- Wicked: For Good £7,713,860 – £32,095,250
Down 59.1% in its second weekend
£1.95m 25.3% (-64.6% £5.5m) Fri; £3.13m 40.6% (-52.4% £6.57m) Sat; £2.63m 34.1% (-53.5% £5.6m) Sun
35th biggest second weekend between Inside Out 2 and Super Mario Bros (close to Toy Story 3, The Jungle Book, Mary Poppins Returns and Alice In Wonderland) and 71st biggest inflated second weekend between Meet the Fockers and iron Man 3 (close to Bridget Jones’s Diary, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Mamma Mia!)
Biggest second weekend of 2025 ahead of A Minecraft Movie (£7.2m); Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy (£6.89m) and Lilo & Stitch (£6.13m).
After 11 days on release, Wicked For Good is already the 5th biggest film of 2025 between Jurassic World Rebirth and Superman; but this weekend it will have overtaken Lilo & Stitch and Jurassic World Rebirth and is getting close to Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy.
144th biggest between It and WOG: The Curse of the WereRabbit (close to Mufasa: The Lion King, The Lego Movie, Slumdog Millionaire and The BFG) and 295th biggest inflated between Twister and Stuart Little (close to Billy Elliot, Rain-Man, La La Land and A Fish Called Wanda).
The stage show’s cultural footprint is massive. Wicked is effectively 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. That goodwill bled directly into the cinema.
2008’s Mamma Mia! Dropped 38.8% £4,561,109/£6,990,777 and £16,851,641 24.74% of £68,116,092/£104,401,010.
2018’s Mamma Mia 2 dropped £7,104,808/£7,842,842 and £27,018,068 41.24% of £65,515,994/£72,321,672
The first trailer was released in February, and the second trailer in June after screening at CinemaCon in April. The second trailer was seen 113m times in its first 24 hours compared to 75m in the first q24 hours for the first film’s trailer.
Wicked Part 1 dropped 39% in its second weekend, £8,371,251 and £28,530,258; after taking £6.45m Mon-Thurs; Mon £1.59m; Tues £1.58m; Weds £1.69m and Thurs £1.59m
While Wicked For Good dropped 59.1% in its second weekend, £7,713,860 (7.8% less) and £32,095,250 (12.5%+); taking £5.47m Mon-Thurs; Mon £1.59m; Tues £1.38m; Weds £1.37m; Thurs £1.13m
Wicked stayed in the top 5 for 6 weeks (till December 27th) and top 10 for 9 weeks (till January 17th)
Wicked For Good reminds me of Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy after opening with £12,298,966 over 50% more than 2016’s Bridget Jones’s Baby £8,111,077 it was expected to canter past £50m within a few weeks but it took £46,282,850, about £2m less than £48,050,641 despite similarly receiving massive media coverage, hype and positive reviews and no female competition (Captain America: Brave New World also opened £6,404,345) but was targetting a different male focussed demographic as was Dog Man.
With Wicked For Good, the audience was primed and focused since the first film opened exactly a year ago, while it was 9 years between Bridget Jones films. Last year, there were also strong holds for Gladiator II £2,533,801, Paddington In Peru £1,808,775 and a strong opening for Conclave £1,065,847.
The first trailer was released in February, and the second trailer in June after screening at CinemaCon in April. The second trailer was seen 113m times in its first 24 hours compared to 75m in the first q24 hours for the first film’s trailer.
Variety triumphantly proclaimed “Wicked: For Good proves Ariana Grande is a movie star.” But if Ariana really functioned as a box-office movie star, many more of her fans would have seen it. This is the same misunderstanding the industry made with the Taylor Swift concert films: enormous online fandom equals cinema turnout. Taylor has 500m+ global followers, and yet her film openings represented tiny fractions of her actual social reach. Ariana is the same. Her fanbase talks about Wicked nonstop on TikTok and Instagram, but they don’t reliably convert into weekend admissions. They stream. They like. They repost. They meme. They share audio, but they don’t go to the cinema; they prefer to stream the soundtrack rather than see the film in the cinema.
As seen by songs For Good #14, No Good Deed #17 and As Long As You’re Mine #29 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 406th week of release.)
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; its box office performance was predicted, algorithmic, and lower than what her following could justify. If Ariana truly behaved like a 1990s movie star, we’d be talking about a £100m+ total box office.
As everyone’s already getting giddy about Sabrina Carpenter leading Alice in Wonderland in a few years, but the industry is conveniently ignoring the same reality that’s now staring Wicked 2 in the face:
A massive online fanbase does not automatically convert into millions of cinema tickets. Sabrina has millions of TikTok disciples, a devoted Instagram following, an entire Gen-Z meme economy, and a streaming footprint that dwarfs most modern pop acts…but come opening weekend? A realistic conversion rate is: 1–3% of her actual following. And that’s being generous.
Just like Ariana. Just like Taylor. Just like every pop-culture “megastar” whose followers will scream online but won’t pay £15 to sit in a dark room for two hours.
They will absolutely buy the soundtrack. They will stream the singles 400 times. They will quote the lines on TikTok. They will duet the songs. They will build endless edits of Sabrina in pretty blue dresses.
But that doesn’t mean they’re showing up on opening weekend. So yes — Sabrina Carpenter could be a cultural phenomenon by the time Alice in Wonderland lands…but whether she’s a box office phenomenon is a completely different story.
And it exposed the same truth Wicked 2 is now demonstrating: Online fandom isn’t the same as theatrical attendance. The moment you attach a premium ticket price, the conversion rate collapses. This isn’t rocket science, as you see this everywhere when there is a premium attached, while revenues increase number of sales drops.
Wicked dropped 37% in its third weekend, £5,320,032 and £37,692,710, 62.15% of £60,649,197; Wicked For Good will likely drop 45%-55% in its third weekend, £3.5m-£4.2m. (taking about £4m Mon-Thurs) and about £40m after 18 days; depending on how Wicked For Good holds over the coming weeks, it’s probably likely to take less than Wicked £60.6m, as with Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy was always expected to take £50m+, Wicked For Good was always expected to take £70m similar to the two Mamma Mia films.
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.
- 2. Zootropolis 2 £5,984,739 – NE
Took £1.95m 21.89% Friday; £3.13m 43.11% Saturday; £2.094m 34.99% Sunday.
255th biggest opening between Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me and Thunderbolts (close to Dumbo, Solo: A Star Wars Story, Hot Fuzz and Fantastic Beasts 3) and 371st inflated opening between The Lion King (1994) and Thunderbolts (close to Doctor Dolittle, Night at the Museum 2, Fantastic Four (2005) and The Bodyguard).
13th biggest 2025 opening between Captain America: Brave New World and Thunderbolts (close to Superman, The Conjuring: Last Rites, Nosferatu and 28 Years Later). The biggest animated opening of 2025 is ahead of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Infinity Castle (£3.4m) and Dog Man (£3.2m).
43rd biggest animation opening between Home and Bolt (close to Hotel Transylvania 2, Kung Fu Panda, Trolls and Madagascar) and 59th biggest inflated animation opening between The Lion King (1994) and How to Train Your Dragon 3 (close to Wall·E, Shrek, Ice Age and The Grinch).
3rd biggest Disney animation opening between Moana 2 and Bolt (close to Zootropolis, Tangled, Frozen and Wreck-It Ralph).
Opened in 618 screens 220th widest opening similar to Captain America: Brave New World and Murder on the Orient Express (close to Sonic The Hedgehog, Ralph Breaks The Internet, Wish and The Secret Life of Pets 2; 287th 600+ opening since 2015’s Jurassic World; but as with Wicked: For Good opening last week I 738 cinemas and over 2,000 screens, Zootropolis probably opened in close to 2,000 screens.
Last year, Moana 2 opened 80%, but Moana is comparable to Frozen in popularity to as it was hugely popular on home video and streaming. Zootropolis 2 opened 67% more than Zootropolis (£3.5m Fri-Sun opening, its £5.3m opening included £1.8m from weekend previews).
Bigger than 2016’s Moana, £2,214,898 #2, but this was due to opening two weeks after Fantastic Beasts opened, and younger audiences were primed as Moana was hugely popular on home video and streaming, and it opened four weeks after Paddington in Peru. Moana 2 opened #1 £12,021,342; £2.8m 23.4% Friday: £4.93m 41.2% Saturday; £4.21m 35.2% Sunday; £748k Monday.
This year hasn’t been a big family film since Lilo & Stitch in May, so children haven’t seen the trailers as often for Zootropolis 2 as Moana, while Zootropolis wasn’t beloved by children as much as Moana was, with its songs. Doubt many remember the songs from Zootropolis.
UK opening of Zootropolis 2 was 5.97% of its US opening, similar to Encanto, Incredibles 2, Elio and The Lion King (1994); compared to 8.6% off Moana 2 and 7.07% for Zootropolis (including previews).
At the time of opening, Zootropolis had the second biggest opening in the UK for a Walt Disney animation film after Bolt (£5,457,438)
As Moana, Zootropolis was never #1 in the UK as it opened the same weekend as Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice (£14,621,007) in March 2016, staying #1 for two weeks before The Jungle Book and The Huntsman: Winter’s War opened; Zootropolis opened £5,306,726 (including £1.7m from previews)
There is also the slight confusion over Zootopia being called Zootropolis in the UK and parts of Europe due to trademark issues (it was similar to the Moana title was changed to Oceania in Italy, as Moana is the name of a famous porn star).
Reviews for Zootropolis 2 have been mixed. Some say it’s a return too for Disney animation, others say it’s a more corporate sequel lacking the originality of the original. That said, Zootropolis was a reimagination of the mismatched buddy cop films like Rush Hour and Lethal Weapon. With jokes that play across ages, some children won’t understand.
Zootropolis opened at the start of the easter school holidays in 2016, Zootropolis 2 opened over Thanksgiving weekend in the US. UK school holidays don’t start for another week. Disney used to delay the release of their animated film to the first weekend of December, so it could then have a long play till January and to half-term in February, as was the case with the first Frozen and Moana, but both sequels opened day and date with the US.
I’m a Celebrity did a Zootropolis 2 promotion on Friday, Meet the new Zoolebrities!, it generated a lot of social media chatter, I’m a Zoolebrity Get Me Out Of Here, but only got 81k likes on TikTok compared with the hundreds of thousands of other I’m a Celebrity likes on TikTok. Was it targeting the right audience?
- 3. Now You See Me: Now You Don’t £605,621 – £5,488,759
Down 45.5% in its third weekend
1,079th biggest third weekend between Norbit and First Man (close to Side Effects, Love And Other Drugs, Law Abiding Citizen and Miami Vice) and 1,399th biggest inflated third weekend between She’s The Man and Reign Of Fire (close to Buster, Hero, Seabiscuit and The Big Short).
Despite receiving mixed reviews, Now You See Me 3 has outlasted both The Running Man and Predator: Badlands, which received far more positive reviews, as these films are what many people enjoy from going to the cinema, a Ronseal popcorn film that does exactly what it says on the tin.
2013’s Now You See Me dropped 19.2% £922,669/£1,126,137 and £7,248,705 67.34% of £10,763,980/£13,055,241
2016’s Now You See Me 2 dropped 63.2% £322,105/£346,448 and £5,710,321 90.4% of £6,062,072/£6,479,300
1,371st biggest between Hereditary and Tinker Bell And The Pirate Fairy (close to Die Hard 2 Die Harder, Much Ado About Nothing, Under Siege and Eraser) and 1939th biggest inflated between Resident Evil: Afterlife and Big Momma’s House (close to Executive Decision, The Shawshank Redemption, Tower Heist and A Simple Favour).
Ruben Fleischer directed the third film, taking over from Louis Leterrier and Jon M. Chu; Ruben Fleischer previously directed 2022’s Uncharted, 2019’s Zombieland: Double Tap, 2018’s Venom and 2009’s Zombieland.
- 4. Westlife – Royal Albert Hall (25th Anniversary Concert) £527,712 – NE
Took £314k 59.58% Saturday; £213k 40.42% Sunday.
In 2019, Westlife – The Twenty Tour Live made £899,488 #4 from 545 screens (same weekend Spider-Man: Far from Home opened); in 2022, Westlife: Live From Wembley Stadium opened with almost half £468,215 #8 from 528 screens (same weekend Bullet Train opened); 2012’s Westlife: The Final Concert opened with £573,000.
This is similar to recent Take That concerts; 2019’s Take That – Greatest Hits Live opened £1,834,379 #5 from 606 screens, while 2017’s Take That: Wonderland Live from the O2 opened £1,004,918 from 481 screens and in June 2015 Take That Live 2015 took £965,000; in 2019 Love Yourself In Seoul – BTS World Tour 2019 opened £518,810 from 291 screens
With Wicked: For Good and Zootropolis 2 playing in about 4,000 screens, Westlife – Royal Albert Hall opened in about 100 screens less and was booked into much smaller screens, many of which were close to sellouts, so probably had it played in more screens and bigger auditoriums, it would have opened bigger.
Of course, as with all Event Cinema screenings, tickets were about £20 in most cinemas; this will be the case with the latest Andre Rieu concert playing in cinemas this weekend. Event Cinema screenings aren’t attracting the same audiences they did before COVID, as audiences aren’t willing to pay £20 to see the same concert they have seen before. Of course, Event Cinema distributors will point at Taylor Swift’s Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour (opening £5,729,998) and Taylor Swift / The Official Release Party Of A Showgirl (opening £3,471,544), but only a small fraction of Taylor Swift’s fans went to see them in the cinema; far more will watch them countless times on Disney+.
2018 was Event Cinema’s best year in the UK, taking about £50m and over 6m admissions.
I’ve always said Event Cinema is a great addition to cinema, but part of the problem with Event Cinema now is the sheer number of titles released, diluting the brand due to the cost. Event Cinema has also squeezed the independent film sector in the UK, as exhibitors are more willing to give an Event Cinema distributor one weekend evening slot for Event Cinema rather than a week for an independent film.
- 5. Pillion £348,070 – NE
Includes £135.402 from previews.
Pillion was Picturehouse’s fifth biggest opening and the only film with an 18 certificate: 2023’s Anatomy Of A Fall (£412,000, released with Lionsgate), 2018’s The Wife (£392,000), February 2025’s The Last Showgirl (£384,000) and January 2025’s Presence (£365,000, released with Warner Bros). Pillion was also released with Warner Bros.
Also opened bigger than 2024’s Love Lies Bleeding (£310k) and Luca Guadagnino’s Queer (£293k).
The film won four British Independent Film Awards on Sunday, including Best British Independent Film and Best Adapted Screenplay at the Gotham Independent Film Awards on Monday. The film received widespread critical acclaim after having its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. (had its UK premiere at the London Film Festival).
The director Harry Lighton cut some explicit scenes from the original cut to the one that was shown at the Cannes Film Festival and the UK release, as he “didn’t want to push the audience into feeling they were being deliberately shocked by an image” and wanted the focus to remain on the characters’ emotional journey. Alexander Skarsgård said in an interview that there is a “raunchier” cut of the film, but it’s unknown when it might be released. The film could be cut again before its US release next February.
During the press tour of Pillion, Alexander Skarsgard has worn an interesting mix of designer all t-shirts that make you do a double-take as you look at them.
Opened in 160 screens and will expand further this weekend, but sometimes with films like these, expanding the release dilutes the film, and as it took a third from previews, it will also drop down the chart.
Also opened
- Blue Moon – Sony Pictures
Opened £81k #14 from 142 screens.
Blue Moon, a Biopic of songwriter Lorenz Hart set at the opening of the musical Oklahoma! Starring Ethan Hawke and directed by Richard Linklater. It’s Richard Linklater’s first film since 2023’s Hit Man for Netflix and his first cinema release since 2016’s Everybody Wants Some!!
Had world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival, receiving positive reviews (89% Rotten Tomatoes) with much praise for Ethan Hawke’s performance.
It’s Ethan Hawke’s ninth film with director Richard Linklater and was a long-time passion project for both of them. Sony Pictures has had a long relationship with Richard Linklater since 1995’s Before Sunrise, also starring Ethan Hawke.
- Christy – Black Bear
Opened £54,360 #16 from 254 screens.
Biographical sports drama Christy, starring Sydney Sweeney, struggled to find an audience in the US despite positive reviews like Dwayne Johnson’s The Smashing Machine. The problem is audiences like seeing actors in certain roles, so while audiences loved Sydney Sweeney in Anyone But You as Dawyne Johnson in Jumanji, they don’t when they are transformed into someone else. Sydney Sweeney will have far more success starring in The Housemaid with Amanda Seyfried, which is directed by Paul Feig, based on the bestselling novel. The trailers featured an alternative version of Please, Please, Please by Sabrina Carpenter.
Netflix released the latest Knives Out film, Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, in selected independent cinemas before its release on Netflix in two weeks, as they released Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery in selected cinemas in 2022.
Neither film was showing in any major exhibitors’ cinemas as they refuse to book Netflix films despite saying that they want to screen these films; it’s a double standard, as they are perfectly happy booking Event Cinema screenings that will be broadcast weeks after cinema release. Major exhibitors should be thinking about what their customers want, as customer habits have changed over the last 20+ years, but major exhibitors are still living in the past.
These are the kinds of films that would have found a much wider audience a decade or more ago, but they struggle to find an audience anymore and will be pulled from cinemas within a week. Exhibitors keep saying they want more films, but as seen over the last couple of months, there have been a lot of films released, but very few have found an audience, which was a tiny percentage of what Wicked: For Good and Zootropolis 2 have received over the last 10 days.
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Year-to-date, has dropped to 2% ahead of 2024 as Wicked: For Good, Zootopia 2 and Avatar: Fire and Ash can’t do it alone. This is what the industry fails to understand as it used to be as films like Wicked: For Good, Zootopia 2 and Avatar: Fire and Ash would get cinemagoers to see many other films.
The weekend’s top 10 box office took £16,147,753, down 27.6% from last weekend’s £22,295,398: 2,033,693 admissions, down 29.4% from 2,880,542 admissions.
The 11th biggest weekend of the last 52 weeks between 30 May 2025 #1 Lilo & Stitch £6,139,573 (36.15%) and 25 July 2025 #1 The Fantastic Four – First Steps £8,144,593 (51.69%)
32nd biggest since cinemas reopened out of 263 weeks between 08 November 2024 #1 Paddington In Peru £9,649,984 (59.07%) and 29 December 2023 #1 Wonka £6,672,464 (41.50%)
192nd biggest top 10 of the last 24 years (out of 1,234) between 03 March 2017 #1 Logan £9,443,363 (58.45%) and 02 June 2017 #1 Wonder Woman £6,179,616 (38.36%) and 410th biggest inflated between 26 April 2002 #1 About A Boy £3,747,966 (42.84%) and 02 December 2005 #1 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire £4,829,804 (50.36%)
The top 3 took £14,304,220 (88.6%) of the top 10; Wicked: For Good 84.59% (£18,858,825); Now You See Me: Now You Don’t 4.99% (£1,111,688); The Running Man 2.94% (£654,467)
324th biggest percentage share #1 (47.77%) between 12 May 2006 #1 Mission: Impossible III £2,751,733 (47.83%) and 21 April 2023 #1 Super Mario Bros £4,271,315 (47.72%)
283rd biggest admissions (996,623) between 01 January 2010 #1 Avatar £5,940,479 (998,400) and 30 December 2022 #1 Avatar: The Way of Water £7,643,764 (993,988)
Down 39.27% from 2024; (£26,589,338); Moana 2 (£12,021,342); Conclave (£1,065,847); All We Imagine As Light (£111,033); The Polar Express (20th Anniversary 4K Restoration) (£83,677); #1 Moana 2 £12,021,342 1st week 629 screens (45.21% of top 10).
Up 77.31% from 2023; (£9,107,292); Renaissance: A Film By Beyonce (£1,082,080); Andre Rieu’s White Christmas (£1,001,095); Elf (20th Anniversary) (£345,365); Fallen Leaves (£107,815); Eileen (£98,449); Saving Private Ryan (25th Anniversary) (£19,832); #1 Napoleon £1,908,971 2nd week 64% drop 739 screens (20.96% of top 10).
Up 159.17% 2022 (£6,230,511); Violent Night (£822,647); Casablanca (Re: 2022) (£25,116); #1 Roald Dahl’s Matilda The Musical £2,531,782 2nd week 692 screens 38% drop (40.64% of top 10)
Up 164.58% 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 1.02% 2019; (£15,983,967); 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); Frozen 2 £8,711,498 50% drop 2nd week 676 screens (54.5% of top 10)
Up 4.71% 2018: (£15,392,277); Ralph Breaks the Internet (£4,032,775); Creed 2 (£2,991,509); Disobedience (£193,907); Pokemon the Movie: The Power of Us (£177,750); The Possession of Hannah Grace (£113,537); #1 Ralph Breaks the Internet £4,032,775 1st week 613 screens (26.2% of top 10)
Up 63.70% 2017: (£9,864,139); Wonder (£1,240,245); The Man Who Invented Christmas (£168,137); The Nutcracker – Bolshoi 2017 (£160,421); Happy End (£135,682); The Disaster Artist (£130,238); #1 Paddington 2 £2,883,617 3rd week 2nd #1 37% drop 652 screens (29.2% of top 10)
Up 80.57% 2016: (£11,160,568); Moana (£2,214,898); Sully: Miracle on the Hudson (£1,786,844); The Edge of Seventeen (£273,139); Bleed for This (£250,975); Blue Velvet (Re: 2016) (£16,880); Eat that Question (£1,468); #1 Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them £4,494,727 3rd week 649 screens 50% drop (40.3% of the top 10)
Up 10.41% 2015; (£14,738,989); The Good Dinosaur (£2,926,448); Bridge of Spies (£1,682,392); Black Mass (£1,272,249); Carol (£540,632); Being A.P. (£49,867); Doctor Zhivago (Re: 2015) (£16,344); #1 The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2 £4,534,464 2nd week 579 screens 60% drop (30.8% of top 10)
Up 5.97% 2014: (£15,237,651); Paddington (£5,125,519); Horrible Bosses 2 (£1,257,808); 2001: A Space Odyssey (Re: 2014) (£69,567); I Am Ali (£8,131); #1 Paddington £5,125,519 1st week 518 screens (33.6% of top 10)
Up 42.72% 2013: (£11,314,366); Free Birds (£1,044,074); Saving Mr Banks (£795,615); Carrie (£662,625); The Best Man Holiday (£128,503); #1 The Hunger Games: Catching Fire £5,525,476 2nd week 55% drop 557 screens (48.8% of top 10)
Up 58% 2012: (£10,220,354); Rise of the Guardians (£1,968,984); Great Expectations (£544,636); Alex Cross (£226,780); Sightseers (£213,066); Trouble with the Curve (£41,391); #1 Skyfall £2,275,469 6th week 4th #1 41% drop 532 screens (22.2% of top 10)
Up 93.60% 2011; (£8,340,633); Happy Feet 2 (£1,686,197); Hugo (£1,225,987); The Thing (£485,534); The Big Year (£122,591); Margaret (£4,595); #1 Arthur Christmas £1,896,595 4th week 1st #1 502 screens 25% drop (22.7% of top 10)
Up 78.19% 2010: (£9,062,260); Megamind (£2,827,502); Monsters (£348,577); The Warrior’s Way (£105,389); Secretariat (£40,941); #1 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 1 £3,739,781 3rd week 570 screens 55% drop 41.2% of top 10)
Up 6.50% 2009; (£15,162,202); Paranormal Activity (£3,593,762); Law Abiding Citizen (£1,488,143); Nativity (£794,314); Bunny and the Bull (£40,801); #1 The Twilight Saga: New Moon £4,303,257 2nd week 504 screens 63% drop (28.4% of top 10)
Up 139.93% 2008; (£6,730,148); Four Christmases (£2,275,585); Changeling (£1,225,548); What Just Happened? (£178,818); Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas 3D (£23,640); #1 Four Christmases £2,275,585 1st week 434 screens (33.8% of top 10)
Up 137.04% 2007: (£6,812,364); Fred Claus (£1,937,042); Hitman (£1,240,698); The Assassination of Jesse James (£180,886); This Christmas (£46,820); #1 Fred Claus £1,937,042 1st week 445 screens (28.4% of top 10)
Up 30.77% 2006; (£12,348,508); Flushed Away (£3,106,874); Deck the Halls (£600,047); Stranger than Fiction (£368,627); Big Nothing (£83,829); London to Brighton (£29,153); #1 Casino Royale £5,307,969 2nd week 506 screens 38% drop (43% of top 10)
Up 68.36% 2005 (£15,013,252); Flight Plan (£1,694,350); Exorcism of Emily Rose (£1,346,732); Mrs. Henderson Presents (£752,394); The Transporter 2 (£414,400); #1 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire £9,275,599 2nd week 536 screens (61.8% of top 10)
Up 4.81% 2004; (£15,406,511); The Incredibles (£9,753,035); The Forgotten (£653,945); Beyond the Sea (£179,558); Enduring Love (£165,338); I Love Huckabees (£155,592); #1 The Incredibles £9,753,035 1st week 494 screens (63.3% of top 10)
Up 23.31% 2003 (£13,095,047); Elf (£4,538,440); Master and Commander (£1,845,125); Spin the Bottle (£95,533); #1 Love Actually £4,660,595 2nd week 478 screens 30% drop (35.6% of top 10)
Up 30.06% from 2002: (£12,415,161); The Santa Clause 2 (£951,754); Enough (£340,600); The Quiet American (£240,552); #1 Die Another Day £5,364,433 2nd week 431 screens 41% drop (43.2% of top 10)
Up 75.22% from 2001 (£9,215,665); Zoolander (£676,518); Bandits (£644,271); Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (£381,940); Ghosts of Mars (£104,723); The Devil’s Backbone (£45,145); #1 Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone £5,809,759 3rd week 508 screens 31% drop (63.1% of top 10).
2024 Next week: (£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).
US Box Office
- Zootopia 2 – Disney
Opened $100.26m/$120.3m in 4 days and $158.8m in 5 days; received positive reviews (91% Rotten Tomatoes) and an A CinemaScore
Took $10.2m from Tuesday previews; Moana 2 $13.8m.
83rd biggest opening between The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (close to The Jungle Book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Transformers: Age of Extinction and The Little Mermaid (2019).
The second biggest Thanksgiving opening after Moana 2.
Opening was 107% more than 2016’s Zootopia opening, but impossible to compare the two openings as it was taken over the 5-day Thanksgiving weekend, and it opened in IMAX/PLF screens. Zootopia didn’t open in IMAX/PLF screens as it opened the same weekend as Batman Vs Superman. Making a direct comparison of 3-day openings, it was 29% more; 55.1% more for 4-day and 107.7% more than its opening.
What helped Zootopia 2 was the lack of animated films this year, and those that have been released have come short of expectations.
EntTelligence said it had 12m admissions over 5 days compared to Moana 2, 17.5m last year. The average ticket price was $14.42; the average PLF ticket was $18; 21% PLF; 4% from IMAX; 17% PLFs with and 12% from 3D.
2016’s Zootopia opened $75.06m/$99.9m taking $341.3m/$454.1m and $1.025bn/$1.4bn worldwide
A better comparison is the difference between Moana and Moana 2, as then Zootopia 2’s opening wasn’t a surprise.
2016’s Moana opened $56.63m, taking $248.75m and $643.33m worldwide
2024’s Moans 2 opened $139.78m, taking $460.4m and $1.059bn worldwide
Much has been written about Zootopia 2’s opening, but its US opening of $150m was expected weeks before opening. 6 weeks before opening, it was tracking to open $135m-$145m, but Disney always lowballs estimates for these films, so the opening looks bigger, and then the finals on Monday are bigger still.
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, but of course Disney will get less than 25% rental from China, less than half what they get in the rest of the world. So Zootopia 2 might take more in China than the US, but rentals will be less than half of the US.
It’s surely no surprise that Zootopia 2 had a similar BO share across Thanksgiving weekend as Moana 2, as they both attracted similar audiences.
Can see the difference better by comparing the daily BO of the two. Moana 2 held far stronger than Zootopia 2 as Moana is far more popular than Zootopia 2, so it is likely to drop heavier than Moana 2 in its second weekend (down 63.3% $51.28m and $299.32m from $460.4m).
This is similarly the case with all of Disney/Pixar’s sequels; they all open “surprisingly” much bigger than the original film, but that doesn’t stop the industry from overhyping their predicted success.
Disney now have five of the biggest 5-day Thanksgiving openings: Moana 2, Zootopia 2, Frozen 2, Frozen, and Ralph Breaks the Internet. But with original animation Hexed next Thanksgiving won’t have it their own way opening against Focker In-Law starring all the cast from the previous films with the addition of Ariana Grande, which will attract the young female audience these films haven’t normally attracted. The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping is the lead film next year (trailer was seen 109 times in the first 24 hours).
The trailer in May, ahead of Lilo & Stitch, was seen by 130m in its first 24 hours, and the final trailer had 74m views in its first 24 hours.
Zootopia 2 opened in 415 IMAX, 950 PLF, 2,300 3D, 300 D-Box/4DX and 125 ScreenX screens from Wicked: For Good after only a week.
Took $31.8m worldwide from IMAX.
Opened $400.4m from 51 territories and $556.4m worldwide; China $271.6m; France $14.6m; Korea $13.7m; Mexico $10.4m; Germany $8.8m; UK $8m; Italy $6.4m; Taiwan $4.5m; Australia $3.8m; Spain $3.8m.
Last year, Moana 2 opened with $389.3m worldwide, but Zootopia 2 was artificially inflated by $271.6m 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.
- Wicked: For Good – Universal Pictures
Down 58% $61.73m 3 days/$74.57m 4 days/$91.76m 5 days in its second weekend and $269.2m US BO News
Wicked: For Good was expected to take $80m+ 3 days in its second weekend showing audience reactions are far poorer than critics reactions and its likely to come short to Wicked’s $474m total, showing again that sequels open bigger but don’t have the legs, everyone knew the second half of Wicked is inferior to the first part which was always going to be the issue splitting the films into two parts.
43rd biggest second weekend between Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and The Jungle Book (close to Alice in Wonderland, Lilo & Stitch, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and Toy Story 4).
Took $31.3m worldwide from IMAX, including $7.9m internationally and $23.4m US; lost many IMAX screens to Zootopia 2.
2024’s Wicked dropped 27.9% $81.17m and $263.19m of $474.56 m (41.23m admissions); $284.29m (24.7m admissions) internationally and $758.85m (65.9m admissions) worldwide.
140th biggest between Sing and Monsters University; 443rd biggest inflated between Footloose and Ant-Man and the Wasp; 7th biggest 2025 between The Fantastic Four: First Steps and How to Train Your Dragon; 8th biggest musical between Sing and Mufasa: The Lion King; 20th biggest Universal Pictures between Sing and Twisters.
Comparison films include.
2013’s Oz the Great and Powerful dropped 47.9% $41.25m and $144.05m of $234.91m/$311.48m and $493.31m/$654.1m WW
2017’s Beauty and the Beast dropped 48.3% $90.42m and $319.3m of $504.01m and $1.263bn worldwide
2014’s Maleficent dropped 50.6% $34.32m and $128.17m of $241.41m/$318.53m and $758.41m/$1bn
2023’s Barbie dropped 42.6% $93.01m and $351.41m of $636.23m and $1.446bn worldwide
Jon Chu previously directed.
2018’s Crazy Rich Asians dropped 6.4% $24.8m and $76.61m of $174.83m and $239.34m worldwide
2021’s In the Heights dropped 63.5% $4.2m and $19.65m of $29.97m and $45.17m worldwide
Also directed 2016’s Now You See Me 2; 2015’s Jem and the Holograms; 2013’s G.I. Joe: Retaliation; 2010’s Step Up 3D and 2008’s Step Up 2: The Streets
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 $29.4m down 57% from 78 territories, total $122.8m and $393.3m worldwide; UK $42.7m; Australia $13.7m; Germany $6.2m, Korea $5.5m, Mexico $5.4m.
393rd biggest worldwide between Solo: A Star Wars Story and Superman Returns; 15th biggest 2025 between Captain America: Brave New World and Thunderbolts*; 52nd biggest Universal Pictures between Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again! And 1917.
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), having all premium formats for its opening weekend and opening ahead of Thanksgiving. The only comparison title was Barbie, not Wicked Part One.
Wicked took in comparison last year $29m from 61 territories $97m total, and $359.3m worldwide; UK $36m; $12.9m; Korea $8.5m; Mexico $6.7m
- Eternity – A24
Opened $3.16m/$5.2m over 5 days; received positive reviews (77% Rotten Tomatoes)
Despite receiving positive reviews, it’s another adult drama that has struggled to find an audience. Seen as counterprogramming and opening in 1,300 screens, expanding this weekend.
Its opening was compared to 2023’s Priscilla opened $5.04m wide after platform taking $20.96m and $33.11m worldwide, and 2024’s We Live In Time opened $4.21m wide after platform taking $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
Opened $932,278 #8 from 119 screens; received positive reviews (87% Rotten Tomatoes)
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 wide this weekend. It’s 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.
1998’s Shakespeare in Love opened $224,012 from 8 screens, taking 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.
- Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery – Netflix
Opened $600k and $4.25m; received positive reviews (94% Rotten Tomatoes)
The third Knives Out film gets a week-long theatrical release before being released on Netflix, similar to what Netflix did with 2022’s Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery. Netflix acquired rights to two Knives Out films in 2021 for $469m after the 2020 film was a surprise hit for Lionsgate.
Netflix don’t report BO for their films, but Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery reported taking about $15m from its limited cinema release and Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery took about $4.5m to date. It played in about 600 cinemas, mostly independents, as major exhibitors refuse to book Netflix films.
But Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew, directed by Greta Gerwig, will have a two-week exclusive IMAX release next November in 1,000 cinemas worldwide before being released on Netflix. This has angered other exhibitors with other PLF formats.
By giving Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew an exclusive IMAX 2-week release, it makes it a unique cinematic event, as seen with the BO from the first two Avatar films, about 80% of the BO came from premium formats IMAX/PLF/3D, and this is similar to the case with most tentpoles that open with 40%+ from these formats. Surely this is a way to make the cinema experience unique and different to anything that people can have at home, as the cinema industry can’t directly compete with streaming due to the price of going to the cinema, which is less than the cost of a monthly streaming service and a month of subscription cinema from exhibitors.
While Netflix has put an all-cash bid in for Warner Discovery, alongside Skydance and Comcast, many exhibitors and parts of the industry are concerned over Netflix acquiring Warner Discovery, fearing they won’t release the films made by Warner in cinemas.
If Skydance or Comcast buy Warner Discovery, they won’t have the two studios running separately; they will repeat what Disney did with 20th Century Fox, make Warner Bros a production hub, making 4-5 films a year as 20th Century Studios are now doing for Disney.
US BO News
As UK BO, the US BO is expected to be only 3% more than 2024 and still 24% down from 2019. 2025 will be much tighter to 2024 than most would have expected 6 months ago.
UK Box Office Top 10
Box Office Preview
Wicked dropped 37% in its third weekend, £5,320,032 and £37,692,710, 62.15% of £60,649,197; Wicked For Good will likely drop 45%-55% in its third weekend, £3.5m-£4.2m. (taking about £4m Mon-Thurs) and about £40m after 18 days; depending on how Wicked For Good holds over the coming weeks it’s probably likely to take less than Wicked £60.6m, as with Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy was always expected to take £50m+, Wicked For Good was always expected to take £70m, similar to the two Mamma Mia films.
Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 is the sequel to 2023’s Five Nights at Freddy’s, which was a surprise hit, but can the sequel match its success, as Blumhouse Pictures’ previous sequels this year, M3GAN 2.0 and The Black Phone 2, were both far from the critical and box office success of their original films.
2023’s Five Nights at Freddy’s opened £5,379,587, taking £10,472,999; we would expect Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 to open about 40% less and be even more front-loaded. Horrors have strongly performed this year, but the last one to do so was The Conjuring: Last Rites in September.
Fantasy romantic comedy Eternity has received positive reviews and is counter-programming to Wicked: For Good and Zootropolis 2, but as in the US, it’s likely to be another adult drama that struggles to find an audience.
Andre Rieu’s 2025 Christmas Concert: Merry Christmas, The third Andre Rieu concert, released in 2025 and the Christmas Concert has been released regularly in cinemas since 2016.
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; and his Christmas concert will open similarly.
Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair, Quentin Tarantino has 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. With a 5-hour running time with trailers and adverts its going to have only one or two shows a day and will play strictly to fans.
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
Coming Soon
- Avatar: Fire And Ash – Disney
Sci-fi sequel to 2022’s Avatar: The Way of Water (2022) and the third instalment in the film series (James Cameron has talked of 7 films, but currently 5 are planned, Avatar 5 due in 2031). Starring Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Stephen Lang, Sigourney Weaver, Joel David Moore, Giovanni Ribisi, Dileep Rao, Matt Gerald and Kate Winslet.
While James Cameron always brings new technology to his films, they often struggle with their plot, and Avatar feels like a remake of 1990s Dances with Wolves and 1992’s FernGully and after the release of the first film, South Park spoofed it as Dances with Smurfs.
James Cameron said in 2006 he would like to make sequels if the first film was successful, and after the first film was the biggest ever film worldwide, plans started for sequels, but due to the delays in making the first film, the sequels were delayed until the new technology was created to make it possible to perform capture scenes underwater. Avatar: Fire and Ash was shot alongside Avatar: The Way of Water from September 2017 to December 2020.
At that time, the sequels were vital to the studio, but everything changed a few months later when Disney announced it would acquire the studio (in December 2017). While Avatar might have been the biggest film globally, Disney was far more interested in MCU and Star Wars; Avatar was only interested in Disney after Pandora: The World of Avatar opened at Disney World, Florida, in May 2017.
As Avatar: The Way of Water and Avatar: Fire and Ash started production before Disney acquired 20th Century Fox, they must have surely put up the budget for these films.
The sequel has had 9 delays in its release; it was originally due to be released in December 2015.
The first teaser trailer was released with The Fantastic Four: The First Steps in July the trailer was released In September, in October 2025, Avatar: The Way of Water was released in cinemas with exclusive clips from Avatar: Fire And Ash in the end credits.
The 8 James Cameron-directed films have taken £380m at the UK BO and inflation-inflated total of £600m+. The only film that failed to find an audience in the UK was 1989’s The Abyss, opening for £204,075 (after an exclusive platform at Odeon Leicester Square taking £1,348,000 (£5,065,972 inflated)
The first trailer was seen over 160m times in Ita first 24 hours, compared to the Avatar: The Way of Water teaser trailer was attached to Doctor Strange 2 in May and released online on May 9th, viewed 148.5m times in its first 24 hours (23m in China).
Had the world premiere in Los Angeles on December 1st and has a UK premiere on December 11th, after having its European premiere in France on December 5th. The first critic screening was on December 1st, but the embargo doesn’t end until December 16th, despite the plot being very predictable, as it’s surely similar to the last two, humans want something Navi’s have, so big battle and the Navi’s win. James Cameron’s film plots aren’t complicated, as they’re all about never-before-seen visuals.
Early social media reactions have said it’s visually and technically stunning, but again have a story issue and has a similar plot as the previous films. The Avatar sequels feel like one of these technical showcase films that used to be shown in IMAX cinemas almost 20 years ago, before Hollywood started making films in IMAX. As is a film to show off the cinema experience.
It would make far more sense to limit the number of screens Avatar: Fire And Ash into mostly IMAX/PLF screens only as it would make the film more of a cinematic event as the IMAX/PLF screens will take the bulk of the BO as was the case with the first two films, but of course as with all other tentpoles it will be booked in about 8 screens of many multiplexes and the regular 2D screens won’t sellout.
The first two films both had their world premieres in London, but the UK premiere of Avatar: Fire And Ash is after the US, China, France, Spain and Italy.
In 2009, 20th Century Fox feared Avatar would underperform, so they released Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel the following week. Avatar opened #1 in week 1 (£8,509,050, only 21% from 2D), lost #1 in its second weekend to The Squeakquel (playing to a younger family audience) while Avatar dropped 55% taking £3,828,123. Few would have imagined that then Avatar would take £4m+ for the next 8 weeks, returning to #1 for 8 of the next 9 weeks and go on to take £93,442,625 (£140m inflated).
In 2009, Avatar had much more competition, as few expected Avatar to be a massive success. It was so that Alvin and the Chipmunks 2 and Sherlock Holmes opened the week after, both opening strongly with £5.34m and £3.1m. In its third weekend increased by 55% taking £5,940,479 but other holdovers Sherlock Holmes (£3,439,616 up 12%; Alvin and The Chipmunks II £2,457,029 up 83% (not including previews); Nine (£780,255), and St. Trinian’s 2 £671,480 up 54% with the new release Did You Hear About The Morgans opening with £1,155,060.
Avatar opened in 9 IMAX cinemas in 2009 (Birmingham IMAX Millennium Point, National Media Museum IMAX Bradford, Cardiff, Gateshead Metrocentre, Glasgow Science Centre, ODEON Greenwich, BFI London IMAX, Manchester The Printworks and ODEON Wimbledon). IMAX took 7% of the UK BO of Avatar (more than it took from 2D 300 screens). Avatar broke advance booking records at the BFI IMAX, taking £607,000, selling 47,487 tickets with an average ticket price of £12.90, selling 99% capacity;(average price for Avatar 2 £24). Avatar: The Way of Water opened in 54.
There were 18 different versions of Avatar created for the US and 92 internationally in 47 languages, which included 52 subtitled and 18 dubbed versions on film, 58 subtitled and 36 dubbed versions in digital 3D, 9 subtitled and 8 dubbed versions in digital 2D and 23 subtitled and 15 dubbed versions for IMAX. James Cameron made the film using three aspect ratios: Scope (2:39:1), flat (1:85:1), and IMAX (1:43:1) and released on 17,000 35mm screens, 7,382 digital 3D screens, 553 digital 2D screens, and 272 IMAX 3D screens. (178 US IMAX screens and 83 internationally).
Internationally opened with $164.5m in five days from 106 territories (opening didn’t include Japan (opened a week later) and China and Italy (in January)). Played in 14,505 screens, 26% 3D accounting for 56% of the opening. Taking $241.6m globally was the 9th highest grossing of all time and the biggest for a non-sequel.
After 45 days of release, Avatar overtook Titanic to become the biggest film globally $ with 2.039bn and went on to take $749.76m in the US (held #1 for 7 weeks; Titanic was #1 for 15 weeks), $1.99bn internationally and $2.743bn worldwide. It remained the biggest film globally until Avengers: Endgame overtook it after 91 days of release. Avatar retained its #1 global status after it was re-released in China in March 2021. (Avatar took $262m in China).
2022’s Avatar: The Way of Water opened £11,187,562; £3.5m (31.3%) Friday (4th biggest Friday in 2022); £4.2m Saturday and £3.8m Sunday; 3D took 45.3% (£5,060,733) from 557 cinemas (£9,085 average); IMAX/3D 12% (£1,346,849) from 54 screens (£25k average) and 2D took 42.7% (£4,773,500) £5,584 average.
2022’s Avatar: The Way of Water was #1 for 7 weeks (through to the end of January) as rivals kept their distance from it after the huge success of the first film, with Puss In Boots: The Last Wish opening in February. 15 for 13 weeks.
Stayed in the top 5 for 10 weeks, the top 10 for 12 weeks and the top 15 for 13 weeks.
As Avatar: The Way of Water wasn’t the massive hit many expected taking £76,725,041 and not the £100m+ many expected Avatar: Fire And Ash has much more immediate competition with The Spongebob Movie: Search For SquarePants, Anaconda and The Housemaid opening the week after followed by Song Sung Blue and Hamnet on January 9th with widespread critical acclaim and BAFTA nominations it could have an opening similar to Darkest Hour £4,058,356 which would see it top Avatar 3 after 3 weeks as Avatar 3 is likely to be even more front-loaded than Avatar 2, opening with about £10m taking about £60m.
With The SpongeBob Movie having previews from December 20th, its 8-day opening could see Avatar: Fire and Ash lose #1 after a week as Avatar in 2009 to Alvin and the Chipmunks 2, but while Avatar went back to #1 in its third weekend, Avatar 3 won’t be able to do this.
Avatar: The Way of Water opened in over 52,000 screens worldwide (then Disney’s widest ever global opening) in over 160 different versions globally, including 3D, 4K, HFR48, ScreenX and 4DX.
Opened with $307.6m from 52 territories and $441.6m worldwide; China $56.8m (27% from 735 IMAX screens); Korea $24.9m; Germany $20m; France $19.3m; India $18.2m; opened #1 in all territories apart from Japan which was surprising as Japan was one of the biggest territories for 2009’s Avatar.
Opened with $16.5m from IMAX internationally and $15.8m from China taking $48.8m worldwide (11.3%) from 1,543 screens in 80 territories.