Top 5 Breakdown

1. Peter Rabbit – £5,610,556 – £21,643,421

Up 30% in its third weekend due to Good Friday (taking £2.3m) and the start of the Easter holidays and after the last two weekends being limited to only weekend box office it was shared over three days this weekend; it took another £2.6m from Easter Monday taking its total to £24.2m.
After three weeks Paddington 2 had taken £22.99m but was limited to the weekend box office the difference was £2.3m taking on Good Friday.
Being the only children’s film released this Easter compared with three last year The Boss Baby taking £29.11m, The Smurfs: The Lost Village taking £6.01m and Peppa Pig: My First Cinema Experience taking £3.62m.
Has overtaken Sony Pictures Animation previous biggest 2011’s Arthur Christmas £21m, 2015’s Hotel Transylvania 2 £20.2m, 2012’s The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists £16.5m, 2017’s The Emoji Movie £14.94m and 2013’s Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 £12.5m
Showing again negative reviews have no impact on children’s films as Sony have proved with the success of The Emoji Movie and Pixels while a film like Captain Underpants receives excellent reviews but fails to find an audience opening sandwiched between the far inferior Despicable Me 3 and Cars 3.
Peter Rabbit is Sony Animations fifteenth film released since it was launched in 2001; Astro Boy was meant to be their first film which they had been developing for many years as a live-action film instead it was 2006’s Open Season (opening with £1,666,750 taking £7,418,065). Sony launched their animation division a few years after Dreamworks opened their animation and 20^th Century Fox opened Blue Sky Studios.
Next from Sony Animation Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation opens in July 27th two weeks after The Incredibles 2. Goosebumps: Slappy Halloween opening 19th October, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse opening 21st December, Untitled Phil Lord and Christopher Miller film opening in February 2020 and with several other untitled films set for 2020.
Other British sourced children’s third-weekend drops
2017’s Paddington 2 – dropped 32% taking £4,545,218 and £22,990,836 (53.9%) of total £42,614,170
2016’s The BFG – dropped 49% taking £1,713,088 and £20,207,813 (66.2%) of total £30,514,629
2014’s Paddington – dropped 24% taking £2,909,674 and £14,306,197 (38.04%) of total £37,608,112
20005’s The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – dropped 41% taking £2,843,353 and £24,677,956 (56.5%) of its £43,641,024
2005’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – dropped 35% taking £2,886,352 and £26,058,703 (69.7%) of its £37,354,584
2005’s Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit – dropped 23% taking £3,593,266 and £25,840,863 (80.8%) of its £31,956,705
2005’s Nanny McPhee – dropped 46% taking £1,656,113 and £12,751,179 (77.6%) of its £16,428,714
Hard to compare Peter Rabbit third weekends with most of these other releases as apart from The BFG and The Chronicles of Narnia all other third weekends were during school term.
Strange coincidence that four huge children’s classics Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Nanny McPhee and The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe all opened within months of themselves in 2005 but chances are as the later three were trailer with the first film as what normally happens success breeds success as the trailer for Peter Rabbit was shown with Paddington 2.
Another animal based animated children’s films third weekends
1999’s Stuart Little – dropped 25% taking £1,045,603 and £9,391,578 (53.9%) of its £17,392,023
2016’s Zootropolis – dropped 14% taking £2,365,457 and £18,607,656 (80.3%) of its £23,144,354
2016’s The Angry Birds Movie – dropped 54% taking £919,519 and £5,771,901 (58.1%) of its £9,929,464
2011’s Hop up 29% taking £788,809 and £4,622,392 (61.8) of its £7,479,597
2007’s Charlotte’s Web – down 31.1% taking £1,304,946 and £8,982,070 (84.7%) of its £10,593,589
Rabbits are of course very popular at Easter with many successful films and animation featuring rabbits including Zootropolis, Hop, Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit and Who Framed Roger Rabbit. For the last two years, Channel 5 have shown Watership Down over Easter which generated much criticism as the 40-year-old animated film while being a U rated film terrifies many children and adults who watched it. Surprisingly Channel 5 choose not to show it this year maybe it has more to do with the Netflix miniseries which will be released later this year.
While Peter Rabbit the film might have more in common with The Emoji than to the classic books written by Beatrix Potter the book first published in the early 19^th Century sold millions her first look The Tale of Peter Rabbit has sold over 45 million copies. The books have been read by generations of parents to their children as Winnie the Pooh, Paddington, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The Gruffalo over the decades since which has made the books part of our childhood and the books parents turn to read to their children.
Their popularity is seen by their performances at the UK box office with their adaptions including Paddington, The BFG, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Borrowers, Matilda, The Jungle Book and Nanny McPhee all performed far stronger in the UK than anywhere else in the world.
With another week of Easter holidays, Peter Rabbit will hold #1 for a fourth weekend before Dwayne Johnson’s Rampage will likely do what neither Tomb Raider or Ready Player One could do for Warner Bros open #1.

2. Ready Player One – £5,113,041 – NE

Opening on Wednesday with exclusive 3D previews as Warner Bros did two weeks ago with Tomb Raider Ready Player One took almost 40% share of the top 5 taking £1,081,559 from previews in 1,200 screens taking more than opening days of Maze Runner Death Cure by +40%, Kong: Skull Island by +41% and Pacific Rim: Uprising by +64%.
Took £1.57m on Good Friday from 1251 screens #2 for the day behind Peter Rabbit and taking £2.71m after two days;
Including Easter Monday its total is up to £6.64m with 12 more days of Easter holidays with limited competition and wet weather it should perform strongly.

Could become Steven Spielberg’s eight biggest film in the UK behind Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skill, The BFG, War of the Worlds, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Minority Report.
Had the fourth biggest film in the UK after Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull £12.2m, War Of The Worlds £8.6m, and The BFG £5.3m.

Ready Player One is the first major young adult adaptation released since the last The Hunger Games Mockingjay Part 2 was released in 2015 and had a similar opening to the first Hunger Games film released in March 2012 opening with £4,900,177 (including £431,083)
Ready Player One is nostalgia heavy of Easter eggs from films, TV shows, games and toys mostly from the 80s and 90s Steven Spielberg said they had a long list but they couldn’t clear all of them but had incredible cooperation from rival studios getting clearance for about 80%. This was previously seen in films Wreck-It Ralph and The Lego Movie and with Warner Bros animated characters joining Disney’s in Who Framed Roger Rabbit thirty years ago.
Most rights-holders were happy to see their properties feature in the Steven Spielberg film, but they couldn’t get rights for Blade Runner sequence as Alcon Entertainment didn’t approve it as they didn’t know if it would benefit Blade Runner 2049 even though It opened almost six months after and Warner Bros released it in the US. They also couldn’t get the rights for to the 1960s Japanese sci-fi TV series Ultraman, replacing it with the robot from the beloved 1999 animated film The Iron Giant. Being made by Warner Bros were able to use many of their properties from DC Comics, Looney Tunes and Mad Max and A Nightmare on Elm Street film franchises.

3. Isle of Dogs – £1,641,509 – NE

After taking £194,905 from previews in 164 screens many of them dog friendly screenings they helped inflate its box office to give Isle of Dogs Wes Anderson’s biggest opening in the UK more than The Grand Budapest Hotel opened March 2014 with £1,532,239 taking £10,978,014 and bigger than his last stop-motion animated film Fantastic Mr Fox opened October 2009 with £1,517,312 taking £8,707,283.
Including Easter Monday it had taken £2.23m

Isle of Dogs opened wide in 472 screens compared with The Grand Budapest Hotel opening in 284 screens adding over 90 screens in its second weekend which saw it drop only 20% but its unlikely Isle of Dogs will expand much further in its second weekend.
While Fantastic Mr Fox opened in October 2009 481 screens the week before half term holidays ad didn’t expand in its second weekend increasing its box office by 2% but it was based on the classic Roald Dahl children’s book so was much more accessible to a wider audience. Isle of Dogs is a much quirkier Wes Anderson film saying that his films perform far stronger in the UK than they do in the US as they have a more platform release.
After generating strong media coverage over recent weeks Isle of Dogs is the perfect antidote to many parents who have had to endure taking their children to see Peter Rabbit over the last few weeks. Being very different to anything else on released attracted an audience that is normally poorly served at Easter as films are mostly targeted to younger audiences.
With his previous films including
Moonrise Kingdom opened in May 2012 with £251,760 taking £1,378,748
The Darjeeling Limited opened November 2007 with £435,198 taking £1,323,698

4. Blockers – £1,349,627 – NE

After taking £416,318 from previews last weekend had a disappointing opening despite receiving positive reviews 87% Rotten Tomatoes opening closer to 2015’s Trainwreck £931,981 and Sisters £1,215,368 (including £734,401 from previews) instead of 2016’s Bad Neighbours 2 £1,691,699 (no previews).
Which would be more expected targetting teen audience rather than Judd Apatow older audiences as it was a female version of Superbad which had a similar sized opening 11 years ago taking £1,484,456 in September 2007 and £6,292,890 but without previews and when ticket prices were more than 50% cheaper. While Bridesmaids opened in June 2011 with £3,445,395 (with £1.03m from previews) taking £23.2m (9^th biggest film of 2011) and Girls Trip opened with £1.55m last July taking £9m.
While their openings might be similar ticket inflation over even the last 5 years means you cannot compare film openings of a few years ago, while of course many of them were also inflated with previews or extended opening weekends.
While American Pie opened October 1999 with £2,094,122 taking £13,833,890 but ticket prices were over 80% less;
Directed by Kay Cannon who previously wrote the screenplay for the three Pitch Perfect films. Blockers is one of only three studios released directed by a woman this year other two Ava DuVernay’s recent A Wrinkle in Time and the dystopian thriller The Darkest Minds, directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson (the first trailer was released last week). She is also only the sixth woman to direct a studio R rated comedy after Amy Heckerling’s Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Tamra Davis’s Half Baked, Nancy Meyers’s It’s Complicated, Sharon Maguire’s Bridget Jones’s Diary, and Lucia Aniello’s Rough Night.
But as other upcoming films featuring women in the leading role there are men heavily involved with the script of Blockers written by men; but they based the script on their personal lives as parents flipping the roles to make the girls being the aggressors signing a sex pact for prom night telling the opposite story that most teen films have.
While Kay Cannon’s Pitch Perfect script mixed gross out with comedy Blockers is not as gross-out as many might have expected while that might have pleased many, it also alienated younger audiences who now expect this from teen comedies.
While I grew up with 80s Porky’s, Bachelor Party, The Sure Thing, Revenge of the Nerds, Risky Business and Fast Times at Ridgemont High that did have elements of gross-out they had a lighter tone to many of the gross-out comedies in recent years. Unlike more recent gross-out comedies American Pie, Road Trip, Sex Drive, Van Wilder, Old School, Superbad, Project X, Hot Tub Time Machine, Bad Neighbours and The House Bunny. Bad Neighbours 2 had this similar issue in 2016 compared with the far more gross-out original film that was released two years earlier.
Blockers was originally called Cherries when the script was acquired in 2012 by the production company and was developed for several years with another director before Kay Cannon sighed in 2015 and then two years later Universal Pictures acquired the film then called The Pact. While Cherries and The Pact weren’t great titles neither was Blockers when you compare it to iconic teen comedies Porky’s, American Pie and Superbad the film needed a much stronger title or eve

5. Black Panther – £1,044,075 – £46,711,648

Down 20.1% in its seventh weekend; only Avengers Assemble and Avengers: Age of Ultron are ahead of Black Panther UK box office of the 18 Marvel Cinematic Universe films.
Seventh weekends:
Avengers Assemble took £676,678 (35.1% less) and £50,338,151 (96.9%) of £51,910,045 total
Avengers Age of Ultron took £341,491 (67.2% less) and £47,795,614 (98.8%) of total £48,332,487
If Black Panther continues to hold as it is doing it will squeeze past Avengers: Age of Ultron. While Black Panther is holding very strong in its seventh weekend for a comic-book movie it is still taking almost 50% less than The Greatest Showman took in its seventh weekend £1,925,895 taking £26,106,298 only 62.9% of its current box office of £41,494,128.
Avengers: Infinity War opens in three weeks’ time advance bookings have been open for a few weeks now and its already Odeon’s fifth biggest advance booking film ever ahead of Avengers: Age of Ultron and Spectre selling one ticket every ten seconds. This weekend is a fan screening of footage from the film being screened but the complete film won’t be screened until its Los Angeles premiere on April 23^rd.
Avengers: Infinity War will have the biggest opening of a Marvel Cinematic Universe film in the UK beating Avengers: Age of Ultron £18,015,774 and Black Panther £17,700,000 (taking £7,190,000 from previews) but is unlikely to have the legs Black Panther has had with Deadpool 2 opening three weeks later and Solo: A Star Wars Story opening four weeks later.
Also released

Entertainment Films – Duck Duck Goose – opened with £653,832 from 453 screens

Studiocanal – Midnight Sun – opened with £163,482 from 273 screens

Studiocanal – Journeyman – opened with £60,249 from 38 screens
Despite receiving strong media coverage with Paddy Considine doing many interviews it is another disappointing opening for a film that had a delayed UK opening after premiering last October at the London Film Festival.
The Florida Project, Brigsby Bear, Stronger, Journey’s End, Battle of the Sexes, Ingrid Goes West, Last Flag Standing, My Generation, A Fantastic Woman, Professor Marston & the Wonder Women, Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool, The Killing of a Sacred Deer and You Were Never Really Here all had disappointing openings after their London Film Festival premieres while Call Me By Your Name, Downsizing, Lady Bird , Three Billboards and The Shape of Water did far better but the London Film Festival can’t take much credit for that.
Wonderstruck, Ghost Stories and Thoroughbreds open this weekend with On Chesil Beach, How to Talk to Girls at Parties, The Breadwinner, Funny Cow, Foxtrot and many more still unreleased theatrically. For years I have questioned the value of the London Film Festival to the industry apart from the parties as the festival comes after Cannes, Venice and Toronto London seems unnecessary. Breathe opening and Three Billboards closing had already received their world premieres a month earlier. The problem as seen with Sony Hacking emails with Sony discussing Fury as being part of the film festival is BFI want complete control of premieres and ticket sales.
UK box office in detail
This weekend’s top 10 box office took £17,838,773 up 54.1% from last weekend £11,575,591
The weekend admissions 2,325,785 up 58.06% from last weekend 1,471,404; as this is now 11th week of 2018 have increased by average ticket price by 2.34% the same as estimate increase in the US which would be £7.67 for 2018; despite 3% inflation in the UK in 2017 UK Cinema Association/BFI are claiming average ticket prices in 2017 was up only 1% to £7.49; in the US inflation for 2017 was only 2% but their average price increased by 3.6%.
14 films opened at weekend taking £9,640,200; Ready Player One took 53.3% (£5,113,041); Isle of Dogs took 17.02% (£1,641,509) Blockers took 13.9% (£1,349,627); remaining 11 films shared 15.9% (£1,536,023): Ready Player One took 28.6% of the top 10.
The weekend was up 22.5% from last year (£14,560,830) Ghost in the Shell £2,300,753, Smurfs: The Lost Village £1,383,059, Free Fire £480,644, Peter Kay’s Car Share: A Second Series Celebration £283,024, Madam Butterfly – Royal Opera, London 2016/17 (Opera) £65,810
Up 34.6% from 2016: (£13,252,091): Eddie the Eagle £2,834,785, Madam Butterfly – Met Opera 2016 (Opera) £421,695,
Next weekend in 2017: (£15,013,493) The Boss Baby £8,025,886, Peppa Pig: My First Cinema Experience £1,050,962, Going in Style £569,392, Table 19 £130,602, Raw £67,042
UK Box office first quarter

As with the US box office for March was down by 28% from last year while box office was slightly up in January and February from last year the first quarter is down 9% on last year £324,628,319 Vs £356,734,417 in 2017.
While Disney might have the biggest film of the year so far with Black Panther but 20th Century Fox have five in the top 15 taking £71.65m (The Greatest Showman has taken £33.6m of its £41.49m in 2018) and is the #1 studio in the first quarter; Disney second £70.56m (Star Wars: The Last Jedi added only £9.49m to 2018 BO);
Disney-Fox combined would have taken £141.21m 43.5% of the 1st quarter box office; showing what a scary prospect those two companies coming together is for the rest of the industry. As they have taken almost as much as Universal Pictures, Sony Pictures, eOne and Warner Bros combined.
Universal Pictures are #3 £58.21m and Sony Pictures #4 with £44.98m (Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle taking £14.56m in 2018); eOne are #5 with £21.87m; Warner Bros #6 with £17m; Studiocanal #7 with £16.42m; STX #8; Paramount #9, Entertainment Films #10
As Easter was two weeks later last year box office might have been up 22.5% from last year but can’t compare the two as this year was boosted by Good Friday and wet weather. But its unlikely the to improve until Avenger: Infinity War opens in three weeks as despite Peter Rabbit doing similar box office to The Boss Baby its unlikely Ready Player One and Rampage will match up to Furious 8 box office
Other news

The Greatest Showman – 20^th Century Fox
After dropping out of the top five last weekend after thirteen weeks The Greatest Showman increased its box office by almost 8% taking £812,202 and £41,494,128 overtaking Les Miserables £40.8m.
In its fourteenth weekend, The Greatest Showman took more than Titanic which took £669,252 in April 1998 in 295 screens. (of course, ticket inflation since Titanic was released is almost 100% so Titanic would have taken about £1.2m today in its fourteenth weekend).
When the film opened in December the film received mixed reviews and little media coverage, but over recent weeks has received much more with many asking why the film has performed so strongly and held so well. For me it has been simple give audiences a film that isn’t trying to be anything it’s not just a popcorn film and to quote Field of Dreams people will come was a similar reason why Jumanji was such a big hit and despite negativity surrounding it Peter Rabbit is too and why many hated The Last Jedi.
Same people who rejected The Greatest Showman probably had similar reaction to Mamma Mia (Odeon bookers famously hated Mamma Mia! and Avatar) these are films that work off an audience not a cynical bunch of critics or film bookers it is fake and doesn’t try to be anything else unlike La La Land which is fake, but critics lapped it up.
Two weeks ago, The Greatest Showman took £1,059,983 in its twelfth weekend while Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle took £42,729 in its thirteenth and Star Wars: The Last Jedi took £186 in its fourteenth. When The Last Jedi opened many of the “experts” were predicting it would have very long legs but none of them thought The Greatest Showman would be the one film of the three still in the top 10 after fourteen weeks.
After dropping down to #2 after 11 weeks at #1 The Greatest Showman soundtrack could return back to #1 this week and This is Me could also be #1 after the both saw sales increases after the song was part of The Real Full Monty: Ladies’ Night on ITV.
UK Box Office Top 10

US Box office

• Warner Bros – Ready Player One

Opens with $41.76m over three days and $53.71m over four days; received 76% Rotten Tomatoes score and A- CinemaScore; 35% of the opening came from 3D
Opening was close to G.I. Joe: Retaliation and Terminator Salvation both also had four-day openings opening on a Thursday; G.I. Joe: Retaliation $40.5m 3 day and $51m 4-day and Terminator Salvation $42.5m 3 day and $55.9m 4 day.
Ready Player One was the first major young adult adaption made since The Hunger Games while it was never likely to open close to those films opening between $102m- $158m as the fanbase was much stronger for The Hunger Games compared to Ready Player One. But being an 80s child, a Steven Spielberg film is still a massive deal far bigger than comic-book movies I thought the combination of the two plus the nostalgic factor of seeing so many of cult favourites in the film would bring bigger audiences.
Instead opened closer to Tron Legacy with $44.1m in December 2010; Tomorrowland with $33.1m in May 2015; Interstellar with $47.5m in November 2014; Oblivion with $37.1m in April 2013; The Last Airbender with $40.3m in July 2010.
Do believe as all other films released over the last six weeks previously Ready Player One has been hurt by the drop-in cinema attendance over the first quarter due to Black Panther cannibalizing the marketplace as Titanic and Avatar did previously. But the difference with those two films is they were more expected while Black Panther was always likely to open bigger than many expected it was expected to hold as other comic-book films have done.
Over the last month was tracking to open with $38m-$42m but after receiving positive reviews since its premiere at SXSW earlier in March the film has been generating positive buzz giving Steven Spielberg his biggest opening in the UK since 2008 with Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
It is Steven Spielberg’s biggest original film since Jurassic Park opened 25 years ago with $47.1m the sequel The Lost World: Jurassic Park opened bigger with $72.1m as did War of the Worlds $64.8m.

It is the tenth biggest opening for a film produced by Steven Spielberg only three of them Jurassic Park 3, Men in Black and Men in Black 2 were made before War of the Worlds.
It is expected to take about $150m in the US which would see it become his 13^th biggest film in the US.
While the opening of Ready Player One was bigger than many of Steven Spielberg films it highlights the way, films have become much more front-loaded over the last 10 years ago. As his popcorn films would have much more modest openings but have very long legs including the first three Indiana Jones films and Jurassic Park.
Ahead of the release of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in 2008 was huge hype and expectation for the fourth film of the Indiana Jones series after the previous three films and had been 19 years since Indiana Jones had rode off into the sunset in The Last Crusade. While Kingdom of the Crystal Skull opened with $100m it was poorly received critically and by fans and was overshadowed by the opening of Iron Man three weeks earlier which took $1m more in the US but far less internationally.
Over the years since Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Steven Spielberg apart from The Adventures of Tintin and The BFG Steven Spielberg has concentrated on more grown up films War Horse, Lincoln, Bridge of Spies and The Post all of which were well received critically and received Oscar nominations. Moved him away from the family blockbuster movie that was his bread and butter Ready Player One is a return to that kind of film, but millennials have moved on to other things.
While an 80s child as I am always sees a Steven Spielberg film as an event and a must see if teens felt the same way Ready Player One would have opened twice as big. As despite the hype around Black Panther it is still just another Marvel Cinematic Universe film.
Ready Player One gives something new as well as the nostalgia element that films including Jurassic World and Star Wars; The Force Awakens gave but while they were just remakes of previous films Ready Player One was much more than that.
While comic-book films bore me now as they all few the same and despite being a huge Star Wars fan the Disney versions are also doing similar as despite the hype and the critical reaction they cannot be compared with previous films.
For all the negativity the Star Wars prequels have justifiably received they still feel like they were offering something new to the Star Wars stories rather than just remaking what came before. With The Force Awakens, a fan remake of A New Hope and The Last Jedi a mishmash of Empire Strikes Back meets Return of the Jedi reversed.
Was surprising after the films Steven Spielberg has been making over the last decade he would choose to go back to Indiana Jones especially after the reaction to the fourth film but maybe he sees it to relaunch his brand on millennials grown up on comic-book movies and annual Star Wars films.
With all the many other projects Steven Spielberg is attached to its sad that he feels a need to return to Indiana Jones as we won’t get to see another Steven Spielberg film now until after Indiana Jones 5 opens in 2020. Harrison Ford will be 77 when the fifth film is released and surely Disney will be looking to do a Star Wars with Indiana Jones using it to launch Indiana Jones Jr Jr was expected from Kingdom of the Crystal Skull after Shia LaBeouf was revealed as his son in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. But Disney will surely ignore the fourth film as many franchises have done in the past.
Steven Spielberg have taken $4.59bn and $9.71bn worldwide
Took $128m internationally (including $61.7m from China) and $181.3m globally.

• Lionsgate – Tyler Perry’s Acrimony

Opens with $17.1m; received 25% Rotten Tomatoes score but A- CinemaScore
Tyler Perry’s 18th film for Lionsgate over the last 13 years and his penultimate film for the studio (his final film A Madea Family Funeral is currently undated to open in the autumn) before his untitled film for Paramount opening in November.
His films continue to “surprise” at the box office due to tracking always seemly having an issue to monitor films targetting non-white audience.
The 17 films have an average opening of $22,048,225 and an average total of $50,824,750 which is exactly what his last film Boo 2! A Madea Halloween took last October opening with $21.22m taking $47.31m. But as Acrimony is an original film and would have been trailered before Black Panther and opens Easter weekend could open bigger $25m+.
The 17 films have taken $864m at the box office as they have budgets under $25m are highly profitable for Lionsgate but still don’t travel well internationally.

• Universal Pictures – Pacific Rim Uprising

Down 67.3% in its second weekend taking $9.2m and $45.67m
The first film dropped 57.1% in its second weekend taking $16.01m and $68.28m 67% of its total box office if Pacific Rim Uprising holds similarly will take $65m+ a third less.
While the original film underwhelmed in the US it opened with $45m in China taking $112m with the sequel opening with $65m (up almost 45% compared with US being 33% down from the first film) close to Black Panther’s opening two weeks ago.
Took $31.4m over the weekend internationally and $186.6m total and $232.3m globally; Pacific Rim took $309.2m internationally and $411m globally.
Opened taking $122.5m internationally and $150.3m worldwide

• Disney – Black Panther

Down 32.8% in its seventh weekend taking $11.48m and $650.92m total; will likely end with about $690m.
It will shortly overtake both Jurassic World and Titanic to become the third biggest film in the US.
Had the seventh biggest seventh weekend in the US after Avatar, Titanic, The Passion of the Christ, Frozen, The Blind Side and Mrs. Doubtfire just ahead of E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial in July 1982 (average ticket prices were over 200% cheaper); Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle was only $500k less in its seventh weekend and The Greatest Showman $4m less.
Took $7.7m over the weekend internationally $623.2m total internationally and $1.273.9bn worldwide currently #11 biggest film globally and third biggest Marvel Cinematic Universe film internationally behind The Avengers and Avenger: Age of Ultron overtaking Iron Man 3 over the weekend.
Will be the first MCU film since Iron Man 2 in 2010 to take less internationally compared to US showing how wider its played to audiences in the US compared with more traditional comic-book fans internationally.
While Black Panther is the biggest Marvel Cinematic Universe film in the US it will be the fifth biggest internationally behind Avengers: Age of Ultron, Marvel’s The Avengers, Captain America: Civil War and Iron Man 3 performing close to Thor: Ragnarok and Spider-Man: Homecoming. Avengers: Infinity War will as the previous two Avengers films take more internationally than the US.
Marvel Cinematic Universe films have taken $5.92bn in the US and $14.7bn over the last 10 years globally with Avengers: Infinity War opening later this month with advance bookings already outselling Black Panther and is likely to take over $1.5bn+ globally but will be much more front-loaded than Black Panther.

• Paramount Pictures – Sherlock Gnomes

Down 34% in its second weekend taking $7.01m and $22.82m;
Gnomeo & Juliet dropped only 24.5% in its second weekend taking $19.15m and $50.17m going on to take $99.96m Sherlock Gnomes will be lucky to take half.
Last week a Paramount executive spoke about the reasoning behind releasing The Cloverfield Paradox on Netflix without a theatrical release was due to it not having commercial playability (the same reason behind Annihilation being released on Netflix internationally) but the same could be said for many other films including Sherlock Gnomes that were released theatrically.
It took $2.5m internationally with a total of $8m

• Warner Bros – Tomb Raider

Down 51.3% in its third weekend taking $4.92m taking $50.71m; holding close to 2003’s Tomb Raider sequel.
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider dropped 48.4% in 2001 with $10.21m taking $101.6m
Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life dropped 54.2% in 2003 with $5.22m taking $53.71m.
Tomb Raider has been one of several films cannibalized by Black Panther opening seven weeks ago while normally success breeds success Black Panther as Avatar and Titanic squeezed the box office from films opening after it. Has seen only two other films squeeze past $100m barrier this year Peter Rabbit and Fifty Shades Freed compared to last year were seven (Beauty and the Beast, Logan, Get Out, Split, The Lego Batman Movie, Fifty Shades Darker, Kong: Skull Island).
Last year had 10 (Split, The LEGO Batman Movie, Fifty Shades Darker, John Wick: Chapter Two, Get Out, Logan, Kong: Skull Island, Beauty and the Beast, Power Rangers and The Boss Baby films opening with more than $30m in the first 12 weeks this year currently Fifty Shades Freed, Black Panther and A Wrinkle in Time and this weekend Ready Player One will also of opened with $30m+. Have only been five weeks including this weekend a film has taken $40m+ and four of them was for Black Panther highlighting how it has cannibalized the marketplace.
Took $12m internationally from 66 territories $194.6m internationally and $245.1m worldwide; Lara Croft: Tomb Raider took $274m globally in 2001 and Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life took $156m globally in 2003.
Have been a few murmurings of a possible sequel as so many wannabe franchises the ending sets up a sequel but as so often producers are too busy trying to set up the franchise they loose touch with making the first film as self-contained and good enough to warrant one.

• 20^th Century Fox – Love, Simon

Down 37.3% in its third weekend with $4.76m taking $32.1m
Has already started dropping screens in its third weekend despite the strong buzz and word of mouth showing the problem studios have trying to release these smaller films that need time to find their audiences, but exhibitors are always far too quick to put them.
As with earlier in the year the marketplace is very crowded with the bottom four films in the top ten with just over $1m between them.

• Disney – A Wrinkle in Time

Down 43.9% in its fourth weekend taking $4.94m and $83.25m;
Holding better than Disney’s last original film The BFG which took $1.1m in its fourth weekend taking $50.9m of final of $55.48m and slightly better than 2015’s Tomorrowland which dropped 51.5% in its fourth weekend taking $3.49m and $81.68m going on to take $93.43m similar is likely for A Wrinkle in Time.
2013’s The Lone Ranger dropped 61.5 taking $1.68m and $85.32m taking $89.3m
2012’s John Carter dropped 60% taking $2.02m and $66.23m taking $73.07m
Took $4.8m over the weekend internationally taking $21.1m and $104.4m globally;
While A Wrinkle in Time is holding close to many of Disney’s recent original films predictably internationally is where its suffering far much more compared with their other films John Carter took $284m internationally, The Lone Ranger $260.5m and Tomorrowland $209.1m. As there was always going to be far less interest for the film internationally why it made no sense to delay its international release. In the UK dropped only 40% but the damage was already done.
Opened on limited release

• Fox Searchlight – Isle of Dogs

Up 74% in its second weekend adding 138 screens taking $2.81m and $5.91m; just missing out of being in the top 10 by $500,000 but this weekend expands to 500 screens and then further next weekend which should see it entering the top 10.
In its second weekend, The Grand Budapest Hotel climbed into the top 10 to #8 in only 66 screens taking $3,638,041; it stayed in the top 10 for 5 weeks climbing up to 6 when it played in almost 1,000 screens; went on to take $59,301,324.
After two weeks in 4 screens, Fantastic Mr Fox expanded into 2,033 screens in its third weekend taking $6,965,267 climbing into the top 10 staying only one week before taking $21,002,919.

Moonrise Kingdom took three weeks to climb into the top 10 playing in only 98 screens drifting out for a week before returning for another 5 weeks expanding to a maximum of 924 screens taking $45,512,466.
The Darjeeling Limited never managed to get into the top 10 at its widest played in only 698 screens taking $11,902,715.
Wes Anderson’s nine films have taken $237.8m at the US box office (taking $456m globally with The Grand Budapest Hotel his biggest film taking $175m) averaging $26.4m.
Despite his films not being hugely successful as Paul Thomas Anderson studios like making his films but will be interesting to see if Disney will be so happy to do so when they acquire 20th Century Fox. Disney has said they have no plans to change Fox Searchlight but I’m sure they will be more box office driven than artist driven as Fox Searchlight has been since it launched in 1994.
Other box office news
Having taken $678,717 in its 15^th weekend Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle is now less than $1m away from becoming Sony Pictures biggest ever release in the US overtaking Spider-Man.
Opening UK
UK Box Office Predictions

After having previews on Easter Monday and opening on Thursday A Quiet Place has a five day opening weekend which could challenge Ready Player One for second place. With the two days of previews, A Quiet Place could have an inflated opening of up to £3m taking about £1.8m over its opening 3 days.
Ready Player One will likely drop up to 50% from its opening 5-day weekend taking about £2.8m. Hard to compare with previous Steven Spielberg films the BFG dropped 36% but was targetting a younger audience. While Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull dropped over 67% in its second weekend because of poor word of mouth Ready Player One has been far more positive.
Must go back to Minority Report in 2002 dropping 47% and Catch Me if You Can down 39% in their second weekends but they had the star power of tom Cruise and Leonardo DiCaprio for Ready Player One its all about the Steven Spielberg brand.
Word of mouth will be key for the holds for Isle of Dogs and Blockers, Isle of Dogs had a strong opening is the only film targetting older audiences and Wes Anderson films normally hold well. While Blockers despite good reviews had a disappointing opening and the question is similarly with Love, Simon which also received very positive reviews how mainstream audiences will respond.
While it was a surprising decision by Lionsgate to release British horror Ghost Stories the same weekend as A Quiet Place after it premiered at the London Film Festival six months ago.
Opening UK

• A Quiet Place – Paramount Pictures

Horror starring John Krasinski and Emily Blunt and directed by John Krasinski; premiered at SXSW on March 9^th received positive reviews.
The film has received a PG-13 in the US but is a 15 in the UK while blockbusters including Spectre (was cut in post to get a 12A), Jurassic World and Star Wars: The Force Awakens were also rated PG-13 they received the lower 12A certificate but the BBFC received many complaints over those films receiving 12A certificate.
Films like A Quiet Place are borderline 12A films will be pushed up to get a 15 certificate this is due to BBFC guidelines being changed in 2014 after The Woman in Black received 134 complaints after it received a 12A in 2012. The Woman in Black was Daniel Radcliffe’s first film after Harry Potter so attracted a younger audience. While The Woman in Black didn’t have the gore of other horror films tonally it was similar to 2001’s The Others but still terrifying for many younger viewers.
Had preview screenings on Easter Monday (taking about £500k) before opening Thursday to give it a five-day opening weekend which could see its inflated opening of u to £3m with another £400k+ likely to be taken from Thursday previews. Which would give it an opening close to recent horrors Annabelle 2 £1.96m, Get Out £2.16m and Split £2.54m.
Many have thought A Quiet Place could have been an alternative universe Cloverfield film while the previous films The Cellar and God Particle became 10 Cloverfield Lane and Cloverfield Paradox in post A Quiet Place feels like it also belongs in the same universe.

• Ghost Stories – Lionsgate

Horror starring Andy Nyman and Martin Freeman co-directed by Andy Nyman and Jeremy Dyson adapted from their stage play; premiered at the London Film Festival in October receiving positive reviews currently has a 100% Rotten Tomatoes score.
Based on the stage play which ran first in Liverpool and then London between 2010 and 2011 written by Jeremy Dyson who also wrote the cult TV series The League of Gentlemen and the spinoff film The League of Gentlemen’s Apocalypse which opened in June 2005 with £555,996 taking £1,330,726.
To celebrate April Fool’s Day on Sunday Lionsgate created posters featuring 13 deliberate mistakes asking people to share the mistakes on Twitter via the hashtag #WhatDoYouSee intended to show the tricks that our minds play on us.
After premiering at the London Film Festival it’s surprising that Lionsgate opted to open it against another horror and like so many of these films is unlikely to find much of an audience and would be far better off on a streaming service.
13 years after The League of Gentlemen’s Apocalypse opened with £555,996 Ghost Stories will be lucky if it got close to it despite average ticket prices are over 60% more than they were in 2005. Back then there was room in the market for a film like this but now as with so many of the other films that premiered at the London Film Festival its unlikely to find an audiences despite the positive reviews.

• Love, Simon – 20^th Century Fox

Romantic comedy-drama starring Nick Robinson, Josh Duhamel, and Jennifer Garner and directed by Greg Berlanti based on the novel Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli; received 91% Rotten Tomatoes score critics with many comparing it to the romantic comedy-drama films of John Hughes; received UK premiere at BFI Flare Film Festival on March 25^th.
It has been described as the first major studio release to centre on the same sex romance with many saying it’s a more inclusive teen film that could help revitalise the genre as Clueless did in the 90s as teen films since have either gone dystopian The Hunger Games or gross-out Bad Neighbours and Super Bad.
Opening a week after Blockers which is much more your typical teen rom-com instead of before as it did in the US could harm its box office potential despite generating strong buzz after having a strong talker screening program.
Greg Berlanti produced teen drama Dawson’s Creek (currently celebrating its 20^th anniversary) and is currently producing the DC TV shows Arrow, The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow and Supergirl along with crime drama Riverdale.
As with many young adult films Love, Simon has generated strong coverage on social media but the problem with most young adult adaptations this doesn’t translate into box office.
In Singapore, the film has been given a R21 meaning no one under 21 will be allowed to see it. The Infocomm Media Development Authority’s classification information reason for the rating is due to the film’s “homosexual theme” for its rating. 12,000 people have signed a petition asking the IMDA to give the film a NC16 instead; it received a 12A in the UK and a PG-13 in the US.
Young adult films have had a mixed performance at the box office in recent years
Paper Towns opened August 2015 with £2,072,789 (including £1,328,805 from previews), Me & Earl & the Dying Girl opened September 2015 with £431,726 but a year earlier The Fault in Our Stars opened with £3,433,575 (including £992,894 from previews) and Everything, Everything (also starring Nick Robinson) opened with £453,401 in August 2017.
But of course, all of these were straight rom-coms but 12 years ago Brokeback Mountain opened with £987,261 crossing over into mainstream audiences taking £9,469,032

• The Hurricane Heist – Sky Cinema

Heist action starring Toby Kebbell, Maggie Grace, Ryan Kwanten, Melissa Bolona and Ralph Ineson and directed by Rob Cohen.
Sky Cinema’s second film they are releasing theatrically simultaneously with its premiere on Sky Cinema but as their first film Monster Family it’s likely that no major exhibitors will be booking the film; Monster Family has taken £328,014 opening with £126,235 from 132 screens.

• Thoroughbred – Universal Pictures

Black comedy thriller starring Olivia Cooke, Anya Taylor-Joy, Anton Yelchin, Paul Sparks and Francie Swift and written and directed by Cory Finley; had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival receiving positive reviews and had a limited release in the US on March 9, 2018 and will have a limited release in the UK.

• Wonderstruck – Studiocanal UK

Mystery drama starring Oakes Fegley, Julianne Moore, Michelle Williams, and Millicent Simmonds and directed by Todd Haynes based on the novel by Brian Selznick; premiered at the Cannes Film Festival receiving a three-minute standing ovation and has a 69% Rotten Tomatoes score.
It was one of several films that have been released over the last month that received their UK premiere in October at the London Film Festival opening five months later. (Ghost Stories and Thoroughbreds also opening this weekend received their UK premieres at the London Film Festival) Never understand the logic of premiering a film at the London Film Festival if it won’t be released for several months as have to double up with their marketing bring talent together twice as the most successful festival releases are released within weeks of their opening Captain Philips, Fury and The Imitation Game opened weeks after their premiere using the premiere and its free media coverage generated as part of its marketing campaign.
For smaller films like Wonderstruck, Ghost Stories, Thoroughbreds, On Chesil Beach, Wonderstruck, Ghost Stories, How to Talk to Girls at Parties, The Breadwinner, Funny Cow, You Were Never Really Here, Journey’s End and My Generation the media coverage they will generate is far more limited as is their potential box office so makes much more sense to open closer to their premiere. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and The Shape of Water also premiered at the Lindon Film Festival and opened over three months later but their London Film Festival premiere were just part of their global award campaign launch.
Opening in the US

• A Quiet Place – Paramount Pictures

Since premiering at SXSW last month, the film has received positive reviews currently 100% Rotten Tomatoes and strong buzz.
Its John Krasinski third film the first two were very small independent films Brief Interviews with Hideous Men took $27,935 and The Hollars taking $1,016,985; he is better known as actor starring in US TV series The Office for nine series and will soon appear in the TV series Jack Ryan based on the Tom Clancy novels. In A Quiet Place, he stars alongside his wife Emily Blunt.
Actors have often starred with their partners in films famously Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman met on Days of Thunder in 1990 and then starred together in 1992’s Far and Away and 1999’s Eyes Wide Shut but divorced two years later. Madonna starred with Sean Penn, Shanghai Surprise in 1986 but then split in 1989, Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger married in 1993 and starred in The Getaway in 1994 and split several years later, Courteney Cox and David Arquette meet in Scream married before the release of the third film and split up after the fourth film was released. While Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie met on the set of Mr. and Mrs Smith but then Angelina Jolie directed him in 2015’s By the Sea and they separated soon after its release. After a very disappointing slate of films over the last few years, it is the first Paramount release since Jim Gianopulos became Chairman of Paramount Pictures last year.
Over the last year the studio has been putting together their strongest slate of films for over 10 years (before Marvel) with Book Club, Action Point, Mission: Impossible: Fallout, Overlord, Untitled Tyler Perry film and Bumblebee all set for release this year. While 2019 has Eli, What Men Want, Instant Family, Rhythm Section, Amusement Park, Pet Sematary, Top Gun: Maverick, Terminator reboot, Dora the Explorer, Gemini Man, Are You Afraid of the Dark? and Sonic The Hedgehog probably their biggest and strongest slate since 2011.
It’s the first major horror since Insidious: The Last Key opened in January with $29.5m
Being a PG-13 it is much more accessible to the teen audience than recent horrors IT and Get Out opened with $33.3m in February 2017 while Split opened $40.1m in January 2017.
With the strong buzz and reviews is tracking to open between $20m-$30m; the only thing that is stopping it is same as all films that have opened since Black Panther.

• Blockers – Universal Pictures

Comedy starring stars Leslie Mann, Ike Barinholtz, John Cena, Kathryn Newton, Graham Phillips and June Diane Raphael and directed by Kay Cannon; premiered at SXSW on March 10th receiving positive reviews.
Produced by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg comparisons can be made with 2014’s Neighbours also premiered at SXSW before opening several months later and was a massive success, but the sequel was released two years later which didn’t do nearly so well.
The film was acquired by Universal Pictures in January 2017 then being called The Pact but the spec script was first acquired in 2012 by Good Universe then called Cherries. (was on the 2012 Black List also on the list included screenplays for Draft Day, Story of Your Life (Arrival), Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, The Keeping Room, The Judge, Hell or High Water, Whiplash, The Fault in Our Stars, JoJo Rabbit, The Equalizer, Transcendence, Almanac (Project Almanac), White House Down, The Cellar (10 Cloverfield Lane), The Counsellor, Olympus Has Fallen, The Current War and Untitled Cops Script (Let’s Be Cops).
Kay Cannon signed to direct the film shortly after Pitch Perfect 2 opened in November 2015. Jon Hurwitz & Hayden Schlossberg were previously attached to direct the film previously directed Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay and American Reunion.
Has been predicted to open between $13m-$21m which would be close to Leslie Mann last film 2016’s How to Be Single opening with $17.8m, 2015’s Sisters $13.9m, Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising $21.7m, Pitch Perfect 3 $19.9m and 1999’s American Pie $18.7m.
But then Superbad opened with $33.1m in August 2007 and Trainwreck $30.1m in 2015.

• Chappaquiddick – Entertainment Studios

Drama starring Jason Clarke, Kate Mara, Ed Helms, Bruce Dern, Jim Gaffigan, and Taylor Nichols and directed by John Curran; premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival receiving positive reviews.