- Unhinged – £175,263 – NE
Unhinged become the first new film to open #1 at the UK box office since cinemas reopened on July 4th.
Unhinged has similarities to Steven Spielberg’s Duel; Joel Schumacher’s Falling Down; Roger Michell’s Changing Lanes (opened with £808,268); John Dah’s Joy Ride (aka Roadkill internationally) written by J. J. Abrams (opened with £784,853 taking £2,215,996) generated many straight to DVD sequels.
Carl Ellsworth previously wrote screenplays to psycho-thrillers 2005’s Red Eye (opened with £891,582) and 2007’s and Disturbia (opened with £728,145) and has recently written the screenplay for Gremlin 3.
In normal circumstances, Unhinged would probably go straight to video or Sky Cinema but it gazumped Christopher Nolan’s Tenet after Solstice Studios brought forward its release date from September 4th to July 1st in the US in May; Altitude Films acquired UK rights in June.
The film release date was delayed several times to the end of July and now August 19th (two weeks before Tenet) after Mulan and Tenet were delayed, but kept its international dates opening in Germany July 16th and then Denmark, New Zealand Singapore, and the UK on July 31st.
Unhinged is the first leading role film starring Russell Crowe that opened #1 since 2010’s Robin Hood (£5,750,332); he did star in 2013’s Men In Black and 2012’s Les Misérables that also opened #1 but he wasn’t the lead; it was 20 years ago this year Russell Crowe starred in RIdley’s Scott’s Oscar-winning Gladiator at the high-point of his acting career.
More recently Russell Crowe starred in HBO drama The Loudest Voice and 2016’s critical acclaim The Nice Guys which failed to find an audience; (opened with £1,004,622 taking £3,792,002) which was a sorta sequel to Shane Black’s Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (opening with £458,826).
While exhibitors have complained about the lack of films released by US distributors Unhinged is the third film released by Altitude Films since cinemas reopened on July, also releasing Black Water: Abyss and Stage Mother. While Vertigo Releasing has also released four, Ghost of War, Saint Frances, The Vigil and 100% Wolf.
Rather than complaining about the lack of US films which was always likely )as it was always unlikely studios would choose to open films internationally early before they have a confirmed US date as the US is still the most important global territory) exhibitors should be looking for these other films they wouldn’t normally ever think about booking. In a few months’ time, these films will be again ignored by major exhibitors.
Unhinged gave Altitude Films their first #1 in the UK saying “It’s bittersweet to herald a number one film at the box office during such uncertainty and hardship, but as cinemas continue to reopen with social distancing measures in place we hope that audience excitement for watching films on the big screen and in safe environments, contribute to further confidence in the cinema experience.”
Unhinged will be battling it out with Inception: 10th Anniversary (5-day opening) and hot summer weather if it can remain at #1 for a second weekend, in normal circumstances it would be a one week wonder in the charts, but as the only major new release until Tenet in three weeks’ time it will play for longer.
Would be interested to know how many of the cinemagoers who have been to the cinema over the last five weeks are members of Odeon and Cineworld’s subscription cinema as they were passed on the VAT reduction with their monthly fees till January, but it doesn’t seem to be reduced for normal tickets. Would be interesting to see if the people going back to the cinema are regulars or if any of the library films are attracting people who haven’t been to the cinema as often.
- Onward – £58,951 – £5,663,247
Down 1.8% in the 7th week of its cinema release 22 weeks after opening in cinemas in March is still managing to attract cinemagoers despite being available on digital download since May and on video since June.
Onward is the 1,047th biggest film in the UK between Black Hawk Down and Fantastic Four (2015) (close to Three Men And A Baby, The Magic Roundabout, Smurfs: The Lost Village and Racing Stripes) and 1,222nd biggest inflation inflated film between Out of Sight and Fantastic Four (2015) (close to The Secret Garden, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2, The Nutcracker and the Four Realms and Smurfs).
146th biggest animation film in the UK between ParaNorman and The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (close to Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Spies In Disguise, The Angry Birds Movie 2 and Wonder Park).
Onward has replaced 2001’s Atlantis: The Lost Empire as Disney’s lowest-grossing animated film which took £5.9m and £9.83m inflation inflated).
Onward as most of February and March releases will have a star beside its total box office as it took £5.29m before cinema lockdown opening two weeks before impacted on it is box office. With the Easter holidays two weeks later Onward should have gone on to take more than double its box office even with the competition from Peter Rabbit 2 and Trolls World Tour.
23 Pixar films have taken over £690m at the box office since Toy Story in 1996 and over £890m inflation inflated.
Disney is due to release their 24th Pixar film Soul on November 27th with Luca set for release in 2021, two untitled in 2022 and one untitled In 2023.
- 100% Wolf – £33,129 – NE
Following on from the release of Dreambuilders have another animated film this time from Australia which wouldn’t normal likely see the inside of a cinema but due to a lack of new content manages to open #3 in the charts.
As with Dreambuilders, 100% Wolf received average reviews, away from Unhinged children’s films are playing the strongest amongst the films playing in regular cinemas as cinema is seen as safest amongst children.
- Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back £31,136 – £7,402,546
Up 53.6% due to playing in additional Odeon and Vue cinemas
The film was re-released in cinemas for its 40th anniversary, it was originally planned to be re-released for the first time in 4K, but Disney decided to instead release it in 2K (not that many cinemagoers would notice the difference) and have the 4K version on Disney+.
Disney recently announced dates for three new Star Wars films, the third is currently set for December 2027 which will be the 50th anniversary of Star Wars: A New Hope. For its 20th anniversary, 20th Century Fox re-released the first three films “for an entire generation people have been experiencing Star Wars the only way it’s been possible on the TV screen, but if you’ve only seen it this way, you haven’t seen it at all.’
It is the fourth time The Empire Strikes Back has been in the top 10 over the last 40 years; took over £9m during its original release in May 1980; took £7.2m in 1997 as part of the 20th anniversary re-release of A New Hope and then most recently took £6.3m over 17 weeks of Secret Cinema, but tickets were about £80, 5,573% more than regular tickets were for The Empire Strikes Back in 1980.
In 1980 The Empire Strikes Back was #1 for 9 weeks; in 1997 The Empire Strikes Back was #1 for one week (opening with £1.55m) and in 2015 was in the lower end of the top 10 for the majority of it is 16 weeks run during the summer.
The Empire Strikes Back has taken £22.8m over its lifetime, but each of the four had quite different prices, in 1980 average ticket cost only £1.42, in 1997 it was £4.07, for Secret Cinema in 2015 it was £80+ and then for its current release most cinemas were about £5.
The Empire Strikes Back has been rated by the BBFC three times for cinema since 1980 but all three have three different running times, in 1980 124m 15s; in 1997 126m 52s and in 2020 127m 15s? As 2020 should surely be shorter than 1997 as sadly would be missing Fox logo?
- The Vigil – £30,302 – NE
Supernatural horror premiered at last year’s Toronto Film Festival receiving positive reviews and was acquired by Blumhouse Productions awaiting cinema release in the US.
Vertigo Releasing has released four films since cinemas reopened as they have taken a chance to hopefully attract people to these films that wouldn’t normally see them and exhibitors are also booking them wider than they would do normally, The Vigil is expected to expand into more cinemas this week.
Also opened
- Summerland– Lionsgate
Opened with £15,792 from 94 screens
The week after Saint Frances had a disappointing opening (£11,667 from 105 screens) Summerland had a similar disappointing opening despite positive reviews and receiving Gemma Arterton doing many interviews.
The performance of the films over the last 5 weeks shows that older audiences aren’t ready to come back to the cinema.
- Makeup – Curzon
Opened with £8,238 including previews from 8 screens
Despite received critical acclaim Makeup struggled to find an audience, the film was also available on Curzon at Home so maybe more saw it there as it only took £1,492 from Fri-Sun.
- Parasite – (Black & White) -Studiocanal
Opened with £8,546 from 66 screens
Before lockdown Parasite had taken £11,971,951 over 6 weeks taking £235,613 from 342 screens.
Ahead of the film’s release Curzon had promised the film would play the full theatrical window. So unlike other films that were on release before the lockdown Parasite wasn’t released on DVD until June 1st.
When cinemas reopened on July 4th Parasite was still a film people went to see in cinemas so its disappointing the black & white release of the film failed to find a wide audience, had it opened in April in cinemas when it was originally planned it probably would have performed far stronger.
- Flash Gordon (40th Anniversary re-release) – Studiocanal
Opened with £5,816 from 42 screens
As 40 years ago Flash Gordon 40th anniversary 4K re-release was overshadowed by The Empire Strikes Back that opened four weeks ago with £35,086 from 55 screens.
In 1980 Flash Gordon opened 6 months after The Empire Strikes Back but flopped, over the years since it has become a cut classic and there have been rumours over recent years of a reboot, but it would be hard for the remake to b anywhere nearly as fun.
Taika Waititi was the latest directed attached to directed reboot for Fox/Disney last year with Matthew Vaughn and Julius Avery previously attached, but as Taika Waititi already has Thor: Love and Thunder and Star Wars film on his slate it’s unlikely to happen for a few more years.
Over the last five weeks, UK box office has taken £4.35m the vast majority of this has come from over 40 drive-in cinemas across the country. When cinemas shut down in March I was amazed exhibitors didn’t look to open as many drive-in cinemas across the country as the majority of people are still nervous to go back to conventional indoor cinemas but the drive-in was always likely to be popular, as exhibitors did say people love the cinema experience.
As with Secret Cinema events ticket prices are vastly more expensive than regular ticket prices of about £40 per car, while cinemas, when they reopened, had a range of pricing from £5 in Showcase cinemas to regular prices in Everyman, to different prices for old films to new at Odeon and Vue cinemas.
UK box office in detail
This weekend’s top 15 box office took £530,999 up 77.2% from last weekend (£299,581)
The weekend admissions 84,427 56.4% from last week (53,979)
Top three took 50.3% (£267,343) of the top 15); Unhinged 33% (£175,263); Onward 11.1% (£58,951) 20.3%; 100% Wolf 6.2% (£33,129);
2019 Top three took 81.5% (£12,893,802) of the top 10; Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw 40.3% (£6,377,583); The Lion King 32.6% (£5,158,310x); Toy Story 4 8.6% (£1,357,909)
2018: (£16,330,724); Ant-Man and The Wasp (£4,988,747); Teen Titans Go! to the Movies (£389,726); The Producers (50th Anniversary) (£35,745); #1 Ant-Man and The Wasp £4,988,747 1st week 486 screens (30.5% of top 10)
Up 7.7% from 2017: (£14,684,539); The Emoji Movie (£2,702,809); Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (£1,861,916); England is Mine (£76,895); Maudie (£49,315); #1 Dunkirk £10,023,720 3rd week 690 screens 44% drop (31.5% of top 10)
2016: (£23,455,514); Finding Dory (£8,122,075); Jason Bourne (£7,600,420); World Cup ’66 – Minute by Minute (£35,959); League of Gods (£8,349); #1 Finding Dory £8,122,075 1st week 588 screens (34.6% of the top 10)
2015; (£13,728,232); Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation (£5,351,344); Hot Pursuit (£311,673); The Cobbler (£57,787); #1 Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation £5,351,344 £7,376,513 1st week 572 screens (38.9% of top 10)
2014: (£14,570,372); Guardians of the Galaxy (£6,363,110); The Nut Job (£666,966); Step Up 5: All In (£391,129); Mood Indigo (£60,538); Planes 2: Fire and Rescue (£55,903); #1 Guardians of the Galaxy £6,363,110 1st week 554 screens (43.6% of top 10)
2013: (£15,328,027); The Smurfs 2 (£3,220,911); The Heat (£2,500,522); The Conjuring (£2,156,124); Red 2 (£1,023,349); Only God Forgives (£465,917); From up on Poppy Hill (£33,087); #1 The Smurfs 2 (£3,220,911 1st week 510 screens (21.1% of top 10)
2012 (£18,835,047); Ted (£9,333,700); Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days (£1,537,178); Brave (Scotland) (£820,084); Sound of My Voice (£3,630); #1 Ted £9,333,700 1st week 509 screens (49.5% of top 10)
2011 (£14,498,785); Captain America: The First Avenger (£2,981,590); Horrid Henry: The Movie (£1,290,308); The Zookeeper (£936,063); Arrietty (£75,584); #1 Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 £8,523,417 3rd week 576 screens 46% drop (31.5% of top 10)
2010: (£21,956,519); Karate Kid (£4,882,306); The A-Team (£3,569,505); Gainsbourg (£135,031); #1 Toy Story 3 £8,115,193 2nd week 564 screens 62% drop (36.9% of top 10)
2009; (£12,415,474); G-Force (£2,478,524); The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (£1,784,719); Land of the Lost (£642,553); Coco Before Chanel (£423,268); Crossing Over (£3,214); #1 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince £2,917,786 3rd week 568 screens 44% drop (23.5% of top 10)
2008; (£15,871,733); The X-Files: I Want to Believe (£887,209); Space Chimps (£563,543); The Love Guru (£498,829); Man on Wire (£98,508); #1 The Dark Knight £6,737,306 2nd week 510 40% drop screens (42.4% of top 10)
2007: (£10,622,708); Evan Almighty (£1,152,349); The Hoax (£94,136); Happily N’ever After (£62,622); Wind Chill (£23,769); Seraphim Falls (£17,110); #1 The Simpsons £4,027,220 2nd week 519 screens 70% drop (37.9% of top 10)
2006; (£9,307,750); Miami Vice (£2,231,684); My Super Ex-Girlfriend (£714,920); Ant Bully (£382,766); #1 Miami Vice £2,231,684 1st week 408 screens (23.9% of top 10)
2005 (£xx); Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (£7,972,168); #1 Fantastic Four Charlie and the Chocolate Factory £7,972,168 1st week (xx% of top 10)
2004 (£7,849,699); King Arthur (£1,908,084); Garfield (£1,147,437); The Stepford Wives (£946,787); New York Minute (£109,106); Anything Else (£39,149); #1 King Arthur £1,908,084 1st week 400 screens (23.4% of top 10)
2003 (£10,939,690); Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (£6,080,369); Legally Blonde 2: Red, White and Blonde (£1,546,483); Spy Kids 3D Game Over (£979,374); #1 Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines £6,080,369 1st 478 screens (55.6% of top 10)
2002 (£12,774,940); Men In Black 2 (£6,191,428); Lost In La Mancha (42,824); Lovely And Amazing (£35,483); #1 Men In Black 2 £6,191,428 1st week 512 screens (48.4% of top 10)
2001 (£10,754,826); Cats and Dogs (£3,707,358); Rush Hour 2 (£2,286,253); Final Fantasy: The Spirits.(£43,546); #1 Cats and Dogs £ 3,707,358 1st week 452 screens (34.4% of top 10);
Other Box Office News
On Friday Boris Johnson announced tough restrictions to deal with Coronavirus which included face masks to be made mandatory all indoor settings in places you do not normally meet such as museums, cinema, galleries, and places of worship.
The problem has been the UK Cinema Association has always waited on governmental advice but should have been proactive with their safety measures instead of waiting for this incompetent government to make a decision. From the start, in March UK Cinema Association seemed to be in denial of the upcoming crisis, on March 7 said COVID didn’t have ‘any discernible impact’, despite Onward having the lowest opening for a Pixar film in the UK. 10 days later Boris Johnson announced lockdown and all cinemas to be closed.
I’m often told that I’m negative and should be supportive of what the industry does but if what they are doing is blatantly wrong then surely someone needs to say otherwise. Have been following the news of Coronavirus ever since January when China shut down cinemas days before their most lucrative time of the year, showing how serious they thought Coronavirus would be, likewise other countries in Asia brought in draconian measures very quickly and brought in strong marketing campaigns to get people to change their habits.
These countries took Coronavirus deadly serious but just think UK Cinema Association had just seen UK admissions for January and February had been very strong and just thought it would continue, they didn’t want to spook the market, even though everyone was spoked buying dozens of rolls of toilet paper and emptying shelves of supermarkets.
The issue with mask-wearing in cinemas is how do cinemas make sure people are wearing them if floor staff struggled last year with people sneaking into Blue Story from Frozen 2, protection for staff needs to come from the entrance with everyone’s temperature scanned before entry.
Boris Johnson made the announcement over face masks at midday on Friday, but the UK Cinema Association never publicly responded until much later, surely such an important issue as mandatory face masks should have seen an immediate response from UK Cinema Association as surely they would have been told I advance this was happening.
Exhibitors made the wearing of face masks political as a few weeks ago AMC said masks wouldn’t be mandatory in cinemas but then Adam Aron said that he would wear a mask when he went, this cause similar outrage on social media as his comment a few years earlier of social media-friendly cinemas. A few hours later Adam Aron backtracked on masks as he did previously with social media-friendly cinema.
Who’s the more foolish, the fool (English government) or the fool (exhibitors) who follows him? Can you trust either to put people’s safety first, with warnings of a second wave imminent it’s idiocy for exhibitors not to implement more stringent safety measures
UK cinemas announced many safety measures for their reopening and to comply with social distancing a minimum of two empty seats would be needed between bookings, but this hasn’t been the case with Cineworld. Trying to book seats at Cineworld I could book seats in the row and seat directly behind a booked seat, but there should be at least a row between bookings.
UK exhibitors created videos showing how the new cinema experience differs from before lockdown with all cinema staff wearing masks or visors but none of the customers wearing face masks, surely these videos will need to be remade before Saturday when masks become mandatory. It’s unknown if masks will be mandatory throughout cinema or nor in the auditorium, as if they are mandatory in auditoriums this would please many cinemagoers, but as the majority of exhibitors profits come from concessions this could see them push ticket prices up.
Ever since Christopher Nolan’s op-ed in March for the Washington Post Tenet became political, over the months since Warner has seemingly accepted they will lose money, but see it more important to keep Nolan happy for studio long-term future. While if it underperforms can blame exhibitors for not making people feel safe to go back to the cinema.
Exhibitors need to be front and centre of Tenet’s marketing campaign as does Christopher Nolan who needs to be out there inside cinemas not hiding behind Zoom thanking cinema staff and meeting fans. If Nolan really believes cinema is saved then he should host a fan premiere screening packed with fans, family, and senior management of Warner and exhibitors.
Many have asked why cinemas were forced to close but planes kept flying throughout the pandemic.
The difference is everyone is wearing a mask and can be easily monitored. The air on a plane is being renewed up to 30 times an hour passed through HEPA filters. The Covid-19 virus is about 125 nanometres in diameter and is within the particle-size range that HEPA filters capture – 10 nanometres and above.
Andrew Cuomo said in June cinemas could reopen if air-conditioning had HEPA filter. If cinemas had HEPA filters and could guarantee all cinemagoers wear masks from the moment arrived at the cinema and have temperatures checked and contact details would be allowed to reopen. Would exhibitors want to reopen if they can’t sell highly profitable concessions?
The problem is masks might be mandatory but unless staff are continuously monitoring many will take them off as soon as the film starts, likewise, if food isn’t available in cinema they will bring from outside. On a plane every can see if someone is not wearing and they are singled out, on Sunday Delta flight returned to gate after two travellers refuse to wear masks, the two were removed and the plane took off after a short delay.
Last week Universal Pictures and AMC Theatres announced they had come to an agreement to shortened the theatrical window of certain films to 17 days. This was only four months after AMC Theatres announced they wouldn’t play Universal Pictures films after they released Trolls World Tour straight to PVOD in April due to cinemas shutting in March.
At the time Universal’s Jeff Shell said “The question is, when we come out of this, what is going to be the model? I would expect that consumers will return to cinemas and we will be part of that,”… “I also would expect PVOD is going be part of that offering in some way. It’s not going to be a replacement, but it will be a complementary element, and we’re just going to have to see how long that takes and where it takes us.”
The reaction from other exhibitors was predictable with Cineworld saying “We do not see any business sense in this model”…. “But we clearly see this as a wrong move at the wrong time. Clearly, we are not changing our policy with regards to showing only movies that are respecting the theatrical window.” While and Disney who said they are still not interested in shortening theatrical window despite them shortening the gap between home video and Disney+.
Cineworld is correct when they said it was the ‘wrong move at the wrong time’ as this should have been done 5+ years ago, as the one size fits all theatrical window hasn’t worked in many years and films over the last 5 years are taking almost 90% of total BO within first 4 weeks.
While Disney said they had no interest in shortening the theatrical window as they have always said, despite being the studio that led the way in wanting to shorten the theatrical window since 2009 with Up.
While Disney gave into exhibitors demands for Up and A Christmas Carol in 2009 Disney attempted to shortened the window the following year for Alice in Wonderland by a couple of weeks with exhibitors boycotting the film right up to the day of the premiere at the Odeon Leicester Square.
Hours before the premiere was to be held Odeon ended their boycott coming to an agreement with a 13-week window.
Bob Chapek, said: “We feel that it’s important for us to maintain a healthy business on the exhibition side and a healthy business on the home video side. We think this is in the best interest of theatre owners because a healthy movie business is good for them and allows us to invest in high-quality, innovative content.”
Alice In Wonderland stayed in the UK top 15 for 9 weeks taking £139,995 in its 9th weekend and £42,169,542 after opening with £10,555,220. Exhibitors arguments over shortening window is outdated as few films will be playing for more than 10 weeks wide in cinemas. If every film had a flexible window then while a film that does underperform can go to PVOD early within weeks of exhibitors dropping it, but then with a film like The Greatest Showman which took £304,478 in its 17th week on release (#7 in top 10) the window could be longer.
Most films now take upwards of 90% of their total box office within first 24 days and that includes many Disney films that are as front-loaded as all over studios, the only difference is the open bigger, but that also means many drop much bigger too.
More recently they have shortened the window between home video and Disney+ with several films including Frozen 2 and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
n October AMC launched VOD service Theatres on Demand surely that was the time to announce such a deal with Universal and wouldn’t have been in the mess currently are fully reliant on cinemas BO, studios had previously offered exhibitors a cut of VOD in many previous VOD plans.
Universal Pictures has been trying to develop PVOD since 2011 when they wanted to release Tower Heist on PVOD on VOD for $59.99 after three weeks after its cinema release in 2011. After Cinemark and National Amusements announced they would boycott the film, Universal Pictures stopped their plans for early VOD.
Universal Pictures said, “Universal continues to believe that the theatre experience and a PVOD window are business models that can coincide and thrive, and we look forward to working with our partners in exhibition to find a way to experiment in this area in the future,”
A few months earlier In March 2011 were PVOD plans by Warner Bros, Sony, Universal and 20th Century Fox but the problem is that to get PVOD full operational all studios need to be part of it and Disney have always distanced themselves from PVOD. Warner Bros planned to launch their service with Unknown, and Sony Pictures first film was to be Just Go With It.
2015 Paramount Pictures announced plans to release Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse and films Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension on VOD within weeks of their theatrical release, again angered exhibitors who banned both from cinemas.
in 2015 Warner Bros were very close to a deal with Cinemark and Regal (now owned by Cineworld), while Paramount came up with what I think it the best idea for early PVOD as it leaves it in the hands of exhibitors, films could go to PVOD after 17 days only if they dropped below 1,000 screens, so it’s in exhibitors interest to keep films playing for longer.
In 2016 Regal and Cinemark close to PVOD deal with Warner Bros. CEO Kevin Tsujihara saying “We’re having very constructive conversations with the exhibitors for the first time that we’ve had in a long time,” and “We are working with them to create a new window.” At the time exhibitors wanted studios to guarantee they wouldn’t try to shorten the existing home entertainment window for the next five to 10 years.
At CinemaCon in 2017, there were two opposing PVOD services, including Sean Parker’s The Screening Room backed by Peter Jackson and J.J. Abrams, and AMC had signed a letter of intent to do business.
While in 2017 Universal Pictures Warner Bros and 20th Century Fox were planning to launch PVOD service in early 2018 (with films including Pitch Perfect 3 and Fox’s The Greatest Showman) Comcast, Apple and Amazon were developing the delivery systems. This would have been 30-45 days after opening in cinemas with customers paying $30.
At the time insiders said, “Everyone wants to work the cinemas, but in the end, most of the studios will move ahead with PVOD,” and “I’ve never seen anything so complicated in terms of getting this boulder up the mountain.”
A studio executive said at the time “No one will come out of the gate unless the majority of the industry is involved,” says one studio executive. “There is safety in numbers.”… The studios will want protection if they are unable to convince cinema owners to go along with their plan. The two sides have been talking in earnest for months, but now, studios appear willing to go ahead and try PVOD even if exhibitors don’t come on board and if exhibitors decide to boycott every PVOD title, it could get tricky,”
Universal Pictures said that the deal didn’t include tentpoles Minions: The Rise of Gru, F9 and Jurassic World: Dominion. The aim for the shortened window was to allow the smaller films a chance to move to PVOD early that failed to find an audience which exhibitors would normally pull after a few weeks and then they wouldn’t be legally available for months.
Warner Bros are marketing Tenet as “only in cinemas” but it would have been a perfect test case for PVOD, but of course Christopher Nolan would never allow Warner to do this, even though by forcing Warner to open end of August internationally and the first week of September in the US many more people will be waiting to watch it on smaller screens.
Giving Tenet a theatrical/PVOD release would probably not affect its theatrical performance as it’s a film people will choose to want to see it in the cinema first, but it will attract many people who will be far to nervous to go to the cinema at the end of the month.
Last month Deadline reported some IMAX workers had seen Tenet and they raved about it but you have to take these comments with a pinch of salt, as people that close to a film will always react similarly. I did that when I saw Star Wars: Attack of the Clones for the first time with the first-ever screening in Europe for Ewan McGregor (in Scotland) and he sitting a few rows ahead of me.
Also, means have to also take critical reviews for Tenet with a pinch of salt as critics get caught up in the hype especially British critics with what they think are British films with 3-star films getting 5-star reviews as embargo ends immediately after screening
TV spots are now running for Tenet, We are trying to prevent World War 3, nuclear holocaust? no something worse … makes you wonder even more why Christopher Nolan is so desperate for the film to open as while the world is still deep in the middle of a pandemic that has infected millions worldwide.
Seth Rogen said in an interview on the same day Warner Bros announced they were delaying the release of Tenet for the third time “I’m waiting to see what Chris Nolan does,”… ” ‘WWCND’ is basically what we’re saying at all times. ‘What would Chris Nolan do?’ For a while, it seemed like the answer was to kill his greatest fans. But that’s not the answer of today, it seems, so that’s good. But we have no idea. We don’t want to be the first to rush into anything.”
Just think cinemas shouldn’t have reopened in England until has been no daily deaths for over 2 weeks, many other countries have done the same, the problem came when Boris set July 4th reopening date, even though he said at the time it would depend on conditions at the time, he has still kept to the same reopening dates he announced in May. While other countries including Ireland and New York and California have changed their reopening plans over the weeks they were being loosened.
Ireland has always been over a month ahead of England but still announced a slower loosening of restrictions 2 weeks ahead of England in May, on Saturday Ireland had 98% fewer COVID cases than England and no deaths again while England had 123.
Christopher Nolan’s 12 films have generated over $2bn in the US and $2.72bn internationally, $4.72bn worldwide, the majority of which for Warner Bros where he has been based since 2002. (Warner Bros released Insomnia in the US with Disney international). After the success of Insomnia, Christopher Nolan approached Warner about rebooting Batman, which became The Dark Knight Trilogy taking almost $2.5bn worldwide. Nolan has also been key to the DC Universe producing Man of Steel and Batman Vs Superman.
Warner Bros decision to open Tenet August 26th internationally in about 70 territories and then the US the week later it is now all on exhibitors to prove to the studio they have made the right decision ad do all they can to prove to the majority of cinemagoers that cinema is safe.
In normal circumstances end of August releases rarely have big openings, only a handful of films have taken £2m+ over the weekend the last was 2015’s Straight Outta Compton (£2,498,231) with 2013’s One Direction: This Is Us (£3,471,872) and 2009’s The Final Destination (£3,633,395) having the biggest ever late August openings.
6 months ago most would have expected Tenet to open between 2010’s Inception (£5,912,814) and 2017’s Dunkirk (£10,023,720) taking between £40m and £50m being one of the biggest films of the year, but opening August 26th it will open with less than a third and taking far less too.
UK Box Office Top 10
UK Box Office Predictions
Warner has surprisingly dated the Seth Rogen comedy American Pickle which will premiere on HBO Max in the US as Seth Rogen leading comedy films are rarely successful in the UK. It’s surprising Warner Bros are advertising it as only in cinemas as its likely to have a very short stay despite receiving positive reviews.
2015’s The Night Before opened £272,930 taking £624,279
2015’s The Interview opened with £283,811
2017’s The Disaster Artist opened with £130,238 taking £1,272,348
Seth Rogen biggest comedy films have been part of ensemble cast 2013’s This Is The End £1,390,323 taking £4,082,675
Warner Bros are re-releasing Christopher Nolan’s Inception to celebrate the films 10th anniversary, it will include an extended preview of Tenet and new trailers of several upcoming releases from the studio including Dune and Wonder Woman: 1984.
Inception will be shown with a 10-minute preview of Tenet and a 4-minute interview with Christopher Nolan.
Inception opened in July 2010 with £5,912,814 taking £34,976,999, 6 months ago Tenet would have expected to open with a similar amount and take £40m+ and be one of the biggest films of the year.
Warner had originally dated the re-release of Inception in mid-July when Tenet had moved from July to early August but then moved Inception to August 12th. The delay to Tenet’s open pushed back many exhibitors plans to open cinemas, with most now reopening August 7th.
Two weeks ago there was only 15% of UK cinemas reopen (130 cinemas), last weekend with the opening of Unhinged saw 323 cinemas reopen with Cineworld and Vue starting to reopen their cinemas, with 36% of cinemas now reopen of 919 total, with many more cinemas reopening this Friday.
But this weekend sees two major issued that are likely to have an impact on cinema attendance, one short term and the other for long-term. From Thursday for the next week, UK weather is expected to be extremely hot and sunny and on Saturday face masks become mandatory in all cinemas across the UK.