- West Side Story – £1,297,786 – NE
Took only £4,432 more than Clifford the Big Red Dog, but West Side Story benefited from taking £64,840 from 47 IMAX screens and £30 Odeon Leicester Square top price seats.
Had 1,198th biggest opening in the UK between Up In The Air and Clifford The Big Red Dog (close to The English Patient, The Producers, Argo and Lion) and 1,353rd the biggest inflation inflated opening between The Prince of Egypt and Clifford The Big Red Dog (close to Little Voice, Sense and Sensibility, Lost in Translation and The Queen).
Had the second-lowest Steven Spielberg wide opening in the UK taking £87,816 more than 2006’s Munich £1,209,970 (£1,793,836 inflation inflated)
25th biggest musical opening in the UK between The Producers and Phantom of the Opera (close to Dreamgirls, Chicago, Walk the Line and In The Heights)
Two things were very predictable from West Side Story months ago that Ansel Elgort was always going to be the weakest element in the film as while he might look like a young Marlon Brando he doesn’t act like him. This was before the sexual allegations made against him in June 2020, he has denied them but as with the sexual abuse against Armie Hammer earlier this year are overshadowing Death on the Nile due for release in February 2022 (after being delayed from October 2020) it’s hard to get past these allegations. It would have been impossible to reshoot his role as Ridley Scott did with Christopher Plummer did for Kevin Spacey’s role in 2017’s All the Money in the World as it was a supporting role but Ansel Elgort role isn’t a supporting role. Disney tried to minimize his presence on the press tour.
While Rachel Zegler was always going to be the best element after Disney cast her as Snow White in June in the live-action reimagination of their most iconic animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs). While the second was it was always going to struggle to find an audience if it didn’t play to younger under 35 audiences.
Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story has received acclaim with many calling it his best film in 20 years but it was always going to struggle to find a wide audience unlike Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet 25 years ago bring West Side Story to GenZ along with the Millennials and GenX who grew up watching the original on TV never getting to experience it in the cinema. West Side Story is based on William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet and 20th Century Fox had huge success 25 years ago with Baz Luhrmann’s directed Romeo and Juliet (taking £7,438,055 in the UK and £13,194,781 inflation inflated).
For almost the past year it’s been vaccine passports are discriminatory but with now 85% of the UK population vaccinated surely not having them is discriminatory to the majority who have been vaccinated as going to hospitality and entertainment is a choice, not a necessity. Cinema doesn’t want vaccine passports as the key demographic for comic-book are under 35 males and they probably make up the highest proportion of unvaccinated, but the problem is not having them will affect films targeting older demographics as will be seen this weekend as despite widespread critical acclaim West Side Story will struggle to find the audience it deserves to get. As older audiences despite being double and triple vaccinated don’t feel comfortable going back to the cinema and mixing with people who haven’t. Cinema should be for the many, not the few.
Musicals are extremely popular in the UK with the massive success of films like The Greatest Showman (£4,754,049), A Star Is Born (£4,100,196), Bohemian Rhapsody (£9,530,463), Mamma Mia! (£6,594,058), La La Land (£6,596,256), Rocketman (£5,381,904), Les Misérables (£8,127,991), Hairspray (£2,045,912), Chicago (£1,983,505), Into The Woods (£2,476,409), and Moulin Rouge (£2,403,378); this was seen even with West Side Story as it’s opening was 12.27% of the US opening better than Into the Woods (7.98%), In The Heights (9.33%), A Star Is Born (9.56%) normally the industry say UK opening will be 10% of US opening, but its normally closer to 8%.
Do have to question why if 20th Century Fox had enormous success with The Greatest Showman opening two weeks later why Disney didn’t release West Side Story on December 22nd as an alternative to The Matrix Resurrections didn’t instead The King’s Man opens Boxing Day which targets the same demographic as The Matrix and Spider-Man. Boxing Day used to be a lucrative date to open films with musicals Evita and Chicago opening limited before expanding in the New Year. While Disney will reportedly spend a lot advertising the film it would have likely performed far stronger had 20th Century Fox released it as Disney have had very little interest in any of the films 20th Century Fox made before they acquired the studio.
Many have suggested West Side Story could have longer legs (play through Christmas and beyond) if Disney and exhibitors allow it to as musicals normally have long legs as musicals normally do so as despite underperforming in the US In The Heights played in the top 10 in the UK for 5 weeks taking £4,286,073 after opening with £1,073,687 while the poorly received Cats still managed to open with £3,207,471 in December 2019 taking £11,907,188. While Christmas season is normally very lucrative for cinema.
Cinema attendance pre-pandemic at Christmas is very different than other times of the year the two weeks of Christmas. It’s a time when people go to see pantomimes, musicals and the cinema as a family far more than other times of the year and seek out family entertainment and musicals have been that genre of films families have been going to over the three years before COVID, in 2017 The Greatest Showman opened with £4,754,049, with Mary Poppins Returns in 2018 with £8,152,210 and the already mentioned Cats opened in 2019.
It’s impossible to look back at Steven Spielberg’s previous films and compare them with West Side Story as none of them are comparable, said audience wise it’s looking at the same demographic as Lincoln, Bridge of Spies and The Post opening with £1,657,337, £1,682,392 and £2,152,977 but then have War Horse also based on a hugely popular stage show, West Side Story is based on a hugely successful stage show but it closed in London in 2000.
Steven Spielberg said in 2004 “I’ve always wanted to make a musical. Not like Moulin Rouge though – an old-fashioned, conservative musical. … Like West Side Story or Singin’ in the Rain. I’ve been looking for one for 20 years. I just need something that excites me.”
Top price tickets for West Side Story at the Odeon Leicester Square this Friday are £30 more expensive than Spider-Man: No Way Home next Friday £27.50, on Tuesday the Friday evening show was not even a quarter sold and Saturday night show was barely a quarter full.
20 years ago, Moulin Rouge opened in the UK four months after the US in September performing far stronger than it did in the US opening with £2,403,378 down 22.6% in its second weekend taking £1,859,732 and £5,668,964 (31.21% of total box office) taking £18,166,288 (£31,681,304 inflation inflated) was in the top 15 for almost 3 months.
Likewise, 2017’s The Greatest Showman opened with £4,754,049 (including £2,575,147 previews) down 49% in its second weekend taking £2,409,143 and £9,998,783 (20.1% of total box office taking £49,523,728 and played wide in cinemas for over 16 weeks, was still in the top 10 when it was released on DVD.
The film industry is always looking for excuses when films underperform and this weekend the reason is concerns over the rising cases of COVID despite daily cases in the UK being at a similar level since October. While next weekend the headlines will be Spider-Man defeats Omicron, but the difference of course is Spider-Man plays to a much younger audience than West Side Story.
2. Clifford the Big Red Dog – £1,293,354 – NE
Took £4,432 less than West Side Story but as the majority of Clifford the Big Red Dog tickets were children’s and didn’t have IMAX it had a much stronger opening and as
Had 1,199th biggest opening in the UK between Up In The Air and West Side Story (close to Miss Congeniality 2, Zathura, The Santa Clause 3 and Water for Elephants) and 1,354th biggest inflation inflated opening between West Side Story and Lost in Translation (close to Shaun the Sheep 2, Clueless, A Dog’s Purpose and The Boss Baby 2).
84th biggest family film opening in the UK between A Dog’s Purpose and The Santa Clause 3 (close to Real Steel, Stuart Little 2, The Secret Garden and Garfield).
Norman Bridwell’s Clifford the Big Red Dog books have been popular since the 60s with a live-action TV show shown on BBC2 in 2002 and also an animated TV series. The casting of Jack Whitehall boosted the film’s profile in the UK after starring in Jungle Cruise in the summer promoting the film in the UK.
It was due to premiere at the Toronto Film Festival in September 2021 but was removed after its September US was delayed due to COVID and was released simultaneously theatrically and digitally on Paramount+ on November 10 and receiving mixed reviews taking $23m
In 2012 was originally developed at Illumination Entertainment as an animated film but in 2016 Paramount acquired rights to make it a live-action animated film
Films about pets have been immensely popular over the years in cinemas with films including in 2009’s Marley And Me opening with £4.4m taking £15.4m; 1992’s Beethoven taking £6.8m; 1993’s Beethoven’s 2nd taking £5.8m; 2017’s A Dog’s Purpose opened £1,300,097 (including £667,168 previews) taking £3.2m and 2010’s Hachi: A Dog’s Tale opened £442,753 taking £1,048,876 and also the two The Secret Life of Pets films, the first opened with £9,580,039 in 2016 taking £35,825,195, the second in £3,490,598 taking £18,638,365.
2001’s Cats and Dog £3,707,358 taking £23,013,391 (£40,134,464 inflation inflated); despite poor reviews, the film performed strongly and played for 14 weeks in the top 15 and was one of the biggest films of 200; 2010’s Cats & Dogs: Revenge of Kitty Galore £1,553,005 taking £3,972,149 (£4,819,986 inflation inflated); In October 2020 Cats & Dogs: Paws Unite! £456,531 taking £1.36m.
Children’s films have been the strongest performing genre of films since cinemas reopened for the first time in July 2020 but surprisingly the one family film that failed to meet expectations was Disney’s Encanto.
3. House of Gucci – £779,973 – £7,340,675
Down 48.6% in its third weekend
Normally a major studio award contender holds much more strongly but House of Gucci is more style over substance, while it might look like an Oscar contender with its strong acting and creative talent, the film feels more like a soap opera.
After House of Gucci received mixed reviews it was always likely to drop much heavier than other studio award contenders 2018’s A Star Is Born held #1 in its third weekend taking £2,883,000 and £14,874,834 down 7% in 663 screens. Dropped #2 in the fourth weekend with £2,150,987 and £19,238,711 down 25% in 634 screens against Bohemian Rhapsody opening #1 with £9,530,463 from 659 screens (£3,054,530 previews); stayed in top 5 for 7 weeks and top 10 for 9 weeks taking £29,299,129.
Instead, House of Gucci is holding similar to First Man which opened a week after A Star is Born, took £605,032 in its third weekend down 54% #9 from 584 screens taking £6,559,818 of £7,360,906
And also similar to The Post took £960,488 dropped 40% #7 from 601 screens taking £7,223,656 of £8,839,133
The Social Network took £1,070,411 dropped 30% #5 from 415 screens taking £7,868,168 of £10,306,540
Mary, Queen of Scots took £782,198 dropped 49% #5 from 548 screens taking £6,623,402 of £9,290,695
The Iron Lady took £949,517 dropped 36% #5 from 473 screens taking £7,162,492 of £9,616,872
Kingdom of Heaven took £644,087 dropped 54% #3 from 423 screens taking £6,370,146 of £7,755,814 (£11,888,955 inflation inflated)
Rather than what you would normally expect for a potential Oscar contender that has generated strong media coverage and buzz ahead of release that normally turns into strong word of mouth by their second weekends.
But as almost all films that have opened since May House of Gucci opened with a third less than it should have done pre-pandemic and why it’s taken much less in its second weekend as comparable film. UK BO for 2021 is expected to be about £600m with about 20% from No Time To Die while they are estimating 2022 will take £900m 30% down from 2019 surely after No Time To Die has shown that audiences have returned to cinemas and admissions for October were the highest since 2012 why aren’t audiences returning to pre-pandemic numbers for other films?
House of Gucci is Lady Gaga second-leading film after 2018’s Oscar-winning and box office hit A Star Is Born, but in that film, she was playing a character similar to herself but House of Gucci is a very different iconic role.
2007’s American Gangster #3 dropped 43% taking £1,035,138 (£1.5m inflation inflated) and £7,591,388 81.3% of £9,336,495 (£13.5m inflation inflated)
2006’s The Devil Wears Prada #2 dropped 27% taking £1,358,015 (£2.1m inflation inflated) and £9,395,649 (£14.1m inflation inflated) 69.5% of £13,681,185 (£20.3m inflation inflated)
2014’s American Hustle #3 dropped 20% taking £1,547,249 and £9,422,593 72% of £13,096,887
Other recent Ridley Scott directed films include
2021’s The Last Duel took £859,877;
2017’s All the Money in the World took £3,176,255
2015’s The Martian took £23,578,878
2014’s Exodus: Gods and Kings took £7,529,032
2013’s The Counsellor took £1,855,158
2010’s Robin Hood took £15,381,416
2008’s Body of Lies took £2,859,641
2007’s American Gangster took £9,336,495
2005’s Kingdom of Heaven took £7,755,814
While 1992’s The Bodyguard took £17,001,069 (£38,239,165 inflation inflated) and 2018’s Molly’s Game took £3,788,031)
4. Encanto – £635,387 – £4,217,850
Down 50% in the third weekend; the surprising thing is children’s films have been the one genre that has performed steadily since cinemas reopened in July 2020 and with only Sky Cinemas’ A Boy Called Christmas #11 (£132,870) and Elf #14 (£111,036) would have expected Encanto to open far stronger last weekend and then the second-weekend drop of 25.6% would be far more impressive.
It’s déjà vu for Disney again as Encanto has the second-worst second weekend for Disney made animated film after Onward similar to In March 2020 when Onward had the worst Fri-Sun opening for Pixar when COVID was taking over across the UK and the cinema industry was in denial it was affecting cinema attendance.
165th biggest animated film between Ron’s Gone Wrong and Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas (close to Wonder Park, Corpse Bride, Looney Tunes: Back in Action and The Angry Birds Movie 2)
72nd biggest Disney film between Scary Movie 2 and The Lone Ranger (close to John Carter, Tomorrowland – A World Beyond, Bringing Down the House and I am Number Four)
Seeing how Encanto compares to these films highlights how disappointing the box office has been as after three weeks would normal expect Encanto to have taken more than double. The problem was the buzz on Disney’s Encanto had been very soft for weeks which is very surprising for Disney films. While Lin-Manuel Miranda is very well known for Hamilton musical, In The Heights musical underperformed and it opened only a few months after animated Vivo starring Lin-Manuel Miranda which was due to be released in June theatrically but was released on Netflix in August. It was interesting that he was on Graham Norton Show two weeks ago the weekend Encanto opened but it wasn’t mentioned.
After Disney’s record-breaking 2019 BO this year’s slate it feels like Disney were focused far more o streaming than theatrical with the majority of their films or this year delayed from last year and all co falling short, with Cruella, Black Widow and Shang-Chi and then Eternals and now Encanto. The only positive coming from 20th Century Fox with Free Guy.
5. Ghostbusters Afterlife – £585,505 – £10,130,382
Down 45.3% in its fourth weekend; took £301,396 more than 2016’s Ghostbusters (£284,109) in its fourth weekend (Ghostbusters dropped 53% dropped from #6 to #7.
623rd biggest film in the UK between Miss Congeniality and Twilight (close to Deep Impact, The Spy Who Loved Me, Tron Legacy and Sleepy Hollow) become 635th film to take over £10m+ at the UK BO; and 889th biggest inflation inflated between Angry Birds and The Addams Family 2 (close to Edward Scissorhands, Ghostbusters (2016), Beowulf and Into the Woods).
66th biggest Sony Pictures film between Matilda and Look Who’s Talking (close to Charlie’s Angels, Bram Stokers Dracula, The Addams Family and 21 Jump Street) and 99th biggest inflation inflated between Angry Birds and Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse (close to Bad Boys, Groundhog Day, Hollow Man and The Other Guys).
1989’s Ghostbusters 2 took £8.3m (£25.71m inflation inflated); while Ghostbusters opened December 1984 taking £12.4m (£48m inflation inflated average ticket price £1.90); 2016’s Ghostbusters took £10,554,557.
It’s interesting to see that despite all the hostility and misogyny against 2016’s Ghostbuster, Ghostbusters Afterlife has taken similar box office, initial reaction for Ghostbusters Afterlife was very positive when it was first screened to exhibitors at CinemaCon in August and then New York Comic-Con in October. But critical reviews were far more mixed. After fans hated that Ghostbusters could be women in the 2016 reboot Ghostbusters Afterlife was going to play mostly to the fans with lots of jokes and cameos that the fans would love. How do you make a long0-gap sequel for the fans of the original now in their late 40s/50s and also to their children, by bringing back the stars of the original but also adding newbies as was the case with Jurassic World and Disney Star Wars trilogy,
In Ghostbusters Afterlife as Star Wars, The Force Awakens filmmakers brought back their most iconic character from the original films Egon Spengler (the problem with Ghostbusters Afterlife Harold Ramis sadly died in 2014 so they uncomfortably (for some) brought him back from the dead using footage previously shot and then he dies in the opening scene, as Han Solo dies early on in The Force Awakens and the film is about the younger generation, still mixed in with cameos from the other Ghostbusters.
It will be interesting to see where Sony take Ghostbusters from here will the sequel be about the new Ghostbusters or will it be about the old or another mix of both.
Box Office News
The Morning Consult Tracking the return to normal comfort going to the cinema was up 4% to 51% despite the Omicron and despite soft weekend box office in the US last weekend. Comfort for Millennials (60%), GenX (50%), Baby Boomers (41%), GenZ (62%); A fifth of August adults currently feel comfortable going back to the cinema over the next month and this hasn’t changed since August, while 19% of people are currently going to the cinema, this is same Millennials and GenZ who have been going to the cinema over the last 6 months those who went to see Black Widow, Shang-Chi and Venom 2 and will go and see Spider-Man: No Way Home next week.
Cinema has been their own worst enemy in how they dealt with COVID as should have been way ahead of the curve in dealing with it as should have been planning for worst-case scenarios from January 23, 2020, after China closed cinemas days before their most lucrative week of the year.
Exhibitors should have done their homework watched the movies as Steve Martin said in Grand Canyon all of life’s riddles are in the movies.
As Hollywood has made films about every natural and unnatural disaster, only needed to see Contagion in 2011 to see what was going to happen, Matt Hancock saw it in March 2020 and it changed his COVID policies. The problem with the cinema’s industry is they are always slow to do anything and never are proactive. Took them years to bring in Digital Cinema only doing so when they saw Banknote with dollar sign similarly major exhibitors copied Everyman bringing in living room style cinemas.. again seeing that Everyman charged more for it.
There were rumours on Wednesday morning that Plan B will be announced during a press conference on Wednesday evening which could include vaccine passports that have been talked about by the UK government since February and since been brought into many other countries and states in the US. Vaccine passports have always been seen as discriminatory towards the minority who haven’t had the vaccine but now with 90% of the population vaccinated there is the need to think about the many, not the few. But after the government haven’t been following the rules they will be hard to be implemented.
Over the last few years, there has been a war of words from many filmmakers over the effect comic-book movies are having on cinema with Steven Spielberg saying in 2015 that they would go the way of westerns enjoying a “finite time in popular culture.” This followed on comments he made in 2013 predicting the implosion of the film industry due to its reliance on blockbusters “whereby a half dozen or so $250 million movies flop at the box office and alter the industry forever. What comes next — or even before then — will be price variances at movie theatres, where “you’re gonna have to pay $25 for the next Iron Man, you’re probably only going to have to pay $7 to see Lincoln.”
George Lucas said, “I think eventually the Lincolns will go away and they’re going to be on television,” Lucas said. “As mine almost was,”… Spielberg said Lincoln was close to being an HBO movie. Over the years that have followed the dependence on properties has grown as having streaming companies making the prestigious films studios would have made a decade ago.
In 2019 he said “I love the Superman of Richard Donner, The Dark Knight, Christopher Nolan, and the first Iron Man, but [the] superhero film that impressed me most does not take itself too seriously: Guardians of the Galaxy. When his projection was over, I left with the feeling of having seen something new in movies, without any cynicism or fear of being dark when needed.”… “There is a difference between heroes and superheroes. The hero is an ordinary person who is faced with a serious fact and acts to modify it. A hero is a person who, walking down the street, see[s] a car on fire and runs [to] help the person who is in the driver’s seat, attached to the seat belt to loosen it. [A] superhero is a person who, on the same scene, would fly to the car and try to turn it upside down and shake it using his super strength, until the driver is released.” As seen with Steven Spielberg’s Bridge of Spies real heroes don’t wear capes and say look at me, as is the case with many comic-book movies.
Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola and Ridley Scott have also criticised comic-book films over the years so it was surprising that Paul Thomas Anderson said recently “Obviously it’s gotten even more complicated with streaming and the sort of overabundance of superhero movies. Most of the stuff I don’t take too seriously. I mean, it seems that there is a bit of a preoccupation with superhero films. I like them. It seems to be popular these days to sort of wonder if they’ve ruined movies and all this kind of stuff. I just don’t feel that way.”… “I mean, look, we’re all nervous about people getting back to the theatre, but you know what’s going to get them back in movie theatres? ‘Spider-Man.’ So let’s be happy about that.”
The problem is this last weekend’s soft BO was blamed on increased COVID but then another comic-book movie opens the under 35s return and everything is awesome again. The problem now is there are highs and lows (last weekend UK BO £5m this weekend £18m with Spider-Man taking 80%+ of BO).
It used to be that success for one film would give success to the next but it’s now just going from one comic-book movie to the next while the success of No Time To Die didn’t bring the older demographic back to the cinema to see either House of Gucci or West Side Story.
The problem this Christmas is Spider-Man, The Matrix Resurrections and The King’s Man are all fan service films that won’t play beyond the existing fanbase, there isn’t a Jumanji or Greatest Showman people can just enjoy without doing homework.
Biggest Films of 2021
The top 10 biggest films of 2021 are currently
No Time To Die £96.32m; Dune £21.7m; Shang-Chi (£21.29m); Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway (£20.47m); Black Widow (£18.83m); Venom 2 £18m; Free Guy (£16.78m); F9 (£16.44m); Eternals £14.76m; The Suicide Squad (£14.2m);
No Time To Die is the only film that is performing as it would in normal circumstances all others opened about a third less than they would and taken a third less.
The following 10 biggest films from 11-20
Space Jam 2 (£12.85m); Jungle Cruise (£12.55m); A Quiet Place 2 (£11.54m); The Addams Family 2 £10.2m; Ghostbusters Afterlife £10.13m; The Croods 2 (£9.8m); Cruella £9.45m; The Conjuring 3 £9.36m; PAW Patrol: The Movie £8.47m.
UK box office in detail
This weekend’s top 10 box office took £5,216,788 down 14.5% from last weekend £6,103,230;
The weekend admissions 733,725 down 9.1% 807,082 from last week;
Top 3 took £3,371,113 64.6% of the top 10; West Side Story 24.9% (£1,297,786); Clifford the Big Red Dog 24.8% (£1,293,354); House of Gucci 15% (£779,973);
Up 900.1% from 2020 (£520,600); Top 3 Elf 18.8% (£98,157); Home Alone 16.8% (£87,809); Little Mix: LM5 – The Tour Film 16.1% (£83,518); #1 Elf 18.8% £98,157 2nd weekend
Down 67.9% from 2019 (£16,232,465); Top three took 85.9% (£13,950,015) of the top 10; Jumanji: The Next Level 58.3% (£9,464,661); Frozen 2 19.7% (£3,196,708); Last Christmas 7.9% (£1,288,646); #1 Jumanji: The Next Level £9,464,661 1st week from 637 screens (58.3% of the top 10)
Down 64.2% from 2018: (£14,579,804); Aquaman (£5,230,285); Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (£2,279,995); Mortal Engines (£1,269,441); Free Solo (£387,402); La Traviata – Met Opera 2018 (£274,847); CBeebies Christmas Show: Thumbelina (£195,580); It’s a Wonderful Life (4K Restoration) (£114,865); #1 Aquaman £5,230,285 1st week 604 screens (35.8% of top 10)
Down 5.4% from 2017: (£5,515,127); The Nutcracker – ROH, London 2017/18 (£137,862); Stronger (£102,379); Better Watch Out (£44,305); Brigsby Bear (£36,778); The Muppet Christmas Carol (Re: 2017) (£36,287); #1 Paddington 2 £1,690,027 5th week 4th #1 42% drop 661 screens (30.6% of top 10)
Down 38.4% from 2016: (£8,465,385); Office Christmas Party (£1,198,176); Snowden (£209,352); The Birth of a Nation (£135,162); Life, Animated (£25,612); The Pass (£18,673); #1 Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them £2,734,960 4th week 620 screens 40% drop (32.3% of the top 10)
Down 11.7% from 2015; (£5,906,053); Grandma (£35,916); By the Sea (£24,770); When Harry Met Sally (Re: 2015) (£4,975); #1 The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2 £1,286,244 4th week 513 screens 43% drop (21.7% of top 10)
Down 69.5% from 2014: (£17,095,720); The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (£9,753,642); Tinker Bell and the Legend of the NeverBeast (£395,454); Merchants of Doubt (£323); #1 The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies £9,753,642 1st week 594 screens (57.1% of top 10)
Down 68.8% from 2013: (£16,740,270); The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (£9,325,626); Cinema Paradiso (Re: 2013) (£12,374); #1 The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug £9,325,626 1st week 580 screens (55.7% of top 10)
Down 29.3% from 2012 (£7,384,684); Seven Psychopaths (£1,121,679); So Undercover (£99,340); The Man with the Iron Fists (£49,072); The Oranges (£18,513); Celeste and Jesse Forever (£6,915); Gremlins (Re: 2012) (£1,147); #1 Rise of the Guardians £1,602,689 2nd week 1st #1 495 screens 19% drop (21.7% of top 10)
Down 30.2% from 2011 (£7,474,721); Puss in Boots (£1,975,758); New Year’s Eve (£1,285,552); A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas (£183,798); Another Earth (£90,950); #1 Puss in Boots £1,975,758 1st week 1st #1 510 screens (26.4% of top 10)
Down 34.9% from 2010: (£8,015,202); Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (£2,460,118); The Tourist (£1,341,143); Somewhere (£125,581); The Shop Around the Corner (Re) (£8,038); #1 Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader £2,460,118 1st week 536 screens (30.6% of top 10)
Down 23.6% from 2009; (£6,826,766; Where The Wild Things Are (£883,990); Carriers (£69,224); The Stepfather (£40,056); #1 A Christmas Carol £1,544,226.00 6th week 434 screens 7% drop (22.6% of top 10)
Down 40.3% from 2008; (£8,742,920); The Day the Earth Stood Still (£2,752,132); Inkheart (£700,146); Dean Spanley (£42,898); White Christmas (re) (£7,518); #1 The Day the Earth Stood Still £2,752,132 1st week 465 screens (31.5% of top 10)
Down 51.1% from 2007: (£10,663,935); The Golden Compass (£7,243,984); Code Name: The Cleaner (£61,734); Southland Tales (£18,241); #1 The Golden Compass £7,243,984 1st week 507 screens (68% of top 10)
Down 58.5% from 2006; (£12,568,238); Happy Feet (£3,689,166); The Holiday (£2,826,520); The Covenant (£181,365); The Nativity Story (£78,553); Bugsy Malone (re) (£231); #1 Happy Feet £3,689,166 1st week 445 screens (29.3% of top 10)
Down 60.7% from 2005 (£13,287,703); The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (£8,884,111); March of the Penguins (£183,798); #1 The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe 1st week £8,884,111 498 screens (66.9% of top 10)
Down 49.4% from 2004 (£10,315,744); Blade: Trinity (£2,633,626); The Polar Express (expansion) (£2,136,898); Phantom of the Opera (£1,219,310); Garden State (£128,366); #1 Blade: Trinity £2,633,626 1st 329 screens (25.5% of top 10)
Down 28.4% from 2003 (£7,288,995); The Fighting Temptations (£151,994); Touching the Void (£115,332); Dead End (£52,130); Lord of the Rings: The 2 Towers (Sp. Ed) (£42,378); #1 Love Actually £2,273,706 4th week 486 screens 29% drop (31.2% of top 10)
Down 16.9% from 2002 (£6,276,464); Like Mike (£246,169); Dirty Pretty Things (£141,865); #1 Die Another Day £2,220,351 4th week 463 screens 35% drop (35.4% of top 10)
Down 18.1% from 2001 (£6,363,002); The 51st State (£913,239); Riding In Cars With Boys (£237,279); Christmas Carol: The Movie (£171,576); #1 Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone £3,345,310 4th week 501 screens 42% drop (52.6% of top 10);
Next weekend in 2019 (£30,884,264) Top three took 87.4% (£27,004,256) of the top 10; Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker 67.5% (£20,864,500); Cats 10.4% (£3,207,471) Jumanji: The Next Level 9.5% (£2,932,285); #1 Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker 740 screens (£20,864,500) 1st week
US Box Office
- West Side Story – 20th Century Studios
Opened with $10.57m; received critical acclaim (93% Rotten Tomatoes) and A CinemaScore
According to EntTelligence, about 800,000 people saw it over its opening weekend with an average ticket price of $13.21 about 45% more than the industry average
Highlighting how disappointing West Side Story opened it opened less than In The Heights ($11.5m) and only $3m more than Dear Evan Hanson
Took $800k from Thursday previews similar to Dear Evan Hanson in September opened with $7.44m taking $15m while Steven Spielberg’s Bridge of Spies took $500k in previews opened with $15.3m.
Opened in 320 IMAX screens (taking $1m 9.5% of opening) and 740 PLF screens all of which it will lose this week to Spider-Man No Way Home opening.
Normally Steven Spielberg films have long legs making a large percentage of their box office after their opening weekend War Horse (91%); Lincoln (88%); Bridge of Spies (79%); The Post (76%) normally would be expected West Side Story would also have long legs but its unlikely to do so in these current conditions.
Never understand if a studio has had success opening a film over one date as 20th Century Fox and Disney both had with The Greatest Showman and Mary Poppins Returns that they didn’t open West Side Story on December 22 as it was originally due to be released on December 18th, 2020. What is also interesting is that almost all of the films Disney announced months before opening would have a 45-day theatrical window have disappointed at the box office all except for Free Guy. This is why the theatrical window needs to be flexible depending on how a film opens.
Many will make comparisons with 2017’s The Greatest Showman opened $8.8m but the difference is The Greatest Showman became the peoples champion despite receiving mixed reviews and playing to all demographics West Side Story won’t in these current conditions.
West Side Story was always likely to struggle to find an audience as older audiences have been very slow to return over the last 18 months and the film was unlikely to play initially to under 35s. The problem has been exhibitors have targeted Millennials and GenZ as the biggest films this year have been films targetting males under 35s with comic-book movies and F9. Ahead of the opening, it was expected to open between $12m-$17m. But the audience breakdown highlights the problem it was always expected to face.
Female – 57%; Male – 43%; 13-17 – 7%; 18-24 – 18%; 25-34 – 21%; 35-44 – 13%; 45-54 – 15%; 55+ – 26%
Recent musicals
2021’s In The Heights opened $11.5m taking $29.87m and $43.87m worldwide
2019’s Rocketman opened $25.72m taking $96.36m and $195.32m worldwide
2018’s Mary Poppins Returns opened $23.52m taking $171.95m and $349.54m worldwide
2018’s Bohemian Rhapsody opened $51.06m taking $216.42m and $911.1m worldwide
2018’s A Star Is Born opened $42.9m taking $215.28m and $436.18m worldwide
2017’s The Greatest Showman opened $8.8m taking $174.34m and $436.94m worldwide
2014’s Into the Woods opened $31.05m taking $128m and $212.9m worldwide
2001’s Moulin Rouge opened $13.71m (after two weeks on platform) taking $57.38m and $179.21m worldwide
While 1996’s Romeo & Juliet opened $11.13m taking $46.35m and $147.55m worldwide
Many have said could West Side Story have similar legs as 2017’s The Greatest Showman but these are two very different films, West Side Story had critical acclaim while The Greatest Showman was belittled by critics but became the peoples champion as younger audiences created a huge amount of user-generated content, this won’t happen with West Side Story. West Side Story will lose the 320 IMAX screens this weekend to Spider-Man No Way Home and then likely lose screens to The Matrix Resurrections and The King’s Man next week.
Always wonder why studios would open two high profile films within two weeks of themselves as Disney released The King’s Man on December 22. 20th Century Fox famously opened Alvin And The Chipmunks: The Squeakquel days after Avatar in 2009 in case it underperformed.
Opened with $4.4m from 37 territories; the UK $1.7m; France $1.1m; Germany $0.3m; Russia $0.2m; Holland $0.2m; Mexico $0.1m; it was expected to open with $12m-$17m from the US and $10m-$14m internationally with $22m-$31m worldwide but opened with half $14.9m
Took $0.3m from IMAX screens internationally
- Encanto – Disney
Dropped 24% in its third weekend taking $9.98m and $71.9m
Comparable to 2015’s third weekend of The Good Dinosaur down 32.7% taking $10.31m and $89.47m of $123.08m and 2011’s The Muppets $11.08m dropped 62.1% taking $56.35m of $88.63m
Disney’s last animated film Frozen 2 dropped 59.1% in its third weekend taking $35.16m and $338.09m of $477.37m
143rd biggest animated film between Storks and Fantasia 2000; 1,148th biggest film in the US between 1408 and National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation; 1,944th biggest inflation inflated between Conan the Destroyer and Hoodwinked; 184th biggest Disney film in the US between Bridge of Spies and Ruthless People.
Took $13.6m (down 53.6%) from 47 territories $80.5m total and $151.8m worldwide; France $9m; Colombia $7.9m; UK $5.6m; Spain $5.5m; Russia $4.8m; Italy $4.7m; Japan $4.6m; Korea $4.3m; Mexico $4m; Saudi Arabia $2.5m; 145th biggest animated film worldwide between Antz and The Angry Birds Movie 2; 1,159th biggest worldwide between Antz and Backdraft; 25th biggest 2021 film worldwide between Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway and Space Jam: A New Legacy; 170th biggest Disney film worldwide between 101 Dalmatians and Phenomenon.
- Ghostbusters Afterlife
Dropped 31% in its fourth weekend taking $7.1m and $112m
631st biggest film in the US between The Hangover 3 and Twins; 1,190th biggest inflation inflated between The Mighty Ducks and John Q; 10th biggest 2021 film between Jungle Cruise and Dune; 79th biggest Sony Pictures film between Ghostbusters II and Fun With Dick And Jane.
Fourth weekend
1984’s Ghostbusters down 14.6% taking $11.14m ($29.6m inflation inflated) and $80.63m ($214.2m inflation inflated) taking $229.24m ($635m inflation inflated); was #1 for 7 consecutive weeks and returned #1 for another 7 weeks over the following 5 months
1989’s Ghostbusters 2 dropped 40.2% taking $5.26m ($12.4m inflation inflated) and $85.52m ($201.1m inflation inflated) taking $112.49m ($275m inflation inflated)
2016’s Ghostbuster dropped 53.8% taking $4.67m and $116.56m and $128.35m and $229.14m worldwide
Took $6.4m (down 51%) from 53 territories and $52.49m total; France $3.2m; Russia $3.3m; UK $13.5m; and Spain $3m; upcoming major market releases: Australia (January 1) and Japan (February 4).
1,059th biggest film in the US between Johnny English Reborn and Daddy Day Care; 22nd biggest 2021 film between The Suicide Squad and Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway; 130th biggest Sony Pictures film between Stuart Little 2 and Daddy Day Care.
- House of Gucci – MGM
Down 41% in its third weekend taking $4.11m and $41.08m
2,144th biggest film in the US between What to Expect When You’re Expecting and Out of Time; 3,139th biggest inflation inflated between Paddington 2 and Love, Simon; 29th biggest 2021 film between Mortal Kombat and Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway.
House of Gucci was never going to hold like Lady Gaga’s previous film A Star Is Born that held strongly despite never being #1 (staying #2 for 4 weeks) dropped 33% second weekend taking $19.05m and $126.12m.
Other third weekend drops
2007’s American Gangster dropped 46.4% taking $12.87m and $100.65m 77.3% of $130.16m
2013’s American Hustle dropped 33.7% (third weekend wide) taking $12.4m and $59.16m 39.4% of $150.1m.
Instead, it’s holding similar to First Man which opened the week after A Star Is Born down 41.6% in its third weekend taking $4.85m and $37.8m 84.1% of $44.9m
Took $10.13m from 60 territories $52.33m total and $92.42m worldwide; 1,789th biggest film worldwide between Money Monster and BlacKkKlansman; 38th biggest 2021 film between PAW Patrol: The Movie and Old;
- Eternals – Disney
Down 23% in its sixth taking $3.14m and $161.26m.
Sixth weekend
Venom Let There Be Carnage dropped 22.4% #4 taking $4.46m and $197m of $211.41m
Shang-Chi dropped 29.5% #4 taking $4.3m and $212.56m of $224.54m
Black Widow dropped 51.3% #7 taking $1.91m and $178.11m of $183.65m
Disney announced plans this week for a sequel to Shang-Chi taking $418.2m worldwide while similar global BO to Eternals and Black Widow is one of the lowest-grossing MCU films and the lowest-grossing that has had a sequel announced since Captain America: The First Avenger.
339th biggest film between Ice Age: Continental Drift and Straight Outta Compton; 707th biggest inflation inflated between The Pacifier and The Italian Job; 5th biggest film in 2021 between F9: The Fast Saga and No Time to Die; 57th biggest comic-book movie between X-Men and X-Men: Apocalypse; 85th biggest Disney film in the US between The Waterboy and Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
Took $3.6m from 51 territories (down 40%) $234.1m international total and $395.36m worldwide; Korea $27.3m; UK $19.8m; France $15.9m; Mexico $15.2m; Brazil $12.6m; Australia $10.9m; Japan $10.4m; Italy $9.7m; Russia $9.3m; Germany $9.3m
321st biggest worldwide between Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again! and Solo: A Star Wars Story; 9th biggest 2021 film between Shang-Chi and Dune; 50th biggest comic-book movie between X-Men 2 and Superman Returns; 74th biggest Disney film between Tron: Legacy and Solo: A Star Wars Story.
- National Champions – STX Entertainment
Opened #13 with $301,028; received average reviews (60% Rotten Tomatoes)
Opening in only 1,197 screens feels like it was dumped over the last 20 months STX have sold many of their films to streaming services so surprising they gave National Champions a theatrical release, but this could be due to the film being acquisition and being contractually bound to give it a 1,000+ screen release; will be released on VOD in January.
It was recently announced STX Entertainment will be acquired by Najafi after being acquired by Eros in July 2020, it always felt like a strange marriage. STX launched in 2014 having success with several medium-sized budget films including Bad Moms and Hustlers but then as often they expanded into higher budget films Uglydolls and Playmobil that underperformed.
UK Box Office Top 10
UK Box Office Preview
While last weekend’s box office was blamed on Omicron this weekend Spider-Man No Way Home will open with £15m+ in the UK $150m+ in the US and globally with $500m+ and industry will predictably say Omicron does not affect BO. The problem has been industry has focused on reopening cinema under 35s while older audiences returned for No Time To Die they haven’t returned since.
Bookings for Spider-Man No Way Home opened on December 6th breaking post-pandemic presale records in its first 24 hours selling three times the amount of No Time To Die with Odeon selling over 200,000 tickets and Vue sold over 150,000 tickets five times more. It also broke presale records at Cineworld. But comic-book fans are desperate to avoid spoilers far more than older audiences who will read reviews of films before seeing them and will rush out to see the films on Wednesday and Thursday as seen with Spider-Man Far From Home taking £5.74m from previews in July 2019 and Spider-Man No Way Home is likely to take a similar amount in previews.
Exhibitors had a big deal about Spider-Man No Way Home having the best presales in its first 24 hours since Avengers Endgame but bookings aren’t an indication of how big a film will open as fans rush out to book and MCU has many of them but even MCU films need to attract more than fans.
While previous Spider-Man films have dropped heavily against similar-sized tentpoles (in 2017 War For the Planet of the Apes and 2019 The Lion King) this year The Matrix Resurrections opens a week after Spider-Mam No Way Home and The King’s Man 9 days afterwards, both films targetting similar male under 35 demographic.
It would be interesting to see the breakdown in advance ticket sales the percentage of opening weekend box office that came from tickets sold in the first 24 hours many of which would be for the first shows on Wednesday as fans try to avoid spoilers. While Spider-Man No Way Home had record presales over its first day, how were sales over the following days leading up to the opening on December 15, what percentage of BO comes from presales and then what percentage from walk-ins? While people rush out to book advance for films like Spider-Man what are presales like for other films. What is the breakdown on when people decide to book, is it days before or hours.
In 2019 Spider-Man: Far From Home had the 16th biggest previews taking £5,749,085 over two days 41% of its £14,148,624 opening similar to Deadpool 2 while Star Wars: The Force Awakens was 28.4% and Avengers Endgame 27.4% both from one day.
It 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; The Amazing Spider-Man in 2012 with a sequel in 2014 directed by Marc Webb starring Andrew Garfield and then Spider-Man part of the MCU directed by Jon Watts and starring Tom Holland between 2017 and 2021.
Tom Holland said at the launch of the second trailer “This movie exceeds expectations in every way. This is the most cinematic … superhero movie that has ever been made. I’m proud to say Sony and Marvel have pulled off the impossible.”
Spider-Man: No Way Home is the pièce de resistance to Marvel Cinematic Universe 2021 with three films Black Widow, Shang-Chi and Eternals and several Disney+ shows WandaVision, Falcon & the Winter Soldier, Loki, What if …? and Hawkeye. Having the biggest MCU opening in the UK since Spider-Man: Far From Home £14,148,624 (including £5,749,085 previews).
Used to be successfully brought success over many films but now it’s the success of one comic-book movie plays into the next as the same audience will see each of them with this year the four MCU films had similar openings Blade Widow with £6,889,187 (including £2,240,000 previews); Shang-Chi £5,759,504; Eternals £5,456,577; Venom Let There Be Carnage £6,167,833.
The problem with MCU now is they aren’t accessible to newbies need to have seen all of the other 26 MCUs and Spider-Man films, why for all the positivity surrounding Spider-Man No Way Home it’s a comic-book movie for the fans, not the extended fanbase many other MCU films have been?
The MCU films have become similar to the problem with Star Wars Anthology with lots of in-jokes only the fans who have watched and dissected all previous films will understand but won’t play wider, why ‘record presales’ doesn’t mean Avengers sized opening for Spider-Man No Way Home.
This is why Jumanji and The Greatest Showman performed so strongly against The Last Jedi, Spider-Man, Matrix and The King’s Man are all similar fan service films why Sing 2 will likely be the big winner this Christmas being the Ronseal movie doing exactly what it says on the can.
Just reading the review for Spider-Man No Way Home was exhausting, as most MCU films have been since Captain America Civil War (previously could just enjoy them separately) but now need to do your homework watching all 52+ hours again to properly understand the films?
Why it’s going to be almost impossible for any MCU to beat Avengers Endgame global BO apart from ticket inflation as the thought of having to watch 50+ hours to understand the latest MCU will put off many newbies from starting the journey.
The Matrix: Resurrections opens only a week after Spider-Man No Way Home and it will be targetting the same demographic, but it’s 18 years since the last films were released and after all the excitement of the original film in 1999 the back-to-back sequels were disappointing.
The first film opened in UK cinemas in June 1999 receiving rave reviews (a month before Star Wars: The Phantom Menace) with £3,384,948 (£5,805,065 inflation inflated) taking £17,279,897.
Two sequels opened back-to-back in 2003 6 months apart with receiving mixed reviews; The Matrix Reloaded opened May with a massive £12,165,276 (including £3,267,952 previews) £19,782,273 inflation inflated taking £33,423,117 (£54,350,204 inflation inflated)
The Matrix Revolutions opened with £8,712,350 (including £3,002,097 previews) £14,167,380 inflation inflated taking £17,754,338 (£28,870,793 inflation inflated) it was the first live-action film to be released in regular and IMAX cinemas at the same time; there are now 50 IMAX cinemas in the UK over half opened in the last 8 years mostly retrofitted in conventional cinemas and they take about 10% of the BO of the opening weekend BO of films including Eternals last weekend.
In 1999 The Matrix gave audiences something they hadn’t seen on the big screen, remember doing many preview screenings of the first film and the audience reaction was always so good afterwards. So the hype and expectation for the sequels in 2003 were almost as high as Star Wars: The Phantom Menace and of course when that happens the films can never live up to that hype.
Over the years since there have been many film series that have taken up the mantle of The Matrix from John Wick to MCU and The Matrix Resurrections opens the week after Spider-Man No Way Home with both films targetting similar demographic males under 40. As will The King’s Man opening on Boxing Day.
In 2003 when The Matrix Reloaded opened in May X-Men 2 was #2 £903,221 in its fourth weekend taking £18,303,458 having comedies opening the weeks after Bringing Down the House, Anger Management, Dumb and Dumberer allowing it to stay #1 for 4 weeks until 2 Fast 2 Furious.
While in November The Matrix Revolutions opened against the 6th weekend of Finding Nemo £1,659,861 and dropped 70% in its second weekend despite no films opening against it (taking £ 2,575,595) with Love Actually opening in its third-weekend #1 with £6,657,479 as The Matrix Revolutions dropped 55% (£1,158,971).
With The Matrix Resurrections opening less than a week after Spider-Man No Way Home it’s unlikely to get many IMAX screens and will also struggle to get the largest screens in multiplexes as The Matrix films are all about the visual experience this will lessen the impact of the experience of watching the film.
The problem for The Matrix: Resurrections is it opens days after Spider-Man No Way Home and days before The King’s Man and all three are targetting males under 35. The last two Spider-Man films dropped 50%+ in their second weekends Spider-Man Far From Home didn’t have any major competition in its second weekend while Spider-Man: Homecoming dropped 62% against War for the Planet of the Apes. Both previous Spider-Man films opened in July but December is a very different marketplace.