Top 5 Breakdown
- Alien: Covenant – £5,178,531 – NE
Five years ago, the first Alien prequel Prometheus opened with massive hype and expectations and most positive reviews opened with a strong £6.23m despite Snow White and the Huntsman opening against it with £3.58m. Reviews for Alien: Covenant were more mixed while being the only major film opening had to compete against the third weekend of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 which held slightly better than expected which likely affected Alien Covenant opening.
But you can’t compare the two films box office as 73% of Prometheus opening box office was from 3D and large formats this compare with only 13% for Alien: Covenant from large formats only as it wasn’t released in 3D. While ticket prices might have increased by 19% since more than £1.36m of Prometheus box office came from 3D/IMAX surcharges in 300+ screens compared with £0.20m from 42 large format/IMAX for Alien: Covenant. Removing Prometheus 3D/IMAX surcharges would have opened with £4.87m but adding 19% ticket price inflation would be £5.83m Vs £5.1m
In 2012 Prometheus had the second-biggest opening of the year to date (ending the year as the tenth biggest opening) Alien: Covenant was the thirteenth behind Beauty and the Beast, Fast & Furious 8, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2, Sing, Logan, The Boss Baby, The Lego Batman Movie, Fifty Shades Darker, La La Land, Kong: Skull Island, Assassin’s Creed and T2: Trainspotting.
In 2012 Prometheus held #1 in its second weekend dropping 50% taking £3.13m and £15.47m total. Held #1 for three weeks Alien: Covenant will hold #1 for two weeks more because of expected poor openings of King Arthur and Snatched than Alien: Covenant losing #1 to Pirates of the Caribbean 5 in two weeks’ time. In 2012 Prometheus had little competition as with the Euro 2012 opening June 8th were few major films released until July 6th by which time it had taken £23.91m.
Next year Universal Pictures open Jurassic World 2 two weeks early in the UK to avoid the World Cup but in doing so opens a week after Deadpool 2 and two weeks after Han Solo. While Warner Bros and Paramount open Ocean’s 8 and Transformers 6 two weeks after their US openings.
Many box office experts are predicting a disappointing summer due to being heavy on old sequels and franchises Fast and Furious 8, Marvel Cinematic Universe 15, Alien 8, Diary of a Wimpy Kid 5, Pirates of the Caribbean 5, Transformers 5, DC Extended Universe 5, Minions 4, Planet of the Apes 9, The Conjuring 4 and we even have a sequel to a documentary An Inconvenient Sequel which shows how messed up this summer is.
There are a couple of original films including Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk which will be hoping for a Harry Styles boost (Esquire recently said he could become this generation’s Frank Sinatra but probably more likely Justin Timberlake) with his #1 debut album Warner Bros will be hoping his fans will want to pay to see him in cinemas.
While Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu offer the mix of content the studios used to offer but for the price of less than one cinema ticket hey can get a month’s entertainment. Why would you want to go out of the house if you can see great dramas like The Handmaid’s Tale or House of Cards series 5 instead of experience Groundhog Day again with the many sequels, reboots, and remakes that fill out cinemas throughout the summer. Or stay at home and watch the probably far better previous parts of the sequels opening in the summer as the sequels will be basically greatest hits of what came before which is what Alien: Covenant is as Jason Bourne was last summer.
Opening Alien: Covenant a week ahead of the US did 20th Century Fox not learn from the mistakes of doing similar with last May. As X-Men: Apocalypse last year Alien: Covenant received mixed reviews which must be a major reason why it opened 20% less did sorta make sense why they decided to do so to give it two weeks on Pirates of the Caribbean 5 but by doing so it has harmed its more important US opening.
While Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 might have opened 54% bigger than the first film in the US its opening was also likely affected by the mixed reviews received which has seen its final box office likely to be only 10% up from the first film. Studios still seem to of not learned only release films internationally early if you’re confident the film will be well received. While the same could be said if they fear the film will be poorly received go as wide as possible day and date something Paramount Pictures seem to not understand (more of this below).
Internationally Alien: Covenant saw a decline of about 40% from Prometheus in most countries it opened in only increasing in South Korea and Hong Kong, but was #1 in 19 of the 34 countries opened in taking $42m; In 2012 Prometheus opened internationally with $34.8m from only 15 countries went on to take $403m worldwide it’s unlikely Alien: Covenant get close. The 38-year franchise which includes 8 films has taken $515.9m in the US and $1.3bn worldwide which of course doesn’t sound that big against more recent franchises but of course, the first two films are 38 and 31 years old.
In 2015 Ridley Scott had plans for three sequels to Prometheus that would lead into Alien. The screenplay for the third sequel was written during the production of Alien: Covenant which is expected to start shooting in 2018 for release in 2019 which will be the films series 40th anniversary.
20th Century Fox continued their strange film promotion deal with Manchester United with the players watching a screening of the film and being terrified watching it.
This following up similar campaigns for films Deadpool, X-Men: Apocalypse, and Independence Day: Resurgence.
Channel 4 created personalized TV adverts for the film with viewer’s names
While in selected cinemas in the US will be the Alien: Covenant In Utero Virtual Reality Experience
Just before uploaded this Honest Trailers uploaded thier unique take on Aliens while also good to have a look at what they said about Prometheus.
- Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 -£3,276,958 – £33,041,913
Dropping 46.2% in its third weekend has become the second biggest film of the year and has become the fifth biggest Marvel film in the UK holding close to Iron Man 3 taking 6.2% more but ticket prices are up 16.5% since Iron Man 3 was released in 2013. Its box office is also close to last year’s Captain America: Civil War £32.16m up 2.7% which is the same as ticket prices have risen since last year showing again while their box office might be increasing their admissions are very similar.
Its box office is also close to last year’s Captain America: Civil War £32.16m up 2.7% which is the same as ticket prices have risen since last year showing again while their box office might be increasing their admissions are very similar.
After three weekends:
Iron Man 2 had taken 37.8% more than Iron Man £17.90 Vs £12.99m and Iron Man 3 had taken 139.5% (£31.12m) more than Iron Man and 73.8% more than Iron Man 2. But ticket prices increased by 26%+ between Iron Man 1 and Iron Man 3 2008 – 2013
Captain American: Winter Soldier had taken 69.4% more than Captain America: The First Avenger £14.61m Vs £8.62m and Captain America: Civil War had taken 120% more than Captain American: Winter Soldier £32.16m Vs £14.61m. But Captain America: Civil War can’t be directly compared to previous Captain America films as featured many other Avengers characters so played more like an Avengers film; while ticket prices increased 22.2% between Captain America: The First Avenger £14.61m and Captain America: Civil War.
Thor: The Dark World had taken 44.5% more than Thor £17.08m Vs £11.82m Thor: Ragnarok opens in October as Captain America: Civil War; the third sequel features Avengers characters so cannot be compared but of course will be.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 took 75.9% more than Guardians of the Galaxy £33.05m Vs £18.79m; holding close to Iron Man 3 will see it ending with around £39.5m which will be the third biggest Marvel Cinematic Universe film and biggest non-Avengers film but its admissions will still be less than Iron Man 3 5.19 Vs 5.62m showing that while box office might have grown 7.7% ticket prices have increased by more than double 16.5% since 2013.
The fifteen Marvel Cinematic Universe films have now taken over £380m at the UK box office over the last 9 years. The last 10 released by Disney (they brought Marvel for $4 billion in 2009) taking £313.93m 82% of the £383m the 15 films have taken in the UK. With Thor: Ragnarok released in October and Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War and Ant-Man and the Wasp released in 2018 Marvel Cinematic Universe films will have taken over £500m over the first 10 years. But growth is questionable since Guardians of the Galaxy was released in 2014 inflated by ticket prices as admissions haven’t grown since.
With Thor: Ragnarok released in October and Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War and Ant-Man and the Wasp released in 2018 Marvel Cinematic Universe films will have taken over £500m over the first 10 years. But growth is questionable since Guardians of the Galaxy was released in 2014 inflated by ticket prices as admissions haven’t grown since.
- The Boss Baby – £580,692 – £26,320,000
Down 12.5% in its fifth weekend has overtaken 2013’s The Croods £23.15m to become 20th Century Fox’s biggest Dreamworks Animation film in the UK.
Will shortly overtake The Lego Batman Movie to become the sixth biggest film in the UK in 2017 still having a possible chance of overtaking Sing £28.56m to be the biggest animated film of 2017 until Despicable Me 3.
- Fast & Furious 8 – £ 500,715 – £28,950,000
Down 38.7% in its fifth weekend has overtaken Sing to become the fourth biggest film of 2017 behind La La Land, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 and Beauty and the Beast and will shortly become the fourth film to take over £30m at the box office in 2017.
Despite opening 10% bigger than Furious 7 £14.04m Vs £12.74m it will end taking 30% less than Furious 7 with its admissions closer to Fast & Furious 6 3.94m Vs 3.72m Universal Pictures release the next two installments in April 2019 and 2021.
While Disney now has the two biggest films of 2017 with Beauty and the Beast and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 Universal Pictures are slightly ahead of Disney on box office and market share of 2017 £106.06m Vs £104.23m (23.35% Vs 22.95%). But while Universal Pictures have many more upcoming films for the rest of the year The Mummy, Despicable Me 3, Atomic Blonde American Made, The Snowman and Pitch Perfect they will likely take £100m+. While Disney only has four more releases but they will likely take more than £150m Pirates of the Caribbean 5, Cars 3, Thor: Ragnarok and Star Wars VIII The Last Jedi.
Universal Pictures UK has had five films in 2017 taking over £10m while Fast & Furious 8, Sing and Fifty Shades Darker were expected Split and Get Out did far better than expected. Only disappointments were Fifty Shades Darker taking a third less than 50 Shades of Grey which was expected, The Great Wall (again expected) but Loving and The Zookeeper’s Wife but should have done far better than they did but both opened during a crowded marketplace that didn’t get a chance to find their audiences.
- A Dog’s Purpose – £490,942 – £2,040,000
Down 62.2% in its second weekend due to previews without previews drop was only 22% holding surprisingly strongly but more because of poor weather over the weekend and a lack of family film competition until half term holidays in two weeks’ time.
A Dog’s Purpose has become director Lasse Hallstrom sixth biggest film in the UK; he has had a long film career since making his first American film Once Around in 1991. Probably more famous for his second film What’s Eating Gilbert Grape in 1993 which was one of Leonardo DiCaprio’s first film roles. He has more recently directed two films based on Nicholas Sparks books, Dear John and Safe Haven.
Despite releasing 9 films so far, this year eOne their Oscar contenders disappointed both at award ceremonies at the box office with Peppa Pig: My First Cinema Experience their current biggest film of 2017. Upcoming releases include drama Hampstead which will be trying to attract The Lady in the Van older audience being an alternative to the summer movies.
Upcoming releases include drama Hampstead which will be trying to attract The Lady in the Van older audience being an alternative to the summer movies. Also, have George Clooney directed Suburbicon and Kathryn Bigelow’s Detroit but have no films like The BFG, The Girl on the Train and Arrival that are likely to set their box office alight.
With rival independent distributors, Lionsgate already having La La Land and Studiocanal having Paddington 2 opening in November eOne is looking to have a disappointing rest of the year. But in January they do have Steven Spielberg’s untitled film expected to star Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep which is seen now as a massive Oscar favourite but will it still be in 9 months’ time?
Other box office news
This weekend’s top 10 box office took £11,133,770 up 3.9% from last weekend £10,715,064;
Weekend admissions 1,481,115 up 2.4% from last weekend 1,446,028
14 films opened at weekend taking £6,046,891; Alien: Covenant took 85.6%, Der Rosenkavalier – Met Opera 5.1% and Miss Sloane 3.1% with the remaining 11 films sharing £364,412 (6%)
The weekend was up 24.1% from last year (£8,970,999): The Angry Birds Movie £2,125,750, Our Kind of Traitor £350,870, Everybody Wants Some!! £165,463, Green Room £136,353, Mustang £65,057, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot £58,798 and The Darkness £51,465.
Up 6.7% from 2015: (£10,432,951): Pitch Perfect 2 £4,920,000, Mad Max Fury Road £4,500,000 and A Royal Night Out £274,955 opened.
Next weekend in 2016 (£13,948,411): X-Men Apocalypse £7,331,848, A Hologram For The King £378,221, Sing Street £122,605 and The Silent Storm £3,600 opened,
UK Box Office Top 10
US Box Office Top 10
US Box office
Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 dropping 57% in its second weekend raking $65.26m and $246.16m total 39.3% more than the first film released in 2014.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 box office is the fifth biggest after 10 days behind Iron Man 3, Avengers, Avengers: Age of Ultron and Captain America: Civil War. Despite opening 54% bigger than the original the sequel will likely only take 8% more showing how front-loaded comic-book movies have become.
While the first film only took 28.3% of its final box office in its opening weekend the sequel will take about 40%. Showing while the box office might have grown the audience hasn’t grown with the admissions for both films 40m but of course with more than a third of its box office coming from large formats and 3D real average prices have increased a lot more than the claimed 5.8% since the first film from $8.17 to $8.65,
Globally Guardians of the Galaxy has taken $630m with $384m internationally and $246m from the US (will see it overtake the first film’s global take of $773.3m).
20th Century Fox’s Snatched opened with $19.54m; ahead of release was looking to open with about $20m close to last years The Boss $23.58m or 2015’s Trainwreck $30.1m.
Early estimates saw Snatched taking $17.5m but had a far stronger Mother’s Day which saw its weekend box office grow to $19.54m.
Rather than opening at the lower opening close to 2015s Hot Pursuit $13.94m but an improvement on last year’s Mother’s Day $8.36m; Snatched received B CinemaScore compared to A- Trainwreck received which will likely see it drop heavily this weekend.
A few months ago, Warren Beatty starred in his first film Rules Don’t Apply since 2001’s Town & Country which was the last but one film Goldie Hawn also starred in. It’s sad that two of Hollywood’s greats most likely final films end in failure.
But it seems so often actor’s final films are films they would like to forget. Snatched was a 90s-comedy released 20 years too late which was at a time Goldie Hawn starred in some great comedy films including Bird on a Wire, Housesitter, Death Becomes Her and The First Wives Club.
Warner Bros’s King Arthur: Legend of the Sword opened with $15.37m; originally planned to start a series of six films was set for July 22nd, 2016 release but was moved several times until its final release date of May 12th always a sign of studio nervousness.
Have been few films that have been delayed from their original date and been successful most famously 20 years ago with Titanic delayed 6 months from July to December and in 2001 with Moulin Rouge and 2013 with The Great Gatsby.
The $175m Guy Richie film received negative reviews going into its opening weekend was expected to open with around $25m but after taking $1.2m from Thursday previews close to 2015’s The Man From U.N.C.L.E. opening with $13.4m was expected to open similar; the film received B+ CinemaScore will see it drop heavily this weekend with the arrival of Alien: Covenant.
Must question who at Warner Bros thought to make another film based on the story of King Arthur after the two previous films released over the last 22 years both flopped. 2004’s King Arthur opened with $15.19m taking $51.88m and 1995’s First Knight opened $10.85m taking $37.6m while 1981’s Excalibur opened with $4.51m taking $34.96m.
The failure of King Arthur was compared with recent remakes of last years Ben Hur (which lost over $100m) asking if Charlie Hunnam was a big enough star to lead the film similar to Jack Huston in the Ben-Hur remake.
Pan and Legend of Tarzan both also made by Warner Bros were also big money losers and is also the long-delayed The Jungle Book reimagination which was set for release originally in 2016 but will open in 2018.
The failure of these films pushes studios towards making more sequels, remakes, and reboots which this summer is heavy with but many experts are predicting that box office will be down this summer. So if audiences are bored of the sequels while not interested in reboots of classic adventures what films should studios be making?
Monday was the 30th anniversary of one of Hollywood’s biggest flops Ishtar its failure was one of the major reasons why Coca-Cola sold Columbia Pictures to Sony a few years later.
While there have been similar massive failures in the years since the studios can often write-off the losses as Paramount Pictures did with Monster Tracks several months before opening. While massive flops at studios now see the studio heads leave and get lucrative production deals at the studio or one of their rivals.
The difference between the previous version of the King Arthur story where they told the story while 2017’s King Arthur was planned to be the first part of a series. The problem doing this is the film spend so much time setting up the characters there is little else which was the issue with the first X-Men film in 2000 and last year with Suicide Squad. Guy Ritchie’s original cut of King Arthur was three and a half hours which was cut down to two hours before he edited from an epic into more like his previous films.
After the failure of King Arthur Warner Bros now looks to their two other summer movies Wonder Woman and Dunkirk. According to a survey by Fandango 92% of moviegoers are looking forward to the film. While much has been written about the lack of marketing for the film there is massive interest in the first female comic-book movie. Early tracking estimates $75m opening but this will likely grow in the coming weeks with early Twitter reaction been positive. While Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk has the secret weapon of Harry Styles.
The Fate of the Furious dropped 38.2% in its fifth weekend taking $5.4m and $215.13m; in comparison, Furious 7 took more than double in its fifth weekend $6.64m and a total of $331.1m 93.8% of its final box office of $353m.
The Fate of the Furious is holding close to Fast & Furious 6 which took $4.93m in its fifth weekend with total of $228.62m 95.8% of its final box office of $238.6m; The Fate of the Furious will likely end with $225m showing the franchise is holding close to both 2011’s Fast Five and 2013’s Fast & Furious 6.
The Boss Baby down 23% in its seventh weekend taking $4.49m and a total of $162.27m; The Boss Baby is currently 20th Century Fox’s #8 biggest animated film having overtaken Ice Age: Continental Drift and fourth biggest Dreamworks Animation film.
After seven weeks 2015’s Home took $3.07m and similar $162.8m 92% of its final box office of $177.3m if The Boss Baby performs similar ($180m) should overtake Ice Age, How to Train Your Dragon 2 and Home to become 20th Century Fox’s fourth biggest animated film and second biggest Dreamworks Animation film behind The Croods.
Has become the #57 biggest animated film in the US and has overtaken Shark Tale and Ice Age: Continental Drift will shortly overtake, A Bug’s Life, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out, Kung Fu Panda 2, Hotel Transylvania 2 and The Lego Batman Movie to become the biggest animated film in the US for 2017 that is until Despicable Me 3 next month.
Beauty and the Beast drops 24.1% in its ninth weekend taking $4.8m and $494.14m; after nine weeks, The Jungle Book took $2.76m taking $352.68m 96.9% of its final box office of $364m if Beauty and the Beast was to do similar will end with $520m.
Beauty and the Beast has now taken $1.20bn #11 worldwide will shortly overtake Iron Man 3 and Frozen to be #9 biggest.
Opened May 19thh
Opening UK
Day and date releasing have become the norm for most films nowadays but both King Arthur and Snatched open a week after their US openings both receiving negative reviews which are likely to affect their openings. Warner Bros delayed King Arthur a week after 20th Century Fox brought forward Alien: Covenant which caused them to also delay Snatched a week;
Paramount are one studio who aren’t day and dating many of their releases with Baywatch delayed three days to give it a 7-day opening weekend against Wonder Woman. An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power, mother!, Cloverfield 3 and Daddy’s Home a couple weeks after their US opening which is likely to affect Cloverfield 3 and Daddy’s Home box office performance as it did for 10 Cloverfield Lane last year.
- King Arthur: Legend of the Sword – Warner Bros
Action adventure starring Charlie Hunnam, Àstrid Bergès-Frisbey, Djimon Hounsou, Aidan Gillen, Jude Law and Eric Bana. (David Beckham follows up his cameo The Man From U.N.C.L.E. with a small role in the film) and directed by Guy Ritchie.
In 2014 Guy Ritchie signed up to the first of a planned six film series; King Arthur was originally set for release July 22nd, 2016 but then moved to February 17th, 2017 and then moved to March 24th before being moved to May 12th release date but moved back a week in the UK to avoid opening against Alien: Covenant.
Are few films that are a success after being delayed for 6 months or more Titanic delayed from July 1997 to January 1998 was the most notable success being delayed and more recently with Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge and The Great Gatsby. King Arthur had much more in common with Jupiter Ascending originally set for July 25th,2014 and delayed to February 6th, 2015.
2004’s King Arthur opened with £1.9m July 30th (including previews of £0.15m) taking £7.05m. As with the US opening, King Arthur will probably open similar to Guy Ritchie’s previous film The Man From U.N.C.L.E. which opened with £1.44m but unlikely to match its total of £6.45m. Next for Guy Ritchie is the Disney live-action re-imagination of Aladdin starts filming in July with an expected August 3rd, 2018 release.
- Snatched – 20th Century Fox
Action comedy starring Amy Schumer, Goldie Hawn, Joan Cusack, Christopher Meloni, Ike Barinholtz, Óscar Jaenada, and Wanda Sykes and directed by Jonathan Levine.
Script written by Katie Dippold who wrote the script to last year’s Ghostbusters reboot but previously wrote the screenplay for 2013’s The Heat and has also written the screenplay for its sequel.
Trainwreck opened August 2015 with £0.92m taking £2.82m and The Boss opened June 2016 with £0.59m taking £1.60m Snatched is likely to open similarly.
- Colossal – Entertainment Films
Science Fiction black comedy starring Anne Hathaway, Jason Sudeikis, Dan Stevens, Austin Stowell, and Tim Blake Nelson and directed by Nacho Vigalondo; has its world premiere at Toronto International Film Festival
Colossal is probably my film of the summer its strange funny, weird, dark, unique and original just don’t watch the trailers as they include far too many spoilers. As with its US release its unlikely to get wide release exhibitors should give it a chance especially as both King Arthur and Snatched after underperforming in the US will likely do similar in the U this weekend.
Opening in the US
- Alien: Covenant – 20th Century Fox
Sequel to 2012’s Prometheus, the second Alien prequel and the sixth part of the 38-year-old Alien film series. Starring Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterston, Billy Crudup, Danny McBride and Demián Bichir and third Alien film directed by Ridley Scott.
20th Century Fox should have learned from their mistake of the early international release for last year’s X-Men: Apocalypse. While it made sense for 20th Century Fox to open internationally early in 2012 because of Euro 2012 starting the following weekend there was less sense to open Alien: Covenant internationally early given the mixed reception of Prometheus.
Prometheus opened June 8th, 2012 with $51.1m taking $126.47m; after the mixed reviews Alien: Covenant will likely open $35m-$45m which will see it replace Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 for one week dropping heavily the following weekend with Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales and Baywatch. At the time of writing this Disney were being threatened by hackers who were going to release the film online if they didn’t pay a ransom if the film was to appear online the question is how much it would affect its box office performance as was tracking to open with $90m.
A promo for Rick and Morty was cross-promotional for Alien: Covenant
- Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul – 20th Century Fox
The fourth part of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid film series featuring a new cast returning after a five-year absent. With The Boss Baby and Beauty and the Beast ending their runs, there is space in the market for a family film before the arrival of Captain Underpants (20th Century Fox’s final Dreamworks Animation film) opens. But five years is a long time for family films as it will be looking to attract a new audience.
But the first three films that opened over three years performed steadily and the film has received positive early reviews and trailers have been playing with films like The Boss Baby; Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul should open low teens playing for a couple of weeks before finding home on DVD as it as previous instalments.
2010’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid opened with $22.1m taking $64m
2011’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules opened with $23.7m taking $52.69m
2012’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days opened with $14.62m taking $49m
- Everything, Everything – Warner Bros
Romance drama starring Amandla Stenberg and Nick Robinson and directed by Stella Meghie based on a 2015 young-adult novel by Nicola Yoon.
Young adult films generate strong social media coverage but this doesn’t always turn into the box office for every The Fault in Our Stars there are Paper Towns, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, Beautiful Creatures and Me and Earl and the Dying Girl.
But Warner Bros have had recent success with 2014’s If I Stay opening with $15.6m taking $50.4m and last year with Me Before You opened with $18.7m taking $56.2m
Warner Bros created an emoji version of the trailer