1. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker –  £4,396,258   – £51,331,946

Down 55.3% in its third weekend taking only £466,633 more than Jumanji: The Next Level in its third weekend (£3,638,441) £1,645 less than Frozen 2 and £1,093,458 less than Joker.

Showing how front-loaded Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker had the 9^th biggest opening weekend #1 in the UK then 11^th biggest 2^nd weekend but it’s down to 31^st biggest third weekend between Frozen 2 and The Dark Knight Rises and 6^th biggest 3^rd weekend of 2019 after Toy Story 4, Joker, The Lion King, Avengers: Endgame and Frozen 2.

Third weekends

2017’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi took £3,543,117 56% drop and £76,723,930 92.8% of £82,676,198

2016’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story took £5,959,299 4% increase and £52,070,413 78.8% of £66,010,513

2015’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens took £10,304,562 up 1% and £97,383,157 79.2% of £123,002,074

Hard to make direct comparisons with the previous three Disney Star Wars films opening in December as they had a long gap between release date and Christmas and school holidays. While The Rise of Skywalker opened the day school holidays started but that also meant opening week was only six days (including previews) as the majority of cinemas were closed on Christmas Day.

2018’s Solo: A Star Wars Story took £1,192,220 62% drop and £16,390,659 84.3% of £19,432,391

2005’s Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith took £3,313,328 (£5,079,029 inflation inflated) 39% drop and £32,665,110 83.3% of £39,188,065 (£62,484,579 2019)

2002’s Star Wars Ep II – Attack of the Clones took £2,442,698 (£4,111,021 inflation inflated) 59% drop and £26,097,434 70.1% of £37,235,880 (£65,184,489 2019)

1999’s Star Wars Ep I – Phantom Menace took £3,129,648 (£5,444,833 inflation inflated) 39% drop and £27,936,851 55.1% of £50,734,924 (£91,811,875 2019)

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker took

40.47%+ Star Wars: Phantom Menace; 79.98%+ Star Wars Attack of the Clones; 32.68+ Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith;  268.75%+ Solo: A Star Wars Story

57.34% less than Star Wars: The Force Awakens; 26.23% less than Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and 44.88% less than Star Wars: The Last Jedi

x5^th biggest film of 2019 between Joker and Frozen 2

36^th biggest film in the UK between Marvel’s Avengers Assemble and Quantum of Solace (40^th film to take over £50m since Titanic) and 70^th biggest inflation inflated film between Black Panther and WOG: The Curse of the WereRabbit.

Disney’s 13^th biggest film in the UK between Marvel’s Avengers Assemble and Black Panther; became Disney’s 15^th film taking over £50m since Toy Story 2 in 2000.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is the 6th film to take over £50m in 2019 after Avengers: Endgame, The Lion King, Toy Story 4, Joker and Frozen II; in 2018 2018 were 5 films taking over £50m (Avengers: Infinity War, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, Incredibles 2, Bohemian Rhapsody and Black Panther) and in 2017 there were 3 (Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Beauty and the Beast and Dunkirk); £50m at the UK BO is the equivalent to films taking $600m at the US BO. 

What helped The Force Awakens be the huge success it was five years ago apart from being the first Star Wars film in 10 years and to catch up on old friends. Despite all of this baggage that could have weighed down the film as was the case with the prequels, they still were able to open up the film series to a younger audience, due in part remaking A New Hope.

One of the biggest problems with The Rise of Skywalker and all of Disney’s Star Wars films was that you needed to supplement them with information from elsewhere to fill in the gaps, one of those big gaps was In the opening crawl of the film. The crawl mentions a “mysterious broadcast” that includes “a threat of REVENGE” that Palpatine sent throughout the entire galaxy to herald his rebirth but it’s not heard in the film itself, this message was instead was broadcast during the game Fortnite.

I might seem to be overly critical about The Rise of Skywalker but there have been negative comments across the industry including very surprisingly former head of Disney Michael Eisner who Tweeted #RiseofSkywalker is an acceptable film, a lot of story and fan delights but somewhat emotionless, while #TheMandolorian on @disneyplus establishes show creator @Jon_Favreau as the new George Lucas which @RobertIger had the foresight to declare.

Many have made a similar comment about seeing The Rise of Skywalker after watching The Mandalorian, which isn’t legally available I the UK until the end of March when Disney+ launches in the UK but many what have seen it illegally have said the same.

If Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker was to hold similar to Star Wars: The Last Jedi its opening was 34% of its total box office it will take about £60m would be over 50% less than Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

With Rise of Skywalker and Cats coming short to industry expectations who believed they would help 2019’s UK box office and admissions top 2018 but with the slate of films released in 2019 box office and admissions should have cantered past last year’s records, but even the big guns Avengers: Endgame, Toy Story 4 and The Lion King came short of many expectations.

There are massive questions over this year’s box office without Star Wars, major Avengers Pixar sequels and major Disney reimaginations how 2020 will compare, there are some massive films and unlike the last feel years, Disney won’t run away with it as it will likely be a three-way battle between Universal, Warner and Disney, the same three studios that are battling it out for streaming supremacy too this year.

The 5 Disney Star Wars films have taken over £330m at the UK box office and the 14 Star Wars films have taken over £500m at the UK box office since 1977 over £750m inflation inflated.

2. Jumanji: The Next Level – £3,069,462   – £28,461,093

Dropped 35% in its fourth weekend;  

Took 26.1% more than 2017’s Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle in its fourth weekend (£2,435,626) but the total was 5.1% less (£29,912,422) Jumanji: The Next Level had the advantage of Friday being the last day of school holidays while Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle fourth weekend as mi-January.

10th biggest film of 2019 between Spider-Man Far From Home and Downtown Abbey and Sony Pictures 2^nd biggest film of the year after Spider-Man Far From Home.

146^th biggest film in the UK between Meet the Fockers and Guardians of the Galaxy (close to The World Is Not Enough, The Boss Baby, The Pirates of the Caribbean and 2002’s Spider-Man) and Hot Fuzz) and 225^th biggest film inflation inflated between 1998’s Godzilla and Mission: Impossible II (close to Furious 8, The Matrix, I, Robot and Star Trek).

Sony Pictures 12th biggest film in the UK between Spider-Man Homecoming and Spider-Man (22^nd Sony Pictures film to take over £20m at the box office since Men in Black in 1997);

The original film opened in February 1996 with £2.1m taking £13.41m; 2002 film Zathura as also marketed as spiritual sequel to Jumanji with the tagline “A new adventure from the world of Jumanji” the film received positive reviews from critics but flopped at the box office opened in February 2006 with £1.31m taking £4.11m.

3. The Gentlemen – £3,057,108   – NE

Took £840,000 from Wednesday/Thursday previews

470^th biggest opening weekend in the UK between Mrs. Doubtfire and Tarzan (close to Lucy, Bad Boys 2, Crimson Tide and Ocean’s Thirteen) and 643^rd biggest inflation inflated opening between Legends Of The Fall and The Madness Of King George (close to Black Hawk Down, London Has Fallen, Master and Commander and Knives Out).

After directing the Aladdin Disney reimagination The Gentlemen took Guy Ritchie back to his British gangster routes of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch.

Guy Ritchie’s 2015’s The Man from U.N.C.L.E. opened with £1,448,298 taking £6,455,363

The film was originally announced at Cannes 2018 as Toff Guys where Miramax acquired world rights and Entertainment Film Distributors earlier this year acquired UK rights with STX acquiring US (opening on January 24^th).

As always with Entertainment Film Distributor they heavily marketed the film with Matthew McConaughey and High Grant heavily promoting the film last year, there were concerns that Hugh Grants comments about the UK election might have affected its box office but the film opened strongly despite a very crowded marketplace, the question will be how it will hold in the coming weeks.

1998’s Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels opened with £941,638 taking £11.8m

2000’s Snatch opened with £3,180,002 taking £12.4m

(Inflation inflated box office for both would be more than double)

4. Little Women –  £2,599,137   – £9,093,471

Down only 27% in its second weekend

Added 173 screens in its second weekend but despite this still had far fewer daytime screenings than other films on release

260^th biggest second weekend in the UK between Nanny McPhee & the Big Bang and Despicable Me (close to Slumdog Millionaire, War for the Planet of the Apes, Black Swan and American Sniper) and 396^th biggest second-weekend inflation inflated between Home and American Gangster (close to The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Django Unchained, Erin Brockovich and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy)

24^th biggest Sony Pictures UK second weekend between Jumanji: The Next Level and Angels and Demons (close to Blade Runner 2049, Trainspotting 2, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and The Pursuit of Happyness) and 34^th Sony Pictures UK second weekend inflation inflated between The Pirates! In an Adventure With Scientists and Terminator Salvation.

60^th biggest Sony Pictures UK film between Michael Jackson’s This Is It and District 9 and 84^th biggest Sony Pictures UK film between Grown Ups 2 and Michael Jackson’s This Is It.

BAFTA nominations were announced this morning with Little Women receiving 5 nominations including Best Actress Saoirse Ronan, Best Supporting Actress Florence Pugh, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Score.

Little Women is likely to be one of those films that get nominated but doesn’t win as didn’t win any Golden Globes on Sunday, while Lady Bird received 5 Oscar nominations and 3 BAFTA nominations but won two Golden Globe Awards but no Oscars or BAFTAs.

Much was made that were no female directors nominated, but which of Quentin Tarantino, Martin Scorsese, Sam Mendes, Bong Joon Ho and Todd Phillips would you have switched for Greta Gerwig, Lorene Scafaria, Lulu Wang, Melina Matsoukas, Olivia Wilde or Marielle Heller?

Second weekend

(2.12%+ Black Swan (£2,462,191); +3.91% The Theory of Everything (£2,419,846); +17.9% The Favourite (£2,132,196); +18.1% The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (£2,129,053); +22.7% Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (£2,048,193); +28.4% The Great Gatsby (£1,957,256); +34.6% American Hustle (£1,870,080); +35.2% Pride and Prejudice (£1,859,505); +38.2% The Devil Wears Prada (£1,817,691)

-39.85% Titanic (£4,180,308); -34.80% Fifty Shades of Grey (£3,856,489); -30.33% The King’s Speech (£3,608,968); -29.42% Life of Pi (£3,562,378); -17.69% Darkest Hour (£3,055,020); -14.33% Downton Abbey (£2,935,145); -7.90% War Horse (£2,730,197); -0.99% Slumdog Millionaire (£2,539,534)

Surprisingly Sony Pictures released their projected box office for Little Woman on Saturday which was expected to take £8.94m over 11 days of release (less than 2% less than final figures) ahead of last year The Favourite and xx more than Gerwig Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird (took £926,935 in its second weekend 25% drop  #5 in 397 screens taking £2,623,540 after opening with £1,233,508 from 190 screens).

The film has generated strong social media coverage especially on Instagram thanks to Emma Watson having almost 53m followers and as she did with 2017’s has heavily promoted Little Women on Instagram including pictures from premieres and clothes worn in the film.

Emma Watson is, of course, best known for starring in Harry Potter and Beauty and the Beast away from those films had the biggest success with 2011’s My Week with Marilyn (opened £749,819 taking £2,828,862) and 2012’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower (opened £600,771 taking £2.3m).

Lady Bird opened in February 2018 taking £1,233,508 from 190 screens #3 expanding into 397 screens in its second weekend but still dropped 25% and down to #5 taking £926,935 and £2,623,540 taking £5,079,887 staying in the top 10 for 4 weeks

Lady Bird’s release was the week after BAFTAs and week before Oscars and was the last Oscar nominee released so had far less competition than Little Women has. Sony Pictures had originally dated the film in January but brought it forward to Boxing Day opening days after the US.

The 1994 adaptation of Little Women was practically perfect with a cast including with the cast including Winona Ryder, Samantha Mathis, Claire Danes, Kirsten Dunst, Susan Sarandon and Christian Bale to the stunning score by Thomas Newman.

Little Women opened in March 1995 one-week platform £37,326 and then #1 with £1.22m; taking £2.64m inflation inflated (has been 100%+ ticket inflation since 1995) taking £3.4m (£7.2m inflation inflated).

The marketplace is very congested at the moment with only £641,875 separating The Gentlemen in second and Jojo Rabbit (both films opening were inflated with previews) and with 9 films taking £1m+ over the weekend. Despite this Little Women due to Cats not performing as well as many expected has little competition until Bombshell opens in two weeks, but the box office will get crowded even more with the release of BAFTA favourite 1917 receiving 9 nominations today.

Originally Sony had dated L:ittle Women for a mid-January release but after it received critical acclaim and strong buzz brought the film forward to Boxing Day and were helped by the poor reception of Cats last week which gave it a gap in the crowded marketplace.

5. Jojo Rabbit – £2,415,233  – NE

Took £900,000 from previews Wednesday/Thursday

610^th biggest opening in the UK between First Man and The Break-Up (close to Into the Woods, The Shape of Water, Widows and Moulin Rouge) and 847^th inflation inflated opening between First Man and The Devil Inside (close to Slumdog Millionaire, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Widows and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri).

106^th biggest 20^th Century Fox film between The Beach and Widows (close to The Beach, Black Swan, Ad Astra and What Lies Beneath) and 139^th biggest inflation inflated 20^th Century Fox opening between Rising Sun and Widows.

When Jojo Rabbit opened in the US in October it opened on a slow platform release taking 5 weeks to get to its widest point 995 screens, always surprises me that films rarely platform anymore in the UK and films like Jojo Rabbit open so wide in their opening weekend. Jojo Rabbit isn’t a mainstream film and in such a crowded marketplace needs room to find its audience, but this is impossible to do when there is no room for further expansion.

Had its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival winning the People’s Choice Award polarised critics receiving both praise (79% Rotten Tomatoes) and criticism and comparison with 1999’s Life Is Beautiful (won three Oscars in 1999 including Best Actor and Best Foreign Film; opened with £87,818 in February 1999 on limited release taking £2.15m after its Oscar win).

Taika Waititi previously directed quirky indie films 2014’s What We Do in the Shadows opened with £64,916 and 2016’s Hunt For The Wilderpeople with £152,885 and then directed 2017’s Thor: Ragnarok opening with £7.2m.

Taika Waititi directed the final two episodes od Star Wars spinoff The Mandalorian and is currently on post for Next Goal Wins based on the 2014 documentary before starting production later this year with Thor: Love and Thunder and likely directing more episodes of The Mandalorian.

In the UK JoJo Rabbit has similar release of The Favourite last year opening on January 1st

2019’s The Favourite opened with £3,973,975 taking £16,965,411

2018’s Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri opened with £2,361,782  taking £15,238,741

2018’s The Shape of Water opened with £2,466,217 taking £7,312,082

2015’s Birdman opened with £1,524,667 taking £5,044,674

Ahead of release JoJo Rabbit was seen as an Oscar favourite but has been eclipsed by many other films including 1917, The Irishman, Marriage Story and Bombshell failing to win any Golden Globes.

Jojo Rabbit did receive 6 BAFTA nominations today but in this current crowded marketplace which will get even more crowded o Friday with the arrival of Sam Mendes 1917 Jojo Rabbit will likely drop down the charts especially as its opening was inflated with previews.

In a recent interview the head of Fox Searchlight said it has been business as usual since Disney acquired 20th Century Fox and will probably run Fox Searchlight as they did Miramax in the 90s; as its parent studio has had a disappointing year so far with Ready or Not taking $28.61m its current biggest film of the year but Jojo Rabbit depending on its award success could take similar to 2017’s Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.

This time last year Fox Searchlight had Jojo Rabbit as one of their Oscar contenders, but they don’t have anything yet in place for this year.

While Disney have had huge success at the box office over recent years after buying Pixar, Marvel and Lucasfilm they are the one studio that has yet to win a Best Picture Oscar, they went close this year with Black Panther nominated for Best Picture; The English Patient in 1996 and Chicago in 2002 were the last times Disney were connected to a Best Picture winner while they owned  Miramax.

Since then Fox Searchlight has won Best Picture Oscar for Slumdog Millionaire, 12 Years a Slave, Birdman, and The Shape of Water and won 15 other Oscars and The Full Monty, Sideways, Little Miss Sunshine, Juno, Black Swan, 127 Hours, The Tree of Life, The Descendants, Beasts of the Southern Wild, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Brooklyn, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and The Favourite have also been nominated for Best Picture.

In August it was reported that during a screening a Disney executive grew audibly uncomfortable, worrying aloud that the material would alienate Disney fans.

While Disney might own 20th Century Fox JoJo Rabbit was released through Fox Searchlight so is no direct connection to Disney, similar to in the early 90s when Disney owned Miramax and released films like Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill but there was never that concern that they were being released by Disney. Likewise Disney created Touchstone Pictures in the early 80s and Hollywood Pictures in the late 80s to make films targetting older audiences and Disney would only release family friendly films through the Disney brand.

UK box office in detail

This weekend’s top 10 box office took £21,600,665 down 9.2% from last weekend £23,799,781

The weekend admissions 2,732,623 down 13.7% from last weekend 3,169,079

12 films opened at weekend taking (£7,318,404); The Gentlemen 41.7% (£3,057,108); Jojo Rabbit 33% (£2,415,233); Andre Rieu: 70 Years Young 23.4% (£1,717,074); remaining 9 films shared 1.7% (£128,989);

Top three took 47.1% (£10,064,857) of the top 10; Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker 20.5% (£4,396,258); Jumanji: The Next Level 14.3% (£3,069,462); The Gentlemen 14.3% (£3,057,108)

Up 24.3% from 2019; (£17,185,874); The Favourite (£3,973,975); Andre Rieu’s 2019 New Year Concert from Sydney (£1,745,941); Welcome to Marwen (£242,156); Life Itself (£54,131); RBG (£38,975); #1 Mary Poppins Returns £4,444,023 3^rd week 718 screens 40% drop (25.8% of top 10)

Up 22.8% from 2018: (£17,391,172); Molly’s Game (£2,283,420); Hostiles (£380,718); Brad’s Status (£33,579); #1 Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle £3,895,450 3^rd week 1^st #1 579 screens 25% drop (22.43% of the top 10)

Up 24.3% from 2017: (£17,194,216); Assassin’s Creed (£5,285,064); A Monster Calls (£1,920,744); Silence (£1,542,926); Nabucco – Met Opera 2017 (£335,390); #1 Assassin’s Creed £5,285,064 1^st week 527 screens (30.7% of top 10)

Up 9.3% from 2016: (£19,553,004); Joy (£1,519,936); The Danish Girl (£1,376,191); Sherlock: The Abominable Bride (£224,022); Sleeping with Other People (£10,197); #1 Star Wars: The Force Awakens £10,164,805 2nd week 665 screens 70% drop (52% of top 10)

Up 7.8% from 2015; (£19,828,105); The Theory of Everything (£3,749,293); The Woman In Black: Angel of Death (£2,431,823); Birdman (£1,524,667); Enemy (£20,937); #1 The Theory of Everything £3,749,293 1^st week 532 screens (18.9% of top 10)

Up 15.6% from 2014: (£18,483,581); Last Vegas (£1,811,695); Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones (£1,543,091); Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (£1,472,500); #1 American Hustle (expansion) £3,467,644 2^nd week 1^st #1 411 screens up 7,401% (18.7% of top 10)

Up 12.3% from 2013 (£19,026,396); The Impossible (£4,034,470); Quartet (£2,294,917); Playing for Keeps (£507,319); Chinatown (Re: 2013) (£16,138); #1 The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey £4,075,781 4^th week 568 screens 41% drop (21.4% of top 10)

Up 9.2% from 2012 (£19,565,424); Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (£8,188,209); The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (£4,325,594); The Lady (£91,690); The Artist (platform) (£48,445); Hannah and Her Sisters (Re: 2011) (£2,548); #1 Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol £8,188,209 1^st week 509 screens (41.8% of top 10)

Up 24.7% from 2011 (£17,137,638); Gulliver’s Travels (£7,028,747); Love and Other Drugs (£1,606,253); The Way Back (£1,327,650); #1 Gulliver’s Travels £7,028,747 1^st week 497 screens (41.1% of top 10)

Up 38.8% from 2010: (£15,390,090); Did You Hear About The Morgan’s (£1,155,060); Post Grad (£12,486); #1 Avatar £5,940,479 3^rd week (38.6% of top 10)

Up 80% from 2009; (£11,872,842); The Spirit (£1,351,370); The Reader (£671,064); Che: Part One (£429,836); Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants 2 (£41,305); #1 Yes Man 2^nd week £2,223,950 434 screens 5% drop (18.7% of top 10)

Up 67.3% from 2008; (£12,768,659); Lust, Caution (£240,665); #1 I Am Legend £3,740,369 2^nd week 458 screens 66% drop (29.3% of top 10)

Up 94.2% from 2007: (£11,003,216); Miss Potter (£1,400,943); Apocalypto (£1,360,110); Employee of the Month (£1,075,883); White Noise: The Light (£698,461); #1 Night at the Museum £2,958,093 2^nd week 487 screens 62% drop (26.8% of top 10)

Up 96.6% from 2006; (£10,866,142); Just Friends (£1,750,481); Brokeback Mountain (£987,261); Match Point (£751,992); Running Scared (£275,498); #1 King Kong £2,160,421 4^th week 473 screens 19% drop  (19.8% of top 10)

Up 215.1% from 2005 (£6,781,968); Without a Paddle (£595,060); #1 The Incredibles £1,296,333 7^th week 3^rd week #1 over two sessions up 144% 485 screens (19.1% of top 10)

Up 562% from 2004 (£13,698,709); Stuck On You (£1,114,837); American Splendor (£135,568); #1 Lord of the Rings: Return of the King £6,496,723 3^rd week #1 498 screens 9% drop (47.4% of top 10)

Up 81.5% from 2003 (£11,773,904); Star Trek X: Nemesis (£1,957,845); City Of God (£307,177); Spider (£63,949); #1 Lord of the Rings: Two Towers 3^rd week #1 £5,774,170 502 screens 29% drop (49.1% of top 10)

Up 90.6% from 2002 (£11,208,567); The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (£5,967,910); Behind Enemy Lines (£903,589); The Last Castle (£161,862); Mulholland Drive (£134,798); Monsoon Wedding (£130,466); Beauty and the Beast (£44,797); #1 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring £5,967,910 3^rd week #1 470 screens (53.2% of top 10)

Next weekend in 2019: (£13,204,230); Stan and Ollie (£2,578,838); Colette (£788,432); The Upside (£681,422); Adriana Lecouvreur Met Opera 2019 (£184,460); The Front Runner (£87,699); #1 Stan and Ollie £2,578,838 1^st week 654 screens (19.5% of top 10)

Also Opened

Andre Rieu: 70 Years Young – Piece Of Magic Entertainment

Opened with £1,717,073 from screenings on Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon.

Which is down from last year’s Andre Rieu’s New Year Concert from Sydney took £1,745,941, this could be due to the very crowded marketplace but also price must be a factor and why box office for these events is flat over recent years.

One of the most popular Event Cinema over the last five years has been André Rieu’s Maastricht Concert; Andre Rieu 2019 Maastricht Concert – Shall We Dance? – £1,492,154; 2018’s André Rieu’s Maastricht Concert, ’Amore £1,783,222; Andre Rieu’s 2017 Maastricht Concert £1,439,604; Andre Rieu’s 2016 Maastricht Concert £1,414,075; Andre Rieu’s 2015 Maastricht Concert £1,107,000; Andre Rieu’s 2014 Maastricht Concert £830,586. .

Event Cinema had a record-breaking year at the UK box office in 2019 but it’s no wonder when prices are almost 250% more than regular prices. My local Vue has recently reduced prices to £6.74 but tickets for Andre Rieu: 70 Years Young are £23.24. Event Cinema as Secret Cinema is a great addition to cinema, but it shouldn’t be included within the regular cinema box office as it just artificial inflated box office and admissions.

Event Cinema box office also includes Secret Cinema events which included Casino Royale Secret Cinema last year but tickets for these events are over £80 when industry claims average ticket price is £7.08 how can they possibly include Secret Cinema box office?

Other Box Office News

Much has been written about the failure of Cats as it didn’t open as strongly as Tom Hopper’s Les Miserables or didn’t hold as well as The Greatest Showman, but Cats was never going to be that kind of film. The musical is an acquired taste and problem was it being marketed as a mainstream musical targeting a young female audience with the casting of Taylor Swift and Jason Derulo.

After opening with £3.2m three weeks ago most believed it would drop heavily but instead dropped 40% over the last two weeks and taken over £11m at the UK box office, of course, it’s a fraction of Les Miserables and The Greatest Showman box office but was never going to take that kind of box office.

For Cats to take £1m+ in such a crowded marketplace with so much other choice available shows there was an audience for it, of course, the two weeks of Christmas holidays are like no other weeks of the year as a few years ago saw Monster Trucks take almost £2m.

Has been reported that average ticket price in 2019 has dropped from £7.22 to £7.08, while Vue Cinemas have reduced many of their cinemas mostly due to newer competition, most cinema pricing is still going only one way.

This is especially the case with exhibitors current obsession with recliners with all of Odeon Luxe cinemas more expensive after the installation of the recliners with most over £11 and many more over £15. While IMAX, 4DX and ScreenX add more surcharges as does Event Cinemas which is now often over 200% more than regular ticket prices.

While also have Secret Cinema with tickets adding £3m+per event each year. What would be interesting to know is the impact on promotions be it Meerkat Movies on Tuesday and Wednesday and subscription cinemas as those are probably the reason why the industry can claim average ticket price is dropping.

Box office for December was 24% up from 2018 but surely with Star Wars and Cats many expected that increase to be more than doubled. Box office for 2019 is 1.9% down from 2018 which is hugely disappointing given the slate of films released.

While everyone expects 2020 not to come close to recent years despite No Time To Die likely to become the biggest film in the UK since Star Wars: The Force Awakens in 2015 as previous Bond films Spectre took £95,183,468 and Skyfall £102,816,893, but No Time To Die does open at Easter unlikely October as the last two films have opened, but opening April has two weeks of school holidays compared with one.

While also have July pile up with Top Gun: Maverick delayed three weeks in the UK to avoid Euro 2020 which means it opens against Christopher Nolan’s Tenet a week after Minions 2 and Ghostbusters: Afterlife and week before Jungle Cruise. Six years ago to avoid the World Cup Warner Bros opened Edge of Tomorrow early which saw it open against Maleficent. Opening two massive will cannibalize the two rather than grow the audience, have a similar issue the end of March with Peter Rabbit 2 opening against Mulan for Easter holidays.

 

UK Box Office Top 10

US Box office

• Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker – Disney

Dropped 52.3% in its third weekend taking $34.52m and $451.58m

Showing how fast The Rise of Skywalker has dropped in its third weekend took only 14% less than Aquaman took in its third weekend after opening with $67.87m;  

Third weekends of The Last Jedi and Rogue One were a week earlier so hard to make direct comparisons.

2015 – Star Wars: The Force Awakens dropped 39.5% taking $90.24m and $742.2m 79.2% of $936.66m; $2.068bn WW

2016 – Rogue One: A Star Wars Story dropped 22.5% taking $49.6m and $424.98m 79.8% of $532.17m; $1.056bn WW

2017 – Star Wars: The Last Jedi dropped 26.6% taking $52.52m and $517.21m 83.4% of $620.18m; $1.332bn WW

The third weekend was

Took 62% less than Star Wars: The Force Awakens; 30.4% less than Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and 34.3% less than Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

Ahead of its release, most people would have expected The Rise of Skywalker to challenge Avengers: Endgame as the biggest film of 2019 and even after opening many still believed it could take over $600m, but now it’s likely to take about $550m as by next weekend it will have taken over 90% of its total box office.

This is important for two reasons Disney demanded strict terms from exhibitors taking over 65% of the box office for the first 4 weeks and demanded the film play in the main screen and demand which trailers played before it, so exhibitors were hoping that it would have long legs.

While the other is the fact that even Disney films take 90% of their box office within 4 weeks so the 16-week theatrical window needs to change, as even The Rise of Skywalker won’t play out its16 weeks on wide release, unless that is Disney release the JJ Abrams cut which was rumoured to be almost an hour long and very different to the final cut.

19^th biggest film in the US between Avengers: Age of Ultron and Frozen II

3^rd biggest 2019 film in the US between The Lion King and Frozen 2

109^th biggest film inflation inflated between Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and House of Wax

`13^th biggest Disney film in the US between Avengers: Age of Ultron and Frozen 2

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker will shortly become Disney’s 7^th 2019 film to take over $1bn worldwide, all 7 were expected to take over $1bn worldwide as previous instalment/versions took similarly.

The question is how many $1bn+ films will Disney get this year as Pixar has yet to have an original film take $900m+ worldwide 2015’s Inside Out with $857.6m is their current biggest, so unlikely either Soul or Outward will take $1bn+.

While Black Widow and Externals feel like they are more Ant-Man and the Wasp sized MCU films taking $600m+, so its left to Mulan with China to get to $1bn, the only issue is the original Mulan animated film wasn’t a huge success in the US taking $120m In the US and $304.3m worldwide. Even if you double Mulan BO to get inflation inflated total its still a long way away from $1bn+.

Took $50.5m internationally from 53 territories and $468m total internationally and $918.8m worldwide; UK $67.1m; Germany $56.5m; Japan $48.6m; France $45m; Australia $27.1m; China $19.3m; Spain $18.6m; Mexico $14.8m; Italy $14m; Brazil $11.6m; Russia $10.4m; Sweden $9.7m

At the same point after three weeks The Last Jedi had taken $1.1bn 83% of $1.33bn total if Rise of Skywalker holds similarly will take about $1.05bn 80% of The Last Jedi and 50% of The Force Awakens surely being the final part of the saga should have taken closer to $2bn and had far strongly legs as many expected it would have?

9^th biggest 2019 film worldwide between Aladdin and Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw; 60^th biggest film worldwide between The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and Bohemian Rhapsody and 29^th biggest Disney film worldwide between Finding Nemo and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2.  

• Little Women – Sony Pictures

Down 18.7% in its second weekend taking $13.61m and $60.06m

Hard to compare with 1994’s Little Women opening #2 with $2.41m (behind Streetfighter opening with $6.85m) taking $46.13m ($105m inflation inflated)

Word of mouth despite the comments from men saying it was a woman’s film has been very positive including a Tweet from Ryan Reynolds (a man) Just saw @LittleWomen which I’ll probably see a dozen times. It’s completely stunning and doctors should prescribe it. Go go go.

Lady Bird opened on limited release in 2017 taking five weeks to expand in over 1,000 screens while performing strongly on platform didn’t do as well on a wide release as despite critical acclaim audience reaction was much more mixed.

Took $9.5m from 6 territories and $20.4m total opened strongly in Australia and held strongly in the territories opened last weekend, will slowly expand over the next few weeks internationally.

• Jumanji: The Next Level – Sony Pictures

Down 19.9% in its fourth weekend taking $26.22m and $235.93m

Jumanji: The Next Level is again holding similar to Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle in its fourth weekend down 6.7% $26.22m Vs $28.1m and total after 4 weeks is 17% less $235.93m Vs $284.23m; if Jumanji: The Next Level continues to hold as it is currently will take about $320m, will surely be enough for Sony Pictures to shortly announce a third Jumanji film for release in 2022 with the next Star Wars film?

2017’s Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle dropped 24.5% in its fourth weekend taking $28.1m and $284.23m 70.3% of $404.51m and $962.07m worldwide

As with Welcome to the Jungle with The Last Jedi The Next Level is the perfect alternative to Rise of Skywalker as it’s a fun popcorn movie perfect for Christmas and two years later The Next Leve has performed similarly with The Rise of Skywalker.

Dwayne Johnson’s 43 films have taken $4.3bn in the US and $7.7nn internationally and over $12bn worldwide.

Social media is massive for Jumanji: The Next Level with a score of 788.4m compared to 154.9m for a normal family film due to Dwayne Johnson (164m followers) and Kevin Hart (83m followers) with a reach of 568m by its opening weekend. Next Level has 130.4m Facebook fans, 21.9m Facebook video views, 78.7m Twitter followers, 264.3m YouTube views and 293.1m Instagram followers.

10^th biggest film of 2019 in the US between It: Chapter Two and US; 145^th biggest film in the US between Brave and Oz the Great and Powerful; 418^th biggest inflation inflated film between Doctor Strange and Scooby-Doo and 20^th biggest Sony Pictures film between Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse 3D and Men in Black 3.

Took $42.4m from 64 territories and $374m total and $610m worldwide; China $41.2m; UK $37.5m; France $22.7m; Australia $19.8m; Germany $19.3m; Russia $17.5m; Mexico $17.1m; Indonesia $15.2m; Malaysia $12.8m; Spain $11.3m

11^th biggest film worldwide in 2019 between Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw and How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World; 158^th biggest film worldwide between How to Train Your Dragon 2 and War of the Worlds and 16^th biggest Sony Pictures film worldwide between Hancock and Casino Royale.

• The Grudge – Sony Pictures

Opened with $11.4m; received poor reviews (17% Rotten Tomatoes) and F CinemaScore

Supernatural horror reboot of the 2004 American remake of the Japanese horror film Ju-On: The Grudge and the fourth instalment of The Grudge film series.

2004’s The Grudge opened with $39.12m and $110.35m in the US and $187.28m worldwide

2006’s The Grudge 2 opened with $20.82m and $39.14m in the US and $70.71m worldwide

Opening with $5.8m from 29 territories opens across Europe at the end of the month.

• Spies in Disguise – 20th Century Fox

Dropped 22.3% in its second weekend taking $10.36m and $47.04m

Will Smith previously voiced 2004’s Shark Tale opening with $57.6m taking $160.86m in the US and $363.53m but this was when Will Smith was a strong box office success starring in Men In Black 2, Bad Boys 2. I, Robot and Hitch.

Similar to 2006’s Flushed Away which opened with $8.81m taking $64.66m in the US and $178.12m worldwide.

Took $15.8m from 35 territories and $88.8m worldwide; UK $5.6m; France $5.2m; Mexico $4.3m; China $3.7m; Germany $2.8m; Spain $2.2m; Australia $1.6m

• Cats – Universal Pictures

Dropped 45.4% in its third weekend taking $2.63m and $24.72m

Universal Pictures have had strong success over the last decade with Les Miserables and Mamma Mia but some of the biggest and greatest musicals didn’t work in cinemas including 1985’s A Chorus taking only $14.2m; 2005’s Rent taking $29m; 2009’s Nine taking $20m and 2012’s Rock of Ages taking $59m.

Previous films based on Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musicals including 1996’s Evita taking $50m and 2004’s The Phantom of the Opera taking $51m were also unsuccessful in the US, but they performed much better internationally.

Will the disappointing performance have any impact on STX currently developing an animated film of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.   

Cats could lose up to $100m if the film takes $100m worldwide ($40m US and $60m internationally) as the film, had a $90m budget and $115m spent on global marketing. Over recent years 2011’s Les Miserables took $441.8m WW; 2017’s The Greatest Showman $435m WW, and 2018’s Bohemian Rhapsody $903.6m but Cats was never going to perform like these musicals as despite it’s a list cast the musical is an acquired taste.

Was surprising Universal Pictures opted to open the film in the US against Star Wars as would have probably been better to open on Christmas Day, likewise after all the negativity surrounding the film since the first trailer was released in July surely It should have opened globally day and date?

Global day and date have become the norm for almost every film over the last decade but then studio strangely seem to split release dates of many films that would suffer from splitting as was recently the case with Terminator: Dark Fate and Doctor Sleep opting to open internationally early. Surely with the negativity surrounding Cats with the trailer the film should open globally over Christmas?

Took $4.3m from 50 international territories and $57.1m worldwide;  

• Frozen 2 – Disney

Down 29.8% in its seventh weekend taking $11.85m and $450.39m

2013’s Frozen dropped 31.5% taking $19.57m and $296.69m 74.1% of $400.73m; stayed in the top 10 for 17 weeks taking $1m+ for 17 weeks

Has become the biggest animated film worldwide according to Disney taking $1.32bn overtaking 2013’s Frozen took $1.274bn worldwide, despite last years The Lion King remake taking $1.65bn worldwide but Disney are the only people who don’t see it as an animated film.

3^rd biggest 2019 film in the US between Toy Story 4 and Captain Marvel (will shortly overtake Toy Story 4 ($434.02m)

4^th biggest animated film between Finding Dory and Shrek 2

20^th biggest film in the US between Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker and The Dark Knight Rises and 14^th biggest Disney film between Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker and Toy Story 4; 111^th biggest inflation inflated between House of Wax and Rear Window.

Took $42.4m from 55 territories and $875.3m international and $1,325bn worldwide; China $118.8m; Japan $103.8m; Korea $96.2m; UK $65m; Germany $55.1m; France $51.1m; Russia $31.2m; Mexico $27.8m; Australia $23.8m; Spain $21.9m; Italy $21.4m

Frozen 2 is Disney’s 6^th film to take over $1bn worldwide in 2019 after Avengers: Endgame, The Lion King, Captain Marvel, Toy Story 4 and Aladdin and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker will make it 7 shortly.

8^th biggest 2019 film worldwide Aladdin and Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw

3^rd biggest 2019 film, internationally between The Lion King and Spider-Man: Far From Home and 14^th biggest film internationally between Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and Frozen.

8^th biggest animated film worldwide between Despicable Me 3 and Finding Dory

14^th biggest film worldwide between Star Wars Ep. VIII: The Last Jedi and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

9^th biggest Disney film worldwide between Star Wars Ep. VIII: The Last Jedi and Frozen.

• Uncut Gems – A24

Down 20.9% taking $7.57m and $36.55m; received positive (93% Rotten Tomatoes) and Adam Sandler’s performance has been heralded as one of his best, despite low CinemaScore held strongly in its second weekend wide.

The film will be released in selective cinemas in the UK on January 10^th and on Netflix who acquired internuptial rights. The film was the surprise film at the London Film Festival receiving a mixed reaction.

• Bombshell – Lionsgate

Down 15.2% in its fourth weekend taking $4.08m and $24.58m

After the film received two Golden Globe nominations for Best Actress Drama Charlize Theron and Best Supporting Actress Margot Robbie and three Screen Actors Guild Awards nominations for Best Actress Charlize Theron and Best  Supporting Actress Margot Robbie and Nicole Kidman.

Holding better than 2018’s Vice which took $1.76m in its fourth weekend and $39.15m of $57.83m

• Jojo Rabbit – Fox Searchlight

Adds 1 screen to 209 in its 11th weekend up 36.3% drop taking $344,736 and $21.57m

Jojo Rabbit was holding similar to last years The Favourite but after being an early award favourite has dropped down the pecking order failing to win any of its Golden Globes.

While it will still probably receive BAFTA and Oscar nominations later this month its likely to be one of those films that fails to win any awards. So will be interesting to see if Fox Searchlight expand its theatrical release over the coming weeks before its video release.

So many award contenders open on platform strongly but then studio will expand the film far too quickly as was the case with JoJo Rabbit as the film was too quirky for mainstream audiences to open wide, it needed award recognition and in January boosted by Golden Globes and Oscar nominations it will expand again as many other Fox Searchlight films have done previously.

Fox Searchlight have had much successful Oscar winners that also started on platform, but they had a much wider target demographic before opening (Juno, Slumdog Millionaire, Black Swan, The Descendants, Sideways and The Full Monty) JoJo Rabbit’s not yet that must-see Oscar contender receiving polarised critical reaction.

Took $3m from 8 territories and $9.4m total internationally and $31m worldwide

On platform

• 1917 – Universal Pictures

Up 7.2% In its second weekend taking $617,697 from 11 screens and $2.3m total (expands January 10^th)

Received critical acclaim (90% Rotten Tomatoes) and won two Golden Globes on Sunday Best Picture Drama and Best Director as it positions itself as the major award contender this year overshadowing many other films including The Irishman that were early favourites.

Away from James Bond Spectre and Skyfall, Sam Mendes also directed 2009’s Away We Go (opened on platform 4 screens $130,411/ $1,709,313 wide taking $9,430,988), 2008’s Revolutionary Road (opened on platform 3 screens $189,911/$5,185,146 wide taking $22,877,808),  2002’s Jarhead (opened with $27,726,210 taking $62,647,540), 2002’s Road to Perdition (opened with $22,079,481 taking $104,054,514) and its 20 years ago since Sam Mendes directed the Oscar-winning American Beauty (opened on platform 11 screens $861,531/ $9,505,313 wide taking $130,058,047).

1998’s Saving Private Ryan opened with $30,576,104 taking $216,118,802 and $481,840,909 worldwide

1998’s The Thin Red Line opened on platform 5 screens taking $282,534/$9,765,762 wide taking $36,257,435 and $98,126,565 worldwide

2011’s War Horse opened with $7,515,402 taking $79,883,359 and $177,584,879 worldwide

2017’s Dunkirk opened with $50,513,488 taking $188,045,546 and $525,245,546 worldwide

UK Box Office Predictions

After three weeks at #1 Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker will be replaced by 1917 this years must-see Oscar contender. The Sam Mendes directed film has been receiving strong buzz and critical acclaim since having its world premiere at the Royal Film Performance on December 4th

Away from Spectre and Skyfall, Sam Mendes also directed 2009’s Away We Go (opened £250,211); 2009’s Revolutionary Road (opened £1,013,548 taking £2,751,902; 2006’s Jarhead (opened £1,927,987 taking £5,155,997; 2002’s Road to Perdition (opened £1,318,382 taking £6,471,752 and its 20 years ago since Sam Mendes directed the Oscar-winning American Beauty opened £2,836,678 taking £21,261,601

Comparisons have been made with

1998’s Saving Private Ryan opened £2,704,522 taking £18,740,016 ($481,840,909 worldwide)

1999’s The Thin Red Line opened £1,134,952 taking £3,983,932

Being a British war film there are also comparisons with

2012’s War Horse opened £3,944,746 taking £18,574,862

2017’s Dunkirk opened £10,023,720 taking £56,585,035

Every year there is one must-see Oscar nominee and 1917 is likely to be this year’s and many of these have been released over the first two weeks of January including Slumdog Millionaire (£1,827,457), The Kings Speech (£3,523,102), 12 Years A Slave (£2,511,349), Birdman (£1,524,667) and Darkest Hour (£4,058,356). As it gives them distance from Christmas releases and is close to BAFTA and Oscar nominations being revealed.

While Star Wars: The Force Awakens managed to hold #1 for 4 weeks in January 2016 taking £6,001,948 in its 4^th weekend against The Hateful Eight #2 with £2,778,633, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker will only have 3 weeks #1 as Star Wars: The Last Jedi in January 2018 with Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle taking £3,895,450 Vs £3,543,117 in its fourth weekend. As it drops in its fourth weekend over 50% taking £2m+.

With school holidays over and due to extending openings of The Gentlemen and Jojo Rabbit Little Women will hold strong in its third-weekend #3 taking £1.8m-£2m could possibly take #2 from The Rise of Skywalker, with Jumanji: The Next Level taking fourth. The Gentlemen and Jojo Rabbit will be battling out for fifth depending on which has the better word of mouth.

After several weeks of multiple releases, 1917 is surprisingly the only major release these weekend as the following three weeks are much more crowded, but 1917 is this year must-see Oscar contender this year having the similar Brit boost of Darkest Hour and The Kings Speech likely to open with £5m+ and holding strongly while also performing well during the week taking £20m+ or maybe £30m+ with BAFTA and Oscar success.

Opening in UK Next Week

• Bad Boys For Life – Sony Pictures

Action comedy starring Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Vanessa Hudgens and Joe Pantoliano and directed by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer.

Directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah are currently attached to direct Beverly Hills Cop 4 starring Eddie Murphy which Paramount Pictures recently sold to Netflix, the fourth film is also produced by Jerry Bruckheimer has been in development even longer than Bad Boys 3 and as Bad Boys 3 had several false starts.

The second sequel to 1995’s Bad Boys that launched Will Smith’s acting career, he followed it up with Independence Day and Men In Black followed over the next two years.

Sony Pictures probably got Will Smith to sign for Bad Boys 2 after agreeing to finance Ali biopic he had been developing for many years as they probably also agreed to star in Men In Black 3 after Sony also agreed to make The Pursuit of Happyness and Seven Pounds.

Bad Boys 2 followed in 2003 and ever since Sony Pictures have been wanting a third film but Will Smith’s salary had stopped the film from moving forward from 2008. In 2015 Joe Carnahan was in talks and Sony announced Bad Boys would be released in February 2017,and Bad Boys IV, for release July 2019, but over the follow years those dates were delayed until it was announced in February 2018 with a January 2020 release date.

Unlike with Independence Day sequel and Men In Black 4 Sony realised that they couldn’t make Bad Bays without either Will Smith or Martin Lawrence.

1995’s Bad Boys opened with £2,434,072 (£5,050,000 inflation inflated) taking £8,408,498 (£13,673,278 inflation inflated)

2003’s Bad Boys 2 opened with £3,175,258 (£5,163,370 inflation inflated) taking £8,141,704 (£7,932,942 inflation inflated).

Bad Boys For Life opens only three months after he starred in Jerry Bruckheimer’s produced Gemini Man opened with £1,718,511 taking £4,464,908, it suffered being a 90s action film opening 20 years late and opening the week after Joker.

With Bad Boys For Life, the marketplace is crowded but with award contenders so there is room if younger audiences are interested in Bad Boys For Life. This the big question with these big gap sequels will younger audiences grown up on comic-book movies be interested but they did come out recently to see.

2014’s Ride Along opened with £1,420,992 taking £3,945,786

2016’s Ride Along 2 opened with £2,141,341 taking £5,512,631

The mid-90s to late 90s was my favourite time for cinema was working as a projectionist at Rank Film Distributors and 20^th Century Fox screening huge number of films, we had a staff screening of Bad Boys and remember collecting the print from Columbia Tri-Star in Wells Street, for some reason wasn’t able to borrow a trolley so had to drag 7 reels from Wells Street to Wardour Street.

Jerry Bruckheimer also reunites with Tom Cruise this summer in Top Gun: Maverick opening 34 years after the original film opened, due to the European Football Championships its opens three weeks after the US in the UK which sees it opening against Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, the weekend before Ghostbusters: Afterlife and Minions 2 opens and the week after Jungle Cruise, which will make for three very crazy weeks at the UK box office.

• Bombshell – Lionsgate

Drama starring Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman, and Margot Robbie, John Lithgow, Kate McKinnon, Connie Britton, Malcolm McDowell, and Allison Janney and directed by Jay Roach. 

The film was originally developed by Annapurna Pictures but in October 2018 they dropped the project due to budget concerns and Lionsgate acquired the film.

While Roger Ailes was a massive news story in the US it wasn’t such a big story internationally so it’s the performances that will sell the film along with the very strong female cast.

As with Todd Philipps directing Joker best known for directing comedies including The Hangover Jay Roach was also best known for directing comedies including Meet the Parents Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, but did previously direct the TV movies Recount, Game Change and All the Way.

Bombshell has received strong Oscar buzz since the film was screened in October for the strong performances of the three female leads Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman, and Margot Robbie all expected to receive Oscar nominations; received three BAFTA nominations including Best Actress Charlize Theron and Supporting Actress Margot Robbie.

Bombshell also has similarities to the excellent fictional Apple TV drama The Morning Show starring Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, and Steve Carell. While Nicole Kidman recently starred alongside Reese Witherspoon in the second series of Big Little Lies.

While the film opened similar to Vice in the US; opened last January with £1,327,464 taking £3,223,856

Some have made comparisons with women in the workplace/feminist films including

1995 – Disclosure opened £3.12m taking £6.9m

1992 – Fried Green Tomatoes opened £528,000 taking £1.19m

1989 – Working Girl opened £1.24m taking £3.29m

1988 – Broadcast News opened £673,313 taking £1.5m

2001 – Erin Brockovich opened £1,609,930 taking £10,237,045

2019- Hustlers opened £1,353,324 taking £7,253,642

With trailers playing with Little Women Bombshell is another strong powerful film about women that women will hopefully also go to and as it doesn’t have girl, woman, wife in the title may be some men will see it too.

• Just Mercy – Warner Bros

Legal drama starring Michael B. Jordan, Jamie Foxx, Rob Morgan, Tim Blake Nelson, Rafe Spall, and Brie Larson and directed by Destin Daniel Cretton based on the memoir written by Bryan Stevenson; had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival receiving positive reviews highlighting the strong performances of the leads.

Over the years set on death row have been many films either based on true stories or fictional stories including 1996’s Dead Man Walking (opened £950,169 taking £2m) 1995’s Just Cause (opened £711,799 taking £1.12m), 1996’s Last Dance, A Time to Kill (opened £1m taking £3.1m), and The Chamber, 2000’s The Green Mile (opened £1.14m taking £6.58m) 1999’s True Crime (opened £189,149 taking £592,486) and 2003’s The Life of David Gale (opened £725,698 taking £2.2m)

• Waves – Universal Pictures

Drama starring Kelvin Harrison Jr., Lucas Hedges, Taylor Russell, Alexa Demie, Renée Elise Goldsberry, and Sterling K. Brown and written and directed by Trey Edward Shults.

Had world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival (where Focus Features acquired international rights) receiving positive reviews from critics  (96% Rotten Tomatoes), praising performances of Harrison, Russell, and Brown and was released on limited release in the US in November by A24 taking $1.6m after opening on limited release taking $134,333 from 4 screens.

Will have a limited theatrical release in the UK and opening in such a crowded marketplace will find it hard to find an audience in the UK.

• A Hidden Life – 20^th Century Fox

Historical drama starring August Diehl, Valerie Pachner, with both Michael Nyqvist and Bruno Ganz and written and directed by Terrence Malick; had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival receiving positive reviews (79% Rotten Tomatoes) were Fox Searchlight acquired rights.

Was surprising despite recent Terrence Malick films underperforming at the box office it was Fox Searchlight’s first film they acquired since being acquired by Disney as while the film received positive reviews it will have a very limited audience. Was probably more acquired to be another prestige film that is Oscar bait but paying $14m for rights, they are unlikely to turn a profit.

The film began production in summer 2016 and was in the editing room for over 2 years; the film is also the directors longest film at 2hrs 53 mins

The 8 films Terrence Malick directed have taken $226.68m worldwide since 1978 his biggest film is 1998’s The Thin Red Line taking $36.4m in the US and $97.7m worldwide opening with £1,134,952 taking £3,983,932

Terrence Mallick’s recent film

2017’s Song to Song opened with £11,397 from 6 screens

2016’s Knight of Cups opened with £10,323 from 11 screens

2013’s To the Wonder opened with £96,645 from 40 screens

A Hidden Life opened with $50,383 from 5 screens and has taken $1.27m after 4 weeks expanding to 149 screens; A Hidden Life will have a limited theatrical release in the UK

Opening in the US Next Week

• Bad Boys For Life – Sony Pictures

Bad Boy For life is the first of many long gap sequels being released in 2020 opening 25 years after the first film opened. In 1995 Bad Boys was the 23^rd biggest film of the year having the 27^th biggest opening of the year.

1995’s Bad Boys was Will Smith’s breakthrough film opening with $15.52m taking $65.8m and $141.4m worldwide

Didn’t look like the film had sequel potential, that was until Independence Day, Men In Black and Enemy of the State followed becoming a global megastar but then came Wild Wild West and The Legend of Bagger Vance, with Sony eager for Will Smith to star in Bad Boys 2 and Men In Black 2 they agreed to finance his Ali biopic.

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).

2003’s Bad Boys 2 opened with $46.52m taking $138.6m and $273.33m worldwide

Bad Boys 2 was the 10^th biggest film of 2003 having the 10^th 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).

Will Smith’s 27 films have taken $2.54bn in the US; $3.56bn internationally and $6.11bn worldwide.  

Jerry Bruckheimer’s 34 films have taken $4.1bn in the US, $6.3bn international and $10.4bn 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.

These films are regularly on TV and are films that you can just watch and enjoy, and I’ve seen countless times, so different to many films today that I’m bored of watching the first time. These are the films that are missing from cinema today one-part films that aren’t trying to set up future instalments or franchises, just there to entertain the audience for 2 hours.

Will be interesting to see if Jerry Bruckheimer can bring new and younger audiences to Bad Boys For Life and Top Gun Maverick without ruining them for fans who grew up with the originals in cinemas.

Six weeks before opening Bad Boys For Life was tracking to open between $25m-$35m

• Dolittle – Universal Pictures

Fantasy adventure starring Robert Downey Jr, Antonio Banderas and Michael Sheen and voices of Emma Thompson, Rami Malek, John Cena, Kumail Nanjiani, Octavia Spencer, Tom Holland, Craig Robinson, Ralph Fiennes, Selena Gomez and Marion Cotillard and directed by Stephen Gaghan, based on The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle.

It’s the third film version of Doctor Dolittle after the classic 1967 Rex Harrison adaptation and then Eddie Murphy starred in the 1998 remake and 2001 sequel.

Was originally set for May 24^th, 2019 but was moved to April 12^th to avoid Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (was then dated for May before moving to December), it was then pushed back to  January 17^th, 2020 after extensive reshoots after poor test screenings.

Dolittle UK release date has been held back till February 7^th for half-term holidays opening in the majority of the world day and date with the US.

Dolittle is Robert Downey Jr’s first non-MCU film since 2014’s The Judge and is almost a decade since he starred in a non-MCU success Due Date and Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows a sequel will be released in 2021. His last family film was 2006’s The Shaggy Dog.

Trailers for Dolittle have been playing with Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and Jumanji: The Next Level which should see it open ahead of tracking ($25m-$30m) depending on reviews.

1998’s Doctor Dolittle opened with $29.01m taking $144.15m in the US and $294.45m worldwide

2001’s Doctor Dolittle 2 opened with $25.03m taking $112.95m in the US and $176.1m worldwide