- Predator: Badlands £2,376,779 – NE
Took £761k 32.03% Friday; £973k 40.95% Saturday; £642k 27.02% Sunday.
753rd biggest opening between Mirror Mirror and The Wolfman (2010) (close to Green Lantern, RoboCop (2014), Terminator 2: Judgement Day and Speed) and 1,170th biggest inflated opening between Yogi Bear and Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (close to The Devil’s Advocate, Licence to Kill, Battle: Los Angeles and Species).A
25th biggest 2025 opening between Sinners and The Roses (close to Weapons, One Battle After Another, Mickey 17 and The Naked Gun). Disney’s 7th biggest 2025 opening between A Complete Unknown and The Roses.
As in the US, about 50% of the opening weekend was from IMAX/PLF/3D and other premium formats, boosting its opening by over a third.
Opened in 582 cinemas the 645th widest opening similar to Little Women, The Martian and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2; and the 746th 500+ opening since 2002’s Monsters, Inc.
Predator: Badlands opened in 61 cinemas less than The Choral opening #2 but as a bulk of its BO is from IMAX/PLF these tentpoles don’t need to open in as many cinemas.
UK opening was only 5.94% of the US opening 10% has been regularly used as the expected opening in the UK but for most films its about 8% apart from British focussed films.
Predator: Badlands is the seventh instalment in the Predator franchise, starring Elle Fanning and Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi and directed by Dan Trachtenberg (previously directed 2022’s Prey and 2025’s Predator: Killer of Killers.
1988’s Predator opened £598,537/£2,074,061 taking £2,664,237/£9,232,160
1990s Predator 2 opened £936,057/£2,446,723, taking £2,010,600/£5,255,430.
2010’s Predators opened £2,203,193/£2,951,168 taking £5,767,854/£7,726,016
2018’s The Predator opened £2,394,163/£2,626,284, taking £4,569,791/£5,012,846
2022’s Prey and 2025’s Predator: Killer of Killers were both released straight to Disney+
There were also two Alien Vs Predator films so opening comparisons could be made with 2024’s Alien: Romulus opened £3,741,287; 2017’s Alien: Covenant opened £5,178,531; 1997’s Alien Resurrection opened £2,829,825/£5,506,686; 1992’s Alien3 opened £1,622,917/£4,004,206 and 1986’s Aliens opened £345,754/£1,456,581.
Dan Trachtenberg previously directed 2016’s 10 Cloverfield Lane opened £1,601,161, taking £5,029,725.
The first two Predator films were given 18 certificates for their cinema release; they were reclassified years after as 15s, but Predator: Badlands is a 12A (PG-13) certificate, which will surely frustrate fans as it’s not what they expect from the Predator film series.
Reviews have been mixed (one review called it the Disneyfication of 20th Century Fox films, making it feel more like an Avatar film with a baby Yoda sidekick).
Predator: Badlands shares IMAX/PLF screens with The Running Man from Tuesday, with The Running Man having them completely from Friday. Both films target the same young male audience, so we would expect Predator: Badlands to drop 50% in its second weekend as it targets the same male audience.
- 2. The Choral £917,177 – NE
Includes £14,251 previews.
Took £278k 30.32% Friday; £317k 34.57% Saturday; £322k 35.11% Sunday.
1,886th biggest opening between The Kingdom and The Wedding Planner (close to The Menu, Viceroy’s House, Waking Ned Devine and As Good As It Gets) and 2,513th biggest inflated opening between The Bucket List and Poltergeist III (close to An Ideal Husband, Operation Mincemeat, The Guernsey Literary and Potato and The Damned United).
The 4th biggest British film opening of 2025 after Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale (£4.3m), The Salt Path (£1.4m), and I Swear (£1.1m).
49th biggest 2025 opening between I Know What You Did Last Summer and Black Bag (close to A Real Pain, Bugonia, The Phoenician Scheme and The Brutalist).
Opened in 643 cinemas the 159th widest opening similar to The Unlikely Pilgrimage Of Harold Fry, Eternals and Aladdin; 284th 600+ cinema opening since 2015’s Jurassic World.
Historical comedy drama The Choral, starring Ralph Fiennes, directed by Nicholas Hytner and written by Alan Bennett, received mixed reviews, started softly over the weekend, but targeting the grey pound should take more Mon-Thurs than the weekend.
Nicholas Hytner previously directed.
1994’s The Madness of King George opened £308,417/£701,915 on 13 screens, taking £4,531,966/£10,314,130
1997’s The Crucible opened £380,748/£740,915 175 screens taking £1,410,350/£2,744,464
1998’s The Object of My Affection opened £353,236/£694,201 200 screens, taking £1,882,318/£3,699,245
2006’s The History Boys opened £794,672/£1,292,362 292 screens taking £4,024,741/£6,545,369
2015’s The Lady in the Van opened £2,256,121 on 523 screens, taking £12,660,028/£13,906,716
Similar films to The Choral include.
1996’s Brassed Off opened £466,058/£997,616 2003 screens taking £3,170,831/£6,787,292
1997’s The Full Monty opened £1,586,945/£3,088,109 224 screens taking £52,232,058/£101,640,762
2000’s Billy Elliot opened £1,541,109/£2,773,996 335 screens taking £18,387,000/£33,096,600
Recent British grey pound films include Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale opened £4,390,303 and The Salt Path opened £1,479,568;
Ralph Fiennes most recently starred in 2025’s 28 Years Later and 2024’s Conclave opened £1,065,847, taking £9,249,452.
It’s also been 30 years since Ralph Fiennes starred dystopian science fiction thriller Strange Days, directed by Kathryn Bigelow, and screenplay by James Cameron. The film has become more relevant with the “SQUID” (Superconducting Quantum Interference Device), which is a direct analogue to the VR and neural interfaces we’re building today. But what’s so chilling is how accurately it predicted not just the technology, but its social and psychological consequences. We have standalone VR headsets like the Meta Quest 3 and Apple Vision Pro that are wireless, self-contained computers.
- 3. Regretting You £790,645 – £5,247,189
Down 12.4% in its third weekend
£216k 28.6% (-2.16% £231k) Friday; £320k 40.5% (-11.8% £363k) Sat; £244k 30.9% (-22% £313k £416k) Sun
848th biggest third weekend between Taken and Pan (close to Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Scream (2022) and The Break-Up) and 1,201st biggest inflated third weekend between Evan Almighty and Ali (close to Girls Trip, Bride And Prejudice, Blue Jasmine and Days Of Thunder).
Regretting You has held very strongly over the last two weeks, but it started with a low opening so despite these strong holds its taken only a third of what It Ends With Us took over three weeks. It’s the 32nd biggest 2025 film between Karate Kid and The Amateur (close to The Naked Gun, Mickey 17, Babygirl, and Deliver Me From Nowhere and Paramount Pictures’ 3rd biggest 2025 film between The Naked Gun and Heart Eyes.
After the success of the adaption of Colleen Hoover It Ends With Us, Regretting You is one of several other film versions of her books including Verity (MGM), Reminders of Him (Universal) and Sony Pictures will be hoping that It Ends With Us sequel It Starts with Us could get made after the legal issues are dealt with between Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively; It Ends With Us dropped 34.8% £1,847,480 and £15,860,073 73.8% £21,241,321).
This was similar to a decade ago, when several of John Green’s novels were adapted into films. Regretting You director Josh Boone previously directed John Green’s 2014’s The Fault in Our Stars dropped 43.2% £961,640 and £8,605,638, 78.2% of £11,006,752.
Paramount Pictures’ new owners, Skydance, have talked about increasing the number of films the studio will make, as they have been one of the lowest producing studios, along with Disney, for over a decade. The difference is that Disney acquired Marvel in 2009 after Paramount Pictures’ previous owners stopped them from buying Marvel, despite Paramount having success with the first few MCU films.
Paramount also lost Dreamworks Animation to Universal Pictures and Indiana Jones rights to Disney, so if the studio is to increase the amount of films they make they will be mostly original films but as seen with Heart Eyes, Roofman and Novocaine they struggle with original films even if they are well received by critics, of course that is possibly why Skydance are interested in buying Warner Bros similar to one of the reasons Disney brought 20th Century Fox in 2019.
Paramount struggled to launch both Smurfs and The Naked Gun franchises in the summer, and both failed to find a similar audience as previous films. Exhibitors say they want more films, but as seen by so many original films struggling to find an audience over the last few months, what they really mean is they want tentpoles.
It’s never been about having more films as there ae far too many films already being released and not finding the audiences they would have received 20+ years ago as audiences have become far more selective in the films they pay to see in the cinema and those they wait to see and that has nothing to do with shorter theatrical windows, if cinemagoers are paying £15 they want to see sure things, they won’t take a risk on films as they previously used to unless they have subscription cinema pass.
1,427th biggest between Final Destination 5 and Eyes Wide Shut (close to Crossroads, Look Who’s Talking Too, Naked Gun 33 1/3 The Final Insult and Good Morning Vietnam) and 1,993rd biggest inflated between The Distinguished Gentleman and Snow Dogs (close to 10 Things I Hate About You, The Truth About Cats and Dogs, The Secret of My Success and A Little Princess).
- 4. Bugonia £548,922 – £2,067,196
Down 44.3% (29% without previews) in the second weekend
£167k 30.4% (-31.8% £245k) Friday; £208k 37.9% (-24.3% £275k) Sat; £174k 31.69% (-34.3% £265k) Sun
1,874th biggest second weekend between Presumed Innocent and Furry Vengeance (close to Déjà Vu, The End of the Affair, A Life Less Ordinary and Flatliners (1990) and 2,439th biggest inflated second weekend between United 93 and The Wind that Shakes the Barley (close to The Butterfly Effect, Steel Magnolias, Midnight Run and Jacob’s Ladder).
42nd biggest 2025 second weekend between Marching Powder and The Accountant 2 (close to The Brutalist, The Monkey, A Real Pain and The Phoenician Scheme).
Has become Yorgos Lanthimos’s 4th biggest film in the UK ahead of The Lobster (£1.5m) and Kinds Of Kindness (£1.1m).
But timing matters. After eighteen months of maximalist auteur fare — Asteroid City, The Zone of Interest, Beau Is Afraid, Challengers — the arthouse audience may finally be saturated. Even die-hard cinephiles can only afford so many Q&As. The irony isn’t lost on anyone: Lanthimos, the master of social dissection, has fallen victim to the very cultural fatigue he once skewered.
Bugonia received polarised reviews, and its strange comic tone makes it a slow-burner through awards chatter. Lanthimos’ films have never been about instant gratification; they ferment. If Poor Things were champagne, Bugonia might be vermouth — complex, dry, and waiting for the right bar to rediscover it.
The difference between Bugonia and Lanthimos’ other films is that while it had a UK premiere at the London Film Festival, their UK openings were delayed to January so they could benefit from award recognition that gives them a wider audience. Poor Things received 11 BAFTA nominations last week, including Best Film, Best British Film and Best Actor and received 11 Oscar nominations this week. This was similar to all of Paul Thomas Anderson’s previous films; neither Bugonia nor one Battle After Another will benefit from the BAFTA and Oscar nominations they will receive, as both will already be released on VOD.
Bugonia was shot with VistaVision cameras as One Battle After Another, but no audiences in the UK got to see it in VistaVision. Filmmakers shoot film in VistaVision, 35mm, IMAX, but very few cinemagoers get to see the films as the director envisaged. Even when a film is shot in IMAX, the majority of IMAX screens are in retrofitted traditional auditoriums. Audiences are paying a premium for IMAX in a regular cinema, but it’s far from the experience they would get at BFI IMAX on a far bigger screen.
Yorgos Lanthimos’s previous films
2024’s Poor Things dropped 39.9% £1,091,878 and £3,746,997 of £7,566,251
2019’s The Favourite dropped 39% £2,387,037 #2 617 screens and £8,302,694 of £16,972,417
2017’s The Killing of a Sacred Deer dropped 58% £118,703 #12 from 96 screens and £550,269 of £862,085
2015’s The Lobster up 6% £241,922 #10 84 screens and £651,712 of £1,521,066
As so many films targetting older audiences since September Bugonia has struggled to find the audience it would expect to have, exhibitors can’t use their normal excuse, which was due to a lack of films, as there have been many films opening over the last few months, and very few have found the audience they were expected to.
Audiences will, of course, come out to see Wicked 2, Zootopia 2 and Avatar 3, but these films target a vastly different audience than Bugonia, and there used to be room in the market for both. So why aren’t audiences coming out to see films like Bugonia that are getting positive reviews and have a strong marketing campaign, and have an inbuilt fanbase, as you would expect those who saw Poor Things also see Bugonia?
2,510th biggest Project X and Inside Llewyn Davis (close to The Father, The Avengers (1998), Mannequin, and To Die For) and 2,954th biggest inflated between Snatched and Silent Hill: Revelation 3D (close to The Darjeeling Limited, Matchstick Men, The Road to Wellsville and Wyatt Earp).
Includes £106,532 from previews
Second biggest Lynne Ramsay opening after
2011’s We Need to Talk About Kevin opened £492,297 including £33,000 in previews from 111 screens, taking £2.2m
2018’s You Were Never Really Here opened £287,261 including previews, from 77 screens
1999’s Ratcatcher opened £52,000 from 15 screens, and 2002’s Morvern Callar opened £82,000 from 17 screens.
Die My Love expands this weekend, but as audience reactions have been poor and with so many new releases, it’s likely to drop down the chart this weekend.
Opened in 272 cinemas expanding more this weekend
Over the years, Lynne Ramsay has been attached to studio films, including The Lovely Bones and Jane Got a Gun, but dropped out due to creative differences. Quitting the day before Jane Got a Gun was due to start filming.
After having huge success as Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games films, many actors who have had their success with a franchise, Jennifer Lawrence has been starring in a wide range of roles. As seen with Dawyne Jphnson in The Smashing Machine and Sydney Sweeney in Christy, Jennifer Lawrence is getting critical acclaim for her acting, but the films struggle to find audiences.
Die My Life received critical acclaim, with critics saying it was a career-best performance, but audience reactions were extremely poor, and CinemaScore in the US was D+. This was similar to Jennifer Lawrence’s performance in 2017’s Mother! Similar received critical acclaim and a polarised response from cinemagoers, especially as her previous roles were in X-Men: Apocalypse and Passengers.
It’s similar to female pop stars Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Miley Cyrus, Ariana Grande and Sabrina Carpenter, who started their career on Disney TV shows The Mickey Mouse Club, Hannah Montana, and Girl Meets World. They used ultra-sexuality as a tool to show they aren’t Disney characters anymore. It was about agency, a declaration of adulthood and ownership over one’s body and career, which were previously controlled by a corporate brand.
Daniel Radcliffe did similarly in 2012’s The Woman in Black, his first film after the final Harry Potter film. The film was given a 12A rating as Deathly Hallows Part 2, so it brought in Harry Potter fans, terrifying many of them. The film was reclassified several years later as a 15.
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Year-to-date, 2025 is 6% ahead of 2024.
The weekend’s top 10 box office took £6,382,320, up 12.4% from last weekend’s £5,661,022: 824,589 admissions, up 12.7% from 731,398 admissions.
The 48th biggest weekend of the last 52 weeks between 31 January 2025 #1 A Complete Unknown £1,236,908 (19.12%) and 10 October 2025 #1 Tron: Ares £1,790,651 (29.16%)
205th biggest since cinemas reopened out of 260 weeks between 15 September 2023 #1 A Haunting in Venice £2,186,930 (33.84%) and 19 April 2024 #1 Back To Black £1,897,014 (30.07%)
1,075th biggest top 10 of the last 24 years (out of 1,231) between 03 March 2006 #1 Date Movie £1,057,768 (16.55%) and 31 August 2001 #1 A Knight’s Tale £1,678,264 (26.31%) and 1,169th biggest inflated between 23 July 2021 #1 Black Widow £1,410,288 (23.18%) and 02 July 2021 #1 Fast & Furious 9 £2,681,393 (44.82%)
The top 3 took £4,084,601 (64%) of the top 10; Predator: Badlands 37.24% (£2,376,779); The Choral 14.37% (£917,177); Regretting You 12.39% (£790,645)
528th biggest percentage share #1 (37.24%) between 19 September 2008 #1 Tropic Thunder £2,483,271 (37.32%) and 03 October 2003 #1 Bad Boys 2 £3,175,258 (37.20%)
1,021st biggest admissions (307,077) between 02 November 2007 #1 Ratatouille £1,551,332 (307,194) and 14 September 2007 #1 Run, Fat Boy, Run £1,543,836 (305,710)
Down 60.93% from 2024; (£16,336,256); Paddington In Peru £9,649,984; Red One (£2,403,829); Piece By Piece (£186,978); Bird (£138,890); Point Break (4K Restoration) (£51,880); #1 Paddington In Peru £9,649,984 1st week 731 screens (59.07% of top 10).
Down 12.33% from 2023; (£7,279,587); The Marvels (£3,465,783); Anatomy Of A Fall (£412,751); Dream Scenario (£384,560); Don Quixote – ROH, London 2023 (£54,229); #1 The Marvels £3,465,783 662 screens (47.61% of top 10).
Down 58.75% 2022 (£15,472,862); Black Panther Wakanda Forever (£12,363,870); #1 Black Panther Wakanda Forever £12,363,870 1st week 699 screens (79.91% of top 10)
Down 25.05% 2021 (£8,515,063); Mothering Sunday (£156,940); Cry Macho (£72,131); West Side Story (1961) (60th Anniversary) (£8,725); #1 Eternals £2,918,585 2nd week 649 screens 47% drop (34.3% of top 10)
2020; COVID-19 Second Lockdown England
Down 25.22% 2019; (£8,534,914); The Aeronauts (£1,042,337); The Good Liar (£960,536); Midway (£755,181); 42nd Street The Musical (£560,680); Madama Butterfly Met Opera 2019 (£270,363); Luce (£116,098); #1 Joker £1,668,466 32% drop 601 screens 6th week (19.6% of top 10)
Down 61.50% 2018: (£14,405,189); The Grinch (£5,019,677); Widows (£2,409,112); Overlord (£677,844); They Shall Not Grow Old (£271,302); #1 The Grinch £5,019,677 1st week 559 screens 30.3% of the top 10)
Down 65.69% 2017: (£18,610,649); Paddington 2 (£8,260,160); Only the Brave (£268,680); The Florida Project (£241,490); Predator (30th Anniversary) (£99,689); Professor Marston and the Wonder Women (£9,148); #1 Paddington 2 £8,260,160 1st week 607 screens 1st week (44.3% of the top 10)
Down 41.89% 2016: (£10,984,043); Arrival (£2,924,059); American Pastoral (£56,832); #1 Arrival £2,924,059 1st week 561 screens (26.6% of the top 10)
Down 64.10% 2015; (£17,844,077); Brooklyn (£1,041,278); Burnt (£445,777); Scout’s Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse (£297,263); Kill Your Friends (£102,221); #1 SPECTRE £13,145,138 2nd week 660 screens 68% drop (73.6% of top 10)
Down 42.35% 2014: (£11,071,565); Interstellar (£5,378,220); Say When (£93,259); The Skeleton Twins (£19,204); November Man (£4,980); #1 Interstellar £5,378,220 1st week 574 screens (48.5% of top 10)
Down 55.50% 2013: (£14,343,283); Gravity (£6,238,375); #1 Gravity £6,238,375 1st week 539 screens (43.5% of top 10)
Down 57.97% 2012: (£15,185,020); Argo (£1,287,770); Here Comes the Boom (£433,052); The Sapphires (£337,641); Love Bite (£73,129); People Like Us (£19,981); #1 Skyfall £10,447,385 3rd week 589 screens 35% drop (68.8% of top 10)
Down 34.05% 2011; (£9,676,951); Immortals (£2,166,432); Arthur Christmas (£2,112,516); The Rum Diary (£608,055); The Awakening (£273,083); Trespass (£247,957); Wuthering Heights (£156,931); Tabloid (£4,618); #1 Immortals £2,166,432 1st week 428 screens (22.4% of top 10)
Down 17.24% 2010: (£7,711,855); Skyline (£1,206,207); You Again (£145,034); #1 Due Date £1,898,324 2nd week 452 screens 19% drop (24.6% of top 10)
Down 29.04% 2009; (£8,993,624); A Christmas Carol (£1,917,539); The Men Who Stare at Goats (£1,211,791); The Fourth Kind (£851,476); Bright Star (£207,881); #1 A Christmas Carol £1,917,539 1st week 446 screens (21.3% of top 10)
Down 53.68% 2008; (£13,780,120); Pride and Glory (£396,691); W (£367,512); Easy Virtue (£341,099); #1 Quantum of Solace £9,221,744 2nd week 541 screens 40% drop (66.9% of top 10)
Down 16.82% 2007: (£7,673,228); Good Luck Chuck (£1,316,325); Lions for Lambs (£658,282); Into the Wild (£196,994); Planet Terror (£80,894); The Band’s Visit (£18,704); Silk (£15,880); #1 Good Luck Chuck £1,316,325 1st week 379 screens (17.1% of top 10)
Down 31.74% 2006; (£9,349,640); The Prestige (£1,184,996); Breaking & Entering (£364,886); Starter for Ten (£207,345); #1 Borat £4,510,657 2nd week 430 screens 28% drop (48.2% of top 10)
Down 16.32% 2005: (£7,626,912); In Her Shoes (£1,337,176); The Constant Gardener (£1,004,641); Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang (£458,826); #1 In Her Shoes £1,337,176 1st week 325 screens (17.5% of top 10)
Up 7.79% 2004 (£5,920,822); The Grudge (£2,261,710); Bad Santa (£474,450); Birth (£421,758); Look At Me (£88,161); #1 The Grudge £2,261,710 1st week 362 screens (38.20% of top 10)
Down 54.95% 2003 (£14,166,002); The Matrix Revolutions (£8,712,350); Seabiscuit (expansion) (£767,371); #1 The Matrix Revolutions £8,712,350 1st week 467 screens (61.5% of top 10)
Up 46.48% from 2002: (£4,357,114); Rabbit Proof Fence (£221,758); Orange County (£167,051); #1 28 Days Later £1,073,042 2nd week 320 screens 28% drop (24.6% of top 10)
Up 34.13% from 2001 (£4,758,297); Kiss of the Dragon (£478,811); The Piano Teacher (£71,911); #1 The Others £1,687,041 2nd week 386 screens 25% drop (35.4% of top 10).
2024 Next week: (£19,676,839); Gladiator II (£9,155,050); Kiss Me, Kate: The Musical (£258,966); Andrea Bocelli 30: The Celebration (£179,352); One Direction: This Is Us RE (£102,782); #1 Gladiator II £9,155,050 1st week 720 screens (46.53% of top 10).
UK Box Office Q1–Q3 2025: Popcorn Up, Soul Still Missing
BFI’s latest figures confirm what every exhibitor already feels in their gut: the UK box office is technically healthier, emotionally thinner. Between January and September, admissions hit 92.7 million, up 4% year-on-year, but still nearly 30% below 2019. Gross revenue climbed to £750.8 million, a 10% bump on 2024, yet down 18% on the pre-pandemic benchmark. More people are coming back, but they’re coming back fewer times—and paying more for it.
Family IP ruled the roost again. A Minecraft Movie mined £56.7 million to become the year’s biggest earner, followed by Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy (£46.4m) and Lilo & Stitch (£36.1m). The rest of the Top 10 reads like a franchise roll call: Superman, Fantastic Four: First Steps, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, and Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale. Every single one is a sequel, spin-off, remake, or brand extension. Cinema may have survived the pandemic, but originality is still in long Covid.
The real story, though, is the quiet strength of British output. UK-qualifying films claimed a 43% market share, the highest since 2019, thanks to studio-backed hybrids like The Fantastic Four, Mission: Impossible, and Bridget Jones. Meanwhile, UK independents slipped to 7.5%—their lowest since 2022—with The Roses leading at £10.1m. It’s a reminder that the mid-budget domestic drama—the backbone of British cinema for decades—is still gasping for screen space between costumed nostalgia and corporate IP. But it does ask the perennial question what is a British film is it a US studio film made in the UK, or a fully financed British film made in the UK released by a US studio or a fully funded British film released by a British distributor?
And yet, there are glimmers. Horror surged to 11% of UK revenue, almost double last year’s share. Audiences may not want “new,” but they still want different. Re-releases like Jaws (50th Anniversary) and Back to the Future (40th) kept Park Circus in business and proved that comfort cinema still converts curiosity into tickets. The audience hasn’t vanished; it’s just retreated to safer stories and premium seats.
So yes, box office is up. But with fewer tickets, bigger surcharges, and an audience that still treats the multiplex as a sometimes treat rather than a weekly habit, the real recovery isn’t financial—it’s cultural. Britain’s cinemas are open again; we’re just waiting for them to feel alive again
Top 10 by the Numbers
Minecraft: The Movie – £56.7m
The year’s pixelated powerhouse. Proof that audiences will still dig deep for nostalgia, even if the storytelling feels procedurally generated.
Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy – £46.4m
The romcom resurrection nobody predicted. And somehow, it still feels like the last grown-up film to top the charts.
Lilo & Stitch – £36.1m
Another Disney remake proving that the studio can now recycle emotions as efficiently as plastic bottles.
Superman – £34.7m
The Man of Steel returns again — and still can’t find the box-office Kryptonite called “originality.”
The Fantastic Four: First Steps – £32.8m
Disney’s latest origin redo — bigger, flashier, emptier. Even the popcorn sighed.
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning – £28.9m
Tom Cruise keeps running, and the audience keeps jogging along.
Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale – £17.9m
The genteel juggernaut that outgrossed half of Hollywood’s supposed blockbusters. Tea and class warfare still travel.
Inside Out 2 – £15.2m
Pixar’s nostalgia therapy for a generation now too anxious to afford therapy.
The Roses – £10.1m
The rare UK indie hit that reminded people British stories can still sell when they’re actually funny, not just “important.”
The Bad Guys 2 – £9.8m
A sequel that came, barked loudly, and quietly padded out of cinemas two weekends later.
The Road to £1 Billion
The industry is now pinning its hopes on three sequels to keep 2025 from fizzling out before Christmas. Wicked: Part Two will need to outgross the original Wicked to restore confidence in musical megabudgets. Zootopia 2 must top Moana 2 to keep the Disney animation line afloat. And Avatar 3 has to make more than Avatar: The Way of Water for the UK box office to have any shot at crossing the £1 billion mark.
As of now, 2025’s total sits just 6% ahead of 2024, and trending downward. The upcoming weekend won’t help last year at this point, Gladiator II opened north of £4 million while Paddington 3 held its marmalade-slick legs. It’s hard to imagine The Running Man or Predator: Badlands getting anywhere near that. The box office doesn’t need another hit; it needs a miracle — or at least a singalong.
The Premium-Format Mirage
Premium formats used to be a bonus; now they’re a crutch. With Predator: Badlands, over half the opening weekend came from IMAX and PLF, while another 17% 3D — roughly three-quarters of the box office from a fraction of screens charging up to 30% more. The optics look great; the admissions don’t.
A decade ago, 3D’s brief reign boosted studio bragging rights but hid audience erosion beneath inflated ticket prices. IMAX and PLF are doing the same trick — turning fewer tickets into bigger numbers. The blockbuster business is running on higher tariffs, not higher turnout.
Exhibitors know better. As financier Guy Hands once told Odeon executives, cinemas aren’t in the film industry — they’re in the popcorn business. The money isn’t in the laser projectors but in the syrup and the shared ritual. Until pricing strategy shifts back toward volume over margin, the spreadsheets may sparkle while the foyers stay quiet.
US Box Office
- Predator: Badlands – 20th Century Studios/Disney
Opened $40.01m; received positive reviews (85% Rotten Tomatoes) and A- CinemaScore
Took $4.8m from Thursday previews (included fan screenings on Wednesday); Prometheus $3.51m; Mad Max: Fury Road $3.7m; Alien: Covenant $4.2m; Sinners $4.7m; Tron: Ares $4.8m; Morbius $5.7m.
53% from IMAX/PLF: 17% 3D; 15% IMAX: audience breakdown shows was no reason for it being PG-13 as it didn’t attract younger audiences, with only 5% for the 13-17; 16% under male 25, and 5% under 25 female.
Took $10.8m worldwide from IMAX; US $5.9m and International $4.9m
441st biggest opening between Chicken Little and Click (close to Independence Day: Resurgence, Dune: Part One, Taken 3 and Morbius).
Badlands was tracking to open with $25m and $40m internationally; that said, these openings do’ account for IMAX/PLF, which inflate these openings by about a third.
It’s crazy that analysts call Predator: Badlands a hit while Tron: Ares a flop, as neither opened as strongly as they would have done a few years ago, despite budgets, marketing costs and ticket prices all being much more than they used to be.
The trailer had 67m views in its first 24-hours, more than first day traffic of Jurassic World Dominion (65m), Alien: Romulus (49m), and Predator prequel Prey (26m); Jurassic World Dominion opened $145.07m; Alien: Romulus opened $42m; Prey was the most watched film on Hulu ever in the US over its first three days and it was watched over a billion minutes after its first weeks on release, While Predator: Badlands was probably seen by less than 2.5m in US cinemas over opening weekend.
1987’s Predator opened $12.03m/$33.7m taking $59.73m/$167.3m and $98.3m/$275.2m worldwide
1990’s Predator 2 opened $8.78m/$24.1m taking $30.66m/$83.9m
2004’s AVP: Alien Vs. Predator opened $38.3m/$71m taking $80.3m/$149m and $177.4m/$329m WW
2007’s Aliens vs. Predator – Requiem opened $10.5m/$16.2m taking $41.8m/$67m and $130.3m/$208.9m WW
2010’s Predators opened $24.76m/$36.2m taking $52m/$75.9m and $127.23m/$185.6m worldwide
2018’s The Predator opened $24.63m/$31.2m taking $51.02m/$64.5m and $160.5m/$202.9m WW
2022’s Prey and 2025’s Predator: Killer of Killers were released straight to Disney+.
Badlands has a social media universe of 244m across TikTok, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and X Badlands is similar to 2024’s Alien: Romulus, 246m; Elle Fanning has 6.7m fans; Alien: Romulus opened $42m, taking $105.31m and $350.86m worldwide.
Opened with $40m from x territories; China $7.4m; UK $3.2m; Mexico $2.3m; France $1.8m; Japan $1.7m.
- Regretting You – Paramount Pictures
Dropped 15% in its third weekend $6.65m and $38.12m
Regretting You is holding strongly over the last two weeks, but it started from a much lower level than It Ends With Us, so it has taken only a third as much to date.
2022’s Ticket to Paradise dropped 13.2% $8.54m and $46.77m of $68.27m and $168.77m worldwide.
Colleen Hoover’s 2024’s It Ends with Us dropped 51.1% $11.64m and $120.61m of $148.51m and $351.44m worldwide, while Josh Boone previously directed the adaptation of John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars dropped 42.1% $8.56m and $98.69m of $124.87m and $307.17m worldwide.
Took $5.7m from 57 territories $32.4m total, and $71m worldwide.
- Bugonia – Focus Features
Up 608% $5.02m and $6.04m; received positive reviews (90% Rotten Tomatoes) and B CinemaScore
Expanded slightly better than expected, making it Yorgos Lanthimos’s biggest opening in the US.
Audience breakdown males 61% and 24 to 34 39
Yorgos Lanthimos’s previous films
2024’s Kinds Of Kindness expanded from 3 screens to 490, up 317.9% $.57m and $2.9m from $5.03 m and $16.39m worldwide
2024’s Poor Things expanded from 9 screens to 2,300 over 8 weeks, taking $2.9m (widest) and $24.65m of $34.55m and $117.62m worldwide
2019’s The Favourite expanded from 4 screens to 1,550 over 10 weeks, taking $2.54m (widest) and $26.1m of $34.36m and $95.91m worldwide
Yorgos Lanthimos previously directed 2017’s The Killing of a Sacred Deer opened in $115,120 from 4 screens (expanded into 238 screens after 4 weeks); taking $2.29m and $6.93m worldwide.
2016’s The Lobster had a limited release in only maximum of 6 screens, taking $376,871 and $6.65m WW
2010’s Dogtooth had a limited release in only maximum of 5 screens, taking $110,248 and $425,679 WW
Opened $3.6m from 56 territories and $23.2m worldwide; UK $1.2m
The other new releases targeting adults struggled to find a wide audience, as so many films targeting adult audiences have over the last few months, so the issue isn’t a lack of films; it‘s getting audiences to see a wider mix of films. Until exhibitors realise this, nothing will change.
Sarah’s Oil – Amazon – opened $4.4m; received mixed reviews and A+ CinemaScore.
Nuremberg – Sony Pictures Classics – opened $3.8m; received positive reviews; no CinemaScore.
Opened close to last year’s Conclave $6.6m
Christy – Black Bear opened $1.25m; received positive reviews; B+ CinemaScore.
Suffered a similar fate as Smashing Machine audiences want to see to be able to recognise Sydney Sweeney in the roles she plays, while she might give a great performance in the film as Dwayne Johnson in Smashing Machine.
Sydney Sweeney defended the film on Instagram, saying I am so deeply proud of this movie. Proud of the film David made. Proud of the story we told. Proud to represent someone as strong and resilient as Christy Martin. This experience has been one of the greatest honours of my life. This film stands for survival, courage, and hope. Through our campaigns, we’ve helped raise awareness for so many affected by domestic violence. We all signed on to this film with the belief that Christy’s story could save lives. Thank you to everyone who saw, felt, and believed—and will believe—in this story for years to come. If Christy gave even one woman the courage to take her first step toward safety, then we will have succeeded. So yes, I’m proud. Why? Because we don’t always just make art for numbers, we make it for impact. And Christy has been the most impactful project of my life. Thank you, Christy. I love you.
This was also the case with Jennifer Lawrence in Die My Love – MUBI, while it received positive reviews, it was slated with cinemagoers getting a D+ CinemaScore.
US BO is up 3% from 2024 $7.1bn; the industry will be hoping for$1bn+ for both November and December, this will see US BO up from last year ($8.57bn) but similar to BO from 20 years ago $8.83bn despite ticket inflation of 80%; with 60% of BO from IMAX/PLF/3D real ticket inflation is closer to 150%.
UK Box Office Top 10
Box Office Preview
The Running Man, based on the 1982 novel by Stephen King (under his pseudonym Richard Bachman), is the second adaptation of the novel after the 1987 film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. As the 1982 novel and the 1987 original film, the reboot is also set in 2025, but the novel and original film predicted the future, whereas the reboot is living it.
In 2017, Edgar Wright was asked on Twitter what film he would like to remake, and he said The Running Man. In 2021, Paramount announced they were developing a “much more faithful” adaptation of the novel with Edgar Wright attached to direct.
A few weeks ago, Stephen King wrote on Twitter, “I’ve seen it and it’s fantastic, DIE HARD for our time. A bipartisan thrill ride.”
Predictably, with Edgar Wright directing, UK reviews have been far more positive for The Running Man than in the US, where it’s expected to open behind Now You See Me: Now You Don’t.
Glenn Powell recently starred in Twisters, Anyone But You, Hot Man (Netflix) and Top Gun: Maverick. The Running Man is his first leading action film.
1988’s The Running Man opened £577,953/£1,990,169 297 screens taking £2,530,062/£8,712,213
Edgar Wright previously directed.
2004’s Shaun of the Dead opened £1,603,410/£2,828,287, taking £6,764,667/£11,932,330
2007’s Hot Fuzz opened £5,918,149/£9,281,533, taking £21,195,951/£33,241,967
2013’s The World’s End opened £2,123,576/£2,575,608, taking £8,731,367/£10,589,958
2017’s Baby Driver opened £3,605,705/£3,812,708, taking £13,024,392/£13,772,121
2021’s Last Night in Soho opened £731,950, taking £2,255,648
With Edgar Wright directing, it’s likely to get a similar Brit boost as Baby Driver, also having a 6-day opening, the first two nights are only closed caption screenings, as Paramount has done on many films over the last 18 months.
As with Predator: Badlands the reboot of The Running Man is an 12A while the original film was an 18; it opens two months after Stephen King’s last film adaption The Long Walk Home opened £1,156,220 taking £4,662,143 The Life of Chuck was released in August, The Monkey in February and currently on Sky Atlantic It: Welcome to Derry, a prequel to the It films, as Stephen king novels are more relevant today as they predicted our digital hellscape in the analogue soil of small-town America.
King (as Richard Bachman) imagined a game show where the poor are hunted for the entertainment of the masses. The 1987 film gave us a game show host as the villain.
Our Reality: We now have platform barons who own the digital colosseum. Elon Musk’s X is the arena where algorithmic mobs hunt the “woke” or the “heretic” for engagement. A future where a Trump-aligned Skydance owns Paramount isn’t about making movies; it’s about controlling the narrative itself. The fusion of media, politics, and live-streamed outrage is complete. The host is no longer a smarmy TV personality; he is a sovereign individual who owns the infrastructure of truth.
Now You See Me: Now You Don’t will open #2 with less than the first two films; 2013’s Now You See Me opened £2,898,997/£3,516,088, taking £10,763,980/£13,055,241, and 2016’s Now You See Me 2 opened £2,964,641/£3,168,685, taking £6,062,072/£6,479,300.
Which will see Predator: Badlands and The Keeper, the new horror from Longlegs director Osgood Perkins; 2024’s Longlegs opened £1,371,352, taking £7,838,045. He also directed the Stephen King adaptation of 2025’s The Monkey opened £1,070,404, taking £2,959,723. Keeper won’t be screened to critics in the US as the studio says it’s to “preserve the mystery.” Despite showing 30 mins of footage at a film festival recently, it is under embargo until the day before opening.
Keeper is a 15, so targeting older and direct audience to both The Running Man and Predator: Badlands and original grown-up horrors have performed well this year, with trailers playing with recent horrors, Keeper could open with up to £1m.
The other new releases include Nuremberg, which has been heavily promoted and received positive reviews, opening exactly 80 years after the Nuremberg trial in November 1945. The film was acquired by Sky Cinema for the UK, but as with Ferrari and A Working Man will have about a 4-week theatrical window before being shown on Sky Cinema at Christmas.
British Christmas comedy Christmas Karma opens, the second release from True Brit Entertainment after Marching Powder in March opening with £1,079,492. British family Christmas films do find a limited audience. The Nativity film series from 2009-2018 found an audience in cinemas despite poor reviews and opening in a crowded marketplace, as they were quite different to the other films on release; Netflix in the US Sky Cinema have been making many of these Christmas family films over recent years.
The latest anime JUJUTSU KAISEN: Execution opens, but the previous latest anime JUJUTSU KAISEN film hasn’t had the success as recent anime films.
Coming Soon
- Zootropolis 2 – Disney
Animated buddy cop comedy sequel to 2016’s Zootropolis 2 featuring the voices of Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman, Ke Huy Quan, Andy Samberg, David Strathairn, Idris Elba and Shakira and directed by Jared Bush and Byron Howard.
Development on the sequel started months after the original film opened, but it wasn’t until 2023 that Disney said it was in active development.
Zootropolis was never #1 in the UK as it opened the same weekend as Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice (£14,621,007) in March 2016, staying #1 for two weeks before The Jungle Book and The Huntsman: Winter’s War opened; Zootropolis opened £5,306,726 (including £1.7m from previews)
Zootropolis opened at the start of the easter school holidays in 2016, while Zootropolis 2 might open over Thanksgiving weekend in the US. UK school holidays don’t start for another week, while Moana 2 opened the same weekend last year with £12,021,342, but it’s a quite different film from Zootropolis with a much bigger fanbase.
- Blue Moon – Sony Pictures
Biopic of songwriter Lorenz Hart set at the opening of the musical Oklahoma! Starring Ethan Hawke, Margaret Qualley, Bobby Cannavale and Andrew Scott and directed by Richard Linklater.
Had world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival, receiving positive reviews (89% Rotten Tomatoes) with much praise for Ethan Hawke’s performance.
Sony Pictures acquired world rights in June 2024
It’s Ethan Hawke’s ninth film with director Richard Linklater and was a long-time passion project for both of them. Sony Pictures has had a long relationship with Richard Linklater since 1995’s Before Sunrise, also starring Ethan Hawke.
It’s Richard Linklater’s first film since 2023’s Hit Ma for Netflix and his first cinema release since 2016’s Everybody Wants Some!!
- Christy – Black Bear
Biographical sports drama about the former professional boxer Christy Martin starring Sydney Sweeney, Ben Foster, Merritt Wever and directed by David Michôd.
Had its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival, receiving positive reviews (69% Rotten Tomatoes). The problem, as seen with The Smashing Machine, audiences like seeing actors in certain roles, so while audiences loved Sydney Sweeney in Anyone But You as Dawyne Johnson in Jumanji, they don’t when they are transformed into someone else. It’s similar to actors who play Bond girls struggling to find an acting career after Bond. Understandably, actors want to challenge themselves and try something different and not be stereotyped into a role.