Top 5 Breakdown
- A Star Is Born – £3,083,089 – £9,595,670
Down 27.8% in its second weekend but only 6% Fri-Sun and 24.3% including Wednesday and Thursday previews)
Less than £180,000 separated the top three which saw them switch places several times on Sunday as estimates came in with Johnny English Strikes Back topping the chart only to be replaced by A Star is Born on Monday morning. While the top five films were separated by less than £700,000 showing that films are playing across demographics but A Star Is Born, Venom and Johnny English Strikes Back will all take similar box office; A Star Is Born was #1 on Friday but Johnny English Strikes Again was #1 on Saturday and Sunday.
Due to a dispute between Vue Cinemas the film didn’t screen in its cinemas in its opening weekend the dispute ended in time for it to be shown in its second weekend seeing its screen numbers increase from 537 last weekend to 612 in its second weekend (many of the screens A Star Is Born was showing in Vue Cinemas was shared with screenings for Smallfoot). The dispute was probably more likely due to terms for Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald and A Star is Born and Smallfoot were collateral damage.
Had the 185th biggest second weekend between Sex and the City and X-Men 2 (similar to Blade Runner 2049, Gone Girl, 12 Years a Slave) and 319th biggest second inflation inflated weekend between Trainspotting 2 and Wedding Crashers (close to The Devil Wears Prada, American Beauty and Billy Elliot.
Main demographic for A Star is Born is female and older (over 35) audiences who don’t rush out to see films on opening weekend, which is why these films will often hold strongly in its second weekend, which was why it seemed crazy for Universal Pictures to open First Man the week after. As with children’s films, the first adult film always has the advantage over the film that opens directly afterwards.
Warner Bros learnt their lesson rushing the release of Ben Affleck’s Live by Night a year to December 2016 (in June 2016 brought its release forward from October 2017 to December 2016 after seeing the film and believed was an award contender) instead delaying the release of A Star Is Born after they saw the film in December 2017.
Originally, Warner Bros had set a May release date for the film was similar to Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge in 2001 and The Great Gatsby in 2013 (both films were delated from December release dates) with a likely Cannes Film Festival premiere. But when Warner Bros saw the film they felt it was an award contender and Venice Film Festival was a far better launching platform for the film as so many other Oscar contenders have opened there over recent years.
Opening A Star Is Born in May would have isolated the film from the other award contenders opening later in the year and academy members have famously short memories. Have been few films in recent years that have won major awards that have opened before May, the most famous film to do so was The Silence of the Lambs in 1991, but the industry has changed dramatically since. Many believed Black Panther could have had a chance for Oscar glory, it might have done had the Oscars not delayed their Popcorn Award.
Musicals perform much strong in the UK than the US with most recent Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again and The Greatest Showman both taking much more than the industry claimed 10% of US box office.
Two years ago La La Land opened with £6,596,256 (A Star is Born might have opened similar had it not had Venom and Johnny English Strikes Back opening against it and also played in Vue Cinemas in its opening weekend) dropped 33.7% in its second weekend taking £4,373,249 and £10,533,899
The film’s soundtrack debuted at #1 on Friday and singles Shallow up to #6, I’ll Never Love Again #35 and Always Remember Us This Way #39; A Star Is Born is the third film soundtrack to be number 1 after Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again and The Greatest Showman (the longest running number one soundtrack since The Sound of Music #1 for 21 weeks selling over 1.25m copies and still is #4 in the chart). There have only been seven film soundtracks since 1989 have been #1 others include 2017’s La La Land, 2013’s Les Miserables, 2010’s Glee: The Music – Season 1 Vol. 1, 2010’s Iron Man 2 and 1998’s Titanic, 1996’s Evita.
The first song from the film’s soundtrack Shallow was released days before the film was released has been viewed almost 14m times over the last week now been watched over 36.1m times.
A Star is Born has been described as musical but as La La Land it’s more a film with songs rather than a musical as the songs don’t develop the story as upcoming Bohemian Rhapsody and Mary Poppins Returns (both films have started to receive positive buzz ahead of their release) unlike with Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again and The Greatest Showman was the songs are part of the plot.
Highlighting this A Star Is Born and Bohemian Rhapsody won’t compete in the Musical and Comedy category at the Golden Globes instead in the Drama category. Three years ago 20th Century Fox famously submitted The Martian in the Comedy or Musical category winning Best Film but then failed to win any Oscars. Last year Lady Bird was also selected in the comedy category winning Best Comedy and Best Actress and then received five Oscar nominations.
Leading up to the film’s release many memes were made from the trailer, it is a great form of fan generated marketing for the film which was similarly done with The Greatest Showman. Allowed the studio to step back from marketing the film and allowed fans to do it themselves which is the best kind of marketing. The Greatest Showman fans created videos of them singing the songs from the soundtrack.
The film has had a big effect on many people including Anne Hathaway who gave a rave review on her Instagram
I keep thinking how we move through things so quickly these days (how could we not?); I know my personal capacity to absorb something new is often maxed out. For example, a movie opens, we are “obsessed” for a weekend, we move on. I do this too: even when I really love something, I get distracted by the next thing, don’t fully digest the experience and I quickly move on, like the world exists only to entertain me, like great art is unlimited, that my consumption of it as an everyday all-you-can eat buffet is acceptable.
We are so fortunate- a ton of worthy, excellent movies are going to come out between now and the end of the year, and our plates are going to become increasingly full. That said, I think A Star is Born is so special, so ambitious, so audacious and so brilliantly human that it shouldn’t just be a news story for one weekend.
Even being so excited about what’s coming out, I want to really luxuriate in appreciation for A Star is Born. I saw this film back in August at the Venice Film Festival and I still walk around feeling lucky I was in that audience.
This film surprised me in the best possible way; it even killed some cynicism that I didn’t know had snuck into my heart.
I loved it.
- Venom – £3,002,032 – £13,729,817
Down 62.6% in its second weekend
Had 197th biggest second weekend in the UK between The Golden Compass and Justice League (close to Men in Black 3, The Hunger Games and Thor: The Dark World) and the 327th biggest second week inflation inflated between Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues and The Ring (close to T2 Trainspotting 2, Iron Man and Mad Max: Fury Road)
Having the 33rd biggest second-weekend comic-book in the UK between 2002’s Men in Black 3 and Justice League (32nd biggest comic-book movie after 12 days on release between Guardians of the Galaxy and X-Men 2 and the 43rd biggest inflation inflated comic-book second weekend between X-Men: First Class and Iron Man).
Had the lowest second weekend of Sony Pictures seven Spider-Man films (closest to 2014’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2 £3,366,372 and the 13th biggest Marvel Cinematic Universe film after 12 days on release similar to Thor: The Dark World and Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
The Guardian wrote an article calling Venom this year The Greatest Showman as it was a film critic hated but audiences are still going to see but its but as with most blockbusters’ audiences will go to see them whatever critics say, so a better comparison would be The Emoji Movie, Peter Rabbit or any of the Transformers films.
Venom while opening with £8m (opening was inflated with two days of previews taking £2,431,342) is holding as many other front-loaded comic-book films Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Justice League, The Incredible Hulk, Fantastic Four and X-Men: Apocalypse will drop down the charts over the coming weeks as fast as those films did taking £20m+.
Venom will likely be most affected with Halloween opening on Friday.
- Johnny English Strikes Back £2,900,426 – £8,317,202
Down 28.8% in its second weekend;
Had the 208th biggest second weekend between Daddy’s Home and The Bourne Ultimatum and the 348th biggest inflation inflated the second weekend between Zootropolis and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel;
Opening 15 years after the first film was released and seven years Johnny English Strikes Back is holding similar to both films but must remember is about 80% ticket inflation different from the first film released in 2003 and 30% from the first sequel released in 2011.
This follows a similar pattern of many films recently including Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again many of today’s films are performing similar in the box office of many similar historical films but should be performing much stronger as they don’t take in count inflation increases between the films.
Johnny English dropped similar 26% in its second weekend in April 2003 taking £2,529,665 (£4,483,888 inflation inflated) and £8,641,414 total £19,209,597 (inflation inflated £34,049,443)
Johnny English Reborn dropped 38.1% in its second weekend in October 2011 £3,072,542 (£3,990,248 inflation inflated) taking £9,643,386 total £20,632,010 (inflation inflated £26,794,376).
With half-term in a weeks’ time Johnny English Strikes Back will take similar box office to the first two films £20m+ but they will still be far from the successes they were when the first two films were released.
Harder to compare with Rowan Atkinson’s characters Bean as don’t have its second-weekend box office, but Mr Bean’s Holiday dropped 61.94% in its second weekend. As with Johnny English films, they are films critics hate but audiences love
Bean opened August 1997 with £2,563,326 (£4,956,603 inflation inflated) taking £17,972,562 (£34,752,841 inflation inflated)
Mr Bean’s Holiday opened March 2007 with £6,440,093 (£10,036,343 inflation inflated) taking £21,781,782 (£33,945,074 inflation inflated)
Johnny English Strikes Back opened similar to 2014’s Mrs Brown’s Boys d’Movie £4,301,306 taking £14,290,727; a similar total is likely for Johnny English Strikes Back.
As I mention with Venom and an article in the Guardian comparing it with The Greatest Showman a far better comparison would be Johnny English Strikes Back, the third film of the series opening 15 years after the first film opened, was originally based on Barclaycard 1990’s adverts spoofing James Bond, were films critics disliked but audiences seem to love Rowan Atkinson in the same way people seem to like Mrs Brown’s Boys.
The film opened in Asia four weeks ago and has taken $82.1m internationally performing better than Bad Moms and Daddy’s Home 2, the film opens in the US at the end of the month but as Bridget Jones’s films Johnny English films failed to find an audience in the US.
- First Man – £2,415,330 – NE
Has the 547th biggest opening between The Beach and The Break-Up and close to Oscar contenders The Shape of Water, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, The Social Network and 12 Years a Slave; 804th inflation inflated opening between Ghost in the Shell and Ali close to Oscar contenders Road to Perdition, The English Patient, Good Will Hunting, The Descendants, True Grit and The Aviator.
Comparing First Man opening to those other Oscar contenders it had a decent opening but most of those films opened in the weeks leading up to nominations and they keep the awareness for the films going. In the autumn these films open in a crowded time with mainstream and children’s films opening ahead of half-term having much more choice of films so is more urgency to be the first film out as it is to be the first children’s film out for half-term.
First Man opened similar to Everest (without previews), American, Sniper (£2,530,473), Arrival £2,924,059 and The Imitation Game but had First Man not opened the week after A Star Is Born it would have opened far stronger after the film had generated strong buzz and critical acclaim since receiving its world premiere 6 weeks ago opening the Venice Film Festival.
Not just saying this in hindsight but it was very predictable opening First Man a week after A Star is Born would harm its opening as you only need to look back to 2015 when The Martian gazumped The Walk opening a week before. The Walk had been generating strong buzz but then The Martian premiered at Toronto Film Festival and overshadowed The Walk.
Studios seem to have an issue with dating over recent years choosing to open similar genres of films close together when they used to distance them years ago, this predictably sees the films cannibalize each other or the film that opens first to perform better than the films that follow. Maybe this is because film release dates are selected using the same data and all studios have the same data telling them that a certain date is the best date to open a film.
In previous years distributors would split these films up in 2013 while Gravity and Captain Phillips opened a week apart in the US they opened a month apart in the UK; in 2015 Bridge of Spies opened two weeks after The Martian in the US but 6 weeks after in the UK and in 2016 Sully opened in September in the US but December in the UK.
Two years ago Damien Chazelle directed Oscar darling La La Land that overshadowed many far more deserving films including Hidden Figures (could be seen as a prequel to First Man) becoming Oscar favourite as had the nostalgia factor about Hollywood’ classic musicals became an Oscar favourite as soon as it premiered at the Venice Film Festival. The roles are reversed this year with A Star Is Born is the current Oscar favourite with First Man likely to miss out.
Cinema today is all about extended universes from Marvel to DC but then there could be the Nixon Extended Universe (1976’s All The President’s Men, 2017’s The Post and 2008’s Frost/Nixon), the Elizabeth Extended Universe (1998’s Elizabeth, 2007’s Elizabeth: The Golden Age and 2018’s Mary Queen of Scots) and the Apollo Extended Universe First Man could be the middle film between Hidden Figures and Apollo 13.
The opening of First Man shows again Ryan Gosling can’t open films while Blade Runner opened with £6,071,625 and La La Land with £6,596,256 the films were bigger than he was. Also is the question similar to Solo: A Star Wars Story did they centre the film around the wrong person as Buzz Aldrin was a much more interesting person than Neil Armstrong as Lando Calrissian was to Han Solo. First Man was comparable to Steve Jobs rather than The Social Network.
A direct comparison would be for 1995’s Apollo 13 opened with £2.36m (inflation inflated £5.33m) taking £12.3m (£27.81m today); 2015’s Bridge of Spies opened £1,682,392 taking £7,434,272; 2017’s Hidden Figures opened with £1,448,214 taking £5,730,368.
- Smallfoot – £2,324,189 – NE
The fifth film from Warner Animation Group having the lowest opening of the five films but the only one that didn’t have weekend previews to inflate its opening;
Storks opened with £2,247,038 in October 2016 (taking £973,846 from previews 43.3% of opening weekend) £6,703,174 total
The Lego Movie opened with £8,051,140 in February 2014 (taking £2,155,094 from previews 26.7% of opening weekend) £32,887,286 total
The Lego Batman Movie opened with £7,906,468 in February 2017 (taking £2,449,040 from previews 30.9% of opening weekend) £26,771,191 total
The Lego Ninjago Movie opened with £3,642,038 in October 2017 (taking £1,554,074 from previews 42.6% of opening weekend) £9,378,170 total
Removing preview box office from those films Smallfoot opened bigger than The Lego Ninjago Movie (£2,087,964) and Storks (£1,273,192)
Few animated films open without weekend previews to inflate their opening weekend; Smallfoot opening was similar to 2016’s The Angry Birds Movie £2,138,507
Over the weekend Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween also held previews could have squeezed Smallfoot opening as the first film took £1,004,560 from previews in February 2016.
UK box office in detail
This weekend’s top 10 box office took £17,103,615 down 12.5% from last weekend £19,552,429
The weekend admissions 2,086,655 down 15.4% from last weekend 2,466,175; average ticket up 3.87% from last year’s £7.49 to £7.87 for 2018 according to six-month box office results.
17 films opened at weekend taking £7,471,292; First Man 32.3% (£2,415,330): Smallfoot 31.1% (£2,324,189): remaining 15 films shared 36.5% (£2,731,773 ): Top three took 52.2% (£8,985,547) of the top 10; A Star is Born 18.02%; Venom 17.557%; Johnny English Strikes Back 16.9%;
The weekend was up 41.4% from 2017 (£12,090,714); The LEGO Ninjago Movie £3,642,038; The Snowman £1,377,909; The Ritual £424,352; Loving Vincent £274,036; Die Zauberflote – Met Opera 2017 (Opera) £213,605;
Up 14.8% from 2016: (£14,897,205): Inferno £2,970,027; Storks £2,247,038; Miss Saigon: 25th Anniversary Performance (Musical) £2,033,031; American Honey £175,383;
Up 86.9% from 2015; (£9,148,818); Sicario £1,596,734; The Walk £795,115; Regression £214,742;
Up 54.4% from 2014: (£11,071,974); The Maze Runner £2,041,229; Annabelle £1,939,963; One Direction: Where We Are – The Concert Film £1,021,527; The Rewrite £324,889; ’71 £205,116; Macbeth – Met Opera 2014 (Opera) £205,937; Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day £20,689; The Calling £8,112
Up 241.9% from 2013: (£5,001,792); The Fifth Estate £502,495; Le Week-End £324,488; Machete Kills £165,586; Baggage Claim £156,159; Romeo and Juliet £137,448;
Up 82.8% from 2012 (£9,355,419); Hotel Transylvania £1,734,231; Ruby Sparks £299,382; On the Road £218,738; Hit and Run £28,898; Dolphin Tale £429,140;
Up 69.9% from 2011 (£10,065,543): The Three Musketeers £1,461,251; Real Steel £1,337,491; Footloose £460,271;
Up 70.5% from 2010: (£10,027,140): Despicable Me £3,664,376; The Social Network £2,486,454; Vampires Suck £1,089,339;
Up 63.7% from 2009 (£10,447,511); Couples Retreat £1,825,142; The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus £905,786; Triangle £260,626;
Up 208.5% from 2008 (£5,542,578); The House Bunny £894,188; Mirrors £834,092; City of Ember £496,909; Nights in Rodanthe £193,318; Gomorrah £171,348; The Mutant Chronicles £74,788; Igor £56,177
Up 100.1% from 2007 (£8,548,001); Ratatouille £4,444,384; Resident Evil 3 £931,991; Black Sheep £246,135; The Invasion £232,994; Mr. Brooks £169,664; The Nanny Diaries £101,794
Up 83.8% from 2006; (£9,304,316); Open Season £1,666,750; History Boys £794,672; Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning £669,760; Stick It E131,043;
Down 26.9% from 2005 (£13,473,346); Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit £9,374,932; Lord of War £723,406; Domino £481,409;
Up 36.2% from 2004 (£12,551,675): Shark Tale £7,545,074; Inside I’m Dancing £219,256; Boo, Zino and the Snurks £131,020; Fat Slags £58,252; 5 Children & It £37,132;
Up 33.1% from 2003 (£12,858,833); Finding Nemo £7,381,962; Cabin Fever £1,056,338; Kill Bill £162,857;
Up 84.7% from 2002 (£9,258,248): Red Dragon £3,180,493; Clockstoppers £196,802;
Up 85.5% from 2001 (£9,219,269); American Pie 2 £5,508,709; The Pledge £142,100; Atlantis £79,695
Next weekend in 2017: (£9,783,969); Geostorm £1,625,895; Happy Death Day £998,388; The Death of Stalin £995,458; My Little Pony £916,123; Marshall £14,967; The Princess Bride (30th Anniversary) £1,128;
Also opened
- Bad Times at The El Royale – 20th Century Fox
Opened with £491,878 from 391 screens
- Cliff Richard Live: 60th Anniversary – CinemaLive
Opened with £1,123,885 from 505 screens
Had screenings on Friday evening and screenings on Sunday afternoon and evening with encore screenings on October 25th and 30th; As with all Event Cinema tickets were over 100% more than regular prices with many cinemas charging over £20 three times the industry claimed ticket price making it impossible to compare with regular cinema.
UK Box Office Top 10
US Box office
- Venom – Sony Pictures
Dropped 56.4% in its second weekend taking $35.01m and $142.1m total
Held slightly better than 2012’s The Amazing Spider-Man ($34,628,104) with a second weekend total close to 2014’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2 ($146,201,934) but had one of the biggest second weekend drop of Marvel Cinematic Universe films with a second weekend similar to Thor: The Dark World so it will be very front-loaded with a final box office of about $200m; will likely drop a similar 60%+ this weekend against Halloween.
Opened with $67.9m internationally from 65 territories $235.3m total and $378.1m worldwide
- A Star is Born – Warner Bros
Dropped 33.7% in its second weekend taking $28.44m and $94.6m
October second weekends
Holding stronger than
2017’s Blade Runner 2049 $15,492,244 down 52.7% and $60,970,631 of $92,054,159
2016’s The Girl on the Train $12,247,840 down 50.1% and $46,831,435 of $75,395,035
2014’s Gone Girl $26,406,134 down 29.6% and $77,887,324 of $167,767,189 total
But less than
2015’s The Martian $37,005,266 down 31.9% and $108,715,595 of $228,433,663
2013’s Gravity $43,188,256 down 22.6% and $122,323,175 of $274,092,705
And better than
2018’s Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again $15,100,095 down 56.8% and $70,524,620 of $120,634,935
Opened with $20.2m from 65 territories $41.2m total
- First Man – Universal Pictures
Opens with $16.01m; Received 88% Rotten Tomatoes Score but only B+ CinemaScore compared to Gravity A; Apollo 13 A; The Martian A
Tracking was predicting mid $20m’s but many expected could go as high as $30m+
Deepwater Horizon opened with $20.2m; Captain Phillips $25.7m; Argo $19.5m but instead opened closer to Bridge of Spies $15.4m
After opening the Venice Film Festival in August First Man received critical acclaim and the film was seen as an early Oscar contender and have a successful theatrical release, but then a few days later A Star Is Born also received its world premiere at Venice and has been overshadowing First Man ever since.
It is role reversal to years ago when Damien Chazelle’s La La Land became critics favourite after having its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival and becoming award favourite. Only for it to win and then lose Best Picture Oscar in the worst possible way, being told you won at the Oscar Ceremony only to find out that it was a mistake.
The question that must be answered is why Universal Pictures kept First Man release date as October 12th after Warner Bros moved A Star is Born to October 5th in December 2017 Universal Pictures dated First Man for October 12th in March 2017 (a few weeks after La La Land won six Oscars). Universal Pictures had little wiggle room for First Man having six films opening over eight weeks but could have switched Night School for First Man which would have seen it open a week before A Star is Born.
The audience demographic for both films would be similar to those who don’t rush out to see them on their opening weekend as is the case with films targetting younger audiences. So it was always expected that A Star is Born would hold strong in its second weekend would hurt First Man opening the week after.
Universal Pictures responded to First Man’s disappointing opening saying “This weekend’s results are a just a starting point. Quality adult dramas released in this time period produce very healthy multiples. This is very much a marathon, not a sprint, audiences, critics and award pundits will be talking about First Ma’ for months, well into the New Year,” he said. “We anticipate First Man to have a very long, successful run at the domestic box office, which it certainly deserves.”
Three years ago Ridley Scott’s The Martian (91% Rotten Tomatoes) had a world premiere at Toronto Film Festival receiving critical acclaim at the same time Robert Zemeckis’s The Walk (83% Rotten Tomatoes) had been seen as an award favourite.
Both films opened October 2nd The Martian wide and The Walk on limited IMAX release opening with $54,308,575 #1 and $1,560,299 from 448 screens #11. In its second weekend, The Martian held strongly dropping only 31.9% $37,005,266 and The Walk expanded into over 2,500 screens taking only $3,719,177 #7;
The Martian went on to take $228,433,663 and $630,161,890 worldwide winning Golden Globe awards and nominated for seven Oscars and The Walk took only $10,137,502 in the US and $61,181,942 worldwide.
First Man could be seen as the second part of the Apollo Extended Universe (Hidden Figures and Apollo 13 the other two parts) 1995’s Apollo 13 opened with $25.35m taking $173.83m and 2016’s Hidden Figures (expansion) took $22.8m taking $169.6m
First Man was tracking to open with about $20m being compared to 2015’s Bridge of Spies opening with $15.37m taking $72.31m but if Apollo 13 opened with $25.35m 23 years ago (taking $173.83m) First Man should have opened with $40m+
Opened with $8.6m from 22 territories
- Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween – Sony Pictures
Opens with $15.8m; received 43% Rotten Tomatoes and B CinemaScore; first Goosebumps received A
After the first film opened October 2015 with $23,618,556 taking $80,080,379 and $150,170,815 worldwide with a budget of $60m was surprising Sony Pictures were so eager for a sequel but then hide Jack Black’s involvement in the sequel until very late in its marketing.
Took $1.7m from 16 territories and $3.7m total
- Bad Times at The El Royale – 20th Century Fox
Opens with $7.13m; received 70% Rotten Tomatoes and B- CinemaScore
Logan Lucky opened with $7.6m; Seven Psychopaths $4.1m; The Nice Guys $11.2m and Hotel Artemis $3.23m.
The film opened 24 years after Pulp Fiction the film had been compared to; Bad Times at The El Royale is the kind of film studios don’t make anymore and probably one 20th Century Fox made to keep Drew Goddard happy having written the screenplay for The Martian and the Deadpool spinoff X-Force and the long in development Robopocalypse.
But with the imminent acquisition of 20th Century Fox by Disney its unlikely they will have any interest making films like Bad Times at The El Royale even though they did own Miramax when it made Pulp Fiction.
- Smallfoot – Warner Bros
Dropped 37% in its third weekend taking $9.06m and $57.37m
Holding slightly stronger than 2016’s Storks taking $13.47m in its second weekend and $38.48m ($7267 total) and The Lego Ninjago Movie taking $11.64m and $35.2m ($59.28m total) and should take $80m+ depending on how Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween opens.
Of course, its performance is a long way from the box office Pixar and Illumination animated films take but even with The Lego Movie Warner Animation Group aren’t in the same league.
After The Lego Movie surprised everyone in 2014 when it was first announced sounded crazy especially after previous board game to films like Battleship but then the first teaser trailer was released in June 2013 and everything looks awesome.
The Lego Ninjago Movie underwhelmed probably didn’t help having two Lego films opening within 6 months of themselves. (Disney should have seen how this didn’t work for Lego, so it wouldn’t also work for Star Wars opening Solo: A Star Wars Story 5 months after Star Wars: The Last Jedi).
Smallfoot took $14.5m from 57 territories and $52.6m total
- The House with A Clock in Its Walls – Universal Pictures
Down 47.6% in its fourth weekend $3.84m and $62.11m
As in the UK the film is holding most closely to 2008’s The Spiderwick Chronicles dropped 33.6% $8.7m and $55.02m taking $71.19m and $162.93m worldwide
In September Tim Burton’s Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children dropped 40.8% $8.95m and $65.89m taking $87.24m and $296.48m worldwide
2015’s Goosebumps dropped 36.4% $9.96m and $56.76m taking $80.08m and $150.17m worldwide
Took $2.8m from 43 territories (shared between Universal Pictures and Amblin) $17.4m total and $101.8m worldwide
- The Hate U Give – 20th Century Fox
Up 239.2% in its second weekend adding 212 screens climbing into the top 10 taking $1.73m and $2.44m total.
Expands into 2,300 screens o Friday
- Collette – Bleecker Street
Up 110.4% adding 486 screens taking $999,713 and $2,552,165
- The Old Man & the Gun – Fox Searchlight
Up 127.2% in its third weekend adding 179 screens taking $ 917,679 and $1.7m
Expands into 600 screens on Friday
- Beautiful Boy – Amazon Studios
Opens with 218,888 from 4 screens
UK Box Office Predictions
2018 has been a strong year for horror with Truth or Dare, The First Purge, Hereditary, Insidious: The Last Key, The Nun and A Quiet Place but all have taken far less than the normal 10% of the US box office blockbusters often take. Horrors take closer to 6%-8%. US tracking is predicting a huge $65m opening would see it open with a huge £4.5m, after It opened with £10.1m last September It (It was rated 15 while Halloween is an 18).
A Star is Born and Johnny English Strikes Back will continue to hold well in their third weekends, but Venom will show how front-loaded it is dropping another 50%+.
Were no figures released for Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween previews over the weekend as it opens ahead of the half-term holidays as competition to Smallfoot which opened better than expected given the lack of previews and Goosebumps 2 having previews.
Gerard Butler was able to fight off the crowded marketplace and poor reviews for Geostorm last year opening with £1,625,895 but Hunter Killer is likely to open closer to Den of Thieves £1.08m
The big question is will First Man hold as strongly as Universal Pictures says it will, while the film received critical acclaim audience reaction has been much more mixed.
Opening in the UK
- Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween – Sony Pictures
Horror comedy starring Jack Black, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Madison Iseman, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Caleel Harris, Chris Parnell, and Ken Jeong and directed by Ari Sandel; based on the children’s book by R. L. Stine and sequel to the 2015 film Goosebumps.
Was originally set for January 26, 2018 release date, was then moved to September 21 taking the date from Hotel Transylvania 3 which was moved to the summer and then in December it was moved to October 12th.
The first trailer was released on July 11, international trailer in August and a second trailer in September.
Goosebumps opened five months after US opening in February 2016 (due to Sony Pictures releasing Hotel Transylvania 2 for Halloween) ahead of half-term holidays with £2,686,105 including £1,004,560 taking £8,575,763
- Halloween – Universal Pictures
The eleventh instalment of the Halloween film series and direct sequel to the 1978 original film starring Jamie Lee Curtis, Nick Castle, James Jude Courtney, Judy Greer, Andi Matichak, Will Patton, and Virginia Gardner and directed by David Gordon Green; premiered at the Toronto Film Festival last month receiving mostly positive reviews described as the best Halloween sequel
Dimensions Films lost rights the Halloween franchise in 2015 after their planned Halloween Returns film failed to start production in time (often in the contract are fixed deadlines when company must make a film by e.g. Warner Bros gave Paramount Pictures Friday the 13th and South Park film rights in 2013 for five years in exchange for international rights to Interstellar) .
Dimension Films made several Halloween films since making 1995’s Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers including Halloween H20: 20 Years Later, Halloween Resurrection and Rob Zombie movies Halloween and Halloween II that tried to reinvent John Carpenter’s 1978 original.
After 2009’s Halloween II underperformed at the box office Halloween 3D kept being delayed until it was announced in early 2015 Dimension Films were moving forward with a sequel but then in October it was revealed that it was postponed again and in December was announced Dimension Films had no longer got the rights after it failed to go in production in 2015. Blumhouse Productions and Miramax acquired rights in May 2016 and instead of making a reboot wanted to be an immediate sequel to the first film ignoring all the other sequels.
In April 2018 footage was screened at CinemaCon with a positive reaction and also at Comic-Con in July; the first trailer was released in June.
Originally the writers had planned to make two films that would be shot back-to back but decided to wait to see the reaction for the first film. ,
2018 has been another strong year for horror with Truth or Dare, The First Purge, Hereditary, Insidious: The Last Key, The Nun and A Quiet Place all performing strongly while Halloween is Blumhouse Productions seventh film of the year Upgrade, The First Purge, Unfriended: Dark Web, The Keeping Hours, BlacKkKlansman, Seven in Heaven, most being released by Universal Pictures.
Have four films already scheduled for 2019 including two sequels Glass and Happy Death Day 2U and Jordan Peele’s follow up to last years hit Get Out Us starring Lupita Nyong’o, Winston Duke and Elisabeth Moss released next March.
Unlike Blade Runner 2049 and Trainspotting 2 (only had a 20+ year gap between films), it’s unlikely the nostalgia for the original will bring out the audience who saw the original as they would be close to their 60s
Impossible to compare box office of the most recent reincarnations of Halloween films
Halloween H20 opened October 1998 with £1,038,646 taking £3,059,894
Halloween: Resurrection opened October 2002 with £520,171 taking £1,299,433
Halloween II in 2009 opening with £522,661 taking £1,291,368
And other reimaginations of classic horrors
A Nightmare on Elm Street opened May 2010 with £1,342,837 taking £3,502,236
Friday the 13th opened February 2009 with £1,198,653 taking £1,955,271
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre opened in November 2003 with £1,357,534 taking £3,860,962
Scream and I Still Know What You Did Last Summer films are the most similar recent slasher horrors but they targetting teens mixing humour and a young cast.
Scream opened May 1997 with £1,872,660 (inflation inflated £3,621,089)
Scream 2 opened May 1998 with £2,493,950 (inflation inflated £4,822,454)
Scream 3 opened April 2000 with £2,449,937 (inflation inflated £4,382,046)
Scream 4 opened April 2011 with £2,061,885 (inflation inflated £2,677,729)
Or the Saw franchise
Saw opened Oct 2004 with £1,239,813
Saw II opened October 2005 with £2,189,212
Saw III opened October 2006 with £2,522,521
Saw IV opened October 2007 with £2,482,889
Saw V opened October 2008 with £2,436,817
Saw VI opened October 2009 with £1,736,287
Saw 3D opened October 2010 with £3,600,083
- Hunter Killer – Lionsgate
Action thriller starring Gerard Butler, Gary Oldman, Michael Nyqvist (one of his final film roles), Common and Toby Stephens and directed by Donovan Marsh based on the 2012 novel Firing Point by Don Keith and George Wallace.
Gary Oldman has gone from winning Best Actor Oscar for Darkest Hour to starring in Hunter Killer as several Best Actress winners have done in the past including most famously Halle Berry from Monster’s Ball in 2001 to Catwoman in 2004.
Gerard Butler has made a name for himself making action films critics hate but audiences enjoy most recently with Den of Thieves (sequel already announced) opened in February with £1.08m taking £2.79m and Geostorm opened with £1.62m taking £3.98m. Next year stars in Angel Has Fallen sequel to London Has Fallen sequel to Olympus Has Fallen.
- Fahrenheit 11/9 – Vertigo Films
Political documentary directed by Michael Moore about the 2016 United States presidential election and the subsequent presidency of Donald Trump; had world premiere September 6th, 2018 at the 2018 Toronto Film Festival received positive reviews.
The title is in reference to November 9th, 2016 the day Donald Trump won the 2016 United States presidential election and also connects to Michael Moore’s 2004 documentary Fahrenheit 9/11.
Was originally developed by Weinstein Company but production was delayed after the Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse allegation, production resumed from private funding.
The film underperformed in the US opening with $3m and taking $5.98m
Fahrenheit 9/11 opened in July 2004 with £1,304,115 taking £6,049,187
Bowling for Columbine opened in November 2002 with £157,898 taking £1,215,039
Opening Monday
- The Hate U Give – 20th Century Fox
Drama film starring Amandla Stenberg, Regina Hall, Russell Hornsby, KJ Apa, Algee Smith, Lamar Johnson, Issa Rae, Sabrina Carpenter, Common, and Anthony Mackie and directed by George Tillman Jr based on Angie Thomas’ 2017 novel of the same name; premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival receiving critical acclaim and last week screened at the London Film Festival
Opening Monday the start of half-term holidays is surprising as was given a platform release in the US expanding over several weeks, while the film has receved positive reviews opens in a very crowded marketplace made even more crowded two days later with Bohemian Rhapsody.
The Hate U Give and Bohemian Rhapsody are films 20th Century Fox have made a name with over recent years but with the imminent acquisition by Disney of the studio are the films many fear a Disney owned 20th Century Fox will have less interest in making.
Monday opening rarely expand films box office just shares it across seven days rather than three as seen most recently with the last Monday opener The Happytime Murders (but of course that had poor reviews and was always likely to be DOA)
A better comparison is Paper Towns also based a young adult novel opened in August with £2,072,789 but 64.1% (£1,328,805) was taken Mon-Thurs and it took 61% of its total box office (£3,405,575) in its opening week.
Opening Wednesday
- Bohemian Rhapsody – 20th Century Fox
Biographical drama starring Rami Malek, Ben Hardy, Gwilym Lee, Joseph Mazzello, Allen Leech, and Lucy Boynton and directed by Bryan Singer and Dexter Fletcher.
Bryan Singer was fired as director of the film in December after being absent from the production on multiple occasions and clashing with the cast and crew and Dexter Fletcher replaced him.
The film was first announced in 2010 with Sacha Baron Cohen set to play Freddie Mercury and directed by Tom Hooper but he left the film in 2013 due to “creative differences” he wanted a more adult film while Queen wanted a more family friendly film.
In 2013 Dexter Fletcher was chosen to direct the film but dropped out due to disagreements with producer Graham King. In November 2016 was announced Bryan Singer would direct and Rami Malek was cast as Freddie Mercury and the title would be Bohemian Rhapsody. They built an exact replica of the 1985 Live Aid set at Wembley Stadium in Bovingdon Airfield.
Hard to compare Bohemian Rhapsody with other musician’s biopics 1991’s The Doors £4,881,275; 1993’s What’s Love Got to Do With It opened with £1,583,230 taking £3,420,933; 2002’s 8 Mile opened with £4,440,334 taking £12,974,253; 2005’s Walk the Line opened with £1,111,142 taking £9,737,493; 2015’s Straight Outta Compton opened with £2,498,231 taking £8,043,283 are probably the closest as others have been older artists or not as mainstream.
After the huge success of The Greatest Showman (opening with £4,754,049) and A Star Is Born (opening with £4,100,196) performing strongly and with strong early buzz for Bohemian Rhapsody should perform strongly in the UK in the US its tracking to open a week later with $30m+; UK 5 day opening of £4m+ with total of £18-20m
Receives its world premiere on Tuesday, October 23rd at Wembley Arena
Tickets for the film went on sale in July
20th Century Fox has held many marketing stunts in the build-up to the film’s release including a group of baggage handlers at Heathrow Airport performing a routine to Queen’s I Want to Break Free on September 5th celebrating Freddie Mercury ’s birthday as he worked as a baggage handler at the airport before he joined the band.
They are also opening an immersive exhibition in Carnaby Street opening on October 18th with photographs, prints, exclusive footage and official film merchandise.
Opening in the US
- Halloween – Universal Pictures
Three weeks before opening was tracking to open with $65m+ would be more than any of the ten previous films have taken over the last 40 years; 2007’s Halloween had the biggest opening of the franchise to date with $26.32m.
Biggest opening for slasher horrors
2009’s Friday the 13th $40.57m
2003’s Freddy Vs. Jason $36.42m
2000’s Scream 3 %34.71m
1997’s Scream 2 $32.92m
2010’s A Nightmare on Elm Street $32.9m
2003’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre $28.09m
- Can You Ever Forgive Me? – Fox Searchlight
Biographical comedy-drama starring Melissa McCarthy, Richard E. Grant, Dolly Wells, Jane Curtin, Ben Falcone and directed by Marielle Heller and based on Lee Israel’s memoir of the same name; had its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival receiving critical acclaim.
The film release date was announced days after it was announced Rupert Murdoch would sell 20th Century Fox to Disney, with the film’s title summing up many peoples feelings.