- Onward – £60,074 – £5,528,943
Down 2.2% in the 6th week of its cinema release 21 weeks after opening in cinemas in March and its fifth-week #1 split over 4 months, a record that is unlikely to be ever repeated; this is despite it being available on digital download since May and on video since June.
Onward is the 1,060th biggest film in the UK between Norbit and Smurfs: The Lost Village (close to Cheaper By The Dozen 2, The Magic Roundabout, Racing Stripes and Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul) and 1,235th biggest inflation inflated film between The Railway Man and Battle: Los Angeles (close to Fighting With My Family, John Carter, The Nutcracker and the Four Realms and Smurfs).
146th biggest animation film in the UK between ParaNorman and The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (close to Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Spies In Disguise, The Angry Birds Movie 2 and Wonder Park).
Onward has replaced 2001’s Atlantis: The Lost Empire as Disney’s lowest-grossing animated film which took £5.9m and £9.83m inflation inflated).
Onward as most of February and March releases will have a star beside its total box office as whilst Onward did only take £5.29m before cinema lockdown opening two weeks before impacted on it is box office. With the Easter holidays a couple of weeks later Onward should have gone on to take more than double of it is current box office even with the competition from Peter Rabbit 2 and Trolls World Tour.
23 Pixar films have taken over £690m at the box office since Toy Story in 1996 and over £890m inflation inflated.
Disney is due to release their 24th Pixar film Soul on November 27th with Luca set for release in 2021, two untitled in 2022 and one untitled In 2023.
Rumours started last week that Disney was considering releasing Soul on Disney+ but as it’s the first Pixar film to feature a black lead Jamie Foxx it’s unlikely they would want to lose the publicity this will generate.
- Trolls World Tour – £23,454 – £177,798
Up 49.4% in its 4th week in cinemas, 16 weeks after it was released on VOD and the film was released on video on Monday.
The first Trolls film was a big hit in the UK opening in October 2016 with £5,440,878 taking £23,364,692, it was helped having featuring Justin Timberlake’s song of the summer from the film Cannot stop the feeling, the video has been viewed over 1.22bn times on YouTube
The music from Trolls World Tour was not nearly as popular but that often happens with music from sequels.
- Dreambuilders – £25,711 – £46,052
Up 107.25% in its second weekend adding 40 screens from last weekend
Danish animation film received poor reviews and in normal circumstances wouldn’t probably have a theatrical release but as the only new animation on the release is finding a small audience in cinemas.
- Dirty Dancing – £24,836 – £3,992,391
Down 4.8%; Includes regular cinema screenings and drive-in screenings across the UK; regular cinema screening tickets were about £5 but the drive-in screenings were about £40.
Secret Cinema was planned to hold its third Dirty Dancing event this summer (starting July 22nd) but was delayed to net summer due to Coronavirus with tickets from £49. The previous times was in July 2016 taking £1.9m over two weeks (£946,086 week 1 and £953,520 week 2) and in 2013 when over 12,000 people attended Secret Cinema event over three days.
Dirty Dancing originally opened in the UK in October 1987 with £1.01m taking £1.62m but has played regularly in cinemas since.
Lionsgate last re-released Dirty Dancing in cinemas on February 14th for one night only to celebrate the films 30th anniversary ahead of its DVD re-release. In 2007 Dirty Dancing took £224,000 from its 20th-anniversary re-release.
- Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring (extended) – £24,136
From 82 screens
Extended versions of Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers was released on Saturday taking £10,284 from 58 screens and The Return Of The King were on Sunday took £9,771 also from 58 screens. respectively.
Entertainment Film Distributors released the original films between 2001 and 2003
The Fellowship of the Ring opened with £11,058,045 (£19,284,803 inflation inflated) taking £62,759,288 (£109,449,773 inflation inflated)
The Two Towers opened with £13,063,560 (£22,782,344 inflation inflated) taking £62,759,288 (£109,449,773 inflation inflated)
The Return of the King opened with £15,021,761 (£24,427,278 inflation inflated) taking £60,666,284 (£98,651,029 inflation inflated)
The original theatrical versions directed by Peter Jackson taking almost $3bn worldwide box when released from 2001 to 2003; ($5.5bn+ worldwide inflation inflated).
The trilogy won 17 of the 30 Oscar nominations received; The Return of the King shares the record for most Oscars wins alongside Titanic and Ben-Hur. The Return of the King was the first fantasy film until 2017’s The Shape of Water to win Best Picture.
Also opened
- Saint Frances – Vertigo
Opened with £11,667 from 105 screens
Saint Frances performance at the box office highlights how far away cinemas are currently from attracting a wide audience as the film received critical acclaim (99% Rotten Tomatoes) and opening in 105 screens would have expected to open with more than 10 times its opening.
Saint Frances and Stage Mother would have received far more media coverage being the two “biggest” new releases both films generated much more media coverage than they would have normally. As seen with last years also critically acclaimed Booksmart also struggled to find an audience opening with £632,452 from 407 screens, but Saint Frances had an extremely limited marketing campaign unlike films like Bridesmaids and Bridesmaids it had been compared to.
Over the last month, more cinemas have opened and with more films playing in cinemas, but the box office has barely increased showing as all the research showed that July 4th was far too soon to reopen cinemas. While it’s understandable exhibitor would want to reopen cinemas as soon as they were allowed to, they must realise its’s going to take along tie for people to return on mass unless they brought in far more severe visible safety measures.
The aim of opening cinemas a few weeks before new films Tenet and Mulan were to show customers cinemas are safe after lockdown. As part of this exhibitors should have run a promotion during this period something like all tickets £5. The problem has been the variation of prices has been even more extreme than normal with Showcase offering all films and NT Live screening £5, but then Odeon had mixed pricing of old films £5.75 and new releases £11.75 while Everyman prices were normal pre-lockdown. Despite the prices, Everyman cinemas have been busy as probably cinemagoers feel safer going to smaller cinemas and they always felt cleaner than multiplexes.
From January everyone saw what was happening in China and must have known as Spanish Flu a century ago COVID would go global within days, but even in early March UK response was ‘no discernible impact’ to cinema despite very soft opening for Onward.11 days later UK cinemas were forced to close.
UK should have seen how China shut down cinemas in January and other countries across Asia and Europe reacted much quickly to COVID the UK should have responded far quicker instead waited for governmental advice and lockdown came at least a week too late.
In early March asked why UK cinemas did not implement any additional safety measures as others had done (Ireland’s Omniplex launched additional safety measures on March 10th).
The industry saw how China immediate shutdown cinemas days before the most lucrative time of the year (New Year) so surely international exhibitors should have planned for a similar worst-case scenario but instead waited for governmental guidance, but the UK and US governments reacted far too slowly, at the time many wanted lockdown to happen weeks earlier.
Surely in late February, most in the UK expected some kind of lockdown why was mass panic in supermarkets with toilet paper shortages.
People often say that I’m being negative, but I see abysmal planning as surely as soon China shut their cinemas days before their most lucrative time of the year the global cinema industry should have been worried and planning for the worst-case scenario.
Especially after China reopened cinemas in mid-March and then quickly closed them. Global cinema industry should have planned in February for the closure of up to 6 months and this would have happened if Nolan hadn’t been the insistence that Tenet opened in July. I have always been consistent with my comments I saw how it affected China and Asia and anyone who didn’t think it would be as bad in the UK and US shouldn’t be in their jobs now.
China and Asian countries brought in draconian measures far quicker measures the west struggled to imagine they would ever have to implement and their delay to implement them caused many more to be infected and meant closure would be longer. I’m not just saying this now in hindsight, I said this months ago as I had been following the news of what was happening in China and surely people should have seen the similarities I how Coronavirus became global as Spanish Flu did a century ago.
I am only negative because it saddens me how the industry since 2003 became complacent after 17 years of growth, instead of going for the 200m+ admissions many predicted in the early 90s would happen in the 00s.
They went for a different option to increase prices up 66% since box office has grown almost 70% since 2002 while admissions up 0.7%. I believe if they kept prices increase as they previously did last year admissions would be 250m+ and BO would be at a higher level it was last year, and more cinemagoers mean more of the highly profitable popcorn and syrup sold.
The way exhibitors have handled the lockdown is exactly how they have handled cinema for almost 20 years it is always short-term gain.
Reopening July 4th was always going to be far too soon for the majority and cinema should be for the many, not the few. On June 25th hours after cinemas opened their opening line-up Warner announced they were delaying Tenet and Disney were delaying Mulan.
In early May two weeks before Boris Johnson announced his plans to loosen the lockdown over several stages Ireland had announced theirs which was much slower with bigger gaps and had cinemas reopening on July 25th. Coronavirus cases have dropped off far faster in Ireland than in England but despite this England’s plans were ahead of the rest of the UK’s.
The same scientists who said lockdown started two weeks too late, said it also ended two weeks too early, who should you trust more the scientists or government officials who have little to gain from saying that the lockdown should be longer?
Many people have said the situation of the cinema shutdown was unprecedented but from January everyone saw what was happening in China and must have known as Spanish Flu a century ago COVID would go global within days, but even in early March UK response was ‘no discernible impact’ to cinema despite very soft opening for Onward.11 days later UK cinemas were forced to close.
UK should have seen how China shut down cinemas in January and other countries across Asia and Europe reacted much quickly to COVID the UK should have responded far quicker instead waited for governmental advice and lockdown came at least a week too late.
In early March asked why UK cinemas hadn’t implemented any additional safety measures as others had done (Ireland’s Omniplex launched additional safety measures on March 10th).
The industry saw how China immediate shutdown cinemas days before the most lucrative time of the year (New Year) so surely international exhibitors should have planned for a similar worst-case scenario but instead waited for governmental guidance
Surely in late February, most in the UK expected some kind of lockdown why was mass panic in supermarkets with toilet paper shortages.
Have said many times lockdown gave cinema industry a once in a lifetime chance to reinvent itself.
Said many times exhibitors and distributors should launch a cinema experience campaign to get people back into the cinemagoing habit, using the 1997 Star Wars re-release trailer as a template ‘for the last few months you have been watching films the only way that has been possible on your TV screens but you haven’t really seen them at all’.
This could be part of the 125th anniversary of cinema, which is next year, in 1996 to celebrate 100th anniversary had National Cinema Day (one Sunday in June all cinemas were £1) and in 1985 British Film Year started the cinema renaissance that saw 17 years of steady admissions growth.
While the fanboys and cinephiles will rush back to the cinema as soon as they reopen the harder part will be brought back the others and is also why exhibitors need to be much more visible with their safety measures with temperature checks before entering as they do in at Disney World and schools. This would also put floor staff less at risk and people won’t fear every cough or sneeze from their fellow cinemagoers.
UK box office in detail
This weekend’s top 15 box office took £299,581 up 23.8% from last weekend (£241,928)
The weekend admissions 53,979 up 55.5% from last week (34,713)
Top three took 36.3% (£108,906) of the top 15); Onward 16.1% (£48,142) 20.3%; Trolls World Tour Trolls World Tour 11.7% (£35,053); Dreambuilders 8.6% (£25,711);
2019 (£14,899,487) of the top 10; The Lion King 55.8% (£10,660,287); Toy Story 3 13.2%) (££2,525,047) Spider-Man: Far From Home 8.9% (£1,714,153)
2018: (£25,665,576); Mission: Impossible Fallout (£7,300,103); Hotel Transylvania 3: A Monster Vacation (£3,449,876); Andre Rieu’s 2018 Maastricht Concert: Amore (£1,486,528); Apostasy (£66,002); #1 Mission: Impossible Fallout £7,300,103 1st week 584 screens (28.4% of top 10)
2017: (£22,066,254); Dunkirk (£10,023,720); Andre Rieu’s 2017 Maastricht Concert (£1,439,604); #1 Dunkirk £10,023,720 1st week 638 screens (45.4% of top 10)
2016: (£16,914,463); The BFG (£5,288,529); Star Trek Beyond (£4,740,040); Andre Rieu’s 2016 Maastricht Concert (£1,414,075); #1 The BFG £5,288,529 1st week 680 screens (31.2% of the top 10)
2015; (£17,039,800); Inside Out (£7,376,513); Southpaw (£1,662,296); The Legend Of Barney Thomson (£163,395); #1 Inside Out £7,376,513 1st week 608 screens (43.3% of top 10)
2014: (£9,750,537); Hercules (£1,449,120); The Purge: Anarchy (£1,165,143); Earth to Echo (£618,379); The House of Magic (£223,047); #1 Dawn of the Planet of the Apes £3,752,511 2nd week 574 screens 57% drop (38.5% of top 10)
2013: (£13,514,255); The Wolverine (£4,694,092); Frances Ha (£150,689); #1 The Wolverine £4,694,092 1st week 522 screens (34.7% of top 10)
2012 (£12,156,512); Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax (£1,853,294); Searching for Sugar Man (£68,857); #1 The Dark Knight Rises £7,275,558 2nd week 589 screens 49% drop (59.8% of top 10)
2011 (£16,959,452); Cars 2 (£3,541,664); Horrible Bosses (£2,077,239); Beginners (£146,096); #1 Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 £8,523,417 2nd week 581 screens 64% drop (50.2% of top 10)
2010: (£29,078,984); Toy Story 3 (£21,187,264); The Rebound (£360,015); Splice (£110,225); #1 Toy Story 3 £21,187,264 1st week 562 screens (72.8% of top 10)
2009; (£13,633,561); The Proposal (£3,249,640); Antichrist (£99,092); #1 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince £5,176,950 2nd week 586 screens 74% drop (37.9% of top 10)
2008; (£18,905,622); The Dark Knight (£11,191,824); Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging (£929,246); Baby Mama (£111,945); #1 The Dark Knight £11,191,824 1st week 502 screens (59.2% of top 10)
2007: (£28,049,335); The Simpsons (£13,626,853); Transformers (£8,718,561); Sherrybaby (£36,036); Lonely Hearts (£3,362); #1 The Simpsons £13,626,853 1st week 499 screens (48.6% of top 10)
2006; (£11,474,975); The Break-Up (£2,412,097); Stormbreaker (£1,244,892); Garfield 2 (£739,560); #1 Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man’s Chest £3,868,216 3rd week 520 screens 36% drop (33.7% of top 10)
2005 (£11,856,897); Fantastic Four (£3,541,391); Dark Water (£480,199); Kicking and Screaming (£240,452); #1 Fantastic Four £3,541,391 1st week 406 screens (29.9% of top 10)
2004 (£8,920,625); Thunderbirds (£1,350,974); Two Brothers (293,237); Before Sunset (£139,278); Cowboys and Angels (£18,806); #1 Spider-Man 2 £3,590,463 2nd week 503 screens 59% drop (40.2% of top 10)
2003 (£6,716,741); Sinbad (£828,550); Agent Cody Banks (£534,312); Goodbye, Lenin! (£135,311) #1 The Hulk £1,384,426 2nd 500 screens 61% drop (20.6% of top 10)
2002 (£9,549,998); Austin Powers in Goldmember (£5,585,978); The Crocodile Hunter (£266,803); Sunshine State (£25,888); #1 Austin Powers in Goldmember £5,585,978 1st week 446 screens (58.5% of top 10)
2001 (£7,051,741); Swordfish (£1,615,206); Dr. Dolittle 2 (£1,610,907); Intimacy (£54,288); #1 Jurassic Park 3 £1,802,580 2nd week 462 screens 62% drop (25.5% of top 10)
Top 3 next weekend next weekend last year took 81.5% (£12,893,802) of the top 10 (£15,821,627); Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw 40.3% (£6,377,583); The Lion King 32.6% (£5,158,310x); Toy Story 4 8.6% (£1,357,909)
Other Box Office News
On Monday Warner Bros announced plans to release Tenet internationally in 70 territories on August 26th and then opening in selected states in the US the following weekend in the US. With Warner Bros giving in to the demands of Christopher Nolan and exhibitors but ignoring that the majority of cinemagoers don’t currently feel safe going back to the cinema. Exhibitors need to prove that Warner made the right decision and get people back to the cinema in high numbers something they haven’t managed to do over the last four weeks.
Over the last few weeks, international exhibitors have complained that they shouldn’t suffer without having new releases because the US cinemas are still closed due to Coronavirus asking studios to open their films internationally early. While films have often over the last decade opening internationally early (early MCU films, James Bond, and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom), there was only a couple of weeks gap between their release, even so, films like Skyfall, Spectre and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom all opened with less than they were expected.
Ever since Christopher Nolan wrote his op-ed for the Washington Post in March the release of Tenet had become political with Christopher Nolan heralded as the saviour of cinema by exhibitors and Tenet being that one summer film left standing that would save their summer. Warner Bros were in an unwinnable position as keeping Christopher Nolan happy was far more important than the success of one films.
Now exhibitors and Christopher Nolan have got what they wanted it’s down to them to prove to Warner Bros they made the right decision and get audiences in and get that 80% who previously said they wouldn’t return to the cinema for months back in the next month.
The simplest way to put more people at ease without impacting on cinema experience would be temperature scanners before entry, these should be the minimum requirement for all commercial premises if your temperature is higher than 37.8c you are not coming in. The problem is if floor staff couldn’t police Blue Story screenings overfilling then how can they possibly control cinemagoers as the scumbags will just cough over them or worse, exhibitors bosses have shown they weren’t thinking about staff safety not making masks mandatory?
Since March, Tenet has been seen by exhibitors as the film that will bring people back to the cinema on mass, but have they backed the wrong horse? While Christopher Nolan has had huge success over recent years Tenet is a departure from his previous massive films, comic-book, based on historical events or star-driven.
While Robert Pattinson has been cast as Batman in the new film The Batman opening next October hasn’t had a hit since Twilight almost a decade ago and John David Washington starred in BlacKkKlansman, it took $93m worldwide but Spike Lee and the critical acclaim was the reason for its success.
Critics go overboard with their praise for Christopher Nolan films but audience reaction away from the cinephiles is far more mixed as many find them emotionless This was the case with Interstellar which is the film Tenet could be best compared with as didn’t have the star power of Inception or be based on historical events Dunkirk which brought in a much wider demographic.
For Tenet to get anywhere close it needs widespread critical acclaim. The problem is especially with British critics they will be adding two stars for the hype attached to the film as they often do with James Bond, Star Wars and Christopher Nolan films.
Reviews and word of mouth will be vital for Tenet as it’s not going to open anywhere nearly as big as Christopher Nolan’s recent films Dunkirk, Interstellar or Inception but closer to 2002’s Insomnia opening the same weekend in the UK. Interstellar as other Christopher Nolan films received widespread critical acclaim but for me felt as disappointed as I did coming out of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
Rather than being the saviour of cinema as exhibitors believe Tenet will be it could push back the return to the cinema as exhibitors have regularly back the wrong horse with Odeon famously dismissive of both Avatar and Mamma Mia! along with many other exhibitors for The Greatest Showman.
The problem with cinema bookers is they see films alone and not as audiences would do, exhibitors rejected Kick-Ass when Universal screened it, but the studio knew they had a good film asking exhibitors to come back this time watching it with over 200 comic-book fans, the reaction from exhibitors was very different and the film was a huge success in 2010.
The environment see films impacts a lot on the way you experience films, Tenet will surely be different as it won’t be able to have the big multi-media screening due to social distancing Warner will have to do many smaller screenings.
They have made it even harder for themselves as in normal circumstances films opening of August/Labour Day rarely has been successful.
6 months ago Tenet would be looking at $60m+ opening now probably less than a third.
Three weeks ago AMC, Cinemark and Regal said if churches were reopened so should movie theatres and it violated their First Amendment rights. Last week in Michigan a judge upheld the state’s movie theatre closure, rejecting a First Amendment claim and last Friday New Jersey Assistant Attorney General Daniel M. Vannella said “movie theatres require customers to be seated in a confined indoor room for an extended period of time, risking COVID-19 spread from those prolonged interactions,”.. “And those risks are magnified whenever patrons remove their mask, which they do to consume the concessions Plaintiffs wish to sell, and which would also be hard to observe and to prevent in a dark theatre.”
The problem with Tenet is doesn’t have star power as Inception or Interstellar or is about a historical event or based on a popular comic-book so reviews will be vital for its success… British critics will surely give it 5 stars and those reviews have probably been written unseen, saying that normally critics all see these films at the same time in a large multimedia screening with critics all hyped up but with Tenet Warner will have to do lots and lots of smaller screenings so reaction might be different as often with these films like Bond and Star Wars critics get caught up in the hype and give a 3-star review 5 stars.
Anthony Fauci recently said people should think twice before going to a restaurant as indoors is much worse than outdoors, (he said he wouldn’t do two things eat inside a restaurant and fly).
This must mean cinema are even worse and with Tenet running time of 2hr 31mins your sitting in an auditorium for almost 3 hours in the same seat, while people around you are eating and drinking and not wearing masks, breathing in the same air-conditioning. (In a restaurant you probably wouldn’t sit as long and are able to move around).
I went to get my haircut this week and before I entered the hairdressers my temperature was checked and they saw I was wearing my mask properly, just think that if they have to get their temperature checked and wear masks, the customers also do for the employee’s safety.
Just think cinemas shouldn’t have reopened in England until has been no daily deaths for over 2 weeks, many other countries have done the same, the problem came when Boris set July 4th reopening date, even though he said at the time it would depend on conditions at the time, he has still kept to the same reopening dates he announced in May. While other countries including Ireland and New York and California have changed their reopening plans over the weeks they were being loosened.
Ireland has always been over a month ahead of England but still announced a slower loosening of restrictions 2 weeks ahead of England in May, on Saturday Ireland had 98% fewer COVID cases than England and no deaths again while England had 123.
Christopher Nolan’s 12 films have generated over $2bn in the US and $2.72bn internationally, $4.72bn worldwide, the majority of which for Warner Bros where he has been based since 2002. (Warner Bros released Insomnia in the US with Disney international). After the success of Insomnia, Christopher Nolan approached Warner about rebooting Batman, which became The Dark Knight Trilogy taking almost $2.5bn worldwide. Nolan has also been key to the DC Universe producing Man of Steel and Batman Vs Superman.
While cinema has gone digital Christopher Nolan, as many other filmmakers still prefer to shoot on film, the difference is that he demands Warner Bros his films are released on film, Interstellar and Dunkirk was released in over 200 cinemas in 70mm/70mm IMAX and 35mm. For Interstellar Paramount and Warner opened the film two days earlier in 225 cinemas across the US in 70mm IMAX, 70mm, and 35mm. The only other director that studios will agree to similar terms is Quentin Tarantino with The Hateful Eight in 2015, but that was only released in 70mm in a handful of cinemas worldwide, he did original want to do a 70mm roadshow release.
Nolan said in 2015, “For years, filmmakers who wanted to shoot digital would promote the fact that the cameras are lighter, easier or whatever. But my response would always be, If David Lean, or rather David Lean’s crew, can put a 65mm camera in the desert, why should I care that your camera is lighter unless you’re doing something with it you couldn’t do before.”
Warner Bros decision to open Tenet August 26th internationally in about 70 territories and then the US the week later it is now all on exhibitors to prove to the studio they have made the right decision ad do all they can to prove to the majority of cinemagoers that cinema is safe.
In normal circumstances end of August releases rarely have big openings, only a handful of films have taken £2m+ over the weekend the last was 2015’s Straight Outta Compton (£2,498,231) with 2013’s One Direction: This Is Us (£3,471,872) and 2009’s The Final Destination (£3,633,395) having the biggest ever late August openings.
6 months ago most would have expected Tenet to open between 2010’s Inception (£5,912,814) and 2017’s Dunkirk (£10,023,720) taking between £40m and £50m being one of the biggest films of the year, but opening August 26th it will open with less than a third and taking far less too.
2019 top 10 box office took £7,501,394; Top three took 56.7% (£4,255,931); Once Upon A Time In Hollywood 24.5% (£1,841,873); The Lion King 16.3% (£1,226,964); Angel Has Fallen 15.8% (£1,187,094);
2018: (£7,876,859); Searching (£765,050); The Happytime Murders (£694,044); Yardie (£438,088); Cold War (£228,780); Upgrade (£58,006); Action Point (£33,993); #1 Disney’s Christopher Robin £1,173,235 3rd week 646 screens (14.9% of top 10)
2017: (£6,193,484); The Limehouse Golem (£371,412); God’s Own Country (£167,824); Patti Cake$ (£121,446); Inhumans (£80,176); #1 American Made £968,068 2nd week 556 screens 9% drop (15.6% of the top 10)
2016: (£9,034,593); Bad Moms (£1,471,466); War Dogs (£1,005,133); The Purge: Election Year (£807,803); Mechanic: Resurrection (£508,715); Julieta (£356,191); Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (£31,128); #1 Finding Dory £1,510,744 5th eek (3rd #1) 611 screens down 48% (16.7% of the top 10)
2015; (£8,579,970); Straight Outta Compton (£2,498,231); Hitman: Agent 47 (£961,411); 45 Years (£331,196); We Are Your Friends (£260,715); #1 Straight Outta Compton £2,498,231 1st week 429 screens (29.1% of top 10)
2014: (£9,093,638); Let’s Be Cops (£1,650,912); Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (expansion) (£1,077,370); If I Stay (£505,704); As Above, So Below (£398,787); Million Dollar Arm (£150,050); Obvious Child (£42,022); The Grand Seduction (£41,322); #1 Lucy £1,972,039 2nd week 504 screens (21.7% of top 10)
2013: (£9,874,123); One Direction: This Is Us (£3,471,872); Pain & Gain (£1,016,136); The Way, Way Back (£532,487); You’re Next (£523,549); Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain (£36,882); #1 One Direction: This Is Us £3,471,872 1st week 476 screens (35.1% of top 10)
2012 (£10,812,241); Total Recall (£2,493,230); The Watch (£2,235,933); The Possession (£979,192); A Few Best Men (£263,770); Thomas & Friends: Blue Mountain Mystery (£108,503); Berberian Sound Studio (£45,516); Cockneys vs. Zombies (£11,474); Rec 3 (£1,263); #1 Total Recall £2,493,230 1st week 464 screens (23.1% of top 10)
2011 (£10,537,155); Fright Night (£680,543); Apollo 18 (£490,746); Kill List (£87,970); The Art of Getting By (£75,634); #1 The Inbetweeners Movie £3,679,555 3rd week 471 screens 35% drop (34.9% of top 10)
2010: (£10,857,796); Grown Ups (£2,006,945); Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (£1,604,545); Diary of a Wimpy Kid (£671,161); The Girl who Played with Fire (£404,896); #1 Grown Ups £2,006,945 1st week 401 screens (18.5% of top 10)
2009; (£9,177,873); The Final Destination (£3,633,395); Funny People (£1,001,152); The Hurt Locker (£308,887); Broken Embraces (£296,048); Mesrine: Public Enemy No.1 (£57,978); The Final Destination £3,633,395 1st week 427 screens (39.6% of top 10)
2008; (£8,832,337); Step Brothers (£1,681,492); The Strangers (£1,250,624); Babylon A.D. (£536,968); The Wackness (£80,581); #1 Step Brothers £1,681,492 1st week 362 screens (19.1% of top 10)
2007: (£7,728,093); 1408 (£1,073,963); No Reservations (£512,657); Death Sentence (£260,733); Breach (£156,140); Hallam Foe (£132,972); Two Days in Paris (£110,284); Year of the Dog (£5,733); #1 The Bourne Ultimatum £2,232,971 3rd week 468 screens 22% drop (28.9% of top 10)
2006; (£5,908,103); Little Man (£1,090,761); The Wicker Man (£736,316); The Sentinel (£627,838); Crank (£450,141); Adrift (£337,718); #1 You, Me and Depree £1,165,610 2nd week 412 screens 29% drop (19.7% of top 10)
2005 (£6,367,870); The Dukes of Hazzard (£1,720,754); The Cave (£563,761); The Adventures of Shark Boy and Lavagirl in 3D (£399,436); Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (£110,557); #1 The Dukes of Hazzard £1,720,754 1st week 447 screens (27.1% of top 10)
2004 (£8,683,904); Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (£2,200,271); The Chronicles of Riddick (£1,043,685); The Motorcycle Diaries (£333,368); Raising Helen (£209,201); #1 Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story £2,200,271 1st week 315 screens (25.3% of top 10)
2003 (£7,578,928); Jeepers Creepers 2 (£1,069,346); The Lizzie McGuire Movie (expansion) (£405,205); Hollywood Homicide (£352,445); Intermission (£146,220); #1 The Pirates of the Caribbean 4th week (2nd #1) £2,037,014 444 screens 3% drop (26.9% of top 10)
2002 (£6,235,380); Insomnia (£1,159,754); The Sweetest Thing (£592,722); Windtalkers (£388,212); #1 Insomnia £1,159,754 1st week 264 screens (18.6% of top 10)
2001 (£6,378,036); A Knight’s Tale (£1,678,264); Angel Eyes (£162,648); What’s Cooking (£45,445); #1 A Knight’s Tale £1,678,264 1st week 377 screens (26.3% of top 10);
While international markets do take upwards of 50% of films box office including China, when films open early they often take less in the US; Jurassic World opened with $208.8m but Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom $148m with the film taking 36% less; Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom took 36% less than Jurassic World in the US but only 12% less internationally.
While international exhibitors have said their cinemas are reopened there is little to suggest that cinemagoers will be returning in their pre-lockdown levels, so exhibitors might demand Warner and Disney release Tenet and Mulan but they surely need some guarantee if they were to open the next month they won’t just be a canary in the coalmine.
While Warner Bros has dated Tenet all other studios continue to delay their 2020 release with Disney and Paramount announcing many more date changes last week including moving Mulan to an undetermined date and delaying both A Quiet Place II and Top Gun: Maverick to next, while all date changes wouldn’t be complete without Disney announcing another delay for Avatar 2. A decade ago Avatar sequels were vital for Fox, but ever since Disney acquired the studio they have become second fiddle to MCU and Star Wars, its release date delay probably has more to do with Spider-Man: Homecoming 3 delay and slotting Avatar sequels between Star Wars films rather than Coronavirus.
MGM opted to go for a hybrid theatrical and VOD release for Bill & Ted Face the Music on September 1st. Alex Winter suggested was going to happen a few weeks ago on Twitter, to quote Argo, “There are only bad options. It’s about finding the best one. Turner: You don’t have a better bad idea than this?”
In a surprising move, AMC theatres and Universal Pictures announced plans on Tuesday to allow films to be released on PVOD after 17 days on release. In March AMC theatres threatened to ban Universal Pictures films after they released rolls World Tour on PVOD after cinemas closed.
For over a decade studios have tried many times to shorten theatrical window with Universal Pictures first attempted in 2011 with Tower Heist in November 2011 to be available to buy on PVOD for $59.99 after three weeks but after a boycott by several exhibitors, they cancelled plans. In 2009 Disney planned to shorten the window in the UK with Up which was rejected by exhibitors, but they agreed a year later with Alice in Wonderland after Odeon cinemas threatening to boycott.
Studios last attempted to shorten the theatrical window in 2017 with Warner Bros, Fox, Universal, Lionsgate, Paramount, and Sony in talks to put films on early VOD after 17 days but this could have only worked if Disney were also on board, but they didn’t want to shorten the window. This is despite Disney having lead they way with requests to shorten theatrical window since 2009 and most recently have shortened the window between home video and Disney+.
It will be interesting to see if other studios announce similar plans with exhibitors, I have for years suggested a flexible theatrical window and this current plan is similar to the idea Paramount Pictures had in 2015 with Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension and Scout’s Guide To The Zombie Apocalypse, again rejected by exhibitors.
Exhibitors always go on about the importance of keeping the theatrical window to 90 days, but this only works when films playout the whole 90 days which over the last decade has become rare. Never understood how exhibitors could demand studios to keep to the 90 window but exhibitors could still pull underperforming films from cinemas within weeks of opening.
Allowing films to be available on PVOD after 17 days would also stop many people from seeking out the films illegally and most people nowadays will see the films within the first four weeks of a film’s opening taking 90%+ of its box office.
With a 17-day window, studios would be more willing to release smaller films they have moved to stream over recent years as have been squeezed at the box office.
The reaction from Cineworld was predictably negative, but shorten PVOD will only work if all studios are together, there have been many attempts over the years with Disney being the one studio refusing to be part of it saying that they want to respect the windows, despite them also shrinking the gap between home video and streaming as they did with Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and Frozen 2 recently. While their films might open bigger than their rivals they are also as front-loaded as rivals still taking upwards of 90% of box office within the first 28 days.
Tenet would have been a great test case for PVOD as Nolan disciples and cinephiles would still rush out to see the film In cinemas, but others who currently feel uncomfortable going back to the cinema would be able to see it legally within a few weeks.
In May CAA organized a committee of theatres, studios, and filmmakers to create a campaign around cinemas re-opening, surely this should be running by now with move theatres reopened in many states, but there hasn’t been any evidence of this campaign. Would have also expected a similar campaign running in the UK ahead of the reopening of cinemas on July 4th, but apart from the announcement of safety measures, there hasn’t again been any evidence of a campaign in the UK.
This is the reason why I am “negative” as exhibitors have demanded studios to release films but all the effort in promoting films still is one side from the studios, exhibitors should be leading the way with a cinema experience campaign to get people back into the cinemagoing habit.
If Warner is taking the risk on opening Tenet in August, exhibitors should give back to the studio by allowing them to be able to release the film om VOD within weeks of release, as Tenet is the film most people would normally opt to see in cinemas, so released the film also on VOD won’t impact as much on the films box office as other films would. The one size fits all approach doesn’t work at the moment despite what exhibitors might say.
UK Box Office Top 10
UK Box Office Predictions
This weekend sees the release of the first major release since cinemas reopened Unhinged starring Russell Crowe, 20 years ago a Russell Crowe was a big draw at the box office with Gladiator, A Beautiful Mind and Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
Over the last decade, his films have failed to find a wide audience (most notably the disappointing performance of The Nice Guys despite receiving critical acclaim in 2016) his best known for starring recently in the TV mini-series The Loudest Voice. In normal circumstances, Unhinged would probably go straight to video.
Also released are Flash Gordon 40th Anniversary, Parasite (Black & White) and Summerland.
Next week Warner have surprisingly dated the Seth Rogen comedy American Pickle which will premiere on HBO Max in the US as Seth Rogen films are rarely successful in the UK.
Seth Rogen this week gave a very powerful interview talking about his Jewish identity and antisemitism which generated much coverage in the UK after Wiley’s antisemitic rant last Friday.
STX is also releasing their Gerard Butler action film Greenland internationally early from this week, this maturational early release makes much more sense as his films perform much stronger internationally than in the US.