- Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings – £1,558,002 – £18,270,315
Down 34.1% in its fourth weekend; having the 10th biggest MCU fourth weekend between Spider-Man Homecoming (£1,560,458) and Iron Man 3 (£1,400,462) and 12th biggest MCU after 24 days between Thor: The Dark World and Captain America: Winter Soldier.
Few MCU films have stayed #1 for four weeks and in normal circumstances, Shang-Chi wouldn’t but had little competition over the last month and what competition it did have did not find an audience.
So was always expected that while Shang-Chi didn’t open as strongly as most MCU film the lack of previews inflating its opening and lack of competition would mean it would hold far stronger than many other MCU films. Shang-Chi will just squeeze past Peter Rabbit 2 just before No Time To Die overtakes both of them to be the biggest film of the year and the biggest in the UK since Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
44th biggest comic-book movie in the UK between X-Men: Apocalypse and Justice League (close to X-Men: The Last Stand, Batman Forever, Iron Man and Batman Begins).
299th biggest film in the UK between X-Men: Apocalypse and Happy Feet (close to Jurassic Park 3, Fast Five, Terminator 2: Judgement Day and The Matrix Revolutions); 627th film to take over £10m at the UK BO and 497th biggest inflation inflated film in the UK between Deep Impact and Blade Runner 2049 (close to The Bourne Supremacy, The Last Samurai, Fantastic Four and X-Men: First Class).
19th Biggest MCU film in the UK between Blade Widow and Ant-Man and the Wasp; Shang-Chi is currently £550,318 behind Black Widow (£18,820,633).
The 25 MCU films have taken £795m at the UK BO since May 2008 (almost £830m inflation inflated); 15 of the 25 have taken over £20m at the UK BO with only Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: Winter Soldier, Blade Widow, Ant-Man and the Wasp and Ant-Man the only MCU films released by Disney that haven’t.
With Eternals and Spider-Man: No Way Home still to open this year and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Thor: Love and Thunder, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and The Marvels the film series will have taken over £1bn at the UK BO by the end of next year.
While films like Shang-Chi are being called hits you only need to see the films that performed similarly to it in the past that were seen as disappointments. People seem to see film box office very differently over the last few months maybe they have lowered expectations,. But the fanbase of these films and the target demographic are those who have been most comfortable going to the cinema before cinemas closed for the first time in March 2020 and while cinemas have reopened.
The industry seems to forget it’s the 25th part of the biggest franchise in the world and the majority of its audience would have still gone to see it if it opened last year. It does again show had the industry worked together last year with the reopening plan and not left it to Warner Bros to singlehandedly do it with Tenet it would be in a far stronger position now.
2. The Many Saints Of Newark – £945,319 – NE
Took £329,213 from Weds/Thurs; £186,818 on Wednesday and £142,395 on Thursday and £616,106 Fri-Sun
Opened on a very wide 628 screens as it’s likely to lose many of them on Thursday with the release of No Time To Die, it was a strange film to open so close to Bond as it would likely play to an older demographic. Despite very positive reviews The Sopranos prequel struggled to find a wide audience as all films have done targetting older audiences.
Despite ending in 2007 The Sopranos became very popular last year during the first lockdown with GQ calling it “the hottest show of 2020”. In the US on HBO Now viewings increased by 179% only beaten by Westworld and Game of Thrones. In the UK Now TV had a 122% increase and Google searches were far higher than other classic TV shows in June and August.
The film was originally due for release September 25th, 2020, but delayed a year due to COVID and opens a week earlier in the UK due to No Time To Die and it also gives the film a one-week exclusive cinema release before opening in the US where it’s opening in cinemas and on HBO Max.
11.9m watched the final episode of The Sopranos in the US in 2007, the abrupt ending where the scene fades to black had millions of TV viewers thinking HBO signal had cut out with black screen for 10 seconds before the end credits.
The question is will all those who loved the TV show want to see the prequel without James Gandolfini who sadly died in 2013, with his son Michael Gandolfini playing the younger version of Tony Soprano. The big question is even though many have recently rewatched the TV series will they go to the cinema to see the prequel.
As it’s very different to recent modern-day gangster films, there were a lot of gangster films made including star lead 2007’s American Gangster opening with £2,564,853 taking £9,336,495 and 2006’s The Departed opening with £2,298,313 taking £12,442,332; while one of James Gandolfini’s final films 2012’s Killing Them Softly opened with £955,506 taking £2,493,858l it’s also the 31st anniversary next month of the UK opening of Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas.
Even though the lockdown introduced The Sopranos to a younger audience the prequel will likely play to an older audience who aren’t currently going to the cinema and probably their first cinema’s experience for almost two years will be No Time To Die this weekend.
The Sopranos creator David Chase was against making a spinoff film as he was more interested in a prequel TV series, said in 2019 “I was against the film for a long time and I’m still very worried about it, but I became interested in Newark, where my parents came from, and where the riots took place … I was living in suburban New Jersey at the time that happened, and my girlfriend was working in downtown Newark. I was just interested in the whole Newark riot thing. I started thinking about those events and organized crime, and I just got interested in mixing those two elements.”
3. Oasis Knebworth 1996 – £634,278 – NE
Had the biggest opening for a music documentary this year and the biggest opening for Event Cinema since lockdown taking £344,833 from Fri-Sun.
the industry has positioned it 4th in the chart but I have placed it third as It was released on Thursday, September 23rd, but despite also having other screenings on Friday and Saturday, it was seen as two weekends with Thursday week 1 and then Friday and Saturday week 2 this is despite films like No Time To Die release date is September 30th no mentions of previews on Thursday and opening Friday. While The Many Saints Of Newark opened on Wednesday and the £329,213 taken on Weds/Thurs was added to its opening weekend.
The problem is preview box office has artificially inflated the weekend box office, the weekend box office should only be Fri-Sun anything else taken should be added to its total as is the case in the US but the preview box office has inflated films openings over the last decade. 30 years ago previews used to be one evening screening on Thursday night now it can be up to 10 days of preview box office added to its opening.
Documentary about Oasis’s Knebworth House concerts on Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 August 1996.
4. Free Guy – £551,195 – £16,128,786
Down 18.6% in its seventh weekend: took 44.6% of its box office to date in its opening 10 days and has already taken 6.51x opening better than 21 Jump Street, Nanny McPhee, Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, Yesterday, Shrek, Wedding Crashers, Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, Little Women, Bridget Jones’s Baby, Inception and 1917.
While similar to Mrs Doubtfire, The Hangover, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, The Woman in Black, Last Christmas, Meet the Parents, Saving Private Ryan and Enchanted; shows how strong the film has held and in normal circumstances would have performed similarly to Night at the Museum and The Lego Movie taking upwards of £30m.
363rd biggest film in the UK (626th film to take over £10m at the UK BO) between The Muppets and Ready Player One (close to X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Kingsman: The Secret Service, Bad Boys For Life and Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn) and 573rd biggest inflation inflated film in the UK between The Emperor’s New Groove and Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (close to Trainspotting 2, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, The Rock and Bad Boys For Life).
Free Guy had a similar Seven the sixth weekend as Aladdin (£694,716); Alice in Wonderland (£676,516); Little Women (£659,344); Lost in Translation (£541,169); Mary Poppins Returns (£530,842); Alice in Wonderland (£498,948);
Its 7th weekend was more than Aladdin (£435,750); Avenger Infinity War (£406,119); Yesterday (£355,195); Star Wars: The Last Jedi (£339,915); The Lego Movie (£323,397); Little Women (£305,033); Tenet (£296,049); The Martian (£295,607); Avengers: Endgame (£273,006); Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (£244,141); Nanny McPhee (£239,270); Downton Abbey (£199,397).
The film has been compared to The Truman Show, (but was adult comedy/drama and played to an older audience) but instead of being set inside a TV show, it’s set inside a computer game like Wreck-It-Ralph or The Lego Movie and was a family film similar to those two films playing to a much wide demographic. The Truman Show has become more than it was due to the TV shows that have launched over the years since similar to 1995’s To Die For and Josie and the Pussycats they were movies ahead of their time so weren’t the successes they deserved to be or would be today.
Similar films
1998’s The Truman Show took £9,929,680 (£17,789,650)
2013’s Wreck-It Ralph took £23,607,542
2014’s The Lego Movie took £32,887,286.
2017’s The Lego Batman Movie took £26,771,191
2006’s Night at the Museum took £20,019,417 (£29,679,711 inflation inflated)
Free Guy would have been the 55th biggest 20th Century Fox film in the UK between Star Wars Special Edition and X-Men Origins: Wolverine (close to Moulin Rouge, Night at the Museum 2, There’s Something About Mary and Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie).
5. Respect – £250,050 – £1,711,849
Down 33.7% in its third weekend
Took a similar to 2005 biopic about Ray Charles Ray third weekend taking £158,360 down 45% #11 from 179 screens taking £1,386,696 and £1,592,017 total.
After receiving mixed reviews and having a disappointing opening in the US the film was always likely to struggle to find an audience in the UK as older audiences aren’t coming out to the cinemas to see these films. It has held longer than expected due to a lack of wide releases over the last three weeks.
Jennifer Hudson’s Dreamgirls dropped 46% in its third-weekend #10 in February 2007 taking £302,071 and £3,123,381 from 271 screens taking £3,475,271 far less than it did in the US taking $103.36m and it was also nominated for 8 Oscars with Jennifer Hudson won Best Supporting Actress.
Also Opened
• The Green Knight – Entertainment
Opened with £166,118 from 73 screens having the second-best screen average in the top 10 after Shang-Chi
The film was due for release in August but the distributor pulled its release late due to COVID, there were rumours at the time they were selling it to a streaming service which they have done (Amazon).
Despite receiving critical acclaim (88% Rotten Tomatoes) the film struggled to find an audience in the US as it was going to do in the UK as older audiences aren’t going to the cinema at the moment. While the big studios can swallow the losses of films opening during COVID for an independent like Entertainment Films it can be very costly seen by the poor opening of films like The Father and last week Copshop as non-blockbusters just aren’t finding wide audiences anymore.
Other Film News
The Morning Consult weekly Tracking the Return to Normal survey reports the public’s comfort going to the movies is flat for the second week with 46% of adults, the 10th consecutive week comfort with moviegoing has been below 50%, after a July 4 high of 55%.
1 in 5 consumers said they currently feel comfortable going to movie theatres and 17% say they are currently going to the movies and a similar amount say they will be ready to return next month.
While 64% of adults said they stream TV shows at least once a week, up 2% from last week and the amount who said they stream movies has increased to 57%. Exhibitors have finally admitted streaming isn’t the enemy but consumers need a reason to get off the sofa and pay $20 to see a film in the cinema, while they will go out to see the last comic-book movie they are much slower to return for many other genres.
This is similar to research in the UK by The Drum and Opinium last week that reported 57% of event-goers unhappy sharing venues with unvaccinated and 51% are anxious attending events because of the risk of catching COVID with 13% willing to pay more to go to an event with fewer people (this is one of the reasons why Everyman Cinemas have done so well since cinemas reopened as they are smaller cinemas with seats more spread out.
Over two-thirds over 55 express dislikes at the prospect of going to an event with others who haven’t been vaccinated and 50% of those aged 18-34 say they wouldn’t want to put themselves in this situation. This is highlighted by surveys by YouGov who have been in favour of vaccine passports and were against the decision made by the government who abandoned plans last week.
Worldwide 2021 is expected to be $20.2bn 52% less than recording breaking 2019 $42.5bn and 68% more than last year. As of August 31st, global box office topped $12bn the same as all of 2020, with F9 the current biggest film worldwide taking $714.4m, 76% BO international with half from Asia territories.
International BO up to September 11th was $5.22bn not including China, with US $2.31bn and China $5.13bn, China is on track to take $6.6bn which has been soft in recent weeks despite taking $1.2bn over the Chinese New Year week in February. Since cinemas reopened in China the majority of the success has come from locally made films with US films underperforming, F9 took a third less than The Fate of the Furious, recently Free Guy has performed well taking $80m+ but it doesn’t look like Shang-Chi will get released.
International BO not including China is expected to take $9.1bn with $4.3bn Europe, Middle East and Africa; $3.85bn from the Asia Pacific; $900m from Latin America and $4.5bn from the US, this depends a lot on how Dune; No Time To Die, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Eternals (possibly without China), Spider-Man: No Way Home and The Matrix Resurrections perform over the next few months. There is a big question over Spider-Man: No Way Home and The Matrix Resurrections opening 5 days apart.
Biggest Films of 2021
While the industry has praised the hold of Shang-Chi it’s likely only to squeeze past Peter Rabbit 2 (currently taken £2.13m less) over the next few weeks, highlighting that in normal condition would have expected Tenet, Peter Rabbit 2, Black Widow, F9, Free Guy, The Suicide Squad, Jungle Cruise and Shang-Chi all to take over £30m but the majority have taken about half. While No Time To Die could take almost the joint box office of the top 5 over the next 6 weeks.
The top 10 biggest films of 2021 are currently
Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway (£20.4m); Black Widow (£18.83m); Shang Chi (£18.27m); F9 (£16.44m);); Free Guy (£16.12m); The Suicide Squad (£14.14m); Space Jam 2 (£12.7m); Jungle Cruise (£12.38m); A Quiet Place 2 (£11.54m); The Croods 2 (£9.64m).
While most films have opened about a third less than they would in normal circumstances many have had much longer legs than they would normally do; Free Guy 6.53x; Jungle Cruise 5.53x; Space Jam: A New Legacy 9.34x; 13.97x The Croods: A New Age; As Jungle Cruise, Space Jam: A New Legacy and The Croods: A New Age were widely available legally while and illegally online piracy is just an excuse.
Does also show had Space Jam: A New Legacy and The Croods: A New Age not opened over the same weekend they could have taken much more that said Space Jam took more than the original 1996 but it was always unlikely having a 7-month delay from the US opening The Croods 2 could have gotten closer to the originals box office.
These strongholds compare to Tenet only taking 3.27x opening last year which was meant to have very long legs; while Black Widow was 2.68x, F9 2.74x compared to Shang-Chi 2.75x shows again piracy had nothing to do with the fast drop off of Black Widow it was just that the fanbase rushed out to see both over their opening weekends.
The following 10 biggest films from 11-20
Cruella £9.45m; The Conjuring 3 £9.36m; PAW Patrol: The Movie £7.86m; Candyman £4.73m; In The Heights £4.28m; The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard £3.84m v; The Forever Purge £3.6m; Old £3.36m; Spirit Untamed £3.22m; Godzilla Vs Kong £2.5m.
While Marvel gets the headlines with Shang-Chi and Black Widow its family films that have continued to be the strongest performing genre since cinemas reopened with Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway, Space Jam: A New Legacy, The Croods: A New Age, Paw Patrol: The Movie and Spirit Untamed, the majority of the box office from these films were reduced children rate and didn’t have any surcharges like IMAX, PLF or 4DX to boost their box office.
UK box office in detail
This weekend’s top 10 box office took £4,848,648 up 0.8% from last weekend £4,811,274 and up 101.9% from 2020 (£2,401,456)
The weekend admissions 643,481 up 4.9% 676,691 from last week; (263,471 admissions in 2020 this week was (up 144.2%);
Top 3 took £3,137,599 64.7% of the top 10; Shang-Chi 32.1% (£1,558,002); The Many Saints Of Newark 19.5% (£945,319); Oasis Knebworth 1996 13.1% (£634,278);
Up 101.9% from 2020 (£2,401,456); Bill And Ted Face The Music (£462,051); Andre Rieu’s Magical Maastricht: Together In Music (£124,101); Rocks (£75,478); #1 Tenet 33.5% £796,309 616 screens 4th week
Down 54.2% from 2019 (£10,591,749); Ad Astra (£2,265,387); Rambo: Last Blood (£1,075,071); The Farewell (£207,356); The Kitchen (£107,929); #1 Downton Abbey £3,280,442 2nd week down 37% 736 screens (31% of the top 10)
Down 55.6% from 2018: (£10,913,234); The House with a Clock in its Walls (£3,370,591); A Simple Favour (£1,621,900); Mile 22 (£795,888); The Little Stranger (£300,089); #1 The House with a Clock in its Walls £3,370,591 1st week 541 screens (30.8% of top 10)
Down 66.4% from 2017: (£14,426,113); Kingsman: The Golden Circle (£8,525,664); Maze (£123,985); Borg vs. McEnroe (£101,918); Lawrence of Arabia – 70mm (Re: 2017) (£9,359); #1 Kingsman: The Golden Circle £8,525,664 1st week 602 down (59.1% of the top 10)
Down 58.4% from 2016: (£11,647,518); The Magnificent Seven (£2,132,609); The Girl with All the Gifts (£432,529); The Rolling Stones: Havana Moon (£56,666); #1 Bridget Jones’s Baby £6,453,799 2nd week 648 screens 20% drop (55.4% of the top 10)
Down 32.1% from 2015; (£7,140,352); Miss You Already (£487,247); Solace (£340,537); Captive (£52,227); Life (£38,237); 99 Homes (£38,078); McFarland (£12,773); #1 Everest £1,996,439 2nd week 1st #1 598 screens 37% drop (27.9% of top 10)
Down 39.6% from 2014: ((£8,023,248); Billy Elliot The Musical Live 2014 (£1,904,098); The Equalizer (£1,890,146); What We Did on our Holiday (£811,087); Maps to the Stars (£131,057); I Origins (£14,953); #1 Billy Elliot The Musical Live 2014 £1,904,098 1st week 509 screens (33% drop (26.6% of top 10)
Down 26.4% from 2013: (£6,586,232); Diana (£623,051); R.I.P.D. (£506,521); The Call (£409,975); Cold comes the Night (£4,833); #1 Rush £1,336,449 2nd week (1st #1) 464 screens (20.2% of top 10)
Down 25.1% from 2012 (£6,476,971); Killing Them Softly (£955,506); The House at the End of the Street (£796,041); Savages (£379,898); Now is Good (£317,451); Intouchables (£109,328); Raiders of the Lost Ark (Re: 2012) (£73,558); Tower Block (£36,371); Hysteria (£9,903); #1 ParaNorman £1,219,194 2nd week (1st #1) 484 screens 12% drop (18.8% of top 10)
Down 34.7% from 2011 (£7,431,246); Crazy, Stupid, Love (£860,112); Warrior (£808,410); Drive (£607,454); Killer Elite (£481,143); Jurassic Park (Re: 2011) (£245,422); Soul Surfer (£47,293); Page One: Inside the New York Times (£6,757); #1 Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy £2,104,762 2nd week 422 screens 25% drop (28.3% of top 10)
Down 26.7% from 2010: (£6,612,218); Eat Pray Love (£1,165,234); The Town (£1,005,039); 3-D The Hole (£906,722); #1 The Other Guys £1,292,144 2nd week 444 screens 35% drop (19.5% of top 10)
Down 30.8% from 2009; (£7,010,262); Fame (£2,408,242); Surrogates (£961,271); The Soloist (£373,151); Creation (£199,477); The Crimson Wing (£746);#1 Fame £2,408,242 1st week 459 screens (34.3% of top 10)
Down 23.1% from 2008; (£6,302,076); Taken (£1,165,986); Righteous Kill (£768,803); Death Race (£683,038); I’ve Loved You So Long (£116,990); Appaloosa (£90,673); Redbelt (£10,303); #1 Tropic Thunder £1,345,392 2nd week 461 screens 46% drop (21.3% of top 10)
Down 25.1% from 2007: (£6,468,802); I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry (£1,090,831); Death Proof (£407,525); A Mighty Heart (£153,028); As You Like It (£9,444); Evening (£20,836); Clubland (£1,808); #1 Run, Fat Boy, Run £1,206,177 3rd week 401 screens 22% drop (18.6% of top 10)
Down 7.2% from 2006; (£5,225,385); The Children of Men (£1,284,254); Trust the Man (£280,929); Dirty Sanchez (£257,034); Clerks II (£223,046); #1 The Children of Men £1,284,254 1st week 370 screens (24.5% of top 10)
Down 20.8% from 2005 (£6,125,984); Revolver (£882,814); Land of the Dead (870,285); Howl’s Moving Castle (212,628); #1 Pride and Prejudice £1,934,083 2nd week 402 screens 24% drop (31.5% of top 10)
Down 26.5% from 2004 (£6,598,718); Wimbledon (£1,699,096); Hero (£1,005,571); Cellular (£427,365); The Punisher (£186,017); #1 Wimbledon £1,699,096 1st week 444 screens (25.7% of top 10)
Down 32.4% from 2003 (£7,175,270); Once Upon a Time in Mexico (£846,100); Young Adam (£228,692); Ned Kelly (£211,643); #1 Calendar Girls £1,761,985 4th week 2nd #1 439 screens 5% drop (24.5% of top 10)
Down 30.1% from 2002 (£6,934,104); My Big Fat Greek Wedding (£1,503,436); Swimfan (£396,425); Road To Perdition (platform) (£256,035); #1 Signs £2,657,379 2nd week 440 screens 29% drop (38.3% of top 10)
Down 29.6% from 2001 (£6,893,581); A.I. (£2,285,786); Crazy/Beautiful (£137,017); #1 A.I. £2,285,786 1st week 428 screens (33.1% of top 10);
Next weekend in 2019 (£9,120,747); Ready Or Not (£947,958); The Goldfinch (£320,849); #1 Downton Abbey £2,682,080 3rd week 18% drop 722 screens (29.4% of top 10);
International Box Office
- Dune – Warner Bros
Opened took $26.3m (down 32%) from 32 territories in 7,679 screens including $3.1m taken from 167 IMAX screens and $8.2m total (11%).
With No Time To Die opening internationally this weekend Dune will lose many of its lucrative IMAX and PLF screens so likely drop a lot of next weekend before having a further expansion in October including the UK and US on October 22nd.
Dune received predictable critical acclaim at Venice and Toronto Film Festivals similar to 2017’s Blade Runner 2049 and it was always likely to perform far stronger in Europe than the US because it opened in most of Europe ahead of No Time to Die, but in the UK and the US opens October 22nd. While cinephiles rushed out to see it over the opening weekend its likely to be too pretentious for others (opening up as Dune Part 1 highlight this from the start)
2017’s Blade Runner 2049 took 65% of its $269.33m global box office international taking $92.1m in the US and $167.28m internationally. The UK was the highest-grossing European territory for Blade Runner 2049 but with No Time To Die opening September 30th it was better to delay Dune until three weeks after so it can have two full weeks playing on IMAX screens.
Germany, France, Spain and Italy were the next highest performing European territories and Dune opened in those.
US Box Office
- Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings – Disney
Down 40% in its fourth weekend taking $13.03m and $196.2m
On Saturday Shang-Chi became the biggest film of the year in the US and the biggest since movie theatres closed in March 2020. It wasn’t a surprise it did so likewise it wasn’t a surprise Shang-Chi opened as it did three weeks ago and it held much stronger than other summer films did as Disney pulled off a trump card dating it for Labor Day as immediately made an MCU film an underdog lowering expectations on how it would perform. While over the last two weeks it hasn’t had any competition to deal with and won’t until Venom 2 opens this weekend.
Had the lowest third-weekend drop for MCU slightly ahead of Iron Man and Captain America: Winter Soldier; the difference is Shang-Chi has had no competition since it opened but normally an MCU film has a competition opening after three weeks.
Had the 15th biggest MCU third weekend between Doctor Strange and Spider-Man: Homecoming and is the 20th biggest MCU film between Thor: The Dark World and Thor; has taken $12.85m more than Black Widow ($183.35m).
223rd biggest film in the US between The Revenant and Ocean’s Eleven
501st biggest inflation inflated between Remember the Titans and The Help;
45th biggest comic-book movie between Superman Returns and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
65th biggest Disney film in the US between Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Lincoln
EntTelligence reported average ticket price for Shang-Chi was $13.72 (37% of BO from IMAX and PLF) while it was $12.63 for Black Widow and $12.70 for F9 (both of those films had a sizeable percentage of IMAX and PLF BO).
Took $800k from IMAX worldwide and $26m total; it’s now the biggest IMAX film in the US since Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker taking $15.4m; Venom: Let There Be Carnage opens in 454 IMAX screens in 7 territories this week including the US and Russia.
The 25 MCU films have now taken $8.92bn in the US since May 2008 and $23.29bn worldwide; the average BO of an MCU film in the US is $357.02m.
Took $14m from 44 territories $166.9m total and $363.4m worldwide; UK $25.3m; Korea $14.6m; France $10.5m; Russia $8.3m; Japan $8m; Germany $7.8m; Hong Kong $7.6m; Mexico $6.8m; Brazil $6.5m; Spain $5.9m; Australia $5m; Taiwan $4.7m.
339th biggest film worldwide between The Nun and Godzilla; sixth-biggest 2021 film worldwide between Black Widow and Free Guy; 78th biggest Disney film worldwide between Toy Story and A Bug’s Life.
- Dear Evan Hanson – Universal Pictures
Opened with $7.44m; received poor reviews (35% Rotten Tomatoes) and A- CinemaScore
Took $800k from Thursday previews taking more than Cats $550k
2019’s Cats opened $6.61m taking $27.16m and $73.83m
2021’s In the Heights opened $11.5m taking $29.87m and $43.87m worldwide
2017’s The Greatest Showman opened $8.8m taking $174.34m and $436.75m worldwide
2016’s La La Land opened an $881,104 platform taking $151.1m and $447.4m worldwide
Had its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival which was the wrong launch platform for the film as this was the target demographic who were fans of the stage musical. Filmmakers were in a difficult situation with the casting of Ben Platt as Evan Hanson who played the role on Broadway but is now 27. It’s surprising people took issue with the age of Ben Platt as often cast older women for younger roles.
Dear Evan Hanson is probably similar to Bohemian Rhapsody and The Greatest Showman it’s a film that needs to be seen with an audience of cinemagoers, not critics, remember going to a media screening of Rock of Ages audience reaction was very positive but then critical was very poor.
The industry has been gunning for the failure of Dear Evan Hanson for the last few weeks but Universal have to take some responsibility for this as it was a predictable mistake to launch it at TIFF. As the film festival demographic was wrong for the film (as was also for Halloween Kills) and this generated a chain reaction of negativity and hostility from the demographic it was never aimed at. As those who did liked it, giving it A- CinemaScore.
There was a lot of double-standards with Ben Platt playing a teenager in Dear Evan Hanson when so many much older female actresses have played teenagers before in film and TV shows; Olivia Newton-John was 29 when she played Sandy and Stockard Channing (Rizzo) was 33 in Grease. While filmmakers couldn’t win either way had they not cast the actor who did the role on Broadway. Why is Dear Evan Hanson being singled out for nepotism when the film industry has been built on who you know and not what you know for over the last century.
While the industry celebrates the predictable performance of Shang-Chi and the UK are heralding No Time To Die as the saviour of cinema, both films are the 25th instalments of the two biggest film series in the world so how they perform is very predictable.
Critics will often give musicals poor reviews as they don’t connect with them as audiences do and need to be watched with an audience rather than just a bunch of snobbish film critics. As these same critics watched No Time To Die surrounded by James Bond fans and 18 months of hype and predictably got many 5-star reviews. (UK far more positive than the US) While paying public reaction will be far more mixed as the last three Bond films have been average being all hype no sustenance.
Universal held an exhibitor screening for Kick-Ass and they hated the film which surprised the studio as they loved it. Universal decided to invite exhibitors back to see it again but this time with an audience of 500+ comic-book fans and exhibitors loved it and it was a considerable success at the UK BO.
- Cry Macho – Warner Bros
Down 54% in its second weekend taking $2.04m and $8.27m
It was always likely that the three adult dramas that opening last weekend would drop heavily in their second weekends, (drop for The Eyes of Tammy Faye was only 4.8% only due to adding 902 screens) as older audiences still are very slow to return to cinemas, but of course, exhibitors will blame the poor opening of Cry Macho due to it being also released on HBO Max.
Recent Clint Eastwood films Second Weekends
2019’s Richard Jewell dropped 45.1% taking $2.58m and $9.96m taking $22.34m
2018’s The Mule dropped 45.7% taking $9.5m and $35.2m taking $103.8m
2018’s The 15:17 to Paris dropped 39.6% taking $7.58m and $25.33m taking $36.27m
2016’s Sully dropped 38.2% taking $21.65m and $70.19m taking $125.07m
Cry Macho is the 39th film Clint Eastwood has directed since Play Misty for Me 50 years ago in 1971 they have taken $2.016bn in the US; $1.349bn internationally and $3.36bn worldwide.
Took $414k from 18 territories in 782 screens and $9.1m worldwide; opening in several more this next month.
- Free Guy – 20th Century Studios/Disney
Dropped 19% in its seventh weekend taking $4.11m and $114.12m holding very similar to 1998’s The Truman Show dropping 39.3% taking $2.17m and $120.02m after 7 weeks of $125.46m (ticket inflation of 80%+ since).
611th biggest film in the US between The Village and Bolt; 1,161st biggest inflation inflated between Eight Below and The Green Hornet; and the sixth biggest film of 2021 in the US between Jungle Cruise and Godzilla vs. Kong.
A Quiet Place Part II and F9 have taken $160.07m and $172.73m with 45-day windows, Cruella $86.02m, Jungle Cruise $114.89m; Space Jam: A New Legacy $70.45m and Black Widow $183.56m were released in the movie theatres and streaming.
Free Guy has become Disney’s biggest original film since 2009’s The Proposal starring Ryan Reynolds ($317.3m WW).
Seventh weekends
2012’s Wreck-It Ralph dropped 33.8% taking $3.21m and $168.72m taking $189.42m in the US and $471.2m WW.
2018’s Ralph Breaks the Internet down 30.5% taking $4.67m and $187.15m taking $201.09m in the US and $529.32m WW
2014’s The Lego Movie dropped 46.1% and $2.1m and $243.38m taking $257.76m in the US and $468.06m WW
2017’s The Lego Batman Movie dropped 54.3% taking $2.1m and $170.97m taking $175.75m in the US and $311.95m WW
2019’s The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part dropped 46% and $1.16m and $103.36m taking $105.8m and $192.3m WW
2010’s Tron Legacy dropped 30.7% taking $2.52m and $166.73m taking $172.06m and $400.1m WW
2006’s Night at the Museum dropped 33.2% taking $6.38m and $225m taking $250.86m in the US and $574.48m WW
Took $5.1m from 48 territories and $203.3m internationally and $317.4m worldwide; China $94.8m; UK $22.2m; Russia $11m; France $5.3m; Saudi Arabia $5m; Germany $4.8m; Australia $4.7m; Japan $4.6m; Spain $3.4m; Mexico $3.4m.
460th biggest film worldwide between A Beautiful Mind and Inglourious Basterds and 7th biggest 2021 film worldwide between Shang-Chi and A Quiet Place: Part II.
- The Eyes of Tammy Faye– Searchlight Pictures
Holding in #10 adding 902 screens but still dropping 4% taking $626,798 showing that expansion wasn’t predictable worth doing taking only $1.54m to date.
After receiving mixed reviews (67% Rotten Tomatoes) it was always unlikely to hold well in its second weekend despite expanding from 450 to 1,352 screens.
After receiving mixed reviews, The Eyes of Tammy Faye should have opened wide immediately in its opening weekend as platform openings are done to build word of mouth over weeks of release normally opening in New York and Los Angeles and then slowly expanding over weeks and months. This only works if they have received critical acclaim. But then are some films that open in about 400 screens that feel like it’s being dumped by the studio.
- Blue Bayou – Focus Features
Held #13 dropping 51% taking $161,980 and $645,795 despite receiving positive reviews (72% Rotten Tomatoes)
UK Box Office Top 10
UK Box Office Preview
There is no other film series that galvanizes the UK media as James Bond, while MCU, Star Wars and Harry Potter have been successful at the box office none of those films receives the media coverage a James Bond film does. Pictures of the premiere are in every newspaper today, there are discussions on the radio and TV about it, BBC Radio 5 spent an hour from 12am giving the first reviews.
With The Times having a front-page story “No Time To Die premiere: Hopes of cinema ‘rests on Bond shoulders’ while UK exhibitors share prices increased strongly over recent weeks. This is why even with COVID No Time To Die should be breaking box office records selling out screenings throughout the country.
Only need to see the inflation inflated box office of many of the earlier James Bond films to see how popular the James Bond film series was;
1964’s Goldfinger £98,956,471
1965’s Thunderball £101,423,810
1967’s You Only Live Twice £59,400,909
1973’s Live and Let Die £65,315,814
1977’s The Spy Who Loved Me £90,602,195
1979’s Moonraker £68,104,407
1981’s For Your Eyes Only £43,687,898
Goldfinger, Thunderball and The Spy Who Loved Me took as much as Skyfall and Spectre, probably a lot more as used industry average but Skyfall and Spectre had many IMAX and PLF screens with tickets more than three times the industry average.
Impossible to make comparisons with Spectre opening as its opening was inflated with four days of previews taking £21,321,626 51.6% of its £41,299,090 taking £19,977,464 Fri-Sun which was £202,905 less than Skyfall opened over 3 days with taking £20,180,369.
I was originally expecting No Time To Die to open with about £25m-30m but over the last few weeks have lowered my estimates to £22m and after reading one exhibitor said its performing similar to summer 2019 releases and the biggest two that summer after Avengers Endgame were The Lion King with £16,671,764 (£5.2m first day 31% of opening) and Toy Story 4 £13,300,000 (£3.1m Friday 23% of opening).
Suprising to see the Hollywood Reporter estimating UK opening of up to $20m (£15m) when Spectre opened with $50m, while it was never likely to get close even in normal cicumstances would have expected closer to £20m Skyfall opened with over 3 days especially with 9 years of ticket inflation since. Or are Universal Pictures trying to do a Disney lowballing expectations as they did with another 25th installment Shang-Chi earlier in the month.
In 2015 Spectre opened with $123.5m and in 2012 Skyfall $109.2m internationally with analysts expecting up to $100m opening from 51 territories. Spain, Italy, France and Holland all require proof of vaccination to go to the cinema, but as Dune had a far bigger opening in those countries to Shang-Chi that will be just a excuse.
With exhibitors saying that have seen a higher level of advance bookings since cinemas reopening and with all the hype around No Time To Die that would make you believe it would be difficult to buy tickets on the day walk-in will probably be lower. It would be interesting to see what the breakdown of box office is from those who rushed out to buy as soon as they went on sale to the level of advanced sales after the premiere and when reviews came out, to the percentage of people who go on the day.
No Time To Die has one day of previews in normal circumstances would likely take similar to Star Wars: The Force Awakens (£9,679,746) Avengers: Infinity War (£6,530,000) and Star Wars: The Last Jedi (£7,684,217).
No Time To Die received the predictable 5 Star reviews from The Times, Guardian and Telegraph but what was interesting is female critics have given a mixed opinion as you would have expected with Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s involvement in the film’s script a better response from female critics?
Critics get caught up with the hype with Bond it was predictable The Times, Telegraph and Guardian were always going to give it 5 stars as also gave Skyfall and Spectre, this is the problem when the embargo ends immediately after screening as critics want to be the first review.
Monitored social media and internet reaction for Skyfall, Sony screened it to the media two weeks before opening and the embargo ended immediately afterwards as they knew they had a strong film and received rave reviews. It was a three-day film surrounded by two stars of hype; you have to take these reviews with a pinch of salt similar to premiere reactions.
Exhibitors have said advance bookings have been the strongest since Avengers Endgame with Vue saying they sold more advance tickets to No Time To Die in 24 hours than they did for Spectre in a month and said it was tracking to be bigger than Spectre.
Odeon announced on Monday No Time To Die sold 175,000+ advance tickets in 2 weeks from 120 cinemas in comparison in October 2015 Star Wars: The Force Awakens tickets sold 200k in 24 hours in October 2015 and Vue sold 290k+ from 91 cinemas ahead of its opening.
Opens in over 700 cinemas but probably about 3,000 screens with many multiplexes having screenings every 15 minutes, Cineworld O2 having 50 showings a day and Vue Cinemas Westfield 25 screenings a day. There will be about 50,000 screenings over 4 days with a capacity of about 10m seats.
But surprisingly despite all the massive hype surrounding the film only 1 show over the opening weekend so far is sold out at BFI IMAX and two 30-seater screenings at Odeon Leicester Sq. sold out by Monday. It used to be James Bond films would sell out almost every single show at Odeon over the opening weekend when the cinema had more than twice the capacity it has now.
Many have compared advance bookings for No Time Die as close to Avengers Endgame which had sold over 600k tickets (£6.2m) three weeks before opening, with Odeon Cinemas reporting they were selling 30 tickets every 10 seconds while Vue sold 1m seats over its opening weekend with 500,000 on the opening Saturday from 91 cinemas.
The day before opening Avengers Endgame had sold out almost 2,000 screenings across the UK and sold 1,177,613 tickets for its opening weekend and 2,148,092 total sold, taking £12.1m in advance for opening weekend and another £10m for other dates (using average ticket price of £10.28).
Odeon said it has sold 200,000 tickets more than Spectre a day before opening saying “People booking online has increased versus 2019, and they are being a bit more planful and more organised in their cinema behaviours. So that might mean that advance sales are a little bit more inflated in the mix than they used to be, and we are cautious to take that into account when we do our predictions of the box office.”
Normally online advance bookings are more expensive than buying at the cinema but Vue tickets are £1 cheaper that include a 75p per ticket service charge this is more expensive for other cinema chains.
Odeon also said “looking at the Bond advance sales, which is starting to move the needle. If we look at the 55-65 age bracket, the profile of those in that group who bought tickets for Bond is four times higher than it’s been among those who’ve come back to date, and there’s a similar picture in the 45-55 age group.”
In the months leading up to cinemas reopening for the first time in July 2020 all of the industry research said older audiences would be much slower to return to cinemas this was why reopening cinemas with Christopher Nolan’s Tenet was always going to backfire. Millennials, Generation Z and children along with cinephiles and Covidiots have been the majority of the audience since cinemas reopened why films have opened, but a third less than they would normally and dropped heavily (apart from Shang-Chi and Free Guy) and all have taken a third less than they would have in normal circumstances, this also includes Shang-Chi and Free Guy.
In October 2015 Spectre opened with £41,299,090 over 7 days (£21,321,626 from four days of previews); 2D took £18,449,043 total £38,331,160 and IMAX (40 screens) £1,445,564 total £2,882,474.
It broke records on Tuesday £6.3m and Wednesday £5.71m and taking 60% off Mondays box office with the first shows at 7.30pm with £4.18m; but many of those records were broken after by Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Avengers Endgame.
Avengers Endgame took £11.9m from Thursday previews the highest single day in UK history; £9.08m on Friday 4% less than 2011’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (£9.48m); had biggest ever Saturday £12.1m (overtaking Star Wars: The Force Awakens £8.7m and Skyfall £8.5m) and biggest Sunday £10.2m.
As No Time To Die is exhibitors most highly expected the film to open in UK cinemas since Avengers Endgame, Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Spectre will Universal demanded similar terms from exhibitors as Disney did with Star Wars: The Last Jedi; 65% of the BO, a four-week hold in each cinema largest auditorium and a 5% B.O. penalty to any exhibitor who breaks any part of the contract. If Universal were to demand a four-week hold it would have a major impact on the four wide releases on October 15th.
18 months ago after Universal Pictures was forced to release Trolls World Tour on VOD when cinemas closed due to COVID AMC, Odeon and Cineworld announced they were going to ban all Universal Pictures films. This was predictably a very short-sighted decision that wouldn’t last for long and three months later (in July 2020) AMC and Universal announced a deal to shorten the theatrical window.
After 18 months of No Time To Die expected to be the saviour of cinema (as Tenet was to be a year ago), it’s interesting to see UKCA has backtracked on his comments saying two weeks ago “While it would be wrong to place too many expectations on the shoulders of one title, and there is a strong film slate across the weeks up to the end of the year, the hope is that the release of No Time to Die will encourage many of the more infrequent cinema-goers to return to the big screen, perhaps for the first time since cinemas were allowed to re-open in May.”
No Time To Die will probably be many peoples first trip to the cinema since 1917 in January 2020 so as someone said in the Hollywood Reporter article “We’re really hoping that this unlocks everything else and is very much the spark that makes everybody feel safe to return to cinemas,” … “The experience that people have when they see this film is going to dictate not just their experience on the day, but the next six weeks, six months. It’s going to be what they tell their friends, what they tell their family, whether they come back again.”
This is similar to what I said about The Paw Patrol Movie as this brought in a new generation to cinemas as Peppa Pig: My First Cinema Experience did a few years earlier. If children enjoy their first cinema experience they will be back to see many more.
Up till now, those going to the cinema have been mostly Millennials, Generation Z, comic-book fans, cinephiles and children but for No Time To Die to be a similar success as Spectre and Skyfall the older demographic need to return.
Read BBFC rating info for No Time To Die getting a 12A and know two things 1) only a film like Bond would get away with all of that in a 12A and 2) will be the most complained film of the year to BBFC as Spectre was in 2015. This is why there should also be a 12 certificate alongside the 12A, the 12 is now only for home entertainment.
Before the 12 certificate was launched in the UK in 1989 with Batman these films would be 15s limited their audience and box office and the 12A has made these films far more successful at the box office. But the problem with films like No Time to Die getting 12A are two-fold as children underage can still see it if with someone over 18 and as the film is unsuitable for them this will often ruin the cinema experience for others and is why now many prefer watching films at home
With 3m+ expected to see it over opening weekend cinemas will be the busiest it has been since Avengers Endgame, so will any COVID safety measures be supported in cinemas? Or will cinemas become a breeding ground for COVID with many sold-out shows for 3 hours+ eating and drinking?
The one positive with exhibitors going completely over the top with the number of screenings with many multiplexes having about 25 a day 100+ over 4 days opening including Thursday 0.01am shows, there will be many screenings with less than 20% capacity. Odeon Leicester Sq. has 0.01am shows while the main screen is about a third full it’s also in the mezzanine but that hasn’t sold any tickets.
While is also a small issue with COVID which everyone seems to have forgotten despite there still being over 30k daily cases a day and 100+ deaths. With social distancing, face masks and track and trace not happening as much as it was many won’t feel comfortable in a crowded auditorium for several hours sitting next to complete strangers having no idea if they had been vaccinated. While there were strict COVID protocols in place for the world premiere at the Royal Albert Hall will there be any in cinemas?
Daniel Craig started off so well with James Bond with Casino Royale, but the other films Quantum of Solace, Skyfall and Spectre were very disappointing all hype no sustenance, but most films these days are similar.
Daniel Craig has talked a lot about pleased producers held their nerve and didn’t ‘release the film on streaming but this was a non-story it was never going to go to streaming, as Eon has been always committed that James Bond films are for cinema first and Eon have the final say on everything from marketing and distribution to complete creative control while MGM finances and distributes all of the films. Amazon has said that James Bond films will stay on the big screen after they buy the studio.
It opens in about 300 IMAX screens in 51 international territories including UK, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Brazil and Germany including the world’s biggest IMAX screen (21.03m high and 38.16m wide) in Germany, No Time To Die includes 40 minutes of footage shot with IMAX cameras (in the 1.90:1 aspect ratio) but all of the IMAX cinemas will screen digital copies of the film with no 70mm IMAX.
The last 5 Bond films didn’t have any direct competition opening in the weeks leading up to release and the weeks afterwards as the films around them were targeting families and children. The biggest film that opened before any of them was Harry Potter Chamber Of Secrets the weekend before Die Another Day.
All 5 Bond films had no direct competition opening against them targetting the same demographic until four weeks after, the difference for No Time To Die is it has Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Halloween Kills and The Long Duel opening two weeks after and Dune three weeks after.
The big question is how will they affect No Time To Die’s legs as it’s unlikely to open similar to either Skyfall or Spectre, so will No Time To Die open lower than recent Bond’s and not hold as strongly?
Die Another Day opened on 430 screens on November 20th, 2002
£9,122,344 (including £2,237,249 from 2 days of previews); Harry Potter Chamber Of Secrets #2 £7,313,056 2nd weekend
2nd weekend £5,364,433 down 41% (down 22% without previews) with Harry Potter Chamber Of Secrets #2 £4,654,618 3rd weekend
3rd weekend £3,426,623 down 36%; Harry Potter Chamber Of Secrets #2 £2,678,629 4th weekend
4th weekend £2,220,351 down 35%; Harry Potter Chamber Of Secrets #2 £1,802,435 5th weekend
Dropped down to third in its 5th weekend with Lord of the Rings: Two Towers opened #1 £13,063,560; Harry Potter Chamber Of Secrets #2 £1,164,992 6th weekend (weekend before Christmas)
Stayed in the top 5 for 8 weeks and top 10 for 9 weeks
Casino Royale opened in 505 cinemas (988 screens) on 19th November 2006
£13,370,969 including £1,949,270 from previews; Borat #2 with £2,531,264 3rd weekend
At the time it was the third biggest opening in the UK after Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
2nd weekend £8,546,238 dropped 36% (25% without previews); Borat #2 £1,470,923 4th weekend
3rd-weekend £5,307,969 dropped 36%; #2 Flushed Away opened with £3,106,874
Dropped down to #3 in its fourth weekend taking £2,741,362; Happy Feet opened #1 £3,689,166; #2 The Holiday £2,826,520
Stayed in the top 5 for 8 weeks and top 10 for 12 weeks
Quantum of Solace opened on 540 screens on 31st October 2008
£15,384,217 (no previews); #2 High School Musical 3 £2,742,682 2nd weekend
2nd-weekend £9,221,744 dropped 40%; #2 High School Musical 3 £1,518,469 3rd weekend
3rd weekend £5,164,182 dropped 44%; #2 Max Payne opened £1,004,995
4th-weekend £2,884,789 dropped 44%; #2 Body of Lies opened £991,979
Dropped down to #2 in its fifth weekend taking £1,453,184; Four Christmases opened £2,275,585
Stayed in the top 5 for 6 weeks and top 10 for 8 weeks
Skyfall opened on 587 screens on 26th October 2012
£20,180,369 (no previews) #2 Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted £2,803,874 2nd weekend
2nd-weekend £16,107,687 dropped 20% 593 screens; #2 Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted £2,863,112 3rd weekend
3rd-weekend £10,447,385 dropped 35%; #2 Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted £1,357,193 4th weekend
Dropped to #2 in its 4th weekend taking £5,566,537; The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 opened #1 £15,850,825
Held #2 5th weekend taking £3,809,893; The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 #1 £5,344,508
Returned #1 6th weekend taking £2,275,469; The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 #2 £2,180,909 3rd weekend
Dropped to #2 7th weekend taking £1,428,708 (513 screens); #1 Rise of the Guardians #1 £1,602,689
Dropped to 4th 8th weekend taking £809,406 (434 screens); #1 The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey £11,601,538.
Stayed in the top 5 for 8 weeks and top 10 for 11 weeks
Spectre opened in 651 cinemas and on over 2,500 screens on October 26th, 2015
£41,299,090 (£21,321,626 from 4 days of previews); #2 Hotel Transylvania 2 £2,417,940 3rd weekend
2nd weekend £13,145,138 (660 screens) dropped 68% (34% not including previews); #2 Hotel Transylvania 2 £1,105,023 4th weekend
3rd weekend £7,833,891 (617 screens) dropped 40%; #2 The Lady in the Van opened £2,256,121
Dropped to #2 in its 4th weekend taking £3,821,156 (607 screens); #1 The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2 £11,255,566
Stayed in the top 5 for 7 weeks and top 10 for 10 weeks
UK exhibitors have noticeably increased their prices for No Time To Die as they also did with Spectre in 2015 when Odeon Cinemas doubled their blockbuster tax from £1 to £2; in 2015 BFI IMAX increased ticket prices by 19% from £19.50 to £22 and have increased prices by 10% from £25 to £27.50 for No Time To Die.
Odeon Leicester Square stays the same price for both Shang-Chi and No Time to Die £27.50 but the positive is they have at least dropped the price down from £40.75 when Mary Poppins Returns was showing there in 2018.
Odeon has also dropped the prices of many of their cinemas Spectre in 2015 would have cost over £50 for a family of four but now £42 this is still 30% more than the industry average of £7.11 it would be interesting to know how many cinemas apart from PeckhamPlex can see it for that price over opening weekend.
James Bond opening days
Casino Royale opened with £1.7m on Thursday 19th November 2006 which was twice as much as Die Another Day opened in 2002 (£1.1m)
Skyfall opened Friday, October 26th taking £6.2m and had at the time the largest ever Saturday box office
Quantum of Solace took opened with £4.9m
Skyfall opened with £6.2m on Friday and took £8.5m Saturday and Sunday £10.2m (at the time biggest ever)
Spectre opened with Tuesday £6.3m and Wednesday £5.71m and taking 60% off Mondays box office with the first shows at 7.30pm with £4.18m;
The last 10 films to take over £50m at the UK box office where Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Frozen 2, Joker, The Lion King, Toy Story 4, Avengers: Endgame, Bohemian Rhapsody, Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again!, Avengers: Infinity War and Black Panther.
All except for Joker, Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again! and Bohemian Rhapsody target the same demographic.
But we are in a very different place now six years on from the release of the last James Bond film, said it will, of course, become the 41st member of the £50m club within a few weeks.
Opening in two weeks
October is normally one of the most lucrative months of the year with a mix of genres successful, the first weekend of October has seen many films targetting older audiences being successful from Gone Girl to The Girl on the Train. While with half-term at the end of the month children’s films have performed strongly and with Halloween also at the end of the month so have horrors.
Over recent years half-term weekend has seen many MCU films having extended opening weekends along with Spectre and Skyfall (3-day opening) and Bohemian Rhapsody. As the films targeted many different demographics box office was more evenly shared out with many weekends in October having more than 5 films taking over £1m.
This year has Bond opening at the beginning of the month rather than the end and as Bond films normal hold strongly over weeks will it cannibalize the box office of the films that open over the following weekends as normal James Bond film doesn’t have any direct competition for at least a month.
- Venom: Let There Be Carnage – Sony Pictures
The second film in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe and the sequel to 2018’s Venom starring Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams, Naomie Harris, Reid Scott, Stephen Graham and Woody Harrelson and directed by Andy Serkis.
It was originally set for release on October 2nd, 2020 (the same weekend as the original) but was delayed to June 25th, 2021, in April 2020 due to COVID and was delayed to September 17th to give more time for visual effects. In August 2021 it was delayed to October 15th due to rising COVID cases but after Shang-Chi opened well was brought forward in the US to October 1st but due to No Time To Die opening on that date kept October 15th in the UK.
Had a fan screening in London on September 14th
The last time several major films opened over the same weekend was October 5th when Venom opened with #1 £8,031,342 (including £2,431,342 previews) from 556 screens with Johnny English Strikes Again #2 £4,117,692 from 589 screens and A Star is Born #3 £4,100,196 from 526 screens. The difference was these films opened without any competition as The House with a Clock in its Walls, Night School, A Simple Favour and Crazy Rich Asians had played out;
Venom went on to take £16,652,223 despite receiving poor reviews (30% Rotten Tomatoes) but the audience score was far more positive.
While Venom 2 opens three weeks after No Time To Die, but the one massive thing going for it is comic-book Shang-Chi and Black Widow are amongst the biggest films of the year and the original film performed well in the UK and targets an older comic-book demographic, the negative is that Halloween Kills opening the same weekend would attract a similar audience.
Morbius the third film in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe was due to open before Venom: Let There Be Carnage in July 2020 but was delayed due to COVID first to March 2021, then October 8th and finally to January 2022. Away from Sony’s Spider-Man Universe Sony will also release Spider-Man: No Way Home in December that could crossover with Morbius.
The first film had a running time of 140 minutes but the sequel is only 97 minutes long; the sequel will likely be a 15 as the original film
- Ron’s Gone Wrong – Disney
Animated sci-fi comedy with an ensemble vocal cast Zach Galifianakis, Jack Dylan Grazer, Olivia Colman, Ed Helms, Justice Smith, and Rob Delaney and directed by Jean-Philippe Vine and Sarah Smith.
In 2017 20th Century Fox announced a multi-year production deal with Locksmith Animation (they had been previously based at Paramount but left when Jim Gianopulos joined the studio) had plans to release a new animated film every 18 months alongside Blue Sky Studios also owned to fill the gap from losing Dreamworks Animation films to Universal after Comcast brought the company. Ron’s Gone Wrong was originally due to be released in 2020 but was delayed due to COVID.
Locksmith Animation plans were to make original animated films not based on books or pre-existing intellectual property.
But after 20th Century Fox was brought by Disney, Disney soon after shutdown Blue Sky Studios and Locksmith Animation signed a multi-film deal with Warner Bros in 2019.
Has its world premiere at the London Film Festival on October 9th having a 45 theatrical window before going to streaming.
Ron’s Gone Wrong is the second of three children’s films opening ahead of half-term at the end of the month, The Addams Family 2 opened October 8th and then on October 22nd The Boss Baby 2 opens, as with The Croods 2 it opens several months after being released in the US.
- Halloween Kills – Universal Pictures
The sequel to 2018’s Halloween and the twelfth instalment in the Halloween franchise starring Jamie Lee Curtis, Judy Greer, Will Patton, Thomas Mann, Anthony Michael Hall, Produced by Blumhouse Productions and directed by David Gordon Green.
Blumhouse Productions had planned to make Halloween Kills and Halloween at the same time but waited to see the response to the first film. The third film in this new trilogy Halloween Ends opens next October.
Halloween Kills had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival receiving mixed reviews (59% Rotten Tomatoes) in the US it will be released in cinemas and on Peacock.
2018’s Halloween opened with £2,656,097 #2 behind A Star Is Born £8,171,544 (3rd weekend) taking £8,171,544
Halloween Kills is an 18 as the earlier film which is unusual for recent horrors
- The Last Duel – Disney
Historical drama starring Matt Damon, Adam Driver, Jodie Comer and Ben Affleck and directed and by Ridley Scott based on the book The Last Duel: A True Story of Trial by Combat in Medieval France by Eric Jager.
The film was first announced in 2015 with Francis Lawrence attached to direct, Studio 8 were in negotiations to buy the film rights but when their rights lapsed. It was then announced in July 2019 Ridley Scott had signed to direct the film with Matt Damon and Ben Affleck starring (previously starred together in Good Will Hunting and School Ties while being fans in the stadium in Field of Dreams). It’s also Matt Damon’s first film with Ridley Scott since the Oscar-nominated and Golden Globe Best Comedy winner The Martian in 2015.
It began shooting in Ireland in February 2020 but production shutdown in March due to COVID restarted in September 2019; was originally set for release on December 25th, 2020, and delayed from July 2020 to October 2021 due to COVID. It will have a 45-day theatrical window
Had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival receiving positive reviews (69% Rotten Tomatoes).
Ridley Scott also directed House of Gucci starring Lady Gaga, Jared Leto and Adam Driver opening 6 weeks after The Lost Duel opens. House of Gucci will be Ridley Scott’s 16th film he has directed over the last 20 years and produced many more films and TV shows including The Good Wife, The Good Fight, The Man in the High Castle, Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile and his 83.
Recent Ridley Scott directed films include
2017’s All the Money in the World opened £1,161,476 taking £3,176,255
2015’s The Martian opened £6,531,734 taking £23,578,878
2014’s Exodus: Gods and Kings opened £2,607,453 taking £7,529,032
2013’s The Counsellor opened £815,051 taking £1,855,158
2010’s Robin Hood opened £5,750,332 taking £15,381,416
2008’s Body of Lies opened £991,979 taking £2,859,641
2007’s American Gangster opened £2,564,853 taking £9,336,495
2005’s Kingdom of Heaven opened £2,530,445 taking £7,755,814
Other historical dramas include
2004’s King Arthur opened £1,908,084 taking £6,804,952
2004’s The Last Samurai opened £2,723,081 taking £11,503,317
1995’s Braveheart opened £3,764,431 taking £12,649,000
In normal circumstances opening four major releases over the same weekend would cause cannibalizing in the box office but with these films opening a week after The Adams Family 2 and two weeks after No Time To Die. This will see two children’s films (a third The Boss Baby 2 opening October 22nd) Venom: Let There Be Carnage and Halloween Kills targetting teens and The Last Duel older audiences alongside No Time To Die, James Bond films normally hold very strongly.