- Zootropolis 2 £4,235,672 – £11,740,357
Down 29.2% in its second weekend
583k 13.8% (-55.5% £1.3m) Fri; £1.83m 43.2% (-29.1% £2.58m) Sat; £1.82m 43% (-12.9% £2.1m) Sun
148th biggest second weekend between Suicide Squad and The Little Mermaid (close to Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Mufasa: The Lion King, War of the Worlds and Life of Pi) and 264th inflated second weekend between Van Helsing and The Martian (close to 101 Dalmatians, The Muppets, High School Musical 3 and Elf).
5th biggest 2025 second weekend between Superman and Mission Impossible 8 (close to Jurassic World Rebirth, The Fantastic Four, F1 and Captain America: Brave New World); 2nd biggest animated film second weekend after A Minecraft Movie (£7.2m).
26th biggest animation second weekend between Minions, The Rise of Gru and Frozen (close to Shrek Forever After, The LEGO Batman Movie, A Bug’s Life and The Simpsons) and 45th biggest inflated animation second weekend between Finding Dory and Wreck-It Ralph (close to The Grinch, Kung Fu Panda, Monsters vs. Aliens and Sing).
12th biggest Disney animation second weekend between Tangled and Frozen (close to Finding Nemo, Up, Incredibles and A Bug’s Life) and 21st biggest Disney inflated animation second weekend between Finding Dory and Wreck-It Ralph (close to Tarzan, Toy Story, Chicken Little and Lilo & Stitch (2002).
2016’s Zootropolis dropped 48.5% (-23.5% without previews) £2,734,493/£2,922,697 and £12,597,202 53.69% of £23,461,047/£25,075,775
Zootropolis 2 needs to be compared to other Disney animation sequels opening in November, as Zootropolis opened at the start of Easter holidays in 2016, while Zootropolis 2, as Moana 2, opened during term time, taking 86% of its second weekend BO Sat/Sun.
2024’s Moana 2 dropped 42.5% £6,904,866 and £21,494,240 50.7% of £42,357,963
Zootropolis 2 climbed up to #1 due to Wicked: For Good dropping much heavier over its second and third weekends than most expected, and will likely hold #1 this weekend.
20th biggest 2025 film between Nosferatu and One Battle After Another (close to The Bad Guys 2, Dog Man, Snow White and A Complete Unknown) and 3rd biggest animated film after Dog Man (£13.88m) and The Bad Guys 2 (£14.64m).
624th biggest between The Proposal and Over the Hedge (close to Jaws, Fantastic Four (2005), Space Jam and Kill Bill Volume One) and 1,032nd biggest inflated between Prince of Persia and Noah (close to The Guru, It’s Complicated, Confessions of a Shopaholic and Moonwalker).
114th biggest animated film between Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 and Over the Hedge (close to Wish, The Lion King 3D, Cars 3 and The Smurfs 2) and 143rd biggest inflated animated film between Open Season and Treasure Planet (close to South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, Smallfoot, Snow White (1992 re-release) and Atlantis: The Lost Empire).
- 2.Five Nights At Freddy’s 2 – £3,256,484 – NE
Took £1.42m 43.61% Friday; £1.08m 33.17% Saturday; £756k 23.22% Sunday
538th biggest opening between The Wild Robot and Morbius (close to The Mummy (2017), Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil, The Incredible Hulk and Scary Movie) and 807th biggest inflated opening between The Wild Robot and 300: Rise of An Empire (close to Black Hawk Down, Face/Off, Antz and Green Lantern).
21st biggest 2025 opening between Dog Man and We Live In Time (close to Final Destination: Bloodlines, Snow White, Weapons and A Complete Unknown).
2023’s Five Nights at Freddy’s was a surprise hit, but like Blumhouse Pictures’ previous sequels this year, M3GAN 2.0 and The Black Phone 2, it opened much less than the original film and was very front-loaded. 2023’s Five Nights at Freddy’s opened £5,379,587 (including £2,165,447 (40.25%) from previews) taking £10,472,999
Horrors have strongly performed this year, but the problem with horrors like Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 they are PG-13 and get 15s in the UK, meaning some of the film’s audience can’t legally see the film in the cinema, one of the reasons they don’t perform as strongly in the UK as in the US. The BBFC will give tentpole PG-13 films lower 12A certificates, but then horror PG-13s the more restrictive 15.
In 2023, Five Nights at Freddy’s dropped 74.5% £1,374,000 and £8,712,935 of £10,472,999 and Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 could drop even heavier in its second weekend.
- 3. Wicked: For Good £3,225,766 – £37,651,990
Down 58.2% in its third weekend
£697k 21.6% (-64.3% £1.95m) Fri; £1.3m 40.9% (-57.8% £3.13m) Sat; £1.21m 37.46% (-54.1% £2.6m) Sun
103rd biggest third weekend between Inception and Sing 2 (close to The Lego Movie, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Love Actually and La La Land) and 201st biggest inflated third weekend between I Am Legend and Deadpool (close to Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, The Fugitive, A Star Is Born, and Batman Forever)
5th biggest musical third weekend between Les Misérables (£4,016,611) and La La Land (£3,105,328) (close to A Star Is Born, Mamma Mia!, The Greatest Showman and Roald Dahl’s Matilda The Musical) and 5th biggest inflated musical third weekend between Mamma Mia! And La La Land (close to Moulin Rouge, Evita, High School Musical 3 and The Greatest Showman).
After 18 days on release, Wicked For Good is already the 3rd biggest film of 2025 between Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy and Lilo & Stitch.
101st biggest between Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Deadpool (close to The Simpsons, Paddington, Aladdin and Love Actually) and 226th biggest inflated between Twister and Stuart Little (close to Billy Elliot, Rain-Man, La La Land and A Fish Called Wanda).
Wicked: For Good took a broom-free tumble in its third weekend. The Emerald juggernaut still sparkles on marquees, but the FOMO-fuelled stampede from weekend one has burned off fast. With premium pricing and monster Friday openings behind it, we’re now seeing what the underlying audience really looks like — and it’s closer to a fan-base phenomenon than a four-quadrant smash.
As with Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy earlier in the year, Wicked: For Good received positive reviews, massive media coverage, hype and an opening bigger than the previous film, but both have had much softer legs, and both have come short of expectations at the start of the year.
Ahead of opening, Mad About The Boy was expected to easily top £50m and Wicked: For Good to top £70m, but Mad About The Boy struggled to get to £46m and Wicked: For Good will struggle to top A Minecraft Movie. Wicked had much more competition last year with Paddington in Peru, Gladiator II and Moana 2. Wicked: For Good had little competition apart from Zootropolis 2, but that plays much younger.
Wicked: For Good will likely have a 40-day theatrical window as the first film, so exhibitors can’t blame the theatrical window.
Wicked is the Mamma Mia! of millennial theatre audiences: since opening in 2006, it has become the 10th-longest-running show in West End history, seen by 13 million people, with more than 7,400 performances and over £115m in UK ticket sales. The Broadway production has topped $1bn.
Third weekend, the two Mamma Mia! Films were holding very strongly.
2008’s Mamma Mia! dropped 37.9% £2,830,207/£4,337,836 and £24,608,293 36.1% of £68,116,092/£104,401,010.
2018’s Mamma Mia 2 dropped 41.9% £4,121,275/£4,549,385 and £39,324,001 60% of £65,515,994/£72,321,672
While the third week of 2025’s Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy dropped 40% £4,130,747 and £35,959,640, 77.5% of £46,367,473
While 2024’s Wicked dropped 36.4% £5,320,032 and £37,692,710, 62.15% of £60,649,197; Wicked: For Good is instead holding similar to Wicked’s fourth weekend 35% drop to £3,455,827 and £43,634,853, 71.95% of £60,649,197; so Wicked: For Good is looking like it will take about £51m.
Wicked stayed in the top 5 for 6 weeks (till December 27th) and top 10 for 9 weeks (till January 17th)
As seen by songs dropping down the chart this week, For Good #56, No Good Deed #62 and As Long As You’re Mine #92 are in the top 30 single charts this week and the soundtrack album, of course, top of the soundtrack albums with Wicked #2. (Incredibly, The Greatest Showman is still in the top 10 chart in its 407th week of release); while Ariana Grande’s Santa Tell Me #10
While Ariana absolutely helped Wicked open bigger on paper — the social footprint ensured a frenzy — but fandom activity isn’t the same thing as star-driven theatrical bankability; If Ariana truly behaved like a 1990s movie star, Wicked: For Good would be holding far stronger.
There are reports that Universal Pictures are trying to develop further Wicked prequel films; they will have to be before Wicked as Wicked For Good sets up The Wizard of Oz. As Warner’s copyright for The Wizard of Oz includes a young girl who looks exactly like Judy Garland, wearing a gingham dress, and ruby slippers, they had to be creative in the way they featured her in Wicked from the back and with silver slippers, which was the original colour from the novel. MGM changed them to red to show off Technicolour.
It’s also the reason why Stephen Schwartz includes 7 seconds of Over the Rainbow in The Wizard and I; he believed that using only 7 seconds, he was using the “fair use” doctrine in copyright law, which allows for limited use of copyrighted material without permission for purposes like commentary. It was long enough to be a potent emotional cue for the audiences, but short and transformative enough to (successfully) avoid a copyright lawsuit.
- 4. Andre Rieu’s 2025 Christmas Concert: Merry Christmas £845,675 – NE
Took £330k 39.05% Saturday; £515k 60.95% Sunday.
Last year, Andre Rieu’s Christmas Concert: Gold And Silver opened £931,024 #6 558 screens
The third Andre Rieu concert was released in 2025, and the Christmas Concert has been released regularly in cinemas since 2016, but the opening box office has dropped since COVID. They would regularly open with about £1m.
Before lockdown
2014’s André Rieu: Maastricht Concert £830,586,
2015’s Andre Rieu: Maastricht Concert £1,107,000.
2016’s Andre Rieu: Maastricht Concert £1,414,075.
2017’s Andre Rieu: Maastricht Concert £1,439,604.
2018’s André Rieu’s Maastricht Concert Amore £1,783,222.
Andre Rieu 2019 Maastricht Concert – Shall We Dance? £1,492,154 #4 587 screens.
The last released in August, Andre Rieu’s 2025 Maastricht Concert: Waltz The Night Away! Opened £566,325 #7 547 screens similar to his concert in April, Andre Rieu’s 75th Birthday Celebration: The Dream Continues, £596,897.
- 5 Eternity £388,835 – NE
Includes £35,912 from previews.
Eternity arrives with glowing reviews (84% on Rotten Tomatoes) and a premise that slots neatly into the cinematic lineage of Her, All of Us Strangers, Past Lives, and Eternal Sunshine — the kind of smart, tender genre-blender that critics adore and adult audiences keep promising they’ll support… right up until it’s time to actually leave the house.
Like many prestige adult dramas this autumn, Eternity found itself wrestling for oxygen in a marketplace where:
Audiences are more selective than ever. Audiences used to see films like Eternity, and they were used to being given time to find an audience, but cinemas aren’t prioritising mid-budget films outside awards corridors.
The script was on The Blacklist in 2022, if it was one of the most liked unmade scripts of its year……why did it take two full years for anyone to make it? Because sadly, The Blacklist isn’t a launchpad — it’s often a scenic overlook, studios admire the view, nod politely… then chase sequels and brands instead. So, Eternity ends up in the same purgatory as other recent “adult emotional sci-fi” titles; Eternity’s struggle isn’t really about its quality. It’s about audience behaviour in 2025: We save our cinema outings for event films. We save our feelings for streaming. This is the painful truth industry has failed to admit, as it continues to use Netflix as the bogeyman of cinema.
Similar films include Her, All of Us Strangers, What Dreams May Come, Defending Your Life, Past Lives, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Life of Chuck and A Ghost Story.
Films like Eternity will be out of cinemas after only a week, but then still have a 45-day theatrical window when they are not available legally anywhere. Films like these that exhibitors pull from screens within weeks should be allowed to have an earlier VOD release. Netflix talked about having a consumer-friendly theatrical window, which is surely a flexible one tailored to the individual film after it has opened.
Also opened
• Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair – Lionsgate
Opened £233,052 #8 from 372 screens (limited shows)
Quentin Tarantino combined the two films into one 4-hour and 41-minute film with an intermission; the cliffhanger ending has been removed from Vol. 1 and the recap from Vol. 2.
2003’s Kill Bill Volume 1 opened £2,693,742/£4,835,388, taking £11,453,044/£20,558,730
2004’s Kill Bill Volume 2 opened £2,768,832/£4,914,831, taking £9,068,461/£16,097,023
With a screen time of about 5 hours, Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair had a limited release with one show a day. Had a strong Friday, taking half of its BO £123k.
———-
Year-to-date, has dropped to 1% ahead of 2024.
The weekend’s top 10 box office took £13,162,362, down 18.5% from last weekend’s £16,147,753: 1,639,628 admissions, down 19.4% from 2,033,693 admissions.
The 17th biggest weekend of the last 52 weeks between 13 June 2025 #1 How To Train Your Dragon £8,145,188 (61.34%) and 11 July 2025 #1 Superman £6,992,902 (53.61%)
63rd biggest since cinemas reopened out of 264 weeks between 05 January 2024 #1 Wonka £3,779,636 (28.50%) and 19 July 2024 #1 Despicable Me 4 £4,925,773 (37.50%)
376th biggest top 10 of the last 24 years (out of 1,235) between 25 May 2018 #1 Solo: A Star Wars Story £6,061,231 (45.95%) and 28 October 2005 #1 WOG: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit £3,593,266 (27.34%) and 653rd biggest inflated between 01 November 2002 #1 28 Days Later £1,500,079 (21.02%) and 14 October 2011 #1 Johnny English Reborn £3,072,542 (30.53%)
The top 3 took £10,717,922 (81.4%) of the top 10; Zootropolis 2 32.18% (£4,235,672); Five Nights At Freddy’s 2 24.74% (£3,256,484); Wicked: For Good 24.51% (£3,225,766)
675th biggest percentage share #1 (32.18%) between 29 October 2004 #1 Shark Tale £2,435,188 (32.25%) and 07 September 2001 #1 Moulin Rouge £2,403,378 (32.16%)
652nd biggest admissions (547,244) between 28 July 2006 #1 Cars £2,668,968 (548,043) and 07 March 2003 #1 Maid In Manhattan £2,424,584 (546,077)
Down 29.23% from 2024; (£18,597,949); Pushpa 2 – The Rule (£1,118,894); Andre Rieu’s Christmas Concert: Gold And Silver (£931,024); Nightbitch (£133,977); Solo Leveling – ReAwakening (£112,243); Gremlins RE (£71,052); #1 Moana 2 £6,904,866 2nd week 43% drop 656 screens (37.13% of top 10).
Down 1.62% from 2023; (£13,378,556); Wonka (£8,904,750); Please Don’t Destroy: The Treasure Of Foggy Mountain (£11,622); #1 Wonka £8,904,750 1st week 699 screens (66.56% of top 10)
Up 188.80% from 2022 (£4,557,646); The Nutcracker – ROH, London 2022 (£133,397); The Hours – Met Opera 2022 (£54,274); The Silent Twins (£33,599); #1 Roald Dahl’s Matilda The Musical £1,385,835 3rd week 17% drop 717 screens (30.41% of top 10)
Up 152.31% 2021 (£6,103,233); Christmas With Andre (£693,676); Boxing Day (£265,263); Resident Evil: Welcome To Raccoon City (£253,200); The Matrix (Re: 2021) (£128,585); Elf (Re: 2021) (£111,036); C’mon C’mon (£106,680); CBeebies Christmas Show 2021 (£105,864); Love Actually (Re: 2021) (£24,848); It’s A Wonderful Life (1946) (75th Anniversary) (£27,723); Eurydice – Met Opera 2021 (£25,683); Blue Bayou (£8,975); #1 House of Gucci £1,511,982 2nd week 706 screens 38% drop (24.8% of top 10)
2020; COVID-19 Second Lockdown in England
Up 38.98% 2019; (£9,470,969); Les Miserables: The Staged Concert (£946,786); Gremlins (4K Restoration) (£162,528); Motherless Brooklyn (£153,821); Elf (Re: 2019) (£148,489); Friends 25th: The One With The Anniversary (£126,302); Ordinary Love (£66,688); Honey Boy (£33,463); Lucy In The Sky (£4,546); #1 Frozen 2 £4,397,903 3rd week 50% drop 676 screens (46.44% of top 10)
Up 33.62% 2018: (£9,850,637); The Old Man & the Gun (£317,831); Sorry to Bother You (£250,453); The Nutcracker – ROH, London 2018/19 (£191,828); Die Hard (30th Anniversary) (£86,628); Tulip Fever (£49,539); White Boy Rick (£30,090); #1 Ralph Breaks the Internet £2,446,583 2nd week 619 screens 39% drop (24.8% of top 10)
Up 138.66% 2017: (£5,515,125); The Nutcracker – ROH, London 2017/18 (£137,862); Stronger (£102,379); Brigsby Bear (£36,778); The Muppet Christmas Carol (Re: 2017) (£36,287) #1 Paddington 2 £1,690,027 5th week third #1 spit over 5 weeks 42% drop 601 screens (30.64% of top 10)
Up 55.48% 2016: (£8,465,385); Office Christmas Party (£1,198,176); Snowden (£209,352); The Birth of a Nation (£135,162); Life, Animated (£25,612); The Pass (£18,673); #1 Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them £2,734,960 4th week 620 screens 40% drop (32.3% of the top 10)
Up 45.24% 2015; (£9,087,311); Christmas with the Coopers (£683,217); Victor Frankenstein (£431,125); Krampus (£412,713); The Night Before (£272,930); The Lady of the Camellias – Bolshoi 2015 (£105,300); #1 The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2 £2,240,723 3rd week 539 screens 51% drop (24.6% of top 10)
Up 14.90% 2014: (£11,455,843); Penguins of Madagascar (£1,575,949); Get Santa (£576,722); St. Vincent (£389,136); Black Sea (£246,309); The Pyramid (£190,049); Men, Women and Children (£73,393); #1 Paddington £3,837,885 2nd week 540 screens 25% drop (33.5% of top 10)
Up 23.62% 2013: (£10,647,204); Frozen (£4,704,940); Homefront (£440,306); Nebraska (£151,332); Old Boy (£94,818); Black Nativity (£61,324); Kill Your Darlings (£38,984); Getaway (£26,467); #1 Frozen £4,704,940 1st week 505 screens (44.2% of top 10)
Up 78.24% 2012: (£7,384,684); Seven Psychopaths (£1,121,679); So Undercover (£99,340); The Man with the Iron Fists (£49,072); The Oranges (£18,513); Celeste and Jesse Forever (£6,915); Gremlins (Re: 2012) (£1,147); #1 Rise of the Guardians £1,602,689 2nd week 1st #1 495 screens 19% drop (21.7% of top 10)
Up 76.09% 2011; (£7,474,721); Puss in Boots (£1,975,758); New Year’s Eve (£1,285,552); A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas (£183,798); Another Earth (£90,950); #1 Puss in Boots £1,975,758 1st week 1st #1 510 screens (26.4% of top 10)
Up 64.22% 2010: (£8,015,202); Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (£2,460,118); The Tourist (£1,341,143); Somewhere (£125,581); The Shop Around the Corner (Re) (£8,038); #1 Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader £2,460,118 1st week 536 screens (30.6% of top 10)
Up 29.09% 2009; (£10,195,907); Planet 51 (£1,513,003); The Box (£474,938); The Descent: Part 2 (£313,739); Me and Orson Welles (£166,389); #1 Paranormal Activity £1,839,273 2nd week 398 screens 49% drop (18.1% of top 10)
Up 19% 2008; (£11,060,816); Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (£6,342,997); Transporter 3 (£958,615); Lakeview Terrace (£224,493); The Secret Life of Bees (£74,626); #1 Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa £6,342,997 1st week 520 screens (57.3% of top 10)
Up 23.43% 2007: (£10,663,935); The Golden Compass (£7,243,984); Code Name: The Cleaner (£61,734); Southland Tales (£18,241); #1 The Golden Compass £7,243,984 1st week 507 screens (68% of top 10)
Up 4.73% 2006; (£12,568,238); Happy Feet (£3,689,166); The Holiday (£2,826,520); The Covenant (£181,365); The Nativity Story (£78,553); Bugsy Malone (re) (£231); #1 Happy Feet £3,689,166 1st week 445 screens (29.3% of top 10)
Down 0.94% 2005: (£13,287,703); The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (£8,884,111); March of the Penguins (£183,798); #1 The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe 1st week £8,884,111 498 screens (66.9% of top 10)
Up 61.93% from 2004 (£8,128,185); Christmas with the Kranks (£777,771); Churchill: The Hollywood Years (£148,326); The Merchant of Venice (£147,709); The Polar Express (platform) (£104,632); School for Seduction (£39,213); #1 The Incredibles £4,187,280 3rd week 2nd #1 57% drop 495 screens (51.5% of top 10)
Up 24.72% 2003 (£10,553,520); S.W.A.T. (£1,960,281); Brother Bear (£887,321); Timeline (£279,505); Thirteen (£53,553); #1 Love Actually £3,202,417 3rd week 478 screens 31% drop (30.3% of top 10)
Up 54.21% from 2002: (£8,535,252); Deathwatch (£334,657); The Dancer Upstairs (£61,622); 8 Crazy Nights (£48,440); #1 Die Another Day £3,426,623 3rd week 443 screens 36% drop (40.1% of top 10)
Up 106.86% from 2001 (£6,363,002); The 51st State (£913,239); Riding In Cars With Boys (£237,279); Christmas Carol: The Movie (£171,576); #1 Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone £3,345,310 4th week 501 screens 42% drop (52.6% of top 10).
2024 Next week: (£11,294,181); Kraven The Hunter (£686,806); Lord Of The Rings: The War Of The Rohirrim (£483,584); Queer (£293,041); Home Alone (Re: 2018) (£150,679); The Polar Express (20th Anniversary 4K Restoration) (£136,235); Elf (20th Anniversary) (£81,219); Love Actually (20th Anniversary) (£62,306); #1 Moana 2 £3,613,290 3rd week 48% drop 662 screens (31.99% of top 10).
November UK BO
November BO was 33% down from 2024, taking £85m down from £127.5m last year; year-to-date is £965m, 2% ahead of 2024 and 1% behind 2023.
November admissions were about 10.9m using last year’s average ticket price of £7.73. This would see admissions for the year of about 112.3m, 1.5m more than 2024 and about 200k more than 2023, but still over 40m down from 2019.
December admissions need to be about 13.1m to top 2024 admissions with a BO of £102m. Avatar: Fire and Ash will do the heavy lifting as it will take the bulk of its BO from premium formats IMAX/PLF/3D/4DX/ScreenX/Dolby rather than 2D. Last December, admissions were 14.6m.
After BO was over 20% more than last year in the summer, to squeeze past last year’s admissions must be seen as a disappointment, as admissions will have increased by less than 10m since 2022 and over 50m less than 2019.
In October 2021, the industry made huge claims after the huge opening of No Time To Die that it was the start of the second golden age of cinema, and has continued to do so over the years since, saying admissions could finally top 200m within a decade. How is this possibly going to happen with admissions still a long way from getting back to 2019 levels?
There might be some huge films in 2026, but there were similar huge films over the years since COVID., but these massive films can’t do it on their own, which the industry fails to understand. As seen by last weekend, it’s not about one massive film, its about several films that play to different demographics play across them like Zootropolis 2, Five Nights At Freddy’s 2 and Wicked: For Good and what should also be the case after Christmas with the four wide releases opening on Boxing Day playing to different audiences than Avatar: Fire and Ash.
November’s Biggest films and BO
- Wicked: For Good £34.4m
- Zootropolis 2 £7.5m
- Now You See Me: Now You Don’t £5.8m
- Predator: Badlands £5.4m
- The Running Man £4.6m
- The Choral £3.9m
- Nuremberg £2.9m
- Regretting You £1.8m
- Bugonia 1.5m
- Jujutsu Kaisen: Execution £1.3m
While Wicked: For Good had the biggest opening since Barbie (£17.8m), it has dropped off much more heavily over its following weeks than last year’s Wicked. While it might currently be tracking 6% more than Wicked its has taken much less than Wicked over the last two weeks and is unlikely top A Minecraft Movie (£56.9m) after it opened it was expected to take £70m, but as with Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy (£46.4m) earlier this year its failed to get close to its expected BO, this of course has nothing to do with Netflix or shorter theatrical windows as both will have 45-50 day windows.
Zootropolis 2 was the second-highest-biggest film for November £7.5m far less than last year’s Paddington In Peru and Gladiator 2 took second and third spots with £27.7m and £24.8m as part of the problem was the disappearance of the male audience for the last few months as both Predator: Badlands and The Running Man came short of expectations, while Now You See Me: Now You Don’t performed well as did Nuremberg.
After Wicked: For Good and Zootropolis 2 have come short of last years Wicked and Moana 2, Avatar: Fire and Ash needs to take much more than 2023’s Avatar: The Way of Water (opened £11,187,562 taking £76,725,041) but interest and buzz for the third film feels much less than the build up towards the last film and is surely likely to take closer to £60m.
The slack from Avatar: Fire and Ash will come from The SpongeBob Movie: Search For Squarepants, The Housemaid, Anaconda and Marty Supreme, four films that play to demographics not interested in seeing another Smurfs film across the two lucrative weeks of Christmas.
US Box Office
US BO for 2025 has topped $8bn, the third time post-COVID; before COVID December BO would regularly take over $1bn (between 2015-2019) last year took $986m but in 2022 when Avatar: The Way of Water opened $678m was taken as it cannibalized the BO, but this year rival studio are opening several high profile films playing to different demographics.
- Five Nights At Freddy’s 2 – Universal Pictures
Opened $64m; received poor reviews (13% Rotten Tomatoes) and B CinemaScore (first film got A-)
Took $7m from Thursday previews; Five Nights At Freddy’s $10.3m; IT Chapter Two $10.5m; The Conjuring: Last Rites $8.5m; A Quiet Place: Day One $6.8m.
The second biggest horror opening in 2025 after Conjuring: Last Rites ($84m) and the biggest week after Thanksgiving opening, normally a dead weekend.
203rd biggest opening between Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning and Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (close to World War Z, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, Clash of the Titans and Sonic the Hedgehog 3)
20% was from PLF
Ahead of opening, Five Nights At Freddy’s 2 was expected to open between $35m-$40m; Blumhouse Productions has had a disappointing slate of horrors this year, including The Black Phone 2, Wolf Man and M3GAN 2.0.
2023’s Five Nights at Freddy’s opened $80m, taking $137.27m and $291.68m worldwide
As with Five Nights at Freddy’s, the sequel is very front-loaded, dropping 40.1% Sat-Sun compared to 33.8% for the first film, so it’s likely to have a similar big second weekend drop as Five Nights at Freddy’s, dropping 76.2% taking $19m and $113.2m of $137.2m.
Social media for Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 across TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and X was at a 843m 72% more than the first Freddy’s and higher than Final Destination: Bloodlines (353.3m), Black Phone 2 (335.4m) and 28 Years Later (225.5m; stars Josh Hutcherson at 13.8m; Matthew Lillard at 5.4m; Elizabeth Lail 1.7m.
Trailers for the film ahead of opening were viewed over 400m times worldwide. The first teaser was shown at CinemaCon in April and released online soon after. The trailer was released in July, and a final trailer was released in November.
This is what happens where there are three films that play to very different demographics, with the PG-13 certificate under 25s was 77% of the audience, with older female audience seeing Wicked: For Good and children and families saw Zootopia 2.
This will be repeated in three weeks when The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants, The Housemaid and Song Sung Blue open alongside Avatar: Fire and Ash, as they all again play to different demographics over the lucrative Christmas holidays.
Opened $46.1m internationally from 76 territories and $109m worldwide; Mexico $6.9m; UK $4.4m; Brazil $3.2m; Spain $2.9m; Australia $2.4m; Poland $2.1m; France $1.8m; Germany $1.8m; Italy $1.7m; Peru $1.6m.
- Zootopia 2 – Disney
Dropped 57% in its second weekend $43.43m and $220.9m
108th biggest second weekend between Deadpool 2 and Shrek Forever After (close to Up, Despicable Me 4, The Lion King (1994) and The Grinch).
EntTelligence said the average ticket price was $14.42; the average PLF ticket was $18.
2016’s Zootopia dropped 31.6% $51.33m/$68.3m and $143.95m/$191.6m of $341.3m/$454.1m and $1.025bn/$1.4bn worldwide
2016’s Moana dropped 50.1% $28.27m/$37.7m and $119.78m/$159.4m of $248.75m and $643.33m worldwide
2024’s Moans 2 dropped 63.3% $26.49m and $51.28m and $299.32m of $460.4m and $1.059bn WW
Much has been written about Zootopia 2’s opening, but then Zootopia took about a third more inflated in its second weekend and didn’t have premium screens (IMAX/PLF/3D) as Batman Vs Superman had those screens.
Social media for Zootopia 2 across X, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube before opening was 518m, above Kung Fu Panda 4‘s 353mn, but below Minions: Rise of Gru ‘s 668m.
The difference between Moana 2 and Zootopia 2 is China. Moana 2 only took $15.37m while Zootopia 2 will take upwards of $500m, which will see it take about $1.5bn worldwide.
Took $49.2m worldwide from IMAX.
Took $219m from 51 territories $695.3m total and $915.8m worldwide; China $430.4m; France $27.3m; S. Korea $25.6m; Mexico $18.6m; Germany $16.2m; UK $15.1m; Japan $12.3m; Italy $11.2m; Taiwan $10.6m; Poland $8.2m; Brazil $7.8m.
Last year, Moana 2 took $103.7m in its second weekend $300m total and $600.03m worldwide; France $32.5m; UK $27.2m; Germany $19.7m; Mexico $19.1m; Brazil $16m; Italy $14.8m; S. Korea $14.4m; Australia $14.3m; Spain $11.3m; China $10.8m; $14m worldwide from IMAX.
Zootopia 2 global BO has been inflated by $430.4m from China. The first film was a massive hit in China, taking $236.1m, so it was always expected that the sequel would perform stronger 9 years later.
Disney has taken over $5bn worldwide, the third time since 2018, but with a slate filled with nostalgia, this is always going to happen, as it will be close to $6bn by the end of the year, and then it will be repeated next year with more of the same.
- Wicked: For Good – Universal Pictures
Down 57% $17.35m in its third weekend and $297.55m
Comparing Wicked 2, five five-day Thanksgiving weekends, it dropped 73% the biggest drop for the week after Thanksgiving.
252nd biggest third weekend between Saving Private Ryan and X2: X-Men United (close to Maleficent, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2, Cinderella and Justice League).
Took $33.6m worldwide from IMAX; lost many IMAX screens to Zootopia 2.
EntTelligence said the average ticket price was $14.42; the average PLF ticket was $18 last year. EntTelligence said the average price of Wicked $14.36, and PLF screens $17.72.
Despite opening 30% more than Wicked three weeks ago, it’s been far more front-loaded and is now *5 down from Wicked’s BO, so it’s likely to struggle to get to $350m. Most analysts expected Wicked: For Good to perform stronger than Wicked, with another 50%+ drop expected in its fourth weekend and the same again in its fifth weekend.
Wicked saw an increase after Christmas last year, but the marketplace is far more crowded this year with 5 other wide releases opening close to Avatar: Fire and Ash.
2024’s Wicked dropped 55.1% $36.44m and $322.1m of $474.56 m (41.23m admissions); $284.29m (24.7m admissions) internationally and $758.85m (65.9m admissions) worldwide.
129th biggest between Home Alone and Dune: Part Two; 397th biggest inflated between Logan and The Fate of the Furious; 5th biggest 2025 between Jurassic World Rebirth and Sinners; 8th biggest musical between Sing and Mufasa: The Lion King; 20th biggest Universal Pictures between Sing and Twisters.
The two Wicked films should have been a cultural phenomenon due to the massive fanbase. The musical is the second-highest-grossing musical on Broadway after The Lion King took $1.25bn and $5bn worldwide, and over 65 million have seen the stage show. Add in the massive global fanbase of Ariana Grande, and you’re talking Taylor Swift numbers.
2014’s Into the Woods dropped 49% $9.55m and $105.07m of $128m and $212.9m WW; 2
2012’s Les Misérables dropped 39.8% $9.64m and $118.72m of $149.26m and $442.75m WW.
Comparison films include.
2013’s Oz the Great and Powerful dropped 47.7% $21.56m and $177.09m of $234.91m/$311.48m and $493.31m/$654.1m WW
2017’s Beauty and the Beast dropped 49.8% $45.42m and $393.33m of $504.01m and $1.263bn worldwide
2014’s Maleficent dropped 46.1% $18.5m and $163.02m of $241.41m/$318.53m and $758.41m/$1bn
2023’s Barbie dropped 43% $53m and $459.39m of $636.23m and $1.446bn worldwide
Jon Chu previously directed.
2018’s Crazy Rich Asians dropped 11.5% $21.96m and $110.69m of $174.83m and $239.34m worldwide
Wicked 2 social media was 1.33bn across TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, X and YouTube; Ariana Grande 510m driving over 570m views on Instagram, plus Cynthia Erivo at 5.4m, Jonathan Bailey at 5.7m, Jeff Goldblum at 5.2m and Michelle Yeoh at 3.1m, Bowen Yang at 1.1m and director Jon M. Chu at 975k.
Social media for Wicked: For Good is more than a third higher than Wicked 964.3m TikTok, Facebook, X, YouTube and Instagram, and Ariana Grande has over 466.7m social media followers, including 373m on Instagram.
Took $13.4m from 78 territories, total $143.2m and $440.1m worldwide; UK $49.4m; Australia $16.2m; Germany $7.9m; S. Korea $6.1m; Mexico $6m; Philippines $4.7m; Holland $4.5m; Spain $4.1m; France $3.9m; Brazil $3.7m.
328th biggest worldwide between Mrs Doubtfire and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom; 14th biggest 2025 between The Conjuring: Last Rites and Captain America: Brave New World; 41st biggest Universal Pictures between The Bourne Ultimatum and Warcraft.
After Wicked took $758.85m worldwide last year $1bn+ was expected for the second film, after the massive fanbase from the first film, The conclusion of a cliffhanger (as Harry Potter/Twilight and The Hunger Games), but it’s going to come short of Wicked’s global BO.
Wicked took in comparison last year $26m from 79 territories $135m total and $455.55m worldwide; UK $47.4m; Australia $17.2m; S. Korea $10.6m; Mexico $8.1m; Spain $4.5m; Brazil $3.5m; Italy $3.3m and France $2m; Global IMAX $18m.
- Eternity – A24
Dropped 14.2% $2.72m and $9.58m
Looks like it had a stronghold in its second weekend, but it added 1,038 screens from last weekend, so despite receiving positive reviews, it’s another adult drama that has struggled to find an audience. Films like Eternity, struggling to find an audience, show that exhibitors’ claims about theatrical windows and Netflix are an excuse, as films like Eternity should be attracting a much wider audience.
It was compared to 2023’s Priscilla dropped 8.7% $4.6m and $5.26m of $20.96m and $33.11m worldwide, and 2024’s We Live In Time up 14.8% $4.84m and $11.75m of $24.69m and $57.67m worldwide.
Eternity has been generating strong buzz since its Toronto Film Festival world premiere and was one of A24’s highest tested films, the problem despite strong word of mouth had a soft opening.
- Hamnet – Focus Features
Up 148% adding 625 screens in its second weekend $2.31m and $4.19m
Hamnet has been developing strong buzz since having its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival, also screened at Toronto and London Film Festivals, winning the People’s Choice Award and the Audience Award.
And it will open wider over the coming weeks; it received widespread critical acclaim and is being positioned in a similar way as Shakespeare in Love was in December 1998 for Golden Globes, Oscars and BAFTA over the coming months for it to play strongly over the coming weeks.
Hamnet received 6 Golden Globe nominations, including Best Drama Film, Best Director Drama, Best Actor Drama and Best Screenplay Drama, and in January/February will be getting similar BAFTA and Oscar nominations.
1998’s Shakespeare in Love took 10 weeks to go wide ($7.88m), taking $100.31m and $289.31m worldwide and won 7 of its 13 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actor.
Chloé Zhao previously directed the Oscar-winning 2020’s Nomadland and 2021’s Eternals.
27 years ago, Shakespeare In Love took $100m in the US ($230m inflated) and $289m ($660m inflated) worldwide and received 13 Oscar nominations. Hamnet could receive a similar number of nominations, but it will take less than half of Shakespeare in Love’s BO.
UK Box Office Top 10
Box Office Preview
With no major new releases, Zootropolis 2 will hold #1 in its third weekend, down 30%-40% taking £2.5m-£3m.
With Five Nights At Freddy’s 2 dropping 60%-70% in its second weekend, taking £1m-£1.4m, Wicked: For Good will climb up #2 despite also having another heavy drop in its fourth weekend of about 60% £1.3m-£1.5m.
The five new releases will struggle to find an audience as they are films audiences just don’t go to the cinema anymore.
Ella McCay is the latest film from James L. Brooks, as his other films feature a strong ensemble cast Emma Mackey, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jack Lowden, Kumail Nanjiani, Ayo Edebiri, Rebecca Hall, Albert Brooks, and Woody Harrelson.
James L. Brooks has mixed success with the films he has directed since 1987’s Broadcast News and 1997’s As Good as It Gets received critical acclaim, Oscar nominations and were box office hits, but then 1994’s I’ll Do Anything, 2004’s Spanglish and 2010’s How Do You Know were critical and box office misfires.
But as producer of 1988’s Big, 1989’s The War of the Roses and 1996’s Jerry Maguire and The Simpsons since 1989, he still can make the films he wants to make; that said, aged 85 now, Ella McCay is sadly likely to be the last film he will direct. The film was likely greenlit as part of the deal for a sequel to The Simpsons Movie, as it’s not a film Disney has any interest in anymore and an adult drama film.
1988’s Broadcast News opened £128,836/£443,644 63 screens taking £1,012,749/£3,487,379
1998’s As Good as It Gets opened £909,459/£1,787,324 254 screens, taking £9,540,214/£18,749,006
Also opening Christmas slasher horror Silent Night, Deadly Night and Psychological thriller Lurker
Period spoof comedy Fackham Hall is described as a spoof that crosses Downton Abbey with Airplane! and Monty Python. The problem with most of these parody films they aren’t as funny as they believe, as a similar 1997 British comedy, Stiff Upper Lips, was spoofing Merchant Ivory period dramas.
But as seen with As seen Christmas Karma, Fackham Hall could be the perfect alternative to the tentpoles this Christmas, as seen over previous years, with the Nativity films.
Eleanor the Great, directed by Scarlett Johansson (directorial debut), will also likely struggle to find an audience. Opening all of these films over the same weekend and the weekend before a tentpole feels like studios are cleaning their shelves before the New Year, as few will hold on to their screens next weekend with Avatar: Fire and Ash opening in over 2,500 screens.
Coming Soon
- The SpongeBob Movie: Search For Squarepants – Paramount Pictures
Animated adventure comedy, the fourth film based on the SpongeBob SquarePants TV show, featuring the voices of George Lopez, Ice Spice, Arturo Castro, Sherry Cola, Regina Hall, and Mark Hamill and directed by Derek Drymon.
The film premiered at the AFI Film Festival in October.
2005’s The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie opened £1,252,322/£2,119,110, taking £5,364,336/£9,077,231
2015’s SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water 3D opened £2,262,498/£2,500,986, taking £7,989,048/£8,831,167
The most recent film, 2021’s The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run, was due to have a cinema release in the UK, but international rights were sold to Netflix in July 2020 due to COVID.
Has previews from December 20th, having an 8-day opening weekend; Christmas school holidays start this week, and the two weeks of Christmas are the most lucrative of the year. It originally had a July 2020 release date before COVID; it was one of several Paramount films sold to Netflix and Amazon due to COVID.
Paramount Pictures has positioned The SpongeBob Movie in the same slot 20th Century Fox did with Alvin and the Chipmunks 2 in 2009, the weekend after Avatar opened and with its extended previews, Alvin 2 replaced Avatar #1 for its second weekend.
This could be repeating this year as The SpongeBob Movie also has an extended opening against Avatar: Fire and Ash, while Avatar returned #1 for another eight weeks, it’s unlikely Avatar: Fire and Ash would return to #1 with Hamnet opening the second week of January.
The SpongeBob Movie only competition is Zootropolis 2, but it plays younger.
- The Housemaid – Lionsgate
Psychological thriller based on the 2022 novel by Freida McFadden starring Sydney Sweeney, Amanda Seyfried, Brandon Sklenar, Michele Morrone, and Elizabeth Perkins and directed by Paul Feig.
Freida McFadden’s novel sold over 4.5m copies (including over 750,000 in the UK) and was on the Amazon best-seller list for 83 weeks and generated a lot of attention on social media, including TikTok.
The Housemaid has been compared to 2016’s The Girl on the Train and also the recent BBC TV drama The Guest, as both feature a young woman who takes the job of a housekeeper in an expensive home with a seemingly perfect couple, but they have hidden secrets. The Guest had over 3.5m viewers in September on BBC One.
It’s also comparable to films like Parasite, Gone Girl, Fatal Attraction, The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, and Speak No Evil.
Paul Feig directed 2018’s A Simple Favor, and its sequel, Another Simple Favor was released on Amazon in May. The sequel starred Michele Morrone, who also stars in The Housemaid. Paul Feig is best known for directing 2011’s Bridesmaids, 2013’s The Heat, 2015’s Spy, 2016’s Ghostbusters and 2019’s Last Christmas.
Sydney Sweeney has had an up and down 2025, receiving critical acclaim for her performance in Christy, but failed to find an audience and also generated controversy featuring in an American Eagle jeans campaign with the slogan “Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans.”
Two years ago, Sydney Sweeney starred in the rom-com Anyone, But You alongside Glen Powell, who recently struggled on his own in The Running Man reboot, and Sydney Sweeney leads The Housemaid, but has had a boost from Sabrina Carpenter with a creepy version of her song Please, Please, Please.
Early reactions on social media have been positive, but as always, they have to be taken with a pinch of salt, as they are always far more positive than actual reviews.
The Housemaid is very different to the other films released targeting younger audiences and males.
As with all films opening on Boxing Day, it has extended previews.
- Anaconda – Sony Pictures
Action comedy reboot of the 1997 film starring Paul Rudd, Jack Black, Steve Zahn, Thandiwe Newton, Daniela Melchior, and Selton Mello and directed by Tom Gormican.
It’s a film within a film with two people trying to make their own Anaconda remake, only to find a real Anaconda. Jack Black previously starred in Tropic Thunder, which was also a film within a film, and other films include Bowfinger, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, The Player, Adaptation and Living in Oblivion.
Sony Pictures and Jack Black had recent success with Jumanji, with the next due for release in December 2026. As the Jumanji films were the perfect alternative to Star Wars films, Anaconda will surely also be for Avatar: Fire and Ice.
The film is a PG-13, so it could either be a scary 12A or a not-so-scary 15, which will mean its target audience can’t see it.
- Marty Supreme – Entertainment Films
Sports comedy-drama starring Timothée Chalamet, Gwyneth Paltrow, Odessa A’zion, Kevin O’Leary, Tyler Okonma, Abel Ferrara and Fran Drescher and directed by Josh Safdie.
Had its world premiere as a secret screening at the New York Film Festival in October and since then received widespread critical acclaim, with many saying Timothée Chalamet gave a “career-defining performance” and the film was named one of the top ten films of 2025 by the National Board of Review and the American Film Institute.
The promote the film, Timothée Chalamet had a Zoom call with the A24 marketing team, presenting marketing ideas for the film.
Timothée Chalamet has recently starred in A Complete Unknown, Dune Part 2, Wonka and will star in Dune Part 3 next year, but Marty Supreme is a very different film that will need BAFTA and Oscar nominations to bring in the audience, so it’s surprising it’s opening on Boxing Day rather than early January.
