- Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy £12,298,966 – NE
Included £2,100,511 from Thursday previews.
Took £3.54m 28.79% Friday; £3.67m 29.84% Saturday; £2.98 24.22% Sunday; took £1.81m Monday: £2.04m Tuesday.
70th biggest opening between Fantastic Beasts 2 and Thor: Love and Thunder (close to The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1, The Inbetweeners Movie 2, Jurassic World Dominion and The Twilight Saga: New Moon) and the 120th inflated opening between The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 and Hannibal (close to Sex and the City, Meet the Fockers, Jurassic Park and Love Actually).
3rd biggest opening over the last 52 weeks between Wicked and Moana 2 (close to Sonic The Hedgehog 3, Inside Out 2, Paddington In Peru and Dune: Part 2).
4th biggest February opening after Black Panther (£17.6m); Deadpool (£13.7m); Fifty Shades Of Grey (£13.5m) and the biggest opening since Wicked £13.6m in November will likely be the biggest opening of the year until April.
Took £2.1m from previews on Thursday the highest single day of previews for a rom-com similar to 2008’s Sex And The City; the biggest opening for a rom-com ahead of Edge of Reason; the biggest Working Title opening and the 11tg biggest Universal Pictures opening after Jurassic World Dominion and ahead of Oppenheimer, Minions and Despicable Me 3
9th widest opening in 727 cinemas (2,250 screens) 38th 700+ cinema opening since 2018’s Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (close to Paddington In Peru, Downton Abbey, The Little Mermaid and Barbie)
Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy had the best advance sales than Barbie in July 2023 according to exhibitors. Odeon reported last Thursday said they had sold 70,000 tickets, outselling Barbie with about 20% for Thursday and about a third for Valentine’s Day. Curzon said advance sales were 20% more than Barbie. Everyman Cinemas had their biggest-ever three-day opening beating the record previously set by No Time to Die.
The target demographic for Mad About The Boy is older than Barbie will be women 35+ mums with their mums while Barbie was mums with daughters; 60%+ female and over 50% were aged 25+
2001’s Bridget Jones’s Diary opened £5,720,292/£11,012,253 taking £41,692,598/£80,263,286
2004’s Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason opened £10,435,193/£18,523,049 taking £35,954,611/£63,821,436
2016’s Bridget Jones’s Baby opened £8,111,077/£8,724,060 taking £48,050,641/£51,681,998
While Mad About The Boy is perfectly dated for Valentine’s Day it’s the start of February half-term and as with Fifty Shades of Grey opening 10 years ago, it’s not a film.
Bridget is perfectly dated for Valentine’s Day, next week is half-term it’s unlikely anyone under 35 will be interested in seeing Bridget so younger audiences either have Dog Man or Brave New World.
Reviews have been predictably mixed as it depends on whether they grew up watching the Bridget Jones films over the last 24 years.
10 years ago, Fifty Shades of Grey opened Valentine’s Day weekend at £13,550,290 ((took £4.61m Friday) taking £38,570,543/£42,368,752; Fifty Shades Darker opened £7,906,468 and Fifty Shades Freed £6,132,414.
What’s the normal breakdown of presales for films over weeks ahead of opening compared with on-the-day walk-in sales? Presale data is rarely made public for films in the UK.
Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy was released on Peacock in the US not having a theatrical release while the first film was moderately successful in the US (probably helped by being trailered with What Women Want, Miss Congeniality and The Wedding Planner) the two sequels flopped so the fourth would have also failed to find an audience in the US as the British style cringing comedy doesn’t work that well in the US.
Many were concerned with piracy for Mad About the Boy affecting its UK release but it’s not the kind of film people will seek out pirates for as it’s a film to see in the cinema in a group or mothers with daughters.
Mad About the Boy opened with $35.5m from 70 territories.
It will drop 40% (30% without previews) in its second weekend taking about £7m and will have taken close to £25m by Sunday taking about £2m a day over 11 days of release.
- 2. Captain America: Brave New World £6,404,345 – NE
Took £2.33m 36.38% Friday; £2.38m 37.16% Saturday; £1.69m 26.45% Sunday; took £1m Monday; £967k Tuesday
214th biggest opening between Up and Hannibal (close to The Martian, 2012, Godzilla (2014) and Hobbs & Shaw) and 330th biggest inflated opening between Mrs Doubtfire and Gladiator (close to Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Wall·E, The Flintstones and The Matrix)
13th biggest opening over the last 52 weeks between Bob Marley: One Love and Joker: Folie à Deux (close to Beetlejuice 2, Nosferatu, Kung Fu Panda 4 and It Ends with Us).
24th biggest MCU between Blade Widow and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 1 (close to Iron Man 2, Captain America: Winter Soldier, Shang-Chi and Iron Man) and
48th biggest comic-book opening between X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 1 (close to Justice League, X-Men: The Last Stand, Wonder Woman and Venom 2) and 64th biggest inflated opening between Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer and The Hulk (close to Superman Returns, Batman, Fantastic Four and The Mask)
186th widest opening 618 cinemas (about 1,500 screens) 247th 600+ opening since 2015’s Jurassic World
57% were male, and 82% had seen some or all of the previous MCU films.
It was the first time since the first Captain America film opened in July 2011 MCU has a major film opening against it and will not open #1 in the UK. While buzz is strong for Bridget it’s soft for Brave New World.
Brave New World opened with 114.7% more than The First Avenger; 6% more than Winter Soldier but 55.7% less than Civil War.
2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger opened £2,981,590/£3,295,877 taking £9,379,436/£10,368,114
2014’s Captain America: Winter Soldier opened £6,037,850/£6,674,295 taking £19,261,224/£21,291,533
2016’s Captain America: Civil War opened £14,466,681/£17,157,656 taking £36,771,782/£43,611,771
It’s the first MCU film to have a major film opening against it and will be the first film since Captain America: The First Avenger not to open #1; Winter Soldier #1 for 2 weeks and Civil War for 3 weeks.
Immediate premier reactions to Brave New World were positive expectations were low after buzz had been soft for months and received much negativity due to poor test screenings and extensive reshoots but then reviews once the embargo ended were poor.
The Marvels Brave New World is a follow-up TV series rather than an MCU film which could alienate some and confuse others with Steve Rogers not being Captain America as he was last seen in Avengers Endgame back in the 40s.
It was originally due to be released in May 2024, then July 2024 and finally moved to February 2025. According to reports the film had poor test screenings and three major sequences were cut, and it had extensive reshoots.
The first footage was screened at CinemaCon in April 2024 more footage was screened at CineEurope in June 2024, and the teaser trailer was released in July 2024 comparisons have been made of 70s political thrillers like 1972’s The Candidate, 1973’s The Day of the Jackal, 1984’s The Parallax View and 1976’s All the President’s Men.
The 35 MCU films have taken £1.145bn and £1.25bn inflated since 2008 with Disney’s 30 MCUs since 2012 taking almost £1.1bn.
- 3. Dog Man £1,852,706 – £5,650,146
Took £296k 16% (-28.5% £414k) Fri; £842k 45.5% (-46.7% £1.58m) Sat; £714k 38.5% (£2.114m -66.2%) Sun; took £744k Monday; £787k Tuesday.
Dropped 43% in its second weekend.
518th biggest second weekend between Calendar Girls and Starsky & Hutch (close to Charlotte’s Web, Bedtime Stories, Titanic 3D and Jurassic Park 3) and 884th biggest inflated second weekend between Lost in Translation and The Iron Lady (close to Dirty Dancing, Dangerous Minds, Kindergarten Cop and Sliding Doors).
23rd biggest second weekend of the last 52 weeks between Bad Boys: Ride or Die and If (close to The Wild Robots, Back to Black, A Quiet Place: Day One and Twisters).
85th biggest animated film second weekend between Cars 2 and Cars (close to How to Train Your Dragon 2, Lilo & Stitch, The Emperor’s New Groove and Shaun The Sheep Movie) and 128th biggest inflated second weekend between Kung Fu Panda 3 and Rio 2 (close to Team America: World Police, The Good Dinosaur, Rugrats in Paris: The Movie and Looney Tunes: Back in Action).
24th biggest Dreamworks Animation second weekend between How To Train Your Dragon 2 and Kung Fu Panda 3 (close to Over The Hedge, The Wild Robot, Kung Fu Panda 3 and Antz) and 29th biggest inflated Dreamworks Animation second weekend between Kung Fu Panda 3 and Puss in Boots (close to Flushed Away, How to Train Your Dragon, Megamind and Bee Movie).
A spinoff to 2017’s Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie dropped 76.2% £594,874 and £4,409,725 -76.2% of £8,100,263 dropped heavily in its second weekend due to The Emoji Movie opening £2,702,809 #2. Spinoff.
Recent Dreamworks Animation second weekends
2024’s The Wild Robot dropped 46.3% £1,943,087 and £6,420,643 47.2% of £13,611,793
2024’s Kung Fu Panda 4 dropped 58.7% £2,834,711 and £12,792,574 58.7% of £21,805,140
2023’s Trolls Band Together dropped 16.7% £2,539,720 and £9,004,554 58.8% of £15,316,583
2023’s Puss in Boots: The Last Wish dropped 38% £3,066,908 and £9,188,501 of £25,633,299
2022’s The Bad Guys dropped 50.8% £1,120,106 and £4,851,614 36% of £13,478,928
A decade ago, there used to be a couple of family films opening ahead of the February half-term but over recent years there has only been one opening last year Migration; in 2023 Puss in Boots: The Last Wish; in 2022 Sing 2, 2020 was the last year with two family films opening ahead of February half-term Dolittle taking £15,943,992 and Sonic The Hedgehog taking £19,280,822.
The two children’s films would take about £50m combined but not as the one is taking half as much.
Dog Man should take £3m+ Mon-Thurs about £750k daily and £5m+ by Sunday.
- 4. Heart Eyes £710,233 – NE
Included £97,252 from previews
Took £311k Friday 43.8%; £189k Saturday 26.62%; £210k 29.58% Sunday.
2,221st biggest opening between Rob Roy and The Back-Up Plan (close to I Know What You Did Last Summer, The Game, The Pope’s Exorcist and Pulp Fiction) and 2,764th biggest inflated opening between Romy and Michelle and Running Scared (1986) (close to 21 Bridges, The Vanishing (1993), Jaws – The Revenge and The Lost Boys).
182nd biggest horror opening between I Know What You Did Last Summer and The Pope’s Exorcist (close to Jennifer’s Body, Happy Death Day 2U, Fright Night and Carrie (2013).
Opened bigger than Imaginary (£652k) and Wolf Man (£647k) but just below Blink Twice (£746k)
53rd biggest opening over the last 52 weeks between The Apprentice and Kraven the Hunter (close to Monkey Man, Blink Twice, Abigail and The Substance)
Has been compared to self-aware horrors like Scream with a twist similar to Scream films as well as 1999’s I Know What You Did Last Summer opened £802,498/£1,509,687 taking £2,674,688/£5,031,717), Urban Legend, Cherry Falls it and Valentine.
This summer sees a reboot of I Know What You Did Last Summer a few years after Scream reboot in 2022 Scream the reboot will include surviving members of the previous films alongside a new group.
- 5. Mufasa: The Lion King £453,824 – £30,980,906
Down 35.2% in its ninth weekend
The 62nd biggest ninth weekend between Barbie and Black Panther (close to Finding Dory, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, The Bodyguard and Inside Out) and the 120th inflated ninth weekend between Bohemian Rhapsody and Ralph Breaks the Internet (close to The Wedding Singer, Toy Story 2, Flubber and Home Alone).
Ninth weekends
1994’s The Lion King dropped 26.5% £244,398/£599,339 and £19,346,235 of £22,525,524/£55,239,516
Disney’s reimagination sequels have failed to repeat success.
2013’s Maleficent dropped 60% £74,639/£80,280 and £18,522,352 of £19,453,353; Sequel 2019’s Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil dropped 29.4% £12,660 and £14,603,713 of £14,773,607.
2010’s Alice in Wonderland dropped 49.8% £139,995/£187,523 and £42,169,542 of £42,169,542; sequel 2016’s Alice Through The Looking Glass took £9,915,284.
The biggest Disney re-imagination eighth weekends:
2017’s Beauty and the Beast dropped 26.8% £306,600/£326,249 and £71,625,390 of £72,430,579
2019’s The Lion King dropped 36% £439,795/£485,480 and £73,846,727 of £75,938,299/£83,826,626
2016’s The Jungle Book dropped 27.7% £412,358/£443,521 and £45,111,681 of £46,235,032
2019’s Aladdin dropped 44.6% £197,096/£217,570 and £35,645,497 of £36,710,978
2023’s The Little Mermaid dropped 69.3% £113,018 and £26,819,907 of £27,275,784
Disney have two more reimaginations set for release in 2025 Snow White and Lilo & Stitch with Moana set for release in 2026 and Tangled in development. While Snow White has received much negativity coverage nostalgia for the original film will bring in audiences as they have done for all other first-part reimaginations.
145th biggest between Shrek Forever After and Thor: Ragnarok (close to Slumdog Millionaire, Gladiator, Notting Hill and The BFG) and 307th biggest inflated between Star Trek: Into Darkness and X-Men: The Last Stand (close to A Fish Called Wanda, Downton Abbey, Monsters vs. Aliens and Sing).
UK box office in detail
The weekend’s top 10 box office took £22,858,608 up 193.5% from last weekend’s £7,787,566: 2,953,309 admissions up 198.9% from 987,942 admissions.
5th biggest weekend of the last 52 weeks between 26 July 2024 #1 Deadpool and Wolverine £17,276,621 (71.35%) and 15 November 2024 #1 Gladiator II £9,155,050 (46.53%)
11th biggest since cinemas reopened out of 222 weeks between 06 May 2022 #1 £24,551,813Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness £19,765,718 (83.44%) and 07 April 2023 #1 Super Mario Bros £15,691,810 (74.1%)
42nd biggest top 10 of the last 22 years (out of 1,193) between 02 November 2012 #1 Skyfall £16,107,687 (70.06%) and 16 November 2018 #1 Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald £12,318,966 (54.33%) and 129th inflated between 13 July 2012 #1 Ice Age: Continental Drift £10,087,052 (55.21%) and 14 October 2005 #1 WOG: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit £9,374,932 (69.58%)
The top 3 took (£20,556,017) 90% of the top 10; Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy 53.8% (£12,298,966); Captain America: Brave New World 28% (£6,404,345); Dog Man 8.1% (£1,852,706).
233rd biggest percentage share #1 (53.8%) between 19 March 2004 #1 Starsky & Hutch £4,145,897 (53.81%) and 18 July 2014 #1 Dawn of the Planet of the Apes £8,705,995 (53.73%)
124th biggest admissions #1 (1,589,014) between 08 July 2022 #1 Thor: Love And Thunder £12,283,719 (1,597,363) and 02 May 2003 #1 X-Men 2 £7,037,861 (1,585,104)
Up 55.1% from 2024; (£14,740,526); Bob Marley: One Love (£6,950,773) Madame Web (£2,273,544); The Taste Of Things (£235,241); Les Miserables (2024 Re-Issue (£169,006); #1 Bob Marley: One Love £6,950,773 1st week 688 screens (47.15%of top 10)
Up 54.2% from 2023; (£14,821,149); Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (£8,834,435); Marcel The Shell With Shoes On (£141,454); The Son (£48,251); #1 Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania £8,834,435 1st week 676 screens (59.61% of top 10)
Up 96% 2022 (£11,663,829); Dog (£822,123); #1 Uncharted £3,775,360 2nd week 19% drop 630 screens (32.37% of top 10)
2021 Lockdown
Up 38.2% 2020; (£16,539,141); Sonic The Hedgehog (£4,733,768); Emma (£1,635,797); Ghost (30th Anniversary) (£78,805); The Lost Boys (Re: 2020) (£61,613); #1 Sonic The Hedgehog £4,733,768 1st week 619 screens (28.6% of the top 10)
Up 105.6% from 2019: (£11,116,499); Instant Family (£2,469,853); Happy Death Day 2U (£735,454); The Kid Who Would be King (£666,749); A Private War (£223,438); Notting Hill (20th Anniversary) (£1,125); #1 The LEGO Movie 2 £2,472,489 2nd week 652 screens 38% drop (22.2% of top 10)
Down 21.5% from 2018; (£29,122,391); Black Panther (£17,700,000); The Shape of Water (£2,466,217); Father Figures (£250,465); Lady Bird (limited) (£184,254); #1 Black Panther £17,700,000 1st week 585 screens (60.8% of top 10)
Up 26.5% 2017: (£18,070,709); John Wick: Chapter Two (£2,232,055); The Great Wall (£1,646,516); Hidden Figures (£1,448,214); Moonlight (£621,836); Fences (expansion) (£378,351); Moulin Rouge! (Secret Cinema 2017) (£376,900); The Founder (£231,716); Disney’s Newsies: The Broadway Musical (£107,496); #1 The LEGO Batman Movie £4,435,521 2nd week 618 screens 44% drop (24.5% of top 10)
Up 40.9% 2016: (£16,221,692); How To Be Single (£1,876,539); Triple 9 (£812,619); The Finest Hours (£247,643); #1 Deadpool £5,694,280 2nd week 571 screens 59% drop (35.1% of top 10)
Up 3.6% 2015; (£22,051,391); Fifty Shades of Grey (£13,550,290); Peppa Pig: The Golden Boots (£687,417); Love is Strange (£99,755); Grease Sing-along (Re: 2015) (£10,694); #1 Fifty Shades of Grey £13,550,290 1st week 586 screens (61.4% of top 10)
Up 29.6% 2014: (£17,643,201); The Lego Movie (£8,051,140); The Monuments Men (£1,616,625); Tinker Bell and the Pirate Fairy (£966,920); Cuban Fury (£966,276); Endless Love (£744,867); Her (£449,307); The Book Thief (limited) (£16,795); Sleepless in Seattle (Re: 2014) (£19,492); #1 The Lego Movie £8,051,140 1st week 547 screens (45.6% of top 10)
Up 51.5% 2013: (£15,084,507); A Good Day to Die Hard (£4,551,116); This is 40 (£1,229,352); Beautiful Creatures (£1,109,167); Sammy’s Great Escape (£519,049); #1 A Good Day to Die Hard £4,551,116 1st week 484 screens (30.2% of top 10)
Up 67.9% 2012: (£13,615,154); Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (£1,340,000); Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (£372,205); #1 The Woman in Black £3,501,601 2nd week 433 screens 11% up (25% of top 10)
Up 30.7% 2011; (£17,491,609); Paul (£5,517,121); Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son (£1,433,778); Justin Bieber: Never Say Never (£820,592); Inside Job (£70,375); #1 Paul £5,517,121 1st week 429 screens (31.5% of top 10)
Up 85.2% 2010: (£12,339,641); The Lovely Bones (£1,637,579); Solomon Kane (£611,886); Crazy Heart (£102,917); #1 Avatar £2,817,009 10th week (9 weeks #1 with week gap) 391 screens (22.8% of top 10)
Up 38.8% 2009; (£16,464,180); Bolt (£5,457,438); Hotel for Dogs (£1,500,298); Friday the 13th (£1,198,653); Notorious (£1,119,587); Pink Panther 2 (£821,726); Under the Sea 3D (£21,357); #1 Bolt £5,457,438 1st week 496 screens (33.1% of top 10)
Down 132.8% 2008; (£9,817,133); Jumper (£3,068,803); The Bucket List (£602,248); There Will Be Blood – expansion (£540,472); All the Boys Love Mandy Lane (£103,084); #1 Jumper £3,068,803 1st week 406 screens (32.2% of top 10)
Up 74.9% 2007: (£13,071,799); Hot Fuzz (£5,918,149); Because I Said So (£400,987); The Science of Sleep (£130,139); Casablanca (re:06) (£29,446); #1 Hot Fuzz £5,918,149 1st week 427 screens (45.3% of top 10)
Up 161.5% 2006; (£8,740,291); Casanova (£550,775); Aeon Flux (£512,426); Good Night, and Good Luck (£405,200); #1 Chicken Little £2,184,760 2nd week 515 screens 31% drop (25% of top 10)
Up 129% 2005: (£9,981,514); Shall We Dance? (£1,080,140); Are We There Yet? (£887,814); In Good Company (£594,316); #1 Meet the Fockers £1,893,131 4th week 454 screens 36 drops (18.9% of top 10)
Up 145.2% 2004; (£9,322,973); Cheaper by the Dozen (£1,817,148); The Haunted Mansion (£1,677,927); Looney Tunes: Back in Action (£926,447); Tooth (£209,049); #1 Cheaper by the Dozen £1,817,148 1st week 364 screens (19.5% of top 10)
Up 117.7% 2003 (£10,500,986); Daredevil (£1,953,136); Treasure Planet (£888,084); The Hours (£616,573); Undercover Brother (£235,527); #1 Two Weeks’ Notice £2,189,331 2nd week 416 screens 17% drop (20.8% of top 10)
Up 52.9% from 2002: (£14,947,751); Ocean’s Eleven (£5,095,062); Ali (limited) (£125,573); #1 Monsters, Inc. £5,757,712 2nd week 504 screens 37% drop (38.5% of top 10)
2024 Next week: (£8,042,310); Wicked Little Letters (£1,642,777); Demon Slayer: No Yaiba – To The Hashira Training (£641,878); Vanya – NT Live 2024 (£327,444); #1 Bob Marley: One Love £2,387,019 2nd week 66% drop 713 screens (29.7% of top 10)
US Box Office
- Captain America: Brave New World – Disney
Opened $89.84m; received mixed reviews (52% Rotten Tomatoes) and B- CinemaScore; Eternals (B), The Marvels (B) and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (B).
Took $12m from Thursday midnights; Captain America: Civil War $25m; Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania $17.5m; Captain America: The Winter Soldier $10.2m; Captain America: The First Avenger $4m.
106th biggest opening between Spider-Man 2 and Fast Five (close to X-Men: Days of Future Past, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, X2: X-Men United and X-Men Origins: Wolverine).
24th biggest MCU between Spider-Man: Far From Home and Thor: The Dark World (close to Iron Man, Captain America: Winter Soldier, Thor: The Dark World and Black Widow) and the 29th biggest inflated MCU opening between Ant-Man and the Wasp and Black Widow (close to Thor, Captain America The First Avenger, The Incredible Hulk and Shang-Chi).
4th fourth biggest Presidents Day weekend after Black Panther ($242m), Deadpool ($152m) Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania ($120m) and the 35th consecutive MCU #1 opening film.
Opened in 400 IMAX screens, 950 PLF, 2,500+ 3D, 325 D-Box/4D and 100 ScreenX.
Took 10.4% ($10.5m) IMAX and 27% PLF; 37% from IMAX/PLF
62% male / 38% female; 9% between 13-17; 20% between 18-24; 29% 25-34; 42% 35+
EntTelligence reported 5.7m admissions; average ticket prices were $15.17 (standard) and $18.60 (PLF/IMAX); 51% saw it on Saturday before 5 pm.
Brave New World has about 600m followers on social media normal for superhero movies; 21% down TikTok, Facebook, X, YouTube and Instagram combined compared to Deadpool & Wolverine having 1.15bn followers ahead of the opening, Thor: Love & Thunder 963m in July 2022.
Ahead of opening Brave New World was expected to open with $90m+ and $200m worldwide; opens the same weekend as 2018’s Deadpool opened $134.43m taking $363.07m and $782.83m WW; 2018’s Black Panther opened $202m taking $700.42m and $1.349bn WW; 2023’s Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantamania opened $106.1m taking $214.5m and $376.07m WW.
MCU will never die as there will always be an audience, so they will always open with about $100m boosted by about 50% from IMAX/PLF/3D/4DX but then they will drop 60% in the second weekend as they are all hype no sustenance.
The problem is ever since Disney acquired Marvel they have always taken the easy option.
Black Panther was originally planned to be one of the first 10 films, but Marvel waited until they felt audiences would be accepting of a non-male superhero (10 years after Iron Man). This was similar to waiting until 2019 for the first female-led superhero film, as Black Widow should have been made in 2014.
While the upcoming MCU is yet another oddball team of superheroes, Thunderbolts is the fourth Fantastic Four film in 20 years, followed by more sequels and exhausting Avengers films.
2016’s Captain America: Civil War opened $179.13m taking $408.08m and $1.155bn WW
2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier opened $95.02m taking $259.76m and $714.42m WW
2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger opened $65.05m taking $176.65m and $370.56m WW
MCU films have taken $12.5bn in the US and $31.2bn worldwide.
Opened with $92.4m from 52 territories and $192.4m worldwide; China $10.5m; UK $8.5m; Mexico $6.6m; Korea $5.6m; France $4.7m.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier opened $75.2m from 32 territories; Korea $10.9m; UK $10.1m; Mexico $8.6m; France $6.1m; Took $18m worldwide from IMAX.
- Paddington In Peru – Sony Pictures
Opened $12.75m; received positive reviews (94% Rotten Tomatoes) and A CinemaScore
Took $600k from Thursday midnights.
2014’s Paddington opened $16.96m taking $76.27m and $326.08m WW
2017’s Paddington 2 opened $11m taking $40.9m and $290.13m WW
Took $7.3m internationally $115.8m total and $128.8m worldwide; almost half from the UK $44.7m
- Dog Man – Universal Pictures
Down 29% in its third weekend $9.79m and $66.87m
727th biggest third weekend between Edge of Tomorrow and Bolt (close to Chicken Run, Goosebumps, The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part and The Bad Guys.
2017’s Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie dropped 41% $7.18m and $57.79m of $73.91m and $125.42m WW
Most recently Dreamworks Animation
2024’s The World Robot dropped 25.9% $14m and $84.28m of $143.89m and $324.77m worldwide
Dreamworks Animation films have taken $6.6bn in the US and $17.6bn worldwide since 1998.
2024’s Kung Fu Panda 4 dropped 45.3% $16.5m and $132.93m of $193.59m and $547.69m worldwide
2023’s Trolls Band Together dropped 56% $7.83m and $75.06m of $103.97m and $210.65m worldwide
2022’s Puss in Boots: The Last Wish dropped 19.5% $13.54m and $88.12m of $186.09m and $485.25m worldwide
2022’s The Bad Guys dropped 41% $9.57m and $57.37m of $97.45m and $250.9m worldwide
Took $4.2m from 47 territories and $17.6m and $85.5m worldwide; has a staggering international opening.
UK Box Office Top 10
UK Box Office Preview
Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy will drop about 40% in its second weekend (30% without previews) taking £6.5m-£7.5m similar to the second weekend drop for 2016’s Bridget Jones’s Baby (down 20.4% £6,453,799/£6,897,988 and £21,219,529 44.1% of £48,150,737.
2004’s Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason dropped 51.6% £5,047,315/£8,903,059 and £20,691,687 57.5% of £35,954,611/£63,421,051
2001’s Bridget Jones’s Diary dropped 25.5% £4,260,089/£8,149,735 and £14,780,538 35.1% of £42,051,581/£80,446,503
Captain America: Brave New World will drop about 60% taking £3m-£4m; similar drop to Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania; The Marvels; Thor: Ragnarok and Ant-Man and the Wasp
2016’s Captain America: Civil War dropped 66.8% £4,806,575 and £27,372,922 74.4% of £36,771,782/£43,585,543
2014’s Captain America; Winter Soldier dropped 54.2% £2,764,030 and £10,933,395 56.8% of £19,261,224/£20,648,459
2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger dropped 59.7% £1,470,703 and £6,901,146 73.6% of £9,379,436
Dog Man will have a smaller drop of about 20% taking £1.5-£1.7m as being half-term will see a big increase from the previous Friday.
Opening in fourth The Monkey based on the 1980 short story The Monkey by Stephen King. Osgood Perkins described the film as “The Monkey is Robert Zemeckis on ecstasy or something,”… “It’s a very playful comedy with a lot of really excessive gore, language. It’s a kids’ movie that’s rated R.”
The Monkey is Osgood Perkins’s follow-up to last year’s Longlegs opened £1,371,352 taking £7,838,045.
Stephen King said on social media “You’ve never seen anything like “The Monkey,” .. “It’s batshit insane. As someone who has indulged in batshittery from time to time, I say that with admiration.” While others have described it as bloody, darkly funny and disturbing and need to see it with a large audience as benefits greatly from crowd reaction.
The first trailer has been viewed over 109m times across all platforms including TikTok; 43m in its first 24 and over 100m in its first 72 hours. This compares to 28 Years Later 60.2m and 146m global views to date.
Opening in three weeks
- Opus – Warner Bros
Thriller starring Ayo Edebiri, John Malkovich, Juliette Lewis, Murray Bartlett, Amber Midthunder, Young Mazino, Stephanie Suganami, and Tatanka Means and directed by Mark Anthony Green.
Premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January receiving mixed reviews; been described as The Menu meets Blink Twice meets Glass Onion meets Midsommar meets Nine Perfect Strangers meets A Murder at the End of the World. About the cult of celebrity about the return of pop star Alfred Moretti (John Malkovich) after decades away with the greatest album ever made.
- Black Bag – Universal Pictures
Spy thriller starring Cate Blanchett, Michael Fassbender, Marisa Abela, Tom Burke, Naomie Harris, Regé-Jean Page, and Pierce Brosnan and directed by Steven Soderbergh.
It was acquired by Focus Features/Universal Pictures in January 2024 and is the second film directed by Steven Soderbergh two months after Presence in January.
- Last Breath – Entertainment Films
Survival thriller starring Woody Harrelson, Simu Liu, Finn Cole and Cliff Curtis and directed by Alex Parkinson; a film remake of the 2019 documentary.
- In The Lost Lands – Studiocanal
Fantasy-adventure starring Milla Jovovich and Dave Bautista and directed by Paul W.S. Anderson based on the short story by George R.R. Martin; fully funded by presales.
Studiocanal acquired UK rights in 2021.
