- Spider-Man No Way Home – £2,335,488 – £87,470,305
Down 27.4% in its sixth weekend; took £12,916 more than Belfast
6th biggest 6th weekend between LOTR: The Fellowship of the Rings (£2,416,452) and Skyfall (£2,275,469) only Avatar (£5,155,844); Titanic (£3,403,199); Paddington (£2,834,003); Toy Story 4 (£2,525,047) took more; (10th film to take £2m+ in its sixth weekend);
The other films taking £2m+ Mamma Mia! (£2,208,482); The Greatest Showman (£2,201,523); Frozen 2 (£2,092,775)
Took 44% more than Black Panther (£1,308,281); 55%+ Avenger Infinity War (£1,058,425); 61.5%+ Captain Marvel (£896,889); 62.1%+ Avengers: Age of Ultron (£883,790); 63.7%+ Avengers Assemble (£847,598); 69%+ Spider-Man: Far From Home (£725,527)
6th biggest film after 6 weeks between No Time To Die (£89,869,038) and Avengers: Endgame (£86,976,296) with Star Wars: The Force Awakens (£117,295,808); Skyfall (£93,769,331); Spectre (£90,634,770) taking more.
Spider-Man No Way Home #1 has been for 6 weeks becoming the first film to stay #1 for 6 weeks since Tenet (taking £628,247) and 2019’s Joker (£1,668,466) Joker was the first film to do so since Avatar in 2010 to remain #1 for 6 weeks taking £2,260,319; Avatar was #1 for 11 weeks and the longest ever #1 1998’s Titanic with 13 consecutive weekends. With Sing 2 opening this weekend it won’t repeat Tenet which stayed #1 for 8 weeks in October 2020 but did it due to having no similar-sized competition for 8 weeks.
While the industry celebrates two £90m+ films within three months they fail to see the damage this is causing to the box office as the audience that saw No Time To Die in October and Spider-Man No Way Home in December aren’t seeing other films. As seen by Clifford The Big Red Dog, The King’s Man, Encanto, West Side Story and The Matrix: Resurrections all taking similar box office of £7-8m, all of which would be expected to take closer to double in normal circumstances if Spider-Man No Way Home hadn’t cannibalized the box office over the last 6 weeks. A side effect of this has seen films having smaller drops that would normally expect over the last few weeks as the January weekend box office has been the lowest for 20 years over the last four weekends.
Normally in January, there are the must-see Oscar contenders as 1917 in 2020 opening alongside a wide range of other films, but over the last four weeks hasn’t been the choice of films so many films have stayed much longer in the top 10 than they would normally. It’s funny how the industry seems to go from one extreme of opening very few wide releases to opening far too many in only a few weeks as will be the case in February to April. After Spider-Man No Way Home next weekend will be #1 for 6 weeks (next weeks) it’s unlikely a film will remain #1 for more than 3 weeks for the rest of the year.
Spider-Man No Way Home can’t be compared with other MCU fourth weekends due to the lucrative Christmas release date which often sees films have longer legs and as early January normally sees Oscar contenders opening has very limited competition. After moving ahead of No Time To Die last weekend Spider-Man No Way Home is showing that it doesn’t have the legs as James Bond taking £1,816,838 less (£85,944,606) after 5 weeks and also taking £1,466,608 less than Avengers Endgame (£85,594,376) despite taking £2,314,642 more in its 5th weekend (£900,524). Spider-Man No Way Home has held on to all 50 IMAX cinemas for the last 5 weeks along with other premium format screens. DCM has calculated that No Time To Die has had more admissions than No Time To Die as it sold many more children’s tickets as it attracted a much younger audience and this younger audience likely saw it multiple times in cinemas.
7th biggest film in the UK (8th film taking over £80m since Avatar in 2009) between Avengers: Endgame and Star Wars: The Last Jedi; 3rd biggest Sony Pictures film in the UK between Spectre and Skyfall and 19th biggest film in the UK inflation inflated between Avengers: Endgame and Casino Royale (close to Toy Story 3, The Full Monty, Pirates of the Caribbean and Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
48th biggest historical in the UK by admissions between Fanny By Gaslight (£87,984,000) and Piccadilly Incident (£86,480,000) close to The Towering Inferno, Doctor in the House, Doctor Zhivago and The Sting).
The 27 MCU films have taken almost £900m in the UK since 2008 (over £920m inflation inflated) with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Thor: Love and Thunder and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever the film series will top £1bn at the UK BO next year.
Many expect Spider-Man No Way Home could receive a Best Picture nomination for “saving cinema” but it’s not eligible for BAFTAs after missing the deadline, BAFTA require all their contenders to be accessible for members to watch on their portal but Sony didn’t put it on there due to piracy. Often films wouldn’t qualify for BAFTAs in the same year as Oscars as the film releases were many months apart so they would get nominated the following year.
The reason Spider-Man opened so big and taken so much is simple if it looks like an Avengers film, swims like an Avengers film, and quacks like an Avengers film, then it probably is an Avengers film. As the previous comic-book movies released this year Black Widow, Shang-Chi, Venom Let There Be Carnage and Eternals were always going to be aperitifs for Spider-Man No Way Home, all playing to comic-book fans, not the extended fanbase Avengers films attract.
Looking back at this weekend in 2020 the top 5 films all took £1m+ 1917, Bad Boys For Life, Little Women, The Gentlemen and Jumanji: The Next Level having a mix of Christmas, Oscar contenders and action films playing to a wide range of demographics. With all top 10 films taking more than Licorice Pizza
The same was the case in 2019 with Glass, Mary, Queen of Scots. Stan and Ollie, Mary Poppins Returns and The Favourite
January is normally a very strong month for cinema with the long-legged Christmas releases playing strongly, major Oscar contenders opening ahead of nominations being announced and then a mix of genres with family films opening towards the end of the month ahead of half-term, last weekend Spider-Man No Way Home and Scream took two-thirds of the top 10 box office.
Oscar and public tastes have widened over the last 20 years since Titanic won Best Film and was also the biggest film of the year, many believe Spider-Man No Way Home should be rewarded the same way as Black Panther to receive Best Picture nomination as it helped “save cinema “. Giving Spider-Man No Way Home a Best Picture will be as cynical as Black Panther’s trying to show they do diversity as there are far more deserving films that should receive award recognition.
2. Belfast – £2,322,572 – NE
Had the 676th biggest opening in the UK between Smallfoot and The Silence of the Lambs (close to Moulin Rouge, Apollo 13, The Departed and Quartet) and 984th biggest inflation inflated between Predator 2 and Shallow Hal (close to The Lady in the Van, Phone Booth, Angela’s Ashes and Good Will Hunting).
82nd biggest Universal Pictures opening between Role Models and Public Enemies (close to House of Gucci, First Man, Mary, Queen of Scots and Burn After Reading).
Belfast is odds on to win Best Picture at BAFTAs and the opening was between 12 Years A Slave (£2,511,349) and Three Billboards (£2,361,782) but with the media coverage and opening as wide should have surely opened similar to Gladiator (£3,555,446) and The Kings Speech (£3,523,102) but being the must-see award contender Belfast would have opened close to La La Land (£6,596,256) and The Revenant (£5,235,851) in normal circumstances.
2000’s Angela’s Ashes opened £1,351,095 (£2,217,024 inflation inflated) taking £7,753,488 (£12,722,769 inflation inflated)
Had world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival and won the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival, received UK premiere at the London Film Festival and received positive reviews (87% Rotten Tomatoes); was named one of the best films of 2021 by the National Board of Review and received 7 Golden Globe nominations.
Comparisons have been made with Alfonso Cuaron’s Oscar and BAFTA winner Roma about a year in the life of a middle-class family maid in the early 1970s, the film had a limited cinema release before being released on Netflix. As Belfast Roma was shot in black and white.
1987’s Hope and Glory has a similar story about a young boy’s experiences living in London during World War 2 directed by John Boorman (took £845,927) similar to Belfast was about John Boorman’s childhood during the Blitz.
There are also films like Steven Spielberg’s Empire of the Sun (1987) about s schoolboy who separated from his parents after the Japanese Occupation of Shanghai (took £1,962,873); 2008’s The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, 2013’s The Book Thief, 2019’s JoJo Rabbit and the fantasy 2006’s Pan’s Labyrinth.
The film generates huge media coverage with lots of Judi Dench, Jamie Dornan and Kenneth Branagh interviews, with many of them repeating the same stories when they are being interviewed.
Opened in US cinemas on limited wide release 580 screens taking $1,779,410 expanded into 1,128 two weeks later but like all films targeting older demographics, it struggled to find an audience taking only $6.9m.
Kenneth Branagh has directed all sizes of films over the last decade it has been mostly big-budget studio releases since Thor in 2011 his last non-studio release was 2018’s All Is True opened £266,767 #10 from 252 screens taking £976,123 and 1993’s Much Ado About Nothing opened with £450,520 (£1.1m inflation inflated) taking £5.5m (£12.5m inflation inflated); 1988’s Henry V his directorial debut took £652,555; his next is the much-delayed Murder on the Orient Express sequel Death on the Nile which finally opens on February 11th.
Never makes any sense when films like Belfast open on over 700 screens as these films would normally have long legs so would expect them to expand over several weeks. In 2020 Parasite opened #4 with £1.39m from 137 screens expanded into 428 screens; second w/e #2 up 81% taking £2.52m; expanded into 565 screens week 3 taking £1.71m down 31% and then into 579 weeks 4 taking £1m #3 down 39% by then COVID was affecting BO or it would have played much longer.
Belfast opened in all 102 cinemas in Northern Island taking 20% of its opening with 60% of the box office from North Ireland from 30% of the cinemas taking £264,037 12% of the total, from just 4.5% screens with a much stronger average of £8,801.
On Friday it was the #1 film in the UK and was the #1 film in 412 of the 705 screens it opened in showing again that it should have opened in far fewer screens and then expanded this weekend and next ahead of BAFTA and Oscar nominations. This was seen in its screen average being less than Spider-Man No Way Home £3,299 Vs £3,440.
With BAFTA nominations announced on February 3 and Oscars on February 8th and BAFTA awards Sunday 13th March with Oscar ceremony two weeks later
1917 opened in 683 screens in January 2020 but was far more accessible
Always find it strange when distributors book Odeon Leicester Square for films like Belfast as the venue is far too big a venue for these films and that was seen with less than 10% seats sold for key evening performance but doesn’t help with top price seats £30. But played strongly in art-house and independent cinemas and was #1 in all Curzon cinemas and most Picturehouse and Everyman.
3. Scream – £1,251,812 – £4,753, 247
Down 49.3% in its second weekend; took £520,849 more than Scream 4 (£730,963); £362,269 more than Scream 3 (£889,543); £38,628 more than Scream 2 £1,213,184; find it very strange coincidence that Scream took very similar BO as Scream 2 in both the UK and the US.
Had the 726th biggest second weekend in the UK between Final Destination and Fury (close to Sinister, Inglourious Basterds, Edge of Tomorrow and Saw II) and 1,027th biggest inflation inflated between Bounty Hunter and The Thomas Crown Affair (close to 30 Days of Night, Saw VI, Insidious 2 and Mama).
69th biggest horror between Jigsaw and Saw VI (close to Candyman (2021), Final Destination 2, Halloween Kills and The Omen) and 86h biggest inflation inflated between The Woman In Black: Angel of Death and Halloween Kills (close to The Hills Have Eyes, The Purge: Anarchy, Poltergeist and Evil Dead).
76th biggest Paramount Pictures opening between 10 Cloverfield Lane and Flight (close to Paranormal Activity 4, Ghost in the Shell, Gemini Man and The Devil Inside).
2nd weekend
2011’s Scream 4 dropped 64.5% £730,963 taking £4,046,069 and £5,581,902
2000’s Scream 3 opened £889,543 (£1.52m inflation inflated) taking £4,267,334 (£7.3m inflation inflated) and £5,585,267 (£9.16m inflation inflated)
1998’s Scream 2 £1,213,184 (£2.26m inflation inflated) taking £4,962,546 (£9.3m inflation inflated) and £8,280,725 (£14.68m inflation inflated)
1997’s Scream n/a took £8,247,094 (£14.62m inflation inflated)
Scream has been described as a requel, a film that features events that featured in earlier films but is not a remake or a direct continuation of the plot, this allows the film to have fun with the concept of the film which was what the original trilogy was all about.
Scream was a horror film for people who watched horror films as Randy in Scream explains the rules of horrors, that you can never have sex, never drink and never say “I’ll be right back”, while the rules for the sequel are the body count is always higher, death scenes are more elaborate and never assume the killer is dead (that part is also the in the first film when Billy comes back from the dead for one last scare. While the rules of the third film were the killer is superhuman, anyone can die (which is also the case with Scream 5 as the aim of the film is to start a new trilogy of films) and the past will come back to bite you. The original title for Scream was Scary Movie, the title that was used a few years after Scream to spoof Scream which was also spoofing horror films.
Scream was one of several horrors that featured actors from popular teen US TV shows with I Know What You Did Last Summer opening the following year starring Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy) who then starred in Scream 2. There was also Final Destination, Urban Legend, Halloween H20: 20 Years Later and The Faculty many of them written by Kevin Williamson who wrote the original Scream script and also Dawson Creek (many of its teen actors appeared in these teen horrors).
Scream is directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett they previously directed horror-comedy Ready Or Not that received positive reviews (88% Rotten Tomatoes) opened #4 in the UK in September 2019 with £947,958 including £250,470 previews) took £1,637,064; dropped 73% in its second weekend (64% not including previews).
2018’s Halloween #3 dropped 37% taking £1,678,162 taking £5,854,328 71.6% of £8,171,544
2018’s A Quiet Place #3 dropped 29% (4% not including previews) taking £1,907,585 taking £6,350,119 taking 53.8% of £11,801,912
Scream 4 bucked that trend as it was a 15 certificate (all other Scream films have been 18) taking 11% of US opening without previews.
Despite Scream being the fifth film it’s not called 5cream or Scream 5 but Scream as it is planned to be the first of a new trilogy so bringing back Sidney, Gale and Dewey were always likely to set up the next generation of younger characters. This was similar to other legacyquels Jurassic World, Star Wars The Force Awakens and Ghostbuster Afterlife with the original cast supporting the younger cast and all of them were unlikely to survive the films.
As with other long-gap sequels, The Matrix Resurrections wasn’t going to perform like the previous films did as audience tastes have changed over the 25 years since the original film and the question is always who its target audience is. As Scream features a mix of the old and new cast from the original films it should attract a mix of both of those who saw the original film and also their children similar to Ghostbuster Afterlife, Jurassic World and Star Wars The Force Awakens.
Of course, the reason studios make many of these is in the hope its success will allow further films by introducing new characters as was the case with the Scream and calling it Scream rather than Scream 5. As 11 years on from making Scream 4, the aim is to make them accessible to old and young and allow them to pass the baton on to the next generation, with Harrison Ford dying Star Wars The Force Awakens, Harold Ramis “dying” in Ghostbusters Afterlife.
It was always likely that one of the three remaining actors wouldn’t survive the fifth film as the plan is to build the following films of this new trilogy on younger characters. Of the three original characters from the original film, it made the most sense for the one to die as while it would be a massive shock for many it doesn’t have any lasting impact on the film series which were led by strong female characters from the start.
While fans who grew up with the originals hate that they kill off the original characters these films aren’t really for them they are for their children to introduce these films to them and then further films. As probably the original plan with Disney’s Star Wars trilogy was to bring back Han Solo, Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker only to kill them off in the films, but these plans changed when Carrie Fisher sadly died during making the second film.
Similar is likely in Indiana Jones 5 as with Harrison Ford being 81 when the film opens he make another film but Disney aren’t interested in making just one film they must have plans to relaunch Indiana Jones with a new trilogy so the film will likely see him pair up with his son and his son following in on his footsteps after again falling from a great height in a building without safety railings.
After opening #2 to Spider-Man No Way Home Fri-Sun Scream was #1 on Monday so with good word of mouth should hold well in its second weekend.
4. Nightmare Alley – £550,868 – NE
Never makes sense to open two award contenders targetting a similar demographic over the same weekend especially when one had the high-profile of Belfast so Nightmare Alley was always likely to struggle while Belfast opening was always likely to not open as well as it should do.
Guillermo del Toro’s last film 2018’s The Shape of Water opened with £2,466,217 including £918,894 previews taking £1,547,323 Fri-Sun and £7,312,082 total.
Having the highest budget for any Searchlight Pictures ($60m), 20th Century Fox started Fox Searchlight Pictures in 1994 releasing speciality films its first The Brothers McMullen had a budget of $28,000 taking $10m at the box office. Fox Searchlight won the Best Picture Oscar for Slumdog Millionaire. 12 Years A Slave, Birdman, Nomadland and The Shape of Water also directed by Guillermo del Toro so expectations were very high for Nightmare Alley and received positive reviews (80% Rotten Tomatoes).
2018’s The Shape of Water opened with £2,466,217 including £918,894 previews taking £7,312,082
Guillermo del Toro previous directed a wide range of films from Hellboy to Pacific Rim but is still probably best known for directing Oscar-winning 2006’s Pan’s Labyrinth opened #8 £298,432 from 75 screens taking £2,532,777.
The problem was as the industry knew over 20 months ago but failed to do anything about it older audiences have been very slow to return to cinemas, so it was no surprise that Nightmare Alley as West Side Story struggled to find a wide audience in the US as it will also do in the UK, this is the case with all three films opening this weekend.
The longer-term problem is as with last year’s Oscars and BAFTA award ceremonies both receiving their lowest TV ratings for many years as mainstream audiences hadn’t seen most of the nominees the same thing will happen this year unless they add films like No Time To Die and Spider-Man No Way Home to the list of Best Picture.
There are far more deserving films that should be nominated and this would be seen as a cynical decision made by the Academies to try and boost interest in these award shows. The problem is the divide between cinemagoers and Oscars has widened over the last 20+ years as Titanic in 1998 was the last Best Picture that was also the biggest film in the US.
In 2018 the Academy announced plans to introduce Outstanding Achievement in Popular Film which received backlash from the Academy and the media trying to get mainstream audiences to return to the Oscars, its TV ratings have been in decline for more than a decade. Many believed it was a way for Black Panther to be guaranteed a major award, the film was instead nominated for Best Picture and many believe Spider-Man No Way Home will become the second whilst the vastly superior The Dark Knight was never nominated.
5. Clifford The Big Red Dog – £460,618 – £8,498,573
Down 12.3% in its seventh weekend, both Clifford The Big Red Dog and Encanto have held very well over the last few weeks due to no other children’s films released but this will change with the arrival of Sing this weekend.
Clifford the Big Red Dog is the 6th biggest family film that has opened since cinemas reopened last May between Cruella (£9,455,700) and The Paw Patrol Movie (£8,410,958) family films has taken over £100m at the box office since May 2021.
After opening with £1,293,354 it took 28.1% of its box office to date from its first 10 days and has taken 6.57x opening this is similar to Free Guy, The Hangover, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, Last Christmas, Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked, Toy Story, Enchanted, Shaun The Sheep Movie, Cruella, Jumanji, Nanny McPhee and Cats and Dogs.
While No Time To Die and Spider-Man No Way Home receive all the credit for bringing people back to the cinema it is family films that have done much more for cinema longer-term future as they have been the most consistent genre of films that have performed well since cinemas reopened in July 2021.
Clifford The Big Red Dog was helped also by Encanto failing to be as successful as previous Disney animated films as had it found an audience two weeks earlier in November it would have struggled while also benefiting from no other major family films being released until Sing 2 this weekend no other family film released this year will have the same.
Normally family films at Christmas perform very strongly as they open in November and play till January. Universal held back the release of Sing 2 to January 28th as they did with the first due to Disney releasing Moana in December 2016 taking £20,041,031 while Sing took £28,840,000 in January 2017.
751st biggest film in the UK between Total Recall (1990) and Valiant (close to Goosebumps, Yogi Bear, The Paw Patrol Movie and Horton Hears a Who) and 1,082nd biggest inflation inflated between Halloween and Dad’s Army (close to Rango, The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, Abominable and Dr Seuss’ The Lorax).
59th biggest family film between Goosebumps and Home Alone (close to Garfield, Cruella, Dr Dolittle 2 and The Haunted Mansion) 23rd biggest eOne film between The Post and Limitless (close to Nativity 2: Danger in the Manger!, Arrival, The House with A Clock in Its Walls and Nativity 3: Dude, Where’s My Donkey?).
Family films about pets have been popular in cinemas including 2009’s Marley And Me £15.4m; 1992’s Beethoven £6.8m; 1993’s Beethoven’s 2nd £5.8m; 2017’s A Dog’s Purpose £3.2m. Along with animated The Secret Life of Pets films, the first £35,825,195 and the second £18,638,365; 2001’s Cats and Dog £23,013,391 (£40,134,464 inflation inflated); 2010’s Cats & Dogs: Revenge of Kitty Galore took £3,972,149 (£4,819,986 inflation inflated) and even in October 2020 the made for DVD third film Cats & Dogs: Paws Unite! Took £1.36m.
Also holding strong over the last month has been Disney’s Encanto while it didn’t open as strongly as many previous Disney animated films have taken £7,081,957 over the last 9 weeks including £1,616,114 over the last four weeks mostly weekend despite being available on Disney+ since Christmas Day. Showing yet again streaming isn’t the enemy of cinema as David Hancock recently said, “Streaming can’t kill cinema,”… “Only cinema can kill cinema by not continually investing in its environment to stay ahead of other leisure and film-watching options.”
Cinema has been its own worst enemy over the last 19 years and the last 18 months as No Time To Die and Spider-Man No Time To Die paint over the massive failures of the industry in how they dealt with COVID, it was 2 years ago this week China closed all their cinemas for the first time due to COVID days before the most lucrative week of their year, despite this the West were in complete denial that COVID was going to be a global issue.
At that time surely all that someone needed to do is watch a couple of films to realise it was going to be a global issue within weeks but their denial and waiting on incompetent governments to make decisions they should have made cost lives, jobs and billions of dollars.
As the problem with the cinema industry is they only think short-term (the next few months) not years or decades as tech companies do, nothing was done because the 2020 box office started so strongly, but were in denial in early March 2020 that it wasn’t affecting cinema attendance as people were fighting over toilet rolls and packets of pasta in supermarkets.
Also Opened
Journal For Jordan – Sony Pictures – #14 £50,511 from 195 screens
Opened similar to Denzel Washington directorial debut 2003’s Antwone Fisher opened #14 £59,976 from 46 screens; 2007’s The Great Debaters didn’t get a UK cinema release and 2017’s Fences opened £102,688 #14 limited released 21 screens expanding into 148 and 359 screens over following weeks with £378,351/£350,071 #12/#13 taking £1,158,590.
UK box office in detail
This weekend’s top 10 box office took £8,091,792 down 4.1% from last weekend £8,436,216
The weekend admissions were 1,076,036 down 9.3% 1,186,528 from last week; using the average price of £7.52 which is calculated by CAA calculating admissions for 2021 for the UK 74m with UK BO of £556.9m divide the two get an average price. This is up 11.4% from 2020 (£6.75) when it should be lower as VAT was 5% for UK cinemas from July 2020 till September 30, 2021, and is 12.5% till March but exhibitors haven’t reduced prices to customers unlike the majority of the hospitality sector).
Top 3 took £5,909,872 73.1% of the top 10; Spider-Man No Way Home 28.9% (£2,335,488); Belfast 28.7% (£2,322,572); Scream 15.5% (£1,251,812);
2021 n/a cinemas closed
Down 40.6% from 2020 (£13,633,691); The Personal History Of David Copperfield (£1,524,147); Paw Patrol: Ready, Race, Rescue (£483,886); The Grudge (£461,921); The Turning (£104,459); #1 1917 £4,518,270 3rd week 27% drop 742 screens (33.1% of the top 10)
Down 39.2% from 2019; (£13,317,271); Glass (£3,423,380); Mary, Queen of Scots (£2,082,160); Beautiful Boy (£361,382); La Bayadere – Bolshoi Ballet 2019 (£136,621t); Hey Duggee at the Cinema (£67,672); #1 Glass £3,423,380 1st weeks 559 screens (25.7% of top 10)
Down 59.7% from 2018: (£20,087,765); Coco (£5,209,214); The Post (£2,152,977); The Commuter (£1,602,680); Romeo and Juliet – Bolshoi 2018 (£181,834): #1 Coco £5,209,214 1st week 575 (25.9% of the top 10)
Down 37.6% from 2017: (£12,971,749); Split (£2,548,516); xXx: The Return of Xander Cage (£1,620,811); Lion (£1,265,282); Jackie (£662,900); Romeo et Juliette – Met Opera 2017 (£228,384); The Sleeping Beauty – Bolshoi 2017 (£218,668); Goodfellas (Re: 2017) (£27,226); #1 La La Land £4,373,249 2nd week 674 screens 43% drop (33.7% of top 10)
Down 40.6% from 2016: (£13,620,775); Ride Along 2 (£2,141,341); The Big Short (£1,302,205); The 5th Wave (£497,568); The Taming of the Shrew – Bolshoi 2016 (£160,323); The Assassin (£76,542); Our Brand Is Crisis (£27,723); Dark Places (£625); #1 The Revenant £3,856,489 2nd week 623 screens 26% drop (28.3% of top 10)
Down 24.7% from 2015; (£10,751,450); Ex Machina (£1,093,952); Mortdecai (£484,878); The Gambler (£381,554); Swan Lake – Bolshoi 2014 (£284,344); A Most Violent Year (£216,538); #1 American Sniper £2,539,534 2nd week 1st #1 457 screens 0% drop (23.6% of top 10)
Down 31.1% from 2014: (£11,753,522); Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (£1,278,187); Inside Llewyn Davis (£718,401); August: Osage County (£537,310); Grudge Match (£265,643); #1 The Wolf of Wall Street £3,608,968 2nd week 506 screens 23% drop (30.7% of top 10)
Down 41.9% from 2013 (£13,926,746); Lincoln (£1,657,337); Zero Dark Thirty (£1,052,845); Movie 43 (£787,648); The Last Stand (£538,867); Won’t Back Down (£736); #1 Les Miserables £4,016,611 3rd week 591 screens 9% drop (28.8% of top 10)
Down 26.8% from 2012 (£11,054,100); Haywire (£1,197,866); Underworld: Awakening (£1,114,327); The Sitter (£910,382); J. Edgar (£413,210); W.E. (£182,914); Coriolanus (£169,308); #1 War Horse £3,202,493 2nd week 513 screens 19% drop (29% of top 10)
Down 37.3% from 2011 (£12,916,152); Black Swan (£2,762,429); The Dilemma (£1,102,798); Morning Glory (£524,356); N.E.D.S. (£283,210); Breakfast at Tiffany’s (50th Anniversary) (£10,498); Get Low (£4,608); #1 The King’s Speech £4,226,074 3rd week 502 screens 4% drop (32.7% of top 10)
Down 39.7% from 2010: (£13,422,186); Toy Story 2 (Digital 3-D) (£909,093); Brothers (£366,290); A Prophet (£312,237); Ninja Assassin (£187,285); The Boys Are Back (£64,465); Armoured (£64,931); #1 Avatar £5,155,844 6th week 428 screens 7% drop (38.4% of top 10)
Down 31.1% from 2009; (£11,743,640); Valkyrie (£1,854,195); Underworld 3 (£990,285); Frost/Nixon (£591,411); Milk (£336,027); Rachel Getting Married (£84,652); #1 Slumdog Millionaire £2,806,996 3rd week 2nd #1 379 screens 7% increase (23.9% of top 10)
Down 22.7% from 2008; (£10,462,095); Sweeney Todd (£4,525,246); In the Valley of Elah (£345,185); The Savages (£72,823); #1 Sweeney Todd £4,525,246 1st week 436 screens (43.2% of top 10)
Down 24.6% from 2007: (£10,737,948); Rocky Balboa (£3,639,339); The Return (£277,457); #1 Rocky Balboa £3,639,339 1st week 405 screens (33.9% of top 10)
Down 16.3% from 2006; (£9,668,855); Fun with Dick and Jane (£1,957,060); Underworld: Evolution (£1,146,779); Get Rich or Die Tryin’ (£803,489); A Cock and Bull Story (£332,582); #1 Fun with Dick and Jane £1,957,060 1st week 422 screens (20.2% of top 10)
Up 1.8% from 2005 (£7,950,505); Elektra (£791,914); Ray (£485,005); A Very Long Engagement (£312,042); Dear Frankie (£57,214); #1 Closer £1,587,136 2nd week £1,568,526 332 screens 1% increase (19.9% of top 10)
Down 19.5% from 2004 (£10,047,733); Scary Movie 3 (£3,490,585); Big Fish (limited) (£126,899); #1 Scary Movie 3 £3,490,585 1st week 418 screens (34.7% of top 10)
Down 23.8% from 2003 (£10,625,350); I Spy (£878,229); Ghost Ship (£784,565); About Schmidt (£757,325); The Pianist (£195,222); #1 8 Mile £2,514,467 2nd week 423 screens 43% drop (23.6% of top 10)
Down 13.3% from 2002 (£9,329,000); Vanilla Sky (£2,978,264); In the Bedroom (£87,294); #1 Vanilla Sky £2,978,264 1st week 425 screens (31.9% of top 10)
Next weekend in 2020 (£9,319,783); Queen & Slim (£507,302); A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood (£493,770); Porgy And Bess – Met Opera 2020 (£409,359); The Lighthouse (£384,284); The Rhythm Section (£171,837); Richard Jewell (£158,868); La Boheme – ROH, London 2019/20 (£58,051); #1 1917 £2,798,457 4th week 38% drop 721 screens (30.1% of the top 10)
US Box Office
- Scream – Paramount Pictures
Down 61% in its second weekend taking $12.21m and $51.16m
Scream and Spider-Man No Way Home performed closely during weekdays with only $0.22m between the two on Wednesday and after the positivity surrounding Scream last weekend would have expected it to hold far stronger than normal front-loading horrors.
After opening similar to Scream 3 which also took $13.3m on Friday and $36.5m over 4 days, while the second-weekend drop was similar to 1997’s Scream 2 but there is over 110% ticket inflation since so it should have opened similar to 2018’s Halloween $76.2m down 58.8% in its second weekend taking $31.41m and $126.07m of $159.34m.
Second weekends
1996’s Scream increased 42.8% #5 taking $9.07m and $21.25m taking $103.04m and $173.04m worldwide (#5 behind Michael, Jerry Maguire, 101 Dalmatians and Beavis and Butt-Head America, had a very strong word of mouth and held very strongly staying in the top 10 for 9 weeks)
1997’s Scream 2 dropped 57.7% $13.92m #3 and $55.08m taking $101.36m and $172.36m WW
2000s Scream 3 dropped 53% $16.31m #1 and $56.97m taking $89.14m and $161.83m WW
2011’s Scream 4 dropped 62.4% $7.03m #5 and $31.03m taking $38.18m and $97.23m WW
Two major announcements for Paramount Pictures last week first the delay of Mission Impossible 7 from September 30th to July 14th, 2023, (previously dated July 23, 2021, Nov. 19, 2021, May 27, 2022, and Sept. 30, 2022) and Mission Impossible 8 to June 28th, 2024. With Paramount also having Top Gun Maverick on May 27th (previously dated July 12, 2019, June 24, 2020, Dec. 23, 2020, July 2, 2021, and Nov. 19, 2021) it never made sense to open two Tom Cruise films within a few months and now they have three over three years.
There are massive questions over Top Gun Maverick opening now 36 years after the original as like all the other long gap sequels will it play to young as much as old who will be in their 50s if they saw the film in cinemas. As seen with Scream the audience breakdown was two thirds under 35. While Tom Cruise had huge success over multiple films in the 80sand 90s but since is best known for playing Ethan Hunt in Mission Impossible.
The other was Skydance Productions moving to Apple after its distribution deal ended with Paramount in December, they had been with the studio since 2009 and co-financed many of their biggest hits over the last 12 years. After Skydance had sold many of their films over the last few years to streaming services. The Tomorrow War and Without Remorse sold Amazon and Luck and Spellbound to Apple all were originally due to be released by Paramount it was always likely Skydance might find a new home. The problem is Paramount fail to keep relationships with production companies with Blumhouse Productions originally based at the studio moving to Universal.
While Dreamworks moved to 20th Century Fox before being brought by Universal in 2016 for $3.8bn, despite previously buying Dreamworks in 2005 for $1.6bn. Paramount also had a distribution deal with 2005 Marvel to release 10 films after the success of Iron Man in 2008 they had the option to buy Marvel but Viacom the owners of the studio rejected the deal and Disney instead acquired Marvel in 2009 for $4bn. In 2013 Paramount swapped future Indiana Jones rights with Disney to buy out Jerry Bruckheimer production deal a year early but then didn’t’ release a film made by the producer until 2019 (Gemini Man).
Ever since 2011 when Paramount had their biggest year ever in the US and globally the studio has come short of expectations but over recent years after Jim Gianopulos became the head of the studio in 2018 things were looking up as they were putting together a strong slate with A Quiet Place but due to delays they never got a steady slate of films opening after each other. This was expected to change this year with Scream, The Lost City, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Top Gun Maverick, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts and Bee Gees Biopic had one of their strongest slates in 10 years.But with Transformers: Rise of the Beasts and Mission Impossible 7 both delayed to 2023 it won’t be as strong as it should have been, that said many analysts don’t think BO will return to pre-pandemic levels until 2023 so maybe delaying them to 2023 could be good long term.
Took $10.2m (down 43.3%) from 54 territories and $33.6m total international and $85m worldwide; UK$6.5m; France $2.9m; Australia $2.8m; Russia $1.3m; Mexico $2.3m; Germany $1.8m;
- Spider-Man No Way Home – Sony Pictures
Dropped 38% in its sixth weekend taking $14m and $720.89m
Took $2.7m from IMAX worldwide and 9th biggest IMAX film worldwide
4th biggest film in the US between Avatar and Black Panther (the 5th film to take over $700m since Avatar in 2009) and the 2nd biggest comic-book movie between Avengers Endgame and Black Panther; 14th biggest inflation inflated between Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Avengers.
Sixth weekends
2017’s Spider-Man Homecoming #7 dropped 31.9% taking $6.02m and $306.37m 91.7% of $334.2m
2019’s Spider-Man: Far From Home #8 dropped 33.2% taking $5.27m and $370.95m 95% of $390.53m
2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron #8 dropped 44.4% taking $6.33m and $438.15m 95.4% of $459m
2018’s Avengers Infinity War #4 39.2% taking $10.5m and $643m 94.7% of $678.81m
2019’s Avengers Endgame #6 dropped 53.3% taking $8.03m and $815.72m 95% of $858.37m
But Spider-Man No Way Home third weekend can only really be compared to Christmas releases as films between Christmas and the New Year perform differently than any other time of the year often increasing the weekend after Christmas.
2009’s Avatar #1 dropped 18.3% taking $34.94m and $551.74m 73.6% of $749.76m
2015’s Star Wars The Force Awakens #2 dropped 46.6% taking $14.07m and $879.11m 93.8% of $936.6m
2016’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story #6 dropped 46.3% taking $7.21m and $512.37m 96.3% of $532.17m
2017’s Star Wars The Last Jedi #8 dropped 44.7% taking $6.55m and $604.27m 97.4% of $620.18m
2017’s Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle #2 dropped 17.2% taking $16.14m and $337.8m 83.5% of $404.54m
2019’s Star Wars The Rise of Skywalker #7 dropped 32.8% taking $5.57m and $501.98m 97.4% of $515.2m
Has become Sony Pictures biggest film in the US overtaking 2017’s Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle in 2017 ($404.5m)
Spider-Man No Way Home is the 8th Spider-Man film made by Sony Pictures since 2002;
Original trilogy directed by Sam Raimi starring Tobey Maguire between 2002 and 2007
Spider-Man took $407.02m; $418m international and $825.02m);
Spider-Man 2 took $373.58m; $415.39m international and $788.97m WW);
Spider-Man 3 took $336.53m and $558.45m and $894.98m WW);
The Amazing Spider-Man in 2012 with a sequel in 2014 directed by Marc Webb starring Andrew Garfield
The Amazing Spider-Man took $262.02m $495.9m and $757.93m WW;
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 took $202.85m and $506.12m and $708.98m WW);
Spider-Man then became part of the MCU directed by Jon Watts and starring Tom Holland between 2017 and 2021
2017’s Spider-Man Homecoming $334.2m and $545.96m internationally $880.16m WW);
2019’s Spider-Man: Far From Home took $390.53m and $747.39m internationally $1.13bn WW)
Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse took $190.24m and $185.29m and $375.54m WW with Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse Part 1 and Morbius set for April 2022 release.
Spider-Man also appeared in Captain America Civil War, Avengers Infinity War, Avengers Endgame MCU films and also in the end credit scene in Venom Let There Be Carnage with Spider-Man 4 currently in a development likely to be released in November 2023 with The Marvels in February, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 in May, Ant-Man 3 in July. (Ant-Man featured the first mention of Spider-Man in the MCU during the end credit scene).
Took $27.7m (down 17.1%) from 63 territories $970.1m total and $1.69bn worldwide; the UK took $116.9m; Mexico $73.4m; South Korea $60.6m; France $59.9m; Australia $53.2m; 6th biggest film worldwide between Avengers: Infinity War and Jurassic World (46th film to take over $1bn worldwide since Jurassic Park in 1993).
- Sing 2 – Universal Pictures
Dropped 28% in its fifth weekend taking $5.75m and $128.45m
Despite being released on VOD last week Sing 2 is still holding strong weekend
Sing 2 is the highest-grossing animated movie in the US since 2020, that said it has taken half of what the original had taken over similar time and Sing 2 didn’t have any competition.
Exhibitors are fickle 18 months ago AMC and Regal banned Universal Pictures films after they announced Trolls World Tour was going to VOD, but now they are celebrating then and castigating Disney’s decision last week to move their latest Pixar film Turning Red to Disney+ rather than having a theatrical release. Since Disney released Onward in March 2020 they have released Soul and Luca also direct to Disney+.
It’s interesting that while children’s films have been the one genre of films that has performed steadily since cinemas reopened in July 2017 in the UK they haven’t done as well in the US and after the soft BO of Encanto this was probably the reason behind Disney’s decision to move the film to Disney+, that and the need for content, one thing you can be sure of is Disney won’t be releasing Lightyear straight to Disney+ in June.
89th biggest animated film between The Peanuts Movie and Robots; 499th biggest film in the US between Borat and Ghostbusters; 970th biggest inflation inflated between Stand by Me and Ever After A Cinderella Story; 9th biggest 2021 film between A Quiet Place: Part II and Ghostbusters: Afterlife; 68th biggest Universal Pictures film between The Nutty Professor and 2 Fast 2 Furious.
2016’s Sing fifth-weekend #4 down 36.8% taking $9m and $249.32m 92.2% taking $270.44m and $634.2m WW
Took $8.44m (down 51%) from 54 territories $112.62m total and $241.08m worldwide; Has overtaken Encanto and The Croods A New Age to become the biggest animated film during the pandemic;113th biggest animated film worldwide between Chicken Run and The Little Mermaid; 666th biggest inflation inflated between Face/Off and Assassin’s Creed; 15th biggest 2021 film worldwide between A Quiet Place: Part II and Cruella; 90th biggest Universal Pictures film worldwide between Back to the Future Part III and American Reunion;
UK Box Office Top 10
UK Box Office Preview
After Spider-Man No Way Home has been #1 for the last 6 weeks Sing 2 The sequel follows the same UK release strategy of the first film which opened a month after the US on January 27th, 2017, ahead of the half-term holidays to avoid opening Disney’s Moana. Sing opened with £10,487,380 including £4,201,298 previews (£6,286,082 Fri-Sun) taking £28,840,000.
Sing had a competition for half-term from The LEGO Batman Movie opened two weeks later with £7,906,468 taking £26,771,191; the sequel has Uncharted opening two weeks later had the advantage of being trailered with Spider-Man No Way Home also featuring Tom Holland.
Surprising Sing 2 didn’t have weekend previews ahead of opening to inflate its opening as the original did, but this has been the case with children’s films that have opened since cinemas reopened apart from Peter Rabbit 2, has meant they have had much longer legs. Sing 2 opened with about a third less than the original and has taken about half as much to date and is the first major animated film to open since cinemas reopened as Encanto had soft buzz ahead of opening while Croods A New Age and The Boss Baby 2 were never going to perform anywhere near the original films.
Sing 2 is the first of three Illumination Entertainment films released this year with Minions The Rise of Gru (delayed from 2021) opening in July (two weeks after Lightyear the first time Pixar and Illumination Entertainment have gone head-to-head with two major franchises out of school holidays) and Mario opening December 23rd.
After Spider-Man No Way Home spent 6 weeks at #1 it will likely drop into third place behind Belfast after taking only £12,916 more last weekend as would expect Belfast to drop about 25% taking £1.7m-1.9m and Spider-Man No Way Home about 35% taking £1.4m-£1.6m as it will start losing screens and then next weekend will lose IMAX and PLF screens it has had for 7 weeks.
With Moonfall, Uncharted, Death on The Nile opening over the next three weeks Spider-Man No Way Home will drop out of the top 5 over those weeks, but as there aren’t the level of major releases it could be in the top 10 until The Batman opens in March. s
Parallel Mothers the new film from director Pedro Almodóvar also opens starring Penélope Cruz, the first Pathe film to be released by Warner Bros after their distribution deal ended with 20th Century Fox in June 2021.
Some of Pedro Almodóvar previous film openings
Pain & Glory opened £307,131 from 125 screens
2016’s Julieta opened with £356,191
2011’s The Skin I Live In opened with £325,349
2006’s Volver opened with £433,283
2002’s Talk To Her opened with £174,757
Opening next week
- Moonfall – Entertainment Film Distributors
Sci-fi disaster starring Halle Berry, Patrick Wilson, John Bradley, Michael Peña, Charlie Plummer, Kelly Yu, and Donald Sutherland and directed by Roland Emmerich; with a budget of $140m it’s one of the most expensive independent made film financed by presales. Hopefully, it will perform better than the last most expensive independent made film Luc Besson’s Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets released in 2017 with a budget of $180m and took $225m worldwide.
Entertainment Film Distributors acquired UK rights at Cannes 2019 and Lionsgate US rights in November 2019
Roland Emmerich is famous for directing action films including 1994’s Stargate, 1996’s Independence Day (£7,100,000), 1998’s Godzilla (£4,176,960), the 2000s The Patriot, 2004’s The Day After Tomorrow (£7,321,633), 2009’s 2012 (£6,489,809) and 2016’s Independence Day: Resurgence (£5,067,855).
In the 90s and early 00s, they were hugely popular at the box office but his most recent White House Down and Independence Day: Resurgence weren’t nearly as successful he most recently directed Midway in 2019 (opened with £755,181)
It will be released in IMAX and being released by Entertainment Film Distributors they spend heavily promoting the film, but opening week after Sing 2 won’t open #1.
- Jackass Forever – Paramount Pictures
Comedy sequel to 2010’s Jackass 3D and the fourth film of the series starring Johnny Knoxville, Steve-O, Chris Pontius, Dave England, Wee Man, Danger Ehren, and Preston Lacy and directed by Jeff Tremaine.
Was originally set for release in March 2021 and delayed several times due to COVID.
2003’s Jackass; The Movie opened £1,314,740 (£2,137,933 inflation inflated) taking £3,860,921 (£6,278,345 inflation inflated)
2006’s Jackass: Number Two opened £735,274 taking £1,684,673 (lasted only 2 weeks in top 10)
2010’s Jackass 3D opened #2 £1,696,909 taking £5,576,683
2013’s Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa opened £1,940,476 including £546,025 previews taking £6,343,622
- The Eyes Of Tammy Faye – Disney
A biographical drama based on the documentary by Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato about televangelists Tammy Faye Bakker and Jim Bakker. Starring Jessica Chastain, Andrew Garfield, Cherry Jones, Fredric Lehne, Louis Cancelmi, Sam Jaeger, Gabriel Olds, Mark Wystrach and Vincent D’Onofrio and directed by Michael Showalter.
Had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival receiving mixed reviews (66% Rotten Tomatoes) taking $2.4m in the US when it was released in September. Will have limited interest in the UK unless Jessica Chastain receives Oscar/BAFTA Best Actress nomination.