Top 5 Breakdown
- War for the Planet of the Apes – £7,195,773 – NE
After opening Tuesday night in third behind Spider-Man: Homecoming and Despicable Me 3 it climbed above Despicable Me 3 on Wednesday and Thursday but behind Spider-Man: Homecoming. War for the Planet of the Apes took £2m from 2.5 days of previews which compares to £1.1m of previews for Rise of the Planet of the Apes and £1.6m for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.
War for the Planet of the Apes opening was bigger than Rise of the Planet of the Apes but lower than Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. As Spider-Man: Homecoming dropping 60% this weekend War for the Planet of the Apes will drop 70%+ with the arrival of Dunkirk.
War for the Planet of the Apes will likely take about £19.5m which is slightly less than Rise of the Planet of the Apes £20.5m but 40% less than Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. To put War for the Planet of the Apes box office into perspective it will be only 16% bigger than 2001’s Planet of the Apes which was a failure both critically and at the box office.
Again, proving beyond doubt yet again unless it’s a James Bond film opening a film before Thursday doesn’t increase a film’s opening only spreads its box office over more days and sees the film has a 70%+ second-weekend drop.
While War for the Planet of the Apes might be the third part of this trilogy it is the ninth film released 49 years ago. The original films were inspired by James Bond which had released five films by the time the first film was released. In the 90s 20th Century Fox had many directed attached to reboot film series including Oliver Stone, Chris Columbus and James Cameron and Arnold Schwarzenegger to star before Tim Burton came on to direct the first reboot in 2001 which was poorly received critically but was a success at the box office.
Another week another disappointing debut as War for the Planet of the Apes opening would be an impressive debut if it was a three-day opening but not a 6-day opening. I know many will disagree with me but almost all films have had lower than expected openings since Beauty and the Beast £19.7m in March while Furious 8 might of opening with £14.02m, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 £13.09m and Despicable Me 3 311.15m were more the expected openings rather than as Beauty and the Beast was overperformed. While Alien: Covenant, Wonder Woman, The Mummy, Transformers: The Last Knight, Spider-Man: Homecoming and now War of the Planet of the Apes opened lower than expected while some blamed Rotten Tomatoes algorithm for the poorly critically received films but were also several that received positive reviews.
Opening Spider-Man: Homecoming, War of the Planets of the Apes and Dunkirk over three weeks was always going to be problematic as all three-targeting similar audience demographic. Only need to look back a year when Star Trek: Beyond, Jason Bourne and Suicide Squad opened over three weeks which cannibalized their box office despite poor reviews Suicide Squad the last of the three films performed far better than the rest. Similar will happen next year with Han Solo, Deadpool 2 and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom opens over three weeks May/June and Alita: Battle Angel, Skyscraper, Mission: Impossible 6, The Predator and Meg open July/August in 2018.
- Despicable Me 3 – £3,839,659 – £25,600,301
Dropping 27.2% in its third weekend holding close to last years The Secret Life of Pets; Despicable Me 3 low third weekend drop squeezed Cars 3 opening which was close to how Despicable Me 2 did to Monster University in July 2013 in its third weekend but this time Despicable Me 3 held far stronger which lowering Cars 3 opening.
In 2013 Monster University opened #1 £3.46m Vs Despicable Me £2.25m in its third weekend. The first family film always has the advantage over the films that follow even if they are better films as was the case earlier this year when The Lego Batman Movie opened the week after Sing.
After three weeks
Despicable Me 3 has overtaken the final box office of the first film £19.75m
Despicable Me 3 is 54% down from Despicable Me 2 (£27.08m) but was inflated with previews and 7.3% down from Minions (£27.62m).
Summer holidays start on Monday last summer The Secret Life of Pets added £9m from the holidays having taken £28m before starting with Minions added £9.5m taking £37.09m before holidays and Despicable Me 2 added £16m taking £30.27m before holidays. If Despicable Me 3 was to do similar would add about £12m to its current box office ending with £38m which would see it come short to both Despicable Me 2 £46.81m and Minions £47.09m.
The six Illumination Entertainment films have now taking £203m at the UK box office is more than the nine Dreamworks Animation films have taken for 20th Century Fox £174m.
After releasing Illumination Entertainment films for the last three summers years their next won’t be released until November 2018 Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch which will then be followed by The Secret Life of Pets 2, Minions 2, Sing 2 and not yet announced Despicable Me 4.
Illumination Entertainment and Pixar have kept their films apart but in 2019 will go head to head for the first time with only a week separating Toy Story 4 and The Secret Life of Pets 2. As seen by this weekend with Despicable Me 3 and Cars 3 no one wins as both films will cannibalize each other.
- Spider-Man: Homecoming – £3,718,078 – £16,821,260
Dropping 60.3% in its second weekend which was expected with the arrival of War for the Planet of the Apes despite receiving rave reviews and strong buzz.
Spider-Man: Homecoming had the sixth biggest second-weekend drop of a Marvel Cinematic Universe film behind Captain America: Civil War, Thor: The Dark World, Thor, Iron Man and Doctor Strange, of course, hard to compare as Spider-Man: Homecoming had two days off previews.
Spider-Man: Homecoming took £13.1m in its opening week again sixth biggest MCU this time behind Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers Assemble, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 and Iron Man 3.
Normally Marvel Cinematic Universe films settle in their third weekend dropping 40%-50% but with Dunkirk opening will likely drop another 60% this weekend.
While Wonder Woman will almost certainly be the biggest comic-book film in the US as will overtake Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 this weekend Spider-Man: Homecoming will have to settle for the second biggest in the UK.
By the time of writing this Spider-Man: Homecoming will have overtaken T2: Trainspotting to be Sony Pictures biggest film in the UK in 2017 and their biggest film since Spectre in 2015.
Last week rumours started Daniel Craig had signed to star in Bond 25 despite saying he would rather slash his wrists instead of playing James Bond again in 2015. Bond producers announced plans for a female spy film based on Mark Burnell novel The Rhythm Section starring Blake Lively which is expected to film later this year; Bond producers only non-James Bond film made recently was 2014’s The Silent Storm which Sony Pictures acquired in 2014 to keep Eon happy but as the Sony Hacking emails said “Make no mistake none of us will get rich on this and you may need a couple of scotches before you watch it (and maybe two more during) to not slip into deep depression.”
- Cars 3 – £2,625,000 – NE
Disney strangely choosing to open Cars 3 only three weeks after Despicable Me 3 made a similar mistake opening Monster University 3 weeks after Despicable Me 2 in 2013 and both films cannibalized with Monster University opening with £3,463,917 ahead of third weekend Despicable Me 2 £2,225,543. Similarly, in 2011 Disney opened Cars 2 only a week after Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 holding top in its second weekend with Cars 2 opening with £3,541,664 going on to take £15.09m
The first Cars film opened 28th July 2006 #1 with £2,66m going on to take £16.1m and Cars 2 opened in July 2011 with £3.54m taking £15.09m; in 10 days’ time has Captain Underpants and then a few weeks after The Emoji Movie as competition for children during the summer holidays. Cars 3 is likely to take about £12m depending on how it holds across the summer holidays.
As with the cannibalization of action films the opposite when it comes to family films with the first film always likely to perform better Despicable Me 3 instead of Cars 3 likewise earlier this year even though The Lego Batman Movie was a far superior film Sing took slightly more.
The only exception was last year Finding Dory took more than The BFG opening weekend before had they switched dates The BFG would have been cannibalized by Finding Dory as it was in the US opening three weeks after. As seen with Penguins of Madagascar cannibalized but Paddington’s second weekend that was despite John Lewis Christmas Advert in 2014 being Monty the Penguin receiving huge media coverage cinemagoers preferred to see Paddington. Three years later the sequel opens in November will it repeat the success of the first film?
- Baby Driver – £976,725 – £8,666,448
Down only 29.6% in its third weekend holding strongly thanks to strong word of mouth and being an alternative to Spider-Man: Homecoming and War for the Planet of the Apes but to build up interest in countries Edgar Wright isn’t so well-known Sony Pictures released the first 6 minutes of Baby Driver online.
Baby Driver has overtaken Edgar Wright’s 2013’s The Worlds End but unlikely to get close to matching the box office of his biggest hit 2007’s Hot Fuzz but should cross £10m barrier shortly will be Sony Pictures third for the year so far with The Emoji Movie, Blade Runner 2049 and Jumanji still to come 2017 could be one of Sony’s best non-James Bond years for a several years.
Baby Driver is currently #22 biggest film in the UK for 2017 and fifth biggest non-franchise film in 2017 behind La La Land, The Boss Baby, Split and Get Out.
Next, for Sony Pictures The Emoji Movie which they also released the first two minutes for last week in the build up to International Emoji Day on July 17th which parents will hate but I’m sure children will enjoy.
The Dark Tower opens in August the first of two films based on Stephen King novels opening within a month has been in development for many years at several studios. After being delayed from February to July using the need for more time for special effects excuse but the first trailer released in May and a second recently featuring not much new material rumours are it’s not good. After much was made about Patty Jenkins directing Wonder Woman after only making a low-budget film previously will the same be written about Nikolaj Arcel who previously directed 2012’s A Royal Affair the Danish film received critical acclaim and launched Alicia Vikander acting career next seen in Tomb Raider reboot.
Rough Night, All Saints (not as I thought it was a biopic of the 90s girl band and stars of the “classic” 2000 film Honest). Reboots of Flatliners and Jumanji and 35 years later Blade Runner 2049 the sequel to the classic 1982 film long in development can it possibly match up to expectations whilst being a success at the box office which the original never was.
Also released
The Beguiled – Universal Pictures £414,725 having Sofia Coppola second biggest opening in the UK behind 2004’s Lost in Translation which opened on only 96 screens compared to The Beguiled 250 screens.
In recent weeks, there have been many films including My Cousin Rachel, Wilson, Gifted, Churchill and Hampstead targeting an older audience all bar My Cousin Rachel disappointed but as they all opened on 400+ screens gave them no room for expansion. As The Beguiled opened on only 250 screens it could expand this weekend but of course, Dunkirk will also play to an older audience but then The Big Sick opens which will be targeting a similar audience.
After receiving its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival receiving critical acclaim many highlighted the female empowerment angle. In recent weeks, there has been some backlash for not featuring an African American character in the film which featured in the 1971 film.
UK box office in detail
This weekend’s top 10 box office took £19,205,602 up 9.04% from last weekend £17,613,020
The weekend admissions 2,523,732 up 9.04% from last weekend 2,314,457 (but now into the second half of 2017 increased average ticket price to predicted increase by UK Cinema Association/BFI for the year up 2.7%. as inflation is 2.6% for May this will be the minimum 2017 average will be.
Don’t have access to any of the ComScore data apart from what’s freely available online the rest is pulled together from hours of online research and industry knowledge built up over almost 30 years. From reading Screen International, Variety and Hollywood Reporter from to back to the many other films, broadcast and media magazines that have been around over the years are many that have come and gone but like independent distributors.
9 films opened at weekend taking £10,389,890; War for the Planet of the Apes took 69.2% (£7,195,773); Cars 3 25.2% (£2,625,000) with the remaining 7 films sharing £569,117 (5.8%)
War for the Planet of the Apes took 37.4% of the top 10 box office; highlights the disappointing opening for the film as with a 6-day opening should be closer to double.
For the second time since January, four films took more than £2m showing how the marketplace has cannibalized with two sets of similar films targeting the same audience. This will be stretched to three films each on Friday with Dunkirk and Monday with Captain Underpants similar to how Sing and The Lego Batman Movie shared the box office neither film was the breakout success previous Illumination and The Lego Movie was.
Weekend was up 25.8% from last year (£15,261,672): Ghostbusters £4,378,842, Ice Age: Collusion Course £3,775,602, Dirty Dancing Secret Cinema £946,086, Keanu £13,700,
Up 87.3% from 2015: (£10,250,850): Ant-Man – £3,982,785, Andre Rieu’s 2015 Concert £1,034,403, Bajrangi Bhaijaan £758,076 and The Gallows £334,369 opened.
Next weekend in 2016: (£16,044,946) The BFG £5,243,193, Star Trek Beyond £4,718,051, Andre Rieu’s 2016 Maastricht Concert £1,408,251,
UK Box Office Top 10
US Box Office Top 10
US Box office
20th Century Fox -War For the Planet of the Apes opens with $56.6m as with Spider-Man: Homecoming while it might of opened close to studios tracking predictions its opening was much lower than rival studios expectations.
But sandwiched in the middle of Spider-Man: Homecoming and Dunkirk it was always likely to be cannibalized. As all three films are targeting similar audience so while War For the Planet of the Apes opened lower than expected dropped higher than expected and similar will happen this weekend against Dunkirk.
While Furious 8 and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 might have opened with $98.78m and $146.51m they were both what each was predicted to open with Beauty and the Beast $174.7m and Wonder Woman $103.2m have been the only two films that have opened above expectations. Since Beauty and the Beast opening in March so many films have underperformed Power Rangers, Ghost in the Shell, The Smurfs: The Lost Village, Snatched, Alien: Covenant, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul (strangely not in the UK), King Arthur, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, Baywatch, The Mummy, Cars 3, Rough Night and Transformers: The Last Knight.
Earlier in the summer box office experts were counting on two hands the $1 billion summer blockbusters but it’s unlikely won’t be any with the next possibly either Thor: Ragnarok or Justice League but then after Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
The problem is with most films in the can for 2018 and many starting productions shortly for 2019 nothing will change until 2020 at the earliest if at all. At D23 Avengers Infinity Wars was described as the blockbuster to end all blockbusters which hopefully it is and we can start afresh in 2020.
Sony Pictures – Spider-Man: Homecoming drops 61.4% with $45.2m proving its opening last weekend was neither “triumphant return” or a “heroic US opening” as Sony Pictures and Variety described.
Despite receiving 93% score on Rotten Tomatoes Spider-Man: Homecoming still dropped over 61.4% in its second weekend the biggest second-weekend drop of all 16 Marvel Cinematic Universe films.
Internationally Spider-Man: Homecoming added $72.3m taking an international box office of $261m and global box office of $470m’ still has to open in Japan and China.
Universal Pictures – Despicable Me 3 drops 43.6% taking $18.94m taking $208.27m; Despicable Me 3 is 29.1% ahead of the first film but 24% below Despicable Me 2 and 20.6% less than Minions.
After three weeks:
Despicable Me took $161.28m second w/e $23.68m (27.8% drop)
Despicable Me had taken 64% of its final box office $251.4m
Despicable Me 2 took $276m second w/e $24.9m (43.3% drop)
Despicable Me 2 had taken 75% of its final box office $368.6m
Minions took $262.45m second weekend $22.93m (53.5% drop)
Minions had taken 78% of its final box office $336.04m
If Despicable Me 3 holds close to Despicable Me 2 and Minions will end with $280m 11.3% more than Despicable Me but 24% less than Despicable Me 2 and 16.7% less than Minions. Will be similar final box office of Illumination Entertainment’s Sing $270m to be likely the biggest animated film of the year but still a long way from last year’s finding Dory $486.29m and The Secret Life of Pets $368.38m and $356.46m Inside Out took in 2015.
Which is showing audiences are tiring of the Despicable Me franchise but will still likely be a Despicable Me 4 in 2020 following Minions 2 in 2019.
Internationally Despicable Me 3 took $139m (including $66m from China) now taken almost $300m internationally and a globally total of $450m. But it unlikely to match the global heights of Minions $1.15bn or Despicable Me 2 $970.8m but will by next week overtake the global box office of Despicable Me $543.1m.
Sony Pictures – Baby Driver drops 32.7% taking $8.75m and $73.15m; after the strong word of mouth making it held strong. It’s then surprising Sony cut screens by 183 rather than adding as is planning in less than 1,000 screens than the top 3.
Baby Driver should take $100m+ at the box office with talk of a potential sequel.
Warner Bros – Wonder Woman drops 29.9% taking $6.88m and $380.68m;
After seven weeks become the 9th biggest comic-book movie in the US overtaking Spider-Man 2 by next weekend should overtake Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 to be summers biggest comic-book movie of the year so far. Thor: Ragnarok and Justice League still to come but unlikely either will match it as Thor films are very front-loaded and despite the positivity surrounding Wonder Woman it’s unlikely to stay for Justice League.
Wonder Woman has overtaken Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallow Part 2 to become Warner Bros third biggest film in the US behind The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises. It is #28 biggest film in the US and is expected to take over $400m which should see it overtake Frozen, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Jurassic Park, and Spider-Man.
Has now taken $765.9m worldwide with $385.3m internationally; #73 biggest film in the world and will overtake Guardians of the Galaxy, Deadpool and incredibly Star Wars in the next week;
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 $859.3m, The Fate of the Furious $1,23bn and Beauty and the Beast $1.26bn are the only three films to beat Wonder Woman globally so far, this year. Star Wars: The Last Jedi is properly the only other film that will do so but several months Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, Transformers: The Last Knight, Despicable Me 3 and Spider-Man: Homecoming were expected to be $1bn+ global box office, earners.
Warner Bros announced several untitled DC films including one for June 5th, 2020 which will probably be Wonder Woman 2.
Opening in October is Professor Marston & the Wonder Woman which tells the story of Wonder Woman’s creator, William Moulton Marston and his relationship with his wife Elizabeth Holloway Marston and Olive Byrne.
Paramount Pictures – Transformers: The Last Knight dropped 56.4% taking $2.78m and $124.88m;
Internationally it has taken $392.4m for a worldwide total of $517.4m will likely come shot to beating 2007’s Transformers global total of $709.7m which is a long way from Transformers: Dark of the Moon $1.12bn and Transformers: Age of Extinction $1.1bn.
Lionsgate – The Big Sick expanded to 2,597 screens taking $7.6m up 112.5% taking $16.03m; but The Beguiled dropped 54.7% in its fourth weekend dropping 215 screens taking $934,645 and $9.4m so big question will be The Big Sick be able to hold longer in the top 10 despite receiving rave reviews and being described as the sleeper of the summer.
Ever since The Big Sick premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January it was this different rom-com but it plays like most but with a different culture issue Indian man not wanting to marry into his culture which has been told so many times before with Jewish men and women and My Big Fat Greek Wedding.
It is interesting that it was Amazon and not a studio that acquired the film at Sundance (release their films theatrically by Lionsgate) as it is TV rather than film which is challenging the stereotypical characters with their original content on HBO<, Showtime, Netflix and Amazon. For the last four years, Kumail Nanjiani has had bit parts in many films but has had huge success in comedy Silicon Valley.
Opened July 21st
Opening UK
- Dunkirk – Warner Bros
Starring stars Fionn Whitehead, Tom Glynn-Carney, Jack Lowden, Harry Styles, Aneurin Barnard, James D’Arcy, Barry Keoghan, Kenneth Branagh, Cillian Murphy, Mark Rylance and Tom Hardy and written and directed by Christopher Nolan.
The film was shot on IMAX 65mm and as with 2014’s Interstellar Christopher Nolan demanded Warner Bros release the film in 70mm IMAX, 70mm, and 35mm alongside the regularly DCP so audiences can see the film as he wanted them to see it. Will open in 70mm IMAX in several cinemas across the UK including BFI IMAX, Science Museum, and Vue Printworks. While the majority will still see the film in either 2K or 4K which is still inferior quality to 35mm which is 6K. (does ask the question why exhibitors were far too quick to swap 35mm for digital if it didn’t improve cinemagoers experience but have written much about this elsewhere).
Received its world premiere at the Odeon Leicester Square on July 13th where it is being screened in 70mm (will be shown in 70mm in four other cinemas across the UK) first film to do so since 2015’s The Hateful Eight Dunkirk will get the widest 70mm release in the US in 25 years since Ron Howard’s Far and Away.
The announcement teaser was screened with Suicide Squad in August 2016. The first trailer was released on 14 December 2016 with a five-minute prologue screened in IMAX showings of Rogue One. The trailer garnered over 21 million views on YouTube. The prologue was screened for one week with IMAX showings of Kong: Skull Island. With footage screened at CinemaCon 2017 in March. The main trailer was released on 5 May 2017 after a countdown on the film’s website.
Embargo ended on Monday with most heralding it as the best film of the year so far and the first major Oscar contender; we won’t get to see many of the other Oscar contenders until September when many will receive their premieres at Venice and Toronto Film Festivals.
Some of the unseen favorites include Phantom Thread (Daniel Day Lewis final acting role) The Papers (directed by Steven Spielberg starring Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep (23 years ago since Tom Hanks last won Best Actor Oscar after winning for Philadelphia and Forrest Gump he is long overdue winning another). Downsizing directed by Alexander Payne starring Matt Damon has been announced to open the Venice Film Festival. Others include The Disaster Artist, The Darkest Hour, The Greatest Showman on Earth, All the Money in the World, Molly’s Game, Wonder, Roman Israel, Esq, Goodbye Christopher Robin, Victoria and Abdul and many more. This time of year, people start making lists of potential Oscar candidates but this time last year neither La La Land or Moonlight were potential award winners.
Early reviews praised the performance of Harry Styles who Christopher Nolan said he didn’t know who he was before casting and compared him to Heath Ledger. Many were surprised with the casting of Harry Styles many saw it as a casting stunt and then barely appeared in any of the trailers. Christopher Nolan said the reason why was he didn’t want to oversell the film featuring Harry Styles as it was an ensemble and didn’t want to disappoint fans that he’s not in it enough.
When reviews started being published Harry Styles fans made urgent requests not to reveal spoilers for the film as critics (and history books) did 20 years ago with Titanic. It will be interesting if the casting of Harry Styles in the film brings out his fans but as seen with One Direction’s This is Us film in 2013 it generated huge social media coverage but that didn’t cross over into big box office.
Th big question is how will Dunkirk do will the 98% Rotten Tomatoes score and the casting of Harry Styles bring in audiences; while 1998’s Saving Private Ryan had that incredible bloody opening 20 minutes. Dunkirk has little blood making it much more accessible to audiences but tells a powerful story spectacularly it is a film that needs to be seen on the biggest screen possible and if possible, this need to be in the film be it 70mm or 70mm IMAX.
In 1998 Saving Private Ryan opened with £2.7m taking £18.74m
In 2001 Pearl Harbour opened with £3.07m taking £14.22m
While Christopher Nolan’s most recent non-The Dark Knight Trilogy films Inception opened in July 2010 £5.91m and Interstellar in November 2014 £5.37m (would be the inflated opening for Saving Private Ryan today).
- Andre Rieu’s 2017 Maastricht Concert – CinemaLive
For the fourth year, Andre Rieu’s Maastricht Concert will be shown in cinemas with two screenings one on Saturday and Sunday across the UK in about 400 screens.
The last three years took
Andre Rieu’s 2016 Maastricht Concert £1,408,251
Andre Rieu’s 2015 Maastricht Concert £1,034,403
Andre Rieu’s 2014 Maastricht Concert £830,586
But tickets as are up to 100% more than regular price tickets they need to be compared more by admissions. (doing a random price comparison Cineworld tickets £20.70, Everyman Cinemas £21, Vue Cinemas £17.79 and Odeon Cinemas £18.
Event Cinema is a great addition to cinema while it is giving cinemagoers a chance to experience concerts, theatre, and opera which most wouldn’t normally afford to see. in cinemas enjoy their cinema experience watching these events they could save up their pennies to see it live.
To quote Edward Lewis from Pretty Woman “People’s reaction to opera the first time they see it is very dramatic. They either love it or hate it. If they love it, they will always love it. If they don’t, they may learn to appreciate it, but it will never become part of their soul.”
- Captain Underpants – 20th Century Fox
Animated superhero comedy based on the children’s novel series of the same name featuring voices of Ed Helms, Kevin Hart, Nick Kroll, Jordan Peele and Kristen Schaal directed by David Soren.
It is the final Dreamworks Animation film released by 20th Century Fox before distribution rights move to Universal Pictures after they acquired the studios last year.
Opening Monday the start of the summer holiday it will likely cannibalize against Despicable Me 3 and Cars 3 but saying that playing to a younger audience should have a decent run throughout the summer holidays but unlikely to match the box office of recent Dreamworks Animation films released by 20th Century Fox.
The film is based on children’s novel series by Dav Pilkey his books have sold over 70 million copies worldwide with 50 million in the US rather than Pants Man character created on The Apprentice for a breakfast cereal
Opening in US
- Dunkirk – Warner Bros
The same weekend 19 years ago Dreamworks opened Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan with $30.57m taking $215.54m going on to be nominated for 11 Oscars winning 5 including Best Film and Best Director, Dunkirk is being similarly compared.
In 1998 Saving Private Ryan $30.57m was 6.51m admissions with average ticket price $4.69 would need to open with $56.38m to have an inflation increased opening; three weeks before opening Dunkirk was tracking to open with $40m early buzz was the film was very good close to Wonder Woman and as Wonder Woman when embargo ended Dunkirk was being called the best film of the year so far.
The marketplace has changed dramatically since Saving Private Ryan opened in 1998 as the film held strongly dropping only 20%+ for the first 7 weeks of release and staying in the top 10 for 12 weeks. Despite strong reviews, Dunkirk will still likely drop double Saving Private Ryan’s 22.8% in its second weekend. But opening late summer should hold in the top 10 until September when the next batch of Oscar contenders start opening including Battle of the Sexes and Victoria and Abdul.
After much written about Rotten Tomatoes algorithm making people not see the bad films but then the recent high scoring Spider-Man: Homecoming and War for the Planet of the Apes didn’t improve their opening will the strong reviews have any impact on Dunkirk’s opening and hold. Comparing Dunkirk with last year which also had three action films opening over three weeks it was the third film Suicide Squad that took twice as much as previous two Star Trek: Beyond and Jason Bourne despite negative reviews. The big question is will Atomic Blonde opening next weekend have any impact while the negative buzz surrounding The Dark Tower opening in two weeks’ time is unlikely to cause too much trouble.
Might seem strange to open Oscar contender Dunkirk in July but over the year have been many Oscar winners that have opened in the summer months from The Untouchables 30 years ago to Forrest Gump, Saving Private Ryan and more recently The Help.
- Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets – STX Entertainment
Science fiction action was written and directed by Luc Besson based on the French science fiction comics series Valérian and Laureline, written by Pierre Christin and illustrated by Jean-Claude Mézières. Starring Dane DeHaan, Cara Delevingne, Clive Owen, Rihanna, Ethan Hawke, Herbie Hancock, Kris Wu and Rutger Hauer; was the highest budget French film ever with $180m but as it was independently financed pre-selling international rights in over 100 territories including the US STX doesn’t have the same risk on the film as they would have normally had.
Early reviews have said its style over substance looking fantastic but not much else.
20 years ago, Luc Besson directed similarly incredible to look at The Fifth Element opening with $17.03m while his most recent film was 2014’s Lucy starring Scarlett Johansson, Valerian is expected to open closer to The Fifth Element.
- Girls Trip – Universal Pictures
Comedy starring Regina Hall, Queen Latifah, Tiffany Haddish, Jada Pinkett Smith, Larenz Tate and Mike Colter and directed by Malcolm D. Lee.
After recent comedies including Snatched and Rough Night have disappointed both critically and at the box office Girls Trip has received positive reviews and should be an alternative to the other films released over the weekend but unlikely to cross out to a wider audience with The Big Sick likely to stop it from doing so.