Top 5 Breakdown
- Beauty and the Beast – £12,334,338 – £39,884,575
After taking £27.5m in its opening 7 days the fifth biggest had the third biggest second weekend in the UK behind 2012’s Skyfall £16.10m and Spectre £13.14m;
Beauty and the Beast has overtaken La La Land to become the biggest film of 2017in the UK likely to taking upwards of £80m and be the second biggest film of 2017 after Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
Beauty and the Beast will shortly feature in the top 20 biggest UK films depending on how it holds over the next few weeks (likely to hold top over the next two weeks being the first film since Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them to hold top spot for 4 weeks until The Fate of the Furious opens) will likely top Toy Story 3 taking upwards of £80m.
Beauty and the Beast had a second-weekend drop of 37% twice over double the 19% The Jungle Book dropped in its second weekend but after opening with double was always going to drop heavier. The Jungle Book stayed at #1 for three weeks being replaced by Captain America: Civil War.
The big question is how will The Smurfs: The Last Village and Boss Baby and Peppa Pig: My First Cinema Experience perform against Beauty and the Beast over the holidays. As would normal expect The Smurfs: The Last Village and Boss Baby to take about £12m each both are most likely to be affected by Beauty and the Beast as Peppa Pig is targeting a younger audience.
| OWE | 2WE | 2/D | 2WE T | 3WE | 3/D | 3 WE T | Final BO | |||
| Beauty and the Beast | 17 Mar 2017 | £19.7 | 3.81x | £12.30 | 37% | £38.85 | £7.99 | -35% | £78.6m* | |
| Though the Looking Glass | 27 May 2016 | £2.22 | 4.01x | £1.35 | 41% | £7.01 | £0.83 | -39% | £8.30m | £9.91m |
| The Jungle Book | 15 Apr 2016 | £9.86 | 4.68x | £8.09 | 18% | £21.66 | £5.75 | -29% | £30.20m | £46.19 |
| Cinderella | 27 Mar 2015 | £3.79 | 5.54x | £2.96 | 22% | £10.38 | £1.78 | -405 | £15.19m | £21.02 |
| Into the Woods | 9 Jan 2015 | £2.48 | 3.96x | £1.99 | 19% | £5.36 | £1.34 | -33% | £7.27m | £9.83m |
| Maleficent | 28 May 2014 | £6.59 | 2.81x | £2.60 | 60% | £11.05 | £1.57 | -40% | £13.62m | £18.5 |
| Oz the Great and .. | 8 Mar 2013 | £3.71 | 4.03x | £2.60 | 30% | £7.68 | £1.34 | -48% | £10.08m | £14.98 |
| Alice in Wonderland | 5 Mar 2010 | £10.56 | 3.99x | £7.34 | 30% | £22.74 | £4.84 | -34% | £30.49m | £42.16 |
Disney’s one mistake with Beauty and the Beast was to pay Emma Watson only $3m upfront instead giving her a share if the profits which could see her become the highest paid actress this year topping Jennifer Lawrence despite her starring in two films this year drama mother! directed by Darren Aronofsky co-starring Javier Bardem and Michelle Pfeiffer and Red Sparrow with Joel Edgerton and Jeremy Irons and directed by Francis Lawrence who previously directed her in the three Hunger Games sequels, Catching Fire and Mockingjay Part 1 and 2.
Disney’s reason for underpaying Emma Watson was that the story was the star and anyone could have played Belle and it would have been successful but by casting Emma Watson as Belle Disney got an actress who commands a huge online media presence through social media her 23.8m Instagram followers (her dedicated Instagram account “The Press Tour” has 470k followers compared with 439k for the film) 34.6m Facebook followers and 24.2m Twitter followers while the film has 439k followers. While also receiving huge media coverage for her work on gender equality via for He For She being the UN Women Goodwill Ambassador giving a keynote speech at the UN in September 2014. While Emma Watson isn’t the best actress in the world she does inspire millions of women making her the key marketing tool for the film.
After the massive opening for Beauty and the Beast there was speculation of a possible sequel (there was a director to video sequel of the 1991 animated film 1997’s Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas) but Disney’s Sean Bailey has said that none of the remakes will get direct sequels but sequels and spinoffs are possible. He also said “Marvel has Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor; we have Cinderella, Snow White, and Belle. Pairing those characters with great live-action talent and technology, something that Walt always aspired to, with technology that has moved so far forward, just seemed a smart way to go.” Could we have a Disney Extended Universe in the future? Joining the Marvel Extended Universe and the Star Wars Extended Universe which was Bob Iger announced last week will go on till at least 2034 previously said would be infinite Star Wars films forever more.
Fairy tales have been children’s favourites over the decades but the original stories written by Brothers Grimms, Hans Christian Andersen and Victor Hugo are very different to the Disney films they don’t have happy endings but instead feature rape, dismemberment, death, murder, hanging and starvation similar to the origins of nursey rhymes.
The origin Beauty and the Beast novel is very different from the 1991 animated film and the 2017 live action re-imagining. While Emma Watson might be wearing more practical clothing in the film gone is the corset, heels and tight fitting dress but there are still misogynist elements to the plot Belle as is held captive by the beast falling in love with him over time (the Stockholm Syndrome). The original book is about kidnapping and the importance of women’s appearance over intelligence Belle is strange as she reads books.
- Power Rangers – £1,574,624 – NE
Disappointing launch in the UK for what Lionsgate had planned to be a new franchise with at least five sequels planned.
While Power Rangers had the biggest opening of the three films opening over the weekend its performance was probably the worst as it might have opened with 550% more than Chips the TV series was never as popular as other TV series in the UK likewise Life was always likely to suffer opening the weekend after Get Out.
Opening the weekend after Beauty and the Beast was always a strange release date for Power Rangers as Lionsgate must have expected it to open bigger than last years The Jungle Book and would hold similarly strongly in its second weekend. But Lionsgate had limited options to release Power Rangers with Boss Baby and The Smurfs: The Last Village, Furious 8 and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 all released in the next month.
The last film version 1995’s Mighty Morphin Power Rangers opened July 21st, 1995 taking £4.12m was very much aimed for children Power Rangers is aimed at the comic-book audience with a much grittier version with the trailers looking close to Fantastic Four or Chronicle which opened with £2.19m in February 2012 taking £6.87m and Fantastic Four opening with £2.68m in August 2015 taking £5.65m.
Power Rangers was director Dean Israelite biggest opening in the UK ahead of Project Almanac February in 2015 with £0.86m taking £1.21m.
As with most comic-book movies, Power Rangers had a mid-credits scene which saw all of the Power Rangers back in detention apart from Tommy Green Ranger with the teacher calling out his name again and again as Ferris Bueller’s Day Off which was one of the director’s favourite teen movies.
In the build, up to the release of Beauty and the Beast much was made about Disney’s first gay scene which created huge media coverage and several countries including Russia and Malaysia threating to ban it. But when audiences saw it LeFou dancing with a man who enjoys cross-dressing isn’t really the gay moment audiences were expecting.
A similar story started in the build up to the release of Power Rangers last week with Lionsgate promising the first comic-book movie to feature a gay scene (while many think most of the comic-book movies have gay undertones by the way characters interact with each other specifically Captain America and Bucky in the build up to the release of Captain America: Civil War there was a social media campaign to give Captain America a boyfriend), But similar to Beauty and the Beast it was more hype than substance.
Trini’s big “coming out” moment is when the Rangers talk about what makes them tormented teens saying “My parents have problems with my…relationships,” Zac says “boyfriend trouble?” “Yeah, boyfriend troubles,” Trini spits back at him sarcastically. “…Girlfriend troubles?” Zack asks, quieter this time. We see concern register on the other Rangers’ faces. Trini says, “My parents like labels. That was the gay superhero moment which generates massive media coverage with headlines like actress Becky G. was “proud” to play a gay superhero and the film being described as “ground-breaking” and director Dean Israelite calling Trini’s identity “pivotal”. (maybe it will be eventually as there are at least five sequels planned).
While the “gay” moment received the media coverage the revenge porn plotline within Power Rangers is probably the most surprising addition to the plot which sees Pink Ranger Kimberly Hart share explicit private photos of one of her friends
Away from the gay moment and the Revenge porn, the other WTF moment of the film was Krispy Kreme’s product placement villain Rita Repulsa is on Earth to steal the Zeo Crystal responsible for powering the ranger’s suits. The Zeo Crystal is located underneath the Krispy Kreme which means the third act of the film sees Krispy Kreme take centre stage of the final battle. The product placement of Krispy Kreme within Power Rangers is like Man of Steel destroying an IHOP restaurant as Jurassic World was seemly sponsored by Verizon Wireless and not to mention the product placement that is always on show in James Bond films.
Lionsgate’s Power Rangers London Underground poster campaign featured Snapchat’s Snap to Unlock the first time a film company has used this in the UK Snapchatters can snap a unique code on the poster to unlock exclusive Power Rangers character filter that can be used to take selfies.
- Get Out – £1,366,829 – £4,864,838
After positive reviews and strong word of mouth drops only 37% in its second weekend climbing up one place; after being trailered with Split in January opening with £2.54m dropping 22% in its second weekend (taking £1.99m and £6.01m) but Get Out’s second weekend drop was slightly more due to the opening of Ryan Reynolds and Jake Gyllenhaal sci-fi horror Life opening with a disappointing £741,129 despite the strong media coverage the film received.
When Sony dated Life six months ago, Get Out was just another low budget horror not expected to do that much on either side of the Atlantic but since Donald Trump become President the film became known the first paranoia thriller for the Trump era.
The problem for Sony was Life was dated to open globally on March 24th while Universal Pictures had dated Get Out to open the week before and few weeks after its US opening which allowed Get Out to be perfectly placed ahead of its rival. While most films nowadays are day and date with the US some are still delayed which often causes dating issues with other releases.
- Kong: Skull Island – £1,132,269 – £13,237,783
Down 58.2% in its third weekend holding stronger than 2014’s Godzilla which dropped 64% in its third weekend with £982,401 but taking 14.6% less £15.49m.
But Godzilla had the advantage over Kong: Skull Island opening the weekend before X-Men: Days of Future Past which saw both films cannibalizing each other both suffering 60% declines and saw Disney be the winner with Maleficent in 2014 and Beauty and the Beast this year.
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Of course, questions will be asked if Kong; skull Island would have performed better in the summer but then where would Warner Bros of dated the film having King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, Everything, Everything, Wonder Woman, The House, Dunkirk and Annabelle 2. The only possibility would have been May 12th but would of mean it was sandwiched between Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 and Alien: Covenant.
- Logan – £763,333 – £21,911,729
Down 56.6% in its fourth weekend overtook 2003’s X2 £20.66m becoming 20th Century Fox’s third biggest Marvel film in the UK behind 2014’s X-Men: Days of Future Past £27.01m and 2016’s Deadpool £37.9m.
Logan might be Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart final X-Men film and last year’s X-Men Apocalypse was disappointing but 20rh Century Fox has much more to come. including Deadpool 2 expected to be released March 2nd, 2018; X-Men Apocalypse sequel set in the 90s was previously known as Supernova, The New Mutants, X-Force and Gambit along with an X-Men TV series.
The ten X-Men films to date have taken $2 billion in the US over £200m in the UK and almost $5 billion worldwide.
Other box office news
This weekend’s top 10 box office took £18,776,329 down 32.6% from last weekend £27,866,587;
Weekend admissions 2,500,073 down 33.6% from last week 3,766,697
13 films were released at the weekend taking combined £3,237,612 with Power Rangers taking 49%, Life 23%, The Lost City of Z 8%, Chips, and Idomeneo Met Opera 6% leaving 8% for the other eight films.
The weekend was down 23.8% from last year (£24,668,472) Batman Vs Superman Dawn of Justice £14.63m, Zootropolis £5.3m, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 £983,534 opened.
2015: (£12,820,294) Cinderella opened with £3,791,276, The SpongeBob Movie £2,251,009, Get Hard £1,433,967 and The Seventh Son £410,608 opened.
Next weekend in 2016 (£10,488,336): Eddie the Eagle £2,828,427 opened.
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Cinema Exhibitors Association average ticket price of £7.41 for 2016 up only 2.77% from 2015 despite a 7.3% increase from 2014. If the same percentage was used 2017 average ticket price is £7.61
UK Box Office Top 10
US Box office
Beauty and the Beast drops 48.3% in its second weekend taking $90.4m (having the fourth biggest second weekend ever) and $319.03m total; Beauty and the Beast final second weekend was up almost $3m from its estimates while Power Rangers was $200,000 under.
Last year The Jungle Book had a smaller second-weekend drop of 40.4% but took 30% less $61.53m and a 10-day total of 39% less $192.21m.
Beauty and the Beast added $120.5m internationally bringing its global box office to $694m the fourth consecutive Walt Disney Studios film to take more than $600m globally following Doctor Strange, Moana and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Will Disney make it eight in a row with Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, Cars 3, Coco and Star Wars: The Last Jedi?
Power Rangers opened with $40.3m a decent opening but is it strong enough to launch a series of films as Lionsgate have planned especially as it underperformed internationally taking only $18.7m from 62 territories.
Power Rangers received A CinemaScore and should take upwards of $100m close to Independence Day Resurgence and The Legend of Tarzan which opened with similarly last year depending on how it holds against Ghost in the Shell this weekend.
Despite being Ryan Reynold’s first film since last year’s Deadpool and the media coverage it received Life failed to generate much interest opening with only $12.5m close to 2015’s Chappie opened with $13.3m. After receiving poor reviews described as a poor imitation of Alien and C+ CinemaScore will drop heavily this weekend.
Life was originally based at Paramount but dropped it having similar themed God Particle which became Cloverfield 3 which is set for release in October.
After poor buzz and negative reviews, Chips was always expected to have a low opening but its $7.7m opening was even lower than many expected. With a B- CinemaScore will drop heavily next weekend.
Life and Chips could be seen rip-off clones to Alien: Covenant and Baywatch opening in May trailer for both have been well received and will be better films?. The trailers for Baywatch repeat the self-awareness comedy that was done so well with 21 Jump Street and its sequel.
After the success of Central Intelligence and San Andreas in 2015 and 2016, Dwayne Johnson is the world’s highest paid actor he also stars in The Fate of the Furious and Jumanji this year and then next year in Rampage and Skyscraper. While Alien: Covenant is the seventh Alien film and sequel to 2012’s Prometheus. Ridley Scott has recently said he has six more Alien sequels planned with the next part already written.
Fox Searchlight’s Wilson had an average opening of $336,227 from 310 screens unlikely to expand further. Trailered with Wilson was Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri also starring Woody Harrelson directed by Martin McDonagh received a positive reaction online.
After 11 weeks in the top 10 Hidden Figures has dropped down to 12 after losing 522 screens now taken $167.1m only $2.6m away from overtaking 2011’s The Help. Having finally caught up with Hidden Figures this week as many have said before it is probably the most deserving and most enjoyable Best Picture nominee in years to come it will be likely compared to Crash as the film that should have won Best Picture.
Opened March 31st
Opening UK
- Smurfs: The Lost Village – Sony Pictures
Animated adventure comedy reboot of The Smurfs unrelated to the previous animated films released in 2011 and 2013. Features the voices of Demi Lovato, Mandy Patinkin, Joe Manganiello, Jack McBraye, Danny Pudi, Rainn Wilson, Michelle Rodriguez, Ellie Kemper, Ariel Winter and Julia Roberts.
The Smurfs opened August 10th 2011 – £3.77m (£1.47m from previews Weds/Thurs) taking £16.64m
The Smurfs 2 opened August 2nd, 2013 – £3.22m (£1.45m from previews) taking £11.47m
Both films benefited from opening at the start of the summer holidays while due to Boss Baby opening next weekend Smurfs: The Lost Village opens two weeks before the start of Easter holidays.
The Smurfs came out 3 weeks after Cars 2 had taken £13.1m and a week after Mr. Popper’s Penguins
The Smurfs 2 came out after Despicable Me 2 and Monsters University had been battling each other for three weeks taking £38.45m and £20.83m.
Smurfs: The Lost Village is the first Easter family holiday release with The Boss Baby (previews April 1st/2nd) and Peppa Pig: My First Cinema Experience opening next weekend if it doesn’t get squeezed by Beauty and the Beast third weekend could put it in a strong position for the school holidays.
Smurfs: The Lost Village had previews March 25th/26th
- Ghost in the Shell – Paramount Pictures
Science fiction crime drama starring Scarlett Johansson, Takeshi Kitano, Michael Pitt, Pilou Asbæk, Chin Han and Juliette Binoche and directed by Rupert Sanders based on the Japanese manga.
Dreamworks acquired live-action remake rights in 2008 was in development for many years with many writers and director attached (similar to Warner Bros long-planned remake of Akira which had The Hughes Brothers, Jaume Collet-Serra, Christopher Nolan and George Miller attached to direct and Zac Efron, James Franco, Keanu Reeves, Chris Evans and Garrett Hedlund to star) until January 2014 when Rupert Sanders was attached to direct. In September 2014 Margot Robbie was in talks for the lead but after being cast as Harley Quinn in Suicide Squad Scarlett Johansson took the lead for $10m.
Scarlett Johansson first breakthrough role was 2003’s Oscar-nominated Lost in Translation (having starred in many films as a child including Robert Redford’s The Horse Whisperer in 1998 when she was 13) followed it up with several small films her first leading role was in the underrated The Island co-starring Ewan McGregor and directed by Michael Bay which flopped in 2005.
Several films followed including Woody Allen’s Vicky Cristina Barcelona but it was probably featuring in Justin Timberlake What Goes Around…Comes Around video which has received over 239.7m views on YouTube which helped her get the role of Natasha Romanoff/Black Window in Iron Man 2, Avengers Assemble, Captain America The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil Wat and upcoming Avengers: Infinity Wars but not yet Black Widow movie.
Disney originally due to release in the US part of their Dreamworks deal and in May 2015 was announced Paramount Pictures would release the film internationally but Paramount acquired US rights in January 2016 after Dreamworks left Disney for Universal.
Been much controversy surrounding the making of the film producers tested digital visual effects that would make actors look more Asian but producers rejecting the decision but just the thought of it was another example of Hollywood ‘whitewashing’. Seen recently in The Great Wall also last year Emma Stone cast as a half-Chinese/half-Hawaiian woman in Aloha, Rooney Mara was cast as a Native American in Pan, and most of the stars in Gods of Egypt were Caucasian.
Paramount confirmed tests were done for a background actor saying “No visual effects tests were conducted on Scarlett’s character and we have no plans to do so,”
Was also claims of whitewashing and the downplaying of the stories Japanese elements (producer Steven Paul argued the story of the film wasn’t fundamentally Japanese but international the cast included Japanese, Chinese, English, and American actors).
https://player.vimeo.com/video/210050711
Paramount created a viral marketing campaign to promote film IAmMajor.me to allow fans to upload photos of themselves and add bold statements but instead, fans took to Twitter to highlight how it not only whitewashes Motoko Kusanagi, but also how it is also an example of white feminism:
The director of the original Japanese film Mamoru Oshii has said in an interview last week defended the casting of Scarlett Johansson saying was no reason that an Asian actress had to portray her saying The Major is a cyborg and her physical form is entirely assumed one. The name ‘Motoko Kusanagi’ and her current body are not her original name and body…Even if her original body presuming such a thing existed — were a Japanese one, that would still apply.”
Aeon Flux opened 17th February 2006 with £512,426 total £961,020
Ultraviolet opened 23rd June 2006 with £147,337
Lucy opened 25th July 2014 with £3.07m total £14.12m
- Free Fire – Studiocanal
Action-comedy starring Brie Larson, Sharlto Copley, Armie Hammer, Cillian Murphy and Jack Reynor and directed by Ben Wheatley; had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival and closed London Film Festival on 16 October 2016 receiving positive reviews.
Why premiere Free Fire at the London Film Festival in October when it had a March 31st release date while generating much media coverage closing the film festival a month later all is forgotten let alone five months later. Normally films that premiere at the London Film Festival open weeks after causing a bottleneck. But after High-Rise performed strongly last March Free Fire could see seen as an alternative to all the other family movies if not for Get Out, Life and Ghost in the Shell also opening over the last couple of weeks.
| High Rise | 18th March 2016 | £542,788 (153 screens) | £1,938,266 |
| A Field in England | 5th July 2013 | £21,399 (17 screens) | £51,084 |
| Sightseers | 30th November 2012 | £213,066 (92 screens) | £658,694 |
| Kill List | 2nd September 2011 | £87,970 (47 screens) | £259,448 |
Opening in the US
- Boss Baby – 20th Century Fox
Animated comedy loosely based on the 2010 picture book featuring the voices of Alec Baldwin, Miles Bakshi, Steve Buscemi, Jimmy Kimmel, Lisa Kudrow and Tobey Maguire premiered in Miami Film Festival on March 12th receiving mixed reviews. It is Dreamworks Animation’s penultimate film to be released by 20th Century Fox after they were acquired by Universal Pictures last year.
Last week audiences for Beauty and the Beast got a surprising new trailer for Dreamworks Animation Boss Baby telling the audience “Look, you’ve all made an excellent decision to come see this movie today,” Boss Baby says to the audience. “You’re clearly shrewd, so let me lay this out for you. On March 31, my movie, DreamWorks’ The Boss Baby will be coming out.”
Alec Baldwin has generated much media coverage in recent months for his portrayal of Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live and many have compared Boss Baby to Trump.
Boss Baby is the ninth Dreamworks Animation film released by 20th Century Fox final film is Captain Underpants opening June 2nd (first trailer released last week)
Universal Pictures release Dreamworks Animation films from start of 2018 with How to Train Your Dragon 3, Everest and Trolls 2.
| Trolls | 4th November 2016 | $46.58m | $153.67m |
| Kung Fu Panda 3 | 29th January 2016 | $41.2m | $143.5m |
| Home | 27th March 2015 | $52.1m | $177.4m |
| Penguins of Madagascar | 26th November 2014 | $25.4m | $83.3m |
| How to Train Your Dragon 2 | 13th June 2014 | $49.4m | $177.1m |
| Mr. Peabody & Sherman | 7th March 2014 | $32.2m | $111.5m |
| Turbo | 17th July 2013 | $21.3m | $83.1m |
| The Croods | 22nd March 2013 | $43.6m | $187.2m |
- Ghost in the Shell – Paramount Pictures
Paramount will be hoping Ghost in the Shell performs close to Lucy rather than Aeon Flux or Ultraviolet but chances are will be somewhere in the middle being very front-loaded.
Upcoming thriller Atomic Blonde starring Charlize Theron from the makers of John Wick will likely be the film audiences expected Ghost of Shell to be. (received positive reviews after premiering at SXSW recently opens in the US in July)
Aeon Flux opened 2nd December 2005 with $12.66m total $25.87m
Ultraviolet opened 3rd March 2006 with $9.06m total $18.53m
Lucy opened 25th July 2014 with $43.89m total $126.66m
- The Zookeeper’s Wife – Focus Features
War drama starring Jessica Chastain, Johan Heldenbergh, Michael McElhatton and Daniel Brühl and directed by Niki Caro based on the non-fiction book by Diane Ackerman; had its world premiere on March 8, 2017, in Warsaw, Poland receiving mixed reviews.
Niki Caro will next direct the live-action reimagining of Disney’s Mulan due for release November 2018. Previously directed 2002’s Whale Rider and 2015’s McFarland USA.