys so close to each other? The problem was also several other animated films that could have been released this summer were sold to streaming sites like Luck which was made by Skydance Productions and due to be released by Paramount but was sold last year to Apple.
There are big questions over DC Extended Universe upcoming films after news that the Batgirl film might not be completed after poor test screenings along with the legal issues surrounding Ezra Miller that could impact the release of the $200m budget The Flash due for release in June 2023. This is even more so after reports Batgirl evaluated similar to first screenings of Black Adam the next DC film Warner release in October and then Shazam! Fury of the Gods opens in December, days after Avatar: The Way of Water and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom in March with Blue Beetle in August.
Last summer’s Space Jam: A New Legacy took £12.9m and The Croods 2: A New Age £10m after opening with £1,363,556 and £696,563, as they both had very long legs 9.43x and 14.36x but DC League of Super-Pets won’t hold as strongly.
- 3 Minions: The Rise of Gru – £1,110,963 – £36,707,089
Down 44.2% in its sixth weekend; took £103,777 more than Minions (£1,007,186) and £78,477 less than Despicable Me 3 (£1,189,440) and £178,487 less than Despicable Me 2 (£1,289,450).
4th biggest film of 2022 is The Batman and Jurassic World Dominion; the 7th 2022 release takes £30m+ and the 8th film this year to take £30m+ as in 2022Spider-Man No Way Home took £44m of its BO 2022.
The 11 Illumination Entertainment films have taken almost £350m since the first Despicable Me opened in 2010 and almost £400m worldwide inflation inflated; upcoming Mario opening in April 2023, Migration in June 2023 and Despicable Me 4 July 2024.
110th biggest film between Jurassic World Dominion and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (close to The Secret Life of Pets, Fantastic Beasts 2, Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the WereRabbit and Incredibles) and 255th biggest inflation inflated between Tarzan and Rain-Man (close to Wall·E, Three Men And A Baby, The BFG and Night at the Museum).
15th biggest Universal Pictures film between Jurassic World Dominion and Sing 2 (close to Fifty Shades of Grey, Fast & Furious 7, Furious 8 and Sing) and 19th biggest inflation-inflated Universal Pictures film between Hot Fuzz and Sing 2.
17th biggest animated film between Monsters, Inc. and The Secret Life of Pets (close to The Simpsons, Shrek The Third, Ice Age III and Up) and 36th biggest inflation-inflated animated film between Monsters University and Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (close to Madagascar, Ice Age: Continental Drift, Wall·E and Sing 2).
Sixth weekends
2017’s Despicable Me 3 dropped 47% taking £1,189,440 #4 from 603 screens and £35,851,868 82.7% of £47,562,575; #1 Dunkirk £4,624,570 3rd week; #2 The Emoji Movie £2,702,809 1st week
2015’s Minions dropped 56% taking £1,007,186 #5 from 580 screens and £40,042,323 84.1% of £47,645,626; #1 Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation £5,351,344 1st week; #2 Inside Out £3,574,42 2nd week
2013’s Despicable Me 2 dropped 38% taking £1,289,450 #6 from 527 screens and £38,451,837 81.1% of £47,436,199; #1 The Smurfs 2 £3,220,911 1st wk.; #5 Monsters University £1,753,216 4th wk.
2010’s Despicable Me dropped 41% taking £648,479 #3 from 521 screens and £19,066,830 96.9% of £19,670,786; #1 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 1 £18,319,721 1st week
If Minions: The Rise of Gru holds similar to Minions and Despicable Me 3 it should take about £45m
- 4 Thor: Love and Thunder – £938,257 – £33,275,908
Down 50.8% in its fifth weekend; has taken 2.7x opening similar to Blade Widow, Iron Man 2 and Eternals and stronger than Thor took 2.54x; Thor: The Dark World 2.3x and Thor: Ragnarok 2.5x boosted from summer holidays.
8th biggest MCU fifth weekend between Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 1 and Spider-Man Homecoming (close to Doctor Strange 2, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Avengers: Endgame and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2).
Took £342,223 more than Thor: Ragnarok (£596,034) and £514,883 more than Thor: The Dark (£423,374);
21st biggest comic-book movie in the UK between Spider-Man 3 and Suicide Squad (close to Captain America: Civil War, Batman Vs Superman, Thor: Ragnarok and Spider-Man Homecoming) and 34th biggest inflation inflated between Thor: Ragnarok and Spider-Man Homecoming (close to Hancock, Man of Steel, Superman III and X-Men: The Last Stand).
115th biggest in the UK (136th to take £30m+) between The Inbetweeners Movie 2 and Suicide Squad (close to Fantastic Beasts 2, The Matrix Reloaded, The Lego Movie and Deadpool 2) and 261st biggest inflation inflated between What Women Want and Planet of the Apes (close to Three Men And A Baby, Rain-Man, Never Say Never Again and Hook).
6th biggest 2022 between Jurassic World: Dominion and Sing 2
The 29 MCU films have taken £985m since 2008 (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever will see MCU take over £1bn in the UK) and over £1.2bn inflation inflated.
After 5 weeks has taken about 90% of BO and will take about £37m 10th biggest MCU film similar to Captain Marvel, Spider-Man: Far From Home, Iron Man 3 and Captain America: Civil War, but after the huge BO of Spider-Man No Way Home and Doctor Strange 2 taking £42m, £40m must be the minimum expected for an MCU film now
Fifth weekends
2017’s Thor:Ragnorok dropped 49% £596,034 #6 373 screens taking £29,306,199 94.7% of £30,936,228 #1 Daddy’s Home 2 £4,919,051 1st week
2013’s Thor: The Dark World dropped 41% £423,374 #7 343 screens taking £19,220,530 95.6% of £20.1m; #1 The Hunger Games: Catching Fire £5,525,476 2nd week
2011’s Thor dropped 37% £335,103 #4 311 screens taking £13,497,496 97.4% of £13,854,712; #1 The Hangover Part II £10,409,017 1st week
After 5 weeks Thor: Love and Thunder is the 12th biggest MCU film between Captain Marvel and Spider-Man: Far From Home (close to Iron Man 3, Captain Marvel, Thor: Ragnarok and Spider-Man Homecoming).
Phase 4 of the MCU has been disappointing, even dare I say it Spider-Man No Way Home wasn’t as good as the hype but it was an audience film as it feels very different from watching at home. But as with Top Gun Maverick, opened at the perfect time audiences were primed and were accessible to non-comic-book fans with Hollanders opting to see it again and again instead of other films that opened over the months after.
Interestingly, some of the people who were outraged by Martin Scorsese’s comments about comic-book movies a few years ago are now admitting they were right with the disappointing phase 4 of the MCU, these films are theme park rides with all hype and no sustenance. There was criticism early on that the MCU films were about arrogant white men but Iron Man and Captain America changed through the films they appeared in, but in comic-book movies, since there isn’t that story development in the characters.
The problem is Disney is now targeting MCU on the tween and teen audience who want non-stop action which is exhausting older audiences which is why these films open big and then drop big. Of course, as these films are still taking $700m+ at the BO Disney are unlikely to change its approach to these films anytime soon as seen by recent announcements for phase 5 and 6 which feel like they are more of the exhausting same.
It will be interesting to see if Black Panther Wakanda Forever can match the success of the original, while it will of course open with $180m+ will it have the legs and play to the non-comic-book audience as the original did? Like Spider-Man’s No Way Home Black Panther opened at the perfect moment audiences had been pumped-up for the film for many years, seen as the first black comic-book movie despite opening 20 years after Blade.
- 5.Elvis – £737,844 – £22,690,050
Down 33% in its 7th weekend; has taken 5.64x opening had had the third best legs of the year after Belfast (6.71x) and The Bad Guys (5.93x) held strongly for different reasons.
Elvis has overtaken the BO of Baz Luhrmann’s 2013’s The Great Gatsby (£15.5m) and 2001’s Moulin Rouge (£18.5m). The performance OF Elvis in the UK and the US again show certain films perform better in a crowded marketplace as the films work off each other. This was the case with many of Christopher Nolan’s films, so when he decided Tenet had to open in the summer of 2020 with all other films delayed it was always going to underperform. While his next film Oppenheimer is sandwiched between Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part 1 and The Marvels and against Barbie should hold far stronger.
10th biggest 2022 film between Uncharted and Fantastic Beast 3.
217th biggest film in the UK (281st film to take £20m+) between The Wolf of Wall Street and X-Men 2 (close to The Girl on the Train, Ghost, Gone Girl and Toy Story) and 459th biggest inflation inflated between The Devil Wears Prada and Enemy of the State (close to Sleepless in Seattle, The English Patient, Wedding Crashers and The Commitments).
36th biggest Warner Bros film in the UK between Cats and Dogs and Wonder Woman (close to Sherlock Holmes, Ocean’s Eleven, Dune and The Hangover) and 73rd biggest Warner Bros film inflation inflated between 300 and It Chapter 2 (close to Heat, Interstellar, Ocean’s Thirteen and The Last Samurai).
Elvis’s BO performance does put Dune BO into perspective Dune took $108.32m US 27%, $293.52m internationally 73% and $401.84m worldwide, while Elvis has taken $136.45m in the US 54%, $114.9m internationally 46% and $251.35m worldwide. Dune had a budget twice as big as Elvis but Elvis has taken more than Dune in the US and the UK. It does again show that dating is key Dune performed strongly when it opened internationally early a month before the US and UK opening ahead of No Time To Die but opening a month after No Time To Die in the UK didn’t have the same legs as Elvis taking 3.73x opening.
Elvis is Baz Luhrmann’s 6th film and its 30 years since he made his directorial debut with Strictly Ballroom, he followed that up with three films at 20th Century Fox 1996’s Romeo & Juliet, 2001’s Moulin Rouge and 2008’s Australia, Elvis is his second film for Warner Bros after 2013’s The Great Gatsby.
7th weekends
2001’s Moulin Rouge dropped 20% £690,219 #5 (£1.4m inflation inflated) from 370 screens taking £ £15,321,951 (£29.2m inflation inflated) 84.3% of £18,166,288 (£33m inflation inflated); #1 American Pie 2 £2,823,776 2nd week
2013’s The Great Gatsby dropped 48% £83,278 #12 100 screens £15,446,265 99.7% of £15.5m; #1 Despicable Me 2 £14,822,427 1st week.
Elvis was released on VOD in the UK on August 8th and then will be released on DVD on September 19th.
Also opened
- Westlife: Life From Wembley Stadium – CinemaLive
Opened with £468,214 from 571 screens #8 with screenings on Saturday night and encore screening on Sunday. This was half of what July 2019’s Westlife – The Twenty Tour was £899,488 and much less than Take That concerts. 2015’s Take That Live was £965,000; 2017’s Take That: Wonderland Live from the O2 2017 was £1,004,918 or BTS – Permission to Dance on-Stage Live in March 2022 £899,126.
While NT Live’s Prima Facie took £148,667 in its third-week #9 taking £3,131,620
Other Cinema News
UK BO Jan- July took £607m overtaking 2021’s BO of £597m which was from May- December,
The first 6 months of 2022 have been strong with 11 films taking £20m+ (12 including Spider-Man No Way Home from 2021); Top Gun: Maverick £76,155,349; Spider-Man: No Way Home £44,887,250 (47% of £96m); Doctor Strange 2 £42,012,031; The Batman £40,793,673; Jurassic World Dominion £33,954,058; Minions The Rise of Gru £33,515,009; Sing 2 £32,790,416; Thor: Love and Thunder £30,832,102; Sonic the Hedgehog 2 £26,687,586; Uncharted £24,091,881; Fantastic Beasts 3 £20,909,602; Elvis £20,865,625.
These 12 films have taken £430m+ 71%+ of 2022 BO with Top Gun Maverick taking 12.6%.
The top 12 films in 2021 took £375m 62.8% of 2021 BO but while 2021 had No Time To Die, Spider-Man No Way Home, Dune, Shang-Chi, Venom 2 and Free Guy opening Aug-Dec this year is much softer starting with a soft July has seen most weeks much lower many previous weeks in July over the last 20 years, August won’t be much better as Bullet Train and Nope will take £10m each at most, then Sept/Oct will be no match for last years No Time To Die which then leaves Black Panther Wakanda Forever and Avatar The Way of Water both needing to beat their predecessors BO.
Distributor share Jan-July 2022
Paramount £128m 21.1%
Universal £110m 18.1%
Disney £105m 17.3%
Warner Bros £86m 14.1%
Sony £75.5m 12.4%
Pathe £5.4m 0.9%
EFD £5.3m 0.9%
Lionsgate £1.5m 0.3%
£516.7m taken from the 37 films released by the 8 biggest UK distributors taking 85.1% of 2022 BO £607m (includes £44.5m taken by Spider-Man No Way Home of its BO in 2022).
Paramount will soon be overtaken by Universal Pictures and Disney as the biggest distributor in the UK as only releasing two small films over the remaining 5 months of the year, while Black Panther Wakanda Forever and Avatar: The Way of Water will see Disney more than double their current BO. The positive for the year is despite Disney taking more than double BO than their rivals this year all of the major studios should take £100m+ this year.
There are about 40 more films due to be released by the major distributors between Aug-Dec including re-issues of several films including E.T., Spider-Man: No Way Home, Jaws and Avatar. These films will take about £400m between them. The top 10 films for the rest of the year will take about £250m; Avatar 2 £80m; Black Panther 2 £45m; Matilda £30m; Shazam 2 £20m; Lyle Lyle Crocodile £15m; Black Adam £15m; Strange World £15m; Bullet Train £10m; I Wanna Dance With Somebody £10m.
Event Cinema, Secret Cinema and Matilda BO will have a big impact on BO over the rest of the year, boosting BO and admissions.
UK box office in detail
This weekend’s top 10 box office took £8,741,052 down 19.3% from last weekend’s £10,826,088
696th biggest top 10 of the last 21 years (out of 1,060) between 12 December 2008 #1 The Day the Earth Stood Still £2,752,132 (31.5% of top 10) and 17 February 2006 #1 Chicken Little £2,184,760 (25% of top 10) and 947th biggest inflation inflated between 31 August 2018 #1 Disney’s Christopher Robin £1,173,235 (14.9% of top 10) and 22 September 2006 #1 The Children of Men £1,284,254 (24.6% of top 10)
The weekend admissions were 1,044,114 down 17% from last week’s 1,257,820
Have increased the average ticket price from £7.52 to £8.07 up 7.44% due to the UKCA website reporting admissions for June 2022 11.86m while CinemaScore reported BO for June was £95.8m and to get the average ticket price divide BO by admissions. Being a 7.4% increase makes it impossible to make any direct comparisons with any other films released pre-pandemic.
Top 3 took £5,199,582 59.5% of the top 10; Bullet Train 32.7% (£2,858,197); DC League of Super-Pets 14.1% (£1,230,422); Minion: The Rise of Gru 12.7% (£1,110,963)
Up 3.3% from 2021 (£8,459,738); Stillwater (£478,386); Last Letter From Your Lover (£274,322); Zola (£49,668); Profile (£32,952); #1 The Suicide Squad £2,267,135 2nd week 644 screens down 31% (26.8% of top 10)
Up 1,523% from 2020 (£538,716); American Pickle (£27,732); #1 Unhinged £117,633 2nd week 270 screens (21.8% of top 10)
Down 44.8% from 2019 (£15,821,627); Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw (£6,377,583); Angry Birds 2 (£701,223); The Magic Flute – Glyndebourne 2019 (£132,765); Do The Right Thing (30th Anniversary) (£14,616); #1 Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw £6,377,583 1st week 614 screens (40.31% of top 10)
Down 46.5% from 2018: (£16,330,724); Ant-Man and The Wasp (£4,988,747); Teen Titans Go! to the Movies (£389,726); The Producers (50th Anniversary) (£35,745); #1 Ant-Man and The Wasp £4,988,747 1st week 486 screens (30.5% of top 10)
Down 40.5% from 2017: (£14,684,539); The Emoji Movie (£2,702,809); Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (£1,861,916); England is Mine (£76,895); Maudie (£49,315); #1 Dunkirk £10,023,720 3rd week 690 screens 44% drop (31.5% of top 10)
Down 59% from 2016: (£21,285,722); Suicide Squad (£11,252,225); Sid & Nancy (30th Anniversary) (£6,048); #1 Suicide Squad £11,252,225 1st week 573 screens (52.8% of the top 10)
Down 13% from 2015; (£10,047,581); Fantastic Four (£2,686,176); The Gift (£584,552); The Diary of a Teenage Girl (£81,185); The Rape of Lucretia – Glyndebourne 2015 (£29,796); Marshland (£40,060); Max (£38,901); #1 Fantastic Four £2,686,176 1st week 539 screens (26.7% of top 10)
Down 59.3% from 2014: (£21,448,750); The Inbetweeners 2 (£12,538,114); La Traviata – Glyndebourne 2014 (£112,970); All this Mayhem (£12,247); #1 The Inbetweeners 2 £12,538,114 1st week 509 screens (58.4% of top 10)
Down 43% from 2013: (£15,328,027); The Smurfs 2 (£3,220,911); The Heat (£2,500,522); The Conjuring (£2,156,124); Red 2 (£1,023,349); Only God Forgives (£465,917); From up on Poppy Hill (£33,087); #1 The Smurfs 2 (£3,220,911 1st week 510 screens (21.1% of top 10)
Down 53.6% from 2012 (£18,835,047); Ted (£9,333,700); Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days (£1,537,178); Brave (Scotland) (£820,084); Sound of My Voice (£3,630); #1 Ted £9,333,700 1st week 509 screens (49.5% of top 10)
Down 29.7% from 2011 (£12,426,990); Super 8 (£2,207,063); Mr. Popper’s Penguins (£1,515,248); Sarah’s Key (£116,211); #1 Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 £2,810,088 4th week 525 screens 38% drop (22.6% of top 10)
Down 47% from 2010: (£16,470,599); Knight & Day (£2,404,163); Step Up 3 (£2,015,403); Cats & Dogs: Revenge of Kitty Galore (£1,553,005); #1 Toy Story 3 £4,666,021 3rd week 555 screens 62% drop (28.3% of top 10)
Down 6.9% from 2009; (£9,386,362); The Ugly Truth (£1,976,043); G. I. Joe (£1,708,760); Orphan (£570,146); Mesrine: Killer Instinct (£135,999); Adam (£23,201); #1 The Ugly Truth £1,976,043 1st week 400 screens (21.1% of top 10)
Down 45% from 2008; (£15,871,733); The X-Files: I Want to Believe (£887,209); Space Chimps (£563,543); The Love Guru (£498,829); Man on Wire (£98,508); #1 The Dark Knight £6,737,306 2nd week 510 40% drop screens (42.4% of top 10)
Down 17.7% from 2007:(£10,622,708); Evan Almighty (£1,152,349); The Hoax (£94,136); Happily N’ever After (£62,622); Wind Chill (£23,769); Seraphim Falls (£17,110); #1 The Simpsons £4,027,220 2nd week 519 screens 70% drop (37.9% of top 10)
Down 6.1% from 2006; (£9,307,750); Miami Vice (£2,231,684); My Super Ex-Girlfriend (£714,920); Ant Bully (£382,766); #1 Miami Vice £2,231,684 1st week 408 screens (23.9% of top 10)
Down 9.5% from 2005 (£9,659,697); Herbie: Fully Loaded (£774,412); Stealth (£525,902); The Devil’s Rejects (£323,196); #1 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory £4,441,851 2nd week 532 screens 44% drop (45.9% of top 10)
Down 12.9% from 2004 (£10,036,048); I, Robot (£4,745,541); 13 Going On 30 (£1,184,273); Home on the Range (£198,226); #1 I, Robot £4,745,541 1st week 447 screens (47.3% of top 10)
Down 20.1% from 2003 (£10,939,690); Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (£6,080,369); Legally Blonde 2: Red, White and Blonde (£1,546,483); Spy Kids 3D Game Over (£979,374); #1 Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines £6,080,369 1st 478 screens (55.6% of top 10)
Down 31.6% from 2002 (£12,774,940); Men In Black 2 (£6,191,428); Lost In La Mancha (42,824); Lovely And Amazing (£35,483); #1 Men In Black 2 £6,191,428 1st week 512 screens (48.4% of top 10)
Down 18.7% from 2001 (£10,754,826); Cats and Dogs (£3,707,358); Rush Hour 2 (£2,286,253); Final Fantasy: The Spirits.(£43,546); #1 Cats and Dogs £ 3,707,358 1st week 452 screens (34.4% of top 10);
Next weekend 2021 (£8,885,507); Free Guy (£2,477,891); The Paw Patrol Movie (£2,410,496); Don’t Breathe 2 (£349,702); The Courier (£339,020); #1 Free Guy £2,477,891 1st week from 627 screens (27.9% of top 10)
US Box Office
- Bullet Train – Sony Pictures
Opened with $30.03m; received mixed reviews (57% Rotten Tomatoes) and B+ CinemaScore
Took $4.6m from Thursday previews similar to 2021’s Suicide Squad $4.1m and The Meg $4m ($45.4m opening) while 2019’s Hobbs & Shaw took $5.8m as did Once Upon A Time in Hollywood ($41m opening)
40% of Friday BO was from IMAX/PLF
595th biggest opening between Men in Black: International and Scream (2022) close to John Carter #578, Panic Room #588, Dark Shadows #603 and Ghostbusters 2 #608. Surely that puts the opening into perspective it’s far less impressive than it looks.
Received mixed reviews (57% Rotten Tomatoes) compared to early Quentin Tarantino and Guy Ritchie films thinking it’s far cleverer than it really is and has seen it all before in films like John Wick.
David Leitch previously directed Deadpool 2 (Brad Pitt had a cameo), Atomic Blonde and Hobbs & Shaw
2017’s Atomic Blonde opened $18.28m and $51.68m 51.7% of global BO $100.01m
2018’s Deadpool 2 opened $125.5m and $324.59m 41.3% of the global $785.89m
2019’s Hobbs & Shaw opened $60.3m and $173.95m 22.9% of the global $759.05m
While Brad Pitt’s films have taken $1.93bn in the US and $5.08bn worldwide his biggest films after Deadpool 2 were
2013’s World War Z opened $66.41m and $202.8m 37.5% of the global $540.45m
2005’s Mr and Mrs Smith opened $50.34m and $186.33m 38.2% of global $487.28m
2004’s Troy opened $46.86m and $133.47m 26.8% of the global $497.4m
1995’s Seven $13.94m and $100.12m 30.6% of global $327.33m
And ensembles including the Ocean Eleven trilogy, Inglourious Basterds, Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood, Interview with the Vampire, The Big Short, Sleepers and The Lost City (cameo)
Comparisons have been made with John Wick
2014’s Kingsman: Secret Service opened $36.2m taking $128.26m 51% of global $414.35m
2014’s John Wick opened $14.41m taking $43.03m 50% of the global $86.08m
2017’s John Wick: Chapter Two opened $30.43m taking $92.02m 53.6% of the global $171.54m
2019’s John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum opened $56.81m taking $171.01m 52.3% of the global $327.28m
2010’s Kick-Ass opened $19.82m taking $48.07m 50% of the global $96.18m
2013’s Kick-Ass 2 opened $13.33m taking $28.79m 47.4% of the global $60.79m
2014’s Lucy opened $43.89m taking $126.6m 27.6% of the global $458.86m
2003’s Kill Bill Part 1 opened $22.2m taking $70.09m 58.7% of the global $180.9m
2004’s Kill Bill Part 2 opened $25.6m taking $66.2m 43% of the global $154.11m
2021’s Nobody opened $6.8m taking $27.5m 49.5% of global $55.7m (BO affected by COVID)
Opened with $32.4m from 57 territories taking $4.1m globally from IMAX; opened with UK $3.5m; France $3.1m Mexico $3m; Australia $2.2m; Saudi Arabia $1.9m; Germany $1.5m; Spain $1.4m.
Was expected to open with $60m globally with $30m in the US and $30m internationally
- DC League of Super-Pets – Warner Bros
Dropped 52% in its second weekend taking $11.05m and $45.95m
192nd biggest animated film between Smurfs: The Lost Village and The Fox and the Hound; 1,990th biggest film between Frequency and Medicine Man; 2,976th biggest inflation inflated between Action Jackson and Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2; 23rd biggest 2022 between Death on the Nile and Downton Abbey: A New Era; 329th biggest Warner Bros film between Full Metal Jacket and Made In America.
Second weekends
The Bad Guys dropped 32.2% taking $16.23m and $96.67m and $245.67m worldwide
2001’s Cats and Dogs dropped 44.6% taking $12.03m and $93.38m and $200.68m worldwide
Warner Animation has had mixed success at the BO
2016’s Storks dropped 36.8% taking $13.47m and $38.48m of $72.67m and $183.38m worldwide
2017’s The LEGO Ninjago Movie dropped 43% taking $11.64m and $35.2m of $59.36m and $123.16m worldwide
2018’s Smallfoot dropped 37.5% taking $14.4m and $42.26m of $83.31m and $214.11 worldwide
Took $11.4m (dropped 41%) taking $38.3m internationally from 63 territories and $83.4m worldwide; UK $7.6m; Mexico $4.3m and France $3m; Spain $2.1m
216th biggest animation film worldwide between Fantasia and The Land Before Time; 2,006th biggest film worldwide between Zodiac and The Strangers; 31st biggest 2022 worldwide between Downton Abbey: A New Era and Where the Crawdads Sing; 296th biggest Warner film worldwide between Assassins and Edge of Darkness.
- Nope – Universal Pictures
Dropped 54% taking $8.5m and $97.6m
800th biggest film between Date Night and The Addams Family; 1,425th biggest inflation inflated between The Addams Family and The Expendables 2; 27th biggest horror between Sleepy Hollow and The Others; 113th biggest Universal Pictures film between Parenthood and Public Enemies; 12th biggest 2022 film between The Lost City and The Bad Guys.
Get Out had a $4.5m budget, Us $20m and Nope $68m, Us made a $119m profit and Get Out $124.8m.
EntTelligence reported the average ticket price of $13.21
Third weekends
2017’s Get Out dropped 26.5% taking $20.74m and $110.72m 62.8% of $176.19m and $255.74m worldwide
2019’s Us dropped 58.5% taking $13.79m and $152.38m 87.1% of $175.08m and $255.18m worldwide
Jordan Peele films don’t travel well taking 70% of their global BO in the US and that will be likely for Nope.
- Thor: Love and Thunder – Disney
Dropped 42% in the fifth weekend taking $7.7m and $316.17m
84th biggest film between Jumanji: The Next Level and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (overtaking Thor: Ragnarok #85 $315.05m and Iron Man 2 #86 $312.43m; 202nd inflation inflated between Jumanji: The Next Level and The Amityville Horror (1979); 6th biggest 2022 film between Minions: The Rise of Gru and Sonic the Hedgehog 2; 28th biggest comic-book film between Iron Man 2 and Thor: Ragnarok; 32nd biggest Disney film between Guardians of the Galaxy and Thor: Ragnarok.
Fifth weekends
2017’s Thor Ragnarok dropped 41.4% taking $9.88m #4 and $291.63m 92.6% of $315.06; $538.91m internationally (63.1%) and $853.97m worldwide; #1 Coco $27.53m 2nd wk.
2013’s Thor: The Dark World dropped 56.6% taking $4.81m #4 and $193.71m 93.9% of $206.3m; $438.42m internationally 68% and $644.78m worldwide; #1 Frozen $31.61m 3rd wk.
2011’s Thor dropped 55.4% taking $4.25m #6 and $169.12m 93.4% of $181.03m; $238.29m internationally 60% and $449.32m worldwide; #1 X-Men: First Class $55.1m 1st wk.
Took 11.1m (down 50%) from 48 territories and $382.8m and $699m worldwide; UK $40.3m; Australia $28.6m; Mexico $27.5m; Korea $22.6m; Brazil $21.2m.
133rd biggest worldwide between It and Mission: Impossible—Ghost Protocol; 6th biggest 2022 worldwide between Minions: The Rise of Gru and Fantastic Beasts 3; 32nd biggest comic-book film between The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and Doctor Strange; 42nd biggest Disney film worldwide between Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Doctor Strange.
- Minions: The Rise of Guru
Dropped 35% in the sixth weekend taking $7.11m and $334.57m
15th biggest animated film between Minions and Shrek the Third; 69th biggest film between Aquaman and Spider-Man: Homecoming; 185th biggest inflation inflated between It and True Lies; 10th biggest Universal Pictures film between Minions and Meet the Fockers (overtaking Despicable Me 3 and Despicable Me)
EntTelligence had the highest average ticket price for an animated movie at $12.82; Lightyear ($12.45), Sonic the Hedgehog 2 ($11.76), The Bad Guys ($11.32) and Sing 2 ($10.69).
Despicable Me franchise has taken over $4bn worldwide since the first film was released in 2010
Sixth weekends
2015’s Minions dropped 30.9% $5.14m #8 and $312.96m 93.1% of $336.04m and $1.15bn worldwide 71% $823.39m internationally; #1 Straight Outta Compton $60.2m 1st w/e
2017’s Despicable Me 3 dropped 28.5% $5.42m #10 and $240.92m 91.1% of $264.62m and $1.03bn worldwide 74% $770.17m internationally; #1 The Dark Tower $19.15m 1st week
2013’s Despicable Me 2 dropped 41.6% $5.91m #9 and $338.48m 92% of $368.06m and $970.76m worldwide 62% internationally $602.7m; #1 Elysium $29.8m 1st wk.
2010’s Despicable Me dropped 24.9% $6.97m #6 and $222.19m 88.3% of $251.55m and $543.15m worldwide 53% internationally $291.6m; #1 The Expendables $34.82m 1st w/e
The 12 Illumination Entertainment films have taken over $3bn in the US and over $7.8bn
Took $15.9m (down 42%) from 80 territories and $424.2m and $758.8m worldwide; UK $44m; Australia $28.3m; Brazil $28.3m; Germany $26.1m; Japan $20m; France $20m.
20th biggest animated film worldwide between Coco and Shrek Forever After; 110th biggest film worldwide between Fast & Furious Presents Hobbs & Shaw and Maleficent; 5th biggest 2022 film between The Batman and Thor: Love and Thunder; 14th biggest Universal Pictures film worldwide between Hobbs & Shaw and F9: The Fast Saga.
- Top Gun: Maverick – Paramount Pictures
Dropped 17% in the 11th weekend taking $7m and $662.48m
16% have seen the film more than once in the cinema and 4% have seen it more than 4 times or more.
It will Be re-released on IMAX screens on Friday for encore screenings, IMAX cinemas will then get re-releases of Spider-Man No Way Home, Jaws, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and Avatar over the next month.
14th biggest 11th weekend between Platoon and Chicago;1986’s Top Gun #51 (between Hidden Figures and Crocodile Dundee) took $3.81m ($9m inflation inflated) $95.34m of $176.8m
7th biggest film between Avengers: Infinity War and Titanic; 21st biggest inflation inflated between The Dark Knight and Grease.
Much was made about Top Gun Maverick overtaking Titanic but it’s impossible to compare the two films as Titanic was released 25 years ago when the industry average ticket price was half of what it is now $4.59 Vs $9.18 but the real price is a third of what it is now. The average price for Top Gun Maverick was closed to $15 due to a large percentage of BO from IMAX/PLF/4DX/ScreenX so Titanic inflation inflated would be about $2bn.
4DX is just a gimmick cinema similar to the many formats launched to get people into cinemas in the 50s, the difference this time around is tickets are twice the price of the industry average of normal tickets and formats like 4DX, ScreenX, PLF and Fake IMAX are artificially inflating BO. Titanic was released in 70mm in selective cinemas but those cinemas didn’t charge any more for 70mm despite there being much more work involved in showing the film in the format.
Jaws and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial will be released for the first time in IMAX this month but surely it won’t be any different than seeing these films in 70mm as they were originally released in the then 1,500+ auditoriums which probably had screened a similar size to many of the fake IMAX screens.
Universal Pictures has now overtaken Paramount Pictures as the #1 studio in the US taking 23.3% and $1,156bn; Paramount #2 22.6% $1.11bn; Disney #3 17.2% $852m (with Black Panther 2 and Avatar 2 still to be released Disney could take upwards of $2bn for the year); #4 Warner Bros 13.3% $658m; #5 Sony Pictures 11.7% $581m.
Paramount’s 2023 slate is probably their strongest for more than a decade with Transformers: Rise of the Beats, Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning Part 1, Scream 6 and Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie.
Tom Cruise’s 42 films have taken $5.1bn in the US and $12.1bn worldwide;
Took $10.3m (down 28%) taking $690m and $1,352n from 64 territories; the UK $96.2m; Japan $78.7m; Australia $60.9m; Korea $61m; France $51.6m, 13th biggest film worldwide between Avengers: Age of Ultron and Black Panther; 2nd biggest Paramount Pictures film between Titanic ($2.2bn) and Transformers: Dark of the Moon ($1.12bn)
Has taken $100m+ IMAX worldwide and $50m worldwide from 4DX ($11m from the US)
Top Gun Maverick is the 50th film to take $1bn+ since Jurassic Park in 1993; its Paramount’s first $1bn+ film globally since 2014’s Transformers: Age of Extinction (inflated with China BO)
- Easter Sunday – Universal Pictures
Opened with $5.44m; received mixed reviews (44% Rotten Tomatoes) B+ CinemaScore
Why open a film called Easter Sunday in the middle of August as surely the film’s title tells the studio when to release the film as Valentine’s Day film was released days before Valentine’s Day as New Years Eve days before New Year’s Eve and Groundhog Day days before Groundhog Day.
It was originally set to open on April 1st but then in February, it was strangely moved to August.
It’s like a Christmas film opening in May, this was the case with National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation in the UK which opened in cinemas in May 1990 6 months after the US opening then called National Lampoon’s Winter Holiday. Die Hard was released in July US/February UK but it was only seen as a Christmas film many years later.
- Where The Crawdads Sing – Sony Pictures
Down 25% in its fourth weekend taking $5.67m and $64.64m
Despite receiving poor reviews (33% on Rotten Tomatoes) audience reaction has been far more positive with an audience score of 96% and the film has held far stronger than many expected. Held well as Elvis probably due to a lack of films targetting female audiences this summer as almost all of the other films were aimed at male audiences
Took $1.6m from 4 territories and $12.7m and $77.3m worldwide; took £501,947 #7 in its third weekend in the UK and £5,306,310
- Bodies Bodies Bodies – A24
Opened $226,653 from 6 screens #15 with a very strong average of $37,776. The female-led slasher black comedy has received positive reviews since premiering at South By Southwest in March. It has been described as Scream for the Zoomer Generation and was inspired by Heathers.
Sony Pictures will release it in the UK on 9th September.
UK Box Office Top 10
UK Box Office Preview
Nope is Jordan Peele’s third film after Get Out and Us, while Nope received positive reviews (82% on Rotten Tomatoes) audience reaction has been poorer (68% audience score) this has been seen by the film dropping over 50% in its second and third weekends in the US.
Jordan Peele films don’t travel well internationally taking 70% of their BO in the US.
2019’s Us opened £2,766,839 3.7% of US ($71.11m) taking £9,071,603 5.2% of $175.08m
2017’s Get Out opened £2,160,099 6.5% of US ($33.37m) taking £10,053,463 5.7% of ($176.2m)
Much was made in the US that Nope had the biggest opening for an original film in the US but Jordan Peele films have become a brand similar to M. Night Shyamalan and their BO has been similar to those who went to see Get Out will have also seen Us and will also see Nope, but Nope gets an advantage as it opens in IMAX/PLF screens, so would expect it to open bigger than Get Out and Us but it will likely open similar to Get Out. Of course, exhibitors have an inbuilt excuse if Nope isn’t the hit expected as the weekend will have temperatures into the 90s again, but studios have been opening their biggest films of the year in the summer for decades and advertising them as seen in air-conditioned cinemas.
Attached to the front of IMAX screenings of Nope will be the trailer of Christopher Nolan’s ensemble Oppenheimer.
Nope will open on 50 IMAX screens in the UK including Vue Printworks Manchester the only IMAX cinema in the UK that will screen the film in the full 1.43 IMAX format; 49 minutes of the film was shot in IMAX.
Receiving mixed reviews and having an inflated opening Bullet Train will likely drop 60%+ in its second weekend again Jordon Peele’s Nope which will take all the IMAX screens, taking £1m-£1.6m.
DC League of Super-Pets and Minions: The Rise of Gru will drop 40%-45% taking £700k-£850k each and Thor: Love and Thunder will drop another 50% in its 6th weekend taking £500k+ with Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis now available on VOD this could bring Top Gun Maverick back into the top 5.
While Top Gun Maverick returns to IMAX cinemas this weekend in the US it is unknown if it will have encore screenings in IMAX cinemas in the UK as Nope will play in IMAX cinemas this week and then Dragon Ball Super: SUPER HERO next week and then E.T. (40th Anniversary), Spider-Man: No Way Home, Jaws and Avatar in September.
As with the US the next 11 weeks until Black Adam opens at the end of October will see UK BO very soft, last weekend was the lowest third lowest first weekend in August for 21 years only last year and 2020 were the worst and it won’t get much better over the next few weeks. After all the positivity of May and June, July normally is a very strong month but has been soft exhibitors will blame the hot weather but that’s just an excuse as summer has always been the time when studios open their biggest films.
British films like Fisherman’s Friends: One And All opening next weekend could see BO now drop as low as the US will surely go while Universal Pictures surprisingly opens Ticket To Paradise a month ahead of the US, starring George Clooney and Julia Roberts in their first film together since Money Monster, it looks like Mamma Mia without music.
Opening next week
- Dragon Ball Super: SUPER HERO – Sony Pictures
Japanese animated martial arts fantasy adventure film
Several Dragon Ball films have been released over the last decade but after the strong BO of Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba-The Movie: Mugen Train in May 2021 (£693,081 including £389,220 from previews) #4 from 336 screens (10 days after cinemas reopened) taking £1,357,821.
Dragon Ball Super: SUPER HERO will have the widest opening to date and will play in many IMAX cinemas in the UK.
It opened in June in Japan delayed from April after the film was affected by ransomware released by Crunchyroll and Sony Pictures outside Japan.
Jujutsu Kaisen 0 opened with £825,529 in March while 2003’s Spirited Away took £919,307 after opening #13 with £152,504 from 51 screens (didn’t expand further).
As with Paw Patrol films over recent years many Anime films have been released by exhibitors with 2015’s Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F’ released by National Amusements opening #11 taking £151,087 from 74 screens and National Amusements released several Anime films in 2017; 2019’s Dragon Ball Super: Broly opened #7 with £851,508 from 188 screens.
2020’s re-release of Akira opened #3 with £201,124 from 109 screens only weeks after UK cinemas reopened after the first lockdown, its re-release had been planned to have a 300+ opening but Cineworld/Picturehouse closed their 127 cinemas days before it was to open.
While National Amusements released Belle in February opened #9 with £152,287 from 147 screens
- Fisherman’s Friends: One And All – Entertainment Film Distributors
British romantic comedy starring James Purefoy, David Hayman, Dave Johns, Sam Swainsbury, Maggie Steed and Imelda May and directed by Nick Moorcroft & Meg Leonard.
The first film Fisherman’s Friends opened with £1,154,865 in March 2019 taking £7,380,488, can the magic strike twice, the film’s release date has moved many times was going to open in April and then September before moving to August while Entertainment Films advertised the film very early in July 2021 on the back of The Sunday Times Culture after they delayed the release on The Green Knight days before it was due to be released In the UK.
Mid to late August has been a very lucrative time to release a British comedy as the marketplace is less crowded due to a slowdown in US releases and this August is the 25th anniversary of the biggest feel-good British comedy The Full Monty.
Entertainment Film Distributors had huge success opening two Inbetweeners movies in August; 2011’s The Inbetweeners Movie opened £13,216,736 taking £45,030,412 (£60,040,549 inflation inflated) and 2014’s The Inbetweeners Movie 2 opened £12,538,114 taking £33,386,962 (£40,143,847 inflation inflated).
While Sunshine on Leith opened #3 with £770,239 from 400 screens in October 2013, down only 5% in its second-weekend #2 taking £732,296 from 426 screens and £2,165,216 taking £4,550,851.
Entertainment Films always heavily market their films and over the last 30 years have regularly invested in making British films alongside acquiring films and are the one British independent distributor that has managed to outlast so many others over the last 40 years. So many companies have opened UK operations over the years often spending huge on acquiring a film in the hope they can crack the UK market but there have been so many casualties along the way the latest being STX closing UK operations only 5 years after opening.
So many UK distributors have either been acquired by foreign companies like Redbus, Optimum and Momentum or closed like Koch, this is why the National Lottery funding to the British Film Industry over the last 25+ years should have been spent building infostructure rather than investing in single films. In the mid-90s National Lottery invested £95m into three film production franchises DNA, Pathé and the Film Consortium, Entertainment Films was one of the companies that bid for a franchise but they were rejected. The three franchises over the next few years struggled to make films and the films they made struggled at the box office.
