- Uncharted – £3,775,359 – £12,163,777
Dropped 19.8% in its second weekend; holding strongly due to half-term holiday as other films targeting similar audience have over recent years including Sonic the Hedgehog dropping 12.9% and 2017’s The Lego Batman Movie dropping 19%, not including previews (£4,435,521)
Uncharted took £8.3m over its opening 7 days having the 6th biggest opening week since the pandemic began (In comparison Aladdin £14.9m; Sonic the Hedgehog took £10.51m; Venom 2 £8.72m; Shang-Chi £8.31m; Shazam £6.41m and Detective Pikachu £6.21m); taking £4.7m Fri-Sun and £3.6m Mon-Thurs; it was #1 Fri-Mon and then Thurs (Sing 2 was #1 Tues-Weds)
Uncharted has already overtaken Assassin’s Creed (£8m), Tomb Raider (£7.7m), and Warcraft (£6.1m) but the combination of opening the weekend before half-term and Hollanders it was always likely to take similar to Sonic The Hedgehog. As with the US, it seems like the industry has lowered its expectations on how films should open and perform even after No Time To Die and Spider-Man No Way Home. As surely the performance of those two films shows there is the audience wanting to return to cinemas but the problem is they opted to see those films multiple times rather than see other films opening afterwards.
145th biggest second weekend between Interstellar and Deadpool 2 (close to The Simpsons, Avatar, Spider-Man Homecoming and Spider-Man 2) and 251st biggest inflation inflated between Unbreakable and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (close to Johnny English Reborn, Charlie’s Angels (2000), Ted and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 1).
Uncharted second weekend can’t be compared to most of these as not comparing like for like as first Friday was a school day while second was half-term and films targetting this demographic will hold strongly over half-term, how holds next weekend will see if it can top £20m.
303rd biggest film in the UK (642nd film to take £10m+) between Gosford Park and Hairspray (close to Ghostbusters (1984), Jungle Cruise, Batman and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2) and 792nd biggest inflation inflated between The Expendables and Knocked Up (close to National Treasure 2, Wild Wild West, Superman IV and National Treasure).
It was all about timing for Uncharted, while it might have received poor reviews (calling it a Tomb Raider, National Treasure (took £7,054,178) and Raiders of the Lost Ark (£13.9m/£64.5m inflation inflated) rip-off) its target demographic won’t read them and also attracted the Tom Holland’s tween/teen girl fanbase who had to seem Spider-Man No Way Home.
The Uncharted video games have sold almost 50 million copies worldwide with the latest Uncharted 4 selling over 15m copies making it one of the best-selling PlayStation 4 games of all time. So if just 10% of those who brought the video game and 10% who saw Spider-Man No Way Home then Uncharted was on its way to having a successful launch.
Uncharted was #1 on Monday #2 on Tuesday and Wednesday but returned #1 on Thursday.
Recent video game second weekends
Video games comparisons with Uncharted turned into films with mixed results include
2020’s Sonic The Hedgehog down 11.9% (half-term holidays) taking £4,733,768 and £14,688,537 76.18% of £19,280,822
2018’s Tomb Raider dropped 61.5% taking £1,186,436 and £5,472,541 70.71% of £7,739,354
2016’s Assassin’s Creed dropped 82% taking £950,168 and £6,949,314 86.9% of £7,996,695
2010’s Prince of Persia dropped 19.5% taking £1,638,149 and £4,017,460 45.5% of £8,829,805
Pokémon Detective Pikachu dropped 45.1% taking £2,718,116 and £8,884,879 66.46% of £13,368,175
2018’s Rampage dropped 65.6% taking £1,413,973 and £6,483,777 74.56% of £8,695,722
Sonic The Hedgehog (sequel opening in April) with sequels for Mortal Kombat and Tomb Raider in development.
While a similarly themed film based on a fictional video game
2017’s Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle dropped 36.1% taking £5,210,725 and £17,835,902 48.25% of £36,968,605
2019’s Jumanji: The Next Level dropped 69% taking £2,932,285 and £14,724,635 40.8% of £36,079,399
Again Uncharted can’t be compared with most of these films as they either had previews inflating their openings, so dropped more heavily or the films opened during term time, the only film it can compare directly with is Sonic The Hedgehog which had a similar drop which had Dolittle #2 down 5% (similar to Sing 2)
2. Sing 2 – £3,155,692 – £23,315,762
Down 2% in its fourth weekend; took £xx more than Sing in io its fourth weekend but the total was £1,417,907 less due to having no previews; after dropping #2 behind Uncharted Fri-Sun and Monday returned to #1 on Tuesday.
Sing 2 had a similar drop as Dolittle did in 2020 down only 5% (£2,032,270) in its third weekend, 2019’s The LEGO Movie 2 down 2% (£2,410,824) and 2017’s The Lego Batman dropped 19% without previews taking (£4,435,521) with Sing dropping only 10% (£2,108,203) in its 4th weekend.
Sing 2 became the 268th film to take £20m+ at the UK box office on Thursday (the 7th Illumination Entertainment to take £20m+). Became the 6th film to take £20m+ since cinemas reopened after No Time to Die, Spider-Man: No Way Home, Dune, Shang Chi, Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway and the 3rd biggest film since cinemas reopened and the biggest animated film since Frozen 2.
Sing 2 is Illumination Entertainment’s 11th film since Despicable Me in 2010 having their biggest fourth weekend similar to Despicable Me 3 £3,082,983 #2 down 20% taking £30,319,469 63.7% of £47,562,575;
Minions £2,702,320 #2 down 35% taking £32,293,570 67.7% of £47,645,626);
2018’s The Grinch £2,317,766 #4 down 29% taking £17,002,535 61.6% of £27,610,501
2017’s Sing £2,325,281 #3 down 39% taking £18,217,102 63.2% of £28,840,000);
2016’s The Secret Life of Pets £2,053,623 #3 down 43% taking £25,744,363 71.9% of £35,825,195;
2013’s Despicable Me 2 £1,850,549 #3 down 17% taking £30,279,559 63.8% of £47,436,199);
2019’s The Secret Life of Pets 2 £1,521,488 #4 down 25% taking £16,865,992 90.5% of £18,638,365;
2010’s Despicable Me £1,177,507 #3 down 53% taking £16,863,318 85.7% of £19,670,786);
2011’s Hop £466,676 #6 down 41% taking £5,940,142 81.1% of £7,320,425);
2012’s Dr Seuss’ The Lorax £194,689 #11 down 48% taking £6,635,917 94.5% of £7,017,256)
In 2017 Sing took £2,108,203 down 10% in its fourth weekend; weekends either side of half-term taking £5,242,772 over 10 days and £3,134,569 Mon-Thurs.
While No Time To Die and Spider-Man No Way Home get the industry plaudits and Millennials and GenZ get the credit, the real saviours of cinema are under 12s as children’s films have been the strongest performing genre of films since cinemas reopened from the first time in July 2020.
While none of them reached huge BO heights they performed steadily across the months and I’m sure under 12s (and their parents who took them) have been the demographic that’s been to the cinema far more times than any other. Many of them saw films they could have watched at home with films like Onward, Trolls World Tour and Encanto still finding audiences in cinemas after being released on streaming. Encanto took third of its box office over the last 7 weeks since being released on Disney+, showing parents will still choose to take children to see films in the cinema despite it being more expensive than watching the film at home.
70th biggest animated film between The Pirates! In an Adventure With Scientists and Aladdin (close to Sonic The Hedgehog, The Secret Life of Pets 2, Kung Fu Panda 2 and Ice Age) and 93rd biggest animated film inflation inflated between The Emperor’s New Groove and Flushed Away (close to Antz, Mulan, The Emoji Movie and Shaun The Sheep Movie).
199th biggest film in the UK between Trolls and Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (close to Alvin And The Chipmunks II, Zootropolis, Cats and Dogs and High School Musical 3) and 375th biggest inflation inflated between Lilo & Stitch and Rocketman (close to The Rugrats Movie, Little Fockers, Rocketman and Pride and Prejudice).
Sing 2 is the first of three Illumination Entertainment films released this year with Minions The Rise of Gru (delayed from 2021) opening in July (two weeks after Lightyear the first time Pixar and Illumination Entertainment have gone head-to-head with two major franchises out of school holidays) and Mario opening December 23rd (based on Super Mario Bros video game previously made in a live-action film in 1993 both a critical and box office flop)
Illumination Entertainment announced release dates for Migration June 30, 2023, and Despicable Me 4 July 3, 2024.
With no children’s films released now until Sonic the Hedgehog 2 in 6 weeks (April 1st) Sing 2 will likely have similar long legs as other children’s films have recently; Clifford The Big Red Dog #11 £98,146 took in 10th weekend and Encanto #12 £91,266 in 12th weekend.
While No Time To Die and Spider-Man No Way Home received plaudits from the industry it’s children’s films that have been the strongest performing genre of films since cinemas reopening in July 2021. What is surprising is many of these children were available to watch at home but parents still choose to take their children to see these films in cinemas despite being more expensive to watch them in the cinema than at home.
3. Death on the Nile – £1,349,394 – £4,738,119
Down 28.9% in its second weekend still taken £247,481 less than Murder on the Orient Express opened within November 2017 (£4,985,600) and is still surprisingly the film on the widest release 730 screens compared with 721 screens for Sing 2 whilst also having a screen average of £1,848 a third of Uncharted and half of Sing 2.
Had 667th biggest second weekend between Maze Runner: The Death Cure and Annie (close to The Panic Room, Atonement, Suffragette and Rush) and 966th biggest inflation inflated between Vantage Point and The Devil’s Advocate (close to Munich, First Man, Miss Potter and Contagion).
Murder on the Orient Express opened with 618 screens added 24 screens in its second weekend and stayed in the top 10 for 7 weeks (taking £196,186 in its 7th) but Death on the Nile is likely to have a far shorter playing time despite having a 45-day theatrical window.
Second weekends
2017’s Murder on the Orient Express dropped only 12% taking £4,376,429 (from 642 screens) £12,989,387 taking 53.6% of £24,224,914; it took £8.21m in its opening week and £3.6m Mon-Thurs.
2021’s House of Gucci took £1,511,982 dropped 37.6% and £5,584,060 57.8% of £9,649,005
Normally films playing to older audiences have longer legs
2012’s The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel took £2,342,095 up 5.4% and £7,014,101 34.5% of £7,014,101; took £4.79m in its opening 7 days including £2.57m Mon-Thurs
2015’s The Lady in the Van took £1,609,943 down 28.6% and £6,437,140 50.8% of £12,660,028; took £4.82m in its opening week taking £2.58m Mon-Thurs;
2015’s The Second-Best Marigold Hotel took £1,957,256 down 48.1% and £8,640,646 55.47% of £15,575,797; took £6.69m in its opening 7 days taking almost £3m Mon-Thurs.
Murder on the Orient Express dropped only 12.2% in its second weekend this is close to 12.7% Suffragette dropped in 2015 while The Lady in the Van dropped 28.1%, 2014’s The Imitation Game 19%, 2012’s The Iron Lady 31%, The Second-Best Marigold Hotel 37% while the first film increased by 5% in its second weekend.
Of course, the Armie Hammer scandal will likely be used as an excuse why Disney didn’t promote Death on the Nile as strongly but did similar with all of the films they inherited after acquiring 20th Century Fox in 2019 and all of the films have performed far less successful than they would have done.
Free Guy has been the film’s best performing 20th Century Fox film Disney has released opening with £2,477,891 in August taking £16,786,848 but I would have imagined when the film was originally conceived it was expected to perform similar to Night at the Museum and The Lego Movie.
While other films they have released Dark Phoenix, The New Mutants, Spies In Disguise, Jojo Rabbit, The Call of the Wild, Ron’s Gone Wrong, West Side Story, The King’s Man and Nightmare Alley have all underperformed. This was also seen by Pixar’s Soul, Luca and Turning Red original films being released straight to Disney+ but their Toy Story spinoff Lightyear keeping its summer release date.
Death on the Nile was shot with 65mm Panavision as Murder on the Orient Express and was shown exclusively at the Odeon Leicester Square in 70mm as Murder on the Orient Express also was.
4. Dog – £822,122 – NE
Channing Tatum (first leading role since 2017’s Lucky Logan he stars next alongside Sandra Bullock and Brad Pitt in The Lost City next month). Films about a man and his relationship with his dog have been popular over the years with films like Turner and Hooch (£4.1m total), K9 (£0.9m total) and similar themed 2015’s Max (opening #18 £38,901 from 118 screens).
But normally these films are family comedies that get PG certificates but Dog has a 12A (similar to Max) but starring Channing Tatum it was a double dose of cuteness for cinemagoers.
Other films about cats and dogs and their relationships with humans include
2009’s Marley And Me opening with £4.4m taking £15.4m;
1992’s Beethoven taking £6.8m; 1993’s Beethoven’s 2nd taking £5.8m;
2017’s A Dog’s Purpose opened £1,300,097 (including £667,168 previews) taking £3.2m
2010’s Hachi: A Dog’s Tale opened £442,753 taking £1,048,876; 2016’s A Street Cat Named Bob opened in November 2016 with £985,557 taking £4,182,976 and 2018’s Patrick opened with £299,861.
Far more successful were the animated The Secret Life of Pets films, the first opened with £9,580,039 in 2016 taking £35,825,195, the second in £3,490,598 taking £18,638,365.
Two years ago dog adventure film The Call of the Wild opened the same weekend also opening #4 with £1,465,400 (from 487 screens) taking £2,770,000.
While Clifford The Big Red Dog opened in December with £1,293,354 targeting a younger audience and has taken £9,368,190 after 11 weeks was up 63.4% this weekend returning into the top 10 #9 taking £160,354.
Disney made many adventure films starring dogs in the 90s including White Fang, Eight Below, Iron Will, Snow Dogs, Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey
On Graham Norton Show Channing Tatum described the film as a good little dog, I’m very proud of it, we didn’t make The Godfather, it’s a little dog movie…. It’s not a sad movie as Marley & Me really scared people… the dog doesn’t have a horrible ending”
While films like Uncharted and Sing 2 performed as they expected over half-term Dog performed better than expected as films like Dog normally struggle to find an audience in cinemas these days.
While Uncharted and Sing 2 might have taken over 50% of the weekend’s box office between the two of them last weekend was probably the first post-pandemic films playing across all demographics young and old played well with films targetting all ages. While films like No Time To Die and Spider-Man No Way Home receive plaudits from the industry cinema is much more than two films as last weekend showed as there will be over 900 films being released this year and the aim of the industry is for cinemagoers to see more than the sure things.
The top 5 took at almost £9.85m up 79.3% on the £5.5m for the top 5 on the first weekend UK-cinemas reopened in post-lockdown in May 2021. It was up 16.6% on the £8.5m top five total for the first weekend in August 2021, when The Suicide Squad the week after Jungle Cruise opened.
This highlights what I’ve said since cinemas reopened that one film (Tenet) couldn’t be the saviour of cinema on its own what was needed was a slate of films targetting multiple demographics. This was why Chinese New Year was so strong last year taking $1.2bn in 6 days and taking $950m this year as along with The Battle at Lake Changjin II opening with $300m+ there were about 5 others that opened strongly.
Hopefully on Saturday for Cineworld Day when all Cineworld cinemas are £3 people opt to see other films than going to see Spider-Man No Way Home for the umpteenth time as I have said since cinemas closed for the first time almost 2 years ago what was needed was something massive like National Cinema Day to get people going back to the cinema with a slate of films from all distributors of films targetting all demographics, as their initial plan of Tenet being the saviour of cinema was never going to work in July 2020.
They got closer to this in May 2021 with the release of Peter Rabbit 2 but the industry was blinded by No Time To Die being their saviour had they done more in May things could have gotten back to normal far sooner, that said things still aren’t close to normal as box office is still down about 25% from normal, as last weekend’s box office was 5% down from the same weekend in 2002 despite 82% ticket inflation since.
5. Belfast – £756,381 – £12,988,877
Down 28% in its fifth weekend; overtaken totals of recent Best Picture BAFTAs 2007’s Atonement (£11,967,043); 1997’s The English Patient (£11,492,686); 2006’s Brokedown Mountain (£9,469,032; 2006’s The Queen (£9,381,693); likely to overtake Three Billboards (£15,238,741); Schindler’s List (£14,150,675) and Sense and Sensibility (£13,615,691) by the BAFTA ceremony on Sunday 13th March where Belfast is odds on to win Best Picture at BAFTAs Similar Best Picture Bafta
The film was released on VOD on February 21st
Belfast had a similar 5th weekend as these BAFTA Best Picture Winners
2007’s Atonement dropped 35% #4 £560,252 398 screens taking £9,693,480 81% of £11,967,043
2018’s Three Billboards dropped 33% #8 £592,089 338 screens taking £10,599,221 69.5% of £15,238,741
2016’s The Revenant dropped 41% #6 £717,860 431 screens taking £19,620,532 91.6% of £21,759,689
1999’s Shakespeare In Love dropped 28,2% #3 £990,386 taking £12,235,644 60.9% of £20,080,703
2014’s 12 Years A Slave dropped 37% #5 £893,948 549 screens taking £15,452,193 77.1% of £20,027,551
477th biggest film in the UK between Ocean’s Thirteen and Three Men and a Little Lady (close to American Hustle, American Sniper, Fatal Attraction and The Lady in the Van) and 742nd biggest inflation inflated between The Meaning of Life and The Grudge (close to The Social Network, Memphis Belle, Buster and Closer).
Has overtaken The Impossible (£12,751,395); The Lady in the Van (£12,660,028); Braveheart (£12,442,332); The Departed (£12,487,739); Sliding Doors (£12,434,715); The Holiday (£12,408,485); ;Gosford Park (£12,259,248); Parasite (£12,030,000)
Received 6 BAFTA nominations including Best Film but surprisingly no nomination for Best Director for Kenneth Branagh despite being nominated for Best Screenplay and received seven Oscar nominations including Best Film and Best Director.
The 10 Best Picture Oscar nominations have taken £43,610,047 to date at the UK box office with almost half from Dune. Four of the nominees had a very limited cinema release CODA, Don’t Look Up, Drive My Car and The Power of the Dog. The lack of any high-profile films will mean the BAFTAs and Oscars will likely see further drops in viewing figures and do wonder how much longer the BAFTAs can remain in prime-time Sunday night on BBC1. It’s 25 years now since the Oscars and cinemagoers shared the same tastes in Best Picture and the biggest global film of the year Titanic.
Comparisons have been made with Alfonso Cuaron’s Oscar and BAFTA winner Roma about a year in the life of a middle-class family maid in the early 1970s, the film had a limited cinema release before being released on Netflix. As Belfast Roma was shot in black and white.
1987’s Hope and Glory has a similar story about a young boy’s experiences living in London during World War 2 directed by John Boorman (took £845,927) similar to Belfast, was about John Boorman’s childhood during the Blitz.
There are also films like Steven Spielberg’s Empire of the Sun (1987) about s schoolboy who separated from his parents after the Japanese Occupation of Shanghai (took £1,962,873); 2008’s The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, 2013’s The Book Thief, 2019’s JoJo Rabbit and the fantasy 2006’s Pan’s Labyrinth and 2000’s Angela’s Ashes took £7,753,488 (£12,722,769 inflation inflated).
Kenneth Branagh has directed all sizes of films over the last decade it has been mostly big-budget studio releases since Thor in 2011 his last non-studio release was 2018’s All Is True took £976,123 and 1993’s Much Ado About Nothing took £5.5m (£12.5m inflation inflated); 1988’s Henry V his directorial debut took £652,555;
Other Box Office News
- Spider-Man No Way Home – Sony
Took £639,613 #6 on its 10th weekend taking £94,018,947
Having the 11th biggest 10th weekend between The Lord of the Ring: The Fellowship of the Rings and Casino Royale (£597,983); Avatar (£2,260,319); Titanic (£2,223,046); The Greatest Showman (£1,239,069); Skyfall (£890,022); Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (£807,836); Slumdog Millionaire (£755,379); Mamma Mia! (£708,489); The Kings Speech (£689,809); Bohemian Rhapsody (£656,641) and LOTR: The Fellowship of the Rings (£651,900).
On Monday Spider-Man No Way Home overtook the lifetime box office of Avatar to become the 5th biggest film in the UK and 16th biggest film inflation inflated between Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Toy Story 3; and 41st biggest by admission inflation inflated between The Bridge on the River Kwai and The Spy Who Loved Me.
Using an industry average of £7.52 Spider-Man No Way Home has had about 12.5m admissions but about 40% of the BO was from IMAX/PLF/4DX/ScreenX/Dolby Cinema and other premium formats average price is probably about £10.50.
Spider-Man No Way Home has now taken only £2,646,544 less than No Time To Die (£96,665,491) but with half-term now over and The Batman opening in just over a week it will likely come a little short.
Other News
The industry 20+ years ago was proactive coming up with innovative ideas like National Cinema Day and the Star Wars re-release trailer.
Always thought a similar trailer would have been good for the reopening of cinema for the last 4 months you have only been able to watch films on the TV screen, but if you’ve only seen fims this way, you haven’t seen them at all. Also believed there should have been the return of National Cinema Day, hugely popular in 1996 and 1997 that brought over 1.5m to the cinema for £1. Last year was the 125th anniversary of cinema in the UK and a perfect opportunity to relaunch cinema in the streaming era.
As streaming services fragment and customers who just subscribed to Netflix and Amazon now have to subscribe to many more to get the same content, cinema with subscription cinema can sell it as the only place you can see all the films for one monthly fee,
The problem was the industry were fixated on Tenet and then No Time To Die and didn’t believe they needed to do anything different that was why many films schedules looked almost identical in July 2020 to March 2020 when they closed despite th FDA giving exhibitors 450 title library.
That said many of the biggest classic movies weren’t in that library, always enjoyed going to the Odeon Marble Arch to see classic films in their 70mm season getting to see many films I had only seen on TV in the 80s and 90s for the first time on what was then the biggest cinema screen in Europe.
The LoveCinema campaign launched a month after cinemas reopened and then Cineworld Day .. makes me think of Bruce Willis in Armageddon talking about NASA…
This is the film industry supposedly filled with creative and fresh ideas but instead come up with campaigns many months late and feel they deserve to get credit for doing so.
The industry will be backslapping themselves at UKCA conference in April but their incompetence on waiting on government guidance before doing anything can be traced back to their last one in March 2020 when COVID wasn’t even mentioned and COVID wasn’t having any impact on cinemagoing.
This wasn’t true as Onward just had the lowest opening in the UK for Pixar film ever… As with Boris there is a stench of failure of the industry that should have been one of the most prepared industry’s going into the pandemic as they saw what happened in China with cinemas closing days before their most lucrative week of the year last year took $1.2bn. ($950m this year)
While the industry has made many historical documentaries about all natural and unnatural disasters.. surely someone could have watched Contagion before Matt Hancock did in March 2020 on ITV2 to realise the similarities to COVID at least Hancock changed his policies..
The industry was focused on Nolan being the saviour of cinema which he was never going to be (not saying that in hindsight i said that in May 2020) as seen by last weekend’s BO in the UK the top 5 shared £9.5m while the top two performed well as did all the others as there were films for all demographics and those films then play off each other.. having one film like No Time to Die and Spider-Man looks good short-term but just cannibalises BO.
UK box office in detail
This weekend’s top 10 box office took £11,663,825 down 14.7% from last weekend’s £13,675,065
The weekend admissions were 1,551,041 down 14.7% 1,818,493 from last week; using the average price of £7.52 calculated by CAA 2021 admissions 74m with UK BO of £556.9m; This is up 11.4% from 2020 (£6.75) should be lower as VAT was 5% for UK cinemas from July 2020 till September 30, 2021, and is 12.5% till March).
Top 3 took £8,280,445 71% of the top 10; Uncharted 32.4% (£3,775,359); Sing 2 27.1% (£3,155,692); Death on the Nile 11.6% (£1,349,394)
2021 n/a cinemas closed
Down 15.8% from 2020 (£13,862,134); The Call Of The Wild (£1,465,400); Like A Boss (£520,059); Brahms: The Boy II (£506,773); Greed (£369,028); Swan Lake – Bolshoi Ballet 2020 (£194,536); #1 Sonic The Hedgehog £4,171,244 2nd week 634 screens 12% drop (30.1% of top 10)
Up 25.5% from 2019; (£9,295,306); Cold Pursuit (£631,467); On the Basis of Sex (£458,914); Capernaum (£140,770); #1 The LEGO Movie 2 £2,410,824 3rd week 661 screens 2% drop (25.9% of top 10)
Down 27.1% from 2018: (£15,994,745); Lady Bird (expansion) (£1,233,508); I, Tonya (£1,049,551); Finding Your Feet (£923,220); La Boheme – Met Opera 2018 (£309,799); #1 Black Panther £6,859,230 2nd week 599 screens 61% drop (42.9% of top 10)
Down 35.4% from 2017: (£18,070,709); John Wick: Chapter Two (£2,232,055); The Great Wall (£1,646,516); Hidden Figures (£1,448,214); Moonlight (£621,836); Fences (expansion) (£378,351); Moulin Rouge! (Secret Cinema 2017) (£376,900); The Founder (£231,716); Disney’s Newsies: The Broadway Musical (£107,496); #1 The LEGO Batman Movie £4,435,521 2nd week 618 screens 44% drop (24.5% of top 10)
Down 28.1% from 2016: (£16,221,692); How To Be Single (£1,876,539); Triple 9 (£812,619); The Finest Hours (£247,643); #1 Deadpool £5,694,280 2nd week 571 screens 59% drop (35.1% of top 10)
Down 19.5% from 2015; (£14,483,939); The Wedding Ringer (£990,445); Project Almanac (£868,030); Blackhat (£147,199); The Duke Of Burgundy (£43,155); Cake (£114,316); #1 Fifty Shades of Grey £4,597,092 2nd week 596 screens 66% drop (31.7% of top 10)
Down 15.7% from 2014: (£13,831,826); A New York Winter’s Tale (£257,634); Peter Grimes – English National Opera 2014 (£145,097); Nymphomaniac Part 1 (£143,282); Stalingrad (£33,289); The Godfather: Part 2 (Re: 2014) (£9,583); #1 The Lego Movie £5,978,904 2nd week 552 screens 26% drop (43.2% of top 10)
Up 13.5% from 2013 (£10,277,378); Mama (£1,512,297); Cloud Atlas (£544,725); Song for Marion (£456,714); Hardy Bucks: The Movie (£152,775); To the Wonder (£96,645); #1 Wreck-It Ralph 3rd week (2-weeks #1 split by one) £3,420,196 540 screens (33.3% of top 10)
Down 14.3% from 2012 (£13,615,154); Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (£1,340,000); Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (£372,205); #1 The Woman in Black £3,501,601 2nd week 433 screens 11% up (25% of top 10)
Down 33.3% from 2011 (£17,491,609); Paul (£5,517,121); Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son (£1,433,778); Justin Bieber: Never Say Never (£820,592); Inside Job (£70,375); #1 Paul £5,517,121 1st week 429 screens (31.5% of top 10)
Down 5.5% from 2010: (£12,339,641); The Lovely Bones (£1,637,579); Solomon Kane (£611,886); Crazy Heart (£102,917); #1 Avatar £2,817,009 10th week (9 weeks #1 with week gap) 391 screens (22.8% of top 10)
Down 7.5% from 2009; (£12,615,837); Confessions of a Shopaholic (£2,846,622); Push (£625,300); Gran Torino (£332,877); Che: Part Two (£92,320); Cadillac Records (£16,093); #1 Bolt £3,006,050 2nd week 494 screens 45% drop (23.8% of top 10)
Up 38.6% from 2008; (£8,417,049); Be Kind Rewind (£1,388,146); Rambo (£1,247,195); #1 Jumper £1,513,088 2nd week 421 screens 51% drop (18% of top 10)
Up 23.8% from 2007: (£9,415,236); The Number 23 (£1,206,087); The Good Shepherd (£629,863); School for Scoundrels (£340,984); #1 Hot Fuzz £3,297,539 2nd week 432 screens 44% drop (35.1% of top 10)
Up 33.4% from 2006; (£8,740,291); Casanova (£550,775); Aeon Flux (£512,426); Good Night, and Good Luck (£405,200); #1 Chicken Little £2,184,760 2nd week 515 screens 31% drop (25% of top 10)
Up 16.8% from 2005 (£9,981,514); Shall We Dance? (£1,080,140); Are We There Yet? (£887,814); In Good Company (£594,316); #1 Meet the Fockers £1,893,131 4th week 454 screens 36 drop (18.9% of top 10)
Up 44.6% from 2004 (£8,063,782); Sex Lives of the Potato Men (£353,726); #1 The Haunted Mansion £1,564,558 2nd week 1st #1 364 screens 7% drop (19.4% of top 10)
Up 19% from 2003 (£9,802,035); The Ring (£2,200,084); The One and Only (£61,413); #1 The Ring £2,200,084 1st week 396 screens (22.4% of top 10)
Down 5.3% from 2002 (£12,321,631); Ali (expansion) (£1,315,506); Don’t Say A Word (£597,896); Charlotte Gray (£450,229); A Beautiful Mind (limited) (£186,862); #1 Monsters, Inc. £4,234,293 3rd week 498 screens 26% drop (34.3% of top 10)
Next weekend in 2020 (£9,249,289); The Invisible Man (£2,163,798); Dark Waters (£860,942); Portrait Of A Lady On Fire (£229,678); Agrippina – Met Opera 2020 (£216,109); Downhill (£188,720); True History Of The Kelly Gang (£85,847); #1 The Invisible Man £2,163,798 1st week 580 screens (23.4% of top 10)
US Box Office
- Uncharted – Sony Pictures
Opened with $44.01m; (taking $51.31m over 4 days) receiving mixed reviews 39% Rotten Tomatoes and B+ CinemaScore
Had the 7th biggest President’s Day weekend opening between 2007’s Ghost Rider ($52.02m and 50 First Dates ($45.1m)
Putting Uncharted opening into perspective the biggest President’s Day weekend’s Black Panther ($242.15m); Deadpool ($152.19m); Fifty Shades of Grey ($93.01m(; Sonic the Hedgehog ($70m) and Valentine’s Day ($63.13m) while it had 318th biggest 3 days opening between Lucy and How to Train Your Dragon (close to Ghostbuster Afterlife, National Treasure: Book of Secrets, The Mummy and Ready Player One.
Uncharted opening is similar to several openings post-pandemic that have been seen as strong openings but would have been seen as disappointing before the pandemic.
This was similar to Scream’s opening with $30.01m in January despite this being less than Scream 2 opening 25 years ago and Jackass Forever opening with $23.15m $400k more than Jackass opening 20 years ago. Both films targeted under 35s (Millennials and GenZ) who came back to cinemas very quickly after the reopened.
Surely with the strong buzz surrounding both films they should have opened closer to double as they would have been close to their inflation inflated BO with Scream opening similar to 2018’s Halloween reboot featuring original cast $76.22m taking $159.34m and $255.61m.
It feels like the industry has lowered their expectations to how films should open as Uncharted had the video game fanbase along with the Hollanders so should have opened with $80m+over 4 days rather than $45m less than 2007’s Ghost Rider $52.02m and similar to 2003’s Daredevil $45.03m (not including ticket inflation).
To put Uncharted opening into perspective it was closer to the 10th weekend of 1998’s Titanic $32.87m and 2010’s Avatar $28.78m while many Hollanders probably decided to see Spider-Man No Way Home for the dozenth time instead. With mixed reviews, Uncharted will likely drop upwards of 50% next weekend despite no major releases opening and then more the following weekend with the arrival of The Batman.
The industry heralds the success of Spider-Man No Way Home but the probable with films like these success doesn’t breed success to other films it targets only similar films that are another reason why Uncharted should have opened stronger as all those who had seen Spider-Man No Way Home over the last two months had seen the trailer for Uncharted before it.
Took $3.7m from Thursday previews similar to Sonic the Hedgehog $3m and Kong: Skull Island $3.7m; industry predictions were in the mid-$30m but it surely should have been similar to Sonic the Hedgehog $58.01m.
EntTelligence reported 1.2m admissions with 50% of the audience coming between 6 pm and 9 pm on Friday with over 17% seeing it after 9 pm and took 37% from IMAX/PLF screens paying an average of $13.48.
As with the UK, Tom Holland attracted a younger female audience (tween/teens) that wouldn’t normally happen with a film based on a video game they probably have never played due to seeing Spider-Man No Way Home many times in cinemas over the last few months. But having a $120m budget it’s going to be a challenge for the film to turn a profit and Sony to greenlit the sequel that the film sets up.
The film started development in 2008 with many directors attached including David O. Russell, Dan Trachtenberg, Neil Burger, Seth Gordon, Shawn Levy and Travis Knight and many actors were attached to the film before Tim Holland was cast in May 2017. It was originally due for release in June 2016 and was delayed many times before moving to February 2022.
Uncharted is the fifth film Ruben Fleischer has directed for Sony Pictures (Zombieland, 30 Minutes, Venom, Zombieland 2 and Uncharted.
Video games comparisons with Uncharted turned into films with mixed results include
2018’s Tomb Raider $23.63m taking $58.25m and $274.65m worldwide reboot of 2001’s film opened with $47.35m taking $131.16m and $274.7m but released over 20 years ago inflation inflated total would be more than twice.
2008’s Max Payne $17.63m taking $40.68m and $87.06m worldwide
2016’s Assassin’s Creed $10.27m taking $54.64m and $240.69m worldwide
2010’s Prince of Persia $30.09m taking $90.75m and $336.36m worldwide
Video games to films have had mixed results. Successful video game movies include 2019’s Pokémon Detective Pikachu $54.36m taking $144.1m and $433.51m worldwide
2020’s Sonic The Hedgehog $58.01m taking $148.97m and $319.71m worldwide; 1993’s Super Mario Bros $8.53m taking $20.91m (Illumination Entertainment release animated Mario in December) and 2018’s Rampage $35.75m taking $101.02m and $428.02m worldwide
While a similarly themed film based on a fictional video game 2017’s Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle opened $36.16m taking $404.54m and $962.54m worldwide
2019’s Jumanji: The Next Level opened $59.25m taking $320.31m and $800.05m worldwide
Took $55.4m from 62 territories and $88m total and $139m worldwide; IMAX took $8.5m worldwide with $6.2m internationally.
Uncharted is only one of a few US films that have been approved to be released in China, over the last two years fewer US films have been approved to open in China and struggled to find the audience they used to get as Chinese audiences are preferring local made films and getting bored with US movies. While Black Widow, Eternals and Spider-Man No Way Home weren’t allowed release they have approved The Batman.
- Dog -MGM
Opened with $14.88m ($17.38m over 4 days); received positive reviews (77% Rotten Tomatoes) and A- CinemaScore
Took $1.2m from Thursday previews
Opened stronger than expected due to positive reviews and strong word of mouth, it is a kind of film that used to be successful but now often struggle to find an audience, so a lot of credit goes to Channing Tatum on his directorial debut.
2015’s Max opened $12.15m taking $42.65m
1989’s Turner and Hooch opened $12.21m taking $71.07m
- Death on the Nile – Disney
Dropped 49% in its second weekend taking $6.56m ($7.74m over 4 days) and $26.47m
Second weekends
2017’s Murder on the Orient Express dropped 51.9% taking $13.8m and $51.73m and $352.79m worldwide
2021’s House of Gucci dropped 51.5% taking $7m and $53.7m and $152.1m worldwide
Took $19.8m from 50 territories and $50m total and $75m worldwide
- Marry Me – Universal Pictures
Dropped 53% taking $3.71m ($4.32m over 4 days) and $17.44m
It was released the same day on Peacock in the US.
Despite poor reviews, it was an Instagram celebrity modern-day version of 1998’s Notting Hill dropped 31.2% taking $15.01m and $49.41m of $116.08m and $363.88m worldwide
Marry Me saw Jennifer Lopez reunite with Owen Wilson starring in the 1997 adventure horror Anaconda dropped 27.7% taking $12.01m and $32.74m taking $65.88m and $136.88m worldwide, she previously starred in 2019’s Hustlers dropped 49.3% taking $16.8m and $62.35m of $104.96m and $157.56m worldwide.
20 years ago Jennifer Lopez starred in Maid in Manhattan dropped 42.8% taking $10.71m and $35.25m of $94.01m and $154.9m worldwide.
2018’s Second Act increased 13.4% in its second weekend taking $7.35m taking $21.92m of $39.28m and $72.29m worldwide
Jennifer Lopez has starred in 32 films taking $1.43bn in the US and $3.09bn worldwide
Took $5.2m from 67 territories $19.1m total and $36.5m worldwide
- Spider-Man No Way Home – Sony Pictures
Dropped 1% in its tenth weekend taking $7.45m ($9.22m over 4 days) and $772.17m
3rd biggest film in the US between Avengers Endgame and Avatar and Black Panther (the 5th film to take over $700m since Avatar in 2009) and the 2nd biggest comic-book movie between Avengers Endgame and Black Panther; 12th biggest inflation inflated between Star Wars Ep. I: The Phantom Menace and Forrest Gump.
Tenth weekends
2017’s Spider-Man Homecoming #7 down 45.5% taking $2m and $327.69m 98.1% of $334.2m
2019’s Spider-Man: Far From Home #13 down 71.2% taking $1.23m and $388.12m 99.4% of $390.53m
2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron #12 dropped 47.5% taking $886,151 and $454.23m 99% of $459m
2018’s Avengers Infinity War #12 40.3% taking $1.54m and $672.62m 99.1% of $678.81m
2019’s Avengers Endgame #7 up 207.3% taking $6.1m and $841.89m 98.1% of $858.37m
But Spider-Man No Way Home can only really be compared to Christmas releases as films between Christmas and the New Year perform differently than any other time of the year often increasing the weekend after Christmas.
2009’s Avatar #3 down 31.2% taking $16.24m and $687.96m 91.7% of $749.76m
2015’s Star Wars The Force Awakens #8 dropped 36.6% taking $3.9m and $921.71m 98.4% of $936.6m
2017’s Star Wars The Last Jedi #24 dropped 55.8% taking $617,698 and $618.04m 99.6% of $620.18m
2017’s Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle #6 dropped 28.8% taking $5.65m and $387.28m 95.7% of $404.54m
2019’s Star Wars The Rise of Skywalker #20 dropped 59.3% taking $565,707 and $514.12m 99.8% of $515.2m
Sony Pictures biggest film in the US overtaking 2017’s Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle in 2017 ($404.5m)
Spider-Man No Way Home is the 8th Spider-Man film made by Sony Pictures since 2002;
Original trilogy directed by Sam Raimi starring Tobey Maguire between 2002 and 2007
Spider-Man took $407.02m; $418m international and $825.02m);
Spider-Man 2 took $373.58m; $415.39m international and $788.97m WW);
Spider-Man 3 took $336.53m and $558.45m and $894.98m WW);
The Amazing Spider-Man in 2012 and sequel in 2014 directed by Marc Webb starring Andrew Garfield
The Amazing Spider-Man took $262.02m $495.9m and $757.93m WW;
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 took $202.85m and $506.12m and $708.98m WW);
Spider-Man then became part of the MCU directed by Jon Watts and starring Tom Holland between 2017 and 2021
2017’s Spider-Man Homecoming $334.2m and $545.96m internationally $880.16m WW);
2019’s Spider-Man: Far From Home took $390.53m and $747.39m internationally $1.13bn WW)
Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse took $190.24m and $185.29m and $375.54m WW with Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse Part 1 and Morbius set for April 2022 release.
Took $8.1m from 63 territories $1.06bn total and $1.83bn worldwide; 6th biggest film worldwide between Avengers: Infinity War and Jurassic World (46th film to take over $1bn worldwide since Jurassic Park in 1993).
Oscar nominees
It used to be the weekend after Oscar nominations were announced the nominees would see a big increase in their box office as the nominations would spark interest in people seeing them, but over recent years Oscar nominations have failed to do this, while many films have seen big increases its only due to a large number of screens added not the box office taken.
- Licorice Pizza – United Artists
Dropped 32% in its 13th weekend #12 taking $647,973 dropped 670 screens to 1,307 taking $15.37m
- Belfast – Focus Features
Dropped 34% in its 15th-weekend #17 taking $200,750 dropped 194 screens to 734 taking $8.33m
- Drive My Car – Janus Films
Up 13% in its 13th-weekend #16 taking $214,385 adding 86 screens to 213 screens taking $1.53m
- Dune – Warner Bros
Down 45% in its 18th-weekend #20 taking $79,577 dropped 456 screens to 222 taking $108m
- West Side Story – Disney
Up 28% in its 11th weekend #15 taking $315,905 adding 505 screens to 955 taking $37.68m
- Encanto – Disney
Up 227% in its 13th weekend #14 $440,546 adding 1,035 screens to 1,310 taking $94.83m
After adding over 1,000 over the weekend Disney would have surely wanted to get Encanto to top $100m, while Encanto has struggled since it was released on Disney+ on Christmas Eve in its 5th weekend only adding $6m since audiences did come out to see it in the UK over the last 8 weeks taking a third of its box office.
UK Box Office Top 10
UK Box Office Preview
As with last weekend, the top 3 are likely to stay the same but all likely to drop between 35%-40% with Uncharted #1 between £2m-£2.5m; Sing 2 #2 £2m-£2.5m with Death on the Nile taking between £800k-£1m.
Last week’s new entry Dog should hold well taking £400-£550k with The Duke and Belfast battling out 5th place, The Duke received critical acclaim should open between 2015’s Woman In Gold £494,512 #7 (from 226 screens) and 2019’s The Good Liar £960,536 taking £3,844,314 taking £2,825,294 and 2019’s Mr Holmes £741,080 #4 from 489 screens taking £2,268,824.
The other new entry Cyrano well as The Duke was delayed due to COVID will struggle to find an audience.
The weekend will quiet as there’s a storm coming to Mr Wayne next week with the eagerly awaited The Batman, but the question is will be almost three hours long and rated 15 hurt its BO, fans will of course rush out to see over opening weekend
Opening next week
- The Batman – Warner Bros
Featuring an ensemble cast including Robert Pattinson, Zoë Kravitz, Paul Dano, Jeffrey Wright, John Turturro, Peter Sarsgaard, Andy Serkis and Colin Farrell and directed by Matt Reeves
The third reboot of the Batman film franchise (after 1989’s Tim Burton’s Batman that included sequels Batman Returns, Batman and Robin and Batman Forever and Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins with sequels The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises).
Development of a new Batman film started in 2013 after Ben Affleck was cast as Bruce Wayne/Batman for Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad and Justice League and he was attached to also direct the film. After Batman Vs, Superman and Justice League underwhelmed critically and at the box office as did the film Live By Night Ben Affleck first dropped out as director (in January 2017) Matt Reeves replaced him as director in February 2017 and them a few months later also as Batman as the new director wanted a younger actor to play Batman.
In January 2019 Warner Bros announced June 25th, 2021, release date and Robert Pattinson was cast as Bruce Wayne/Batman in May 2019, there was the predictable backlash from some fans over his casting as there was for Heath Ledger to be the Joker in The Dark Knight.
It started shooting in London in January 2020 under the name Vengeance and production was delayed due to COVID which saw Warner Bros first delay the film to October 1st, 2021, and then to March 4th, 2022, due to production delays.
The film has been given a 15 certificate and runs for almost 3 hours (176 minutes) making it the longest Batman film and the third-longest comic-book film after Zack Snyder’s Justice League and Avengers: Endgame. The original cut of the film was 4 hours. The film received PG-13 in the US but a 15 in the UK, highlighting the problem with UK certification. Exhibitors in Ireland have requested the film gets a 15A as it has received in the Republic of Ireland as they fear underage will just travel across the border to see it. Of course, 1989’s Batman was the first film to receive a 12 certificate as the problem used to be PG-13’s used to get 15 certificates.
The first trailer was released in August 2020 receiving 34m views in its first 24 hours, while some critics disliked the trailer’s dark tone fans’ reaction was very positive, a second trailer was released in October 2021 with many comparing it to the toe of Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight film only darker and more violent. A Japanese trailer showing more footage was released in December 2021 with a viral marketing campaign launched ahead of a third trailer, again generating positive reactions. In February more footage was released as part of a trailer montage of Warner Bros 2022 releases.
The film opens in the UK on Thursday, March 3rd and is expected to open with $150m+ in the US taking about $400m (similar to The Dark Knight $158.41m taking $534.86m and $1bn worldwide; The Dark Knight Rises $160.88m taking $448.13m and $1.07bn worldwide) but of course, they were released a decade ago and The Batman will open in many more INAX cinemas than they did; has a 45-day theatrical window.
The Batman will be released in China on March 18th but Spider-Man No Way Home still hasn’t received a Chinese release date.
UK Media screening is at the Empire on February 24th with the embargo ending about February 28th
Pre-pandemic The Batman would have a large UK premiere but since cinemas reopened only No Tome To Die has had a large UK premiere and most films that have opened since the talent has had to remain in the US.
Having a 4-day opening The Batman must be looking at an opening similar to Batman Vs Superman (£14,621,007); Captain America: Civil War (£14,466,681); The Dark Knight Rises (£14,362,443); Deadpool (£13,729,803); Deadpool 2 (£12,974,669); Joker (£12,555,328); Suicide Squad (£11,252,225); The Dark Knight (£11,191,824).