Top 5 Breakdown
- The Secret Life of Pets – £4,729,753 – total £16,606,714
3D £4,295,601 (90.8%) total £14,497,436 (87.2%) – 3D £434,153 (9.1%) total £2,109,278 (12.7%)
Dropping 50.3% in its second weekend including previews slightly more than Minions last year which dropped 46.1% and Zootropolis dropped 48.5% taking 32.7m and £12.5m but less than Inside Out which dropped 51.3% taking £3.57m and £16.96m. Can’t really be compared with either those two as they opened during school holidays which meant box office was shared across the week rather than being concentrated in two days.
The Secret Life of Pets did likely effect Ice Age: Collision Course first weekend of previews only taking £967,599.
Hard to compare with Minions last year being part of Despicable Me franchise and not having previews The Secret Life of Pets is technically in its third weekend Minions took £4.1m and £27.6m. Likewise impossible to compare with two Despicable Me films as they both had half terms to boost their box office similarly Inside Out opened at the start of the summer holidays.
In the last few years’ audiences have rejected paying more for 3D especially for family films with over 87% of its box office coming from 2D and a similar high 63% for Independence Day: Resurgence.
- Absolutely Fabulous The Movie- £4,016,132 – NE
The biggest opening for a British film of the year (ahead of Grimsby and Eddie the Eagle) and the biggest British opening since Spectre
After receiving huge media coverage surrounding its world premiere last week the film surprisingly received positive reviews as were murmuring in social media as media got to see it only days before the premiere. Never normally a good sign but often happens with UK films when the films get finished very close to their released date.
Its trailers highlighted the many cameos that featured similar to Entourage last year and Zoolander 2 this year which always makes me feel the studio is unsure the actors can open the film on their own.
Several other films that featured great surprise cameos including Tropic Thunder, The Player and Pret-A-Porter and Austin Powers Goldmember.
After all the doom and gloom in recent weeks of the EU Referendum and England losing to Iceland UK audiences were looking for something funny why Absolutely Fabulous and Central Intelligence both opened strongly.
Having two comedies opening the same weekend probably cannibalized them slightly as the audience demographics for both films is different the fan-base of Absolutely Fabulous crosses over into Central Intelligence.
Absolutely Fabulous opened slightly behind 2014’s Mrs Brown’s Boys D’Movie £4.2m also based on a high rated BBC TV comedy.
Opening was far from The Inbetweeners and The Inbetweeners 2 which opened in August 2011and 2014 with £13.2m and £12.5m both were of course helped by school holidays and probably shows how audiences were split over the weekend teens came out to see Central Intelligence while older saw Absolutely Fabulous.
Mrs Brown’s Boys D’Movie opened during the World Cup in facing little competition in its first few weeks while allowed it to take over £14m Absolutely Fabulous faces Ghostbusters in a week.
The big question is how it will hold in the upcoming weeks as Dad’s Army dropped 37.1% in its second weekend in February which would see it take £2.4m and on its way to £10m+. It could possible perform stronger during the week than its rivals targeting older audiences not as old as The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel which some strangely compared its opening to.
Absolutely Fabulous topped the chart on Monday taking just under £700,000 70% ahead of The Secret Life of Pets in second would probably topped the chart next weekend if Now You See Me 2 didn’t have a 7 day opening weekend if it opens similar to first over 7 days it would likely open ahead.
- Central Intelligence £3,043,015 NE
Had Kevin Hart’s biggest opening for a lead or co-star removing Furious films it was Dwayne Johnson’s second biggest behind last year’s San Andreas. It was also director Rawson Marshall Thurber’s biggest opener ahead of 2004’s Dodgeball’s £2.2m.
Opening was boosted by two days of previews £775,796
Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart have shown again they can both now open films in the UK couple of years ago were the comic support;
Dwayne Johnson from Get Smart (£4.84m) in 2008, The Other Guys (£8.19m) in 2010 and Furious 5-7 to last year’s San Andreas upcoming vocally appears in Moana then stars in three films in three months Fast 8, Baywatch and Jumanji.
While Kevin Hart ten years ago starred in Scary Movie 4, Little Fockers in 2010 before finding his grove in Ride Along opened with £1.4m in 2014, The Wedding Ringer opening in February 2015 with £986,123 (was his real solo breakout success in the UK as before these films would barely register at the UK box office); Think Like a Man – 2012 – £81,516, About Last Night – 2014 – £172,181 and Think Like a Man 2 – 2014 – £131,000. Ride Along 2 earlier this year opened with £2.1m
After a busy couple of years Kevin Hart upcoming has his concert comedy movie before re-teaming with Dwayne Johnson in Jumanji next summer when the reboot was announced was surrounded by as much negativity as Ghostbuster reboot but having them cast has ease some concerns.
- Independence Day: Resurgence -£2,018,325 – total £9,151,048
2D £1,364,981 (67.6%) total £5,809,491 (63.4%) 3D £384,764 (19.1%) total £2,278,576 (24.8%)
IMAX/3D £6,395 (0.3%) total £1,062,981 (11.6%)
Dropping 60% in its second weekend while there have been many sequels this year that have underwhelmed at the box office Independence Day: Resurgence is one that surprised as it had all the elements that made the first film the huge success it was, reviews were mixed similar to first making was fun but audiences just weren’t interested.
If its poor performance was only UK would have said that Boris Johnson, Nigel Farage and The Sun saying June 23rd can be our Independence Day could be the reason for its performance. But seeing how Alice In Wonderland, X-Men: Apocalypse, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out Of The Shadows all performed Independence Day: Resurgence might have been predictable.
The big question ahead is how will the next batch of sequels perform with all eyes on Ghostbusters next Monday rumours are is far better than expected. UK premiere audiences get to see Star Trek Beyond and Jason Bourne also next week and rumours are Jason Bourne is as good if not better than original trilogy.
- The Conjuring 2 £821,815 – total £9,455,320
Down 47.1% in its third weekend continuing to perform similar to the first film which took £973,073 in its third weekend and £8,121,962 but with 4 days less. Should overtake the originals box office which it won’t do in the US.
Also released
The Colony – Signature – £47 from 3 screens
Has been storm in a teapot headlines for film starred Emma Watson as was given a token theatrical release opening VOD with very little media coverage.
Emma Watson’s next Beauty and the Beast is likely to bring her back to Harry Potter box office heights as the buzz is very strong 9 months before opening. While the teaser which had little footage broke the record set by Star Wars The Force Awakens watched 91.8m times in the first 24 hours of its release.
Its five years since Harry Potter ended for Emma Watson and Daniel Radcliffe while the franchise returns in November with Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them its been tough for the actors to build acting careers after. Daniel Radcliffe has made many very different films but no breakout successes currently in Now You See Me 2. Emma Watson has had more luck with The Bling Ring, Noah, This Is The End.
Other box office news:
This weekend’s top 10 box office took £15,314,677 down 13.6% from last weekend £17,743,825;
Weekend was down 2.1% from same weekend last year (£15,637,798) when Terminator: Genisys £3,773,582, Magic Mike XXL £1,521,191, Amy £520,528 opened.
Next weekend 2015: Ted 2 £3,865,825, Love & Mercy £101,516 and Song of the Sea £56,679 opened.
Complete UK Box office top 10 – July 1st – 3rd 2016
US Box Office top 10
- Walt Disney – Finding Dory – dropped 42.6% – $31.9m – $372.2m; in days; after 17 days Finding Nemo had taken $191.4m in June 2003 and within a couple of days will have overtaken its final box office
- Warner Bros – The Legend of Tarzan – opened $38.1m; despite mixed reviews still manged to open far bigger than most expected and surprisingly received A- CinemaScore.
- Universal – The Purge: Election Year – opened $30.8m; was very front-loaded opening well on Friday but dropped off Sat/Sun receiving B+ CinemaScore likely to not last long in charts but will be another low budget summer success.
- Disney – The BFG – opened $19.5m very disappointing several weeks ago was expected to opened with more than double. Many questioning Steven Spielberg but it was more to do with the continued performance of Finding Dory and opening far too close to it.
- 20th Century Fox – Independence Day: Resurgence – dropped 59.8% – $16.8m – $72.6m; 20 years ago Independence Day took more than double in its second weekend $25.2m and had taken $160.3m on its way to take $306.1m the sequel will be lucky to take half.
- Warner Bros – Central Intelligence – dropped 32.4% – $12.3m – $91.7m; amongst the poor performing sequels Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart show their BO quality.
- Sony Pictures – The Shallows – dropped 46.4% – $9m – $35.2m; 2nd weekend drop shows it might not be the summer sleeper many expected but still another low budget success.
- STX – Free State of Jones – dropped 45.4% – $4.1m -$15.2m
- Warner Bros – The Conjuring 2 – dropped 50% – $3.8m – $95.2m; after 24 days first film took $120.6m
- Lionsgate – Now You See Me 2 – dropped 47.3% – $2.9m – $58.6m; the first film took $94.4m after 24 days.