1. Sonic The Hedgehog – £4,171,243 – £14,688,537

Down 11.8% in its second weekend thanks to half-term holidays and wet stormy weather

Took £5,783,526 Mon-Thurs during half-term holidays

125^th biggest second weekend UK between Inception and A Bug’s Life (close to Incredibles, Frozen, The Simpsons and Despicable Me 2) and 183^rd biggest second weekend inflation inflated between How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Suicide Squad (close to The LEGO Batman Movie, Ratatouille, Paddington and Bolt).

22^nd biggest animated second weekend between Incredibles and A Bug’s Life (close to Tangled, The Secret Life of Pets, The Simpsons and The Boss Baby) and 34^th biggest inflation inflated second weekend between The LEGO Batman Movie and Bolt.

25^th biggest Paramount Pictures film in the UK between Stardust and World War Z and 31^st biggest inflation inflated between Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and The Spiderwick Chronicles.

Sonic The Hedgehog has become the biggest film based on computer game overtaking last year’s Detective Pikachu taking £13,368,17; also overtook 2016’s The Angry Birds Movie £10,408,235; 2010’s Prince of Persia £8,829,805; 2018’s Rampage £8,695,722; 2017’s Assassin’s Creed £7,996,695; 2018’s Tomb Raider £7,739,354 and 2016’s Warcraft: The Beginning £5,947,228.

391^st biggest film in the UK between Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil and Batman and Robin (close to Ice Age,  Oz: The Great and Powerful, Kung Fu Panda 3 and American Pie).

When the first trailer was released in April Sonic the Hedgehog was doomed to fail after poor reaction to the trailer and Paramount took the unprecedented decision to listen to the feedback and delay the release of the film to redesign Sonic. Unfortunately Universal Pictures didn’t do similar with Cats which also received poor reaction to the first trailer released in July, had done similar delayed the release of Cats and taken more time with the design of the cats could it have performed better than it did?

The negativity that surrounded the release of the first trailer of Sonic the Hedgehog became positive with the release of the new redesigned Sonic in November, while reaction was also more positive with the second Cats trailer, the damage was already done as they hadn’t changed it enough so was always likely to receive a poor reaction when it was released. Universal Pictures took the unprecedented decision to send out an updated version of Cats days after the film opened with updated special effects.

Upcoming films based on computer games include Monster Hunter in September, Tomb Raider 2 and Uncharted in March 2021 and Minecraft: The Movie in March 2022; while Nintendo have had plans for several years to create an extended film universe similar to Marvel for many years. Before that happens Illumination will release Mario Brothers animated film in 2022 almost 30 years after the live-action Super Mario Bros flop was released.  

2. Dolittle –  £2,032,270   – £14,066,921

Down 4.9% in its third weekend 

As often happens the weekend half-term ends will see an increase in box office to children’s films as its boosted by the increase in box office from the Friday over the previous Friday which was a school day.

407^th biggest film in the UK between Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues and Kung Fu Panda 3 (close to Puss in Boots, The Emoji Movie, Shaun The Sheep Movie and Mr. Peabody and Sherman); 540^th biggest inflation inflated between American Hustle and The Panic Room (close to Rugrats in Paris: The Movie, Pitch Perfect 3, Kung Fu Panda 3 and Pokemon Detective Pikachu).

February  2019

The LEGO Movie 2 dropped 2% in its third weekend taking £2,410,824

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World up 1%  in its fourth weekend taking £1,665,724

The Kid Who Would be King dropped 2% in its second weekend £651,610

February half-term as October is staggered across two weeks

In February 2018 the family films didn’t hold as well as were much later in their release Coco 6th weekend down 46% and Early Man down 51% but The Greatest Showman #2 increased 4% in its 9th weekend taking £2,000,922 and Ferdinand #14 up 311% in its 10th weekend taking £196,551.

February 2017

The LEGO Batman Movie dropped 19% in its second weekend #1 taking £4,435,521

Sing dropped 10% in its fourth weekend #4 taking £2,108,203

February 2016

Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip dropped 17% in its second weekend #2 £3,550,752

Goosebumps increased 22% in its third weekend #4 taking £1,311,006

The Good Dinosaur dropped 10% #15 in its 13^th weekend taking £140,083

February 2015

Big Hero 6 increased 40% in its fourth weekend #2 taking £2,581,806

Shaun The Sheep Movie increased 39% in its third weekend #3 £2,429,181

Paddington increased 36% in its 13^th weekend #12 £283,485

Tinker Bell and the Legend of the NeverBeast increased 2,477% in its 11th weekend #15 £127,026

February 2014

The Lego Movie increased 1% in its second weekend #1 £5,978,904

Mr. Peabody and Sherman increased 21% in its third weekend #2 £1,698,483

Tinker Bell and the Pirate Fairy increased 24% in its third weekend #3 £1,207,245

Frozen increased 54% in its 12^th weekend #10 £422,129

As with Cats in December poor reviews haven’t put off audiences to seeing the film, but it was helped being the only family film on release with Jumanji: The Next Level, Spies In Disguise and Frozen 2 played out and Paw Patrol: Ready, Race, Rescue targeting younger audiences, but will face tougher competition from Sonic the Hedgehog this weekend as half-term holidays begin.

Third weekend

1998’s Doctor Dolittle dropped 8.8% taking £1,377,421 (£2,419,886 inflation inflation) and £10,230,091 (£17,972,468 inflation inflated) taking £19,671,348 (£35,242,465 inflation inflated) and $294.45m worldwide

2001’s Doctor Dolittle 2 dropped 29% taking £622,570 (£1,064,685 inflation inflation) and £5,835,485 (£9,979,525 inflation inflated) taking £8,286,365 (£14,451,100 inflation inflated) and $176.1m worldwide.

3. Parasite – £1,722,236   – £8,397,639

Down 31.7% in its third weekend despite adding over 130 screens from last weekend.

Parasite was still selling out many screenings across the weekend but with half-term holidays children’s films will always hold stronger, but this weekend with Onward having previews both Sonic the Hedgehog and Dolittle will drop much heavier and Parasite could possibly return to second.

Had the biggest third weekend for Best Picture Oscar winner since 2014’s 12 Years A Slave (£2,235,837) and the 8^th biggest third weekend Oscar winner since Titanic in 1998.

Parasite had become the biggest Best Picture Oscar winner since 2014’s 12 Years A Slave (£20,027,551) and will likely be the 10^th biggest since Titanic between Chicago and The Departed.

Parasite is currently the 9^th biggest film this year after 1917 (£41.61m); Bad Boys For Life (£15.28m); Little Women (£14.78m); Sonic the Hedgehog (£14.68m); Dolittle (£14.06m); The Gentlemen (£11.53m); Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker (£11.16m); Jumanji: The Net Level (£9.83m); Parasite (£8.39m); Jojo Rabbit (£7.54m).

On Thursday President Trump ranted Parasite winning Best Picture Oscar asking the crowd at the rally he was at “And the winner is a movie from South Korea. What the hell was that all about?.. “Can we get, like, Gone With the Wind back, please?” he continued. “Sunset Boulevard. So many great movies.” US distributor Neon responded to the rant by Tweeting “Understandable, he can’t read,”.

At a press conference the Parasite director Bong Joon Ho said he had received a personal letter from Martin Scorsese congratulating him om the Oscar win. Martin Scorsese was also nomination for Best Director for The Irishman but failed to win any of the awards the film was nominated for. Bong Joon Ho did say the letter said You’ve done well. Now rest. But don’t rest for too long.’ This is something Martin Scorsese isn’t doing as is expected to start shooting his next Killers of the Flower Moon in the spring with starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert DeNiro for Paramount Pictures.

That is if he can get the $225m budget greenlighted, as Paramount are nervy to make it with such a large budget as it would need to take more than The Wolf of Wall Street his last film with Leonardo DiCaprio. (its rumoured that Martin Scorsese wants to move the project to Netflix as he previously did with The Irishman which was also set at Paramount before they got nervy after Martin Scorsese’s Silence flopped.

In 2004 The Passion of the Christ expanded after two weeks (week 1 took £229,426 from 46 screens #10; week 2 took £198,355 from 48 screens #10) up 573% adding 275 screens to 323 taking £2,019,935 (£3,248,091 inflation inflated) #1 ahead of Dawn of the Dead £1,944,745; Starsky & Hutch £1,846,576; Welcome to the Jungle £635,485 (Dwayne Johnson’s first lead role) taking £10,604,723 (£17,052,584 inflation inflated).

2001’s Amelie opened with £559,747 (£957,248 inflation inflated) from 82 screens taking 7 weeks to play to its widest of 115 screens (Moulin Rouge #1 in its 5th weekend £1,072,657 from 397 screens); Amelie stayed in the top 10 for 8 weeks and top 15 for 13 weeks taking £4,320,466 (£7,388,623 inflation inflated).

It was a massive gamble for Curzon in October to announce a full theatrical release for Parasite and to date it February 7th at the end of award season week after BAFTAs and weekend of the Oscars, but the gamble paid off; the gamble paid off for The Handmaiden taking £1.4m.

Parasite has become the 3rd biggest foreign language films in the UK after 2004’s The Passion of the Christ (£11.1m) and 2000’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (£9.37m) overtaking 2001’s Amelie £5.1m; 2007’s Apocalypto £4.1m; 2004’s Hero and House of Flying Daggers £3.8m.

At the Golden Globe’s Bong Joon Ho said “Once you overcome the 1-inch-tall barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films.” This follows on from similar comments last year from Alfonso Cuarón after winning Best Foreign-Language Oscar for Roma saying, “I grew up watching foreign-language films and learning so much from them — films like Citizen Kane, Jaws, Rashomon, The Godfather and Breathless.”

In 2002 131 foreign language films were released in the UK 38% of the films released taking 2.2% of the yearly box office with Y Tu Mama Tambien taking £1.74m was the biggest foreign language film of the year.

Over the following years the amount of foreign language films released has more than doubled but its box office share and its box office hasn’t grown, so similarly to the growth of Event Cinema much of this is due to the quantity of titles released with box office shared more rather than audience growth.

In 2017; 349 foreign language films were released in the UK taking £28.6m 45.9% % of the films released taking 2.1% of the yearly box office; The Handmaiden taking £1.5m was the biggest foreign language film of the year.

In 2016 368 foreign language films were released in the UK; 44.8% of all film releases, but only took 2.4% of the box office gross, more foreign-;language films are being released than ever before, but they are cannibalizing themselves. In 2004 there were 259 films released in the UK but last year there were over 900, but the number of screens in the UK hasn’t grown nearly as much which means box office cannibalization.

After Parasite Oscar success will it make the Cannes Film Festival popular again for studios to launch award contenders early as most Oscar winners over recent years have premiered at the Venice/Toronto/Telluride Film Festivals, the previous Best Picture winner also premiered at Cannes was The Artist in 2011.

The big question is will Parasite success be a one off for foreign-language films as was the case with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Amélie in 2001 or will bookers at major exhibitors book more foreign-language films in future. More foreign-language films are being released than a decade ago but very few are playing beyond art-house cinemas. Over the same time there has been huge growth in Event Cinema which exhibitors are more willing to book being one or two shows, normally off-peak mid-week rather than risking a screen for a week.

4. The Call Of The Wild –  £1,465,400     – NE

Took £475,400 from previews on Wednesday/Thursday

Had the 1,044^th biggest opening between The Madness Of King George and Contagion (close to Legends Of The Fall, Mr. Popper’s Penguins, Legally Blonde and The Man from U.N.C.L.E.) and 1,192^nd biggest inflation inflated opening between The Book Thief and Poltergeist (close to The Lone Ranger, Power Rangers, Hidden Figures and Parasite).

Animal films have always been from 2009’s Marley And Me opening with £4.4m taking £15.4m to 1992 Beethoven taking £6.8m and 1993’s Beethoven’s 2nd taking £5.8m.

The Call of the Wild has more in common with 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

Remake of Twentieth Century Pictures’ previous 1935 film adaptation, the original 1935 film was the last film released by 20th Century Studios before merging with Fox to become 20th Century Fox and the remake is the first film to be released 20th Century Studios.

In the 90s Disney made many of these animal adventure films including Iron Will, Eight Below, Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey,

But the problem with The Call Of The Wild is the film has a hefty budget $109m and these films are now much harder sells to audiences despite the casting of Harrison Ford, the one positive is that the trailer was playing for the past couple of months with Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. 

5. Emma – £1,156,255    – £4,571,310

Down only 29.3% in its second weekend after having a disappointing opening weekend had a good hold which saw it climb up one place in its second weekend

743^rd biggest second weekend between Bad Moms and Shallow Grave (close to Le Man’s 66, The Lovely Bones, Walk the Line and Crazy Rich Asians) and 962^nd second weekend inflated between Stormbreaker and The Emoji Movie (close to The American President, The Duchess, Legends Of The Fall and Judy) .

Second weekends

The Personal History of David Copperfield dropped 32% £1,037,119 and £3,758,595 of £5,728,246

2017’s Victoria and Abdul dropped 33% £1,239,085 and £4,831,777 of £9,434,937

2015’s Far From The Madding Crowd 42% drop £833,804 and £3,588,881 of £6,071,481

2012’s The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel up 5% £2,342,095 and £7,014,101 of £20,308,480

2008’s The Duchess dropped 40% £844,020 and £3,454,610 taking £7,060,913

2007’s Atonement dropped 15% £1,379,790 and £4,425,940 taking £11,967,043

2001’s Captain Corelli’s Mandolin £814,636 dropped 52% and £3,623,051 taking £9,141,397

Emma was co-produced by Blueprint Pictures who made The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.

Over the years there have been many adaptations of Jane Austen novels on the big and small screen;

1995’s Sense & Sensibility took £13.53m (£25,907,059).

1996’s Emma took £5.28m (£10.5m inflation inflated)

2005’s Pride & Prejudice took £14,562,448 (£22,322,903 inflation inflated)

2016’s Love and Friendship took  £1,736,768

Also having modernised version of Emma with 1995’s Clueless (opened £638,212 (£1.3m inflation inflated) taking £3.9m (£7.6m inflation inflated); 2001’s Bridget Jones’s Diary and 2013’s Austenland modern-day versions of Pride & Prejudice.

While on the on the small screen 1995’s Pride & Prejudice, Emma, Persuasion, Northanger Abbey and most recently Sanditon.

The success of Little Women (opening with £3,578,877 and £2,731,410 without previews has taken over £21m to date) helped the release of Emma as it targeted the same demographic along with being Valentine’s Day weekend; over recent years Universal Pictures have had huge success over Valentine’s Day with 50 Shades of Grey trilogy.

Emma is the first of four films being released this year starring model turned actress Anya Taylor-Joy, Radioactive (biopic about Marie Curie), the long-delayed X-Men film The New Mutants and Edgar Wright’s latest Last Night in Soho. Her breakthrough role was 2015’s The Witch directed by Robert Eggers and will appear in his latest film alongside Nicole Kidman and Alexander Skarsgård The Northman, starting filming soon.

Emma was produced by Working Title who have had mixed success at the box office last year while had success with Danny Boyle’s Yesterday weren’t nearly as successful with their other films Cats, Mary, Queen of Scots and the Kid Who Would Be King. Working Title have three more films due for release in 2020 Radioactive, Last Night in Soho and another remake Rebecca.

UK box office in detail

This weekend’s top 10 box office took £13,862,132 down 16.2% from last weekend £16,539,139

The weekend admissions 1,957,928 down 15.7% from last weekend 2,323,584

18 films opened at weekend taking (£3,404,903); The Call of the Wind 43.1% (£1,465,400); Brahms: The Boy II 14.9% (£506,773); Like A Boss 15.3% (£520,059); Greed 10.8% (£369,028); remaining 14 films shared 16% (£543,643);

Top three took 57.2% (£7,925,749) of the top 10; Sonic The Hedgehog 30.1% (£4,171,243); Dolittle 14.6% (£2,032,270); Parasite 12.4% (£1,722,236);

Up 49.1% from 2019; (£9,295,306); Cold Pursuit (£631,467); On the Basis of Sex (£458,914); Capernaum (£140,770); #1 The LEGO Movie 2 £2,410,824 3rd week 661 screens 2% drop (25.9% of top 10)

Down 13.3% from 2018: (£15,994,745); Lady Bird (expansion) (£1,233,508); I, Tonya (£1,049,551);  Finding Your Feet (£923,220); La Boheme – Met Opera 2018 (£309,799); #1 Black Panther £6,859,230  2^nd week 599 screens 61% drop (42.9% of top 10)

Up 22.1% from 2017: (£11,360,198); Patriots Day (£843,380); A Cure for Wellness (£409,540); Rusalka – Met Opera 2017 (£215,774); Within (£8,364); #1 The LEGO Batman Movie £2,893,337 3^rd week 610 screens 35% drop (25.4% of top 10)

Down 14.5% from 2016: (£16,221,692); How To Be Single (£1,876,539); Triple 9 (£812,619); The Finest Hours (£247,643); #1 Deadpool £5,694,280 2^nd week 571 screens 59% drop (35.1% of top 10)

Down 4.3% from 2015; (£14,483,939); The Wedding Ringer (£990,445); Project Almanac (£868,030); Blackhat (£147,199); The Duke Of Burgundy (£43,155); Cake (£114,316); #1 Fifty Shades of Grey £4,597,092 2^nd week 596 screens 66% drop (31.7% of top 10)

Up 0.2% from 2014: (£13,831,826); A New York Winter’s Tale (£257,634); Peter Grimes – English National Opera 2014 (£145,097); Nymphomaniac Part 1 (£143,282); Stalingrad (£33,289); The Godfather: Part 2 (Re: 2014) (£9,583); #1 The Lego Movie £5,978,904 2^nd week 552 screens 26% drop (43.2% of top 10)

Up 34.8% from 2013 (£10,277,378); Mama (£1,512,297); Cloud Atlas (£544,725); Song for Marion (£456,714); Hardy Bucks: The Movie (£152,775); To the Wonder (£96,645); #1 Wreck-It Ralph 3^rd week (2-weeks #1 split by one) £3,420,196 540 screens (33.3% of top 10)

Up 29.1% from 2012 (£10,741,377); The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (£2,222,051); Safe House (£2,142,872); One for the Money (£316,762); Black Gold (£11,004); #1 The Woman in Black £2,432,580 3^rd week 451 screens 31% up (22.6% of top 10)

Down 20.7% from 2011 (£17,491,609); Paul (£5,517,121); Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son (£1,433,778); Justin Bieber: Never Say Never (£820,592); Inside Job (£70,375); #1 Paul £5,517,121 1^st week 429 screens (31.5% of top 10)

Up 12.3% from 2010: (£12,339,641); The Lovely Bones (£1,637,579); Solomon Kane (£611,886); Crazy Heart (£102,917); #1 Avatar £2,817,009 10^th week (9 weeks #1 with week gap) 391 screens (22.8% of top 10)  

Up 9.9% from 2009; (£12,615,837); Confessions of a Shopaholic (£2,846,622); Push (£625,300); Gran Torino (£332,877); Che: Part Two (£92,320); Cadillac Records (£16,093); #1 Bolt £3,006,050 2^nd week 494 screens 45% drop (23.8% of top 10)

Up 64.7% from 2008; (£8,417,049); Be Kind Rewind (£1,388,146); Rambo (£1,247,195); #1 Jumper £1,513,088 2^nd week 421 screens 51% drop (18% of top 10)

Up 47.2% from 2007: (£9,415,236); The Number 23 (£1,206,087); The Good Shepherd (£629,863); School for Scoundrels (£340,984); #1 Hot Fuzz £3,297,539 2^nd week 432 screens 44% drop (35.1% of top 10)

Up 86.3% from 2006; (£7,442,296); Date Movie (£1,288,089); Lucky Number Slevin (£1,074,550); Capote (£236,444); The Fog (£210,525); #1 Date Movie £1,288,089 1^st week 354 screens (17.3% of top 10)

Up 38.9% from 2005 (£9,981,514); Shall We Dance? (£1,080,140); Are We There Yet? (£887,814); In Good Company (£594,316); #1 Meet the Fockers £1,893,131 4^th week 454 screens 36 drop (19% of top 10)

Up 71.9% from 2004 (£8,063,782); Sex Lives of the Potato Men (£353,726); #1 The Haunted Mansion £1,564,558 2^nd week 1^st #1 364 screens 7% drop (19.4% of top 10)

Up 41.4% from 2003 (£9,802,035); The Ring (£2,200,084); The One and Only (£61,413); #1 The Ring £2,200,084 1^st week 396 screens (22.4% of top 10)

Up 12.5% from 2002 (£12,321,631); Ali (expansion) (£1,315,506); Don’t Say A Word (£597,896); Charlotte Gray (£450,229); A Beautiful Mind (limited) (£186,862); #1 Monsters, Inc. £4,234,293 3^rd week 498 screens 26% drop (34.3% of top 10)

Next weekend in 2019: (£8,486,971); Fighting With My Family (£2,022,174); The Aftermath (£595,657); La Fille Du Regiment – Met Opera 2019 (£240,965); Alien (40th Anniversary) (£129,245); What They Had (£16,686); #1 Fighting With My Family £2,022,174 1^st week 573 screens (23.8% of top 10)

Also Opened

• Brahms: The Boy II – Entertainment Film Distributors

Opened with £506,773 from 339 screens

2016’s The Boy opened March 2016 with £726,003 taking £2,409,921

• Like A Boss – Paramount Pictures

Opened with £520,059 from 467 screens

Received poor reviews (21% Rotten Tomatoes) opened in the US last month opening with $10.01m taking $21.55m

Last years What Men Want with £836,612 taking £2,785,973

• Greed – Sony Pictures

Opened with £369,028 from 403 screens

Sony Pictures surprisingly have pushed the film heavily with Steve Coogan doing many interviews and it was surprising the film opened so wide as it was unlikely to find an audience despite receiving strong media coverage and mostly positive reviews as the plot about the real cost to cheap fashion as always likely to generate much media coverage.

Received world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival receiving mixed reviews (where Sony Pictures acquired rights) and received its UK premiere at the London Film Festival.

Last Michael Winterbottom film to have a theatrical release was 2014’s The Face of an Angel opening with £36,912 from 37 screens and 2013’s The Look of Love opening with £208,557 from 140 screens taking £465,500; Greed was Michael Winterbottom’s biggest opening in the UK ahead of 2006’s Cock And Bull with £332,582.

Comparisons have been made with 2002’s 24 Hour Party People opening with £265,428 taking £1.04m; 1996’s Jude opened with £193,960 taking £1.03m. 

Other Box Office News

January 2020 admissions were over 20% more than January 2019 (13,711,441) thanks to 1917 and strong holdovers Little Women and Jumanji: The Next Level.

Are still huge questions over if 2020 could get close to last years box office without major MCU, Pixar sequels, major Disney reimaginations and Star Wars. Unlike 2019 when it was all about Disney all studios have much stronger slates this year and it will likely be a much more closely fought battle for #1 studio between Universal, Warner and Disney.  Sony started the year very strongly with Bad Boys For Life, Little Women and Jumanji: The Next Level and still have Peter Rabbit 2 and Ghostbusters 2020 still to come

 

UK Box Office Top 10

US Box office

• Sonic The Hedgehog – Paramount Pictures

Dropped 55% in its second weekend taking $26.19m and $106.49m

2019’s Detective Pikachu dropped 53.8% taking $25.1m and $94.29m 65.4% of $144.1m and $431.7m worldwide.

What helped Sonic The Hedgehog squeeze past The Call Of The Wild was it playing stronger to families over the weekend, while The Call Of The Wild was playing to a much older audience.

2020 has been seen as Paramount Pictures comeback year with the first complete slate of films made under Jim Gianopulos. A Quiet Place II (March 20), The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run (May 22), Top Gun Maverick (June 26), Without Remorse (September 18). The Trial of the Chicago 7 (September 25) and The Tomorrow War (December 25).

672^nd biggest film in the US between 300: Rise of an Empire and Goldeneye 1,249^th inflation inflated film between Something to Talk About and 42 and 89th biggest Paramount Pictures film between Indecent Proposal and Love Story.

Took $38.3m from 56 territories and $96.5m total internationally; UK $19.1m; Mexico $12.3m;; France $9.1m; Russia $6.3m; Germany $5.4m; Brazil $5m; Australia $4.8m; Spain $3.3m; 807^th biggest film worldwide between Fun With Dick And Jane and You Don’t Mess With the Zohan and 89^th biggest Paramount film worldwide between Arrival and Vanilla Sky.

 

• The Call Of The Wild – 20th Century Fox/Disney

Opened with $24.79m; received mixed reviews (65% Rotten Tomatoes) and A- CinemaScore

The film was tracking to open between $15m-$20m but was boosted by the trailer being played before Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

While The Call of the Wind opened bigger than expected the problem was its $100m+ budget, many Jack London film adaptions have been made in the past and were more successful as their budgets were a fraction of the size of The Call of the Wind.

1993’s Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey opened $8.11m taking $41.83m

1994’s Iron Will opened $5.31m taking $21.1m

2000’2 My Dog Skip opened $5.86m taking $34.13m

2005’s Because of Winn-Dixie opened $10.2m taking $32.64m

2006’s Eight Below opened $20.18m taking $81.61m

2017’s A Dog’s Purpose opened $18.22m taking $64.5m

Opened with $15.4m from 40 territories; France $2.6m; UK $1.9m; Mexico $1.4m; Russia $1.2m; Italy $0.9m; Germany $0.7m; Indonesia $0.7m; Spain $0.7m; Australia $0.6m; expands further into 10 territories next week.

• Birds of Prey – Warner Bros

Dropped 60% in its third weekend taking $6.8m and $72.32m

Dropped more screens in its third weekend than any other DC Extended Universe film; Suicide Squad dropped 331; Man of Steel 76; Shazam! 123; Wonder Woman 147; Batman Vs Superman 154; Justice League 231 screens.

Had the lowest third weekend for DC Extended Universe

1,121^st biggest film in the US between Storks and Bridge of Spies; 1,909^th biggest inflation inflated between The Jungle Book 2 and The Purge and 181^st biggest Warner Bros film between Storks and Dolphin Tale.

Took $10m from 78 territories and $101.2m total international and $173.7m worldwide; UK $10m;  Mexico $9.7m; Russia $6.8m; France $6.6m; Australia $6.1m; Brazil $5.8m; Germany $3.9m; Indonesia $3.7m; Taiwan $3.4m; Spain $3.1m; Korea $2.9m; Italy $2.6m;

960^th biggest film worldwide between Big Momma’s House and Scream; 94^th biggest comic-book film worldwide between Cowboys and Aliens and Ghost in the Shell; 158^th biggest Warner Bros film worldwide between Creed and Blood Diamond.

• Bad Boys For Life – Sony Pictures

Dropped 49% in its sixth weekend taking $5.84m and $191.15m  

Fifth weekends

2003’s Bad Boys 2 dropped 35.4% taking $2.03m and $132.32m 95.5% of $138.6m ($215.38m inflation inflated) and $273.33m WW ($589 WW inflation inflated)

Bad Boys 2 was the 10th biggest film of 2003 having the 10th biggest opening of the year

The biggest films of 2003 were The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King ($377.1m); Finding Nemo ($339.71m); Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl ($305.39m); The Matrix Reloaded ($281.57m); Bruce Almighty ($242.82m); X2: X-Men United ($214.84m); Elf ($167.54m); Chicago ($167.51m); Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines ($150.37m); Bad Boys II ($138.6m).

1995’s Bad Boys dropped 31.2% taking $2.01m and $57.28m 87.1% of $65.8m ($141.74m inflation inflated) and $141.4m WW ($305m WW inflation inflated)

The biggest films of 1995 were Batman Forever ($184.1m); Apollo 13 ($172.1m); Toy Story (146.2m); Pocahontas ($139.21m); Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls ($103.97m); Casper ($100.32m); Die Hard with a Vengeance ($92.73m); Crimson Tide ($91.38m); Goldeneye ($91.34m); Waterworld ($88.24m).

Will Smith’s 27 films have taken $3.9bn in the US; $5.63bn internationally and $9.54bn worldwide. 

230^th biggest film in the US between Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Men in Black 2; 522^nd  biggest inflation inflated between The Spy Who Loved Me and Click and 19^th biggest Sony Pictures film between Men in Black 2 and Hotel Transylvania.

Jerry Bruckheimer’s 34 films have taken $4.59bn in the US, $6.85bn international and $11.45bn worldwide; most of his biggest hits were released in the 80s and 90s including Beverly Hills Cop, Top Gun, Days of Thunder, Bad Boys, The Rock, Con Air, Armageddon, Enemy of the State, Coyote Ugly and Remember the Titans.

Took $8.1m from 63 territories and $200m internationally and $390m worldwide; UK $20m; Germany $16.8m; France $12.7m; Mexico $12.5m; Australia $12.5m; Russia $11.9m; Saudi Arabia $7.1m; Spain $7.1m; Netherlands $5.5m; United Arab Emirates $5.2m.

310^th biggest film worldwide between Solo: A Star Wars Story and Superman Returns; 27^th biggest Sony Pictures film worldwide between Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood and Hitch.

• Brahms: The Boy II – STX Entertainment

Opened with $5.82m received poor reviews (11% Rotten Tomatoes score) and C- CinemaScore

2016’s The Boy opened with $10.77m taking $35.81m and $64.18m worldwide

Was expected to open between $7m and $12m but as with all other horrors so far this year have underperformed and Brahms: The Boy II was delayed over 6 months as was originally set to be released in July and December 2019.

• 1917 – Universal Pictures

Down 48% in its ninth weekend taking $4.21m and $151.8m

368^th biggest film in the US between Runaway Bride and La La Land; 773^rd biggest inflation between Lethal Weapon and Cool Runnings; 48^th biggest Universal Pictures film between Fast & Furious and Neighbors.

1917 is Sam Mendes biggest non-Bond film in the US overtaking his Oscar winning American Beauty (opened $9,505,313 wide taking $130,058,047) that won Best Picture and Director 20 years ago a few weeks ago many expected 1917 to repeat American Beauty’s Oscar success.

Eighth week

1998’s Saving Private Ryan dropped 24.5% taking $3.4m and $176.1m 82.2% of $216.11m and $481,840,909 worldwide

2017’s Dunkirk dropped 29.6% taking $1.31m and $185.14m 98.4% of $188.04m and $525,245,546 worldwide

Took $9.3m from 66 territories internationally and $195.3m total and $347.3m worldwide: UK $51.5m; France $14.4m; Australia $14.2m; Spain $9.6m; and Holland $8.9m.

399^th biggest film worldwide between Peter Rabbit and Pocahontas; 46^th biggest Universal Pictures film between Doctor Seuss’ The Lorax and How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

• Jumanji: The Next Level – Sony Pictures

Down 48% in its eleventh weekend taking $2.87m and $310.83m

Jumanji: The Next Level took xx% less than Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle in its 11^th weekend dropped 21.3% taking $4.43m and $393.13m 97.2% of $404.51m and $962.07m worldwide; down xx% $5.65m Vs $5.51m.

Jumanji: The Next Level is an old-fashioned sequel giving the audience the same but more than they had but with the characters in different situations and different than they were, with the nice twist that Danny Glover and Danny DeVito switch into Kevin Hart and Dwayne Johnson avatars, while the other characters from the last film have also flipped.

As with Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, the sequel is a Ronseal film, does what it says on the tin, its just a popcorn movie entertaining audiences for two hours and not having to do homework before and after as Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker to understand it.

So it’s no wonder to me that Jumanji: The Next Level has stayed in the top 10 for many more weeks than The Rise of Skywalker and holding so well, that said as the characters said at the ed of the film they hope they don’t go to Jumanji again, as repeating it three times will be stretching it a little too much. After taking almost $800m worldwide Sony Pictures will surely be wanting to do a third film against the next Star Wars film in 2022.

There must have been a similar concern was in 2017 when Sony Pictures dated Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle to open the week after Star Wars: The Last Jedi that it would be cannibalized by it, why they opted to open Jumanji: The Next Level the week before The Rise of Skywalker. While both Star Wars films took much more than the two Jumanji films both were enjoyed more by audiences.

The success of Jumanji: The Next Level will of course boost the success of Dwayne Johnson’s next film Jungle Cruise opening in July which looks like The Mummy meets Jumanji.

Dwayne Johnson’s 43 films have taken $4.36bn in the US and $7.88m internationally and over $12.24bn worldwide;

80^th biggest film in the US between Iron Man 2 and Star Wars Ep. II: Attack of the Clones; 201^st biggest inflation inflated film between Jerry Maguire and A Few Good Men and 7th biggest Sony Pictures film between Spider-Man: Homecoming and Skyfall.

Took $1.3m from 47 territories and $477m total and $788m worldwide; UK $47.4m; China $41.2m; Australia $31.5m; France $26.8m; Germany $25.5m; Russia $21m; Mexico $21m; Indonesia $15.2m; Spain $14.4m; Italy $13.9m.

94th biggest film worldwide between Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales and Mission: Impossible—Fallout and 10th biggest Sony Pictures film worldwide between Spider-Man 2 and The Da Vinci Code.

• Parasite – Neon

Down 47% in its twentieth week taking $3.01m and $48.83m

Parasite dropped 196 screens but added 200 IMAX screens for one week only

4th highest grossing foreign language film at the US B.O. after 2000’s four-time Oscar-winner Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon $128.1m), 1997’s three-time Oscar winner Life Is Beautiful ($57.2m), and 2002’s Hero ($53.7m).

1,784^th biggest film in the US between Lady Bird and Men of Honour; 2,710^th inflation inflated between Step Up 3D and Final Destination 5;

Parasite has taken $131.01m internationally since it opened last May in France and Korea, for months the film has been available illegally online, but still audiences have chosen to pay their $15 to see it in cinemas after its Oscar win last weekend.

This shows again if it’s a film audiences want to see they will go to see it in the cinema, so industry really shouldn’t be concerned over shortened theatrical window as if it’s a film people want to see in the cinema they will still go to see it. This has been seen by the films Netflix have given a theatrical release, while no box office is reported the cinemas showing the films have reported strong box office.

Took $12.8m from 43 territories and $161m total internationally and $204.3m worldwide; 667^th biggest film worldwide between Artificial Intelligence: AI and Mr. Bean’s Holiday; 36^th biggest 2019 film worldwide between Glass and Annabelle Comes Home.

• Emma – Focus Features

Opened with $234,482 from 5 screens; received positive reviews (88% Rotten Tomatoes)

Jane Austen’s adaptations on the small and big screen have been hugely popular over the years so it’s no surprise we have another adaptation of Emma 25 years after also having another adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women as even with original films studios are looking for an inbuilt audience.

While Emma has received positive reviews many have said it’s too much of a straight adaptation of the novel unlike Little Women which was a new interpretation of the book as Clueless was a modern day (90s) version 25 years ago. Over the years there have been many versions of Emma on the big and small screen and this Emma doesn’t stand out from them.

Over the years there have been many adaptations of Jane Austen novels on the big and small screen including 1995’s Persuasion (took $5.26m); and 1999’s Mansfield Park (took $4.77m).

1995’s Sense & Sensibility opened on platform $721,341 slowly expanding over 10 weeks taking $43.18m taking $134.58m

1996’s Emma opened on platform $240,649 from 9 screens slowly expanding over 7 weeks taking $22.32m

2005’s Pride & Prejudice opened on platform $2.8m expanding over 4 weeks taking $38.4m and $121.6m worldwide

Also having modernised version of Emma with 1995’s Clueless (opened $10.61m taking $56.63m; 2001’s Bridget Jones’s Diary and 2013’s Austenland modern-day versions of Pride & Prejudice

The success of Little Women (opening with $16.75m taking $103m to date and $170m worldwide should help Emma’s box office performance.

Took $2.4m from 11 territories and $8.4m total and $8.7m worldwide; UK $6m; Australia $1.58m;

 

UK Box Office Predictions

The Invisible Man follows on from a poor run of horror films this year including Brahms: The Boy 2, , The Turning, Underwater, and The Grudge that have opened poorly and received poor reviews.

Blumhouse Productions have had strong success with horrors over recent years with Insidious, The Purge, Happy Death Day, Get Out, Split, and Halloween but all of them performed much better in the US than the UK. The one advantage The Invisible Man has over those films is Elizabeth Moss is far better known in the UK than other stars of Blumhouse films thanks to The Handmaid’s Tale.

The Invisible Man has been called a #MeToo horror about a women standing up to her abusive husband and the film tries to deal with toxic masculinity and privacy fears.

Universal Pictures had two attempts to try to launch Dark Universe based on their classic monster movies; 2014’s Dracula Untold (opened in the UK with £1,713,283 taking £4,454,648 and $56.3m in the US and $217m worldwide) and 2017’s The Mummy starring Tom Cruise (opened with £3,343,650 (less than previous 1999 remake £3,771,429) taking £8,744,766 and $80m in the US and $409m worldwide) and The Invisible Man was originally planned as a high budget Johnny Depp second film.

After The Mummy failed to meet expectations Universal instead moved The Invisible to Blumhouse Productions who made the film for only $7m a fraction of what it was going to originally cost.

Other female lead Blumhouse Production horrors

2019’s Black Christmas opened £283,507 taking  £475,617

2017’s Happy Death Day opened with £998,388 taking £2,678,427

2018’s Truth or Dare opened with £931,250 taking £2,400,490

2019’s Happy Death Day 2U opened with £735,454 taking £1,318,935

2014’s Ouija opened with £1,373,907 taking £3,207,638

2016’s Ouija: Origin of Evil opened with £779,626 taking £2,524,013

With Sonic the Hedgehog and Dolittle likely to drop off due to Pixar’s Onward previewing over the weekend The Invisible Man with no competition could open second having similar opening to 2014’s Ouija opened with £1,373,907 and last year’s Pet Sematary remake £1,554,881 taking £3,025,842.

Other new releases Dark Water, Downhill and True History of the Kelly Gang will struggle to find an audience and be lucky if they get into the top 10. While they have received positive review and Dark Water tells a similarly powerful story Erin Brockovich did 20 years ago, but without award recognition  it will struggle to find an audience.

The biggest new release will be Pixar’s Onward having previews over the weekend will likely take upwards of £2m that will be added to its box office ahead of its opening next weekend.

Opening in UK Next Week

• Onward – Disney

22^nd Pixar animation featuring voices of voices of Tom Holland, Chris Pratt, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Octavia Spencer, Ali Wong, Lena Waithe and Mel Rodriguez and directed by Dan Scanlon.  

The 21 Pixar films have taken over £685m at the UK box office and almost £900m inflation inflated since Toy Story was released in 1996.

Onward had its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival on Friday (receiving positive reviews).

and UK premiere on Sunday and has weekend previews this weekend ahead of its opening next week which should boost its opening by £2m+ and see it open with £5m+ similar to Home (£6,025,917); Bolt (£5,457,438); Trolls (£5,440,878); The Croods (£5,372,290); How to Train Your Dragon 3 (£5,323,448); Zootropolis (£5,306,726); Brave (£5,269,402); Coco (£5,209,214).

As with Coco, Onward plays strongly to boys as Inside Out and Brave played more strongly to girls, Pixar know exactly how to tug at the heartstrings and get audiences emotionally connected with their films making adults sob like children.

• Military Wives – Lionsgate

Comedy-drama starring Kristin Scott Thomas, Sharon Horgan, Jason Flemyng, Greg Wise and directed by Peter Cattaneo; had its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival and UK premiere in February.  Has received positive reviews and being described as the feel-good film of the year, which is just the perfect tonic for all the gloom and doom that is currently happening.  

Ever since The Full Monty was released in 1997 British filmmakers have tried to be the next The Full Monty including Brassed Off, which Film4 and Miramax made instead of The Full Monty as they thought it was too similar. Fox Searchlight acquired The Full Monty and took £52.2m in the UK playing in cinemas for over 6 months, taking $258m worldwide and nominated for four Oscars while Brassed Off took £2.8m in the UK.

Director Peter Cattaneo also directed The Fully Monty but since hasn’t had much success with Lucky Break and The Rocker, having more success on the screens with Rev and Flack.

Some of the successful feel-good British films include 2000’s Billy Elliot, 2001’s Blow Dry, 2002’s Bend It Like Beckham, 2003’s Calendar Girls, 2005’s Kinky Boots and Mrs. Henderson Presents, 2007’s Once, 2009’s Slumdog Millionaire, 2010’s Made in Dagenham, 2011’s Chalet Girl, 2014’s Pride and Once Chance.

As with many of these feel-good films Lionsgate have had a strong talker screening program to build up word of mouth, but never know if the film will find an audience, 23 years ago 20^th Century Fox knew they had a winner with The Full Monty extensively screening it months before opening. Cinema was very different in the 90s as there were far fewer films being released and exhibitors would give films a chance to find an audience.

The Full Monty opened with £1.6m but held very strongly for months afterwards, the difference today is Military Wives will need to find its audience in its opening weekend or exhibitors will be pulling it quickly with Misbehaviour and Radioactive opening over the following two weeks.  Do often wonder if The Full Monty opened today would exhibitors give it a chance, or would they quickly pull it if it didn’t open strongly in its opening weekend.

Exhibitors can’t have their cake and eat it too demanding that films have a 16 week window but then be quick to pull them after a few weeks, as if that is the case then the theatrical window should also be shortened, as found it crazy that Cats is being released on DVD in the UK two months after the US despite opening theatrically the same day last year.

• Blumhouse’s Fantasy Island – Sony Pictures

Supernatural horror produced by Blumhouse Productions based on the 1977 TV series starring Michael Peña, Maggie Q, Lucy Hale, Austin Stowell, Portia Doubleday, Jimmy O. Yang, Ryan Hansen, and Michael Rooker and directed by Jeff Wadlow.

Blumhouse teen horrors repeat the same formula of 90s horrors including Scream and I Know Wat You Did Last Summer featuring popular TV actors (with Lucy Hale in Fantasy Island and also starred in Truth or Dare previously was in TV series Pretty Little Liars), the difference was they were R rated/18 in the UK, while Blumhouse horrors are targetting younger audience.

Teen horrors always suffer at the box office in the UK as they get PG-13 corticates in the US but 15s in the UK like Happy Death Day, Truth or Dare, Happy Death Day 2U and Ouija. They perform well in the UK but find themselves without an audience in the UK as they are stuck in the middle without an audience.

It always surprised me that the BBFC didn’t keep 12 certificate along with the 12A as there are many films that need a higher corticate than 12A but don’t deserve a 15 as the cut off the films audience. Which was the problem previously before the 12-certificate launched in 1989 and released by 12A in 2002, while the12 certificate is now only for video.

2017’s Happy Death Day opened with £998,388 taking £2,678,427

2018’s Truth or Dare opened with £931,250 taking £2,400,490

2019’s Happy Death Day 2Uopened with £735,454 taking £1,318,935

2014’s Ouija opened with £1,373,907 taking £3,207,638

2016’s Ouija: Origin of Evil opened with £779,626 taking £2,524,013

It’s unlikely along with its 15 certificate and being based on a TV series not as well known in the UK Blumhouse’s Fantasy Island will struggle to find an audience. As with The Grudge surprising Sony didn’t open the film day and date with the US as was always likely to receive poor reviews, so holding back its release will just mean it will take even less than it might have done.

• The Photograph – Universal Pictures

Romantic drama starring Issa Rae, Lakeith Stanfield, Chelsea Peretti, Lil Rel Howery and Courtney B. Vance and written and directed by Stella Meghie.

Received positive reviews in the US (74% Rotten Tomatoes) and had a strong opening of $13.4m last weekend in the US over Valentine’s Day weekend but will find it struggle to find an audience in the UK

Opening in US Next Week

• Onward – Disney

Onward was tracking to open with $45m that would be Pixar’s 20^th biggest opening or third worst ahead of only The Good Dinosaur and Toy Story (released 25 years ago would be $63m inflation inflated); similar to Coco ($50,802,605) and Ratatouille $47,027,395 ($64m inflation inflated)

Over the last decade Pixar made 11 films but 7 were sequels and after releasing Toy Story 4 last year they said it would be their last sequel for a while. In the previous decade Pixar made 7 films all original and Pixar were seen as the most creative studio in Hollywood. Pixar were acquired by Disney in 2006, at the time Ratatouille, Wall-e and Up were in various stages of production so Toy Story 3 was probably the first wholly made by Disney.

Early reaction to Onward has said it’s a sweet an emotional adventure but it’s missing the usual Pixar magic, as with all Pixar films it tugs at the heartstrings as they cover serious emotional topics from grown up, moving home, the loss of a parent and they pay on multiple levels from children to grandparents. As with many of the previous Pixar films it was inspired by the directors dad dying when he was younger and his relationship with his brother.

The first teaser trailer was screened with Toy Story 4 in July, trailer released with Maleficent: Mistress of Evil in October and second trailer released in December with Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Onward will have the trailer for Pixar’s second original film this year Soul opening in June.

• The Way Back – Warner Bros

Sports drama film starring Ben Affleck, Al Madrigal, Michaela Watkins, Janina Gavankar, Glynn Turman and directed by Gavin O’Connor (his second film with Ben Affleck after 2016’s The Accountant).

Over the years sports dramas have been hugely popular in the US but rarely travel well internationally.  

Ahead of the film’s release Ben Affleck has been talking about why he left The Batman which he was originally signed to star and direct, Matt Reeves replaced him as director and Robert Pattinson as Batman, the film recently started shooting for release in June 2021.

The Way Back is expected to open with $10m+

 

 

 

UK/US Box Office February 21^st-23^rd 2020 week 8

 

 

 

1. Sonic The Hedgehog – £4,171,243 – £14,688,537

Down 11.8% in its second weekend thanks to half-term holidays and wet stormy weather

Took £5,783,526 Mon-Thurs during half-term holidays

125^th biggest second weekend UK between Inception and A Bug’s Life (close to Incredibles, Frozen, The Simpsons and Despicable Me 2) and 183^rd biggest second-weekend inflation inflated between How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Suicide Squad (close to The LEGO Batman Movie, Ratatouille, Paddington and Bolt).

22^nd biggest animated second weekend between Incredibles and A Bug’s Life (close to Tangled, The Secret Life of Pets, The Simpsons and The Boss Baby) and 34^th biggest inflation inflated second weekend between The LEGO Batman Movie and Bolt.

25^th biggest Paramount Pictures film in the UK between Stardust and World War Z and 31^st biggest inflation inflated between Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and The Spiderwick Chronicles.

Sonic The Hedgehog has become the biggest film based on computer game overtaking last year’s Detective Pikachu taking £13,368,17; also overtook 2016’s The Angry Birds Movie £10,408,235; 2010’s Prince of Persia £8,829,805; 2018’s Rampage £8,695,722; 2017’s Assassin’s Creed £7,996,695; 2018’s Tomb Raider £7,739,354 and 2016’s Warcraft: The Beginning £5,947,228.

391^st biggest film in the UK between Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil and Batman and Robin (close to Ice Age,  Oz: The Great and Powerful, Kung Fu Panda 3 and American Pie).

When the first trailer was released in April Sonic the Hedgehog was doomed to fail after poor reaction to the trailer and Paramount took the unprecedented decision to listen to the feedback and delay the release of the film to redesign Sonic. Unfortunately, Universal Pictures didn’t do similar with Cats which also received a poor reaction to the first trailer released in July, had done similar delayed the release of Cats and taken more time with the design of the cats could it have performed better than it did?

The negativity that surrounded the release of the first trailer of Sonic the Hedgehog became positive with the release of the new redesigned Sonic in November, while reaction was also more positive with the second Cats trailer, the damage was already done as they hadn’t changed it enough so was always likely to receive a poor reaction when it was released. Universal Pictures took the unprecedented decision to send out an updated version of Cats days after the film opened with updated special effects.

Upcoming films based on computer games include Monster Hunter in September, Tomb Raider 2 and Uncharted in March 2021 and Minecraft: The Movie in March 2022; while Nintendo has had plans for several years to create an extended film universe similar to Marvel for many years. Before that happens Illumination will release Mario Brothers animated film in 2022 almost 30 years after the live-action Super Mario Bros flop was released.  

2. Dolittle –  £2,032,270   – £14,066,921

Down 4.9% in its third weekend 

As often happens the weekend half-term ends will see an increase in box office to children’s films as its boosted by the increase in box office from the Friday over the previous Friday which was a school day.

407^th biggest film in the UK between Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues and Kung Fu Panda 3 (close to Puss in Boots, The Emoji Movie, Shaun The Sheep Movie and Mr. Peabody and Sherman); 540^th biggest inflation inflated between American Hustle and The Panic Room (close to Rugrats in Paris: The Movie, Pitch Perfect 3, Kung Fu Panda 3 and Pokemon Detective Pikachu).

February  2019

The LEGO Movie 2 dropped 2% in its third weekend taking £2,410,824

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World up 1%  in its fourth weekend taking £1,665,724

The Kid Who Would Be King dropped 2% in its second weekend £651,610

February half-term as October is staggered across two weeks

In February 2018 the family films didn’t hold as well as were much later in their release Coco 6th weekend down 46% and Early Man down 51% but The Greatest Showman #2 increased 4% in its 9th weekend taking £2,000,922 and Ferdinand #14 up 311% in its 10th weekend taking £196,551.

February 2017

The LEGO Batman Movie dropped 19% in its second-weekend #1 taking £4,435,521

Sing dropped 10% in its fourth-weekend #4 taking £2,108,203

February 2016

Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip dropped 17% in its second-weekend #2 £3,550,752

Goosebumps increased 22% in its third-weekend #4 taking £1,311,006

The Good Dinosaur dropped 10% #15 in its 13^th weekend taking £140,083

February 2015

Big Hero 6 increased 40% in its fourth-weekend #2 taking £2,581,806

Shaun The Sheep Movie increased 39% in its third-weekend #3 £2,429,181

Paddington increased 36% in its 13th-weekend #12 £283,485

Tinker Bell and the Legend of the NeverBeast increased 2,477% in its 11th-weekend #15 £127,026

February 2014

The Lego Movie increased 1% in its second-weekend #1 £5,978,904

Mr. Peabody and Sherman increased 21% in its third-weekend #2 £1,698,483

Tinker Bell and the Pirate Fairy increased 24% in its third-weekend #3 £1,207,245

Frozen increased 54% in its 12th-weekend #10 £422,129

As with Cats in December poor reviews haven’t put off audiences to seeing the film, but it was helped to be the only family film on release with Jumanji: The Next Level, Spies In Disguise and Frozen 2 played out and Paw Patrol: Ready, Race, Rescue targeting younger audiences, but will face tougher competition from Sonic the Hedgehog this weekend as half-term holidays begin.

Third weekend

1998’s Doctor Dolittle dropped 8.8% taking £1,377,421 (£2,419,886 inflation inflation) and £10,230,091 (£17,972,468 inflation inflated) taking £19,671,348 (£35,242,465 inflation inflated) and $294.45m worldwide

2001’s Doctor Dolittle 2 dropped 29% taking £622,570 (£1,064,685 inflation inflation) and £5,835,485 (£9,979,525 inflation inflated) taking £8,286,365 (£14,451,100 inflation inflated) and $176.1m worldwide.

3. Parasite – £1,722,236   – £8,397,639

Down 31.7% in its third weekend despite adding over 130 screens from last weekend.

Parasite was still selling out many screenings across the weekend but with half-term holidays children’s films will always hold stronger, but this weekend with Onward having previews both Sonic the Hedgehog and Dolittle will drop much heavier and Parasite could possibly return to second.

Had the biggest third weekend for Best Picture Oscar winner since 2014’s 12 Years A Slave (£2,235,837) and the 8^th biggest third weekend Oscar winner since Titanic in 1998.

 

Parasite had become the biggest Best Picture Oscar winner since 2014’s 12 Years A Slave (£20,027,551) and will likely be the 10^th biggest since Titanic between Chicago and The Departed.

Parasite is currently the 9^th biggest film this year after 1917 (£41.61m); Bad Boys For Life (£15.28m); Little Women (£14.78m); Sonic the Hedgehog (£14.68m); Dolittle (£14.06m); The Gentlemen (£11.53m); Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker (£11.16m); Jumanji: The Net Level (£9.83m); Parasite (£8.39m); Jojo Rabbit (£7.54m).

On Thursday President Trump ranted Parasite winning Best Picture Oscar asking the crowd at the rally he was at “And the winner is a movie from South Korea. What the hell was that all about?.. “Can we get, like, Gone With the Wind back, please?” he continued. “Sunset Boulevard. So many great movies.” US distributor Neon responded to the rant by Tweeting “Understandable, he can’t read,”.

At a press conference the Parasite director, Bong Joon Ho said he had received a personal letter from Martin Scorsese congratulating him om the Oscar win. Martin Scorsese was also a nomination for Best Director for The Irishman but failed to win any of the awards the film was nominated for. Bong Joon Ho did say the letter said You’ve done well. Now rest. But don’t rest for too long.’ This is something Martin Scorsese isn’t doing as is expected to start shooting his next Killers of the Flower Moon in the spring with starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert DeNiro for Paramount Pictures.

That is if he can get the $225m budget greenlighted, as Paramount is nervy to make it with such a large budget as it would need to take more than The Wolf of Wall Street his last film with Leonardo DiCaprio. (it’s rumoured that Martin Scorsese wants to move the project to Netflix as he previously did with The Irishman which was also set at Paramount before they got nervy after Martin Scorsese’s Silence flopped.

In 2004 The Passion of the Christ expanded after two weeks (week 1 took £229,426 from 46 screens #10; week 2 took £198,355 from 48 screens #10) up 573% adding 275 screens to 323 taking £2,019,935 (£3,248,091 inflation inflated) #1 ahead of Dawn of the Dead £1,944,745; Starsky & Hutch £1,846,576; Welcome to the Jungle £635,485 (Dwayne Johnson’s first lead role) taking £10,604,723 (£17,052,584 inflation inflated).

2001’s Amelie opened with £559,747 (£957,248 inflation inflated) from 82 screens taking 7 weeks to play to its widest of 115 screens (Moulin Rouge #1 in its 5th weekend £1,072,657 from 397 screens); Amelie stayed in the top 10 for 8 weeks and top 15 for 13 weeks taking £4,320,466 (£7,388,623 inflation inflated).

It was a massive gamble for Curzon in October to announce a full theatrical release for Parasite and to date it February 7th at the end of award season week after BAFTAs and weekend of the Oscars, but the gamble paid off; the gamble paid off for The Handmaiden taking £1.4m.

Parasite has become the 3rd biggest foreign-language films in the UK after 2004’s The Passion of the Christ (£11.1m) and 2000s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (£9.37m) overtaking 2001’s Amelie £5.1m; 2007’s Apocalypto £4.1m; 2004’s Hero and House of Flying Daggers £3.8m.

At the Golden Globe’s Bong Joon Ho said: “Once you overcome the 1-inch-tall barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films.” This follows on from similar comments last year from Alfonso Cuarón after winning Best Foreign-Language Oscar for Roma saying, “I grew up watching foreign-language films and learning so much from them — films like Citizen Kane, Jaws, Rashomon, The Godfather and Breathless.”

In 2002 131 foreign language films were released in the UK 38% of the films released taking 2.2% of the yearly box office with Y Tu Mama Tambien taking £1.74m was the biggest foreign language film of the year.

Over the following years, the number of foreign language films released has more than doubled but its box office share and its box office hasn’t grown, so similarly to the growth of Event Cinema much of this is due to the number of titles released with box office shared more rather than audience growth.

In 2017; 349 foreign language films were released in the UK taking £28.6m 45.9% % of the films released taking 2.1% of the yearly box office; The Handmaiden taking £1.5m was the biggest foreign language film of the year.

In 2016 368 foreign language films were released in the UK; 44.8% of all film releases, but only took 2.4% of the box office gross, more foreign-language films are being released than ever before, but they are cannibalizing themselves. In 2004 there were 259 films released in the UK but last year there were over 900, but the number of screens in the UK hasn’t grown nearly as much which means box office cannibalization.

After Parasite Oscar success will it make the Cannes Film Festival popular again for studios to launch award contenders early as most Oscar winners over recent years have premiered at the Venice/Toronto/Telluride Film Festivals, the previous Best Picture winner also premiered at Cannes was The Artist in 2011.

The big question is will Parasite success be a one-off for foreign-language films as was the case with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Amélie in 2001 or will bookers at major exhibitors book more foreign-language films in future. More foreign-language films are being released than a decade ago but very few are playing beyond art-house cinemas. Over the same time, there has been a huge growth in Event Cinema which exhibitors are more willing to book being one or two shows, normally off-peak mid-week rather than risking a screen for a week.

4. The Call Of The Wild –  £1,465,400     – NE

Took £475,400 from previews on Wednesday/Thursday

Had the 1,044^th biggest opening between The Madness Of King George and Contagion (close to Legends Of The Fall, Mr. Popper’s Penguins, Legally Blonde and The Man from U.N.C.L.E.) and 1,192^nd biggest inflation inflated opening between The Book Thief and Poltergeist (close to The Lone Ranger, Power Rangers, Hidden Figures and Parasite).

Animal films have always been from 2009’s Marley And Me opening with £4.4m taking £15.4m to 1992 Beethoven taking £6.8m and 1993’s Beethoven’s 2nd taking £5.8m.

The Call of the Wild has more in common with 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

The remake of Twentieth Century Pictures’ previous 1935 film adaptation, the original 1935 film was the last film released by 20th Century Studios before merging with Fox to become 20th Century Fox and the remake is the first film to be released 20th Century Studios.

In the 90s Disney made many of these animal adventure films including Iron Will, Eight Below, Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey,

But the problem with The Call Of The Wild is the film has a hefty budget $109m and these films are now much harder sells to audiences despite the casting of Harrison Ford, the one positive is that the trailer was playing for the past couple of months with Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. 

5. Emma – £1,156,255    – £4,571,310

Down only 29.3% in its second weekend after having a disappointing opening weekend had a good hold which saw it climb up one place in its second weekend

743^rd biggest second weekend between Bad Moms and Shallow Grave (close to Le Man’s 66, The Lovely Bones, Walk the Line and Crazy Rich Asians) and 962^nd second weekend inflated between Stormbreaker and The Emoji Movie (close to The American President, The Duchess, Legends Of The Fall and Judy).

Second weekends

The Personal History of David Copperfield dropped 32% £1,037,119 and £3,758,595 of £5,728,246

2017’s Victoria and Abdul dropped 33% £1,239,085 and £4,831,777 of £9,434,937

2015’s Far From The Madding Crowd 42% drop £833,804 and £3,588,881 of £6,071,481

2012’s The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel up 5% £2,342,095 and £7,014,101 of £20,308,480

2008’s The Duchess dropped 40% £844,020 and £3,454,610 taking £7,060,913

2007’s Atonement dropped 15% £1,379,790 and £4,425,940 taking £11,967,043

2001’s Captain Corelli’s Mandolin £814,636 dropped 52% and £3,623,051 taking £9,141,397

Emma was co-produced by Blueprint Pictures who made The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.

Over the years there have been many adaptations of Jane Austen novels on the big and small screen;

1995’s Sense & Sensibility took £13.53m (£25,907,059).

1996’s Emma took £5.28m (£10.5m inflation inflated)

2005’s Pride & Prejudice took £14,562,448 (£22,322,903 inflation inflated)

2016’s Love and Friendship took  £1,736,768

Also having modernised version of Emma with 1995’s Clueless (opened £638,212 (£1.3m inflation inflated) taking £3.9m (£7.6m inflation inflated); 2001’s Bridget Jones’s Diary and 2013’s Austenland modern-day versions of Pride & Prejudice.

While on the small screen 1995’s Pride & Prejudice, Emma, Persuasion, Northanger Abbey and most recently Sanditon.

The success of Little Women (opening with £3,578,877 and £2,731,410 without previews has taken over £21m to date) helped the release of Emma as it targeted the same demographic along with being Valentine’s Day weekend; over recent years Universal Pictures has had huge success over Valentine’s Day with 50 Shades of Grey trilogy.

Emma is the first of four films being released this year starring model turned actress Anya Taylor-Joy, Radioactive (biopic about Marie Curie), the long-delayed X-Men film The New Mutants and Edgar Wright’s latest Last Night in Soho. Her breakthrough role was 2015’s The Witch directed by Robert Eggers and will appear in his latest film alongside Nicole Kidman and Alexander Skarsgård The Northman, starting filming soon.

Emma was produced by Working Title who have had mixed success at the box office last year while had success with Danny Boyle’s Yesterday weren’t nearly as successful with their other films Cats, Mary, Queen of Scots and the Kid Who Would Be King. Working Title have three more films due for release in 2020 Radioactive, Last Night in Soho and another remake Rebecca.

UK box office in detail

This weekend’s top 10 box office took £13,862,132 down 16.2% from last weekend £16,539,139

The weekend admissions 1,957,928 down 15.7% from last weekend 2,323,584

18 films opened at weekend taking (£3,404,903); The Call of the Wind 43.1% (£1,465,400); Brahms: The Boy II 14.9% (£506,773); Like A Boss 15.3% (£520,059); Greed 10.8% (£369,028); remaining 14 films shared 16% (£543,643);

Top three took 57.2% (£7,925,749) of the top 10; Sonic The Hedgehog 30.1% (£4,171,243); Dolittle 14.6% (£2,032,270); Parasite 12.4% (£1,722,236);

Up 49.1% from 2019; (£9,295,306); Cold Pursuit (£631,467); On the Basis of Sex (£458,914); Capernaum (£140,770); #1 The LEGO Movie 2 £2,410,824 3rd week 661 screens 2% drop (25.9% of top 10)

Down 13.3% from 2018: (£15,994,745); Lady Bird (expansion) (£1,233,508); I, Tonya (£1,049,551);  Finding Your Feet (£923,220); La Boheme – Met Opera 2018 (£309,799); #1 Black Panther £6,859,230  2^nd week 599 screens 61% drop (42.9% of top 10)

Up 22.1% from 2017: (£11,360,198); Patriots Day (£843,380); A Cure for Wellness (£409,540); Rusalka – Met Opera 2017 (£215,774); Within (£8,364); #1 The LEGO Batman Movie £2,893,337 3^rd week 610 screens 35% drop (25.4% of top 10)

Down 14.5% from 2016: (£16,221,692); How To Be Single (£1,876,539); Triple 9 (£812,619); The Finest Hours (£247,643); #1 Deadpool £5,694,280 2^nd week 571 screens 59% drop (35.1% of top 10)

Down 4.3% from 2015; (£14,483,939); The Wedding Ringer (£990,445); Project Almanac (£868,030); Blackhat (£147,199); The Duke Of Burgundy (£43,155); Cake (£114,316); #1 Fifty Shades of Grey £4,597,092 2^nd week 596 screens 66% drop (31.7% of top 10)

Up 0.2% from 2014: (£13,831,826); A New York Winter’s Tale (£257,634); Peter Grimes – English National Opera 2014 (£145,097); Nymphomaniac Part 1 (£143,282); Stalingrad (£33,289); The Godfather: Part 2 (Re: 2014) (£9,583); #1 The Lego Movie £5,978,904 2^nd week 552 screens 26% drop (43.2% of top 10)

Up 34.8% from 2013 (£10,277,378); Mama (£1,512,297); Cloud Atlas (£544,725); Song for Marion (£456,714); Hardy Bucks: The Movie (£152,775); To the Wonder (£96,645); #1 Wreck-It Ralph 3^rd week (2-weeks #1 split by one) £3,420,196 540 screens (33.3% of top 10)

Up 29.1% from 2012 (£10,741,377); The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (£2,222,051); Safe House (£2,142,872); One for the Money (£316,762); Black Gold (£11,004); #1 The Woman in Black £2,432,580 3^rd week 451 screens 31% up (22.6% of top 10)

Down 20.7% from 2011 (£17,491,609); Paul (£5,517,121); Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son (£1,433,778); Justin Bieber: Never Say Never (£820,592); Inside Job (£70,375); #1 Paul £5,517,121 1^st week 429 screens (31.5% of top 10)

Up 12.3% from 2010: (£12,339,641); The Lovely Bones (£1,637,579); Solomon Kane (£611,886); Crazy Heart (£102,917); #1 Avatar £2,817,009 10^th week (9 weeks #1 with week gap) 391 screens (22.8% of top 10)  

Up 9.9% from 2009; (£12,615,837); Confessions of a Shopaholic (£2,846,622); Push (£625,300); Gran Torino (£332,877); Che: Part Two (£92,320); Cadillac Records (£16,093); #1 Bolt £3,006,050 2^nd week 494 screens 45% drop (23.8% of top 10)

Up 64.7% from 2008; (£8,417,049); Be Kind Rewind (£1,388,146); Rambo (£1,247,195); #1 Jumper £1,513,088 2^nd week 421 screens 51% drop (18% of top 10)

Up 47.2% from 2007: (£9,415,236); The Number 23 (£1,206,087); The Good Shepherd (£629,863); School for Scoundrels (£340,984); #1 Hot Fuzz £3,297,539 2^nd week 432 screens 44% drop (35.1% of top 10)

Up 86.3% from 2006; (£7,442,296); Date Movie (£1,288,089); Lucky Number Slevin (£1,074,550); Capote (£236,444); The Fog (£210,525); #1 Date Movie £1,288,089 1^st week 354 screens (17.3% of top 10)

Up 38.9% from 2005 (£9,981,514); Shall We Dance? (£1,080,140); Are We There Yet? (£887,814); In Good Company (£594,316); #1 Meet the Fockers £1,893,131 4^th week 454 screens 36 drop (19% of top 10)

Up 71.9% from 2004 (£8,063,782); Sex Lives of the Potato Men (£353,726); #1 The Haunted Mansion £1,564,558 2^nd week 1^st #1 364 screens 7% drop (19.4% of top 10)

Up 41.4% from 2003 (£9,802,035); The Ring (£2,200,084); The One and Only (£61,413); #1 The Ring £2,200,084 1^st week 396 screens (22.4% of top 10)

Up 12.5% from 2002 (£12,321,631); Ali (expansion) (£1,315,506); Don’t Say A Word (£597,896); Charlotte Gray (£450,229); A Beautiful Mind (limited) (£186,862); #1 Monsters, Inc. £4,234,293 3^rd week 498 screens 26% drop (34.3% of top 10)

Next weekend in 2019: (£8,486,971); Fighting With My Family (£2,022,174); The Aftermath (£595,657); La Fille Du Regiment – Met Opera 2019 (£240,965); Alien (40th Anniversary) (£129,245); What They Had (£16,686); #1 Fighting With My Family £2,022,174 1^st week 573 screens (23.8% of top 10)

Also Opened

• Brahms: The Boy II – Entertainment Film Distributors

Opened with £506,773

2016’s The Boy opened March 2016 with £726,003 taking £2,409,921

• Like A Boss – Paramount Pictures

Opened with £520,059 from 470 screens

Received poor reviews (21% Rotten Tomatoes) opened in the US last month opening with $10.01m taking $21.55m

Last years What Men Want with £836,612 taking £2,785,973

• Greed – Sony Pictures

Opened with £369,028 from 403 screens

Sony Pictures surprisingly have pushed the film heavily with Steve Coogan doing many interviews and it was surprising the film opened so wide as it was unlikely to find an audience despite receiving strong media coverage and mostly positive reviews as the plot about the real cost to cheap fashion as always likely to generate much media coverage.

Received world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival receiving mixed reviews (where Sony Pictures acquired rights) and received its UK premiere at the London Film Festival.

Last Michael Winterbottom film to have a theatrical release was 2014’s The Face of an Angel opening with £36,912 from 37 screens and 2013’s The Look of Love opening with £208,557 from 140 screens taking £465,500; Greed was Michael Winterbottom’s biggest opening in the UK ahead of 2006’s Cock And Bull with £332,582.

Comparisons have been made with 2002’s 24 Hour Party People opening with £265,428 taking £1.04m; 1996’s Jude opened with £193,960 taking £1.03m. 

Other Box Office News

January 2020 admissions were over 20% more than January 2019 (13,711,441) thanks to 1917 and strong holdovers Little Women and Jumanji: The Next Level.

Are still huge questions over if 2020 could get close to last years box office without major MCU, Pixar sequels, major Disney reimaginations and Star Wars. Unlike 2019 when it was all about Disney all studios have much stronger slates this year and it will likely be a much more closely fought battle for #1 studio between Universal, Warner and Disney.  Sony started the year very strongly with Bad Boys For Life, Little Women and Jumanji: The Next Level and still have Peter Rabbit 2 and Ghostbusters 2020 still to come

 

UK Box Office Top 10

 

US Box office

• Sonic The Hedgehog – Paramount Pictures

Dropped 55% in its second weekend taking $26.19m and $106.49m

2019’s Detective Pikachu dropped 53.8% taking $25.1m and $94.29m 65.4% of $144.1m and $431.7m worldwide.

What helped Sonic The Hedgehog squeeze past The Call Of The Wild was it playing stronger to families over the weekend, while The Call Of The Wild was playing to a much older audience.

2020 has been seen as Paramount Pictures comeback year with the first complete slate of films made under Jim Gianopulos. A Quiet Place II (March 20), The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run (May 22), Top Gun Maverick (June 26), Without Remorse (September 18). The Trial of the Chicago 7 (September 25) and The Tomorrow War (December 25).

672^nd biggest film in the US between 300: Rise of an Empire and Goldeneye 1,249^th inflation inflated film between Something to Talk About and 42 and 89th biggest Paramount Pictures film between Indecent Proposal and Love Story.

Took $38.3m from 56 territories and $96.5m total internationally; UK $19.1m; Mexico $12.3m;; France $9.1m; Russia $6.3m; Germany $5.4m; Brazil $5m; Australia $4.8m; Spain $3.3m; 807^th biggest film worldwide between Fun With Dick And Jane and You Don’t Mess With the Zohan and 89^th biggest Paramount film worldwide between Arrival and Vanilla Sky.

 

• The Call Of The Wild – 20th Century Fox/Disney

Opened with $24.79m; received mixed reviews (65% Rotten Tomatoes) and A- CinemaScore

The film was tracking to open between $15m-$20m but was boosted by the trailer being played before Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

While The Call of the Wind opened bigger than expected the problem was its $100m+ budget, many Jack London film adaptions have been made in the past and were more successful as their budgets were a fraction of the size of The Call of the Wind.

1993’s Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey opened $8.11m taking $41.83m

1994’s Iron Will opened $5.31m taking $21.1m

2000’2 My Dog Skip opened $5.86m taking $34.13m

2005’s Because of Winn-Dixie opened $10.2m taking $32.64m

2006’s Eight Below opened $20.18m taking $81.61m

2017’s A Dog’s Purpose opened $18.22m taking $64.5m

Opened with $15.4m from 40 territories; France $2.6m; UK $1.9m; Mexico $1.4m; Russia $1.2m; Italy $0.9m; Germany $0.7m; Indonesia $0.7m; Spain $0.7m; Australia $0.6m; expands further into 10 territories next week.

• Birds of Prey – Warner Bros

Dropped 60% in its third weekend taking $6.8m and $72.32m

Dropped more screens in its third weekend than any other DC Extended Universe film; Suicide Squad dropped 331; Man of Steel 76; Shazam! 123; Wonder Woman 147; Batman Vs Superman 154; Justice League 231 screens.

Had the lowest third weekend for DC Extended Universe

1,121^st biggest film in the US between Storks and Bridge of Spies; 1,909^th biggest inflation inflated between The Jungle Book 2 and The Purge and 181^st biggest Warner Bros film between Storks and Dolphin Tale.

Took $10m from 78 territories and $101.2m total international and $173.7m worldwide; UK $10m;  Mexico $9.7m; Russia $6.8m; France $6.6m; Australia $6.1m; Brazil $5.8m; Germany $3.9m; Indonesia $3.7m; Taiwan $3.4m; Spain $3.1m; Korea $2.9m; Italy $2.6m;

960^th biggest film worldwide between Big Momma’s House and Scream; 94^th biggest comic-book film worldwide between Cowboys and Aliens and Ghost in the Shell; 158^th biggest Warner Bros film worldwide between Creed and Blood Diamond.

• Bad Boys For Life – Sony Pictures

Dropped 49% in its sixth weekend taking $5.84m and $191.15m  

Fifth weekends

2003’s Bad Boys 2 dropped 35.4% taking $2.03m and $132.32m 95.5% of $138.6m ($215.38m inflation inflated) and $273.33m WW ($589 WW inflation inflated)

Bad Boys 2 was the 10th biggest film of 2003 having the 10th biggest opening of the year

The biggest films of 2003 were The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King ($377.1m); Finding Nemo ($339.71m); Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl ($305.39m); The Matrix Reloaded ($281.57m); Bruce Almighty ($242.82m); X2: X-Men United ($214.84m); Elf ($167.54m); Chicago ($167.51m); Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines ($150.37m); Bad Boys II ($138.6m).

1995’s Bad Boys dropped 31.2% taking $2.01m and $57.28m 87.1% of $65.8m ($141.74m inflation inflated) and $141.4m WW ($305m WW inflation inflated)

The biggest films of 1995 were Batman Forever ($184.1m); Apollo 13 ($172.1m); Toy Story (146.2m); Pocahontas ($139.21m); Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls ($103.97m); Casper ($100.32m); Die Hard with a Vengeance ($92.73m); Crimson Tide ($91.38m); Goldeneye ($91.34m); Waterworld ($88.24m).

Will Smith’s 27 films have taken $3.9bn in the US; $5.63bn internationally and $9.54bn worldwide. 

230^th biggest film in the US between Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Men in Black 2; 522^nd  biggest inflation inflated between The Spy Who Loved Me and Click and 19^th biggest Sony Pictures film between Men in Black 2 and Hotel Transylvania.

Jerry Bruckheimer’s 34 films have taken $4.59bn in the US, $6.85bn international and $11.45bn worldwide; most of his biggest hits were released in the 80s and 90s including Beverly Hills Cop, Top Gun, Days of Thunder, Bad Boys, The Rock, Con Air, Armageddon, Enemy of the State, Coyote Ugly and Remember the Titans.

Took $8.1m from 63 territories and $200m internationally and $390m worldwide; UK $20m; Germany $16.8m; France $12.7m; Mexico $12.5m; Australia $12.5m; Russia $11.9m; Saudi Arabia $7.1m; Spain $7.1m; Netherlands $5.5m; United Arab Emirates $5.2m.

310^th biggest film worldwide between Solo: A Star Wars Story and Superman Returns; 27^th biggest Sony Pictures film worldwide between Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood and Hitch.

• Brahms: The Boy II – STX Entertainment

Opened with $5.82m received poor reviews (11% Rotten Tomatoes score) and C- CinemaScore

2016’s The Boy opened with $10.77m taking $35.81m and $64.18m worldwide

Was expected to open between $7m and $12m but as with all other horrors so far this year have underperformed and Brahms: The Boy II was delayed over 6 months as was originally set to be released in July and December 2019.

• 1917 – Universal Pictures

Down 48% in its ninth weekend taking $4.21m and $151.8m

368^th biggest film in the US between Runaway Bride and La La Land; 773^rd biggest inflation between Lethal Weapon and Cool Runnings; 48^th biggest Universal Pictures film between Fast & Furious and Neighbors.

1917 is Sam Mendes biggest non-Bond film in the US overtaking his Oscar-winning American Beauty (opened $9,505,313 wide taking $130,058,047) that won Best Picture and Director 20 years ago a few weeks ago many expected 1917 to repeat American Beauty’s Oscar success.

Eighth week

1998’s Saving Private Ryan dropped 24.5% taking $3.4m and $176.1m 82.2% of $216.11m and $481,840,909 worldwide

2017’s Dunkirk dropped 29.6% taking $1.31m and $185.14m 98.4% of $188.04m and $525,245,546 worldwide

Took $9.3m from 66 territories internationally and $195.3m total and $347.3m worldwide: the UK $51.5m; France $14.4m; Australia $14.2m; Spain $9.6m; and Holland $8.9m.

399^th biggest film worldwide between Peter Rabbit and Pocahontas; 46^th biggest Universal Pictures film between Doctor Seuss’ The Lorax and How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

• Jumanji: The Next Level – Sony Pictures

Down 48% in its eleventh weekend taking $2.87m and $310.83m

Jumanji: The Next Level took 35x% less than Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle in its 11^th weekend dropped 21.3% taking $4.43m and $393.13m 97.2% of $404.51m and $962.07m worldwide.

Jumanji: The Next Level is an old-fashioned sequel giving the audience the same but more than they had but with the characters in different situations and different than they were, with the nice twist that Danny Glover and Danny DeVito switch into Kevin Hart and Dwayne Johnson avatars, while the other characters from the last film have also flipped.

As with Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, the sequel is a Ronseal film, does what it says on the tin, it’s just a popcorn movie entertaining audiences for two hours and not having to do homework before and after as Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker to understand it.

So it’s no wonder to me that Jumanji: The Next Level has stayed in the top 10 for many more weeks than The Rise of Skywalker and holding so well, that said as the characters said at the end of the film they hope they don’t go to Jumanji again, as repeating it three times will be stretching it a little too much. After taking almost $800m worldwide Sony Pictures will surely be wanting to do a third film against the next Star Wars film in 2022.

There must have been a similar concern was in 2017 when Sony Pictures dated Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle to open the week after Star Wars: The Last Jedi that it would be cannibalized by it, why they opted to open Jumanji: The Next Level the week before The Rise of Skywalker. While both Star Wars films took much more than the two Jumanji films both were enjoyed more by audiences.

The success of Jumanji: The Next Level will, of course, boost the success of Dwayne Johnson’s next film Jungle Cruise opening in July which looks like The Mummy meets Jumanji.

Dwayne Johnson’s 43 films have taken $4.36bn in the US and $7.88m internationally and over $12.24bn worldwide;

80^th biggest film in the US between Iron Man 2 and Star Wars Ep. II: Attack of the Clones; 201^st biggest inflation inflated film between Jerry Maguire and A Few Good Men and 7th biggest Sony Pictures film between Spider-Man: Homecoming and Skyfall.

Took $1.3m from 47 territories and $477m total and $788m worldwide; UK $47.4m; China $41.2m; Australia $31.5m; France $26.8m; Germany $25.5m; Russia $21m; Mexico $21m; Indonesia $15.2m; Spain $14.4m; Italy $13.9m.

94th biggest film worldwide between Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales and Mission: Impossible—Fallout and 10th biggest Sony Pictures film worldwide between Spider-Man 2 and The Da Vinci Code.

• Parasite – Neon

Down 47% in its twentieth week taking $3.01m and $48.83m

Parasite dropped 196 screens but added 200 IMAX screens for one week only

4th highest-grossing foreign-language film at the US B.O. after 2000’s four-time Oscar-winner Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon $128.1m), 1997’s three-time Oscar winner Life Is Beautiful ($57.2m), and 2002’s Hero ($53.7m).

1,784^th biggest film in the US between Lady Bird and Men of Honour; 2,710^th inflation inflated between Step Up 3D and Final Destination 5;

Parasite has taken $131.01m internationally since it opened last May in France and Korea, for months the film has been available illegally online, but still, audiences have chosen to pay their $15 to see it in cinemas after its Oscar win last weekend.

This shows again if it’s a film audiences want to see they will go to see it in the cinema, so industry really shouldn’t be concerned over the shortened theatrical window as if it’s a film people want to see in the cinema they will still go to see it. This has been seen by the films Netflix have given a theatrical release, while no box office is reported the cinemas showing the films have reported strong box office.

Took $12.8m from 43 territories and $161m total internationally and $204.3m worldwide; 667^th biggest film worldwide between Artificial Intelligence: AI and Mr. Bean’s Holiday; 36^th biggest 2019 film worldwide between Glass and Annabelle Comes Home.

• Emma – Focus Features

Opened with $234,482 from 5 screens; received positive reviews (88% Rotten Tomatoes)

Jane Austen’s adaptations on the small and big screen have been hugely popular over the years so it’s no surprise we have another adaptation of Emma 25 years after also having another adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women as even with original films studios are looking for an inbuilt audience.

While Emma has received positive reviews many have said it’s too much of a straight adaptation of the novel, unlike Little Women which was a new interpretation of the book as Clueless was a modern-day (the 90s) version 25 years ago. Over the years there have been many versions of Emma on the big and small screen and this Emma doesn’t stand out from them.

Over the years there have been many adaptations of Jane Austen novels on the big and small screen including 1995’s Persuasion (took $5.26m); and 1999’s Mansfield Park (took $4.77m).

1995’s Sense & Sensibility opened on platform $721,341 slowly expanding over 10 weeks taking $43.18m taking $134.58m

1996’s Emma opened on platform $240,649 from 9 screens slowly expanding over 7 weeks taking $22.32m

2005’s Pride & Prejudice opened on platform $2.8m expanding over 4 weeks taking $38.4m and $121.6m worldwide

Also having modernised version of Emma with 1995’s Clueless (opened $10.61m taking $56.63m; 2001’s Bridget Jones’s Diary and 2013’s Austenland modern-day versions of Pride & Prejudice

The success of Little Women (opening with $16.75m taking $103m to date and $170m worldwide should help Emma’s box office performance.

Took $2.4m from 11 territories and $8.4m total and $8.7m worldwide; the UK $6m; Australia $1.58m;

 

UK Box Office Predictions

The Invisible Man follows on from a poor run of horror films this year including Brahms: The Boy 2,, The Turning, Underwater, and The Grudge that have opened poorly and received poor reviews.

Blumhouse Productions have had strong success with horrors over recent years with Insidious, The Purge, Happy Death Day, Get Out, Split, and Halloween but all of them performed much better in the US than the UK. The one advantage The Invisible Man has over those films is Elizabeth Moss is far better known in the UK than other stars of Blumhouse films thanks to The Handmaid’s Tale.

The Invisible Man has been called a #MeToo horror about a woman standing up to her abusive husband and the film tries to deal with toxic masculinity and privacy fears.

Universal Pictures had two attempts to try to launch Dark Universe based on their classic monster movies; 2014’s Dracula Untold (opened in the UK with £1,713,283 taking £4,454,648 and $56.3m in the US and $217m worldwide) and 2017’s The Mummy starring Tom Cruise (opened with £3,343,650 (less than previous 1999 remake £3,771,429) taking £8,744,766 and $80m in the US and $409m worldwide) and The Invisible Man was originally planned as a high budget Johnny Depp second film.

After The Mummy failed to meet expectations Universal instead moved The Invisible to Blumhouse Productions who made the film for only $7m a fraction of what it was going to originally cost.

Other female lead Blumhouse Production horrors

2019’s Black Christmas opened £283,507 taking  £475,617

2017’s Happy Death Day opened with £998,388 taking £2,678,427

2018’s Truth or Dare opened with £931,250 taking £2,400,490

2019’s Happy Death Day 2U opened with £735,454 taking £1,318,935

2014’s Ouija opened with £1,373,907 taking £3,207,638

2016’s Ouija: Origin of Evil opened with £779,626 taking £2,524,013

With Sonic the Hedgehog and Dolittle likely to drop off due to Pixar’s Onward previewing over the weekend The Invisible Man with no competition could open second having a similar opening to 2014’s Ouija opened with £1,373,907 and last year’s Pet Sematary remake £1,554,881 taking £3,025,842.

Other new releases Dark Water, Downhill and True History of the Kelly Gang will struggle to find an audience and be lucky if they get into the top 10. While they have received positive review and Dark Water tells a similarly powerful story Erin Brockovich did 20 years ago, but without award recognition, it will struggle to find an audience.

The biggest new release will be Pixar’s Onward having previews over the weekend will likely take upwards of £2m that will be added to its box office ahead of its opening next weekend.

Opening in the UK Next Week

• Onward – Disney

22^nd Pixar animation featuring voices of Tom Holland, Chris Pratt, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Octavia Spencer, Ali Wong, Lena Waithe and Mel Rodriguez and directed by Dan Scanlon.  

The 21 Pixar films have taken over £685m at the UK box office and almost £900m inflation inflated since Toy Story was released in 1996.

Onward had its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival on Friday (receiving positive reviews). and UK premiere on Sunday and has weekend previews this weekend ahead of its opening next week which should boost its opening by £2m+ and see it open with £5m+ similar to Home (£6,025,917); Bolt (£5,457,438); Trolls (£5,440,878); The Croods (£5,372,290); How to Train Your Dragon 3 (£5,323,448); Zootropolis (£5,306,726); Brave (£5,269,402); Coco (£5,209,214).

As with Coco, Onward plays strongly to boys as Inside Out and Brave played more strongly to girls, Pixar knows exactly how to tug at the heartstrings and get audiences emotionally connected with their films making adults sob like children.

• Military Wives – Lionsgate

Comedy-drama starring Kristin Scott Thomas, Sharon Horgan, Jason Flemyng, Greg Wise and directed by Peter Cattaneo; had its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival and UK premiere in February.  Has received positive reviews and is described as the feel-good film of the year, which is just the perfect tonic for all the gloom and doom that is currently happening.  

Ever since The Full Monty was released in 1997 British filmmakers have tried to be the next The Full Monty including Brassed Off, which Film4 and Miramax made instead of The Full Monty as they thought it was too similar. Fox Searchlight acquired The Full Monty and took £52.2m in the UK playing in cinemas for over 6 months, taking $258m worldwide and nominated for four Oscars while Brassed Off took £2.8m in the UK.

Director Peter Cattaneo also directed The Fully Monty but since hasn’t had much success with Lucky Break and The Rocker, having more success on the screens with Rev and Flack.

Some of the successful feel-good British films include 2000’s Billy Elliot, 2001’s Blow Dry, 2002’s Bend It Like Beckham, 2003’s Calendar Girls, 2005’s Kinky Boots and Mrs Henderson Presents, 2007’s Once, 2009’s Slumdog Millionaire, 2010’s Made in Dagenham, 2011’s Chalet Girl, 2014’s Pride and Once Chance.

As with many of these feel-good films Lionsgate has had a strong talker screening program to build up word of mouth, but never know if the film will find an audience, 23 years ago 20^th Century Fox knew they had a winner with The Full Monty extensively screening it months before opening. Cinema was very different in the 90s as there were far fewer films being released and exhibitors would give films a chance to find an audience.

The Full Monty opened with £1.6m but held very strongly for months afterwards, the difference today is Military Wives will need to find its audience in its opening weekend or exhibitors will be pulling it quickly with Misbehaviour and Radioactive opening over the following two weeks.  Do often wonder if The Full Monty opened today would exhibitors give it a chance, or would they quickly pull it if it didn’t open strongly in its opening weekend.

Exhibitors can’t have their cake and eat it too demanding that films have a 16-week window but then be quick to pull them after a few weeks, as if that is the case then the theatrical window should also be shortened, as found it crazy that Cats is being released on DVD in the UK two months after the US despite opening theatrically the same day last year.

• Blumhouse’s Fantasy Island – Sony Pictures

Supernatural horror produced by Blumhouse Productions based on the 1977 TV series starring Michael Peña, Maggie Q, Lucy Hale, Austin Stowell, Portia Doubleday, Jimmy O. Yang, Ryan Hansen, and Michael Rooker and directed by Jeff Wadlow.

Blumhouse teen horrors repeat the same formula of 90s horrors including Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer featuring popular TV actors (with Lucy Hale in Fantasy Island and also starred in Truth or Dare previously was in TV series Pretty Little Liars), the difference was they were R rated/18 in the UK, while Blumhouse horrors are targetting younger audience.

Teen horrors always suffer at the box office in the UK as they get PG-13 certificates in the US but 15s in the UK like Happy Death Day, Truth or Dare, Happy Death Day 2U and Ouija. They perform well in the UK but find themselves without an audience in the UK as they are stuck in the middle without an audience.

It always surprised me that the BBFC didn’t keep 12 certificates along with the 12A as there are many films that need a higher corticate than 12A but don’t deserve a 15 as the cut off the film’s audience. Which was the problem previously before the 12-certificate launched in 1989 and released by 12A in 2002, while the12 certificate is now only for video?

2017’s Happy Death Day opened with £998,388 taking £2,678,427

2018’s Truth or Dare opened with £931,250 taking £2,400,490

2019’s Happy Death Day 2Uopened with £735,454 taking £1,318,935

2014’s Ouija opened with £1,373,907 taking £3,207,638

2016’s Ouija: Origin of Evil opened with £779,626 taking £2,524,013

It’s unlikely along with its 15 certificates and is based on a TV series not as well known in the UK Blumhouse’s Fantasy Island will struggle to find an audience. As with The Grudge surprising Sony didn’t open the film day and date with the US as was always likely to receive poor reviews, so holding back its release will just mean it will take even less than it might have done.

• The Photograph – Universal Pictures

Romantic drama starring Issa Rae, Lakeith Stanfield, Chelsea Peretti, Lil Rel Howery and Courtney B. Vance and written and directed by Stella Meghie.

Received positive reviews in the US (74% Rotten Tomatoes) and had a strong opening of $13.4m last weekend in the US over Valentine’s Day weekend but will find it struggle to find an audience in the UK

Opening in US Next Week

• Onward – Disney

Onward was tracking to open with $45m that would be Pixar’s 20^th biggest opening or third worst ahead of only The Good Dinosaur and Toy Story (released 25 years ago would be $63m inflation inflated); similar to Coco ($50,802,605) and Ratatouille $47,027,395 ($64m inflation inflated)

Over the past decade Pixar made 11 films but 7 were sequels and after releasing Toy Story 4 last year they said it would be their last sequel for a while. In the previous decade, Pixar made 7 films all original and Pixar were seen as the most creative studio in Hollywood. Pixar was acquired by Disney in 2006, at the time Ratatouille, Wall-e and Up were in various stages of production so Toy Story 3 was probably the first wholly made by Disney.

Early reaction to Onward has said it’s a sweet and emotional adventure but it’s missing the usual Pixar magic, as with all Pixar films it tugs at the heartstrings as they cover serious emotional topics from growing-up, moving home, the loss of a parent and they pay on multiple levels from children to grandparents. As with many of the previous Pixar films it was inspired by the director’s dad dying when he was younger and his relationship with his brother.

The first teaser trailer was screened with Toy Story 4 in July, trailer released with Maleficent: Mistress of Evil in October and second trailer released in December with Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Onward will have the trailer for Pixar’s second original film this year Soul opening in June.

• The Way Back – Warner Bros

Sports drama film starring Ben Affleck, Al Madrigal, Michaela Watkins, Janina Gavankar, Glynn Turman and directed by Gavin O’Connor (his second film with Ben Affleck after 2016’s The Accountant).

Over the years sports dramas have been hugely popular in the US but rarely travel well internationally.  

Ahead of the film’s release Ben Affleck has been talking about why he left The Batman which he was originally signed to star and direct, Matt Reeves replaced him as director and Robert Pattinson as Batman, the film recently started shooting for a release in June 2021.

The Way Back is expected to open with $10m+