1. Wicked: For Good £18,858,825 – NE

Took £1,054,976 from Thursday previews (double-bills and MediCinema charity previews)

Took £5.51m 29.23% Friday; £6.57m 34.85% Saturday; £5.66m 30.03% Sunday; £1.59m Monday (similar to Wicked last year)

Took £1m+ from 51 IMAX screens.

18^th biggest opening between Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Barbie (close to Beauty and the Beast, Jurassic World, Harry Potter Deathly Hallows Part 1 and Avengers Age of Ultron) and 39^th biggest inflated opening between Black Panther and Indiana Jones …The Crystal Skull (close to The Simpsons, Star Wars: Attack of the Clones, Spider-Man 3 and Twilight: Breaking Dawn – Part 1).

13th biggest Fri-Sun opening between Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 and Jurassic World (close to Beauty and the Beast, Spider-Man No Way Home, The Lion King (2019) and Twilight: Breaking Dawn – Part 2)

The biggest 2025 opening ahead of A Minecraft Movie, Jurassic World 4 and Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy; the biggest opening in the UK since 2022’s Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness £19,765,718; Overtook Barbie (£18,509,235) but took £1m+ from IMAX and £1.1m previews.

Had the biggest opening day for a stage musical adaptation; biggest Friday opening ever for a PG-rated film, Universal’s third-biggest opening Friday and Universal’s third-biggest opening in the UK.

Opened in 738 cinemas 10^th biggest opening in the UK between Downton Abbey: A New Era and Paddington In Peru (close to Top Gun: Maverick, Elvis, Downton Abbey and Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy; 45^th 700+ cinema opening since 22018’s Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again.

Opened wih 12.83% of US opening over 4 days (12.1% over 3 days)

The predictable headlines wrote themselves the moment Wicked: For Good opened 30% ahead of Wicked last year. With the first film becoming a genuine word-of-mouth powerhouse, the stage musical still a West End juggernaut, and British cinemagoers having adored The Wizard of Oz for nearly 86 years, of course, the sequel was always going to fly out of the gate. This is exactly the kind of cultural comfort food UK audiences turn out for — even if they haven’t been in a cinema since they saw Wicked the first time.

But as often happens with “sure things,” exhibitors quietly nudged prices up. Industry chatter will undoubtedly claim Wicked: For Good delivered around 2.5 million admissions, yet with real average ticket prices hovering close to £15, actual admissions sit nearer 1.2 million. The film’s footprint was enormous too: 2,750+ screens, eight screens or more in most multiplexes, and some Vue sites clocking up 150+ showings across the long weekend.

After a soft and slightly bedraggled six weeks for the UK market, exhibitors are pinning their hopes on the final four weeks of 2025 — with Wicked: For Good, Zootopia 2 and Avatar: Fire and Ash expected to drag audiences back into auditoriums. The fact that Wicked: For Good has already cracked the 2025 top 10 after three days says more about the year than the movie: cinemagoers are seeing far fewer films, even when they do turn up.

Opening exactly a year after the first film — but with exponentially more hype, higher expectations, and even higher ticket prices — the sequel was always going to outpace Wicked on opening weekend. And, like all franchises split into two parts, Wicked: For Good arrives with the gravity of a finale. Fans are desperate to see it before spoiler’s land on TikTok, and that urgency turbocharged demand, not unlike the behaviour seen on Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy in February.

The stage show’s cultural footprint is massive. Wicked is effectively the Mamma Mia! of millennial theatre audiences: since opening in 2006, it has become the 10th-longest-running show in West End history, seen by 13 million people, with more than 7,400 performances and over £115m in UK ticket sales. The Broadway production has topped $1bn. That goodwill bled directly into the cinema.

But the data tells you everything: the first film took 47% of its total after 10 days, 62.2% after 17 days, 72% after 24 days, and 80% after 31 days. Wicked 2 will be even more front-loaded, as shown by its steep Sunday–Monday drop (–72%), and will almost certainly take a sharper second-weekend fall than Wicked. The fan rush was real. The FOMO was intense. And the box office curve is already reflecting that urgency.

2008’s Mamma Mia! Opened £6,594,058/£10,106,662 taking £68,116,092/£104,401,010.

2018’s Mamma Mia 2 opened £9,735,930/£10,747,280, taking £65,515,994/£72,321,672

Had its world premiere in Brazil on November 4 and then had premieres across the world: Paris, London, Singapore and New York on November 17th, with review embargo ending November 18th.

The first trailer was released in February, and the second trailer in June after screening at CinemaCon in April. The second trailer was seen 113m times in its first 24 hours compared to 75m in the first q24 hours for the first film’s trailer.

2024’s Wicked Part 1 opened £13,696,056; £3.84m (28.04%) Friday; £5.17m (37.75%) Sat; £4.68m (34.21%) Sun and then Monday £1.59m; £1.58m Tues.

Wicked had the biggest opening for a musical in the UK topping Wicked having the biggest musical opening in the UK, topping Mamma Mia 2 (£9,735,930); Bohemian Rhapsody (£9,530,463), Wonka (£8,904,750); High School Musical 3 (£8,409,375/£12,888,984); Les Misérables (£8,127,991/£9,920,381); La La Land (£6,596,256) and Mamma Mia! (£6,594,058/£10,106,662).

Ahead of opening, Wicked: For Real was looking at opening more than Frozen 2 (£15,088,012); Fantastic Beasts (£15,333,146); The Lion King (£16,671,764) and similar to Barbie (£18,509,236), and Beauty and the Beast (£19,700,000).

Last year, Wicked opened with two strong holdovers: Gladiator II £4,736,971 and Paddington In Peru £4,218,383, while Wicked: For Good has only male-targeted holdovers Predator: Badlands and The Running Man, which won’t have any impact and will mean Wicked 2 should open much bigger. (£15m+)

This also means Wicked: For Good has many more shows in cinemas than Wicked, with many Vue cinemas having almost 50 shows a day.

Advance bookings opened on October 31st in the UK, three weeks after they went on sale in the US (October 8th), becoming Fandango’s Biggest first-day ticket pre-seller of 2025 and among Fandango’s top 10 best all-time first-day ticket pre-sellers.

A week before opening, Vue Cinemas said Wicked: For Good had taken double the presales of Wicked and the highest presales since 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home, but Vue prices have increased by several pounds since 2021. Vue said on Wednesday, “Pre-sales have been nothing short of spectacular – currently tracking over 50% above the pre-sales for the last film, but that was always expected as there are more fans for the sequel who want to see it over opening weekend and are caught up in the hype of lack of availability.

A day before opening, Odeon said they sold over 250,000 tickets; it was no surprise the presales were highest for IMAX, PLF, 4DX, ScreenX, Super Screen, iSense, Dolby and other premium formats and seating. Cineworld said presales were 50% more than Wicked. It was no surprise that presales for Wicked 2 were far more than the first film, as there are many more fans who wanted to see the sequel as soon as possible.

In October 2024, Wicked was estimated to open with $80m+, three weeks later opened with $112.5m, taking $473.23m and $756.44m worldwide; Wicked: For Good is currently tracking to open with $115m opening, so it will open with about $140m+ similar to Lilo & Stitch $146m.

The sequel is 20 mins shorter than the first film (2h 18 mins); the stage musical is 2hr 30 mins, but the film adaptation will be twice as long, over two films.

Universal Pictures announced plans to adapt the stage musical in 2012 after long development and with several directors attached, including Rob Marshall, James Mangold, and Ryan Murphy. In 2015, Universal Pictures announced Stephen Daldry (Billy Elliot) was directing the film with a December 20th, 2019, release date, but left in 2020 due to “scheduling conflicts”; Cats was instead released, while it underperformed, Cats still opened £3,207,471, taking £11,987,192, as British audiences love their film musicals.

The first trailer was released in February, and the second trailer in June after screening at CinemaCon in April. The second trailer was seen 113m times in its first 24 hours compared to 75m in the first q24 hours for the first film’s trailer.

The “Ariana Grande Is a Movie Star” Fallacy

Variety triumphantly proclaimed on Friday that “Wicked: For Good proves Ariana Grande is a movie star.” But if Ariana really functioned as a box-office movie star, hundreds of millions of her fans would have translated into something far bigger than a £15m–£16m opening. This is the same misunderstanding the industry made with the Taylor Swift concert films: enormous online fandom ≠ cinema turnout. Taylor has 500m+ global followers, and yet her film openings represented tiny fractions of her actual social reach. Ariana is the same. Her fanbase talks about Wicked non-stop on TikTok and Instagram, but they don’t reliably convert into £15 tickets and weekend admissions. They stream. They like. They repost. They meme. They share audio.

They do not show up at the same scale when the price of entry is £15–£20 and requires leaving the house.

Ariana absolutely helped Wicked 2 open bigger on paper — the social footprint ensured a frenzy — but fandom activity isn’t the same thing as star-driven theatrical bankability. The opening was predicted, algorithmic, and arguably lower than what her following could justify. If Ariana truly behaved like a 1990s movie star, we’d be talking about a £25m+ opening, not a socially amplified £15m one. The audience enthusiasm is massive — the cinema conversion rate is not.

Universal Pictures recently announced Sabrina Carpenter would star in an Alice in Wonderland reimagination, which will ask a similar question: The Sabrina Carpenter Question: Will Her Fans Show Up… or Just Stream the Soundtrack?

As everyone’s already getting giddy about Sabrina Carpenter leading Alice in Wonderland in a few years, but the industry is conveniently ignoring the same reality that’s now staring Wicked 2 in the face:

A massive online fanbase does not automatically convert into millions of cinema tickets. Sabrina has millions of TikTok disciples, a devoted Instagram following, an entire Gen-Z meme economy, and a streaming footprint that dwarfs most modern pop acts…but come opening weekend?

A realistic conversion rate is: 1–3% of her actual following. And that’s being generous.

Just like Ariana. Just like Taylor. Just like every pop-culture “megastar” whose followers will scream online but won’t pay £15 to sit in a dark room for two hours.

They will absolutely buy the soundtrack. They will stream the singles 400 times. They will quote the lines on TikTok. They will duet the songs. They will build endless edits of Sabrina in pretty blue dresses.

But that doesn’t mean they’re showing up on opening weekend. So yes — Sabrina Carpenter could be a cultural phenomenon by the time Alice in Wonderland lands…but whether she’s a box office phenomenon is a completely different story.

And based on how Wicked 2 behaved? Expect a huge online moment, a monster soundtrack… and a shockingly normal opening weekend. Pop stardom sells playlists. It doesn’t sell cinema tickets on the same scale — and Hollywood keeps forgetting this.

As you look back at Taylor Swift’s concert films, the mythology around the Eras Tour concert films is that they “overperformed.” But when you hold them up against the reality of Taylor Swift’s global fanbase, the films actually underperformed — massively.

As Taylor has: 500m+ global followers across platforms, the largest active fanbase of any music artist alive

Hundreds of millions who didn’t get tickets to the tour, A show scheduled nine months after the film opened in most countries, and even with all that, the film opened to: £5.7m in the UK, $92m in the US, taking $250m worldwide, Huge numbers for a concert film…but minuscule compared to her potential.

Taylor fans didn’t skip the film because they weren’t interested — they skipped it because it cost £20 just to walk through the door.

And it exposed the same truth Wicked 2 is now demonstrating: Online fandom isn’t the same as theatrical attendance. The moment you attach a premium ticket price; the conversion rate collapses. This isn’t rocket science, as you see this everywhere when there is a premium attached, while revenues increase number of sales drops.

Wicked Part 1 dropped 39% in its second weekend, £8,371,251 and £28,530,258; £2.2m 26.4% (-42.7 £3.84m) Friday; £3.3m 40% (-36% £5.17m) Saturday; £2.79m 33.5% (-40.4% £4.68m) Sunday; £924k Monday. Moana 2 opened #1 £12,021,342; £2.8m 23.4% Friday: £4.93m 41.2% Saturday; £4.21m 35.2% Sunday; £748k Monday.

Wicked stayed in the top 5 for 6 weeks (till December 27^th) and top 10 for 9 weeks (till January 17^th)

• 2. Now You See Me: Now You Don’t £1,111,688 – £4,345,774

Down 53.3% (45% without previews) in its second weekend; strong hold for the sequel despite receiving poor reviews and also targeting a female audience.

1,008^th biggest second weekend between The Terminal and The Monuments Men (close to King of Thieves, Inside Man, The Hateful Eight and The Bourne Identity) and 1,544^th biggest inflated second weekend between Planet 51 and Silent Hill (close to Dead Again, The Saint, Heartbreakers and Tango & Cash).

27^th biggest 2025 second weekend between Mickey 17 and The Naked Gun (close to The Roses, The Salt Road, M3GAN 2.0 and Predator: Badlands).

2013’s Now You See Me dropped 60.6% £1,142,376/£1,394,294 and £5,366,612 49.8% of £10,763,980/£13,055,241

2016’s Now You See Me 2 dropped 70.4% £876,052/£942,258 and £4,843,905, 76.6% of £6,062,072/£6,479,300

Ruben Fleischer directed the third film, taking over from Louis Leterrier and Jon M. Chu; Ruben Fleischer previously directed 2022’s Uncharted, 2019’s Zombieland: Double Tap, 2018’s Venom and 2009’s Zombieland.

• 3. The Running Man £654,467 – £3,781,769

Down 72.5% (61% without preview) in its second weekend

1,655^th biggest second weekend between The Siege and Rain-Man (close to Geostorm, Daylight, The Mexican and End of Days) and 2,208^th biggest inflated second weekend between The Holdovers and Evil Dead (2013) (close to Primal Fear, Final Analysis, Tron Legacy and Beavis and Butthead Do America).

39^th biggest 2025 second weekend between Black Bag and The Black Phone 2 (close to Regretting You, The Amateur, The Monkey and Ballerina).

The Running Man suffered a much bigger second weekend drop than Now You See Me: Now You Don’t due to losing IMAX/PLF screens and opening so close to Predator: Badlands.

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. He stars next in How to Make A Killing, Barry Jenkins’s The Natural Order, J.J. Abrams’s Ghostwriter and an untitled firefighter film directed by Ron Howard.

Paramount Pictures signing Glenn Powell to star in a big-budget action film despite starring in vastly different films before is very similar to what studios have done over the years with actors like Nicolas Cage, Bruce Willis, Kurt Russell, Matt Damon, Chris Pratt and Jake Gyllenhaal.

1988’s The Running Man dropped 45.8% £313,241/£1,078,639 and £1,281,236 50.6% of £2,530,062/£8,712,213

Edgar Wright previously directed.

2004’s Shaun of the Dead dropped 29.4% £1,132,177/£2,009,677 and £4,111,134 60.8% of £6,764,667/£11,932,330

2007’s Hot Fuzz dropped 44.3% £3,297,539/£5,204,235 and £11,909,821 56.2% of £21,195,951/£33,241,967

2013’s The World’s End dropped 32.4% £1,435,469/£1,752,020 and £5,438,289 62.3% of £8,731,367/£10,589,958

2017’s Baby Driver dropped 61.5% £1,388,336 and £6,554,729 49.8% of £13,024,392/£13,772,121

2021’s Last Night in Soho dropped 63.9% £264,232 and £1,499,203 66.4% of £2,255,648

After Edgar Wright’s last two films underwhelmed at the BO will he go back to his British comedy roots again or make the long in development Baby Driver sequel, but after The Running Man and Last Night in Soho were much more poorly received in the US would Sony Pictures be willing to finance a sequel which would surely cost more than double the budget of the original.

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 dropped 29% £820,555 and £2,649,547 56.8% of £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.

• 4. Nuremberg £491,389 – £2,015,172

Down 45.4% in its second weekend; having the second best hold in the top 10 despite losing many screens and sharing shows with other films, as it’s a film audiences will go to see after word of mouth, it’s the kind of film exhibitors used to give a chance to find an audience rather than squeezing it into the smallest screens after only a week.

2,022^nd biggest second weekend between The Accidental Husband and Detroit (close to Dark Waters, The Forgotten, The Ides Of March and Misery) and 2,562^nd biggest inflated second weekend between Batteries Not Included and Mystic River (close to Frost/Nixon, Priscilla, The Crucible and City Of God).

46^th biggest 2025 second weekend between Bugonia and The Accountant 2 (close to The Monkey, The Brutalist, A Real Pain and The Phoenician Scheme).

Had its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival, Deadline review said it was “fascinating and an urgently important story that has not been told on film before”.. “It also turns out to be incredibly relevant for now, as parts of the globe (including America) are once again embracing Nazism, despicable war crimes are still being perpetrated, and the lessons of World War II fade increasingly into the background and history books despite warnings that it has all happened before — and it may be happening again. I can think of a few world leaders who should screen this movie as soon as possible.”

James Vanderbilt previously directed 2015’s Truth and has written screenplays for numerous films, including Nuremberg, Zodiac, Truth, Ready or Not, and The Amazing Spider-Man.

The film was acquired by Sky Cinema for the UK, and Ferrari and A Working Man will be shown on Sky Cinema about 6 weeks after their cinema release.

• 5. Predator: Badlands £375,130 – £5,030,808

Down 59.2% in its third weekend

1,495^th biggest third weekend between Dr Seuss’ The Lorax and The Railway Man (close to Beverly Hills Cop III, Spy Game, Dead Poets Society and Dick Tracy) and 1,655^th biggest inflated third weekend between Igor and Sunshine (close to Freddy Vs. Jason, Roadkill, X-Men: Dark Phoenix and Green Lantern).

Predator: Badlands is the seventh instalment in the Predator franchise. After opening bigger than previous instalments despite the positive reviews, it’s taken less than 2010’s Predators, taken similar BO to 2018’s The Predator and Dan Trachtenberg previously directed 2016’s 10 Cloverfield Lane, showing audiences didn’t embrace it as much as critics.

Of course, didn’t help either Predator: Badlands or The Running Man were opening a week apart, as seen with Gladiator II holding strongly against Wicked last year, a male-targeting film should have held far strongly against Wicked: For Good.

Of course, what didn’t help any of the holdovers was the limited performances they had with most sharing screens, and this will only get worse this weekend with Zootopia 2 and Wicked: For Good taking over 60% of screens.

Multiplexes used to give audiences a wide choice of films, but with digital, this has meant new releases open in far more screens, squeezing holdovers why most dropped over 60% last weekend. Exhibitors were limited by the number of screens films used to open with 35mm prints, as distributors would normally just give them one print per screen, so they would have to interlock the one print to play on multiple screens.

1988’s Predator dropped 47.7% £200,259/£693,941 and £1,916,184 71.9% of £2,664,237/£9,232,160

1990s Predator 2 took £2,010,600/£5,255,430.

2010’s Predators dropped 65.8% £305,424/£409,114 and £5,302,342 91.9% of £5,767,854/£7,726,016

2018’s The Predator dropped 51% £334,322 and £4,569,791 of £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.

Dan Trachtenberg previously directed 2016’s 10 Cloverfield Lane dropped 37.6% £481,242/£531,233          and £4,462,425 88.7% of £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 surely frustrated fans as it’s not what they expect from the Predator film series, as it probably did with The Running Man being a 12A compared to the original being a 18.

1,488^th biggest between Green Card and 10 Cloverfield Lane (close to Kick-Ass 2, Backdraft, Fight Club and Alien vs Predator) and 2,050^th biggest inflated between I Still Know What You Did Last Summer and Cinderella (RE) (close to The Land Before Time, Sneakers, The Predator and Behind Enemy Lines).

———-

Despite Wicked: For Good opening 30%+ more than Wicked year-to-date, has dropped to 4% ahead of 2024 as the weekend was 8.8% down from last year as holdovers didn’t hold as well, as Wicked: For Good, Zootopia 2 and Avatar: Fire and Ash can’t do it alone, This is what the industry fails to understand as it used to be as films like Wicked: For Good, Zootopia 2 and Avatar: Fire and Ash would get cinemagoers to see many other films.

The weekend’s top 10 box office took £22,295,398, up 136.9% from last weekend’s £9,411,562: 2,880,542 admissions, up 136.9% from 1,215,964 admissions.

The 5^th biggest weekend of the last 52 weeks between 14 February 2025 #1 Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy £12,298,966 (53.80%) and 23 May 2025 #1 Lilo & Stitch £9,568,923   (43.63%)

12^th biggest since cinemas reopened out of 262 weeks between 14 February 2025 #1 Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy £12,298,966 (53.80%) and 23 May 2025 #1 Lilo & Stitch £9,568,923 (43.63%)

46^th biggest top 10 of the last 24 years (out of 1,233) between 24 April 2015 #1 Avengers: Age Of Ultron £18,015,774 (80.20%) and 15 November 2002 #1 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets £18,871,829 (84.71%) and 136^th biggest inflated between 09 December 2005 #1 The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe £8,884,111 (66.86%) and 09 July 2004 #1 Shrek 2   £7,097,154 (56.16%)

The top 3 took £20,624,980 (92.5%) of the top 10; Wicked: For Good 84.59% (£18,858,825); Now You See Me: Now You Don’t 4.99% (£1,111,688); The Running Man 2.94% (£654,467)

10^th biggest percentage share #1 (84.59%) between 15 November 2002 #1 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets £18,871,829 (84.71%) and 06 May 2022 #1 Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness £19,765,718 (83.44%)

40^th biggest admissions (2,436,541) between 16 February 2018 #1 Black Panther £17,700,000 (2,451,524) and 23 May 2008 #1 Indiana Jones & The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull £12,227,799 (2,351,500)

Down 8.81% from 2024; (£24,448,831); Wicked (£13,696,057); Tosca – Met Opera 2024 (£129,206); The Magic Reindeer: Saving Santa’s Sleigh (£102,215); Girl From The North Country (£54,366); #1 Wicked £13,696,057 1st week 696 screens (56.02% of top 10).

Up 79.65% from 2023; (£12,410,416); Napoleon (£5,235,706); Wish (£2,432,228); Cliff Richard: The Blue Sapphire Tour 2023 (£329,826); Love Actually (20th Anniversary) (£104,728); Santa Claus: The Movie (4K Restoration) (£20,514); #1 Napoleon £5,235,706 1st week 716 screens (42.19% of top 10).

Up 137.59% 2022 (£9,383,987); Roald Dahl’s Matilda The Musical (£4,135,418); Strange World (£833,043); She Said (£444,806); Bones And All (£318,246); #1 Roald Dahl’s Matilda The Musical £4,135,418 1st week 684 screens (44.07% of top 10)

Up 158.64% 2021 (£8,620,083); House of Gucci (£2,425,628); Encanto (£1,720,132); Anything Goes – The Musical (£371,880); A Boy Called Christmas (£120,770); #1 House of Gucci £2,425,628 1st week 683 screens (28.1% of top 10).

2020; COVID Second Lockdown

Up 1.74% 2019; (£21,913,354); Frozen 2 (£15,088,012); Blue Story (£1,324,510); 21 Bridges (£655,213); Akhnaten – Met Opera 2019 (£170,400); Harriet (£115,120); #1 Frozen 2 £15,088,012 1st week 671 screens (68.85% of top 10)

Up 46.31% 2018: (£15,238,186); Robin Hood (£1,330,387); Nativity Rocks! (£834,414); The Girl in the Spider’s Web (£557,403); Shoplifters (£117,555); Assassination Nation (£70,891); Nobody’s Fool (£70,703); #1 Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald £5,622,755 2nd week 679 screens 54% drop (36.9% of top 10)

Up 30.23% 2017: (£17,120,343); Daddy’s Home 2 (£4,919,051); Frozen (£1,115,689); Battle of the Sexes (£552,521); Suburbicon (£231,412); The Star (£204,497); #1 Daddy’s Home 2 £4,919,051 1st week 505 screens (28.7% of the top 10)

Up 55.32% 2016: (£14,354,042); Allied (£1,331,919); Bad Santa 2 (£799,156); A United Kingdom (£618,652); Paterson (£169,911); Almost Christmas (£60,991); #1 Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them £8,892,489 2nd week 666 screens 42% drop (62% of the top 10)

Up 18.50% 2015; (£18,825,730); The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2 (£11,255,566); The Dressmaker (£235,968); The Perfect Guy (£102,924); Lulu – Met Opera 2015 (£92,708); True Romance (Re: 2015) (£19,066); #1 The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2 £11,255,566 1st week 576 screens (59.8% of top 10)

Up 13.34% 2014: (£19,671,148); THG: Mockingjay, Part 1 (12,654,109); #1 THG: Mockingjay, Part 1 £12,654,109 1st week (64.33% of top 10)

Up 13.06% 2013: (£19,719,142); The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (£12,189,733); Doctor Who: The Day of the Doctor (£1,798,629); The Family (£444,659); Andre Rieu: Home for Christmas (£290,173); Blue is the Warmest Colour (£142,077); Parkland (£114,321); #1 The Hunger Games: Catching Fire £12,189,733 1st week 554 screens (61.8% of top 10)

Up 49.93% 2012: (£14,870,977); Nativity 2: Danger in the Manger! (£1,614,675); Silver Linings Playbook (£1,260,979); Gambit (£689,042); End of Watch (£618,546); Lawrence of Arabia (re: 2012) (£18,431); #1 The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 £5,344,508 2nd week 559 screens 66% drop (36% of top 10)

Up 111.42% 2011; (£10,545,613); My Week with Marilyn (£749,819); 50/50 (£410,251); Dream House (£304,239); Moneyball (£230,848); The Deep Blue Sea (£108,767); Take Shelter (£83,982); #1 The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 £4,574,978 2nd week 546 screens 67% drop (43.4% of top 10)

Up 80.20% 2010: (£12,372,683); Unstoppable (£1,714,871); London Boulevard (£577,224); The American (£411,707); The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest (£219,259); Machete (£90,423); #1 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 1 £8,344,776 2nd week 581 screens 54% drop (67.4% of top 10)

Up 9.63% 2009; (£20,336,403); The Twilight Saga: New Moon (£11,683,158); A Serious Man (£321,114); The Informant! (£179,612); Glorious 39 (£7,654); #1 The Twilight Saga: New Moon £11,683,158 1st week 497 screens (57.4% of top 10)

Up 200.60% 2008; (£7,416,989); Body of Lies (£991,979); My Best Friend’s Girl (£911,355); Quarantine (£387,994); Waltz with Bashir (£113,087); Choke (£59,330); #1 Quantum of Solace £2,884,789 4th week 527 screens 44% drop (38.9% of top 10)

Up 231.19% 2007: (£6,731,904); The Darjeeling Limited (£435,198); August Rush (£359,564); Shrooms (£313,758); Sleuth (£165,788); Rescue Dawn (£89,988); Blade Runner – Director’s Cut (£15,580); #1 American Gangster £1,817,691 2nd week 416 screens 29% drop (27% of top 10)

Up 56.27% 2006; (£18,237,708); Casino Royale (£13,370,969); #1 Casino Royale £13,370,969 1st week 505 screens (73.3% of top 10)

Up 48.50% 2005: (£15,013,252); Flight Plan (£1,694,350); Exorcism of Emily Rose (£1,346,732); Mrs. Henderson Presents (£752,394); The Transporter 2 (£414,400); #1 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire £9,275,599 2nd week 536 screens (61.8% of top 10)

Up 147.42% 2004; (£9,011,036); After the Sunset (£664,214); The Manchurian Candidate (£624,441); Taxi (£540,581); The Incredibles (limited) (£81,307); #1 Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason £5,047,315 2nd week 506 screens (56.1% of top 10)

Up 121.28% 2003 (£10,075,451); Love Actually (£6,657,479); Master and Commander (limited) (£61,056); #1 Love Actually £6,657,479 1st week 477 screens (66.1% of top 10)

Up 22.38% from 2002: (£18,217,586); Die Another Day (£9,122,344); Anita & Me (£453,613); #1 Die Another Day £9,122,344 1st week 430 screens (50.1% of top 10)

Up 92.48% from 2001 (£11,583,257); Spy Game (£1,019,847); The Heist (£100,229); Baby Boy (£47,144); Me Without You (£45,532); #1 Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone £8,362,749 2nd week 507 screens 49% drop (72.2% of top 10).

2024 Next week: (£26,589,338); Moana 2 (£12,021,342); Conclave (£1,065,847); All We Imagine As Light (£111,033); The Polar Express (20th Anniversary 4K Restoration) (£83,677).

#1 Moana 2 £12,021,342 1^st week 629 screens (45.21% of top 10).

US Box Office

• Wicked: For Good – Universal Pictures

Opened $147m; received positive reviews (70% Rotten Tomatoes) and A CinemaScore

Opened lower than Sunday estimates of $151m; after opening with $69.1m on Friday, including previews, Friday estimates were between $160m-$180m but dropped heavily on Sat/Sun to Wicked Sat $35.49m down 23.2% and 13.2% Sunday compared to Wicked 2 $43.4m 37.2% Sat and $34.4m 20.6% Sun.

33^rd biggest opening between Furious 7 and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (close to The Hunger Games, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Lilo & Stitch and The Twilight Saga: New Moon).

The second biggest 2025 opening between A Minecraft Movie ($162m) and Lilo & Stitch ($146m).

The second biggest Universal Pictures’ opening after 2015’s Jurassic World ($208.8m) and the second biggest weekend before Thanksgiving after 2013’s The Hunger Games: Catching Fire ($158.1m)

The third biggest musical opening after 2019’s The Lion King $191.77m, and 2017’s Beauty and the Beast $174.75m

Took $30.8m from Thursday previews including fan screenings on Monday $6.1m and $6.5m Wednesday; Wicked $19.2m from Thursday’s previews (including $2.5m from fan previews on Monday and $5.7m from Wednesday’s previews); Superman $22m; Barbie $22.3m; Beauty and the Beast $16.3m; Inside Out 2 $13m; Wonder Woman $11m; The Little Mermaid $10.3m; Frozen II $8.5m.

Critical reaction for Wicked 2 dropped off far more position reviews for the first film, but audience reactions are similar on Rotten Tomatoes. That said, they are both likely inflated by the Amazon fan paid previews both films had days before opening, with a near 100% audience score on Tuesday before the critics’ embargo ended.

Three weeks ahead of opening, Wicked 2 NRG tracked it to open between $115m-$120m (but that was always going to be a lowball figure as it was always expected to open $150m+).

Last year, Wicked tracking started at $85m three weeks before opening $112.2m with Gladiator 2 opening #2 $55.03m; Wicked: For Good has the weekend for itself and holdovers. Now You See Me: Now You Don’t, and The Running Man were always expected to drop heavily, as last year’s Red One dropped almost 60%.

40% of BO was from IMAX/PLF, including 12% from IMAX and another 12% from 3D.

Took $21.1m worldwide from IMAX, including $5.6m internationally, 75% more than Wicked, but Wicked shared IMAX screens with Gladiator II.

70% of Friday’s audience was female compared to 75% for Wicked. Audience breakdown 70%/30% female-male, similar to Wicked 72%/28%. 18-34 was 61% compared to Wicked 57%; women 25+ 44% vs Wicked 48%; women under 25 26% (vs 24% a year ago), men over 25 22% (vs. 21%). So, where was the male audience over the weekend, as they weren’t seeing The Running Man or Predator: Badlands?

EntTelligence said Wicked: For Good had 10m admissions in the US compared to 12m saw Wicked, the average price was Wicked ($14.36) with PLF screens, $18.33; 57% was from shows before 5 pm, similar to the 56% for Wicked last year.

Presales started early in October, which were much stronger than presales for Wicked. This was always expected, as the number of Ozians has increased from the first film, who were fans of the stage musical. Was Fandango’s top PG-rated preseller of all time, and among its top 10 first days ever and the biggest preseller of 2025.

Over 11m have seen the Broadway musical since 2003, and another 20m have seen US tours of Wicked; over 13m have seen the stage show in the UK since 2006.

After the opening of Wicked: For Good there were the predictable articles in the trade press calling Universal’s plan to split the musical into two films, but this has happened many times over recent years for final films like harry potter, Twilight and The Hunger Games as it’s a cynical way to double up on the Bo off as the same audience who went to see the first one would be back to see the sequel, it’s not rocket science. As it’s not rocket science, the second film would open far bigger. As Wicked had such a huge fanbase before the film opened, and the casting of Ariana Grande made it a must-see film for millions, and a FOMO if they don’t see it over the opening weekend.

2024’s Wicked opened $112.5m, taking $474.56m (41.23m admissions); $284.29m (24.7m admissions) internationally and $758.85m (65.9m admissions) worldwide.

Comparison films include.

2013’s Oz the Great and Powerful opened $79.11m/$104.89m taking $234.91m/$311.48m and $493.31m/$654.1m WW

2017’s Beauty and the Beast opened $174.75m, taking $504.01m and $1.263bn worldwide

2014’s Maleficent opened $69.43m/$91.61m taking $241.41m/$318.53m and $758.41m/$1bn

2023’s Barbie opened $162.02m, taking $636.23m and $1.446bn worldwide

Wicked has more in common with 2023’s Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, opening $93.22m, taking $180.75m and $261.65m worldwide, as it had a similar-sized existing fanbase for the stage show and also the massive popularity of Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande.

Jon Chu previously directed.

2018’s Crazy Rich Asians opened $26.51m, taking $174.83m and $239.34m worldwide

2021’s In the Heights opened $11.5m, taking $29.97m and $45.17m worldwide

While over 72m have seen the stage musical worldwide since 2003, performed in 100 cities in 16 countries, translated into 6 languages and taken over $6bn worldwide, including $1bn on Broadway. So, the BO numbers of Wicked and Wicked: For Good aren’t a surprise, as the fanbase is globally massive, becoming a cultural phenomenon.

Over the last year, since the first film opened, the fanbase has only gotten bigger, so a much bigger opening, a much higher US total, higher international BO and global BO of $1bn wouldn’t be a surprise, but of course, to the industry these will all be seen as massive surprises.

The question with Wicked: For Good is how it will hold in its second weekend against Zootopia 2, as Wicked dropped 27.9% ($81.78m) over Thanksgiving weekend with Moana 2 opening $139.78m

Wicked 2 social media was 1.33bn across TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, X and YouTube; Ariana Grande 510m driving over 570m views on Instagram, plus Cynthia Erivo at 5.4m, Jonathan Bailey at 5.7m, Jeff Goldblum at 5.2m and Michelle Yeoh at 3.1m, Bowen Yang at 1.1m and director Jon M. Chu at 975k.

More than a third higher than Wicked 964.3m TikTok, Facebook, X, YouTube and Instagram; had 40.1m video views in the 24 hours after the Super Bowl; viral rate 14:1; Ariana Grande 466.7m; Jeff Goldblum 4.2m; Michelle Yeoh 3.1m; Erivo 1.9m 480.7m total fans.

This huge social media reach is another reason why Wicked: For Good opening wasn’t a surprise and always expected, and probably should have been higher, but in a similar way to the Taylor Swift concert films were seen as huge openings but comparing to her fanbase they were tiny, the same is with Wicked: For Good when have Ariana Grande having over 510m followers and only about 10% of them saw Wicked: For Good over the weekend with many more of her fans listening to the soundtrack.

Dancing With the Stars had a show featuring the director as guest judge, an opening number choreographed by Christopher Scott and more. The episode resulted in Dancing With the Stars securing its most-watched show among the coveted 18-24 age group since 2015, and generated 57m TikTok views in 24 hours.

Wicked 2 was expected to open with over $200m worldwide; taking $80m internationally, up from $50.2m Wicked took from 61 territories; UK $17.6m; Australia $6.7m; S. Korea $4.7m; Mexico $4m.

Opened with $76m from 78 territories (13% more than Wicked), taking $223m worldwide; UK $24.4m; Australia $8.6m; Germany $4.1m; S Korea $3.8m; Mexico $3.7m.

The fifth-biggest worldwide opening for a musical after 2019’s The Lion King (2019), Moana 2, Frozen 2 and Beauty and the Beast and the fourth biggest worldwide 2025 opening after Lilo & Stitch ($341mn), Jurassic World Rebirth ($322m) and A Minecraft Movie ($313m) and ahead of Superman ($220m) and The Fantastic Four($218m).

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• Now You See Me: Now You Don’t – Lionsgate

Dropped 57% $8.95m, taking $36.66m

2013’s Now You See Me dropped 35.1% $19.04m and $60.91m of $117.72m and $351.72m worldwide

2016’s Now You See Me 2 dropped 58.1% $9.37m and $41.08m of $65.07m and $334.89m worldwide

Social media for the third film for TikTok, YouTube, X, Instagram and Facebook is about 300m compared to 126.5m for the second film in 2016.

As with other Lionsgate films, about 65% of its budget covers about 65% of the film $120m budget; the budget was similar to the second film, the first film had $75m budget.

Lionsgate has struggled over recent years to stay competitive with the other studios, and they have gone back to making the third Now You See Me 12 years after the first film opened, expanding the Hunger Games franchise and tried to do similar with John Wick this year with Ballerina. But do have the adaptation of Freida McFadden’s best-selling novel, The Housemaid, opening in December, and the Michael Jackson Biopic Michael, set for April 2026 (originally set to be released in October)

Took $32.6m from 81 territories; China $34.2m; S Korea $6.6m

• The Running Man – Paramount Pictures

Dropped 65% $5.71m, taking $26.96m

After IMAX/PLF took 46% in its opening weekend, The Running Man suffered badly, losing these screens despite its male audience unlikely being Wicked 2 fans, but also opening so close to Predator: Badlands, saw both films predictably cannibalise each other. If they weren’t both PG-13s, they would have attracted wider demographics, including those who grew up with the original Arnold Schwarzenegger version, which was ahead of its time, as Stephen King’s novels are.

1987’s The Running Man dropped 30.1% $5.67m/$16.7m and $15.92m/$46.9m of $38.12m/$106.76m

The original film opened the same weekend 38 years ago and was the 30^th biggest film of 1987; the biggest films of the year were Beverly Hills Cop ($153.6m), Platoon ($136.7m) and Fatal Attraction ($125.9m).

Except for Baby Driver, Edgar Wright’s films have struggled to connect with US audiences as they have been too British.

The Running Man had a $110m budget, but as it was shot in the UK received 25.5% tax relief.

2017’s Baby Driver dropped 36.7% $13m and $57.13m of $107.82m and $226.o94m worldwide

2004’s Shaun of the Dead 27.3% $2.4m and $6.9m of $14.46m and $31.77m worldwide

2007’s Hot Fuzz dropped 18.1% $4.78m and $12.44m of $23.63m and $80.58m worldwide

2010’s Scott Pilgrim vs. the World dropped 51% $5.2m and $20.89m of $31.65m and $47.79m worldwide

2013’s The World’s End dropped 42.8% $5.03m and $16.84m of $26m and $46.09m worldwide

2021’s Last Night in Soho dropped 56.9% $1.8m and $7.64m of $10.12m and $22.95m worldwide

Took $7.1m from 63 territories and $48.3m worldwide.

• Predator: Badlands – 20^th Century Studios/Disney

Dropped 49% $6.54m in its third weekend and $76.58m

654^th biggest second weekend between The Butler and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (close to Independence Day: Resurgence, Edge of Tomorrow, Terminator Salvation and Alien: Romulus).

The trailer had 67m views in its first 24-hours, more than first day 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 has been seen by about.

1987’s Predator dropped 36.5% $5.22m/$15.4m and $34.92m/$102.9m of $59.73m/$167.3m and $98.3m/$275.2m worldwide

1990’s Predator 2 dropped 52.8% $4.14m/$11.4m and $19.72m/$53.8m of $19.72m/$53.78m of $30.66m/$83.9m

2010’s Predators dropped 55.5% $3.12m and $46.83m of $52m/$75.9m and $127.23m/$185.6m worldwide

2018’s The Predator dropped 57.9% $3.86m and $47.79m of $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.

Took $7.22m from 52 territories.

and $83.3m total and $159.6m worldwide; China $14.5m; UK $6.6m; Mexico $5.2m; France $4.4m; Japan $4m  

• Rental Family – Searchlight Pictures

Opened $3.36m; received positive reviews (87% Rotten Tomatoes) and A CinemaScore

The film has been generating strong buzz since premiering at the Toronto Film Festival.

The film is directed by Hikari, who previously directed Netflix’s critically acclaimed Beef; Deadline said, “Brendan Fraser delivers a truly Oscar-worthy performance in a heartwarming crowd-pleaser with depth.” Brendan Fraser won the Best Actor Oscar for 2022’s The Whale.

It’s the latest adult drama that has struggled to find an audience despite positive reviews. Searchlight believe it will have stayed power during Thanksgiving, which would be normal for a film like Rental Family that would find an audience through word of mouth, but these films don’t have a chance anymore.

Searchlight’s opening in 1,925 screens means it’s unlikely to expand further. What Searchlight Pictures would previously do is open it in fewer screens and then expand it over Thanksgiving, but just highlights the difference with a Disney-owned film.

US BO News

As UK BO, the US BO is expected to be only 3% more than 2024 and still 24% down from 2019, despite ticket inflation over the last 6 years, which would see the difference closer to 40%.

UK Box Office Top 10

Box Office Preview

Last year, Wicked Part 1 dropped 39% in its second weekend, £8,371,251 (£2.2m Friday; £3.33m Saturday; £2.79m Sunday), taking £28,530,258, 47.1% of £60,649,197. With Moana 2 opening £12,021,342 (£2.8m Friday: £4.93m Saturday; £4.21m Sunday).

This year, it is expected Wicked: For Good to drop more heavily, 45%-55% taking £8.5m-£10.5m. The question is, can Zootropolis 2 open 50% more than Zootropolis?

Moana 2 opened 80% bigger than 2016’s Moana, £2,214,898 #2, but this was due to opening two weeks after Fantastic Beasts opened, and younger audiences were primed as Moana was hugely popular on home video and streaming, and it opened four weeks after Paddington in Peru.

This year hasn’t been a big family film since Lilo & Stitch in May, so children haven’t seen the trailers as often for Zootropolis 2 as Moana, while Zootropolis wasn’t beloved by children as much as Moana was, with its songs. Doubt many remember the songs from Zootropolis.

As Moana, 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)

There is also the slight confusion over Zootopia being called Zootropolis in the UK and parts of Europe due to trademark issues (it was similar to the Moana title was changed to Oceania in Italy, as Moana is the name of a famous porn star).

Reviews for Zootropolis 2 have been mixed. Some say it’s a return too for Disney animation, others say it’s a more corporate sequel lacking the originality of the original. That said, Zootropolis was a reimagination of the mismatched buddy cop films like Rush Hour and Lethal Weapon. With jokes that play across ages, some children won’t understand.

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.

Zootropolis 2 is expected to open with $270m worldwide compared to Moana 2‘ worldwide opening $389.3m; surprisingly, it opens in 415 IMAX, 950 PLF, 2,300 3D, 300 D-Box/4DX and 125 ScreenX screens from Wicked: For Good after only a week, as you wouldn’t think Zootropolis 2 was a must-see film in IMAXPLF?

Westlife – Royal Albert Hall (25th Anniversary Concert) plays in cinemas on Saturday, presales on Tuesday were very strong with many shows close to sellouts, with the Event Cinema premium could open third.

The other two new releases are likely to struggle despite their positive reviews, Blue Moon, a Biopic of songwriter Lorenz Hart set at the opening of the musical Oklahoma! Starring Ethan Hawke and directed by Richard Linklater. It’s Richard Linklater’s first film since 2023’s Hit Man for Netflix and his first cinema release since 2016’s Everybody Wants Some!!

Biographical sports drama Christy, starring Sydney Sweeney, struggled to find an audience in the US despite positive reviews like Dwayne Johnson’s The Smashing Machine. The problem is 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.

This is often why actors do roles very different to the ones they were famous for, like Daniel Radcliffe starred in The Woman in Black after the final Harry Potter film and is also similar to why the Disney pop princesses like Hilary Duff, Ariana Grande and Sabrina Carpenter have shed their wholesome family image with their pop careers.

The squeeze of screens with Zootropolis 2 and Wicked: For Good will see holdovers Now You See Me: Now You Don’t, The Running Man, Nuremberg and Predator: Badlands all dropping 50% as the top 2 will take close to 90% of the weekend’s BO.

Coming Soon

• Ella McCay – Disney

Comedy-drama starring Emma Mackey, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jack Lowden, Kumail Nanjiani, Ayo Edebiri, Julie Kavner, Spike Fearn, Rebecca Hall, Albert Brooks, and Woody Harrelson and written and directed by James L. Brooks.

In 2023, it was announced that James L. Brooks would direct his first film since 2010’s How Do You Know and the seventh film he has directed since 1983’s Terms of Endearment, winning Best Picture and Best Director.

James L. Brooks has mixed success with the films he has directed since 1987’s Broadcast News and 1997’s As Good as It Gets received critical acclaim, Oscar nominations and were box office hits, but then 1994’s I’ll Do Anything, 2004’s Spanglish and 2010’s How Do You Know were critical and box office misfires.

But as producer of 1988’s Big, 1989’s The War of the Roses and 1996’s Jerry Maguire and The Simpsons since 1989, he still can make the films he wants to make; that said, aged 85 now, Ella McCay is sadly likely to be the last film he will direct.

1988’s Broadcast News opened £128,836/£443,644 63 screens taking £1,012,749/£3,487,379

1998’s As Good as It Gets opened £909,459/£1,787,324 254 screens, taking £9,540,214/£18,749,006

While Ella McCay looks like a regular James L. Brooks film, the problem is with a Disney-owned 20^th Century Studios, which struggles with original films and is probably sadly dumping it a week before Avatar: Fire and Ash. Films like Ella McCay James L. Brooks’s Spanglish and How Do You Know struggle to find an audience as the ensemble cast isn’t enough to get audiences to see these films in the cinema anymore.

• Silent Night, Deadly Night – Studiocanal

Christmas slasher horror, the second remake of the 1984 film Silent Night and the seventh instalment of the Silent Night, Deadly Night series. Starring Rohan Campbell, Ruby Modine, David Lawrence Brown, David Tomlinson, and Mark Acheson and directed by Mike P. Nelson.

It’s the first film made by Studiocanal’s genre label Sixth Dimension; it premiered at Fantastic Fest, receiving positive reviews. Horror films have had mixed success this year, and it opens the week after Five Nights at Freddy’s 2.

Silent Night, Deadly Night premiered at Fantastic Fest on September 21, 2025. It is scheduled to be released in the United States by Cineverse on December 12, 2025.

• Eleanor The Great – Sony Pictures

Drama starring June Squibb, Erin Kellyman, Jessica Hecht, and Chiwetel Ejiofor and directed by Scarlett Johansson (directorial debut).

Had its world premiere at the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival, receiving mixed reviews.

• Lurker – Universal Pictures

Psychological drama thriller starring Théodore Pellerin, Archie Madekwe, Zack Fox, Havana Rose Liu, Wale Onayemi, Daniel Zolghadri, and Sunny Suljic and directed by Alex Russell. The script featured on the 2020 Blacklist.

The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, receiving positive reviews; Universal Pictures acquired international rights, and MUBI US (it was released in the US in August).

• Fackham Hall – Entertainment Films

Period parody set in 1930s England starring Ben Radcliffe, Thomasin McKenzie, Katherine Waterston, Lizzie Hopley, Emma Laird, Damian Lewis and Tom Felton and directed by Jim O’Hanlon and written by Jimmy Carr.

It’s been described as a spoof that crosses Downton Abbey with Airplane! and Monty Python. The problem with most of these parody films they aren’t as funny as they believe, as a similar 1997 British comedy, Stiff Upper Lips, was spoofing Merchant Ivory period dramas.

That said, it’s the kind of British comedy Entertainment Films used to have success with when they were the powerhouse independent UK distributor. (That said, no one mentions Sex Lives of the Potato Men).

As seen with the recent poorly critically received Christmas Karma, Fackham Hall could be the perfect alternative to the tentpoles this Christmas, as seen over previous years, over the long Christmas holidays, films you wouldn’t normally expect to find an audience do.