Top 5 Breakdown

1. Finding Dory – £2,866,589 – total £32,356,456

 2D took £2,773,109 (96.3%) – total £28,033,500 (86.6%)– 3D took £94,480 (3.2%) total £4,322,956 (13.3%) –

While everyone expected Suicide Squad to lose top spot doubtful anyone would have expected Finding Dory to reclaim top spot after four weeks on released. But boosted by grey rainy weather Finding Dory as all other releases (apart from Mike and Dave) held strongly increasing its box office by 12.2% from last weekend (as did The BFG).

Few films in recent years have reclaimed to spot Skyfall did in its sixth week ahead of new opener Rise of the Guardians £1.96m.  

Last year after four weeks on release Inside Out took £1.95m and £27.4m going on to take £38.91m Finding Dory should add a similar £12m+ will see it just behind stablemate The Jungle Book.

Over the weekend overtook 1998’s A Bug’s Life £29.45m, 2013’s Monsters University £30.7m and 2004’s The Incredibles £32.27m and will overtake Up £34.59m by next weekend.

Finding Dory is days away from overtaking The Secret Life of Pets £33.71m for Disney to reclaim top spot as the biggest animation film of 2016; it is currently the sixth biggest film of 2016 but before school holidays are finished in 10 days’ time likely to be the second biggest film of 2016 behind The Jungle Book £46.09m.

2. Suicide Squad – £2,554,187 – total £27,664,250

 2D – £2,179,550 (85.3%) –total £20,940,173 (75.6%) 3D – £165,601 (6.4%) – total £4,613,426 (16.6%) – IMAX /3D – £199,037 (7.7%) – total £2,110,652 (7.6%)

Dropped 39.5% in its third weekend less than the other two DC Universe but they didn’t have school holidays to help them more interestingly held better than Guardians of the Galaxy in is fourth weekend which dropped 41% with £1.25m and £21.89m.

While it won’t match the box office heights of Deadpool £37.73, Captain America: Civil War £36.87 or Batman Vs Superman £36.17m it will become the seventh film of 2016 to take £30m+ by next weekend.

After all the doom and gloom critically over DC Extended Universe their first three films have each taken more than £30m at the UK box office. Compared with Marvel’s first three films took Iron Man £17.42m, Iron Man 2 £21.18m and Thor £14.04m.

In comparison third w/e drops:

Batman Vs Superman dropped 51.2% –  £2.27m -£33.3m

Deadpool drooped 47.6% in 3rd w/e £2.97m total £31.14m

Man of Steel dropped 52% in 3rd w/e £2.43m total £26.2m

3. Life on the Road – £1,445,992 – NE

Last year when eOne dated Life on the Road rival studios were weary of it choosing to open films the weekend before or after as British TV based films with the exception of Bad Education have historically opened strongly. There have been many disappointing performances for films this year Life on the Road must be one of the biggest.

After £2.06m opening of Dad’s Army and £4.01m opening of Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie and mostly positive reviews for Life on the Road along with the strong media coverage received and far better trailers than Dad’s Army and Absolutely Fabulous expectations must have been high.

Originally I was expecting an opening similar to Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa but after Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie opening and better than expected reviews with little competition and rainy weather everything looked good for David Brent.

A £2m+ opening must of been expected after Absolutely Fabulous and Mrs Brown’s Boys opened with £4m+. Removing Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa £744,000 from previews Life on the Road had a similar opening but shockingly opening was also close to dreadful Keith Lemon: The Movie opened with £1.19m in 2012.

Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa dropped a massive 61% in its second weekend Life on the Road is likely to drop similarly seeing how it already dropped down a place on Monday. Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa took £6.2m at the box office in 2013 but only managed to be in the top 10 for 2 weeks will Life on the Road do any better?

The performance of Life on the Road is even more disappointing after The Office was voted the second best 21st Century sitcom by a poll by the Radio Times surprisingly Mrs Browns Boys was voted #1.

Keith Lemon: The Movie dropped 69% in its second weekend and also only last for 2 weeks in the top 10.

August has been a very lucrative month for British TV spin-off films with rainy weather and little competition are no excuse for the failure of Life on the Road.

The Inbetweeners	Entertainment	August 2011	£13.2m
The Inbetweeners 2	Entertainment	August 2014	£12.5m
Bean	Polygram	August 1997	£2.6m
Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa	Studiocanal	August 2013	£2.2m
Keith Lemon: The Movie	Lionsgate	August 2012	£1.2m
Bad Education	Entertainment	August 2015	£0.59m

 

During the media campaign for the film Ricky Gervais spoke of killing off David Brent character which he has done after its performance at the box office as it will likely be very front-loaded.

The disappointing performance of David Brent: Life on the Road is similar to his The 11 O’clock Show co-star Sacha Baron Cohen’s Grimsby earlier this year opening with £1.92m taking £5.26m. The characters they both played have had similar awkward cringing humour which was funny and original 15 years ago but feel very dated now.

Ricky Gervais has had TV success since The Office with Extras, Life’s Too Short and Derek received far lower TV rating than The Office the final episodes broadcast Christmas 2002 with more than 8m compared with Derek in 2014 with 2 million.

Film-wise he has had bit part roles in many films including the successful Night at the Museum trilogy but when he was the lead in 2008’s Ghost Town (opened with £1,347,678) and 2009’s The Invention of Lying opened with £1.74m similarly when he directed 2010’s Cemetery Junction (opened with £641,218 taking £1.32m) and 2016’s Special Correspondents for Netflix.

Has been 13 years since final episode of the Office but Ricky Gervais is a one trick pony and all his characters since have had a bit of David Brent in them making a film feel unnecessary and pointless shown by the fact that few of his co-stars from the Office and the co-creator Stephen Merchant weren’t involved have all gone on to bigger and better things while Ricky Gervais feels like he has become David Brent still living in the past.

It’s similar to going back to your former employer for a visit it’s OK once or twice but anymore starts to feel awkward as both have moved on the problem with Ricky/David and Sacha Baron Cohen they are both still living in the past and what was funny then has become sad and embarrassing than funny today.

This highlights the problem of the many unnecessary pointless sequels and remakes most of which failed to match the performance of previous films. While we might have enjoyed the previous instalments the sequel must add to what came before.  

That said audiences are fickle as are happy to see remixes Jurassic Park/World, Mission Impossible Rogue Nation/Spectre, Star Wars A New Hope/The Force Awakens and Bourne Trilogy/ Jason Bourne.

4. Jason Bourne – £1,261,435 – total £19,716,560

Down only 13.9% in its fourth weekend has last year’s Mission Impossible Rogue Nation £21.07m in its sights but will probably come short of beating Matt Damon’s last Jason Bourne film 2007’s The Bourne Ultimatum £23.4m.

The legs of Jason Bourne are surprising but again shows audiences don’t mind certain remixes as unlike the first three films is nothing new to see in Jason Bourne is more a Jason Bourne Greatest Hits album. As with its tagline “You Know His Name” it could of also been sold as remember your favourite scenes from The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum experience them again in the Best of Bourne. Seeing the original films on TV just makes Jason Bourne even more disappointing.

The success of Jason Bourne has much to do with Matt Damon and the huge success of The Martian last year (taking £23.5m) which was one of my favourite and most enjoyable films in recent years.

Next for Matt Damon The Great Wall already has generated controversy after teams up again with director George Clooney in Suburbicon written by Joel and Ethan Cohen and Downsizing directed by Alexander Payne both likely to be released autumn 2017.

In the build up to release of Jason Bourne Universal Pictures spoke of wanting of infinite Bourne films (to go with their infinite Furious films); after the success of Jason Bourne taking over $280m globally compared to $214m for The Bourne Identity, $288m for The Bourne Supremacy and $442m for The Bourne Ultimatum we will almost certainly get another Bourne probably in 2019.

5. The BFG £1,229,653 – total £25,760,893

2D took £1,118,854 (90.9%)– total £21,815,118 (84.6%) – 3D took £32,276 (2.6%) – total £3,650,087 (14.1%) – IMAX/3D £8,533 (0.6%) – total £295,688 (1.1%) – DD rating 9/10

As with Finding Dory increased its box office by 11.4% in its fifth weekend thanks to the weather and new family films underperforming Pete’s Dragon did have a minimal drop but Swallows and Amazons and Nine Live failed to make much impact.

In comparison after being mostly limited to weekend box office Paddington took £2.55m in its fifth weekend which was the start of the Christmas holidays taking £23.9m The BFG now has 10 more days of school holidays which could still possibly see it cross £30m barrier.

Will become Steven Spielberg’s fourth biggest directed film in the UK today overtaking Jurassic Park: The Lost World £25.8m and could still possibly become his third overtaking his 2005 remake of War of the Worlds £30.3m;

After five weeks on release Tim Burton’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in 2005 took £1.11m and £33.2m total having far less competition from Herbie: Fully Loaded which took £432,857 and £4.6m in comparison.

After a disappointing 2015 eOne has had a strong 2016 while Insurgent and Now You See Me 2 failed to match previous instalments Oscar winner Spotlight took strong £585m and Eye in the Sky £5.06m.

While Life on the Road disappointed have a strong end of the year slate with Captain Fantastic, The Girl on the Train, The Light Between Oceans, Arrival, Bad Santa 2 and Office Christmas Party. 2017 has several interesting films but don’t have any BFG sized films there are also concerns over ITV and others looking to acquire eOne who are more interested in Peppa Peg than film distribution.

Also released

Tickled – £25,602 from 14 screens

Other box office news:

This weekend’s top 10 box office took £12,985,800 down 4.4% from last weekend £13,591,392; 

Weekend was up 38.7% from same weekend last year (£9,355,885) when Paper Towns £2,068,751, Sinister 2 £1,066,862, Vacation £606,191, Bad Education Movie £593,315 and Strange Magic £57,000 opened.

Next weekend 2015: Straight Outta Compton £2,487,720, Hitman: Agent 47 £967,274 and 45 Years £331,197 opened.

Admissions

July admission figures were 16,590,400 beating February’s previous high of 15,352,658.

Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie opening with £4.01m, The BFG £5.28m, Finding Dory £8.12m and Jason Bourne £7.60m opened strongly and also held well with most of their box office counted as August admissions.

After the disappointing June many will blame it on European Championships but The Secret Life of Pets still managed to open with £9.58m and there was strong opening also for The Conjuring 2 £4.64m while Me Before You was a steady performer £5.56m but of course there were the expected disappointments Warcraft and TMNT2 and then surprise disappointment of Independence Day: Resurgence.

The first seven months of 2016 are down 3.3% from 2015 but up 7.7% for same period of 2014 but the big question is will Aug-Dec 2016 match last year which had The Martian, Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2, Spectre and Star Wars The Force Awakens among others add over £543.3m to 2015 box office for the year?

There are some strong films still to be released in 2016 top of the list are Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Star Wars: Rogue One but will they match the box office of Spectre and Star Wars The Force Awakens which is unlikely.

September

Bridget Jones’s Baby

After the success of Bridget Jones Diary opening with £5.72m in 2001 going on to take £41.69m and Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason opening with £10.43m in 2004 total £35.6m; Bridget Jones’s Baby is likely to have one of the biggest opening of the year similar to last year’s Fifty Shades of Grey £13.47m she will also be likely helped with the return of Christian Grey with the first trailer of Fifty Shades Darker likely to be attached.

The sequel is likely to be similarly front-loaded as Fifty Shades of Grey.  Opening will dwarf last year’s biggest September opening of Legend £5.16m and The Martian £6.52m but both had far stronger legs.

Also in September The Magnificent Seven which from the trailers could be a remake worth seeing with a great cast. Hell or High Water has had rave reviews as Kubo and the High Water.

Miss Pergrine’s Home for Peculiars – Tim Burton back to making a dark fantasy screenplay by Jane Goldman who also did the screenplay for the wonderful 2007 fantasy adventure Stardust more recently Kingsman: The Secret Service and its sequel Kingsman: The Golden Circle released in June 2017.

Its Tim Burton’s first directed film since Big Eyes in 2014 which was a critical but not box office success as his previous films have been Alice in wonderland in 2010 was his last massive hit.

The film has had its release date changed many times originally due for release in July 2016 then Christmas 2016 then finally September 2016 is a little concerning.

Blair Witch – the surprise film for September as up to July we just thought it was a film called The Witch but then Lionsgate surprised Comic-Con audience showing them the whole film and it is a reboot of the 1999 found footage horror The Blair Witch Project which opened in October 1999 with £750,822 taking £14.9m. At the time of the release in US many thought it was a real story.

October

The Girl on the Train – based on the best-selling novel by Paula Hawkins the mystery thriller has been described as this year’s Gone Girl and the trailers are very similar. Gone Girl opened with £4.10 taking £22.01m. It will be a strong performer for eOne.

Inferno – Third film based on Dan Brown’s novels ten years after the first The Da Vinci Code was released opening with £9.5m and taking £30.2m and the sequel Angels and Demons in 2009 opening £6.05m taking £18.3m. It is the first of two Tom Hanks and Felicity  Jones films this autumn the trailers were unintentionally funny. 

Animation there is Storks and Trolls that both should perform strongly with half term both released around half term. 

Tom Cruise is back as Jack Reacher: Never Go Back it used to be a big deal when a Tom Cruise film opened but no their not given the event status they used to be maybe next years The Mummy reboot will do that before his back as Ethan Hunt in Mission Impossible 6.

Doctor Strange – the last comic-book film of the year it does feel like we are living in Groundhog Day with so many comic-book releases opening this year all looking and feeling the same and all doing similar at the box office apart from X-Men: Apocalypse; Doctor Strange is likely to be no different why feel no need to go into much detail.

November

Five years ago when Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 opened in July 2011 with £23m we thought that was the end of the Harry Potter franchise but this is Hollywood of course it wasn’t the end.  As we have the first part of the trilogy of Fantastic Beast and Where to Find Them, with new Harry Potter books and a sold out stage show Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson many of gone on to other things but Harry Potter is as big as ever.

Moana the latest Disney original animated film with Dwayne Johnson what else needs to be said another £30m+ box office success?

Have some more interesting films 2016 The Accountant with Ben Affleck and Anna Kendrick, romantic thriller Allied with Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard which looks like a Second World War Mr and Mrs Smith and sci-fi Arrival directed by Denis Villeneuve and starring Amy Adams the trailers have impressed audiences but the title like Allied feels very generic especially as it was based on a short novel Story of Your Life. After last year The Martian and year before Interstellar audiences like a sci-fi in the autumn. 

December

The first Star Wars spin-off Rogue One hasn’t received the same buzz as Star Wars The Force Awakens last year. The fans are of course excited but will non fans be so interested it has also had the issue of reshoots but that story was blown out of control as most films have reshoots it means nothing. But it is unlikely to match the heights of The Force Awakens which post-release did get some back-lash with it feeling more of a remix of A New Home than a new film.

What is surprising with Rogue One as well as Star Wars The Force Awakens and Ghostbusters is the Chinese/Japanese trailers are far better than their US versions. 

Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt star in sci-fi Passengers both coming off huge franchises this is a film that will show if they can open a film without having the support of a franchise we surprisingly still haven’t seen a trailer even though footage was screened in June at CineEurope.

December also sees Tom Hanks team up with Clint Eastwood in Sully. We have Project X for adults in Office Christmas Party and Will Smith trying to repeat The Pursuit of Happyness with Collateral Beauty.

 Complete UK Box office top 10 – August 19^th – 21^st 2016

US Box Office

1. Warner Bros – Suicide Squad – dropping 52.4% – $20.7m – $262.2m; similar third week drop to Batman V Superman taking $23.3m and $296.6m while ahead of Man of Steel $248.5m taking similar $20.7m in third weekend; while Deadpool taken $285.2m but Captain America: Civil War took $32.9m and $347.1m and Guardians of the Galaxy $22.6m; S despite negativity surrounding Suicide Squad is far from the failure many were predicting taking $572m globally; Man of Steel took $668m while BvS took $872.6m.

2. Sony Pictures – Sausage Party – dropped 55.3% – $14.3m – $65.3m;

3. Warner Bros – War Dogs – opens with $14.3m; received B CinemaScore;

4. Focus Features – Kubo and the Two Strings – opens with $12.6m; received A CinemaScore; In 2014 The Boxtrolls opened with $17.2m, ParaNorman $14.1m in 2012 and Coraline $16.8m in 2009; after receiving excellent reviews with many describing it as the best animated film of the year and with Pete’s Dragon disappointing would have expected a stronger opening but previous Laika have strong legs and with no new family films released for a month till Storks it could hold ell in upcoming weeks.

5. Paramount – Ben Hur – opens with $11.3m; received a surprising A- CinemaScore but won’t stop being the flop of the summer this was always expected when it was delayed from February to a late August slot which is normally where studios dump their releases.

6. Disney – Pete’s Dragon – dropped 47.3%- $11.3m – $42.8m;

 

7. STX – Bad Moms – dropped 29% – $8.1m – $85.8m;

8. Universal Pictures – Jason Bourne – dropped 42.4% – $7.9m – $140.9m; similar box office of The Bourne Supremacy after four weeks $139.6m while The Bourne Ultimatum had taken $185.2m; 2015’s Mission Impossible Rogue Nation took $157.5m after 4 weeks.

9. Universal – The Secret Life of Pets – dropped 36.3% – $5.7m – $346.7m; will overtake Minions in the next few days and will overtake Zootopia by next weekend.

10. Paramount Pictures – Florence Foster Jenkins – dropped 34.9% – $4.3m – $14.4m; despite A- CinemaScore and strong reviews failed to add screens in its second weekend; a slow platform release similar to Hell of High Water would have given it more scope of further expansion but going wide straight away its unlikely to hold its screens long term especially with so many films targeting similar audience in the coming weeks.

 

Opening on limited release

Focus Features – A Tale of Love and Darkness – opens $36,000 from 2 screens

Cohen – The People VS Fritz Bauer – opens $33,781 from 6 screens

Expanded

Lionsgate – Hell or High Water – $2.65m – up 326.5% after adding 440 screens – $3.52m;

Sony Classics – Equity – $142,853 up 8.5% after adding 13 screens – total $533,196