- Beetlejuice Beetlejuice – £4,269,021 – £14,397,090
Dropped 41.9% in the second weekend.
Took £1.05m 24.58% (-52.91% £2.23m) Friday; £1.88m 44.01% (-33.33% £2.82m) Saturday; £1.342m 31.41% (-41.7% £2.302m) Sunday.
134th biggest second weekend between Jurassic Park and Bridget Jones’s Diary (close to The Inbetweeners Movie 2, The Twilight Saga: New Moon, Spider-Man and War of the Worlds) and 250th 266th biggest inflated second weekend between Iron Man 2 and The Wolf of Wall Street (close to The Blair Witch Project, The Matrix, Van Helsing and The Nutty Professor)
6th biggest 2024 second weekend between Despicable Me 4 and Kung Fu Panda 4; 5th biggest September opening; Tim Burton’s 3rd biggest opening after 2005’s Charlie And The Chocolate Factory (£4.44m) and 2010’s Alice In Wonderland (£7.34m).
Micheal Keaton only appeared in the original film for 17 minutes and he is in the sequel for a similar amount of time.
Compared to similar recent legacy-sequels opened 45%+ 2016’s Independence Day: Resurgence (£5,067,855); 62%+ 2015’s Mad Max: Fury Road (£4,538,933); 67.5%+ 2016’s Ghostbusters (£4,388,944); 70.4%+ 2021’s Ghostbusters Afterlife (£4,314,263); 77.2%+ 2024’s Twisters (£4,149,210); 81.3%+ 2024’s Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (£4,056,097)
The Beetlejuice sequel was in development for more than a decade one idea was Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian and Warner Bros also wanted to make it an exclusive release for streaming on Max with a much lower budget. During development, the budget increased to $147m, Warner Bros approved the sequel with an exclusive theatrical release if the budget was under $100m and greenlit the film with a $99m budget, cast members agreed to lower salaries but bigger back-end deals which could now cost the studio more.
Selected Tim Burton second weekend
Beetlejuice dropped 36% £335,680/£1,163,204 and £1,171,337 32.5% of £3,604,282/£12,411,267 inflated.
1989’s Batman dropped 31.5% £1,410,481/£4,794,425 and £5,355,998 44.5% of £12,034,291/£40,906,260 inflated
1991’s Edward Scissorhands dropped 15.2% £1,137,375/£2,972,941 and £2,982,225 69.36% of £4,299,657/£11,238,707 inflated
1997’s Mars Attacks dropped 41.2% £1,247,385/£2,427,344 and £4,184,690 59.2% of £7,061,157/£13,740,630 inflated
2000’s Sleepy Hollow dropped 39% £1,739,653/£3,131,375 and £5,638,711 56.13% of £10,046,249/£18,083,248 inflated.
2001’s Planet of the Apes dropped 56.6% £2,364,945/£4,524,243 and £10,653,344 62.56% of £17,027,825/£32,574,970 inflated
2005’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory dropped 44.3% £4,441,851/£7,469,100 and £19,422,510 51.4% of £37,781,940/£63,531,415 inflated
2008’s Sweeney Todd dropped 62.4% £1,702,252/£2,592,661 and £7,973,245 72.94% of £10,930,875/£16,648,563 inflated
2010’s Alice In Wonderland dropped 30.4% £7,343,506/£9,774,885 and £22,749,115 53.95% of £42,169,542/£56,131,558 inflated
2019’s Dumbo dropped 42.3% £3,508,551 and £12,083,765 48.06% of £25,141,389
When asked if he would like to do a sequel he said, “I’d rather jump out a window.” He went back to more quirky films like Big Fish, Corpse Bride, Dark Shadows, Frankenweenie and Big Eyes, his last was 2019’s live-action reimagination of Dumbo poorly received critically.
In 2022 Park Circus re-released 1988’s Beetlejuice in 350 screens tsking £93,042 #14; originally opened with £524,740 (£1,818,338 inflated) taking £3,604,282 (£12,489,621 inflated). The film was originally released as a 15 and was reclassified as 12A in 2018.
477th biggest between Napoleon and Star Wars (1977) (close to Stardust, Batman and Robin, Twisters and Terminator Salvation) and 806th biggest inflated The Santa Clause and Valiant (close to Paranormal Activity, Arachnophobia, Alien Resurrection and Death Becomes Her).
- 2. Speak No Evil £1,425,686 – NE
Included £215k from Thursday previews.
Took £359k 25.21% Friday; £493k 34.62% Saturday; £357k 25.1% Sunday.
1,108th biggest opening between The Wild Thornberrys and 2 Guns (close to Insidious Chapter 3, Sinister, Gothika and Parasite) and 1,421st biggest inflated opening between The Black Phone and Shanghai Noon (close to The Dilemma, Unfaithful, The Mothman Prophecies and Lost in Translation).
648th widest opening (591 cinemas) (close to Fifty Shades Freed, The Secret Life of Pets and Trainspotting 2)
It’s the third James McAvoy Blumhouse Productions film after 2019’s Glass opened £3,423,380 #1 559 screens taking £9,646,964 and 2017’s Split opened £2,548,516 #2 450 screens taking £11,018,070.
A remake of the 2022 Danish film Gæsterne received positive reviews and has a similar plot to Blink Twice in Speak No Evil a family is invited for a weekend at an idyllic country house that becomes a psychological nightmare; Blink Twice opened £746,328 #6 from 564 screens taking £2,933,902.
The director James Watkins talked about the changes he made to the original which saw a British family invite an American family to their home in the countryside, in the original there was a language divide with the two couples speaking Dutch and Danish but, in the remake, both couples speak English. He also talked about the need to change the ending saying “People might want the catharsis of that release, but I don’t think you can say it’s a Hollywood ending. It’s a pretty European version of a Hollywood ending. It’s not triumphant. It’s not an easy solution, saying, ‘Okay, our problems are behind us”, and the cultural differences In making the characters American.
He also spoke about how trailers show more than filmmakers want saying “It is trying to entice people into seeing the film” … “They do that brilliantly. It’s very easy as a filmmaker to get a bit precious and go, ‘I really want that really cool, classy poster. ’.. “And then they go, ‘Well, yeah, but no one’s going to see your movie.’ These people are very skilled at their jobs and have a lot of experience. It’s just so empirical, how they try and figure out these things. It’s just a different creative part of our industry.”
James Watkins previously directed 2012’s The Woman in Black the biggest British horror film in the UK. The Woman in Black opened £3,153,020 taking £21,237,668; Was Daniel Radcliffe’s first film since Harry Potter ended and received 12A, which was later increased to 15.
There have been many American remakes of foreign films very few have been as good as the original, for The Ring and Insomnia there are remakes including Ghost in the Shell, and The Vanishing (the 1988 original received critical acclaim; the 1993 US remake poorly received opened £290,384/£716,461 inflated taking £1,165,670/£2,876,046), Father’s Day and Vanilla Sky. Filmmakers struggle to interpret the films for mainstream US audiences which is often hard to do, why often do they hire the director to make the US version but that brings many other challenges.
While critics picked up on the differences between the original film and the remake the Danish film had a limited international release in 2022 so most of the audience who are seeing Speak No Evil are seeing it fresh and in doing so it’s one of the best recent horror thrillers and surely should have opened stronger given its British cast and setting and James McAvoy’s previous Blumhouse films. Word of mouth should be strong and with limited new releases over the next few weeks it should be able to hold well.
- 3. Prima Facie – (Re: 2024) – £553,585 – NE
Took £924k from Thursday screenings.
Took £178k 32% Friday; £191k 34.35% Saturday; £187k 33.63% Sunday.
Opened in 444 cinemas 1,011th widest opening similar to Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, Inglourious Basterds, Wimbledon and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. Prima Facie had about one show a day but of course that one show had a ticket price of about £20.
Prima Facie was originally released in cinemas in July 2022 £447,014 #6 from 347 screens taking £5,448,881 over 14 weeks. It’s the highest-grossing theatre release of all time, but most other Event Cinema theatre shows only play for one day while Prima Facie played for several months.
What never makes any sense is Prima Facie had screenings on Thursday, but its box office wasn’t included as part of its opening weekend while Speak No Evil Thursday box office was, had £924k taken on Thursday included in its opening weekend Prima Facie would have opened #2 ahead of Speak No Evil. Of course, as Event Cinema screenings like Prima Facie prices are about £20 it’s impossible to compare with any of the film releases.
There were two other Event Cinema screenings opening over the weekend RIIZE FAN-CON TOUR ‘RIIZING DAY’ FINALE in CINEMAS (Friday took only £11,664) ) and Usher: Rendezvous In Paris (Thursday took £38,233 over the weekend and £71,064 including Thursday)both failed to find their expected audiences.
After Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour opened £5,729,998 in October taking £12,164,375 distributors hoped that it would start a trend for pop concert screenings but Renaissance: A Film By Beyonce opened with only £1,082,080 in December taking £1,679,777 despite Beyonce’s hugely popular summer concerts in the UK. That said, with the huge fanbase Taylor Swift has in the UK Eras Tour surely should have taken far more in October.
Pop concerts have been popular as Event Cinema screenings with Take That and K-pop BTS, but as seen with recent Andre Rieu concerts opening lower the £20 price puts many off.
- 4. Lee £704,800 – NE
Took £30,729 from previews.
Took £202k 28.86% Friday; £266k 38% Saturday; £232k 33.14% Sunday.
2,198th biggest opening between A Dog’s Way Home and Pulp Fiction (close to Rain-Man, Florence Foster Jenkins, Logan Lucky and The Royal Tenenbaums) and 2,737th biggest inflated opening between Jaws – The Revenge and Volver (The Vanishing, Allelujah, Detroit and Jackie).
43rd biggest 2024 opening between Blink Twice and The Holdovers (close to Monkey Man, Imaginary, Night Swim and Abigail).
21% of the audience came due because of Kate Winslet; she starred in two of the biggest films over the last 25 years, Titanic and Avatar: The Way of Water.
Selected other Kate Winslet films
2015’s Steve Jobs opened £903,214 taking £2,282,033
2011’s Contagion opened £1,463,638/£1,912,873 taking £5,337,350/£6,975,547
2009’s Revolutionary Road opened £1,013,548/£1,475,607 taking £2,751,902/£4,006,446
2009’s The Reader opened £671,064/£976,990 taking £5,064,536/£7,373,369
2004’s Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind opened £1,045,501/£1,844,180 taking £4,874,405/£8,598,060
2004’s Finding Neverland opened £776,124/£1,369,021 taking £3,415,695/£6,025,012
2001’s Enigma opened £796,776/£1,524,267 taking £4,647,791/£8,891,426
208th widest opening (605 cinemas) similar to The Menu, Victoria and Abdul, Captain America: Civil War and Jurassic World (close to The Greatest Showman, iT, La La Land and The Boss Baby 2). Distributors have to open these films much wider than they should do as if they don’t, they might never go wide as exhibitors are far too quick to pull them after only a week. It’s crazy that Lee opened in as many cinemas as 2015’s Jurassic World which was then one of the widest UK openings. Do these films really need to open so wide? When distributors had to pay £2,000 for a 35mm print bookers were much more selective in the cinemas they booked as Bollywood distributors still are opening most of their films in only 100 screens as Ajayante Randam Moshanam #10 has a far better screen average of £1,844 Vs £1,166.
The biographical drama Lee starring Kate Winslet has generated a lot of media coverage but will struggle to find an audience in cinemas. Kate Winslet has recently had success on TV with The Regime and Mare of Easttown, starring in Avatar: The Way of Water, it’s her first leading acting role since 2017’s The Mountain Between Us (opened £777,646 taking £2,360,660).
The film took 8 years to make Kate Winslet who produced paid the cast and crew salaries for two weeks. The film started development in 2015 with Kate Winslet and Ellen Kuras attached.
The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival last year receiving positive reviews and UK rights were acquired by Sky Cinema in 2023; it will be shown on Sky Cinema later in the year.
The film generated media coverage in a Vogue interview with Kate Winslet saying “The men who think you want and need their help are unbelievably outraging. I’ve even had a director say to me: ‘Listen, you do my film, and I’ll get your little Lee funded…’ Little! Or we’d have potential male investors saying things like Tell me, why am I supposed to like this woman?
Sky Cinema started acquiring UK rights for films to premiere day and date Sky Cinema and cinemas with Monster Family, Anon, Hurricane Heist and Final Score in 2018. But major exhibitors have refused to book most of the films despite Sky Cinema being accessible to less than a quarter of the UK. Sky Cinema has acquired higher-profile films over the last year including Ferrari, A Good Person, May December and Lee. Sky Cinema has brought in a two-month window since Ferrari (opened £1,981,677 taking £3,850,021) and The Beekeeper opened £956,380 taking £3,830,079
- 5. Despicable Me 4 £389,800 – £46,254,774
Down 28.3% in its tenth weekend
45th biggest 10th weekend between Despicable Me 2 and Elvis (close to Wonka, Frozen 2, The Lion King (2019) and Shrek) and 98th biggest inflated between Minions and Incredibles 2 (close to A Bug’s Life, Finding Dory, Wayne’s World and Forrest Gump).
4th biggest Illumination 10th weekend between Despicable Me 2 and Minions
Tenth weekends
2022’s Minions: The Rise of Gru up 84% (NCD) £1,056,163 #1 and £44,198,979 634 screens of £45,764,546
2017’s Despicable Me 3 up 30% £515,332 #7 and £45,561,378 529 screens of £47,562,575: #1 American Made £968,068
2015’s Minions dropped 10% 353,262 #9 and £45,221,873 491 screens of £47,645,626: #1 Straight Outta Compton £2,498,231
2013’s Despicable Me 2 dropped 30% £394,650 #9 and £44,811,674 412 screens of £47,436,199; #1 One Direction: This Is Us £3,471,872
2010’s Despicable Me took £19,670,786/£26,455,718 inflated over 9 weeks
64th biggest between Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and The Jungle Book (close to Bridget Jones’s Baby, Jurassic Park, The Inbetweeners Movie and Mary Poppins Returns) and 144th biggest inflated between Inception and The Sixth Sense (close to Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Spider-Man 2, Babe and Crocodile Dundee II).
12th biggest animated film between Minions The Rise of Gru and Toy Story 2 (close to Minions, Despicable Me 3, Despicable Me 2 and Inside Out) and 28th biggest inflated between Toy Story and Finding Dory (close to Up, Ice Age II, Shrek Forever After and Shark Tale).
Despite Despicable Me 4 being available to watch at home since 26th August, it’s taken over £3m in cinemas, and children’s films regularly still perform strongly after being released on VOD.
Inside Out 2 and Despicable Me 4 have taken over £100m having long legs helped by the lack of major children’s films opening until October.
Also opened.
- The Critic – Lionsgate
Opened £353,075 #7 from 563 screens.
40% were 35+ so they are likely to play well Mon-Thurs, but exhibitors have cut back on shows for it in its second weekend. Films like The Critic audiences don’t rush out to see over the opening weekend they wait on word of mouth and when they do try to see it is playing at 10 am or 10 pm.
Directed by Anand Tucker, who previously directed 1999’s Hilary and Jackie, 2006’s Shopgirl, and 2007’s When Did You Last See Your Father? Opened £133,347 #13 from 153 screens taking £447,655.
Premiered at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival receiving average reviews,
Ian McKellen’s last major film role was in 2019’s The Good Liar opened £960,536 545 screens taking £3,844,314.
The Critic was acquired in June by Lionsgate from True Brit Entertainment run by former Lionsgate boss Zygi Kamasa. True Brit Entertainment ae launching its own UK distribution.
A decade ago, Zygi Kamasa said prices for British films in cinemas should be cheaper than in the US, saying “In most other industries, the retail price is related to the cost of production, but not in the film business,”… “I think we should see UK films priced at £4 and US films at £10. A trip to the cinema isn’t cheap anymore,” … “The problem is you’ll likely have 20 films that take $40m (£25m) each and not much besides“.., “They will account for more than 95% of the business and it could lead to an unhealthy lack of cultural diversity. “I think UK film needs a bigger support from UK distributors and exhibitors, and this could be one way to do that.”
UKCA’s response was “Cinemas are essentially businesses,”… “They look to maximise revenue however they can… “If you introduce pricing according to budget, cinemas are naturally going to show the blockbusters to get a higher revenue.” Ten years later the situation has gotten far worse, there are over 700 films released each year but the top 100 are taking about 90% of the box office and the top 5 over 40% as audiences have become much more selective in the films they see in the cinema.
UK box office in detail
The weekend’s top 10 box office took £8,847,393 down 22.4% from last weekend’s £11,405,575: 1,117,095 admissions, down 22.4% from 1,440,098 admissions.
33rd biggest weekend of the last 52 weeks between 24 May 2024 #1 Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga £2,121,270 (23.65%) and 22 March 2024 #1 Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire £4,056,097 (45.91%)
107th biggest since cinemas reopened out of 200 weeks between 24 February 2023 #1 Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania £3,049,939 (34.39%) and 22 March 2024 #1 Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire £4,056,097 (45.91%)
762nd biggest top 10 of the last 22 years (out of 1,171) between 14 April 2006 #1 Ice Age II £3,608,531 (40.76%) and 22 March 2024 #1 Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire £4,056,097 (45.91%) and 1,013th inflated between 10 September 2010 #1 Resident Evil: Afterlife £1,690,655 (25.58%) and 17 December 2010 #1 Tron Legacy £1,970,692 (29.86%)
The top 3 took (£6,402,843) 72.4% of the top 10; Beetlejuice Beetlejuice 48.35% (£4,272,202); Speak No Evil 16.13% (£1,424,998); Lee 7.99% (£705,643)
Year to date BO is 11% down from 2023. While September looks soft October has Joker: Folie à Deux and then November sees the release of Paddington in Peru, Gladiator 2, Wicked and Moana 2 far stronger than last year.
302nd highest #1 percentage (48.29%) between 22 March 2013 #1 The Croods (48.34%) and 10 November 2006 #1 Borat (48.24%)
629th biggest admissions #1 (539,419) between 05 January 2018 #1 Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (539,536) and 21 April 2023 #1 Super Mario Bros (539,307)
Up 36.9% from 2023; (£6,463,338); A Haunting in Venice (£2,186,930); Rise Of The Footsoldier: Vengeance (£179,804); The Dark Knight (Batman Day) (£175,576); The Jungle Book (Re: 1993) (£117,015); ABBA: The Movie – Fan Event (£116,574); Batman (Batman Day) (£66,351); Joker (Batman Day) (£37,014); Dazed And Confused (30th Anniversary) (£6,433); #1 A Haunting in Venice £2,186,930 1st week 711 screens (33.84% of top 10)
Up 166.1% 2022 (£3,325,794); Moonage Daydream (£181,467); Clerks III (£47,712); Jackie Brown (25th Anniversary) (£21,636); #1 See How They Run £984,779 2nd week 15% drop 717 screens (29.61% of top 10)
Up 83.8% 2021 (£4,812,471); Gunpowder Milkshake (£35,578); 12 Mighty Orphans (£17,220); #1 Shangi-Chi £2,362,692 3rd week 34% drop 664 screens (49.1% of top 10)
Up 244% 2020; (£2,572,070); Break the Silence (£249,996); The Broken Hearts Gallery (£87,568); The Roads Not Taken (£27,742); #1 Tenet £1,233,090 3rd week 612 screens down 42% (43.84% of top 10)
Down 27.2% 2019; (£12,155,175); Downton Abbey (£5,180,865); Hustlers (£1,353,324); #1 Downton Abbey £5,180,865 1st week 728 screens (42.6% of top 10)
Down 8.3% 2018: (£9,647,148); The Predator (£2,394,163); Crazy Rich Asians (£1,599,858); King of Thieves (£1,535,876); #1 The Predator £2,394,163 1st week 553 screens (24.8% of top 10)
Down 22.9% 2017: (£11,473,084); Victoria and Abdul (£1,846,970); mother! (£831,676); American Assassin (£768,951); Aces of the Jungle (£374,982); #1 It £6,070,542 2nd week 608 down 39% screens (52.9% of the top 10)
Down 32.9% 2016: (£13,181,394); Bridget Jones’s Baby (£8,111,077); Blair Witch (£959,401); The Beatles: Eight Days a Week – The Touring Years (£654,726); The Infiltrator (£370,439); Hunt for the Wilderpeople (£167,646); #1 Bridget Jones’s Baby £8,111,077 1st week 641 screens (61.5% of the top 10)
Down 23.3% 2015; (£11,539,308); Legend (£5,189,074); The Maze Runner: Scorch Trials (£2,799,428); The Visit (£1,031,292); Irrational Man (£197,188); #1 Legend £5,189,074 1st week 522 screens (44.9% of top 10)
Up 24.3% 2014: (£7,115,583); The Boxtrolls (£2,000,597); Pride (£718,778); A Most Wanted Man (£610,312); The Wizard of Oz (Re: 2014) (£42,478); #1 The Boxtrolls £2,000,597 1st week 510 screens (28.1% of top 10)
Down 16.1% 2013: (£10,548,613); Insidious 2 (£2,877,742); Rush (£2,099,308); White House Down (£1,184,338); Justin and the Knights of Valour (£831,011); In a World… (£35,178); 42 (£3,797); #1 Insidious 2 £2,877,742 1st week 414 screens (27.2% of top 10)
Up 14% 2012: (£7,760,490); The Sweeney (£1,545,294); ParaNorman (£1,393,123); Hope Springs (£728,689); To Rome with Love (£141,008); Premium Rush (£115,358); #1 The Sweeney £1,545,294 1st week 406 screens (19.9% of top 10)
Up 3.1% 2011; (£8,582,687); Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (£2,814,860); The Change-Up (£727,497); I Don’t Know How She Does It (£562,609); 30 Minutes or Less (£260,337); You Instead (£6,770); #1 Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy £2,814,860 1st 382 screens 42% drop (32.8% of top 10)
Up 33.9% 2010: (£6,609,071); Resident Evil: Afterlife (£1,690,655); Tamara Drewe (£615,553); Going the Distance (£436,361); Cyrus (£429,687); The Runaways (£59,443); #1 Resident Evil: Afterlife £1,690,655 1st week 361 screens (25.6% of top 10)
Up 48.2% 2009; (£5,969,293); Dorian Gray (£883,148); Sorority Row (£782,693); Julie & Julia (£540,441); Adventureland (£210,671); Whiteout (£150,995); Fish Tank (£103,180); The September Issue (£81,892); Miss March (£24,434); #1 District 9 £2,288,378 2nd week 446 screens 48% drop (19.8% of top 10)
Up 17.3% 2008; (£7,542,608); Pineapple Express (£1,372,911); The Women (£865,310); The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (£513,653); Eden Lake (£192,027); Sydney White (£1,157); #1 Pineapple Express £1,372,911 1st week 389 screens (18.2% of top 10)
Up 17.9% 2007: (£7,504,924); Superbad (£1,484,456); Disturbia (£728,145); Shoot ‘Em Up (£374,770); 3:10 To Yuma (£368,510); December Boys (£23,145); #1 Run, Fat Boy, Run £1,543,836 2nd week 411 screens 23% drop (20.5% of top 10)
Up 80.8% 2006; (£4,892,872); Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (£1,033,759); The Queen (£856,273); The Night Listener (£314,078); DOA (£224,786); #1 Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby £1,033,759 1st week 403 screens (21.2% of top 10)
Up 35.1% 2005: (£6,549,677); Pride and Prejudice (£2,529,947); Wolf Creek (£554,618); Must Love Dogs (£142,199); #1 Pride and Prejudice £2,529,947 1st week 397 screens (38.6% of top 10)
Up 26.4% 2004; (£6,998,915); Open Water (£1,970,176); Anchor Man (£555,864); Wicker Park (£316,722); Super-Size Me (£264,843); #1 Open Water £1,970,176 1st week 378 screens (28.1% of top 10)
Up 65.7% 2003 (£5,338,138); Calendar Girls (expansion) (£1,762,505); Tears of the Sun (£406,324); Sin Eater (£161,779); Spirited Away (£152,504); #1 Calendar Girls £1,762,505 2nd week (1st #1) 462 screens (33.1% of top 10)
Up 22% from 2002: (£7,251,582); Signs (£3,767,713); A Walk to Remember (£246,860); #1 Signs £3,767,713 1st week 443 screens (51.9% of top 10)
Up 34.3% from 2001 (£6,587,094); The Fast and the Furious (£1,763,020); The Martins (£310,600); #1 Moulin Rouge £1,859,732 2nd week 314 screens 23% drop (28.2% of top 10).
2023 Next week: (£5,160,786); Expend4bles (£761,444); Dumb Money (£506,095); Beauty And The Beast (1991) (Re: 2012) (£145,428); The Canterville Ghost (£137,137); The Lesson (£55,050); #1 A Haunting in Venice £1,472,237 2nd week 33% drop 727 screens (28.53% of top 10)
UK Box Office News
2024 is still 12% behind 2023 levels despite August’s box office taking £120.2 million ($158.2m) the highest month since July 2023’s £160m ($210.5m) Barbenheimer.
In August Deadpool & Wolverine took £29.7m (taking £55.98m the third highest grossing 15 behind Joker (£58.2m) and Oppenheimer (£59.7m).
#2 It Ends With Us taking £19.4m; #3 Despicable Me 4 £16.9m; #4 Alien: Romulus £11.6m; #5 Inside Out 2 £7.2m; #6 Twisters £5.2m; #7 Trap £3.7m; #8 Coraline £3.2m; #9 Harold and the Purple Crayon £2.9m; #10 Blink Twice £2.2m.
Apart from Beetlejuice 2 September’s slate looks soft with the biggest other releases Speak No Evil starring James McAvoy, Kate Winslet’s biopic Lee and The Critic starring Ian McKellen and Gemma Arterton all opening on Friday.
October brings Joker: Folie A Deux unlikely to match the £58.5m/£64.6m inflated 2019’s Joker took as it is likely to not have the legs and not stay #1 as long with Venom 3 opening three weeks later. It’s the calm before the storm of November with Paddington in Peru, Gladiator 2, Wicked and Moana 2. Paddington 3 is likely to take £50m+ as the first two films and British audiences love musicals so Wicked is likely to be another £50m+ having long legs into the new year.
Gladiator 2 is another long-gap sequel opening 24 years after the first film. Moana wasn’t an immediate success having exceptionally long legs, but will the sequel be overshadowed by Paddington in Peru and Wicked? December sees the release of the Lion King prequel Mustafa unlikely to be as big as 2019’s The Lion King.
The remaining films will see 2024 overtake 2023 BO but by how much as surely BO needs to add at least £100m from last year’s £978.5m so 2025 will return to 2019 levels (£1.251bn? Admissions are expected to be about 128m this year up from last year’s 117.3m if they are to return to 2019’s 176.1m over the next few years and finally, top 200m as the UKCA predicted would happen within 10 years in 2020, this will be about 30 years later than originally expected.
US Box Office
- Beetlejuice Beetlejuice – Warner Bros
Dropped 54% in the second weekend $51.35m #1 and $187.75m.
1988’s Beetlejuice increased 7.6% $8.66m/$22.73m #1 and $22.91m/$60.1m of $74.66m/$195.83m inflated; it had a $15m budget compared to $100m+ for the sequel; Beetlejuice received B CinemaScore, has 83% Rotten Tomatoes critics score and 82% audience score, but doesn’t factor in reviews from 1988.
266th biggest between Interstellar and Gladiator; 750th inflated between Urban Cowboy and Reds; 9th biggest 2024 between Bad Boys: Ride or Die and Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes; 16th biggest comedy between 22 Jump Street and Pitch Perfect 2; 51st biggest Warner Bros between The Polar Express and Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.
Beetlejuice was the 10th biggest film in 1988; 1 Who Framed Roger Rabbit $156,45m; 2 Coming to America $128.15m; 3 Good Morning, Vietnam $122.23m; 4 Big $114.96m; 5 Crocodile Dundee II $109.3m; 6 Three Men and a Baby $90.52m; 7 Die Hard $83m; 8 Moonstruck $80.03m; 9 Cocktail $78,2m; 10 Beetlejuice $73.7m.
Tim Burton’s 20 films have taken over $4.5bn worldwide.
Took $17.6m worldwide from IMAX; $14.2m US and $3.4m internationally.
Biggest September second weekends
2017’s It Part 1 dropped 51.3% $60.1m #1 and $218.81m of $327.48m and $702.78m worldwide
2019’s It Part Two dropped 56.5% $39.6m #1 and $152.67m of $211.59m and $473.09m worldwide
2021’s Shang-Chi dropped 54% $34.7m #1 and $144.51m of $224.54m and $432.24m worldwide
2018’s The Nun dropped 66.1% $18.23m #2 and $85.11m of $117.45m and $366.05m worldwide
68th biggest second weekend between Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace and Zootopia (close to Aquaman, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and The Lego Movie).
Took $28.7m (44% drop) from 76 territories $76.3m total and $264.3m worldwide; UK $19.1m; Mexico $11.1m; Spain $5.2m; France $4.9m; Australia $4.8m.
- Speak No Evil – Universal Pictures
Opened $11.39m #2; received positive reviews (85% Rotten Tomatoes) and B+ CinemaScore.
Took $1.3m from Thursday midnights; A Quiet Place: Day One $6.8m; A Quiet Place Part II $4.8m; Glass $3.7m; The Black Phone $3m; M3GAN $2.75m; Trap $2.2m; Split $2m; Get Out $1.8m.
51% female and 38% under 35; Like many Blumhouse films it had a budget of $15m
It’s the third James McAvoy Blumhouse Productions film after
2016’s Split opened $40.01m taking $138.29m and $278.45m worldwide
2019’s Glass opened $40.32m taking $111.04m and $246.9m worldwide
Blumhouse Production films
2023’s Five Nights at Freddy’s opened $80m taking $137.27m and $297.14m worldwide
2022’s M3GAN opened $30.42m taking $95.15m and $180.08m worldwide
2021’s The Black Phone opened $23.63m taking $90.12m and $161.44m worldwide
All have sequels opening next year.
But this year’s Blumhouse films have had much lower openings.
Night Swim opened $11.79m taking $32.49m and $54.72m worldwide.
Imaginary opened $9.91m taking $28m and $43.67m worldwide.
Afraid opened $3.66m taking $6.44m and $8.74m worldwide.
Blumhouse Productions have taken $3.21bn in the US and $6.1bn
Opened with $9.3m from 73 territories internationally; UK $1.8m; Mexico $0.8m; Spain $worldwide0.8m
- Deadpool and Wolverine – Disney
Down 25% in its eighth weekend $5.22m #3 and $621.52m
84th biggest eighth weekend between The Fugitive and Terms of Endearment (close to The Dark Knight, Guardians of the Galaxy, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Batman).
14th biggest between The Avengers and Star Wars Ep. VIII: The Last Jedi; 47th biggest inflated between Back to the Future and The Sixth Sense; 2nd biggest 2024 between Inside Out 2 and Despicable Me 4; 6th biggest comic-book between The Avengers and The Dark Knight; 7th biggest Disney between The Avengers and Star Wars Ep. VIII: The Last Jedi.
Eighth weekends
2018’s Deadpool 2 dropped 53.1% $1.67m #10 and $314.54m of $324.59m/$384.1m inflated and $785.89m/$929.96m worldwide inflated
2016’s Deadpool dropped 29.4% $3.45m #10 and $355.06m of $363.07m/$452.5m inflated and $782.83m/$975.6m worldwide inflated
The 34 films have taken $12.34bn in the US and $30.85bn worldwide.
Disney has taken $4bn globally in 2024 due to Inside Out 2 and Deadpool & Wolverine. Alien: Romulus, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.
Took $5.7m from 52 territories $683.5m total and $1.305bn worldwide; UK $72.7m; China $59.6m; Mexico $43.5m; Australia $42.5m; Germany $38.3m.
22nd biggest worldwide between Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and Frozen; the 7th biggest comic book between Black Panther and Iron Man 3; the 11th biggest Disney between Star Wars Ep. VIII: The Last Jedi and Frozen.
- Alien: Romulus – Disney
Dropped 39% in the fifth weekend $2.38m #7 and $101.26m.
804th biggest between Eraser and Noah; 1,689th biggest inflated between The Wiz and Alita: Battle Angel; 15th biggest 2024 between Beetlejuice Beetlejuice and Bob Marley: One Love; 107th biggest sci-fi between This is the End and Rampage; 31st biggest horror between Scream 2 and Sleepy Hollows.
Fifth weekends
2017’s Alien: Covenant dropped 68.9% $568,149 #16 and $72.75m of $74.26m and $240.89m worldwide; took 69.2% internationally
2012’s Prometheus dropped 63.1% $1.81m #14 and $122.39m of $126.47m/$171.3m inflated and $403.35m worldwide; 68.6% internationally
1997’s Alien Resurrection dropped 58% $543,068 #18 and $45.24m of $47.79m/$112.2m inflated and $161.37m worldwide; 70.4% internationally
1992’s Alien³ dropped 44% $1.52m #8 and $45.8m of $55.47m/$144.1m inflated and $159.81m worldwide; 65.3|% internationally
1986’s Aliens dropped 26% $4.3m #3 and $55m of $85.16m/$248m inflated and $131.06m internationally; 35% internationally
1979’s Alien up 137% $5.31n #1 and $21.77m of $84.2m and $108.59m worldwide; 22.5% internationally
Took $13.7m from 52 territories $216.96m total and $330.95m worldwide: China $104.2m; UK $16.7m; Korea $14.5m; France $11.3m; Mexico $8.2.
495th biggest between Black Swan and 300: Rise of an Empire; 12th biggest 2024 between Twisters and It Ends With Us; 102nd biggest Sci-fi between Back to the Future Part II and Free Guy; 8th biggest horror between A Quiet Place and The Conjuring.
- It Ends With Us – Sony Pictures
Dropped 45% in the sixth weekend $2.05m #8 and $144.9m.
449th biggest between Taken and The Great Gatsby; 1,075th biggest inflated between We Were Soldiers and Legal Eagles; 80th biggest based on fiction book between The Meg and The Great Gatsby; 11th biggest 2024 between A Quiet Place: Day One and Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire; 33rd biggest drama between Gran Torino and The Great Gatsby; 46th biggest Sony Pictures between Paul Blart: Mall Cop and The Smurfs.
It’s the biggest romantic drama since 2018’s A Star Is Born
Fifth weekends
2014’s The Fault in Our Stars dropped 40.1% $1.5m #14 and $119.62m of $124.87m and $307.16m worldwide.
2011’s The Help dropped 27% $6.51m #4 and $147..43m of $169.7m and $216.63m worldwide
Films about abusive relationships include.
2013’s Safe Haven dropped 53.6% $1.13m #12 and $68.91m of $71.34m and $97.59m worldwide
1991’s Sleeping With the Enemy dropped 22.5% $4.71m #3 and $68.35m of $101.6m/$260.2m inflated and $175m/$450m worldwide inflated
Blake Lively recent films include.
2015’s The Age of Adaline dropped 61.5% $573,738 #15 and $41.45m of $42.62m and $65.66m worldwide
2018’s A Simple Favor dropped 72.9% $359,889 #20 and $52.9m of $53.54m and $97.64m worldwide; a sequel has been made and will be released by Amazon/Lionsgate next year.
While
2022’s Where the Crawdads Sing dropped 20% $3.2m #9 and $77.77m of $90.23m and $144.35m worldwide
2022’s Don’t Worry Darling dropped 68.3% $274,857 #14 and $44.86m of $45.3m and $87.6m worldwide
Took $7.3m from 58 territories internationally $180.6m and $325.5m worldwide; UK $26m; Australia $14m; Germany $14.0m; Mexico $13.6m; Brazil $9.8m; France $8.9m; Spain $7.9m; Holland $5.3m; Argentina $3.6m; Saudi Arabia $3.5m.
It’s the highest-grossing global romantic drama since 2018’s A Star Is Born overtaking lifetimes of The Fault in Our Stars, Crazy Rich Asians, Anyone But You, Little Women and Me Before You.
508th biggest worldwide between The Devil Wears Prada and The Hunchback of Notre Dame; 15th biggest 2024 between Alien: Romulus and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice; 43rd biggest drama between The Perfect Storm and Schindler’s List; 122nd based on fiction book between The Devil Wears Prada and Fatal Attraction; 45th biggest Sony Pictures between 22 Jump Street and Air Force One.
UK Box Office Top 10
UK Box Office Preview
With few major releases, Beetlejuice 2 will remain #1 for a third (and probably fourth weekend) dropping 40%-50% taking £2.1m-£2.6m getting close to £20m after 17 days on release.
Strong word of mouth should see Speak No Evil hold well down 40% taking £800k-900k. That said Horror The Substance opens starring Demi Moore which has received positive reviews since premiering at the Cannes Film Festival, but being released by MUBI it will likely be playing in a third of the screens Speak No Evil plays in. Demi Moore starred in several Brat Pack films in the 80s and then Ghost, A Few Good Men, Indecent Proposal and Disclosure, The Scarlet Letter, Striptease and G.I. Jane, but hasn’t had a lead acting role for over 20 years.
Both Lee and The Critic will likely drop 50%+ as despite a lack of new releases this weekend exhibitors have still dramatically cut down their showtimes in their second weekend, instead exhibitors have given the screens back to Deadpool & Wolverine, It Ends With Us and Blink Twice.
Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar is re-released for its 10th anniversary in IMAX and 70mm; playing in IMAX at the BFI IMAX sales are very strong and in 70mm at the Odeon Leicester Square. Opened in November 2014 with £5,378,220 #1 from 574 screens taking £847,102 from IMAX (15%) taking £20,066,636/£23,649,964 inflated.
Also re-released is Spider-Man No Way Home, Sony has re-released all of the previous Spider-Man films over the last few weeks; Spider-Man Far from Home took £77,914 #14 last weekend so similar is expected for No Way Home. Also ending its run is the re-release of Batman films celebrating Batman’s 85th anniversary with Batman Begins, The Dark Knight Rises and The Batman in cinemas.
Event Cinema’s Miss Saigon is also re-released in cinemas on Saturday, it was last released in October 2016 with £2,033,031 #4 593 screens, will it still be as popular 8 years later as with £20+ tickets if it were to take £2m+ It could challenge Beetlejuice 2 #1.
200% Wolf is the sequel to 100% Wolf which opened a few weeks after cinemas reopened after the first lockdown in July 2020, back then there was a lack of new content and exhibitors happily booked 100% Wolf on 239 screens opened £33,130 #3 taking £1,418,759 after 12 weeks in the top 15. The sequel will struggle to open on as many screens and find an audience.
Wolfs starring George Clooney and Brad Pitt and directed by Jon Watts was due to open on September 20th to be released by Sony Pictures after they acquired theatrical rights from Apple in December. But after Fly Me To The Moon disappointed at the box office in the summer Apple decided to scale back their plans on giving all of the films a theatrical release. It was reported Sony fell out with Apple after they sold theatrical rights to F1 also starring Brad Pitt to Warner Bros instead. Wolfs received its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival receiving positive reviews and will be released on Apple on September 27th.
George Clooney and Brad Pitt starred together in Ocean’s 11, Ocean’s 12 and Ocean’s 13 but have had mixed success at the BO since. George Clooney had Up in the Air, The Descendants, Gravity and Ticket to Paradise but had many others that underperformed. Brad Pitt had Inglourious Basterds, World War Z, Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood and Bullet Train but also many others that disappointed. Had it been released it would have opened £1m-£2m taking about £6m despite the star power these films struggle to find an audience why studios stopped making star-driven films.
Opening in three weeks
- Transformers One – Paramount Pictures
Animated sci-fi based on Hasbro’s Transformers toys featuring voices of Chris Hemsworth, Brian Tyree Henry, Scarlett Johansson, Keegan-Michael Key, Steve Buscemi, Laurence Fishburne and Jon Hamm and directed by Josh Cooley (previously directed Toy Story 4).
It’s been one of Paramount’s highest-tested animated films.
It’s the first Transformers animated film since 1986’s The Transformers: The Movie and is the eighth Transformers film made by Paramount since 2007. The seven previous live-action films have taken £130m and over £165m inflated but can only be compared to Bumblebee as all other Transformers films were 12A. It will play to a younger audience compared to other Transformers films and opens two weeks before the half-term holidays. Has received positive reviews (91% on Rotten Tomatoes).
It was previously called Transformers: A New Generation
2007’s Transformers opened £8,718,561 taking £22,863,864/£36,084,158
2009’s Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen opened £8,349,739 taking £26,539,878/£38,882,873
2009’s Transformers: Dark Of The Moon opened £10,728,503 taking £27,862,654/£36,644,448
2011’s Transformers: Age Of Extinction opened £11,751,427 taking £19,074,771/£20,516,319
2014’s Transformers: The Last Knight opened £4,635,570 taking £9,540,299/£10,151,693
2018’s Bumblebee opened £5,103,382 taking £12,760,693/£14,086,250
2023’s Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts opened £2,973,478 taking £8,114,370
It was screened as a work-in-progress at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in June receiving positive reactions.
The first trailer was released in April and received positive reactions, a second trailer was released in June at Comic-Con.
Transformers One opens in the US this week and is expected to open with about $30m similar to last year’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem ($28m) and Trolls Band Together ($30m); the highest September opening was 2015’s Hotel Transylvania 2 $48.4m.
- Buffalo Kids – Warner Bros
Spanish animated adventure film featuring voices of Alisha Weir, Gemma Arterton, Sean Bean and Stephen Graham and directed by Pedro Solís and Juan Galocha.
It premiered at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in June.
Warner Bros acquired some international rights from producer 4 Cats as they did with Mummies last year opening £648,459 taking £2,736,767. The other 4 Cats animated films 2016’s Capture the Flag (opened £774,885 #7 taking £1,005,198); 2022’s TAD: The Lost Explorer opened £818,525 #2 taking £1,606,387 and 2018’s TAD: The Lost Explorer and The Secret of King Midas opened £302,312 #12.
These animated films are played to preschoolers.
- Gladiator (Re-release) – Park Circus
Ahead of the release of Gladiator 2 in November, the original 2000 Oscar-winning film is released in cinemas.
Gladiator opened in May 2000 £3,555,446/£6,667,507 inflated taking £31,257,293/£58,616,618 inflated. It was #1 for 7 weeks, as Gladiator 2 opens the week after Paddington In Peru and a week before Wicked it won’t get to #1.
- In Restless Dreams: The Music Of Paul Simon – Altitude
Documentary about Paul Simon’s Grammy Award-winning career directed by Alex Gibney. The 209-minute film premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in 2023.
Alex Gibney has made many excellent documentaries about Scientology, the opioid crisis, Julian Assange, Enron, American torture policy, Hunter S. Thompson, Mr. Dynamite: The Rise of James Brown and Sinatra: All or Nothing at All.