Top 5 Breakdown

1. The Greatest Showman – £2,201,523 – £23,226,869

Up 7.79% in its sixth weekend after expanding into IMAX screens for one week only and sing-along screenings begin February 23d.

The Greatest Showman has become the 19^th biggest film of 2017 and 20^th Century Fox’s fifth biggest film of 2017 behind The Boss Baby, Kingsman: The Golden Circle, Murder on the Orient Express and Logan overtaking the later three this week to become their biggest live-action 2017 film; depending on how it holds against Fifty Shades Freed and Black Panther it could overtake La La Land’s £30.4m becoming 20^th Century Fox’s biggest film of 2017.

Six weeks ago, The Greatest Showman opened third with £2,575,147 (taking £2,178,902 from previews) behind Star Wars: The Last Jedi £7,975,174, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle £5,210,725 and ahead of Pitch Perfect 3 £2,322,065; Pitch Perfect 3 dropped out of the top 10 after 5 weeks, The Last Jedi after 6 weeks and Jumanji; Welcome to the Jungle probably after 6 weeks as The Greatest Showman outlasts all of them.

20^th Century Fox is claiming that by the end of the week The Greatest Showman will be the highest grossing film of 2018 which must be for 2018 box office.

After receiving average reviews most expected it to quickly drop down the chart but then something surprising happened audience reaction was very positive, and word of mouth helped it drop only 6% in its second weekend, down 11% in its third weekend, down 2% in its fourth weekend, down 3% in its fifth weekend and now up 9% in its sixth weekend.

The last film that did similar is Arthur Christmas in November 2011 (had a 92% Rotten Tomatoes score) after opening in second became #1 after four weeks on release. But The Greatest Showman hold is far more impressive.

After opening in third it drops down to fourth and climbed up to #1 this week for all its six weeks on release it has taken over £2m more weeks than Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Spectre, Jurassic World, Toy Story 3 and since Paddington in 2014 but had 98% Rotten Tomatoes score and being a children’s film most of its box office was at the weekend. The last adult film to take £2m+ for 6 weeks was Skyfall in 2012.

The stronghold of The Greatest Showman is comparable to the strongholds of sleeper hits in the 90s and 00s Four Weddings and a Funeral, The Full Monty and Billy Elliot. They had the Brit factor with strong buzz ahead of their release, but none were expected to be the successes they were to be.

As I have said many times critics were surprisingly snobbish about the film compared with how they swooned over La La Land many called The Greatest Showman fake, but La La Land is a memberries movie about the Hollywood musicals with classic dance sequences copied. While The Greatest Show say what it is on the tin doesn’t try to be anything it’s not why audiences have enjoyed it far more.

10 years ago, Mamma Mia was released Odeon bookers hated it, but cinemagoers loved it as was a real crowd-pleaser as The Greatest Showman was too but of course Mamma Mia had the advantage being based on the hugely successful musical and classic Abba music which saw it open with £6,594,058 July 11st 2008 #1, down 31% w/e 2 £4,561,109 (holding #1 against Wall-E £4,253,736), down 38% w/e 3 £2,830,207 (losing #1 to The Dark Knight £11,191,824), up 12% w/e 4 £3,167,377, down 12% w/e 5 £2,803,272 down #3, down 21% w/e 6 £2,208,482 up #2, down 17% w/e 7 £1,837,577.

The film’s soundtrack is still #1 in the UK selling 17,429 copies looking to remain #1 for five weeks ahead of Justin Timberlake’s Man of The Woods; singles This is Me #12, Rewrite the Stars #19, the Greatest Show #21, a Million Dreams #29, The Other Side #34, Come Alive #37, from Now On #38.

20th Century Fox over recent years has been one of the most consistent studios at the box office while not having the huge megamovie successes that Disney and Warner have had but have had many strong performers that have targeted adult demographic who are much more loyal with their cinemagoing.

While of course, not these films were as successful as many expected as Battle of the Sexes, Goodbye Christopher Robin, My Cousin Rachel, Alien: Covenant, War for the Planet of the Apes and Captain Underpants should have performed better given the reviews received but opened against bigger competition and crowded marketplaces.

This year should have been more of the same, but now lives in the shadows of being acquired by Disney next year and the concerns of what will remain of the 82-year-old studio. 2018 started strongly with the Oscar-nominated Three Billboards now taking over £9m and The Shape of Water opening in two weeks both are favourite to win BAFTAs and Oscars. In March Jennifer Lawrence spy thriller Red Sparrow, Brit comedy Walk Like a Panther, Wes Anderson’s Isle of Dogs and Steven Soderbergh’s Unsane shows how varied their slate is compared with their rivals. With Deadpool 2, Alita: Battle Angel, The Predator, The Darkest Minds, Bad Times At the El Royale, Dark Phoenix, Widows and Bohemian Rhapsody.

The big question will be what happens with their slate from 2019 onwards with their Marvel films to become part of the MCU and Blue Sky Studios likely to be sold off. Will 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight become labels within Disney as Marvel, Pixar and Lucasfilm making half a dozen films a year filling the void left from Touchstone Pictures and Miramax Films.

On Sunday after much hype and speculation the film adverts for the Super Bowl were released and what we saw was just a rehash of previous instalments or remakes of other films. Skyscraper is Die Hard remake to celebrate the films 30th anniversary, Solo: A Star Wars Story is Rogue One meets Guardians of the Galaxy, Mission Impossible Fallout is the greatest hit of Ethan Hunt as Jason Bourne was a few years ago.

Seeing all of these trailers you understand why The Greatest Showman was the success it was as it wasn’t trying to be anything it wasn’t while these other films are surrounded by hype open big but are just hollow inside nothing new to see and will drop heavily.

2. Coco – £1,651,929 – £10,221,949

Down 28.66% in its third weekend holding close to Big Hero 6 which took £1.84m in its third weekend and £9.86m taking £3.72m over half term holidays and went on to take £19.34m.

Disney’s most recent Moana after three weeks took £1.42m and £6.83m but didn’t have weekend previews.

If Coco holds close to Big Hero 6 over the next few weeks, it should take close to both Coco and Moana and take £20m+.

Neither Coco or Early Man will get close to the total box office of last years Sing £29.17m and The Lego Batman Movie taking £27.43m but was neither were likely to do so.

3. Darkest Hour – £1,638,984 – £18,682,098

Down 38.66% in its fourth weekend more than double last weekend which was surprising as Phantom Thread was the only new release targeting similar demographics.

After four weeks

Les Miserables in January 2013 took £2,785,143 and total £30,137,493 (74.17% of final box office of £40.63m)

12 Years a Slave in January 2014 took £1,422,066 and total £13,693,375 (67.94% of final box office of £20.15m)

The Theory of Everything in January 2015 took £1,588,737 and total of £14,739,154 (68.63% of final box office of £21.46m)

The Revenant in January 2016 took £1,213,805 and total £18,350,699 (79.43% of final box office of £23.1m)

La La Land in January 2017 took £1,807,593 and total of £24,517,773 – (77.28 of final box office of £30.42m

If Darkest Hour continues to hold as it is final box office with the Brit boost could to £27.3m;

As BAFTA awards are a week later than normal they could give award winners an extra boost but over that weekend BAFTA favourites Lady Bird and The Shape of Water finally open while Darkest Light and Three Billboards will both be in their sixth week of release.

4. Early Man – £1,502,262 – £3,928,482

Down 25.62% its second weekend as with Coco both now positioned well for half-term holidays that begin next Monday for the next two weeks.

Shaun The Sheep Movie took similar £1,736,986 in its second weekend taking £4,370,805 ahead of the half-term weekend but this year are still a week away from the school holidays so will likely take a similar total of £14.76m taking £3.56m from half-term holidays in 2015.

Aardman Animations normally have very long legs Arthur Christmas opened November 2011 with £2,112,516 opening #2 taking a very impressive £20,838,301 climbing up to #1 after four weeks dropping down #2 for two weeks and returning #1 at Christmas #1. The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists opened in March 2012 with £2,176,195 taking £16,007,789.

5. Maze Runner: The Death Cure – £1,350,666 – £4,321,683

Down 39.91% in its second weekend close to The Maze Runner second weekend dropping 24% £1,458,300 taking £4,364,748 of final box office of £8,840,387 and The Maze Runner: Scorch Trials dropped 38% £1,510,494 taking £5,186,272 of final box office of £8,669,049

While the first two films opened during the quiet time of year for teen films the third film faces Black Panther next week which is probably the release 20^th Century Fox brought forward the release forward two weeks to avoid it.

20^th Century Fox next young adult film adaption is The Darkest Minds the first part of book series written by Alexandra Bracken starring Amandla Stenberg, Harris Dickinson, Mandy Moore.

Young adult film adaptions often get strong social media interaction but often this doesn’t cross over into box office as The Golden Compass, Lemony Snicket, Ender’s Game, Mortal Instruments, City of Ember and Beautiful Creature. Studios keep hoping one of these might become the next Twilight or The Hunger Games while The Maze Runner trilogy hasn’t gotten close to either of those film series they have had decent box office performance and even the third film with the enforced year delay the trilogy will of taken over $900m worldwide.

also released

STX International – Den of Thieves – £1,082,560

Gerald Butler continues to surprise at the box office after both Olympus Has Fallen opened in April 2013 with £2.25m taking £6.1m and London Has Fallen opened with £3.19m in March 2016 taking £10.97m despite poor reviews.

Despite being released in a crowded marketplace Den of Thieves was helped opening over a quiet weekend for new releases and being an alternative to everything else was currently on release but of course, with Black Panther released next Tuesday unlikely to stay in the chart for long.

Two weeks ago, The Commuter opened with £1.6m failing to get into the top 5

Den of Thieves had STX International their biggest opening in the UK after Wind River opened with £0.25m, Home Again £0.17m and Breathe £0.16m.

For STX after the openings of their first three films it’s a strong opening but as 70 films opening with £1m+ in 2017, it’s no longer a sign of a successful opening. Which is just like. many still believe £10m+ is a successful performance for a film in the UK both were 20 years ago now it’s more than double.

Saying that Den of Thieves £1m+ opening must be put into perspective for what is best a Heat remake was a strong opening close to Tom Cruise’s American Made and bigger than Rings which opened the same weekend last year.

Upcoming films from STX including Gringo, Adrift, I Feel Pretty, The Happytime Murders, American Animals, Peppermint, Second Act and The Red Sea Diving Resort and announced this week they will release Robert Zemeckis produced action film Street Soldier.

Universal Pictures – Phantom Thread – opened £727,104 from 196 screens; taking £70,000 from previews including special preview screening m January 31st at the Royal Festival Hall featuring soundtrack performed live by the London Contemporary Orchestra.

Inherent Vice opened January 2015 with £360k The Master opened ‘wide’ in November 2012 with £372k and his Oscar-winning There Will Be Blood opened ‘wide’ in February 2008 with £540k;

Paul Thomas Anderson shot Phantom Thread in 65mm and is being screened exclusively in 70mm at the Picturehouse Central. While many directors are still choosing to shoot their film on film few have the power or influence to demand the film to be released on film. Last year Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk was released in 70mm IMAX, Kenneth Branagh’s Murder on the Orient Express was shown in 70mm at the Odeon Leicester Square and Star Wars The Last Jedi in 70mm IMAX at the Science Museum.

Lionsgate – Winchester – £372,759 from 336 screens opening close to last years The Limehouse Golem £0.36m

Lionsgate – Journey’s End – £123,727 from 94 screens had a disappointing opening after receiving positive reviews but these films find it very hard to find an audience any time of the year but more so around award season. As the 100^th anniversary of the Spring Offensive is March 21^st surprising its opening wasn’t close to the anniversary? Saul Dibb’s last film was Suite Française opened March 2015 with £500,850.

Sony Pictures – Roman Israel Esq. – £22,193 from 96 screens after flopping in the US last year was always unlikely to find an audience in the UK even after Denzel Washington received a surprise Best Actor Oscar nomination; the opening was close to Denzel Washington’s Fences also Oscar-nominated opening with £0.21m last February.

In August Denzel Washington stars in his first ever sequel The Equalizer 2; it was surprising Sony Pictures are making a sequel to The Equalizer as the original wasn’t a huge success taking £8.23m in the UK and $192m worldwide and Denzel Washington doesn’t like making sequels.

UK box office in detail

This weekend’s top 10 box office took £12,874,781 down 50.12% from last weekend £25,816,418

The weekend admissions 1,718,929 down 25.62% from last weekend 2,311,317; 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%. Ahead of the release of The Last Jedi I checked the price of over 230 major exhibitor’s cinemas first 2D screening and average was £11.61 less than 10% had tickets of £7.49 or under;

While I might seem to be overly critical of my comments about the industry it is due to the industry’s own fake news which was like ComScore reporting UK and Ireland box office for 2017 was up 3.6% the key part of that was the inclusion of Ireland as UK box office alone was only up 2.48% from £1.246bn to £1.277bn.

14 films opened at weekend taking £2,536,880; Phantom Thread 28.66% (£727,104); Den of Thieves 42.67% (£1,082,560); remaining 12 films shared 28.66% (££727,216)

The weekend was down 4.57% from last year (£13,491,421): Rings £812,267, Resident Evil 6 £463,691, Gold £406,399, Loving £236,147, Toni Erdmann £157,688

Up 24.84% from 2016: (£10,312,748): Goosebumps £2,686,105, Dad’s Army £2,077,942, Point Break £421,818, Trumbo £146,105

Next weekend in 2017: (£22,550,899) The LEGO Batman Movie £7,906,468, Fifty Shades Darker £7,557,485, The Space Between Us £258,401, Fences £102,688, 20th Century Women £60,203

UK Box Office Top 10

US Box Office Top 10

US Box office

• Sony Pictures – Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle

Down 24% in its sixth weekend taking $10.93m and $352.57m;

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle is now the third biggest Sony Pictures film in the US and has become their biggest film that is not a Spider-Man film; Jumanji should take over $400m which will see it overtake Spider-Man 2 $373.58m and Spider-Man $403.7m to become their biggest ever fil at the US box office.

Jumanji took $12.6m internationally $503.1m total and $855.7m worldwide; Jumanji is now the #60 biggest film globally having overtaken Thor: Ragnarok and The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 and will shortly overtake Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Jumanji is still to open in Japan in April with some thinking it could get close to $900m which would see it overtake Spider-Man: Homecoming, Spectre and Spider-Man 3

After recently announced mega-mergers of AT&T/Warner Bros and Disney/Fox and rumoured CBS/Viacom merger its rumoured Sony Pictures could be in play again selling or merging Sony Pictures after best profits in their 72-year history as Sony Pictures have previously said they needed to get bigger to survive.

Jumanji is Sony Pictures 5th biggest film worldwide and could overtake Spider-Man: Homecoming, Spectre and Spider-Man 3 over the coming weeks to become their second biggest film globally behind Skyfall depending on how it holds against Black Panther.

Sony has announced Jumanji 2 for December 2019 release it is still not yet confirmed who will take Bond 25 internationally if Sony Pictures were to hold on to international for the next James Bond film and international is far more lucrative than US with the four James Bond films they have released over the last 12 years having taken almost £300m alone in the UK.

• 20^th Century Fox – Maze Runner: The Death Cure

Down 38% in its second weekend taking $10.47m and $40.03m.

The Maze Runner took $17.43m in its second weekend down 46.4% and $57.95m total (59.6% of its total box office of $102.4m)

The Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials took $14.2m in its second weekend down 52.9% and $51.95m total (63.6% of its total box office of $81.69m)

If Maze Runner: The Death Cure holds close to The Scorch Trials will end up with $60m+; the two previous films performed far stronger internationally taking over 70% of its global box office The Maze Runner took $348.3m and The Scorch Trials took $312.3m globally; took $35.2m international with total of $142.9m

• Lionsgate – Winchester

Opened with $9.3m; received B- CinemaScore and 13% Rotten Tomatoes score so unlikely to stay on the chart for long.

Over recent years the Super Bowl weekend has been a poor weekend for the box office and new releases last year the long-delayed Rings opened with $13m and The Space Between Us $3.77m; in 2016 Hail, Caesar! Opened with 411.35m The Choice $6.05m and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies $5.32m; in 2015 Project Almanac $8.31m; in 2014 That Awkward Moment $8.74m and Labour Day $5.17m;

But it wasn’t always the case as 2013 Warm Bodies opened with $20.35m; in 2012 Chronicle $22m and The Woman in Black $20.87m; in 2010 Dear John $30.46m; in 2009 Taken $24.71m;

• 20th Century Fox – The Greatest Showman

Dropped only 19.4% in its seventh weekend taking $7.69m and $137.37m

It is now the seventh biggest musical film in the US overtaking Enchanted and Into the Woods and will shortly overtake, Mamma Mia, Les Miserables and La La Land.

Its holding stronger than last year’s La La Land which had 92% Rotten Tomatoes compared to only 55% for The Greatest Showman and only has been nominated for Best Original Song; after 7 weeks of La La Land going wide it took $4.94m and $125.95m; 83% of final box office of $151m if The Greatest Showman held similarly would take over $160m overtaking La La Land and could possible overtake $170.68m of Chicago to become the third biggest musical behind Beauty and the Beast. Grease and becoming the highest grossing original musical at the US box office.

The Greatest Showman took $16.2m over the weekend and $153m internationally taking over $256m worldwide.

In July Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again! Opens from the trailers it looks a repeat very much of the first film which opened exactly 10 years early but will magic strike twice and get close to $144m of the original.

In October the long in development remake of A Star is Born starring Lady Gaga and directed by Bradley Cooper was original to star Beyoncé and be directed by Clint Eastwood and then opening at Christmas is Mary Poppins Returns opening only 52 years after the original was released. In 2019 Wicked based on the hit Broadway musical and Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story remake.

• 20^th Century Fox – The Post

Dropped 42.7% in its seventh weekend taking $5.21m and $67.2m;

After fourth weeks wide is holding close to 2015’s Bridge of Spies fourth weekend taking $5.83m and $54.72m total (75.67% of the total of $72.31m); will overtake Bridge of Spies this week to become Steven Spielberg’s biggest film since 2010’s Lincoln.

Steven Spielberg is currently casting his long in development Wes Side Story remake but hasn’t yet confirmed if it will e his next film before starting to shoot Indiana Jones 5 in early 2019 for July 2020 release.

After being Ben Bradlee, Sully, James B. Donovan, Walt Disney, Captain Phillips, Carl Hanratty and Jim Lovell Tom Hanks is long overdue another Oscar after winning two in two years 24 years ago thought could have been for The Post but that won’t of course happen. He was cast last week to play American TV icon Fred Rogers in the biopic You Are My Friend who was the star of the US children’s show Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.

Meryl Streep next stars in sequels Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (July) and Mary Poppins Returns (December) before starring in the eagerly awaited series 2 of HBO’s award-winning Big Little Lies starring Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman and Laura Dern in 2019.

Took $11m internationally and $40.2m total

• Focus Features – Darkest Hour

Down 18.1% in its eleventh weekend adding 153 8 screens taking $2.36m and $48.78m; despite receiving 6 Oscar nominations including Best Film and Best Actor for Gary Oldman film added screens at the weekend but still dropped its box office from last weekend. nominees

Took $7.4m internationally over the weekend and $114.8m to date.

• Fox Searchlight – The Shape of Water

Down 24.9% taking $4.44m adding 487 screens in its tenth weekend and $44.72m total;

After having a slow expansion over the last ten weeks has now expanded too much seeing its box office drop despite adding almost 500 screens.

• Fox Searchlight – Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Down 21.5% adding 269 screens taking $3.01m and $41.77m in its thirteenth weekend as with The Shape of Water its expanded too much which has seen its box office drop rather than increase despite adding many screens.

On limited release

• Focus Features – Phantom Thread

Down 28.6% with $2.12m adding 165 screens taking $14.16m after six weekends; Phantom Thread is performing similar to previous Paul Thomas Anderson films that generate strong critical and award recognition, but cinemagoers aren’t so interested.

• Neon – I, Tonya

Down 18.5% taking $2.46m adding 490 screens) in its eighth weekend and $22.55m;

• A24 – Lady Bird

Down 30.3% dropping 63 screens taking $1.31m and $43.68m in its fourteenth weekend;

Opening UK

UK Box Office Predictions

Three years ago, Fifty Shades of Grey arrived with so much hype receiving its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival and it surprisingly received some positive reviews surprising many with its Twilight sized opening £13.27m going on to take £35.01m two years later the bubble had burst and Fifty Shades Darker opened with 45% opening with £7.55m taking £23.07m.

Both Fifty Shades of Grey and Fifty Shades Darker had big Leicester Square premieres but there is no premiere for Fifty Shades Freed and press get to see it a day before it opens. Despite the expected poor reviews, the female audience who came out to see the sequel is still likely to see the final film opening close to Fifty Shades Darker with £7.2m. While Twilight box office increased with the sequels it has gone the opposite way for Fifty Shades of Grey.

The other new releases are harder to predict The 15:17 To Paris has had little buzz and will be dependent on reviews buy could open with £600k+ as Tad: The Lost Explorer opening with £400k but with Coco and Early Man holding strong there will be little interest in this Spanish animation film.

As for the holdovers, The Greatest Showman will be the best of those dropping about 25% taking £1.6m taking over £25m while Coco and Early Man will both hold well with half-term holidays starting next week.

Opening February 9^th

• Fifty Shades Freed – Universal

The final film in the Fifty Shades trilogy the second to 2017’s Fifty Shades Darker starring Dakota Johnson, Jamie Dornan and Kim Basinger and directed by James Foley.

Teaser trailer released in September with a second trailer released in November; has been viewed over 33 million times on YouTube but Fifty Shades Darker trailer was seen 114 million times in September times in September 2016 while Fifty Shades of Grey was seen over 100 million rimes in August 2014 as seen in the Universal Pictures UK YouTube channel over 19.3 million times; all showing how front-loaded the film series was while was huge interest for the first film in 2015 it was very short-lived and the three films should have been released over three years. While fatigue is expected to the many who saw the first film but didn’t read the books over 100 million copies of the books were sold.

Was massive hype for Fifty Shades of Grey in the build-up to its release in February 2015 taking £4.61m on its opening day but this quickly disintegrated after audiences saw the first film. There was far less hype and interest for Fifty Shades Darker last year opening with £7.55m taking £23.07m after Fifty Shades of Grey opened with almost double with £13.27m two years earlier (taking £4.61m on its opening day) taking £35.01m.

Fifty Shades of Grey had a high-profile premiere at the Berlin Film Festival while Fifty Shades Darker premiere was on a much smaller scale the day before it opened.

50 Shades of Grey received some surprisingly positive reviews at the time of opening but since has dropped to 25% Rotten Tomatoes score while the sequel Fifty Shades Darker was only 10% which will be similar for Fifty Shades Freed.

The opening weekend for the first 50 Shades of Grey surprised many as they were comparing the film to similar films of its genre or certificate but instead should really be compared with recent female lit turned film phenomenon’s Twilight and The Hunger Games as the tweens read those books have moved on with more grown-up books unlike those books attracting a younger audience 50 Shades was first brought as mummy porn to Twilight.

Being the final part of the trilogy might spark up a little more interest than the Fifty Shades Darker? Fifty Shades Freed to open slightly bigger than Fifty Shades Darker but be more front-loaded taking £20m+.

Rival studios kept away from opening against Fifty Shades of Grey in 2015 as the original film received huge hype and media coverage. The opening weekend before Valentine’s Day as an S&M film about male domination is, of course, the perfect film for Valentine’s is also the week before half term with far more intelligent children’s films Big Hero 6, Shaun The Sheep Movie and Peppa Pig: The Golden Boots against it.

The sequel Fifty Shades Darker arrived with a lot less hype opened in second behind The LEGO Batman Movie opening with 44% less £7,557,485 and La La Land. Lion and Split all holding well against it.

Fifty Shades Freed was announced as the final part of the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy but that was before E. L James wrote the fourth part Darker which was published last year as trilogies are so old nowadays could there be another still to come?

Have many issues with Fifty Shades films biggest being for a film based on a woman’s novel, with a strong female cast and a film targeting women, but the film typically features a lot of naked Dakota, but Jamie keeps his trousers on throughout. Why is it Dakota Johnson who has full frontal nudity, not Jamie Dornan which I’m sure female audiences would prefer to see? Variety review for the first film said it “was more Johnson than johnson”.

While Fifty Shades Freed has no major films opening against it will be interesting to see how films like The Greatest Showman hold against it which is its only real competition as all other films on release play to other demographics.

• Status Update – Entertainment Film Distributors

Teen comedy starring Ross Lynch and directed by Scott Speer; Scott Speer also directs the young adult film Midnight Sun which is released next month which he made before Status Update.

Status Update looks like one of those straight to DVD 90s teen comedies which are strangely getting a theatrical release in the UK likely to perform close to Entertainment Films teen film they opened last February half-term The Space Between Us.

After Paramount Pictures sold rights to Annihilation and Cloverfield Paradox to Netflix it is strange that distributors still think films like Status Update deserve a theatrical release as it is unlikely to generate much interest. But of course, since losing new Line Cinema output deal and more recently content from Weinstein Co the once might Entertainment Film Distributors is a shell of the distributor it used to be and can’t compete with the likes of eOne, Studiocanal or Lionsgate as they acquire rights over multiple territories.

• The 15:17 To Paris – Warner Bros

Biographical thriller-drama directed by Clint Eastwood based on the autobiography The 15:17 to Paris: The True Story of a Terrorist, a Train starring Spencer Stone, Anthony Sadler, and Alek Skarlatos as themselves about the 2015 Thalys train attack.

Most films are easy to predict how they will perform but The 15:17 To Paris a true story the real heroes it’s very hard to predict sight unseen as Clint Eastwood had success with his previous two films based on real events 2016’s Sully and 2014’s American Sniper.

When Warner Bros dated the film for February release many thought it might get a limited Oscar-qualifying platform release as seems strange to open a film like this in the middle of February surrounded by Oscar and BAFTA nominees especially as both Sully and American Sniper received Oscar nomination. Opening the film against Fifty Shades Freed could attract male audiences but with a fictional hero, Black Panther opening days later will it get the audience that it deserves?

Hard to compare the film with Clint Eastwood’s recent films as Sully and American Sniper had much media coverage surrounding both. So, must go back to J. Edgar opened with £413,210 in January 2012, Hereafter £601,728 in January 2011, Invictus £1,068,388 in February. Gran Torino £332,877 in February 2009, Changeling £1,225,548 in November 2008 but none of them are comparable to the film.

So, must go with films like United 93 opened with £616,882 in June 2006 taking £2,812,761; Zero Dark Thirty opened with £1,052,845 in January 2013 taking £3,313,982; World Trade Centre opened with £1,667,589 in September 2006 taking £4,596,644.

But these films are all on a far bigger scale and based on well-known events so 2011’s The Debt opening with £417,977 taking £1,495,764 is probably closer to the film in size and cinemagoers knowledge of the events that happened three years ago.

• The Mercy – Studiocanal

Biographical drama starring Colin Firth, Rachel Weisz, David Thewlis, Ken Stott, and Jonathan Bailey and directed by James Marsh; The Mercy is one of two films about sailor Donald Crowhurst. The film has received positive reviews with strong performances from Colin Firth.

The film started production in early 2015 with footage screened at CineEurope in June 2016 but then little was heard about the film until a film called Crowhurst premiered last September at the Oldenburg Film Festival, but it wasn’t the same film. Crowhurst was acquired by Studiocanal so they could control its release releasing it several weeks after the release of The Mercy.

The Mercy was originally set for release last year but was delayed many times due to Colin Firth promoting Kingsman: The Golden Circle and director James Marsh dong post-production on his crime film about the Hatton Garden jewellery heist called The King of Thieves which is also financed by Studiocanal and will be released later this year.

The Mercy had originally planned to premiere at Venice or Toronto Film Festivals last year but opening February as The 15:17 To Paris is a strange time to release it for what was originally seen as a potential award contender starring two Best Actor Oscar winners Colin Firth and Rachel Weisz and directed by Best Documentary, Features James Marsh.

Instead, The Mercy has to compete against several Oscar and BAFTA nominees Darkest Hour, Phantom Thread also on release and The Shape of Water, Lady Bird and I, Tonya opening next week; while The Mercy might have received positive reviews it will find it very hard to find an audience opening in February.

• Tad: The Lost Explorer and The Secret Of King Midas – Paramount Pictures

In 2014 Paramount Pictures acquired worldwide rights to Spanish animated films Capture the Flag and Tad: The Lost Explorer And The Secret Of King Midas the sequel to 2012’s Tad: The Explorer was released straight to DVD in the UK two years after opening in Spain.

Capture the Flag opened January 2016 with £774,885 taking £1,005,198 and Tad is likely to perform similar being the sequel to an unknown Spanish animated film and with Coco and Early Man already on release. While the original film was a hit in Spain it was a strange acquisition for the studio but maybe they thought being animation it can travel much easily internationally as the Asterix films have previously done.

While Paramount Pictures have been lacking content over the last few years these films aren’t what is needed they need films that will play to a wider audience. The studio had eight films dated for 2018 but first sold international rights to Annihilation to Netflix and sold rights to Cloverfield Paradox also to Netflix leaving them with just over a handful of releases this year.

Mission Impossible: Fallout now the one major release of the year 30-second trailer was shown during the Super Bowl on Sunday with a trailer released on Monday but was overshadowed by the long-delayed first trailer of Solo: A Star Wars Story.

Jim Gianopulos came to Paramount last year and is in the process of putting together his first slate of films that will be seen in 2019 includes Jerry Bruckheimer’s first films for the studio since moving from Disney in 2013 (in exchange for Indiana Jones rights) Top Gun Maverick and Gemini Man will be his first films for the studio since Days of Thunder in 1990.

• Black Panther – Disney (13^th February)

18th Marvel Cinematic Universe film starring Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong’o, Martin Freeman, Angela Bassett, Forest Whitaker, and Andy Serkis and directed by Ryan Coogler.

Marvel first announced plans for a Black Panther film as part of their initial 10 film slate in 2005 Paramount Pictures would distribute; was officially announced in October 2014 appearing first in 2016’s Captain America Civil War (was also the first appearance of Tom Holland as Spider-Man)

The teaser trailer was released in June and viewed 89m times in the first 24 hours and reaction was very positive; the trailer was released in October and a third trailer released in December.

As with Doctor Strange and Thor: Ragnarok, Black Panther opens on Tuesday to give it a 6-day opening weekend those two films opened with £9.28m and £12.37m and Black Panther is expected to open close to Doctor Strange and Thor: Ragnarok took £5.14m from Tuesday to Thursday (£3.64m from Tuesday/Wednesday and £1.64m from Thursday) took (58.4%) £7.23m Fri-Sun was the opposite to the split of previews Vs Fri-Sun box office for last year’s Doctor Strange took 41%.

Early premiere reaction has been calling it “best Marvel film ever” but similar was said after both Thor: Ragnarok and Doctor Strange too. Having the 7-day opening weekend will see it open £11m+ with a similar split as Doctor Strange 41% £3,796,170 from Tues-Thurs and £5,492,728 Fri-Sun of its £9,288,898 opening weekend.

Early reviews have been positive but say there is a familiarity to much of the action which has been seen in many Marvel Cinematic Universe films different superheroes same situations in different locations. What will be interesting to see is if race affects the film internationally as it will surely boost its US opening as it did for Creed and Get Out.

Much has been made of Black Panther being the first African American comic-book movie but twenty years ago Spawn and Blade which was based on Marvel comics. While Marvel’s Black Panther has been in development for many years as was meant to be part of their first phase of films Marvel Studios announced in 2005.

When Star Wars: The Last Jedi received high Rotten Tomatoes score, but low audience score many believed people were writing fake reviews this was proven wrong as the film dropped heavily over the weeks following its opening. An alt-right Facebook group announced last week that it would try to sabotage its Rotten Tomatoes audience score. Rotten Tomatoes has said that they are a platform for passionate fans to debate and discuss entertainment and we take that responsibility seriously. While we respect our fans’ diverse opinions, we do not condone hate speech. Our team of security, network and social experts continue to closely monitor our platforms and any users who engage in such activities will be blocked from our site and their comments removed as quickly as possible.

Kevin Feige recently spoke about his future at Marvel and the Disney-Fox merger been much speculation over what will happen when Disney takes over Fox and the X-Men join the Avengers, but nothing has been confirmed yet and there are no plans to add them to the current Avengers soon. He said they have announced all their MCU films through 2019 so X-Men will likely remain separate from the Avengers until 2020 at the earliest. He spoke of the issue over superhero fatigue saying that the MCU films are all different and nobody will get tired of them.

This isn’t true as 2013’s Iron Man 3 is still the biggest non-Avengers film globally Captain America: Civil War, Spider-Man: Homecoming and Thor: Ragnarok all benefited from either featuring other Avengers or continuing the same story arc. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is the only film of the MCU that has grown on its own taking $90m more than the first film but that is more because Guardians of the Galaxy for many was unknown in 2014 and the growing popularity of Chris Pratt.

Black Panther is the 18^th film of the MCU film series and the audience for them is similar while their box office might be increasing this is more ticket inflation as 6 years ago Avengers Assemble had 8.15m admissions a year later Iron Man 3 5.62m but then Avengers: Age of Ultron in 2015 had 6.7m admissions an 18% drop but only 6.9% drop in box office. Inflation increased box office of Avengers Assemble today would be £62.1m £10m more than its 2012 box office.

Despite the massive hype as always for MCU films and its extended 6 day opening weekend it will likely open with £12n+ and take £32m+ which is the same as most recent MCU films apart from Doctor Strange and Ant-Man both “original” MCU films which were disappointments both will be seen again this year in Avengers: Infinity War and Ant-Man and the Wasp.

Opening in the US

• Fifty Shades Freed – Universal

Over 125 million copies of the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy (a fourth book was released this year) have been sold worldwide which was originally created as Twilight fanfiction. The five Twilight films had taken $1.36bn at the US box office and $3.34bn worldwide so was always likely female audiences will come out as strongly to see Fifty Shades of Grey.

The first Fifty Shades of Grey film opened in February 2015 surrounded by huge hype but many opening with $85,171,450 and taking 166,167,230.

There was no deal in place for the sequels so was a two-year delay for the release of Fifty Shades Darker. As with other young adult film adaptations these films need to be released close together or they lose their fizz very quickly the five Twilight films opened over successive years as did The Hunger Games four films which followed straight after. But as seen with the extra year gap for The Maze Runner an extra year can have serious implications on their box office which was the case with Fifty Shades Darker opening with 45% less than the first film $46,607,250 and taking $114,581,250.

Early tracking a month ago had Fifty Shades Freed opening with $37-40m which will be a 15% drop from Fifty Shades Darker

While the first films took $280 in the US they were far more successful internationally taking $952m globally but Fifty Shades Darker took 33% less than Fifty Shades of Grey.

As Fifty Shades of Grey opened against Kingsman: The Secret Service, Fifty Shades Freed has Black Panther opening days after which will be a much bigger threat. But one advantage it does have over Fifty Shades Darker is that it’s the Peter Rabbit and The 15:17 To Paris are much smaller films targeting different audiences last year The Lego Batman Movie and John Wick: Chapter Two squeezed it into second place.

• The 15:17 To Paris – Warner Bros

Warner Bros surprised many dating the film in the middle of Oscar season as a few months earlier it was a possible contender especially as its another biographical drama directed by Clint Eastwood like his last two films American Sniper and Sully which were too.

But after Warner Bros rushed released Ben Affleck’s crime drama Live By Night last year must have chosen to hold back with this film to give it a better chance to find an audience but still February is an unusual time to release a film like this especially with fictional hero Black Panther opening the week after.

American Sniper after three weeks of limited release opened with an incredible $89.26m in January 2015 taking $350m while Sully opened a year later with the equally impressive $35.1m taking $125.1m. The 15:17 To Paris is expected to open high teens depending on how reviews are and word of mouth which will be close to many of his other films.

Fictional story about regular man caught up in horrific situation is the plot of many Hollywood films but true-life stories have also been popular at the box office over the years with files including Lone Survivor, Deepwater Horizon, Captain Philips, Argo, Bridge of Spies, The Debt, Munich and United 93, But the question is will cinema audiences prefer to see a film about real heroes or one that wears spandex and tights?

• Peter Rabbit – Sony Pictures

The live-action animated adventure features voices of James Corden, Daisy Ridley, Margot Robbie, and Elizabeth Debicki, and Domhnall Gleeson, Rose Byrne, and Sam Neill and directed by Will Gluck based on the stories created by Beatrix Potter.

It was first revealed in the Sony Hack in April 2015 with Sony making an official announcement in December. In August 2016 Will Gluck was announced to direct having previously directed the Annie remake and Friends with Benefits and Easy A seemed strange choice to direct Peter Rabbit.

The first trailer was released in November with negativity response from fans and critics Peter Rabbit is a beloved children’s classic, but the trailer looked as bad as Yogi Bear and shockingly voiced by James Corden.

The first trailer released in November was poorly received from fans with the casting of James Corden getting the most negative response comparing it to The Emoji Movie but as that film the audience who paid to see the film didn’t care about it which is similarly likely for the same aged audience who will be seeing Peter Rabbit.

Peter Rabbit is expected to open with $25m close to last years The Emoji Movie opening with $24.53m and 2015’s Goosebumps $23.61m; has received average reviews but will still open with more than double Paddington 2 opened with last month in the US.