- Elf – £48,244 – NE
17 years after opening Elf tops the UK box office chart as in 2003 Elf opened the week after Love Actually (the same weekend in 2003) taking £4,538,440 from 392 screens in second only £122,155 behind Love Actually (£4,660,595) (Elf’s opening was inflated with £1,679,482 from previews)
Elf stayed #2 for 5 weeks behind Love Actually for three weeks and then Lord of the Rings: Return of the King for two weeks, over the Christmas period and as most Christmas films dropped down the chart quickly in January, down to #7 (£578,001) in week 6 and #10 (£174,296) in week 7, going on to take £16,263,471 (£26,446,455 inflation inflated).
Elf was the 13th biggest film of 2003 after LOTR: The Return of the King, Finding Nemo, Love Actually, The Matrix Reloaded, The Pirates of the Caribbean, Bruce Almighty, X-Men 2, Calendar Girls, Johnny English, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, The Matrix Revolutions and American Pie: The Wedding.
Since its release in 2003 Elf has become a Christmas favourite regularly re-released at Christmas and always popular, it was last re-released the same weekend last year opening #9 but with over 200% more £148,489 from 274 screens; showing again that films are taking less than 10% of their normal box office this weekend’s box office would have placed Elf in 16th slightly ahead of Bing At Christmas £45,347 from 108 screens.
Christmas films as Christmas songs are re-released every November and December and people will watch (and listen) to them, again and again, each year over the Christmas period, as they are the perfect antidote for the time of year being fun and feel-good and will be what people will crave even more this year.
- Home Alone – £36,878 – £440,629
Almost 30 years to the day Home Alone opened in UK cinemas (December 7th 1990) it was #1 at the UK box office last weekend dropping down to #2 this weekend with up 1,263.33% (last weekend took £2,705 from 4 cinemas in Scotland, adding 99 screens over the weekend.
Home Alone was last re-released in cinemas by Park Circus in December 2019 opening with £88,011 from 163 screens
Home Alone originally opened December7th 1990 with £987,706 taking £12m (£27m inflation inflated).
Home Alone was voted as the fifth best Christmas film in a Radio Times poll in 2018; It’s A Wonderful Life #1; Elf #2; The Muppet Christmas Carol #3; Love Actually #4 with Die Hard #6 and National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation #7 both were also re-released over the weekend.
Disney announced plans last year to make a remake of Home Alone for Disney+ but all of the remakes so far have been inferior to the original and as the original film is still as popular as it was 30 years ago seems little point for a remake, but that could be said for all of their other remakes. The one reason for remaking is that these films would play better to younger audiences, but Home Alone plays well still with all ages.
As these remakes will sit next to the originals on Disney+ do wonder who thinks let’s see the remake instead of the original, as these made for Disney+ remakes are similar to the made for video sequels Disney made in the 90s, all of which have a short lifespan.
- Wolfwalkers – £26,171 – £74,874
Up 1,649% in its seventh weekend after taking £1,496 from 7 screens last weekend adding 61 screens this week across England.
The animated fantasy adventure premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in September received critical acclaim (98% Rotten Tomatoes) opening in the UK on October 26th (the week before English cinemas closed) #17 taking £31,507 from 70 screens. Dropped 97% in the second weekend losing 64 screens in the UK taking £882 from 4 screens and was up 148& last weekend taking £1,496 from 7 screens (£37,721 total).
The film was released in the US on November 13th and will be released on Apple TV on December 11th.
- A Christmas Carol – £22,366 – NE
Over the years there have been many films based on Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol including strange adaptions including 2009’s A Christmas Carol directed by Robert Zemeckis (opening with £1,917,539 taking £20,371,281) and modern adaptations including Scrooged and 1992’s The Muppet Christmas Carol.
With many live dance and pantomimes closed due to Coronavirus this new version of A Christmas Carol gives cinemagoers a theatrical experience in cinemas this Christmas, it has received positive reviews and should attract a wider audience over the coming weeks as one of only a few new Christmas releases this year for younger audiences.
- Two by Two: Overboard! – £21,952 – £1,019,031
Up 1,272.86% from last weekend adding 101 screens in England (last weekend took £1,599 from 13 screens in Scotland)
The original film Two by Two took £2.21m in 2015
The one genre of films that has performed well over the last 23 weeks since cinemas reopened in July has been children’s films. Disney re-released Onward despite being released on digital and DVD took over £2m. Similarly, Universal Pictures released Trolls World Tour in cinemas and again despite it being released on digital and DVD during lockdown still taken £1m+ and Cats & Dogs: Paws United taking £ £1,377,918;
Children’s films have also performed well from independent distributors from July including Dreambuilders opened July 17 taking £12,407 from 51 cinemas released by Signature Entertainment went on to take £358,188 over 8 weeks. Followed by 100% Wolf opening two weeks later with £33,130 from 146 screens from Vertigo taking £1.4m after 10 weeks. Pinocchio opened 2 weeks later with £108,626 from 272 screens also released by Vertigo taking £852,909 after 11 weeks.
The rebuilding of confidence with people going to the cinema will be long as while exhibitors have talked a lot about their safety measures they come short of the far stricter safety measures seen in Asian countries that helped boost confidence with cinemagoers much quicker and with a mix of local films and smaller releases admissions in many of those countries is slowly getting back to normal.
Over the last 23 weeks it has been films released by independent distributors including Vertigo, Signature Entertainment, Trafalgar, and Altitude have released most of the new releases. They took the gamble to release films ahead of the major studios and many of the films have been steady performers with films like 100% Wolf in the top 10 for 10 weeks. In normal circumstances Vertigo would be lucky if it lasted more than a week in the top 10.
Also released
Katherine Jenkins Christmas Spectacular opened in 134 screens taking only £15,799 over the weekend and £21,563 including Thursday previews taking £5,754 (#1 on Thursday).
As with all Event Cinema screenings Katherine Jenkins Christmas Spectacular had up to 100% surcharges on regular ticket prices which saw most cinemas charging over £15 and strangely the Odeon Leicester Square at £15.25 was cheaper than many cinemas outside London.
The concert was released on DVD for £9.99 on Monday and is also being streamed on Britbox, how can exhibitors surely justify the ticket prices for Katherine Jenkins Christmas Spectacular if they are trying to get people back to the cinema and if the concert is being released on DVD the next day.
Normally when a film is released the talent is on the media in the week leading up to the films release but for Katherine Jenkins Christmas Spectacular, Katherine Jenkins was doing interviews this week which does question the logic even further for opening it in cinemas over the weekend.
If prices weren’t so high it would be the perfect Christmas cinema experience for the family even though it’s on DVD as people will want to escape the monotony that is being at home over the Christmas holidays., having been at home most of the year.
Vue reopen their cinemas this weekend and tickets for Katherine Jenkins Christmas Spectacular are £14.99.
This has always been my issue with Event Cinema and is also the double standards major exhibitors have, they are willing to book Event Cinemas screenings when they are broadcast live on terrestrial TV or released within days on DVD or streaming but then get their toys out of the pram when studios, Netflix or Sky Cinema want to release films day and date in cinemas and on other platforms. It should be the choice of the distributor of the film how they want to play it , if they want the film to have a full theatrical window or want to release the film on other services it should be their choice.
As often seen if customers have a choice of seeing films in cinema and streaming they will still opt to see the film in cinemas and especially over this time when the vast majority (80%) don’t feel comfortable going back to the cinema any time soon people should have the choice to see it in multiple formats. Cinephiles will always choose to see the films in cinemas as they have done with many Netflix films including Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, The Prom and Mank that played I many independent cinemas over the weekend.
Also returning into the top 10 was 1988’s Die Hard, every Christmas there is the question is Die Hard a Christmas film. While there are many Christmassy lies of dialogue including “Got invited to the Christmas party by mistake. Who knew?” and the last line from the film “If this is their idea of Christmas, I gotta be here for New Year’s.” But the film was released in July in the US (UK 7 months later in the UK)
Die Hard took £16,980 from 86 screens it was last re-released in 2018 for its 30th anniversary taking £86,628 from 190 screens); The Muppet Christmas Carol (£15,406 from 68 screens), Love Actually (£14,651 from 69 screens); The Nightmare Before Christmas (£7,322 from 33 screens); Polar Express (£6,742 from 20 screens); It’s A Wonderful Life (£3,650 from 13 screens) and Home Alone 2: Lost In New York (£2,900 from 25 screens); Last Christmas (£2,889 from 34 screens); The Holiday (£2,546 from 29 screens); Bridget Jones’s Diary (£1,344 from 4 screens); Arthur Christmas (£712 from 4 screens);
Warner Bros re-released National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation over the weekend opening #16 with £10,348 from 59 screens, 30 years ago Warner Bros released the Christmas film as Winter Holiday in April 1990 in a handful of cinemas opening with a similar amount.
Before films opened day and date distributors would often delay international release of films for up to a year as they would open films in dates that were best suited to the territory, as the US release date isn’t always the best date for the film. This was problematic for Christmas films as it often meant they were released a year after the US release.
As with cinemas reopening after the first lockdown the Film Distributors’ Association made available to exhibitors a large library of seasonal films to play in cinemas over the coming weeks. Many exhibitors are offering these films at reduced rates
UK box office in detail
This weekend’s top 10 box office took £246,409 up 1,652% from last weekend (£14,064) (30 cinemas open in the UK); down 98.5% from same weekend last year (£15,983,967)
The weekend admissions 33,488 up 1,593% from last week (1,978); admissions last year this week was 2,128,358 (98.5% down)
Latest estimate for 2020 box office is £310m about a third of last year’s £1.227bn; UK BO was only £294m after 37 week and is likely to be the lowest annual box office since 1995 (£383m but that is £814.10m inflation inflated) so really the lowest since 1984 (£102.22m and £382.52m inflation inflated)
Top 3 took £111,293 45.2% of £246,409; Elf 19.6% (£48,244); Home Alone 15% (£36,878); Wolfwalkers 10.6% (£26,171);
Down 98.5% from 2019 took £15,983,967; Top three took 83.2% (£13,303,449) of the top 10; Frozen 2 65.5% (£8,711,498); Knives Out 22.1% (£2,937,305); Last Christmas 12.4% (£1,654,646); 16 films opened at weekend taking (£3,982,428); Knives Out 73.75% (£2,937,305); Charles Angels 13.7% (£547,004); remaining 14 films shared 12.5% (£498,119);
Down 98.4% from 2018: (£15,392,277); Ralph Breaks the Internet (£4,032,775); Creed 2 (£2,991,509); Disobedience (£193,907); Pokemon the Movie: The Power of Us (£177,750); The Possession of Hannah Grace (£113,537); #1 Ralph Breaks the Internet £4,032,775 1st week 613 screens (26.2% of top 10)
Down 97.5% from 2017: (£9,864,139); Wonder (£1,240,245); The Man Who Invented Christmas (£168,137); The Nutcracker – Bolshoi 2017 (£160,421); Happy End (£135,682); The Disaster Artist (£130,238); #1 Paddington 2 £2,883,617 4th week 3rd #1 37% drop 652 screens (29.2% of top 10)
Down 97.8% from 2016: (£11,160,568); Moana (£2,214,898); Sully: Miracle on the Hudson (£1,786,844); The Edge of Seventeen (£273,139); Bleed for This (£250,975); Blue Velvet (Re: 2016) (£16,880); Eat that Question (£1,468); #1 Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them £4,494,727 3rd week 649 screens 50% drop (40.3% of the top 10)
Down 98.3% from 2015; (£14,738,989); The Good Dinosaur (£2,926,448); Bridge of Spies (£1,682,392); Black Mass (£1,272,249); Carol (£540,632); Being A.P. (£49,867); Doctor Zhivago (Re: 2015) (£16,344); #1 The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2 £4,534,464 2nd week 579 screens 60% drop (30.8% of top 10)
Down 98.4% from 2014: (£15,237,651); Paddington (£5,125,519); Horrible Bosses 2 (£1,257,808); 2001: A Space Odyssey (Re: 2014) (£69,567); I Am Ali (£8,131); #1 Paddington £5,125,519 1st week 518 screens (33.6% of top 10)
Down 97.8% from 2013: (£11,314,366); Free Birds (£1,044,074); Saving Mr. Banks (£795,615); Carrie (£662,625); The Best Man Holiday (£128,503); #1 The Hunger Games: Catching Fire £5,525,476 2nd week 55% drop 557 screens (48.8% of top 10)
Down 97.6% from 2012 (£10,220,354); Rise of the Guardians (£1,968,984); Great Expectations (£544,636); Alex Cross (£226,780); Sightseers (£213,066); Trouble with the Curve (£41,391); #1 Skyfall £2,275,469 6th week 4th #1 41% drop 532 screens (22.2% of top 10)
Down 97.6% from 2011 (£10,545,613); My Week with Marilyn (£749,819); 50/50 (£410,251); Dream House (£304,239); Moneyball (£230,848); The Deep Blue Sea (£108,767); Take Shelter (£83,982); #1 The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 £4,574,978 2nd week 546 screens 67% drop (43.4% of top 10)
Down 98% from 2010: (£12,372,683); Unstoppable (£1,714,871); London Boulevard (£577,224); The American (£411,707); The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest (£219,259); Machete (£90,423); #1 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 1 £8,344,776 2nd week 581 screens 54% drop (67.4% of top 10)
Down 98.4% from 2009; (£15,162,202); Paranormal Activity (£3,593,762); Law Abiding Citizen (£1,488,143); Nativity (£794,314); Bunny and the Bull (£40,801); #1 The Twilight Saga: New Moon £4,303,257 2nd week 504 screens 63% drop (28.4% of top 10)
Down 96.3% from 2008; (£6,730,148); Four Christmases (£2,275,585); Changeling (£1,225,548); What Just Happened? (£178,818); Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas 3D (£23,640); #1 Four Christmases £2,275,585 1st week 434 screens (33.8% of top 10)
Down 96.4% from 2007: (£6,812,364); Fred Claus (£1,937,042); Hitman (£1,240,698); The Assassination of Jesse James (£180,886); This Christmas (£46,820); #1 Fred Claus £1,937,042 1st week 445 screens (28.4% of top 10)
Down 98% from 2006; (£12,348,508); Flushed Away (£3,106,874); Deck the Halls (£600,047); Stranger than Fiction (£368,627); Big Nothing (£83,829); London to Brighton (£29,153); #1 Casino Royale £5,307,969 2nd week 506 screens 38% drop (43% of top 10)
Down 98.4% from 2005 (£15,013,252); Flight Plan (£1,694,350); Exorcism of Emily Rose (£1,346,732); Mrs. Henderson Presents (£752,394); The Transporter 2 (£414,400); #1 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire £9,275,599 2nd week 536 screens (61.8% of top 10)
Down 98.4% from 2004 (£15,406,511); The Incredibles (£9,753,035); The Forgotten (£653,945); Beyond the Sea (£179,558); Enduring Love (£165,338); I Love Huckabees (£155,592); #1 The Incredibles £9,753,035 1st week 494 screens (63.3% of top 10)
Down 98.1% from 2003 (£13,095,047); Elf (£4,538,440); Master and Commander (£1,845,125); Spin the Bottle (£95,533); #1 Love Actually £4,660,595 2nd week 478 screens 30% drop (35.6% of top 10)
Down 98% from 2002 (£12,415,161); The Santa Clause 2 (£951,754); Enough (£340,600); The Quiet American (£240,552); #1 Die Another Day £5,364,433 2nd week 431 screens 41% drop (43.2% of top 10)
Down 97.3% from 2001 (£9,215,665); Zoolander (£676,518); Bandits (£644,271); Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (£381,940); Ghosts of Mars (£104,723); The Devil’s Backbone (£45,145); #1 Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone £5,809,759 3rd week 508 screens 31% drop (63.1% of top 10);
Next weekend in 2019 (£9,470,969); Top three took 77.6% (£7,353,490) of the top 10; Frozen 2 46.4% (£4,397,903); Knives Out 17.3% (£1,637,525); Last Christmas 13.7% (£1,318,062); 23 films opened at weekend taking (£1,885,315; Les Misérables: The Staged Concert 50.2% (£946,785); Gremlins 8.6% (£162,528); Motherless Brooklyn (£153,821) 8.1%; Elf (£148,489) 7.8%; remaining 19 films shared 25.1% (6£473,692);
UK Box office Top 10
UK Box Office since restart
Over the last four weeks Scottish cinemas remained open with little box office taken from the cinemas that remained open
Before lockdown in March were 848 cinemas open, on October 9th Cineworld closed 127 Cineworld and Picturehouse cinemas (1,180+ screens) they probably won’t reopen before March.
UK cinemas have now been open for 18 weeks with box office from a low of £189,000 to high when Tenet opened £6,224,288; first weekend (from 42 cinemas+ drive-ins (460 screens) to 670 cinemas+ drive-ins 6,372 screens.
Week 1 £189,000 from 460 screens (73 cinemas) 141 films on release; top 5 took £81,880
Week 2; Up 76.2% £333,002 (182 films) from 1,059 screens (123 cinemas 85 from the UK the rest from Ireland and drive-ins) up 130.2%; The Empire Strikes Back (40th Anniversary opening with £50,406 from 1012 screens); top 5 £148,675.
Week 3: Down 7.5% £308,154 (191 films) from 151 cinemas and 1,286 screens up 21.4%; top 5 took £136,559; top 5 took £169,911
Week 4: Up 30.7% £402,752 (214 films) from 185 cinemas and 1,734 screens Up 34.8%; top 5 took £328,783
Week 5: Up 61.8% £651,914 (218 films) from 3,016 screens (326 cinemas reopened) up 74%; Unhinged opened with £175,263 from 243 screens); top 5 took £328,783
Week 6: Down 17.4% £538,716 (236 films) from 338 cinemas and 3,393 screens up 12.5%: American Pickle opened with £27,732 from 162 screens; top 5 took £262,058
Week 7: Up 85.2% £997,837 (269 films) from 366 cinemas; Inception: 10th Anniversary opened £207,675 from 313 screens; top 5 took £628,678
Week 8: Up 10.9% £1,107,153 (264 films) from 3,889 screens (491 cinemas) up 21.5%; top 5 took £643,139
Week 9: Up 462.2% £6,224,288 (204 films) from 3, 856 (629 cinemas); Tenet opened with 85.7% (£5,335,654); top 5 took £5,868,018
Week 10: Down 39.8% £3,746,637 (198 films) 658 cinemas 4,607 screens (198 films on release; 487 England); top 5 £3,167,757
Week 11: Down 25% £2,812,496 from 5,522 screens; top 5 took £2,223,661; top 5 took £2,086,954
Week 12: Down 7.4% £2,603,624 from 5,401 screens; 613 cinemas; top 5 took £1,598,935
Week 13: Down 18.9% £2,112,443 from 5,564 screens 620 cinemas; top 5 took £1,598,935
Week 14: Up 24.6% £2,633,473 from 6,372 screens; top 5 took £1,753,045
Week 15: Down 36.5% £2,425,745 from 4,527 screens (closure of 1,180+ Cineworld screens); top 5 took £1,139,278
Week 16 Down 59.3% £1.2m from 4,031 screens in 488 cinemas (closure of Northern Ireland cinemas); The top five took £570,127 down 38.7% from £1,139,278 last week
Week 17 Up 54.2% £1.85m from 4,124 screens in 461 cinemas (Wales cinemas closed); 20 new releases taking almost £1m between them.
Week 18 Up 9.7% £2.03m from 469 cinemas; box office has risen well over the last two weeks, but they were boosted by over 30 films being released and being half-term and Halloween.
Week 19 Down 98.9% £22,908 from 119 screens in Scotland only; the first week of second English Lockdown; #1 The Three Kings £3,521 from 2 screens most films in the top 15 dropped close to 98%
Week 20 Up 43.2% £32,804 from 143 screens in Scotland; the second weekend of second English Lockdown; #1 The Secret Garden £5,147 from 15 screens up 201%; box office increased strongly for most films
Week 21 Down 20% £26,250 from 128 screens in Scotland; third weekend of second English Lockdown; #1 Two By Two: Overboard! £3,422 from 16 screens many films increasing box office from last weekend despite box office down from the weekend before.
Week 22 Down 10% £23,597 from 125 screens in Scotland; the fourth weekend of second English Lockdown; #1 Home Alone £2,705 from 4 screens
Week 23 Up 2,069% £512k from 1,549 screens in 231 cinemas 20% of UK cinemas reopened with 50 Vue cinemas reopening next weekend
This weekend’s box office was 96.8% down on the same weekend last year taking £15,983,967; Top three took 83.2% (£13,303,449) of the top 10; Frozen 2 65.5% (£8,711,498); Knives Out 22.1% (£2,937,305); Last Christmas 12.4% (£1,654,646)
UK cinema admissions will drop to about 40m which will be the lowest since 53.8m in 1984, this would see 2020 box office drop 80% from £1.25bn to £310m, the lowest total since 1992, but with 150% ticket inflation since really have to go back to 1984 box office levels of £102.22m (£382.52m inflation inflated).
Ever since cinemas closed in March exhibitors and studios should have set aside their differences and worked together as they previously did in 1985 with British Film Year (started the renaissance of cinema in the UK and the launch of the first multiplex cinemas in the UK) and National Cinema Day in 1996 (repeated the following year) when all cinemas across the UK were £1 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of cinema.
Over the years that followed from 1985 to 2002 admissions grew steadily in the UK, they were boosted in 1996 with admissions increasing 226% from 54m to 175.9m (between 2003-2019 admissions only increased by 0.6%). A similar-sized event was needed to relaunch cinema and get people back into the cinema habit again, it is the 125th anniversary next year and this could have been part of a celebration of British cinema. As despite what exhibitors thought there is no pent-up demand away from the cinephiles, but they only make up less than 20% of cinemagoers.
The issue with cinema since July has been confidence not streaming recent YouGov survey said 55% are not comfortable going to the cinema as whatever exhibitors have said the majority won’t return anytime soon and WW84, as Tenet did, will attract cinephiles and fans.
The US box office is expected to drop over 80% from $11.3bn last year to $2.4bn this year; dropping 95% in the third quarter and 85% in the fourth quarter.
The UK cinema industry said 93% of current cinemagoers feel safe going to the cinema now, what the industry fails to understand is that is 93% of the 20% who have been comfortable returning to cinemas since they reopened in July, but cinema should be for the many, not the few, and is still 80%+ who aren’t comfortable and won’t return anytime soon.
Exhibitors behaved like a bull in a china shop rushing to reopen far too soon and didn’t think of the consequences targeting the pent-up demand of 20% of cinemagoers (who would have continued going to the cinema if they were open between March and June had they stayed open) rather than the 80% who have always said it would take 6 months or more to return
UK cinemas should have extended Meerkat Movies to 7 days and offered 2for1 to everyone or as some exhibitors did in July all seats £5 all the time until November. As the key part of this was to get people back to the cinema feeling safe and get them into the cinemagoing habit again as once they do they will be back many times over those months for £5 people will take a chance on seeing films they might not normally see at the cinema.
Major exhibitors have complained about the lack of studio releases but we are in a chicken and egg situation as after the soft performance of Tenet it’s now down to exhibitors to show studios that there is the audience going to cinemas now that will justify them risking another tentpole release, this was always likely to happen if the first film failed to be as big as expected.
The current 10 biggest films of the year are 1917 (£43.94m); Sonic the Hedgehog (£19.28m); Tenet (£17.36m); Bad Boys For Life (£15.95m); Dolittle (£15.93m); Parasite (£12.03m); The Gentlemen (£11.53m); Birds of Prey (£8.82m); Onward (£7.55m); Jojo Rabbit (£7.54m).
At the start of the year, only 1917 and Tenet would have been expected to still be in the top 10 in November, the one positive is the £160m box office is shared out much more evenly through 9 distributors rather than one or two, while there are only one sequel, one remake and one comic-book film and it’s not Marvel.
US Box Office
- The Croods: A New Age – Universal Pictures
Down 54% in its second weekend taking $4.43m and $20.34m total.
Opened last weekend over Thanksgiving with $9.72m over the weekend and $14.27m over 5 days 93% less than Frozen 2 opened over Thanksgiving last year with $130.26m
The Croods: A New Age opened with 78% less than 2013’s the Croods opened with ($43.63m) taking $187.16m in the US and $587.2m worldwide.
After opening with $14.27m National CineMedia Boss Tom Lesinski said, “It’s a good indication of not if this industry’s going to recover but when,” he said. “Consumers are going to come back.” Like many other exhibitors, he talked about the “pent-up demand” but there hasn’t been any pent-up demand beyond from cinephiles and Nolanties, both of which would have kept going to the cinema if they stayed open.
His comment shows exhibitors are still in complete denial of the situation and how long it’s going to get till BO gets to pre-lockdown levels as customer confidence has been at the similar level since July with 20% willing to return and films taking 10% of the pre-lockdown box office. Nothing is likely to improve before next April, and that is if No Time To Die opens as MGM won’t want it to be the canary in the coalmine as all other releases before then are unlikely to do much better than either Tenet or The Croods: A New Age.
The vaccines becoming available over the next few weeks won’t have any impact on box office as the under the 50s the key cinemagoing demographic will be the last to get the vaccine, If they were to do 1m vaccines a week and each needs two over three weeks it would be May before the most vulnerable and the over 50s was to get it and then many more months for the rest too.
Have the issue that over a third of people won’t take the vaccine so will need to be a way to identify those that have the vaccine with an immunity passport which would allow people to get on with their normal lives again. Of course, the same people who will refuse to wear a mask are also the ones who will refuse to take the vaccine will say it’s against their human rights to be forced to wear a badge.
The Croods: A New Age will be their latest film to be released on PVOD after 17 days on December 14th but will also continue to play in cinemas, the film is current date open on February 5th in the UK for half-term holidays along with Peter Rabbit: The Runaway (opening two months ahead of the US)
Took $13.6m from 10 territories taking $40.3m and $60.6m worldwide
- Half Brothers – Focus Features
Opened with $700,160
Showing how fickle exhibitors Universal Pictures has gone from the enemy of cinema in March ( after announcing Trolls World Tour direct to DVD) this saw several exhibitors say they wouldn’t book their films in future. TA few months later AMC and Cinemark announced agreements to allow the studio to shorten theatrical window on certain films to 17 days and 31 days for films opening with over $50m.
Since then Universal Pictures/Focus Features have released 8 films and exhibitors are calling the studio out as their saviour, which only a few months ago was Warner Bros. With the exception of The Croods: A New Age all the other films released by Universal Pictures/Focus Features have limited box office potential and these eight films have barely taken over$30m between them with The Croods: A New Age taking two-thirds of the total box office.
While 2013’s The Croods did take $587.2m worldwide as Trolls World Tour the sequel wasn’t an important release for the studio, and it was good PR for the studio to open it over Thanksgiving especially after the hostility the studio received earlier in the year from exhibitors and after Disney moved Soul to Disney.
With Minions: The Rise of Gru (delayed from this year) and Sing 2 dated for 2021 both much more valuable sequels for the studio it wasn’t worth holding back either The Croods: A New Age or Trolls World Tour to next year.
This week Universal Pictures released third place Freaky (taking $474,610 and $7.75m) on PVOD as Half Brothers will go on December 21st and The Croods: A New Age on December 14th This was, of course, the other reason why Universal opened The Croods: A New Age over Thanksgiving as with the 17-day theatrical window the film will be released on PVOD just in time for Christmas.
Universal Pictures also released fourth place All My Life opening with $370,315 again will be released on PVOD on December 21st.
International Box Office
In Japan Demon Slayer The Movie: Mugen Train took $6m in its 8th weekend and $277m total; it will shortly become Japan’s highest-grossing film ever overtaking Spirited Away.
Last weekend overtook Titanic, the second-biggest film ever in Japan and is the #1 biggest animated film of 2020 and 5th biggest film worldwide.
UK Coming Soon
- Superintelligence – Warner Bros
Action comedy starring Melissa McCarthy, Bobby Cannavale, Brian Tyree Henry and James Corden and directed by Ben Falcone.
The film was originally due for a theatrical release in the USA on December 25th but in October 2019 Warner Bros announced the film would be released on HBO Max in the US instead, but Warner Bros have strangely opted to release the film theatrically internationally. Melissa McCarthy films with the exception of Spy and Bridesmaids don’t travel well internationally and the other three films Ben Falcone has directed starring Melissa McCarthy have all poorly performed internationally (Tammy, The Boss and Life of the Party).
Previous Melissa McCarthy films have had mixed success at the box office Spy and The Heat were helped her co-stars the films she leads herself took much less.
2018’s Life of the Party opened May 2018 with £618,311 taking £1,660,250
2016’s The Boss opened June 10th £594,672 taking £1,692,452
2015’s Spy opened June 5th £2,557,824 taking £9,654,086
2014’s Tammy opened 4th July £471,429 taking £1,433,635
2013’s The Heat opened 1st August £2,500,522 taking £6,825,860
2013’s Identity Thief opened 22nd March 2013 £1,313,162 taking £4,716,437
The problem Warner Bros have is they have decided building subscribers for HBO Max is far more Important than theatrical in the US (as has been the case for Disney this year moving Hamilton, Artemis Fowl, The One and Only Ivan and Soul to Disney+) the difference is Disney+ is global.
- Dreamland – Paramount Pictures
Thriller starring Finn Cole, Margot Robbie, Travis Fimmel, Kerry Condon, Darby Camp, and Lola Kirke and directed by Miles Joris-Peyrafitte; had the world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 2019; received mixed reviews) and was released on VOD in the US in November; Paramount Pictures acquired rights in September 2020.
- Little Mix: LM5 – The Tour Film – Trafalgar Releasing
Recorded at the final show of the tour at London’s 02 arena featuring nineteen of Little Mix’s biggest hits including Shout Out to My Ex, Woman Like Me, Wings and Touch.
Most Event Cinema screenings have unperformed since cinema reopened as they target older demographic, not comfortable returning to the cinema anytime soon but BTS: Break The Silence opened with £374,060 in September including £124,063 from previews.
Love Yourself In Seoul – BTS World Tour 2019 #10 opened on January 26th taking £518,810 from 291 screens
Burn the Stage: The Movie #6 opened 17th November 2018 taking £644,308 from 212 screens
Katherine Jenkins: Christmas Spectacular from the Royal Albert Hall opened on December 3rd in 134 UK cinemas taking £21,563 including previews, but Little Mix: LM5 – The Tour Film will play to a much younger audience and as After We Collided opened with £65,797 in September and held strongly over following weeks as it targeted tweens Little Mix LMS does too so it wouldn’t be a surprise for it to open #1, but it will be seen as a surprise.
The one thing that will hold back Little Mix: LM5 – The Tour Film tickets for the screening are £14.99 which will price out many fans from going to see it at the cinema.
Also released
Everyman Cinemas are screening 10 James Bond films over the weekend in cinemas when cinemas reopened in July Film Distributions Association gave exhibitors a library of over 450 films but missing from it were some of the biggest films ever including the James Bond films. It’s great that Everyman cinemas are screening these classic James Bond films but to charge regular prices of £15+. If exhibitors want to attract audiences in to see these classic films then they can’t charge regular prices, some exhibitors are charging less than £5 for many of these classic films.
- Wonder Woman 1984 – Warner Bros (Wednesday)
Sequel to 2017’s Wonder Woman and the ninth film in the DC Extended Universe, starring Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Kristen Wiig, Pedro Pascal, Robin Wright, Connie Nielsen and directed by Patty Jenkins
The film was originally due for release on December 13th, 2019 (in July 2017) before being brought forward to November 1st, 2019 to avoid opening against Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (in November 2017) and delayed to June 5th, 2020 (in October 2018). On March 24th WW84 was delayed to August 14th due to Coronavirus, in June was delayed to October and in September was moved to Christmas Day.
The first trailer was released in December 2019, in August 2020 second trailer was released and in November it was re-released after it’s theatrical/HBO Max release was announced.
Warner Bros are willing to sacrifice $750m+ of the global box office for Wonder Woman 1984 to get a few million additional subscribers to HBO Max in the US, this was similar to Disney releasing Mulan, Hamilton, and Soul on Disney+ rather than giving them theatrical releases (Mulan would have taken $600m+, Hamilton $500m+ and Soul $750m+ worldwide).
2017’s Wonder Woman took $412.56m in the US (50.2%) and $409.28m internationally (49.8%) and $821.84m worldwide. Had Wonder Woman 1984 opened last November or June it could have taken upwards of $1bn and been one of the biggest films of the year globally.
No film-related issues affected Wonder Woman’s UK box office in 2017 with the premiere being cancelled after the terrorist attack at the end of Ariana Grande concert in Manchester in May. This saw the Warner having to pull back on the final elements of its UK marketing campaign so the film didn’t get the media coverage it would have received with a big London premiere with Gal Gadot in attendance.
The opening weekend of Wonder Woman was overshadowed with Ariana Grande’s One Love Manchester concert on Sunday 4th June watched by almost 11 million on BBC1 and many more millions on BBC and Capital Radio Networks (over 65 radio stations) the majority of which would be young females who were the key demographic for Wonder Woman; the concert was also broadcast live in over 38 countries. On Saturday was the Champions League final and was a hot sunny day.
Wonder Woman opened with £6,179,616, Included £1.2m from previews Thursday (43% of the market) and took £1.44m on Friday and was looking like it could open about £9m; 23% of its box office came from 3D taking £1m and went on to take £22.2m.
There are rumours that Warner will shorten the theatrical window for WW84 in the UK with it being available on PVOD after a month.
The UK government will change the tiers across the country om December 16th, there are rumours that London may move into tier 3 which would mean cinemas will have to close for two weeks which will have a massive effect on WW84 opening on that date.
Wonder Woman opened bigger than Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger, Captain America: Winter Soldier, Batman Begins, Superman Returns and Green Lantern.
Early reaction was positive which questions Warner’s decision, even more, had a potential $1bn global film with WW84 had they delayed it to the next summer instead will take less than a quarter and add a couple of million extra HBO Max subscribers but millions more will watch it illegally online for free.
Warner Bros surprised the industry on Friday announcing their entire 2021 slate would be released same day In cinemas in the US as on HBO Max and will be released as normal internationally. It’s not known if this is just a temporary measure for Coronavirus (as will likely affect US box office until 2022) as they couldn’t do it with Tenet as Christopher Nolan demands it had a full theatrical release. But once down the rabbit hole, it’s unlikely Warner will go back to the traditional theatrical window in 2022.
On Monday Christopher Nolan criticised Warner Bros decision to release their 2021 slate on HBO Max alongside cinemas saying “There’s such controversy around it because they didn’t tell anyone. In 2021, they’ve got some of the top filmmakers in the world, they’ve got some of the biggest stars in the world who worked for years in some cases on these projects very close to their hearts that are meant to be big-screen experiences. They’re meant to be out there for the widest possible audiences… And now they’re being used as a loss-leader for the streaming service — for the fledgeling streaming service — without any consultation. So, there’s a lot of controversies. It’s very, very, very, very messy. A real bait and switch. Yeah, it’s sort of not how you treat filmmakers and stars and people who, these guys have given a lot for these projects. They deserved to be consulted and spoken to about what was going to happen to their work.”
And “Long-term, I think all of the studios know that the movie theatre experience will bounce back and be a very important part of the ecosystem long-term. What you have right now in our business is a lot of the use of the pandemic as an excuse for the sort of grappling for short-term advantage. And it’s really unfortunate. It’s not the way to do business and it’s not the best thing for the health of our industry. But when the theatres are back and people are going back to the movies, when the vaccine has been rolled out and there’s an appropriate health response from the federal government, I’m very bullish on the long-term prospects of the industry. People love going to the movies and they’re going to get to go again.”
But Nolan should have kept his mouth shut as Warner is in this position partly to do with his Washington Post op-ed in March which made the summer cinema release of Tenet political, it was idiocy for Warner to give into Nolan’s demands and open the film in August/September as doing so was always going to have a major impact on the films box office. While Christopher Nolan might be an artist warner Bros have shareholders to answer to and if they are going to make $200m+ film they want it to be profitable. As most other studios Warner should have delayed Tenet in March to next summer when cinemas shutdown, they would have also delayed WW84.
Were reports of producers and talent not being told in advance OF Warner Bros decision to release next years films on HBO Max, with some threatening legal action, but if not HBO Max/theatrical next year for these film what is the solution? With recent surveys by Deloitte and Morning Consult saying over 80% of people aren’t comfortable going back to US cinemas in the next 6 months the only other option would be to delay these films to 2022 and beyond. Opening films on HBO Max/theatrical is the best bad idea Warner has available to them with these massive budget films they need the safety net of PVOD.
On Thursday Disney have a virtual Investor Day, when they will give “further details of its direct-to-consumer strategies” which will likely see many more films going straight to Disney+ as Artemis Fowl, Hamilton, The One And Only Ivan and Soul did this year (many of these would have probably gone to Disney+ in normal circumstances) and news of upcoming Marvel and Lucasfilm project
Of course, this news brought much negativity from exhibitors, but exhibitors need to reinvent themselves as should have done this when they reopened cinemas in July, rip out recliners and go back to what cinema was for more than a century, a cheap night out, as one reason why streaming services grew in popularity is one cinema ticket is more than a month of Netflix.
Rather than NATO and exhibitors throwing their toys out of the pram over Warner’s plans, should use it as an opportunity to launch subscription cinema, selling it as ‘why pay for 8 individual subscriptions when you can pay for one month to see all the movies on the big screen’?
Never understood why US exhibitors didn’t launch subscription cinema as UK has had it for 21 years (Virgin launched Megapass in 1999 which became Cineworld Unlimited and Odeon launched Limitless in 2016) and especially after Moviepass showed them the US cinemagoers liked it as they went to the cinema far more often.
The question I have with subscription cinema is that while exhibitors pay a negotiated per ticket fee to the distributor what the price per ticket they add to the box office, how much of the current box office is from subscription cinema (and Meerkat Movies). Monthly subscription cinema is about £17.99.
After the news of Warner’s HBO Max deal in the US there were many articles written saying it was the beginning of the end of cinema, but cinema will survive but what it does need to do is change.
Recliners were never the solution as they halved the capacity of screens and increased prices, cinema needs to go back to its roots as it was for more than a century (a cheap night out, the price of a pint of Guinness in the 30s to 60s and a Big Mac meal in the 70s to early 00s) for it to stay competitive with streaming services.
While will always be a loyal 20% cinephiles who will keep going to the cinema, the other 80% are perfectly happy to watch films at home on their phones and tablets, especially over the last 6 months and the next 6+ months or more and it’s going to be extremely hard to get them to come back.
While the industry will put the blame on Coronavirus and streaming, the problems started in 2003 and have been in denial ever since as After steady growth between 1985 to 2002 (industry experts predicted in 1993 admissions would top 200m by 2000) admissions stopped growing, the films were no different in the years that followed, so why was there no growth?
Over the years that followed, the ‘growth’ came from ticket inflation and 3D/PLF, as while box office increased admissions stayed flat until 2018 when industry celebrated an increase of 0.6% over 17 years in 2018 (from 175.9m in 2002 to 177m in 2018).
We are social beings and do like going out, but exhibitors need to stay competitive with their direct competition (not theme parks and live theatre they currently like to compare cinema with), if a trip to the cinema for a family of four costs more than an annual subscription to Disney+ what will most families choose?
In 1989 Rainman was the first video to be released on sell-through in the UK priced £14.99 average cinema ticket £2.30 why have home entertainment prices dropped over 33% since but cinema tickets up 200%+?
Exhibitors should just let studios fight out the multi-billion-dollar streaming wars over the next decade and see this as a chance to reinvent the cinema experience (return to its roots as it was for more than 100 years a cheap night out, cost of a Guinness in 30s-60s and Big Mac meal in 70s-90s) and finally launching subscription cinema in the US.
Why pay up to $100 a month to subscribe to up to a dozen different streaming services when you can pay only $19.99 a month ($29.99 for a family pass) to see all the films? Two years ago what Moviepass did show was that US cinemagoers loved the concept of subscription cinema as they saw many more films in the cinema, as subscribers to Virgin/UGC Megapass/Cineworld Unlimited and Odeon Limitless has done in the UK for the last 21 years.
Advance bookings opened for Wonder Woman 1984 on Monday in the UK