1. Unhinged – £117,632 –  £440,894A

Down 32.8% in its second weekend

Unhinged second-weekend drop was very strong as the weekend saw close to near-record temperatures for August (the high 90s).

UK cinemas have now been open for 6 weeks with box office up 185% from £189,000 to £538,716 but with 638% more screens open than the first weekend (from 460 to 3,393) and with a much wider choice of old and new releases (Unhinged took 22% of the weekend’s box office). Would have expected growth to be much stronger now with the number of screened opened, showing that all the research while cinemas were shut that it will be many months before the majority would return is correct.

Part of the issue is cinemas reopened far too soon, when Boris announced in mid-May that hospitality could reopen July 4^th exhibitors immediately announced cinemas would reopen on July 4^th. At the time both Tenet and Mulan were still dated for July so it’s not completely the fault of exhibitors.

What amazes me as with the cinema shut down in March when staff found out many cinemas were shutting on social media before being told there hasn’t been standard there seems to be little guidance, with UK Cinema Association always waiting on government guidance rather than making decisions for themselves. There was talk of a campaign to get people back into the cinema habit, which has seen little of.

The cinema shutdown gave the cinema industry a one in a lifetime chance to relaunch itself, as I’ve said many times before next year is the 125^th anniversary of commercial cinema always thought the reopening of cinema could have been part of an annual celebration of cinema. In 1985 UK Film Year started the renaissance of cinema attendance in the UK a then in 1996 National Cinema Day also helped admissions grow, a similar campaign showing what makes cinema a unique experience that can’t be replicated at home could see admissions top 200m which many expected would happen 20 years ago.

I might be seen to be negative, but it saddens me that the exhibitor’s short-sighted behaviour is doing much more damage to the industry than Disney and Universal decided to release Mulan and Trolls World Tour to PVOD instead of opening in cinemas.

Exhibitors safety measures highlight this as the majority of these should have been standard and done pre-lockdown as cinemas have long had hygiene issues with many people not washing hands going to the toilet and then touching multiple surfaces and eating food. While exhibitors might be correct to the UK law that the gap between seats is over one metre many cinemas won’t feel comfortable with people immediately in front and behind of them eating and drinking as normal for up to 3 hours.

Exhibitors and studios should have been working together even before lockdown looking into ways of how to deal with Coronavirus as they would have seen how China shutdown cinemas in January right before the most lucrative time of the year. Instead it feels like they have always been playing catchup as they always seem to do, rather than just doing the minimum required exhibitors should be doing much more and this would have seen people come back to the cinema sooner.

In the months leading up to the reopening of cinemas there were many ideas mentioned in articles including customers having to register to book, all bookings should be online, so exhibitors have contact details if they need to track and trace. While the whole mask policy with them saying eating and drinking is a necessity shows that exhibitors aren’t in the cinema business they are in the syrup and popcorn business.

Unhinged has similarities to Steven Spielberg’s Duel; Joel Schumacher’s Falling Down; Roger Michell’s Changing Lanes (took £2,823,244); John Dah’s Joy Ride (aka Roadkill internationally) written by J. J. Abrams (took £2,215,996).

The film release date was delayed several times to the end of July and now August 19^th (two weeks before Tenet) after Mulan and Tenet were delayed but kept its international dates opening in Germany July 16^th and then Denmark, New Zealand Singapore, and the UK on  July 31^st.

Unhinged is the first leading role film starring Russell Crowe has held #1 for two weeks since 2012’s Les Misérables and 2007’s American Gangster 20 years ago RIdley’s Scott’s Oscar-winning Gladiator was #1 at the UK box office for 7 weeks.

More recently Russell Crowe starred in HBO drama The Loudest Voice and 2016’s critical acclaim The Nice Guys which failed to find an audience; (took £3,792,002) which was a sorta sequel to Shane Black’s Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, also received positive reviews but failed to find an audience in cinemas.

Rather than complain about the lack of US films which was always likely as it was always unlikely studios would choose to open films internationally early before the US, exhibitors should be looking for these other films they wouldn’t normally ever think about booking.

While distributors could have opened their British films as it was surprising The Secret Garden was released on VOD in the US over the weekend, it was originally due to be released this month in the UK but Studiocanal sold it to Sky Cinema who will release it on Sky Cinema and selected cinemas in October.

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2. Onward – £46,576 –  £5,801,357

Down 20.9% in the 8th week of its cinema release 23 weeks after opening in cinemas in March is still managing to attract cinemagoers despite being available on digital download since May and on video since June.

Onward is the 1,029th biggest film in the UK between Paranormal Activity 4 and The Monuments Men (close to ParaNorman, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, The Wild Thornberry’s and The Magic Roundabout) and 1,211^th biggest inflation inflated film between Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 and Warcraft: The Beginning (close to Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Isle of Dogs, The Secret Garden and Bringing Down the House).

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 it took  £5.29m before cinema lockdown opening two weeks before impacted on it is box office. With the Easter holidays two weeks later Onward should have gone on to take more than double its 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 are 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.

3. 100% Wolf –  £42,500 –  £128,570

Up 28.2% in its second weekend after adding 120 screens from last weekend.

Normally in the summer holidays family films would be hugely popular, but also normal films like 100% Wolf and Dreambuilders would barely enter the top 15 as these inferior animated films would normal end up on Sky Cinema rather than cinemas.  

4. An American Pickle – £27,731 – NE

Warner surprisingly dated the Seth Rogen comedy American Pickle which will premiered on HBO Max in the US over the weekend as Seth Rogen leading comedy films are rarely successful in the UK. So it was even more surprising Warner Bros are advertising it as only in cinemas as its likely to have a noticeably short stay despite receiving positive reviews. Surely An American Pickle should have opened In cinemas and VOD as it’s not going to barely play two weeks in cinemas.

2015’s The Night Before opened £272,930 taking £624,279

2015’s The Interview opened with £283,811

2017’s The Disaster Artist opened with £130,238 taking £1,272,348

Seth Rogen biggest comedy films have been part of ensemble cast 2013’s This Is The End £1,390,323 taking £4,082,675

Seth Rogen said in an interview on the same day Warner Bros announced they were delaying the release of Tenet for a third time “I’m waiting to see what Chris Nolan does,”… ” ‘WWCND’ is basically what we’re saying at all times. ‘What would Chris Nolan do?’ For a while, it seemed like the answer was to kill his greatest fans. But that’s not the answer of today, it seems, so that’s good. But we have no idea. We don’t want to be the first to rush into anything.”

5. Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back £31,136 – £7,402,546

Down 11.3% in its 4^th weekend

The film was re-released in cinemas for its 40th anniversary, it was originally planned to be re-released for the first time in 4K, but Disney decided to instead release it in 2K (not that many cinemagoers would notice the difference) and have the 4K version on Disney+.

After Disney released five Star Wars films in five years (The Force Awaken, Rogue One, The Last Jedi, Solo and The Rise of Skywalker) they won’t release another Star Wars film until 2023 (and then in 2025 and 2027 will be the 50th anniversary of Star Wars: A New Hope) as they concentrate on TV series including The Mandalorian for Disney+.

It is the fourth time The Empire Strikes Back has been in the top 10 over the last 40 years; took over £9m during its original release in May 1980; took £7.2m in 1997 as part of the 20th anniversary re-release of A New Hope and then most recently took £6.3m over 17 weeks of Secret Cinema, but tickets were about £80, 5,573% more than regular tickets were for The Empire Strikes Back in 1980.

In 1980 The Empire Strikes Back was #1 for 9 weeks; in 1997 The Empire Strikes Back was #1 for one week (opening with £1.55m) and in 2015 was in the lower end of the top 10 for the majority of it is 16 week run during the summer.

The Empire Strikes Back has taken £22.8m over its lifetime, but each of the four had quite different prices, in 1980 average ticket cost only £1.42, in 1997 it was £4.07, for Secret Cinema in 2015 it was £80+ and then for its current release most cinemas were about £5.

Also showing

Returning again into the top 10  for the second time since cinemas reopened (took £14,499 for 48 screens 6 weeks ago) The Greatest Showman taking £20,182 taking £49,465,346 to date; The Greatest Showman is now the 41^st biggest film in the UK between Black Panther and Harry Potter & The Order Of The Phoenix and 72^nd biggest film (inflation inflated) between Black Panther and Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the WereRabbit.

Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar just missed out from entering the top 10 taking £12,751 in #11; the film was also re-released in China over the weekend and had the highest daily gross for a film (Friday) since cinemas reopened in China. Interstellar was hugely popular in China taking $121.9m in 2014 17.5% of its global box office ($699.59m). Tenet will be released in China on September 4^th the same day as the US.

UK box office in detail

This weekend’s top 10 box office took £359,962 down 20.3% from last weekend (£451,541)

The weekend admissions 50,628 down 26.1% from last week (68,532)

Top three took 57.4% (£206,708) of the top 10); Unhinged 32.7% (£117,632); Onward 13% (£46,576);100% Wolf 11.8% (£42,500);

2019  (£8,930,609) of the top 10; The Lion King 34.5% (£4,366,824); Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw 23.2% (£2,938,833); Toy Story 4 12.8% (£1,624,952)

2018: (£16,439,374); The Meg (£3,651,111); The Darkest Minds (£388,325); Dog Days (£59,223); Heathers (30th Anniversary) (£43,462); Pope Francis – A Man of His Word (£21,593); #1 The Meg £3,651,111 1st week 499 screens (22.2% of top 10)

2017: (£10,664,274); Annabelle: Creation (£1,960,203); Atomic Blonde (£1,686,430); The Nut Job 2: Nutty By Nature (£354,276); A Ghost Story (£133,899); Overdrive (£60,043); Step (£5,039); #1 Dunkirk £2,634,839 4th week 677 screens 43% drop (24.7% of top 10)

2016: (£21,285,722); Suicide Squad (£11,252,225); Sid & Nancy (30th Anniversary) (£6,048); #1 Suicide Squad £11,252,225 1st week 573 screens (52.8% of the top 10)

2015; (£10,047,581); Fantastic Four (£2,686,176); The Gift (£584,552); The Diary of a Teenage Girl (£81,185); The Rape of Lucretia – Glyndebourne 2015 (£29,796); Marshland (£40,060); Max (£38,901); #1 Fantastic Four £2,686,176 1st week 539 screens (26.7% of top 10)

2014: (£21,448,750); The Inbetweeners 2 (£12,538,114); La Traviata – Glyndebourne 2014 (£112,970); All this Mayhem (£12,247); #1 The Inbetweeners 2 £12,538,114 1st week 509 screens (58.4% of top 10)

2013: (£14,517,689); Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa (£2,175,850); Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters (£2,137,835); Grown Ups 2 (£2,075,831); The Lone Ranger (£1,342,196); Barbie Mariposa & The Fairy Princess (£33,161); #1 Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa £2,175,850 1st week 441 screens (14.9% of top 10)

2012 (£8,544,393); Step-Up 4: Miami Heat (£680,052); Offender (£74,154); The Lodger (Re: 2012) (£30,131); 360 (£25,834); The Dinosaur Project (£7,586); #1 Ted £3,174,766 2nd week 513 screens 66% drop (37.1% of top 10)

2011 (£12,426,990); Super 8 (£2,207,063); Mr. Popper’s Penguins (£1,515,248); Sarah’s Key (£116,211); #1 Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 £2,810,088 4th week 525 screens 38% drop (22.6% of top 10)

2010: (£16,470,599); Knight & Day (£2,404,163); Step Up 3 (£2,015,403); Cats & Dogs: Revenge of Kitty Galore (£1,553,005); 5#1 Toy Story 3 £4,666,021 3rd week 555 screens 62% drop (28.3% of top 10)

2009; (£9,386,362); The Ugly Truth (£1,976,043); G. I. Joe (£1,708,760); Orphan (£570,146); Mersin: Killer Instinct (£135,999); Adam (£23,201); #1 The Ugly Truth £1,976,043 1st week 400 screens (21.1% of top 10)

2008; (£15,353,692); The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (£4,434,650); Make it Happen (£505,820); The Fox and the Child (£132,441); Elegy (£71,274); Death Defying Acts (£3,977); CJ7 (£437); #1 The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor £4,434,650 1st week 477 screens (28.8% of top 10)

2007: (£9,824,857); Rush Hour 3 (£2,731,998); Surf’s Up (£601,289); License to Wed (£268,016); Waitress (£105,910); The Walker (£44,623); #1 Rush Hour 3 £2,731,998 1st week 359 screens (27.8% of top 10)

2006; (£8,521,761); Monster House (£1,030,305); Nacho Libre (£993,948); Lady in the Water (£452,744); #1 Cars £1,340,219 3rd week (2 weeks #1) 498 screens 27% drop (15.7% of top 10)

2005 (£9,659,697); Herbie: Fully Loaded (£774,412); Stealth (£525,902); The Devil’s Rejects (£323,196); #1 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory £4,441,851 2nd week 532 screens 44% drop (45.9% of top 10)

2004 (£10,036,048); I, Robot (£4,745,541); 13 Going On 30 (£1,184,273); Home on the Range (£198,226); #1 I, Robot £4,745,541 1st week 447 screens (47.3% of top 10)

2003 (£8,452,765); The Pirates of the Caribbean (£3,765,450); Rugrats Go Wild (£360,005); What a Girl Wants (£220,217); #1 The Pirates of the Caribbean £3,765,450 1st 452 screens (44.5% of top 10)

2002 (£9,089,415); Eight Legged Freaks (£1,031,494); Heaven (£78,207); #1 Men In Black 2 £3,106,105 2nd week 512 screens 50% drop (34.2% of top 10)

2001 (£9,615,584); The Parole Officer (£902,028); Help! I am a Fish (£81,908); #1 Cats and Dogs £2,813,072 2nd week 453 screens  24% drop (29.2% of top 10);

Next weekend last year Top three took 71.3% (£11,466,617) of the top 10 (£16,071,094); Once Upon A Time In Hollywood 46.9% (£7,544,445); The Lion King 16.5% (£2,486,795); Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw 8.9% (£1,435,377);

Other Box Office News

Was surprised by the hostility from UK exhibitors as up to this point Disney was the one studio who openly saw the importance of films playing in cinemas always rejected PVOD. While over the last decade other studios have tried to launch PVOD Disney were the one studios stopping them. So for Disney to opt to move Mulan to PVOD is probably the last thing they would ever want to do, (similar to Warner being the canary in the coal mine later this month with Tenet) but needs must as the devil drives.

Over the last 4 years, Disney has shown with their films taking over £1bn at the UK box office that cinema is vital to them and with their upcoming slate it will always be. It’s incredible that UK exhibitors could then say, “If Disney thinks they don’t need cinemas anymore that’s pretty much game over for us all.” These the sky is falling comments are completely crazy when spoken about Disney and their line-up of massive films set for release over the next 5 years all of which will go to the cinema first.

Media comments were similarly over the top The Guardian called it as “seismic”, Empire magazine t was “potentially devastating news for theatre chains and us, the moviegoing public”, and The Telegraph accused Disney of “behaving as though it wants our cinemas to die”.

Mulan is just one film, they have many bigger films dated to open over the next few years and when Disney announced Disney+ in August they said “Big movies belong in theatres. A theatrical original is a prestige play”. While Disney has been tweaked the theatrical window over the last decade (In 2010 with Alice In Wonderland and most recently the window between home entertainment and Disney+ with Frozen 2 and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker) they have always expressed the importance they see in it why previous attempts at early PVOD never materialised in 2011, 2015 and 2017 as without Disney onboard PVOD could never happen.

Phil Clapp made a surprising comment “The decision not to give cinemas a chance to play the film (even if day and date with Disney +) is frankly bewildering and something we’ve of course gone back to them on,” So does that mean had Disney offered to let it play in cinemas the same date as Disney+ he wouldn’t have had an issue?  If that is the case why has there been such hostility towards Universal’s decision to release Trolls World Tour on VOD, as it played in cinemas from July 4^th when cinemas reopened.

I’m sure had Disney announced Mulan would be released in cinemas and on PVOD there would be a similar outcry from exhibitors.

While UK cinemas might have reopened in the UK they are months away from getting back to pre-lockdown levels so why would a studio opt to open a film in cinemas if it will only attract a fraction of the audience it could do if delayed. They will say if Warner is releasing Tenet why can’t all studios release their summer films now, but Tenet release became political in March and is only being released now due to demands from Christopher Nolan. While no one has publicly said this, but it is surely the case as otherwise Warner would have simply in March delayed the release of Tenet a year to July 16^th, 2021, as all other studios did.

Gower Street Analytics announced last week almost half of the world’s cinemas are now reopened in some capacity, with almost 12,400 cinemas now reopen, 90% of these outside the US, but only a fraction of cinemagoers is back as seen with Unhinged opening with only £175k last weekend.

In March ahead of its original release in March Mulan was expected to open with $90m in the US and could have taken similar box office worldwide to 2017’s Beauty and the Beast ($1.26bn), but the original 1998 animated film was one of the lowest-grossing animated films for Disney (taking $304m worldwide).

Disney+ currently has over 60m subscribers worldwide and Disney only needs a quarter of them to rent Mulan for $29.99 to take similar revenue. Non-Disney+ subscribers will need to sign up for Disney+ for a year ($69.99) to be able to rent Mulan. $29.99 sounds a lot to rent Mulan for an individual but as most people who will rent Mulan will be families it will work out cheaper than seeing it in most cinemas. Earlier this year Trolls World Tour was rented over 5 million times in the first-month bringing which saw it take over $100m from the US alone.

Disney will release Mulan in countries that don’t have Disney+ including China where it will open on August 26^th. China was always going to be Mulan’s key territory. The original animated film wasn’t a huge box office hit for Disney and due to Disney being banned in China in 1998 after the studio released Martin Scorsese’s Kundun and was released 6 months after the US after the country was flooded with pirate videos. This time around there could be many pirate copies of Mulan online before the film is released on PVOD.

On Saturday face masks became mandatory in cinemas but exhibitors got around the rule inside auditoriums as masks can be taken off to eat or drink if necessary, but is eating and drinking really necessary in cinemas? Concessions are highly profitable to exhibitors, but many people will feel uncomfortable with the thought people can still eat and drink in a cinema. Exhibitors should have looked into disposable face shields, Soffio costs $1 could be given to cinemagoers with each ticket like 3D glasses?

Exhibitors are using a technicality as Dominic Cummings did which wasn’t intended for them that you can take a mask off when eating and drinking is a necessity, but it’s a choice to eat and drink food in an auditorium as many don’t and would prefer others didn’t.

Vue Cinemas said wearing face coverings had become “the new normal” but customers would be able to remove their masks to eat and drink in its cinemas. With exhibitors saying eating and drinking in a necessity they are saying they are in the syrup and popcorn business rather than the film industry as many cinemagoers would feel much happier to go to the cinema without the noise and smell from the food as most just want to see the film rather than eat overpriced confectionary.

While exhibitors have implemented a two-seat gap either side cinemagoers you can still sit immediately in front and behind someone, exhibitors say there is a 1m gap between rows but when cinemas announced the seating policy it was going to be a two-seat gap on either side. With exhibitors still allowing masks to be taken off in cinemas to eat and drink this will make many people feel very uncomfortable. What it does show is exhibitors are in the popcorn and syrup business, not the film business as if it was able the safety and comfort of cinemagoers then masks would be mandatory in the auditorium. 

While exhibitors have said that the gap between the rows in more than 1m so people can sit directly behind this doesn’t make customers feel very safe especially with cinemagoers also allowed to eat and drink as normal.

Exhibitors are doing the bare minimum required with their safety measures but if they want customers to return on mass they need to be much more visible and noticeable.

Odeon Workers Union tweeted early this month “Months ago, during a BECTU webinar, cinema workers were asked if they anticipated that, over the summer, cinemas would be able to reopen safely and profitably. The vast majority responded in the negative.”

At Cineworld staff have been asked to share PPE while exhibitor made much of the training their staff were given but both Odeon and Cineworld have said they had none. While Welsh cinema staff found out on social media that cinemas were reopening on August 14^th, this was similar to how many cinema staff found out their cinemas were closing on social media.

Was interesting to see how different the reaction was by exhibitors to Disney announcing Mulan was being released on PVOD instead of having a theatrical release, the UK was very hostile, but for once AMC’s Adam Aron saw the bigger picture.

“You might think I’m disappointed that Mulan is moving, but AMC has no bigger friend than Disney. They provided us with more content last year than other studios in the world. As both companies do businesses, we will thrive,” said Aron.

While Adam Aron was predictably full of praise for Warner Bros saying, “I think Warner Bros. is doing something heroic for the exhibition industry by releasing ‘Tenet’ in a few weeks,” he said. “Assuming it doesn’t slip.”

Adam Aron also said that AMC’s new safety and cleaning procedures will be expensive and that the costs will be “passed on to the consumers.” So this will mean even higher ticket price or more expensive concessions at a time when they should be reducing ticket prices to get people back into the cinema habit.

He also said ‘We’ve Survived the Corona Crisis’ but these comments are said just before a shock twist as with Coronavirus cases still increasing in the many US states it’s far too soon to say something like that which could easily haunt him in the months to come. In 2017 he was willing to accept mobile phones in cinemas before backtracking after backlash and he said in June masks weren’t needed in cinemas, but then said he would wear one when he goes and hours later he backtracked on that too.

A couple of weeks ago Adam Aron announced their early PVOD agreement with Universal Pictures while this news came as a shock to many he spoke about this in an interview with Variety in 2017, about releasing films at home early at a higher price.to get exhibitors on board studios would be willing to cut exhibitors in the revenues they receive and he said: “If this is done in a way that’s intelligent, I believe this is an opportunity to grow the pie for everyone.”… “If it’s not done intelligently, we won’t sign-on, and things will get quite contentious with studios who are doing it around us rather than with us,”.. “Hollywood runs the risk of killing the golden goose.”

A court ruling in New York ended the 1948 Paramount Decree that stopped major studios from owning cinema chains, this news started speculation over who might buy a cinema chain with as always Amazon and Netflix mentioned as well as Disney. In 1948 when the decree was made Disney wasn’t considered a major studio so could have always brought a cinema chain if they wanted, they brought the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles in the late 80s. while Netflix brought the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood earlier in the year. In May a random online story about Netflix buying AMC generated huge media coverage, despite it being about AMC TV, not AMC Theatres.

In the UK Rank Film Distributors used to own Odeon Cinemas selling them in 2000, Odeon cinemas acquired UCI Cinemas formerly CIC owned by Paramount and Universal as part of their UIP international operations (AMC Cinemas brought Odeon in 2016) and Vue Cinemas acquired Warner Village Cinemas in 2003. Cineworld started in 1995, was acquired by a private equity company in 2004 along with UGC Cinemas UK (UGC acquired Virgin Cinemas who launched their Megapass 1999 which became Cineworld Unlimited in 1999 it cost £9.99 a month when ticket prices were less than half what they are now).

With COVID cases increasing in many countries around the world is a trip to the cinema really something the majority would feel comfortable going to, face masks become mandatory in the UK on Saturday but masks will be allowed to be taken off in auditoriums to eat, this is likely to put off more people

In normal circumstances, Disney would select a date that is best for them to open Mulan but if no idea date exists then surely studio should look at alternatives.

Advance bookings for Tenet opened on August 12^th with the limited competition it will play in multiple screens in most cinemas across the country, but will audiences come as all the research has shown for months it will take many months for the majority to feel safe going back to the cinema again. A survey last week for Kantar repeated this with only 13% of the key 16-34 happy to go to the cinema at the current time.

UK cinemas have been reopened now for 6 weeks and despite any more cinemas reopening ad more films being released box office hasn’t increased that much over the weeks, while Christopher Nolan’s disciples will come out to see Tenet there is still a massive question over if others will.

Rather than UK exhibitors being concerned about Mulan going to PVOD they should be worried about Tenet as if the film underperformed then it will spook other studios and more films will be delayed till next year or go to PVOD and Pixar’s Soul is the most likely.

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.

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 26^th it will open with less than a third and taking far less too.

UK Box Office Top 10

 

UK Box Office Predictions

Warner Bros are re-releasing Christopher Nolan’s Inception from Wednesday to celebrate the films 10^th anniversary, it will include an extended preview of Tenet and new trailers of several upcoming releases from the studio including Dune and Wonder Woman: 1984.

Inception will be shown with a 10-minute preview of Tenet and a 4-minute interview with Christopher Nolan.

Inception opened in July 2010 with £5,912,814 taking £34,976,999, 6 months ago Tenet would have expected to open with a similar amount and take £40m+ and be one of the biggest films of the year.

Warner had originally dated the re-release of Inception in mid-July when Tenet had moved from July to early August but then moved Inception to August 12^th.

Inception will likely open with about £100k over its 5-day opening weekend as only Nolan’s disciples will rush out to see it again in their cinema the same people who were online early on Wednesday morning booking tickets for Tenet. Tickets were quick to sell at the BFI IMAX and Cineworld IMAX Leicester Square but not so far locally were there were more screenings that customers on Wednesday morning.

With previous Christopher Nolan films Including Inception, The Dark Knight Rises and interstellar the BFI IMAX was quick to sell out the majority of their screenings over opening weekends. The question is will Tenet with its limited capacity, as the issue many people have is more about using public transport to get to the venues and most would use the tube to get to BFI IMAX.

Will be very interesting to see if exhibitors or Warner Bros report how to advance ticket sales go for Tenet as the rest of the industry will be watching very carefully as the rest of the years high profile releases depend on it being a success, but the question will be what will be a success to exhibitors and Warner Bros. Unhinged opened with £175k two weeks ago and 6 months ago exhibitors and Warner would have expected to open with up to £10m but now probably less than a quarter.

I’ve always thought the reason why Nolan is so desperate for Tenet to open now is that he has ordered millions of Tenet promotional oxygen masks that he wouldn’t be able to sell next year and they were so you can experience the film as the protagonists are and not buy eating popcorn or smelly food.

Also being re-released is The Fast and the Furious, Universal Pictures had planned to release F9 in May this year, but they delayed it to April 2021, as they did many other films in March.

More cinemas will be reopening this week with the remainder opening on August 26^th for Tenet.