- Super Mario Bros – £4,271,315 – £41,605,147
Dropped 43.6% in the third weekend.
Took £648k Friday (15.2%), down 77.5%; £2m Saturday (46.8%), down 23% and £1.62m (38%), down 21%.
After having expected big drops on Monday and Tuesday with schools returning (Mon £525k down 87.2% and Tuesday £340k down 82%) took 85% of its BO on Sat/Sun. Saturday BO was strong for all films with all films seeing big increases helped by the wet cold weather.
47th biggest third weekend (46th £4m+ third weekend) between Titanic and Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (close to A Bug’s Life, The Dark Knight Rises, Shrek Forever After and Avengers Assemble) and 90th biggest inflated between The Matrix Reloaded and Shrek the Third (close to Jurassic Park: The Lost World, Home Alone, Crocodile Dundee and The World Is Not Enough).
4th biggest animation second weekend was Toy Story 3 and Shrek 2 (close to Frozen 2, Toy Story 4, Toy Story 2 and Minions) and the 13th biggest inflated between Incredibles 2 and The Lego Movie (close to Shrek The Third, A Bug’s Life, The Lion King (1994) and Toy Story).
72nd biggest film between Bridget Jones’s Diary and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (close to Paddington 2, Alice In Wonderland, Peter Rabbit and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2); (80th film to take £40m+ since 1993’s Jurassic Park) and 177th biggest inflated between Home Alone and Pretty Woman (close to The Mask, The Bodyguard, Goldeneye and Doctor Dolittle).
Illumination’s 13th film since Despicable Me in 2010 and the third based on existing IP after The Lorax and The Grinch.
13th biggest animated film between Frozen and Inside Out (close to Minions The Rise of Gru, Toy Story 2, The Simpsons and Finding Nemo) and 29th biggest inflated between Shrek Forever After and Shark Tale (close to Ice Age II, Toy Story, The Lego Movie and Aladdin (1993).
Much has been made that Super Mario Bros BO was a surprise but surely the combination of Illumination and Nintendo and the success both have had with film and game franchises it wasn’t a surprise as Super Mario Bros video games have sold 396.8m worldwide taking $22bn worldwide, the Mario games franchise up to Match 2022 has sold 776.8m games worldwide generating $35.1bn, including merchandise Mario franchise has generated $41.5bn worldwide, while Mario-related YouTube videos have exceeded 100bn views as of April 2023.
The only real surprise is why hasn’t the Nintendo Extended Universe happened yet as they have been talking about it for many years, but the problem is as with Marvel Nintendo sold off rights to many of their most popular games to studios already. This was similar to when Marvel sold rights to many of their properties to studios and had to wait until their rights ended before they could make their films. Universal Pictures still own the rights to The Incredible Hulk and several other characters even though they haven’t made a Hulk film since 2008.
The difference between recent video game adaptations compared to films made a decade ago is they are more family-friendly playing to a younger audience 2020’s Sonic The Hedgehog (£19.3m); 2022’s Sonic The Hedgehog 2 (£26.7m); 2022’s Uncharted (£24.2m); 2019’s Pokemon Detective Pikachu (£13.8m); 2016’s The Angry Birds Movie (£10.7m); 2019’s The Angry Birds Movie 2 (£5.8m). Unlike 2010’s Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (£8,829,805); 2005’s Doom (£1,309,725); 2016’s Assassin’s Creed (£8,003,907); 2001’s Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (£12,822,883); 1995’s Street Fighter (£2,280,880).
Super Mario Bros will be #1 for its fourth weekend before Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 replaces it in two weeks, as with last weekend it will take the majority of its BO on Sat/Sun taking about £2.6m-£3m.
- 2. Evil Dead Rises – £1,477,840 – NE
Took £504k Friday (34.1%); £574k Saturday (38.8%) and £399.8k Sunday (27%)
1,134th biggest opening between The Island and Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules (close to Ghost, Underworld, Contagion and The Three Musketeers) and 1,749th inflation inflated between We Were Soldiers and The Bank Job (close to Aliens, Working Girl, The Crow and Malice).
79th biggest horror opening between Final Destination and Paranormal Activity: Ghost Dimension (close to The Haunting, 28 Days Later, Insidious Chapter 3 and Halloween Kills) and 132nd inflation inflated between The Mothman Prophecies and Underworld 3 (close to The Craft (1996), I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, Boogeyman and The Fly II).
12th biggest 2023 opening between Magic Mike’s Last Dance and Babylon; Studiocanal’s biggest UK opening since 2018’s King of Thieves (£1,535,876).
Opened similar to 2013’s Evil Dead £1,375,842 #3 from 394 screens taking £3,355,676. While 1993’s Army of Darkness opened at £161,150 from 93 screens taking £430,146 and 1987’s Evil Dead II opened £142,757 taking £1,180,250 (£4,435,544 inflated).
- 3. Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves – £768,683 – £11,913,835
Dropped 34.8% in the fourth weekend;
Took £148k Friday (19.2%) 64% drop from last Friday; £361k Saturday (47%); £259.6k Sunday (34%)
Had a similar fourth weekend as Tenet, Ant-Man and The Wasp, Black Adam, Logan and Casper and inflation inflated similar to Under Siege, Dick Tracy, The Rock and Honey, I Blew Up the Kid.
Fantasy films have had mixed success at the box office including.
2006’s Eragon dropped 46% by £337,758 and £5,154,073
1996’s Dragonheart dropped 37.7% by £449,937 (£850,127 inflated) and £5,317,797 by 80.9% of £6,573,083 (£14,354,192 inflated); despite underwhelming in the US Dragonheart was hugely successful in the UK and had several straight to DVD sequels.
2010’s Clash of the Titans dropped 36% £985,344 #2 from 450 screens and £18,070,779 taking £20,111,003
2012’s Wrath of the Titans dropped 60% £195,923 #12 from 282 screens and £7,667,896 taking £7,812,578.
1999’s The Mummy dropped 34.4% £838,891 (£1,532,321 inflated) and £12,049,611 69.1% of £17,439,339 (£33,470,275 inflated)
2016’s Warcraft dropped 72% £88,744 #13 201 screens and £5,947,228
2002’s Reign of Fire dropped 68% £101,146 #12 194 screens and £3,216,609 (£6,277,826 inflated)
2007’s Beowulf dropped 61% £337,881 #5 and 362 screens and £6,608,567 taking £7,043,429 (£11,269,486 inflated)
1991’s Highlander 2: The Quickening took £5,250,692 (£14,001,845 inflated); 1988’s The Princess Bride took £27,325 from 9 screens: 1986’s Labyrinth £3,568,402 (£15,336,536 inflated); 1988’s Willow took £1,641,213 (£5,765,653 inflated); 1987’s Masters of the Universe took £2,198,857 (£8,263,611 inflated); 1986’s Highlander took £1,220,671 (£5,246,288 inflated)
552nd biggest film between The Wolverine and Braveheart (close to Back to the Future, Batman, Lethal Weapon 3 and Jaws and 973rd biggest inflated between Moonwalker and Days Of Thunder (close to King Arthur, Prince of Persia, Eraser and The Karate Kid Part 3).
While Dungeons & Dragons performed well in the UK due to being heavily promoted by eOne will this be enough to justify another film as its budget was $150m and won’t likely take more than $200m?
- 4. John Wick: Chapter Four – £589,976 – £15,905,053
Dropped 28.4% in the fifth weekend.
Took £145k Friday (24.6%) 44.9% drop from last Friday; £265k Saturday (44.9%); £180k Sunday (30.5%)
Had a similar fifth weekend as Jurassic Park 3, Hobbs & Shaw, The Mummy and Fast Five and inflated similarly to Demolition Man, Die Hard 2 Die Harder, Lucy, Bad Boys and Lethal Weapon 4.
Having stronger legs than previous John Wick films as they faced direct competition soon after opening with 2015’s John Wick ending its stay in the top 15 after 3 weeks taking £1,439,149 (opened a week after Fast & Furious 7) and 2017’s John Wick: Chapter 2 took £5,766,633 after 4 weeks having Logan opening two weeks later.
Fifth weekend
2019’s John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum dropped 24% of £351,256 #7 from 273 screens and £9,587,828 of £10,203,138; held far stronger as X-Men: Dark Phoenix, Godzilla: King Of The Monsters and Men In Black International didn’t have any impact on John Wick, likewise the films that have opened over the last few weeks as they targeted different demographics.
Dating is key as originally John Wick 4 was due for release in May 2021 but was delayed to May 2022 due to Keanu Reeves filming The Matrix Resurrection and then was delayed to March 2023 to avoid Top Gun Maverick. As similar to Top Gun Maverick had John Wick Chapter Four opened on those previous dates it would have faced far tougher competition and wouldn’t have held as strongly. It’s all about dating, which is vital as you can often tell how confident the studio is with a film by how they date it often over a year in advance.
399th biggest film between Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Bad Neighbours (close to Forrest Gump, Bad Boys For Life, Basic Instinct and Fatal Attraction) and 715th biggest inflated between Adams Family Values and Four Christmases (close to Rocky, the Perfect Storm, The Specialist and Good Will Hunting).
Lionsgate recently announced John Wick’s spinoff The Ballerina starring Ana de Armas will open June 7th, 2024, and will surely be announcing John Wick: Chapter 5 for 2025 very soon. A three-part TV spinoff The Continental will be released later this year. Lionsgate has put together their strongest slate of films set for release over the next year or so with sequels and spinoffs to many of their most successful film series, The Expendables 4 opens in September, Saw X in October, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes in November, Dirty Dancing sequel in February 2024 (trying to ignore the previous sequel 2004’s Dirty Dancing Havana Nights) and The Ballerina in June 2024.
Alongside those, they also have Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret and About My Father. With massive properties released by the major studios, it’s been tough for smaller studios not to have similar-sized properties and Lionsgate as eOne has been seen as an acquisition target for many years as Lionsgate has a 17,000 film and TV library which generated $749m last year.
- 5. Air – £516,224 – £3,653,838
Down 28.6% in the third weekend
Took £136k Friday (26.3%) 45.4% drop from last Friday; £239k Saturday (46.3%); £141.2k Sunday (27.3%)
Had a similar third weekend as LA Confidential, The Firm, Rain Man and Everything Everywhere All At Once and inflation inflated similar to Days of Thunder, Lethal Weapon, The Untouchables and The Hunt For Red October.
Air has held well over the last few weeks as counter-programming to the family films for Easter and shows again that opening a mix of types of the film alongside each other sees films perform well against each other. As normally when a film performs like Super Mario Bros it cannibalizes the marketplace (as Guardians of the Galaxy and Fast X will do next month), but as with the weeks after Top Gun Maverick, (between Doctor Strange and Thor) its success brought audiences to see other films too. Expect like happen in July with Indiana Jones and the Dial Of Destiny, Elemental, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, Barbie and Oppenheimer.
Third weekends
1997’s Jerry Maguire dropped 31% £922,552 (£1,743,102 inflated) and £5,384,815 taking £9,930,120 (£18,762,315 inflated).
1998’s Good Will Hunting dropped 27% £680,433 and £4,114,504 52.7% of £7,806,051 (£15,650,842 inflated).
2008’s Gone Baby Gone dropped 18% £199,642 #8 and £1,280,377 of £1,694,405
2010’s The Town dropped 34% £582,953 #5 and £3,748,461 of £4,771,263
2012’s Argo dropped 38% £495,689 #8 and £3,869,361 of £7,488,365)
1,671st biggest film between Hide and Seek and This Year’s Love (close to The Krays, Leon, The Menu and Unfaithful) and 2,156th biggest inflated between Carry on Columbus and I Spy (close to Training Day, The Frighteners, Unlawful Entry and Broadcast News).
Also Opened
Missing – Sony Pictures
Opened with £382,054 #6 from 427 screens.
Took £93k Friday (24.3%); £156k Saturday (40.8%); £133k Sunday (34.8%)
Sequel to 2018’s thriller Searching, after premiered at Sundance Film Festival and received positive reviews (87% on Rotten Tomatoes) opened in the US in January with $9.2m taking $35.2m.
The Three Musketeers: D’Artagnan – Entertainment Filma
Opened with almost half as much as Searching £765,050 #5 from 401 screens taking £2,023,281.
Opened £161,609 #10 from 267 screens including some IMAX screens
Took £36k Friday (22.3%); £60k Saturday (37.1%); £65.6k Sunday (40.6%)
Previous Three Musketeers films opened in 2011 with £1,461,251 (£1,948,335 inflated) taking £3,463,570 and 1994’s opened with £647,515 (£1,609,822 inflated) taking £3,477,725 (£8,646,159 inflated) and 2021’s Dogtanian And The Three Muskehounds opened £212,334 #9 from 479 screens taking £384,278
UK box office in detail
This weekend’s top 10 box office took £8,951,596 down 27.5% from last weekend’s £12,342,706: 1,164,057 admissions down 27.2% from 1,598,907.
700th biggest top 10 of the last 21 years (out of 1,099) between 23 March 2007 #1 300 £4,746,071 (53%) and 02 December 2016 #1 Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them £4,494,727 (50.3% of top 10) and 962nd biggest inflation inflated between 17 December 2010 #1 Tron Legacy £1,970,692 (29.9% of top 10) and 16 May 2008 #1 Iron Man £1,917,925 (33.3% of top 10).
The top 3 took £6,517,838 72.8% of the top 10; Super Mario Bro 47.7% (£4,271,315); Evil Dead Rises 16.5% (£1,477,840); Dungeons & Dragons 8.6% (£768,683)
280th highest percentage #1 between 12 May 2006 Mission: Impossible III (47.8%) and 07 October 2016 The Girl on the Train (47.7%).
585th biggest admissions #1 (555,438) between 17 July 2015 Ant-Man (556,359) and 21 November 2008 Quantum of Solace (554,767).
Up 16.9% from 2022 (£7,659,588); The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent (£516,697); #1 Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2nd week split over 4 weeks) £1,637,442 20% drop 647 screens (21.4% of top 10)
2021; Lockdown
2020; Lockdown
Up 79.3% from 2019; (£4,991,232); Red Joan (£432,866); Greta (£331,811); The Goonies (4K Restoration) (£59,033); #1 Shazam! £979,787 2nd week #1 over 3 weeks 512 screens (19.6% of top 10)
Up 57.1% from 2018: (£5,699,055); The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (£825,777); The Leisure Seeker (£105,130); Funny Cow (£74,142); Wildling (£20,111); #1 Rampage £1,413,973 2nd week down 66%
Down 5.1% from 2017: (£9,428,676); Their Finest (£850,328); Eugene Onegin – Met Opera 2017 (£274,598); Unforgettable (£270,610); The Belko Experiment (£129,942); The Zookeeper’s Wife (£101,407); Rules Don’t Apply (£47,158); #1 Fast & Furious 8 £3,593,733 2nd week 58% drop
Down 29.8% from 2016: (£12,580,441); Bastille Day (£762,598); Friend Request (£624,996); Shakespeare Live! (£250,893); Miles Ahead (£168,397); #1 The Jungle Book £8,095,442 2nd week 18% drop
Up 19.7% from 2015; (£7,479,374); Child 44 (£505,558); A Little Chaos (£331,530); Ivan The Terrible – Bolshoi 2015 (£97,268); The Last Five Years (£5,371); #1 Fast & Furious 7 £3,039,720 3rd week 44% drop
Down 37.1% from 2014: (£14,230,137); The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (£9,011,114); The Love Punch (£613,424); Locke (£251,063); #1 The Amazing Spider-Man 2 £9,011,114 1st week
Down 16.6% from 2013: (£7,677,512); Olympus Has Fallen (£2,247,900); Evil Dead (£1,375,842); Love is All You Need (£202,176); Promised Land (£52,664); The Lords of Salem (£925); The Words (£765); #1 Olympus Has Fallen £2,247,900 1st week
Up 11.4% from 2012 (£8,037,734); Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (£1,169,235); Lockout (£596,500); Gone (£275,087); Marley (£203,062); #1 Battleship £1,282,091 2nd week 66% drop
Down 10.5% from 2011; (£10,007,227); Fast Five (£5,332,096); Arthur (£764,468); Beastly (£553,069); TT3D (£312,998); Pina (£71,809); #1 Fast Five £5,332,096 1st week
Up 36.7% from 2010: (£6,545,848); Date Night (£1,272,405); It’s a Wonderful Afterlife (£464,468); The Joneses (£247,178); Centurion (£114,147); Agora (£31,530); Extract (£26,714); #1 Date Night £1,272,405 1st week 400 screens (19.4% of top 10)
Down 5.7% from 2009; (£9,489,959); I Love You Man (£1,122,258); Crank 2: High Voltage (£554,565); In the Loop (£468,954); Good (£27,054); Not Easily Broken (£10,727); #1 Monsters vs. Aliens £2,057,367 3rd week 1st #1
Down 48.4% from 2008; (£6,030,881); Fool’s Gold (£975,498); In Bruges (expansion up 634%) (£638,654); Street Kings (£619,647); Happy-Go-Lucky (£383,365); Flashbacks of a Fool (£246,072); #1 21 £1,010,923 2nd week 39% drop
Up 68% from 2007: (£5,328,808); Fracture (£851,289); Alpha Dog (£452,232); The Reaping (£310,591); Pathfinder (£109,262); #1 Wild Hogs (£954,553 2nd week 44% drop
Up 37.8% from 2006; (£6,495,276): Silent Hill (£991,687); American Dreamz (£690,625); Eight Below (£413,525); Tristan and Isolde (£224,133); Mistress of Spices (£85,563); #1 Ice Age II £1,886,277 3rd week 48% drop
Up 64.3% from 2005 (£5,446,480); The Wedding Date (£808,641); Guess Who (£697,561); Cursed (£207,597); Beauty Shop (£131,060); #1 The Interpreter £1,212,734 2nd week 24% drop
Up 47% from 2004 (£6,090,459); Kill Bill – Volume 2 (£2,768,832); Taking Lives (£317,740); Win a Date with Tad Hamilton! (£211,020); Wondrous Oblivion (£54,624); #1 Kill Bill – Volume 2 £2,768,832 1st week 411 screens (45.4% of top 10)
Up 18% from 2003 (£7,590,235); Phone Booth (£1,385,040); How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (£1,247,975); Bulletproof Monk (£607,839); Ghosts of the Abyss (£75,227); #1 Johnny English £2,529,665 2nd week 26% drop
Up 40.5% from 2002 (£6,372,772); The Scorpion King (£1,610,794); #1 Bend It Like Beckham £1,721,146 2nd week 14% drop
Next week 2022 (£9,173,308); Downton Abbey: A New Era (£3,072,762); #1 Downton Abbey: A New Era £3,072,762 1st week 739 screens (33.5% of top 10)
US Box Office
- Super Mario Bros – Universal Pictures
Dropped 35% in the third weekend taking $59.93m and $436.03m
7th biggest third weekend between Avengers: Infinity War ($62.07m) and Spider-Man: No Way Home ($56.02m); Incredibles 2 #14 $46.41m; The Lion King #24 $38.52m; Frozen II #36 $35.16m.
5th biggest animated film between Shrek 2 and Toy Story 4; 28th biggest film between E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and Toy Story 4; 81st biggest inflated between Top Gun and Toy Story 4; 3rd biggest Universal Pictures film between E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.
17 Illumination Entertainment films have taken almost $3.6bn in the US and almost $8.95bn worldwide.
Took $70.7m from 71 territories and $442.15m and $878.2m worldwide; Mexico $65.6m; UK $51.7m; Germany $37.2m; France $31.7m; Australia $27.3m.
Took $39.3m from IMAX worldwide including $10m internationally.
After 4 years NATO has finally updated the average price, up 15% post-COVID to $10.53 but as IMAX/PLF has fueled ‘growth’ need EntTelligence average $15.76 and $17.80 from films like Avatar 2 (took 30%+ from premium), the industry needs to be honest where this ‘growth’ is coming from. But at least NATO are slightly more honest about the dramatic increase in prices post-COVID than the UK which claims only an 8% increase since 2019, with UK inflation at 10.4% and energy costs skyrocketing over the last year how can the UK only increase last year by 2.2% to £7.69?
18th biggest animated worldwide between Ice Age: Continental Drift and Inside Out; 77th biggest worldwide between Spider-Man: Homecoming and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets; 12th biggest Universal Pictures film between The Secret Life of Pets and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
Universal Pictures now have four of the 10 biggest studio films released since 2019 and five of them internationally. Universal currently are the biggest US studio for 2023 Universal $781.5m; 20th Century Studios $282.7m; Lionsgate $259.7m; Paramount $250.5m; Disney $237.5m.
- Evil Dead Rises – Warner Bros
Opened $24.5m; received positive reviews (85% Rotten Tomatoes) and B CinemaScore (2013’s Evil Dead C+)
Took $2.5m from Thursday midnights similar to M3gan ($2.75m) ahead of Smile ($2.1m)
789th biggest opening between Pet Sematary and Act of Valor (close to Underworld: Awakening, Zombieland, White Noise and The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It).
The fifth movie in the Evil Dead film series started in 1981 with Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead starring Bruce Campbell. 2013’s Evil Dead opened $25.77m taking $54.23m and $97.54m worldwide had a budget of $17m.
Opened with $16.8m from 58 territories.
- Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves – Paramount Pictures
Dropped 27% in the fourth weekend $5.5m and $82.28m.
1,003rd biggest film between Let’s Be Cops and Beowulf; 1,744th biggest inflated between Private Parts and The Good Shepherd; 7th biggest 2023 film between M3gan and Cocaine Bear; the 81st biggest fantasy film between Immortals and Beowulf; 132nd biggest Paramount Pictures film between Days of Thunder and Beowulf.
Third weekends
2006’s Eragon dropped 41.4% taking $4.81m and $67.04m of $75.03m and $250.42m WW
1996’s Dragonheart dropped 35.4% taking $2.94m and $40.56m of $51.36m and $115.26m WW
2010’s Clash of the Titans dropped 42% taking $8.92m and $145.56m of $163.21m and $493.21m WW
2012’s Wrath of the Titans dropped 43.2% taking $3.92m and $77.23m of 483.67m and $301.97m WW
2007’s Beowulf dropped 44.7% taking $4.53m and $76.11m of $82.28m and $196.39m WW
1999’s The Mummy dropped 27.9% taking $9.94m and $114.33m of $155.38m and $415.93m WW
Dungeons & Dragons surely should have performed similarly to Clash of the Titans
Took $8.4m from 61 territories and $95.8m and $178m worldwide.
998th biggest worldwide between Patriot Games and Flubber; 7th biggest 2023 worldwide between Creed III and Scream VI; 95th biggest fantasy between Hugo and Evan Almighty; 113th biggest Paramount Pictures worldwide between Patriot Games and Double Jeopardy.
- Air – Amazon
Dropped 31% in the third weekend $5.44m and $41.66m
Critics compared Air to 1996’s Jerry Maguire up 6.8% $14.02m and $60.35m taking $153.95m and $273.55m WW.
Surprisingly industry used Ticket To Paradise as their comparison film but while it might be targetting an older audience its audience is very different to the female-heavy audience of Ticket To Paradise. Ticket to Paradise dropped 13.2% in the third weekend $8.54m and $46.77m of $68.27m
Matt Damon and Ben Affleck have starred in several films together including 1999’s Dogma (taking $30.65m), 2001’s Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back (taking $30.85m), 2004’s Jersey Girl (taking $25.26m), 2021’s The Last Duel (taking $10.85m) and most famously 1997’s Oscar-winning Good Will Hunting taking $138.43m.
It’s the fifth film directed by Ben Affleck after 2007’s Gone Baby Gone ($20.29m); 2010’s The Town ($92.18m); 2012’s Argo ($136.02m); 2016’s Live By Night ($10.37m).
Took $3.7m internationally from 67 territories and $27.1m and $68.76m worldwide.
- John Wick: Chapter Four – Lionsgate
Dropped 27% in the fifth weekend $5.84m and $168.97m.
429th biggest fifth weekend between Hannibal and In the Line of Fire
324th biggest film between Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Wild Hogs; 683rd biggest inflated between Witness and American Hustle; 3rd biggest 2023 film between Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and Creed III; 7th biggest Lionsgate film between John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum ($171.01m) and Knives Out.
Fifth weekends
2019’s John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum dropped 13.7% $6.4m and $148.92m of $171.01m and $328.34m
2017’s John Wick: Chapter Two dropped 44.4% $2.67m and $87.39m of $92.02m and $171.53m worldwide.
2014’s John Wick dropped 60.6% $876,324 and $40.61m of $43.03m and $88.76m WW
Took $13.5m from 76 territories and $206.3m total and $375.1m worldwide.
372nd biggest worldwide between My Big Fat Greek Wedding and X-Men Origins: Wolverine; 7th biggest Lionsgate film worldwide between La La Land and Now You See Me.
UK Box Office Top 10
UK Box Office Preview
Super Mario Bros will remain #1 for its fourth weekend dropping 40%-45% again taking £2.5m-£3m but what will be more interesting is if the new releases can find an audience led by two very different British films The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and Polite Society. Both play to a very different demographic, and both have had huge success finding audiences to similar films in the past, but recently have struggled to find an audience. Also released is Big George Foreman unlikely to find an audience.
Polite Society has been compared to 2010’s Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World as it similarly mixes film genres (opened £1,604,545 #2 from 408 screens taking £5,081,181) also Everything Everywhere All at Once opened £681,351 #3 from 150 screens taking £6,046,769 as well as Rye Lane opened £258,997 #7 from 369 screens taking £1,085,843.
While The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry could be compared to films like 2018’s The Guernsey Literary and Potato opened £825,777 #3 from 499 screens taking £5,937,280; 1989’s The Accidental Tourist opened £21,356 from 2 screens taking £55,561.
The book was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, won the UK National Book Award for the New Writer of the Year, and was a New York Times bestseller in 2012 selling more than 5 million copies worldwide. Starring Jim Broadbent, his last film role The Duke opened £992,659 #3 from 651 screens taking £5,283,515 and 2015’s The Lady In The Van opened £2,256,121 #2 from 523 screens taking £13,237,194.
Playing to an older demographic who prefers going to the cinema during the week rather than the weekend. The problem with both is they won’t film audiences rush out to see over the weekend so as 2022’s The Phantom Of The Open opened with £456,829 #5 from 626 screens it lost showtimes in its second weekend losing almost half of its screens by third weekend taking £2,023,765.
Exhibitors always talk about the need for more films to be released but it’s not more films they want but the right kind of films as they should be supporting films like Polite Society and Harold Fry and give them a chance to find their audience as similar feel-good British films 20+ years ago would.
Recent films targeting older audiences include Allelujah opened £715,783 #4 from 558 screens taking £3,393,983 and Man Called Otto £1,088,410 #4 from 638 screens taking £4,780,386. The problem with these films is they open far too wide as they used to open for limited wide release and then expand, the problem distributors have is if these films don’t find an audience at their opening weekend they won’t expand further.
Return of the Jedi is re-released in cinemas for its 40th anniversary,
Return of the Jedi was previously re-released in cinemas in April 1997 as part of the 20th anniversary of Star Wars Special Editions when Star Wars was released in cinemas in March, with Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi released over the following weeks.
Star Wars Special Edition opened with £3,770,206 from 354 screens (£7,484,832 inflated) taking £16,343,172 (£32,445,413 inflated)
Empire Strikes Back Special Edition opened £2,023,379 from 354 screens (£3,949,010 inflated) taking £7,183,898 (£14,020,748 inflated)
Return of the Jedi Special Edition opened £1,695,114 from 353 screens (£3,308,338 inflated) taking £4,885,138 (£9,534,279 inflated)
When Disney announced its acquisition of Lucasfilm they planned yearly Star Wars films infinitely, but after polarized reactions to The Rise of Skywalker and The Last Jedi along with Solo they pulled many of the Star Wars films they had in development opting to make TV spin-offs instead, but while critics and audiences have enjoyed The Mandalorian other shows have had mixed reception as they all feel very similar, but that’s also been the case with MCU TV spinoffs.
Their re-releases put in perspective Avatar’s re-release in September 2022 ahead of the sequel opening with £1,218,693 #2 from 535 screens 25 years later with a large percentage of BO from IMAX/PLF screens.
The Empire Strikes Back was re-released in cinemas in July 2020 for its 40th anniversary with £33,343 #2 from 115 screens; it was only a couple of weeks after cinemas reopened for the first time after lockdown.
Opening in two weeks
- Fast X – Universal Pictures
The tenth and penultimate part of the Fast & Furious series and eleventh film of the franchise starring Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Jason Momoa, Jordana Brewster, John Cena, Jason Statham, Scott Eastwood, Helen Mirren, Charlize Theron, Brie Larson, and Rita Moreno and directed by Louis Leterrier.
The 10th film has been planned since 2014 and as part of a two-part finale since 2014, and a two-part finale planned since October 2020. It has a budget of $340 million, the seventh-most expensive film ever made.
The Fast and Furious series was very successful from the first film in the US but didn’t become globally successful till the fourth film 2009’s Fast and Furious opened with £4,928,784 taking £13,539,304 with 2017’s The Fate of the Furious taking more in its opening weekend (£14,026,301).
2019’s Hobbs & Shaw had the fourth biggest opening (£6,377,583 taking £1,468,289 23% from Thursday previews) of the Fast and Furious film series after The Fate of the Furious, Fast & Furious 7 and Fast & Furious 6; The 9 Fast and Furious films have taken over £165m at the box office since 2001 (3.8% of global box office) and over £184m inflation inflated; taking $1.691bn in the US (27.4% of global) and $6.16bn worldwide (4.472bn internationally 72.6%).
The 10 Fast & Furious films have taken £182m and £215m inflation inflated.
The box office of the Fast and the Furious franchises shows the impact the Chinese box office has had on the global box office as the first four films performed far stronger in the US than internationally, but after the success of Tokyo Drift producers expanded the franchise globally, with 66% of 2011’s Fast Five box office from international; 69.7% of 2013’s Fast and Furious 6 box office came from international and then the franchise exploded with 2017’s Furious 7 taking 76.7% internally thanks to it taking $391m in China and $1.51bn worldwide; 81.7% of 2017’s The Fate of the Furious came from international with $392.8m from China and $1.236nm worldwide.
F9 was tracked to open with $60m in the US and opened with $70.04m 30% less than 2017’s The Fate of the Furious $98.78m taking $226m; early tracking for Fast X is similar to $65m-$70m.
- Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret – Lionsgate
Coming-of-age comedy-drama based on the novel by Judy Blume starring Abby Ryder Fortson, Rachel McAdams as her mother Barbara, and Kathy Bates and directed by Kelly Fremon Craig.
Had its world premiere at the San Francisco International Film Festival on April 23, 2023; received positive reviews (96% on Rotten Tomatoes).
As with John Hughes films in the 80s Judy Blume’s novels wrote about how children felt growing up, long before the internet.
They were similar to John Hughes films and books that talked to children who were changing and they were relatable to them on the same level as going through the same things, which does make it feel less scary knowing that others feel as you do.
Other coming-of-age girls’ films include Lady Bird, Now and Then, My Girl, Thirteen, Little Women, Superbad, Edge of Seventeen, Juno, Sixteen Candles, Dirty Dancing, Mermaids, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Heathers, Booksmart, Eighth Grade, Mean Girls and Bend It Like Beckham, many of those also struggled to find a wide audience despite receiving positive reviews and strong word of mouth but found their audiences away from cinemas.
Coming-of-age girl’s films are often very different to coming-of-age boys’ films focused on sex but John Hughes’s films would break that barrier telling it from both sides as Superbad also did.
But the question with films like these is will they find an audience, and will they be given time to find that audience even with positive reviews it’s going to be a word-of-mouth film that girls will talk about with friends as it’s not a film they will rush out to see. But the problem is similar to Booksmart in May 2019 opening days after Aladdin it will be overshadowed by Disney’s coming-of-age reimagination of The Little Mermaid opening the following weekend.
Exhibitors should be doing more to support these films, but the problem as ever is if they don’t find an immediate audience in their opening weekend, they will lose showtimes in their second weekend.
At CinemaCon John Fithian again said streaming wasn’t a ‘Sustainable business model’ and studios need cinemas for profits, that might be true for films like Super Mario Bros sadly not the case for the 900 other films that are released each year. As shown by last year’s stats from the FDA; 911 films were released; 26 made over £10m but 59 didn’t make even £1k and 254 didn’t take more than £10k.
While audiences will always come out to see films like Super Mario Bros the industry needs to find a way to get audiences to see other films, almost 10 years ago Lionsgate suggested that British films should be cheaper in cinemas saying “I think we should see UK films priced at £4 and US films at £10. A trip to the cinema isn’t cheap anymore.” …. “The problem is you’ll likely have 20 films that take $40m (£25m) each and not much besides,”…. “They will account for more than 95% of the business and it could lead to an unhealthy lack of cultural diversity.” It has only gotten worse since.
Exhibitors’ reaction was predictable saying “Cinemas are essentially businesses,”…. “They look to maximise revenue however they can.” It’s fine for cinemas to want to maximise their revenue but studios aren’t able to do similar with a shorter theatrical window, 90% of BO for most films is taken within the first 31 days of release. While films like Minions: The Rise of Gru, DC League of Super-Pets and Puss in Boots 2 attracted wide audiences in cinemas weeks after the films were available to watch at home legally.
- Beau Is Afraid – Sony Pictures
Black comedy horror starring Joaquin Phoenix, Patti LuPone, Nathan Lane, Amy Ryan, Kylie Rogers, Parker Posey, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Hayley Squires, Michael Gandolfini, Zoe Lister-Jones, and Richard Kind and directed by Ari Aster. Received mixed reviews (70% Rotten Tomatoes).