- Elvis – £4,023,572 – NE
Took £1.25m (31.1%) Friday; £1.45m (36%) Saturday and £1.29m (36%) Sunday
369th biggest opening between Ralph Breaks The Internet and The Lego Movie: The Second Part (close to A Star Is Born (£76,624 less), The Great Gatsby (£71,753 less), War Horse (+£78,826) and The Second-Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (+£251,720) and 548th biggest inflation inflated between Ralph Breaks The Internet and Working Girl (close to Maid In Manhattan, Pride and Prejudice, One Direction: This Is Us and Ghostbusters 2).
66th biggest Warner Bros opening between Shazam! and The Lego Movie: The Second Part (close to A Star Is Born, The Great Gatsby, Happy Feet and The Meg) and 95th biggest inflation inflated between Shazam! and Lethal Weapon (close to Innerspace, A.I, the Perfect Storm and The Bridges Of Madison County).
UK opening was 12.9% of US opening without previews showing how much stronger it opened in the UK than the US as it was expected to as musical dramas perform far stronger in the UK and even though Elvis is about a US icon.
Elvis is directors Baz Luhrmann’s first #1 film in the UK since Moulin Rouge in Sept/Oct 2001 as with Christopher Nolan films his films perform better in crowded marketplace Romeo + Juliet opened the week after Star Wars Special Edition in March 1997 likewise The Great Gatsby opened second in 2013 against Fast & Furious 6. This is similar to Christopher Nolan’s films all except for Tenet opened in a crowded marketplace, but then Tenet opens on its own exhibitors believed his delusions of grandeur and results were predictable.
Some films work better in a crowded marketplace as they work off each other unlike when a comic-book movie opens and it cannibalizes the marketplace. This is of course not helped by the number of screens they open in so it will be interesting to see how Elvis, Jurassic World Dominion and Top Gun: Maverick hold against Minions: The Rise of Gru as normally MCU film doesn’t open in such a crowded marketplace.
It’s the second weekend (after last weekend) since January 1st, 2020, having three films taking over £3m Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker (£4,396,258); Jumanji: The Next Level (£3,069,462); The Gentlemen (£3,057,108) showing how healthy marketplace is in the 8-week gap between comic-book movies. As comic-book movies attract the same audience to them whilst cannibalising screens and BO despite their big BO they aren’t healthy for cinema
Elvis opened with £71,753 less than 2013’s The Great Gatsby (£4,095,325 including £676,464 Thursday previews) and was also released in 3D, which also opened in a crowded marketplace as Elvis did. Going into the weekend Elvis, Jurassic World Dominion and Top Gun Maverick all could have been #1 and there was only £607,483 between them.
The big question for Elvis was who the target audience for the film as fans who grew up with his music would be in their late 50s But being directed by Baz Luhrmann it was surely targetting a younger audience and as seen in the crowds watching Paul McCartney at Glastonbury on Saturday it was young and old as great music plays to all audiences, while have been many remixes of Elvis songs over the years. It was interesting that there were reports in UK cinemas it was playing younger than expected.
Advance bookings for Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis have been reportedly strong, especially in independent cinemas and his films have performed well in the UK and musical biopics have also performed strongly in the UK from 2019’s Rocketman opening £5,381,904 (including £1,360,606 previews) taking £23,484,728 and 2018’s Bohemian Rhapsody £9,530,463 (including £3,054,530 previews) taking £55,375,213 while other recent musical dramas include A Star Is Born £4,100,196; Dreamgirls £1,329,817; West Side Story £1,297,786 and Walk the Line £1,111,142.
While more modern music biopics 2003’s 8 Mile opened £4,440,334 (£7,520,566 inflation inflated) taking £13,254,812 (£22,449,591 inflation inflated) and 2015’s Straight Outta Compton opened £2,498,231 taking £8,043,283.
The 2hr 39 min running time for Elvis will limit the number of shows but exhibitors will surely be pleased it didn’t have the original 4-hour running time, that said as with all major releases it will open on multiple screens in multiplexes.
Ahead of the opening of Downton Abbey 2 research by UKCA said the majority of over 45s hadn’t been back to the cinema since No Time To Die in September. This was one of the reasons why Downton Abbey was moved from December to April, but the sequel failed to match the success of the original film. Downton Abbey 2 as Top Gun Maverick and Elvis’s target demographic was 45+
Research by Kantar said only 17% of British cinemagoers were 55+ when cinemas reopened in July 2020 compared to 27% before cinemas closed in March 2020. The grey pound was very lucrative at the box office pre-COVID so will be interesting to see the audience breakdown of films like Elvis and Top Gun Maverick.
Elvis had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival receiving a 12-minute standing ovation far better than the muted response The Great Gatsby received and Moulin Rouge (6 minutes) but not as long as Strictly Ballroom 15 minutes). Critical response was positive (81% on Rotten Tomatoes) with widespread acclaim for Austin Butler’s performance.
Despite being a biopic about an American music legend Elvis is likely to perform stronger internationally than in the US as in all other Baz Luhrmann films. It was surprising Warner Bros dated the film for late June as while historically it was a good time to launch a drama in the summer they would normally open late July/Aug as Where the Crawdads Sing opens away from the crowded tentpoles. While internationally these dramas would 20+ years ago back to open In September as Moulin Rouge was in 2001 very successfully.
Elvis is Baz Luhrmann’s 6th film and its 30 years since he made his directorial debut with Strictly Ballroom, he followed that up with three films at 20th Century Fox 1996’s Romeo & Juliet, 2001’s Moulin Rouge and 2008’s Australia and Elvis is his second film for Warner Bros after 2013’s The Great Gatsby.
All of his films are visually stunning was blown away when I first saw Romeo & Juliet and Moulin Rouge both many months before opening in the UK and before seeing any trailers. The Great Gatsby is an enjoyable romp despite not being as good as would have hoped, Strictly Ballroom is bursting with energy and charm Australia is his only dud but again it’s a visually stunning epic but far too long.
2001’s Moulin Rouge opened £2,403,378 including £204,848 previews (£4,365,556 inflation inflated) taking 7.56x opening and £18,166,288 (£32,997,702 inflation inflated)
While The Great Gatsby opened strongly as #2 in May 2013 with £4,095,325 (including £676,464 previews) from 522 screens against Fast & Furious 6 with £8,717,534 #1 from 462 screens
With Star Trek: Into Darkness #3 £3,678,228 2nd weekend (down 56%/46% not including previews) from 555 screens and £15,553,765; Iron Man 3 4th w/e taking £1,400,462 from 457 screens.
Elvis opens in a similar crowded marketplace with Jurassic World Dominion, Top Gun Maverick and Lightyear and against Blumhouse Production’s Black Phone having three days of previews.
Opened in 742 cinemas five more than Top Gun Maverick (737) and the 8th film post-pandemic to open in over 700 screens over 200 screens more than The Great Gatsby opened in 2013 and 458 cinemas more than Moulin Rouge opened in 2001 (284 cinemas). While Elvis opened in 742 cinemas it was playing on over 2,000 screens playing on about 4 screens and the top 5 films were playing on the majority of screens in multiplexes. When multiplexes first came to the UK in the 80s they were meant to give audiences a wider choice of films but now it means films open on many more screens with films like Minions: The Rise of Gru and Thor: Love and Thunder having screening every 30 mins.
The 5 weeks since Top Gun: Maverick opened have been very healthy for cinema as normally when a comic-book movie opens like Doctor Strange on May 6th they take upwards of 85% of weekend BO cannibalizing I for several weeks after, while Top Gun Maverick took 82% in the opening weekend it’s success led into the strong opening of Jurassic World Dominion and then Elvis as with non-comic-book movies success leads to much wide success. That said it’s still concentrated on a small group of films as despite positive reviews Good Luck To You, Leo Grande is the latest British comedy to struggle to find its audience.
While the next month is very predictable with Minions: The Rise of Gru and then Thor: Love and Thunder. The 11 weeks between August 5th and October 21st is far less predictable, there’s a lot of buzz for Bullet Train opening on August 3rd but then no buzz for the latest Stephen King adaptation Salem’s Lot with no trailer released despite the September release date. While the biggest two September releases could be two re-releases Spider-Man No Way Home and Avatar.
The question will be how the top 5 films from this weekend hold next weekend as only Lightyear is direct competition for Minions: The Rise of Gru while music dramas and Baz Luhrmann films have long legs in the UK and Elvis is targetting an older audience that is slower to go to the cinema so could hold well against the two upcoming releases.
- 2. Jurassic World Dominion – £3,416,089 – £27,117,894
Down 40.3% in its third weekend; took £725k on Friday down 27.5% from last Friday (£1m) and 78% from opening Friday (£3.3m);
52nd biggest 3rd weekend between Die Another Day and Captain Marvel (close to Black Panther, Jumanji: The Next Level, The Batman and The Lego Movie).
160th biggest film in the UK between Spider-Man and The Twilight Saga: New Moon (close to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 1, The Pirates of the Caribbean, The LEGO Batman Movie and Spider-Man 2) and 319th biggest inflation inflated between How to Train Your Dragon 2 and Batman and Robin (close to Jumanji, Night at the Museum 2, Look Who’s Talking and Ghostbusters 2).
5th biggest film of 2022 between Sing 2 and Sonic the Hedgehog 2; 20th biggest Universal Pictures film between The Grinch and Fast & Furious 6 (close to Furious 8, Downton Abbey, Darkest Hour and The Bourne Ultimatum) and 28th biggest inflation inflated between Bridesmaids and Johnny English Reborn
In 2018 Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom returned to #1 in the third weekend taking £2,001,876 down 38% and £34,498,111.
In 2015 Jurassic World dropped 55% in its third weekend taking £2,610,612 #3 behind Minions #1 Minions £6,238,498 (down 46%) and Terminator: Genisys #2 £3,793,617.
The first two Jurassic Park films had their biggest openings in 1993 and 1997 and Jurassic Park films have a much bigger appeal and wider audience than comic-book movies as they play to all generations those children who saw the original with their parents in 1993 and now their children.
Jurassic Park took 9.82x opening compared with 3.29x for Jurassic World; 2.9x for Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom; 4.53x for The Lost World: Jurassic Park and 3.84x for Jurassic Park 3: depending on how it holds Dominion will take between £35m-£40m.
The 6 Jurassic Park films have taken over £210m to date and almost £320m inflation inflated
29 years ago, the first Jurassic Park film opened 6 weeks after the US was when distributors dated films to give them the best date for their country rather than now with most opening days and dates with the US, so the release date isn’t always the optimal date for the film. Jurassic Park opened on July 16th at the start of the summer holidays and played in cinemas for almost a year taking £47,790,337 and £112m inflation inflated. 1997’s The Lost World: Jurassic Park took £25.79m (£48.62m inflation inflated) and 2001’s Jurassic Park 3 took £18.1m (£33.54m inflation inflated)
Down 20.6% in its fifth weekend; Up 6.2% on Friday (£850k) from last Friday (£800k).
5th biggest fifth weekend (8th to take £3m+) between No Time To Die (£3,514,308) and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the King (£3,276,912 (£6m inflation inflated); close to Skyfall (£3,809,893); Titanic (£3,657,613 (£7m inflation inflated); Spider-Man: No Way Home (£3,215,166); Star Wars: The Force Awakens (£3,137,258); Frozen (£2,922,721) and Mamma Mia! (£2,803,272) with Avatar taking almost double £5,527,039 (£7.7m inflation inflated) will be interesting how Avatar: The Way of Water compares as it’s opening will be probably similar to MCU but will the sequel have the legs of the original?
21st biggest film in the UK (23rd film to take over £60m since Titanic in 1998) between Jurassic World and LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring (close to Toy Story 4, Star Wars: Rogue One, LOTR: The Return of the King and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker) and 61st biggest inflation inflated between Finding Nemo and Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith (close to Die Another Day, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Ghost and You Only Live Twice).
Took £6.49m in its 4th week taking 65.3% (£4.24m) Fri-Sun and 34.6% (£2.25m) Mon-Thurs taking £59.6m in 29 days
Biggest Paramount Pictures film in the UK ahead of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and Shrek The Third and 4th biggest Paramount Pictures film between Shrek Forever After and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen)
After 5 weeks it’s the 13th biggest film between Toy Story 3 and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Top Gun Maverick is holding similar to 2019’s The Lion King (taking £2,537,885 more than £59,913,197 Vs £57,375,312. You could compare the two films like Top Gun Maverick while being a sequel is very much a remake of the original film with added nostalgia and more advanced aeroplane sequences while The Lion King was also a remake of the original film but with photorealistic computer animation with all the nostalgia from the beloved original film.
Top Gun Maverick’s success is a testament to Paramount Pictures holding out until they knew audiences had returned to cinemas waiting to see how films like No Time To Die and Spider-Man No Way Home performed along with how legacy sequel Ghostbuster Afterlife performed. The timing was key for Top Gun Maverick was similar to No Time To Die and Spider-Man No Way Home it was the perfect film at the perfect time with the audience primed. Tom Cruise travelled to San Diego, Mexico City, Japan, Cannes, London and Seoul to promote the film, but years ago he was similarly everywhere ahead of the opening of Edge of Tomorrow in May 2014 having three premieres in one day (London 7 am, Paris 2 pm and New York 10 pm) and the film received rave reviews (91% Rotten Tomatoes compared to 97% Top Gun Maverick. But the problem was the damage was done many months earlier dating the film against Maleficent bringing it forward a week internationally due to the World Cup which also meant opened weekend after X-Men Days of Future Past. In the US opened a week later opening third behind The Fault in Our Stars and Maleficent, While Edge of Tomorrow held strongly due to strong word of mouth over the following weeks the damage was done.
Had Top Gun Maverick kept its original UK release date of July 17th, three weeks after the US things could have been very different as it would have opened against Tenet which is a strange twist of fate as Christopher Nolan believed he would be the saviour of cinema?
The film opening would have been delayed in the UK by three weeks due to European Championships. Often over the years studios have opted to either open early or delay films several weeks to avoid opening during European Championships or the World Cup. (with Edge of Tomorrow and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom opening a week earlier but then Transformers: Age of Extinction opening two weeks after the US.
Why it will be very interesting to see how BO is between November 21st and December 18th with Black Panther 2 opening 10 days before and Avatar: The Way of Water opening two days before as 1.1bn watched the 2018 World Cup Final with 3.6bn watching the tournament with an average of 191m watching each game worldwide.
The code word for Star Wars: The Phantom Menace was Perfect Timing and Top Gun Maverick came at the perfect time as had it opened two years ago or last November it probably wouldn’t have been anywhere nearly as successful but No Time To Die, Spider-Man No Way Home and The Batman helped it along with the trailers that played with them. As they helped make the film become a must-see cinema movie which is what Christopher Nolan expected Tenet was going to be. While it’s also good for the industry that the success is more evenly spread out so far this year as over recent years it’s become a two-way battle Disney Vs Universal, that said the rest of the year will be.
Top Gun Maverick is as critics have said non-stop action and it starts exactly like the original film with the same music starting full of nostalgia to the original film and that continues throughout the film, so its understand that when exhibitors and critics saw the film in crowded cinemas full of fans of the original the reactions would be as they were. The film gets a bit silly when Maverick steals an aeroplane from the airfield they bombed and was immediately able to fly it making it feel like the Clint Eastwood film Firefox.
The huge success of Top Gun Maverick does make next summer interesting as Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning – Part One is set to open a week before Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, both films have been shot in IMAX but surely Paramount will want it playing in IMAX cinemas for more than a week. As the 6 Mission Impossible films have taken almost $1.2bn in the US and $3.6bn worldwide with 2018’s Mission Impossible: Fallout taking almost $800m worldwide after the success of Top Gun Maverick would expect Dead Reckoning – Part One to also take $1bn+ worldwide likely far more than Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer.
It would put exhibitors into a quandary as they saw Christopher Nolan as their saviour of the cinema ahead of the release of Tenet in 2020 and his demand for having a 100-day theatrical window is surely done to please them. But in doing so they won’t be able to book other films Dead Reckoning – Part One and the Marvels opening immediately before and after on their main screens likely to be far more successful and also Barbie starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling opening against it.
Paramount Pictures would surely like the year to end now after having their best year probably since 2011 with Scream, Jackass Forever, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, The Lost City and now Top Gun Maverick taking over £90m. This will likely see the studio have its first £100m+ year since 2011 when they took £160m and were the UK #1. But Paramount only have two small releases for the rest of the year Tadeo Jones 3 and Smile.
Down 38.4% in its second weekend; took £380k from Friday down 37% from opening Friday (£800k) as with opening weekend took 16% of the second weekend from Friday BO taking £2m Sat/Sun (taking £3.2m Sat/Sun in the opening weekend)
343rd biggest second weekend in the UK between Enchanted and The Blair Witch Project (close to Arthur Christmas, Coco, Kung Fu Panda 2 and Hotel Transylvania 2) and 537th biggest inflation inflated the second weekend between Shutter Island and Epic (close to The Lion King 3D, The Addams Family, Innerspace and Willow).
61st biggest animation second weekend between Coco and Kung Fu Panda 2 (close to Despicable Me, Ralph Breaks The Internet, The Addams Family and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 and 85th biggest inflation inflated between Cars 2 and Epic (close to The Rugrats Movie, Robots, How to Train Your Dragon 2 and Angry Birds).
73rd biggest Disney second weekend between Enchanted and Ant-Man and The Wasp (close to The Pirates of the Caribbean Big Hero 6, Ant-Man, Free Guy and Christopher Robin) and 104th biggest second-weekend inflation inflated between Flubber and Free Guy (close to Big Hero 6, The Haunted Mansion, The Santa Clause 2 and Prince of Persia).
In the US Lightyear dropped a huge 64% in its second weekend but in the UK it was 38.4% which is a good hold away from school holidays when BO is limited to more Sat/Sun having the 17th biggest Pixar second weekend between Brave and Wall-e (close to Monsters University, Coco, Cars 2 and Cars).
While Lightyear might have been part of the Toy Story universe being a spinoff and a prequel without the vocal cast of Toy Story films a comparison to Cars would be far more suitable and it is £654,511 more than Cars 3 (£1,636,488) and £420,322 more than Cars 2 (£1,870,677)
The problem with Lightyear was as it’s a Pixar film expectations were too high being part of the Toy Story universe, and it could not match those expectations. But as seen by Lightyear’s second weekend being similar to Arthur Christmas, Coco, Kung Fu Panda 2 and Hotel Transylvania 2 if it wasn’t part of the Toy Story universe its second-weekend hold out during term -time would be seen as possible. The problem of course is after Disney has such huge success when a film performs slight lower than expected it’s seen as a disappointment even though if another studio’s film performed similarly it would be seen very differently.
20th biggest second weekend since cinemas reopened between Eternals and The Suicide Squad; 9th biggest 2022 second weekend between Downtown Abbey 2 and Belfast and 15th biggest film of the year between Scream and Morbius.
The 23 Pixar films have taken almost £700m since 1996 and almost £933m inflation inflated (Soul, Luca and Turning Red were all originally due for cinema release but moved to Disney+, Elemental is their next due for release in June 2023 with two more untitled films set for release in 2024. Normally Pixar announces the title for their next film a few months before the release of their next, so the 2023 film will be revealed in May 2023.
After Lightyear opened lower than expected the industry asks why but as with Fantastic Beasts 3 in April much of the issues with Lightyear happened long before the film opened. Pete Docter’s comments when announcing Lightyear in December 2020 at Disney’s Investor’s Day highlights the problem with the film after saying ‘At first glance, you might think, ‘this is a Toy Story film.’ Well, not so fast!’ See, back when we created the first Toy Story, we designed Buzz Lightyear with the idea that he was a toy based on some cool character from an epic blockbuster film. Well, all these years later we decided it’s time to make that film.’
Lightyear is the 26th Pixar film and the first Pixar film to be given a theatrical release since 2020’s Onward which had a limited cinema release opening in March two weeks before the first lockdown, but still performed well when it returned to cinemas in July despite being released on Disney+.
The last three Pixar films Soul, Luca and Turning Red were all originally meant to have theatrical releases but were moved to Disney+.
After releasing Toy Story 4 in 2019 Pixar said it would be their last sequel for a while as over the previous decade, Pixar made 7 films all original and Pixar were seen as the most creative studio in Hollywood. Pixar was acquired by Disney in 2006, at the time Ratatouille, Wall-e and Up were in various stages of production so Toy Story 3 was probably the first wholly made by Disney.
The 23 Pixar films that had theatrical release have taken almost £700m since 1996 and almost £930m inflation inflated; $6.07bn in the US and $14.7bn worldwide.
Lightyear will probably be released on Disney+ at the beginning of August having a similar 45-day theatrical window as Doctor Strange 2 but it does highlight again that the theatrical window should be decided after a film opens, so the window for Lightyear could be cut to 31 days while the window for Top Gun Maverick and Jurassic World Dominion could be extended longer than their 45 windows that will likely see them released on Paramount+ in August and Jurassic World Dominion on July 25th.
Over the last few years there are always films that are singled out as everything bad about Hollywood, in 2016 it was Ghostbusters, a year later Solo: A Star Wars Story and then X-Men: Dark Phoenix and Lightyear joins Morbius and Fantastic Beasts 3 this year.
With Minions: The Rise of Gru opening this weekend Lightyear is likely to drop upwards of 60% but as it didn’t drop nearly as much as expected in its second weekend this might not happen and if it did drop less then it would eat into Minions opening.
- 5. The Black Phone £1,384,344 – NE
Took £400k from previews Saturday 18th and Weds/Thurs and took £280k from Friday 20.2% of opening which would be very impressive if it was a three-day opening (similar to Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Spectre and Frozen 2) and removing previews 30.4% of opening which is similarly strong (similar to Skyfall, Gravity and Joker).
1,171ST biggest opening in the UK between Phone Booth and Smurfs: The Lost Village (close to Sinister £1,435,722, Gothika £1,398,777, Halloween Kills £1,382,070 and Evil Dead £1,375,842) and 1,385th biggest inflation inflated between A Million Ways to Die in the West and The Snowman (close to Doctor Sleep, Unfriended, The Purge: Anarchy and The Last Witch Hunter).
12th biggest Blumhouse Productions film in the UK between Sinister and Halloween Kills (close to Mama, Insidious Chapter 3, Candyman and Sinister 2).
Opened similar to Scott Derrickson’s 2012’s Sinister for £1,435,722 taking £6,506,345 and produced the sequel in 2015; Scott Derrickson then directed Doctor Strange and was set to direct the sequel but dropped out of it due to creative differences opting to direct The Black Phone instead.
But it’s impossible to compare The Black Phone with any of those films and none had 3 days of previews which artificially inflated the opening, removing those previews in the opening would be closer to The Forever Purge (£720,032). That said previews probably don’t increase BO that much it just means that audiences see the film they would have seen over the weekend on another day.
Blumhouse Productions films aren’t anywhere nearly as successful internationally as in the US as seen by Jordan Peele films taking almost 70% of their BO in the US, Get Out opened with £2,160,099 (6.47%) of $33,377,060 and Us opened with £2,766,839 (3.89%) $71,117,625 likewise the two Halloween films (Halloween 3.48% of US and Halloween Kills 2.8% of US).
Jordan Peele’s latest Nope opens three weeks after the US on August 12th it’s currently tracking to open similar to both Get Out and Us in the US but despite being the major release of the weekend will likely open similar to his previous two films.
Surprisingly, Blumhouse Productions films underperform in the UK as horror films normally perform well.
Also released
- Good Luck To You, Leo Grande – Lionsgate
Took £118,225 in its second weekend down 50% from #4 to #7 despite adding 159 screens from 171 to 330 again highlighting the problem with the box office today. The big US blockbusters are taking more but they are also squeezing the box office of all other films, especially the British comedy which for decades was the mainstay of cinema.
But despite positive reviews, Good Luck To You, Leo Grande as The Phantom of the Open in March struggled to find an audience. In March eOne opted to open The Phantom of the Open on 626 screens #5 with £456,829. While Lionsgate opted to open Good Luck to You on 171 and then 330 screens, it was surely a strange weekend to do so with Elvis also attracting the older female audience, but with the film being released on Hulu on June 17th maybe they felt they had to release it now. That said Lionsgate acquired the film in October last year (Searchlight acquired it at Sundance in January) so why did they wait to release it now?
Several films are acquired by streaming services in the US but then get a theatrical release in the UK Operation Mincemeat in April had a successful run-in cinema opening with £895,008 taking £5,276,541. While in December Sony Pictures UK will release Matilda The Musical in the UK with Netflix releasing it in the rest of the world and it will still be a massive success in the UK as the stage musical is hugely popular as are films based on Roald Dahl novels (Netflix acquired rights to all of Roald Dahl library for $500m+ last year).
It will be 25 years in August since 20th Century Fox released The Full Monty opening with £1.6m taking 32.65x opening £52,232,058 and (£96,507,390 inflation inflated), and it was 28 years ago in May Four Weddings and a Funeral opened with £1.43m taking 19.38x opening and £27,762,648 (£64,238,496 inflation inflated) it’s unlikely there will ever be other British comedy films that will perform like those ever again
While exhibitors increase prices for tentpoles. surely should go the opposite way for smaller British films to try to get audiences into cinemas as Lionsgate’s Zygi Kamasa said in 2014 “Something drastic was needed” but nothing, of course, has been done since. The industry celebrates success when films like No Time To Die and Spider-Man No Way Home take £95m+ but audiences will always come out to see these films, it’s the smaller films that have been squeezed over the last 20 years.
Other Cinema News
2022 UK BO January-May was £397.1m which is about 78% of 2019 levels Industry expects BO for the year will be about £1.05bn similar to 2009; 2021 was £597m and 2020 £323m. With BO returning to pre-COVID levels in 2023 which was expected when cinemas shut after the first lockdown.
May BO took about £93m with top 10 films taking 96% with Doctor Strange 2 taking £38.6m and Top Gun Maverick £21.3m 64% with 11.3m admissions this would see an average £8.23
The May Top 10 films #1 Doctor Strange in The Multiverse of Madness £38.6m; #2 Top Gun: Maverick took £21.3m; #3 Downton Abbey: A New Era £11.6m; #4 Sonic the Hedgehog 2 £4.2m; #5 The Lost City £3.3m; #6 Everything Everywhere All at Once £3.1m; #7 Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore £2.9m; #8 The Bad Guys £2.5m; #9 Operation Mincemeat £1.5m; #10 Northman £1.4m.
May was the third strongest month since cinemas reopened after October 2021 (No Time To Die) and December 2021 (Spider-Man No Way Home).
The first 6 months of 2022 have been very strong the question is away from Minions 2 and Thor 4 the last 6 months look much weaker than in recent years. While there are massive questions if Black Panther 2 can match the success of the original without Chadwick Boseman and it feels an awfully long time ago since Avatar wowed audiences in 2009. For the sequel to be as successful cinemagoers need to embrace 3D again but soft 3D BO for Doctor Strange 2 and Lightyear don’t give much hope they will.
UK box office in detail
This weekend’s top 10 box office took £14,973,316 up 3.8% from last weekend’s £14,423,031
218 R biggest top 10 of the last 20 years between 01 May 2015 #1 Avengers: Age Of Ultron £8,591,670 (57.33% of top 10) and 15 February 2002 #1 Monsters, Inc. £5,757,712 (38.52% of top 10) and 408th biggest inflation inflated between 19 October 2018 #1 A Star is Born £2,883,000 (20.05% of top 10) and 06 December 2002 #1 Die Another Day £3,426,623 (40.15% of top 10).
The weekend admissions were 1,991,132 3.8% from last week 1,917,956
Top 3 took £10,810,308 72.2% of the top 10; Elvis 26.9% (£4,023,572); Jurassic World Dominion 22.8% (£3,416,089); Top Gun: Maverick 22.5% (£3,370,647);
Up 50.7% from 2021 (£9,931,625); Fast & Furious 9 (£6,014,132); Supernova (£245,715); Dogtanian And The Three Muskehounds (£212,334); #1 Fast & Furious 9 £6,014,132 1st week 594 screens (60.56% of top 10)
2020 n/a cinemas closed
Down 18.5% from 2019 (£18,378,720); Toy Story 4 £13,300,000); Bight Burn (£509,030); Childs Play £247,572; #1 Toy Story 4 £13,300,000 1st week ( 72.37% of top 10)
Up 48.7% from 2018: (£10,066,964); Ocean’s 8 (£4,347,070); In the Fade (£25,963); Overboard (£19,304); #1 Ocean’s 8 £4,347,070 1st week 641 screens (43.2% of the top 10)
Up 56.8% from 2017: (£9,547,804); Transformers: The Last Knight (£4,635,570); Hampstead (£453,522); The Book of Henry (£72,128); The Graduate: 50th Anniversary 4K Restoration (£28,946); #1 Transformers: The Last Knight £4,635,570 1st week 577 screens (48.5% of top 10)
Down 16.1% from 2016: (£17,839,552); The Secret Life Of Pets (£9,580,039); Independence Day: Resurgence (£5,067,855); Elvis & Nixon (£56,790); The Meddler (£19,327); #1 The Secret Life Of Pets £9,580,039 1st week 592 screens (53.7% of the top 10)
Down 24.1% from 2015; (£19,704,414); Minions (£11,558,946); Knock Knock (£250,825); Slow West (£140,858); The Terminator (Re: 2015) (£66,492); She’s Funny That Way (£22,311); Going Clear: Scientology And The Prison Of Belief (£16,849); Everly (£160); #1 Minions £11,558,946 1st week 571 screens (58.6% of top 10)
Up 43.1% from 2014: (£10,468,569); Mrs. Brown’s Boys d’Movie (£4,301,306); Chef (£605,976); How to Train Your Dragon 2 (Scotland) (£604,325); Walking on Sunshine (£403,490); Cold in July (£156,783); Seve (£47,294); #1 Mrs. Brown’s Boys d’Movie £4,301,306 1st week 522 screens (41.1% of top 10)
Up 26.8% from 2013: (£11,810,188); World War Z (£4,535,899); Snitch (£268,229); Before Midnight (£244,231); A Haunted House (£153,805); Spike Island (£55,961); #1 Man Of Steel £5,073,356 2nd week 575 screens 55% drop (42.9% of top 10)
Up 121.3% from 2012 (£6,765,529); Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (£1,119,117); The Five-Year Engagement (£1,058,897); Chernobyl Diaries (£495,875); Lay the Favourite (£112,706); Think Like a Man (£81,516); #1 Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter £1,119,117 1st week 460 screens (16.5% of top 10)
Up 54.1% from 2011 (£9,716,933) Bridesmaids (£3,445,395); Talihina Sky: The Story of Kings of Leon (£82,464); #1 Bridesmaids £3,445,395 1st week 482 screens (21.8% of top 10)
Up 376.1% from 2010: (£3,145,120); Get Him to the Greek (£1,569,556); The Collector (£109,519); Whatever Works (£72,678); When in Rome (£61,512); #1 Get Him to the Greek £1,569,556 1st week 389 screens (49.9% of top 10)
Up 53.1% from 2009; (£9,778,033); Year One (£978,008); My Sister’s Keeper (£922,947); Blood: The Last Vampire (£232,190); #1 Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen £4,368,024 2nd week 521 screens 48% drop (44.6% of top 10)
Up 34% from 2008; (£11,174,084); Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (£4,060,532); Wanted (£3,814,055); Female Agents (£68,412); A Complete History of My Sexual Failures (£12,772); #1 Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian £4,060,532 1st week 546 screens (36.3% of top 10)
Up 149.3% from 2007:( £6,006,969); Captivity (£329,193); La Vie En Rose (£205,659); Lucky You (£56,346); #1 Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer £2,254,179 2nd week 481 screens 46% drop (37.5% of top 10)
Up 246.4% from 2006; (£4,322,278); Lakehouse (£761,465); The Wind that Shakes the Barley (£390,720); Fearless (£369,947); Ultraviolet (£147,337); Aquamarine (£109,232); Half Light (£23,930); #1 The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift £1,019,854 2nd week 415 screens 44% drop (23.6% of top 10)
Up 123.8% from 2005 (£6,688,816); Kung Fu Hustle (£469,211); A Lot Like Love (£417,904); #1 Batman Begins £2,926,042 2nd week 34% drop 516 screens (43.75% of top 10)
Up 177.8% from 2004 (£5,390,891); The Ladykillers (£565,137); The Notebook (£309,507); Eurotrip (£147,439); You Got Served (£68,255); #1 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban £2,029,289 4th week 499 screens 40% drop (37.6% of top 10)
Up 45% from 2003 (£10,329,409); Bruce Almighty (£7,260,467); Wrong Turn (£370,562); Nicholas Nickleby (£222,376); Biker Boyz (£65,412); Feardotcom (£23,025); #1 Bruce Almighty £7,260,467 1st week 446 screens (70.3% of top 10)
Up 172.1% from 2002 (£5,480,099); Murder By Numbers (£729,164); Big Fat Liar (£406,105); Birthday Girl (£237,165); Rollerball (£136,243); What’s The Worst That Could Happen? (£69,194); #1 Spider-Man: The Movie £2,605,993 3rd week 507 screens 39% drop (47.5% of top 10)
Next weekend 2020 Cinemas Closed First Lockdown
Next weekend 2021 (£5,982,414); Freaky (£344,918); Another Round (£205,266); Trainspotting (Re: 2021) (£10,212); French Exit (£14,808); #1 Fast & Furious 9 £2,681,393 2nd week 56% drop 709 screens (44.82% of top 10)
US Box Office
- Elvis – Warner Bros
Opened $31.21m; received positive reviews (83% Rotten Tomatoes) and A- CinemaScore
Elvis opened $700k more than Sunday estimates while Top Gun Maverick took $500k less; Sunday estimates had Elvis $30.5m and Top Gun Maverick $30.51m as fan preview screenings on Tuesday that were included within Thursday night previews squeezed it past Top Gun Maverick.
539th biggest opening between Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief and Girls Trip (close to The Truman Show, Ford v Ferrari, Into the Woods and Downton Abbey).
Similar to Rocket Man while Bohemian Rhapsody received an A, while other Baz Luhrmann’s films The Great Gatsby, Molin Rouge B+ and similar to Australia and Romeo + Juliet-
Took $3.5m from Tues/Thurs previews similar to Mamma Mia 2 $3.4m; Bohemian Rhapsody $3.7m; The Great Gatsby $3.25m
Days before opening Elvis was tracking to open with $30m+ but it was always likely to be impeded by its running time and the lack of IMAX/PLF screenings as it shared them with Jurassic World Dominion, Lightyear and Top Gun Maverick.
Was similar in length to House of Gucci 2 hours and 38 minutes opening $14.4m and West Side Story 2 hours, 36 minutes with $10.5m.
It’s the first weekend since July 22nd, 2016, with five films taking $20m+; Star Trek Beyond #1 $59.25m; The Secret Life of Pets #2 $29.6m; Light Out #3 $21.68m; Ice Age: Collision Course #4 $21.37m; Ghostbusters #5 $21m. With the 5 films playing to different demographics, normal business will resume next weekend with Minions: The Rise of Gru and then Thor: Love and Thunder taking larger percentages of BO.
It is far healthier for cinema when 5 films share $150m+ rather than 1 film opening with $150m+ as these films target different demographics so their success is always likely to lead to more success over other films targetting multiple demographics. Always believed the reopening of cinema should have had multiple films opening close by targetting multiple demographics as one film was never going to be the saviour of cinema on its own as the industry believed as did Christopher Nolan two years ago with Tenet.
It used to be success breeds success as is the case last weekend with 5 films targeting all demographics sharing $130m but when a comic book opens with $180m+ it’s targeting only one demographic and its success predominantly only helps the next comic-book movie as will be the case when Thor: Love and Thunder opens on July 7th. But then there are 11 weeks before Black Adam opens and then Black Panther 2 opens two weeks later so there is room in the marketplace for many other films to find an audience this year.
1996’s Romeo + Juliet opened $11.13m ($24.5m inflation inflated) taking $46.35m ($102m inflation inflated) and $147.54m worldwide ($325m inflation inflated)
2001’s Moulin Rouge opened $13.71m ($23.2m inflation inflated) (after two weeks on platform) taking $57.38m ($97m inflation inflated) and $179.21m worldwide ($303m inflation inflated)
2008’s Australia opened $14.8m ($19.8m inflation inflated) taking $49.55m ($67m inflation inflated) and $211.78m worldwide ($285m inflation inflated)
2013’s The Great Gatsby opened $50.08m taking $144.85m and $353.65m worldwide
Opened with $20m from 50 territories taking $560k from IMAX but had limited screenings as it shared the screen with Jurassic World Dominions and Lightyear; Australia $4.7m; the UK $4.7m; France $2m; Germany $1m
The Great Gatsby opened globally within a few weeks of the Cannes Film Festival world premiere which boosted its profile ahead of release but Elvis lost its momentum over the last 6 weeks. In 2001 Moulin Rouge also had its world premiere in Cannes and opened in the US on platform end of May before going wide in June, but then opened in most international territories in the autumn after the film had a UK premiere in September attended by Baz Luhrmann and the cast and the film was far more successful internationally. Studios used to hold back summer films that targeted older audiences to autumn premiering them at Deauville Film Festival, it has been since overshadowed by Venice and Toronto as launching platforms for the upcoming award season.
- Jurassic World Dominion
Down 55% in the third weekend taking $26.72m and $303.06m
81st biggest third between The Hangover and The Incredibles (close to Toy Story 2, Shrek, Despicable Me 2 and Aladdin); #76 Jurassic Park ($27.69m); #69 Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom ($28.63m); #8 Jurassic World ($54.53m);
91st biggest film between Skyfall and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and 219th inflation inflated between The Bourne Ultimatum and Monsters University; 4th biggest 2022 film between The Batman and Sonic the Hedgehog 2; 9th biggest Universal Pictures film between Minions and Meet the Fockers; #1 Jurassic World $652.3m; #3 Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom $417.71m; #4 Jurassic Park $402.52m; #19 The Lost World: Jurassic Park $329.08m #30 Jurassic Park 3 $181.16m
As the 6 Jurassic Park films have taken almost $2.2bn in the US and almost $5.8bn worldwide while Jurassic World Dominion has been called the final Jurassic Park film it’s unlikely Universal Pictures won’t be making more films in the future Jurassic Universe?
Third weekends
2015’s Jurassic World dropped 48.8% $54.53m #1 taking $500.37m 76.6% of $653.4m; $1.018bn internationally $1.671bn WW; #2 Inside Out $52.32m 2nd w/e
2018’s Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom dropped 53% $28.63m #2 taking $333.39m 79.8% of $417.71m; $892.74m internationally and $1.31bn WW;# 1 Ant-Man and the Wasp $75.81m
1993’s Jurassic Park dropped 28% $27.69m ($65m inflation inflated) #1 taking $171.1m ($410m inflation inflated) 48% of $357.06m ($830m inflation inflated) and $978.16m worldwide ($2.3bn inflation inflated); #2 Sleepless in Seattle $17.25m
1997’s The Lost World: Jurassic Park dropped 45.6% to $16.56m #2 taking $171.1m 74.7% of $229.08m (third biggest film of 1997 behind Titanic $600.78m and Men in Black $250.69m); #1 Con Air $24.13m
2001’s Jurassic Park 3 dropped 45.6% to $12.27m #4 taking $147.01m 80.9% of $181.71m (ninth biggest film of 2001) and $368.78m worldwide; #1 Rush Hour $67.4m
Took $43.1m (down 43.5%) from 72 territories (down 60%) taking $443.8m and $748.51m worldwide; China $114.3m; Mexico $39.7m; UK $33.4m; Australia $18.5m; France $19m; 113th biggest film worldwide between Shrek Forever After and X-Men: Days of Future Past; 4th biggest film worldwide between The Batman and Lake Changjin 2; 13th biggest Universal Pictures film worldwide between Hobbs & Shaw and F9: The Fast Saga; #6 Jurassic Park $1.04bn; #3 Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom $1.3bn; #1 Jurassic World $1.66bn
- Lightyear – Disney
Down 64% in the second weekend taking $18.15m and $89.25m
After Lightyear opened lower than expected predictable articles were asking why it opened lower than expected but it was simply that being a spinoff audiences felt it belonged on Disney+ rather than cinema.
505th biggest second weekend between Nutty Professor II: The Klumps and The Pacifier (close to The Flintstones, Dumbo, Goldeneye and Green Lantern).
21st biggest Pixar second weekend between Toy Story and The Good Dinosaur and 19th biggest Pixar film after 2 weeks between Cars 3 and The Good Dinosaur (Toy Story 2 and A Bug’s Life took less but due to opening on platform release)
The sad thing is Disney released Soul, Luca and Turning Red all straight to Disney+ all of which are vastly superior, while Lightyear feels more deserving of that fate being a spinoff of a straight-to DVD film.
One of the reasons being used to explain the disappointing performance of Lightyear is that audience knows that the film will be released on Disney+ in a few weeks so they could wait to see it but the same could be said for Jurassic World Dominion likely be released on Peacock on July 11th and Elvis on HBO Max on August 8th while Lightyear will likely be released in early August. Having these fixed shorter theatrical windows is almost as bad as the 90-day window as the theatrical window needs to be flexibly decided after a film has opened so the Lightyear window could be cut down to 30 days like Encanto but then for Jurassic World Dominion and Top Gun Maverick they could be extended further than their 31 and45 day windows.
Next year Christopher Nolan’s new film Oppenheimer has a 100+ day theatrical window as part of the director’s demands, while that sounds positive it could be negative if the film struggles to find an audience and is sandwiched between Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning and The Marvels it will be a challenge for a film like that and after Tenet’s BO and Top Gun Maverick’s exhibitors will have some big decisions to make as after their outcry to studios shortening windows to think not full support Christopher Nolan will so how they want their cake but also want to eat it too.
The trailer for Avatar: The Way of Water playing with Lightyear was edited in the US to remove a gun a character is holding for a spear so it could play with Lightyear.
The 23 Pixar films have taken $6.11bn since 1995 and almost $8bn inflation inflated
Took $19.3m (down 43.2%) from 44 territories $63.6m total and $152.4m worldwide; Mexico $14.2m; the UK $8.4m; Argentina $4.7m; Brazil $3.7m; Australia $3.4M; despite having a soft opening Lightyear is holding far stronger internationally than in the US but with Minions: The Rise of Gru opening Friday unlikely it will last much longer in cinemas…
- Top Gun: Maverick – Paramount Pictures
Dropped 34% in the fifth weekend taking $29.61m and $520.83m
16% have seen the film more than once in the cinema and 4% have seen it more than 4 times or more
3rd biggest 5th weekend between Titanic and The Sixth Sense (American Sniper has the biggest 5th weekend and Grand Torino 5th due to having platform openings)
15th biggest film between Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker; 45th biggest inflation inflated between Tootsie and Smokey and the Bandit; 2nd biggest Paramount Pictures film in the US after Titanic. (Paramount will re-release Titanic next February for its 25th anniversary)
It’s impossible really to compare Top Gun Maverick with any other film as while it might have a similar 4th weekend as Avatar it is a very different film, while others it could be compared with as No Time To Die, Black Panther and Spider-Man No Way Home as they became must-see cinema films for all audiences. Had Top Gun Maverick opened two years ago would it have been anywhere nearly as successful, probably not as the two-year delay made it into a far bigger film and event than it would have been. This again shows up Christopher Nolan’s delusions of grandeur over his demands that Tenet had to open in the summer of 2020.
After Top Gun Maverick became the biggest film in the US on Tuesday the big question is what film could beat it this year, with Black Panther 2 and Avatar The Way of Water is the only two that could do so. Both have big question marks on them as the first Black Panther film become a must-see film for many non-comic-book fans, while 12 years is a long time for a sequel, over the years since it becomes more Dances With Smurfs than Avatar whilst 80% of its BO came from 3D and the sequel will need to attract 3D audiences, recently Doctor Strange 2 and Jurassic World Dominion were released in 3D but failed to make much impact
As in the UK Top Gun Maverick overtook the lifetime BO of Tom Cruise’s previous biggest film in the US 2005’s War of the Worlds $243.3m having overtaken 1986’s Top Gun BO $180.3m within 6 days, but of course, inflation inflated would be $600m+ and War of the Worlds $500m+.
Currently, Paramount have a 26.6% share of the US BO taking $903.9m their biggest BO since 2014 and 2022 will be their first $1bn BO year since 2014 and will likely have their best year since 2011 ($1.96bn) but that shows how far the studio has dropped over the last decade as in 2011 they had Marvell and Dreamworks which along with Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol helped celebrate their 100th anniversary in style.
Sadly their share of BO will drop over the coming weeks with Universal and Disney increasing their share of the BO with Minions: The Rise of Gru and Thor: Love and Thunder opening while Paramount have Paws of Fury in July (released on Sky Cinema in the UK) and Smile in September before Babylon opens on limited release on Christmas Day (already generating strong buzz). Paramount’s 2023 slate is probably their strongest for more than a decade with Transformers: Rise of the Beats, Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning Part 1, Scream 6 and Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie.
Paramount’s previous high was in 2011 with 19.33% and was the biggest studio in the US and globally but in the years since mostly due to poor management, decisions have failed to match the success of their rivals with their annual share under 10% between 2012 and 2019.
Tom Cruise’s 42 films have taken almost $5bn in the US and $11.74bn worldwide; had huge success in the 80s and 90s and is the last action hero outlasting Bruce Willis, Sylvester Stallone, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. While Tom Gun Maverick has taken $1bn worldwide many of his 80s and 90s films but inflation inflated both Top Gun and Rain Man would have taken over $1bn.
After Top Gun Maverick took $1bn+ globally Tom Cruise tweeted on Monday “To all the films in release, to all the studios, and all the exhibitors: congratulations. To the audience: thank you for venturing out and allowing us to entertain you.”
See you at the movies.
Took $44.5m (up 12.1% due to opening with $12.9m in Korea) taking $484.7m and $1,005bn from 65 territories; the UK $78.7m; Japan $51.1m; Australia $45.5m; France $38.8m; Germany $23.4m; Brazil $17.9m; Saudi Arabia $12.6m; 46th biggest film worldwide between The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and Zootopia; biggest film worldwide ahead of Doctor Strange 2 $942.3m; 4th biggest Paramount Pictures film between Transformers: Age of Extinction and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.
Top Gun Maverick is the 50th film to take $1bn+ since Jurassic Park in 1993; its Paramount’s first $1bn+ film globally since 2014’s Transformers: Age of Extinction (inflated with China BO)
- The Black Phone – Universal Pictures
Opened with $23.63m; received positive reviews (85% Rotten Tomatoes) and B+ CinemaScore
17th biggest Blumhouse film between The Visit and Insidious Chapter 3 (close to The Invisible Man, Happy Death Day, Ouija and Truth or Dare).
Took $3m from Thursdays previews
Blumhouse Productions took $2.62bn in the US and $4.93bn worldwide
Opened with $12.5m from 45 territories similar to Ouija and Don’t Breathe; Mexico $3.4m and the UK $1.7m; Blumhouse horrors don’t perform as strongly as they do in the US with Jordan Peele’s Get Out and Us taking 70% of its $255m global BO in the US and his latest Nope opening next month is likely to do the same.
UK Box Office Top 10
UK Box Office Preview
After the last two weeks of the BO being more shared over multiple films normal tentpole business resumes for the next two weeks with Minions: The Rise of Gru and Thor: Love and Thunder taking large percentages of BO.
Minions 2 and Thor 4 will take more than the top three films combined over the last two weeks, while some would see this as a positive but BO should be shared over more films as a much wider demographic of the audience will be seeing them. Like last year many of those who returned to the cinema for the first time since early 2020 to see No Time To Die didn’t return to the cinema until May, while many of those who saw Spider-Man No Way Home had been to the cinema multiple times since reopening in July 2020 and continued to do so into this year.
Minions: The Rise of Gru is the last film to open delayed due to COVID as with many films that were delayed the first trailer for the film was released in February 2020 and was trailered before Sonic The Hedgehog and then Sonic The Hedgehog 2 when cinemas reopened.
The 11 Illumination Entertainment films have taken almost £300m since the first Despicable Me opened in 2010 with Mario opening in April 2023, Migration in June 2023 and Despicable Me 4 July 2024 and then surely Minions 3 in July 2025
2015’s Minions opened £11,556,856 (3D took £3,194,166) taking £47,091,449
2010’s Despicable Me opened £3,664,376 taking £19,750,505
2013’s Despicable Me 2 opened £14,822,427 £2.3m Friday and £4.4m Saturday (including £4,868,323 previews 33%) taking £46,815,412
2017’s Despicable Me 3 opened £11,154,904 taking £47,562,575
While Minions: The Rise of Gru will likely open similar to the first film, but with far less BO from 3D, the bigger question will be how the holdovers do as except for Lightyear the other four films play to different demographics so shouldn’t be affected by Minions: The Rise of Gru.
Minions: The Rise of Gru opened with about 20% less than 2015’s Minions in Australia last weekend and is tracking to open between $70m-$80m in the US about 30% less than Minions ($115.7m) but maybe as they overestimated Lightyear opening they are lowballing estimates as tat would be similar to Sonic the Hedgehog 2 opening $72.1m in April but Minions are far more popular and play to a much wider demographic?
While reviews have said it’s more a Despicable Me prequel than a Minions film, more Gru less Minions which is surely what the Despicable Me films were so more a Despicable Me 2.5 than Minions 2?
Elvis will drop 40%-55% in the second weekend taking £1.8m-£2.5m with Jurassic World Dominion down similar 45%-55% taking £1.5m-£1.8m with Top Gun Maverick dropped 25%-35% taking £2m-£2.6m with Lightyear dropping 50%+ taking £900k-£1.2m and The Black Book dropping up to 70% taking £400k.
Opening next week
- Thor: Love and Thunder – Disney
29th MCU and direct sequel to Thor: Ragnarok starring Chris Hemsworth, Christian Bale, Tessa Thompson, Jaimie Alexander, Waititi, Russell Crowe, and Natalie Portman and directed by Taika Waititi.
As with a lot of these MCU films, the ensemble cast has made the film feel like Avengers 5 as they feature other Avengers characters including several from Guardians of the Galaxy including Rocket and Groot similar to Thor: Ragnarok featured The Hulk.
The first trailer was released in April, Thor has changed a lot since his arrival in the first film in 2011 as with Thor: Ragnarok Thor: Love and Thunder are more of a space comedy and was watched 209 million times in the first 24 hours. The second trailer was released in May feeling like Masters of the Universe.
The film premiered in Los Angeles on June 23rd receiving the normal reaction MCU films get with the embargo ending July 5th. The film was originally due to be released on November 5th, 2021, but was delayed after Eternals was moved there and that saw Doctor Strange 2 moved to May.
2017’s Thor:Ragnorok opened £12,375,804 (£5,141,794 previews) taking £30,936,228
2015’s Thor: The Dark World opened £8,668,172 (£3,098,193 previews) taking £19,711,938
2011’s Thor opened £5,449,300 (£2,335,701 previews) taking £13,854,712
But being an Avengers Lite film it will open similar to Doctor Strange 2 at £19,765,71 (£4,847,458 previews) taking £45m