Top 5 Breakdown
- Star Wars: The Last Jedi – £7,975,174 – £68,263,774
Dropping 21.04% in its third weekend The Last Jedi has now taken over 30% less in 17 days than The Force Awakens had taken after 14 days;
This compares to Rogue One up 5.42% taking £5,959,299 and £52,070,413 total in its third weekend and The Force Awakens up 1.37% taking £10,304,562 and £97,383,157 total.
The Last Jedi had taken £10.1m in its second weekend taking similar box office of The Force Awakens and dropped less 63.94% Vs 70.1% but as Christmas Day was Friday in 2015 had a two-day weekend compared to The Last Jedi which had a three-day weekend.
After 11 days of release, The Last Jedi had taken £50.46m Vs £65.91m from The Force Awakens but in 10 days.
After The Force Awakens and Rogue One were the biggest films of 2015 and 2016 in their calendar year so The Last Jedi was expected to do similar but Beauty and the Beast is the #1 film of 2017; The Last Jedi will overtake Beauty and the Beast taking around £95m.
After the three lucrative weeks of Christmas holidays, The Last Jedi is likely to see a big drop in its fourth weekend 2 years ago The Force Awakens dropped 42% taking £6m. A 50%+ drop is likely for The Last Jedi taking £3.8m while Jumanji will likely drop a little less about 45% which will see it take about £2.9m as the two films get much closer after four weeks than few would have predicted a few weeks ago.
The Hitler rant scene in Downfall has been used many times over the years this time his ranting over of course everyone’s favourite ranting movie.
In October in an interview with the New York Times Mark Hamill had issues with how Luke Skywalker was in The Last Jedi to the person he was in the original trilogy. “That’s the hard part. You don’t want to admit how possessive you’ve become. There are times where you go, ‘Really? That’s what they think of Luke? I’m not only in disagreement – I’m insulted.’ But that’s the process and you thrash it all out.”
After seeing the film, he changed his opinion saying, “I’ve had trouble accepting what Rian saw for Luke, but again, I have to say, having seen the movie, I was wrong.” Which made many think Disney had words with him to tell him to keep his opinions to himself as seen with Disney banning the Los Angeles Times from covering their films Disney do not take kindly of criticism.
One of the many issues many had with The Last Jedi was all through The Force Awakens Rey was desperate to find her parents to find out who she was so many were expected the “no am your brother scene when Rey met up with Kylo again. Instead, Kylo tells Rey her parents were junk-trading bums who sold her and are now dead in a ditch which we all knew was a lie and director Rian Johnson has said that the truth is still open about who her parents are. But with Han Solo, Luke Skywalker and by Star Wars Episode IX Princess Leia all dead will there be a Jerry Springer parentage style surprise?
It is only 5 months before the next Star Wars film opens Solo: A Star Wars Story but a trailer has yet to be released it is expected to be shown during College Football on ESPN on January 8th which Disney has often done with their trailers most recently for Incredibles 2.
Since Disney announced yearly infinite Star Wars films in 2012 much has been written about the films mostly positive apart from the reshoots on Rogue One. This all changed with the surprising announcement in June that Lucasfilm had fired Han Solo directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller after several months of shooting due to “creative differences”. After previously directing the excellent self-aware comedies 21 Jump Street and its sequel 22 Jump Street and animated films Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and The Lego Movie Lucasfilm must have known the kind of film they were planning to make?
Phil Lord and Christopher Miller were replaced by strong and stable but Ron Howard he has made some great films in the past including Willow 30 years ago and Backdraft, Frost/Nixon and Apollo 13 but they were more drama than action and excitement which is what you would expect from Solo. But with the corporate machine that is Lucasfilm as Eon Productions with James Bond the director is more a figurehead and a puppet for the producers to make the films look and feel the same?
The biggest problem with Solo is however good Alden Ehrenreich performance is of Han Solo he will be compared to Harrison Ford so would make much more sense to beg Harrison Ford and then use similar visual cosmetics Marvel used for Ant-Man with Michael Douglas to do the same with Harrison Ford?
Solo will likely perform close to Rogue One but be even more front-loaded opening with £15m+ it does, of course, have the advantage over The Force Awakens, Rogue One and The Last Jedi with half-term holidays for Its opening week. But with Deadpool 2 opening a week after opening and then Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom opening two weeks later it expected to be very front-loaded unlike Ron Howard can pull one out of the bag and all this negativity was fake news to lower expectations?
Lucasfilm has now fired three directors Josh Trank, Colin Trevorrow and Phil Lord and Christopher Miller from Star Wars films and in a recent interview Ridley Scott gave his opinion saying “I think Disney like to be in control, and I like to be in control myself,” he says of the higher-ups in charge of “Star Wars.” “When you get a guy, who’s done a low-budget movie and you suddenly give him $180 million, it makes no sense whatsoever. It’s fuckin’ stupid. You know what the reshoots cost?” “Millions! Millions,” “You can get me for my fee, which is heavy, but I’ll be under budget and on time. This is where experience does matter, it’s as simple as that! It can make you dull as dishwater, but if you’re really experienced and you know what you’re doing, it’s fucking essential. Grow into it, little by little. Start low-budget, get a little bit bigger, maybe after $20 million, you can go to $80. But don’t suddenly go to $160.”
December 27th, 2017 was the 40th anniversary of Star Wars opening in the UK opened at the Leicester Square Theatre and Dominion Theatre; in its opening week took a record-breaking £117,690 (beating Jaws previous record of £90,655) with the £2.20 tickets being sold by touts for over £30.
- Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle – £5,210,725 – £17,835,902
Down 35.67% in its second weekend; taking another £1.2m from Bank Holiday Monday bringing its total to £19m.
As two years ago when Paramount opened Daddy’s Home as an alternative to Star Wars: The Force Awakens Sony dated Jumanji to open only 5 days after. Of course, when they did they didn’t know The Last Jedi would receive such a polarized reaction but over the lucrative two weeks of Christmas as with Daddy’s Home there would have been room for both.
What will be interesting to see is how far apart Jumanji will be from The Last Jedi next weekends ass The Force Awakens dropped 42% in its fourth weekend two years ago and would expect a slightly bigger drop for The Last Jedi. While Jumanji will likely drop around 50% in its third weekend.
Was much negativity surrounding the build-up to the release of the Jumanji sequel announcing it shortly after Robin Williams death. The casting of Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart of easing some of that but then when the first picture released in September was an outcry over Karen Gillan’s revealing costume. A few months later at CinemaCon it was revealed that four high school students come across the video game and become the characters of the Jumanji video game, but that still doesn’t explain why she is wearing a revealing Lara Croft style outfit supposedly poking fun at the sexism in video games while others are dressed properly. In a recent interview, Karen Gillan agreed that her costume was ridiculous.
The original film opened in February 1996 with £2.1m taking £13.41m and was the eight biggest film of the year and over the years since has become a home entertainment favourite.
Average ticket price in 1996 was £3.70 Jumanji admissions were 567,568 would be £4,324,865 using claimed average ticket price of £7.62 which would be close to Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle opening if remove its two days of weekend previews 10 days before opening £2.1m and the two days of previews it had opened on Wednesday/Thursday when children were on school holidays.
Jumanji £13.41m in 1996 would be 3.62m admissions which would be £27.61m today, but using my average ticket price from checking the prices of over 230 cinemas showing Star Wars: The Last Jedi on opening night is £11.57 would see equivalent box office total of £41.88m
Showing again how ticket price is inflating films performance but the actual audience isn’t changing for the film. As with Star Wars: The Last Jedi was probably a generational thing teenager who saw the original were more likely to be upset with the remaking of the film weren’t the target audience for the sequel. The target audience for Jumanji reboot was millennial teenagers while the audience for Star Wars: The Last Jedi was expected to be Generation X who grew up on Star Wars but had a much more polarized reaction.
The critical reaction to Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle was much more mixed while referring to its nostalgic original film it was also very different which is probably why the reaction was so mixed with audiences liking it more than critics the opposite to The Last Jedi.
Always thought that while of course Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and Pitch Perfect 3 wouldn’t be able to compete on the same level as Star Wars: The Last Jedi the two films together targeting teenage boys and girls would squeeze its box office which it has done.
As Star Wars: The Last Jedi failure to be the #1 biggest film of 2017 taking over £10m less than it was likely to do is due to both Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and Pitch Perfect 3, As while fans rushed out to see The Last Jedi the third Star Wars film in three years was two too many for many and wanted to see something different.
Sony Pictures UK had a nostalgic heavy slate for 2017 few would have predicted Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle would have been one of the biggest #23 biggest film of the year and behind Blade Runner 2049 having overtaken T2: Trainspotting over the weekend;
Sony has fewer big guns for 2018 family films are again strong with Peter Rabbit, Hotel Transylvania, Barbie and Goosebumps but others The Equalizer 2 the first film didn’t do that well in UK and Frost/Pegg’s Slaughterhouse Rulez could go either way likewise Spider-Man spinoff without Marvel/Disney’s pixie dust Venom could be back to Sony’s bad ways of making comic-book movies. While The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo sequel The Girl In The Spider’s Web with a whole new cast?
- The Greatest Showman – £4,754,049 – NE
Opened om Boxing Day includes £2,178,902 Tues-Thurs; after receiving very snooty reviews audiences came out to see it and enjoyed it as The Greatest Showman does what it says in its title it’s a fun enjoyable Christmas popcorn movie. It was something different to another sequel and remake or reboot or whatever Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle is meant to be and yet another overhyped Star Wars film.
Its 15 years ago since The Greatest Showman’s writers Bill Condon Chicago opened having three weeks of exclusive release at Warner West End opening with £113,386 and second £82,314 and third weekend £67,405 opening wide in its fourth weekend with 1,983,505 went on to take £16,111,718 and won 6 Oscars.
Moulin Rouge opened in the UK in September 2001 with £2,403,378 taking £17,047,358 over it nine weeks in the top 10.
While La La Land opened a year ago with months of hype opened with £6.59m and take £30.4m.
Most of the film musicals released over the last 16 years since Moulin Rouge have been based on stage shows; Les Misérables, Mamma Mia! (with sequel Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again opening this summer), Hairspray, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Evita, Rent, Dreamgirls, Into the Woods, Dreamgirls, The Producers. But have been few original film musicals.
As with the last two years, there were films for all audiences in 2016 wad Rogue One, Why Him? Passengers and Moana and in 2015 The Force Awakens, Daddy’s Home, Joy and The Peanuts Movie.
The only disappointment was Ferdinand which like Captain Underpants was one of the most enjoyable original animated films of the year was overshadowed by Paddington 2. However good Paddington 2 is it is still a sequel and repeats much of what made the first film so much fun.
While Ferdinand as Captain Underpants was fun and original, but people prefer to go and see Paddington 2 again rather than go and see Ferdinand. Was close to Captain Underpants which received rave reviews from critics and those few went to see it, but others preferred to see the now tiresome Despicable Me 3 and Cars 3 and most shockingly of all The Emoji Movie.
After the shocking news, Disney is buying Fox 2018 could probably be their last year as a stand-alone distributor with their films incorporated within Disney from mid-2019. It is films like The Greatest Showman that are probably most at risk not to be made in future as Disney are much more interested in making properties.
- Pitch Perfect 3 – £2,322,065 – £8,887,440
Down 46% in its second weekend after opening with £4.43m from its 5-day opening weekend; taking £419,000 on Bank Holiday Monday total £9.3m.
Despite receiving mixed reviews fans of Pitch Perfect have still come out to see the third film helped by being the only film targeting female audience opening over the lucrative Christmas holidays.
The 2012 original film was a sleeper hit in the US released during the peak years of TV series Glee receiving positive reviews opened in September in the US.
The sequel as sequels do was bigger but the spark or originality was fading completely faded out with the third film and many cast members look as bored as the audience was watching.
Anna Kendrick was the lead in the first film, but Rebel Wilson took much more of the spotlight in the sequels, while she might have had a tiny moment in the first film is now very tiresome and grating as she overpowers the film.
The first film opened December 21st, 2012 opening with £952,000 taking £6.7m the sequel opened #1 May 15th, 2015 (ahead of Mad Max Fury Road with £4.5m) with £5.01m (up 425% from the original film) taking £1.59m on its opening day went on to take £17.23m.
- Paddington 2 – £1,884,062 – £37,567,705
Up 17.75% in its eighth weekend; Paddington 2 increase it box office over the last two weekends during the lucrative school holidays taking £6,202,064 over last two weeks is less Paddington took over the Christmas holidays 3 years ago but original opened several weeks later.
Over the weekend Paddington 2 overtook the originals box office £36.9m and added £404,000 on Bank Holiday Monday taking £37.95m.
With schools back on Thursday Paddington 2 will be limited to weekends and drop down the chart over the coming weeks; Paddington stayed in top 10 for 10 weeks and the sequel will stay in longer.
The ups and down life of an independent distributor Studiocanal UK whole 2018 slate is unlikely to match the total box office of Paddington 2 with The Commuter and Early Man their two major releases both opening in January; The Commuter looks like Non-Stop on a train Non-Stop opened in February 2014 with £2,652,364 taking £9,365,368 and Early Man likely to perform close to their last Aardman Animation film Shaun the Sheep Movie opened in February 2015 £2,095,061 taking £13,675,389.
But of course, never know how films like The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society might perform.
UK box office in detail
This weekend’s top 10 box office took £24,534,387 down 17.2% from last weekend £29,632,571
Was the 5th biggest weekend of the last 52 weeks and last weekend was the 2nd biggest weekend showing how lucrative these two weeks have become over recent years. As going to the cinema over Christmas is very much a family activity as it has been for to see a Christmas pantomime for decades. With a wide range of films targeting all audiences, there was something for everyone.
The weekend admissions 3,219,736 down 17.2% from last weekend 3,888,788 (average price £7.62 by UK Cinema Association/BFI for 2017);
The weekend was up 41.7% from last year (£17,313,519): Why Him? £2,183,715, Monster Trucks £1,726,229 and Collateral Beauty £1,177,943
Up 25.4% from 2017: (£19,553,004): Joy £1,519,936, The Danish Girl £1,376,191, Sherlock: The Abominable Bride £224,022
Next weekend in 2017: (£17,194,216) Assassin’s Creed £5,285,064, A Monster Calls £1,920,744, Silence £1,542,926
UK Box Office Top 10
US Box Office Top 10
US Box office
Disney – Star Wars: The Last Jedi – down 26.7% in its third weekend $52.52m taking $517.21m taking 30.3% less than The Force Awakens $742.2m.
The Last Jedi dropped 67.5% taking $71.56m in its second weekend 52% less than The Force Awakens took in its second weekend which dropped 39.8% taking $149.2m; after 10 days The Last Jedi had taken 32% less than The Force Awakens $368.16m Vs $540.05m.
The Last Jedi overtook Beauty and the Beast to become the biggest film of the year on its 17th day on release after 17 days The Force Awakens had taken $742.2m
People are still in denial that The Last Jedi has underperformed three weeks after release now saying that it was always going to perform this way. A month before opening tracking was predicting $200m+ opening, I predicted $215m opening $790m US box office (20% drop from The Force Awakens) and $1.6bn globally. Instead, it will have a 30% drop in the US but holding as predicted international and be another megamovie that has underperformed in the US.
This will see The Last Jedi become the fifth biggest film in the US and globally behind Avatar, Titanic, The Force Awakens and Jurassic World. While many are overly negative about the performance of DC Extended Universe films (five films have taken over $3.7bn globally and an average of $752m compares close to Marvel Cinematic Universe average of $794m) they seem to be constantly in denial of the facts about The Last Jedi.
Two things that are forgotten about the performance of The Last Jedi is that it had an extra three days play than The Force Awakens as December 31st, 2015 was a Thursday while December 31st, 2017 was a Sunday so had an extra weekend. So, while it might seem that its only 20% of The Force Awakens $651.9m it is over 30% $742.2m. The other is, of course, ticket inflation while the industry might claim average is up only 6.2% since 2015 up more than double so The Last Jedi is closer to 45% less than The Force Awakens.
If The Last Jedi holds similar to The Force Awakens in its fourth weekend will drop 53% in its fourth weekend taking $24m will see it drop from #1 a week earlier than The Force Awakens had taken 87% of its final box office of $936.6m
The Force Awakens overtook both Jurassic World’s $652.3m and Titanic’s $658.7m on New Year’s Day but The Last Jedi might not overtake either.
The Last Jedi took $67.2m internationally taking total $534.8m; has now taken $1.066bn worldwide heling Disney take $4.047bn international in 2017.
This compares to $1.3bn The Force Awakens took by January 1st, 2016 with a couple days less and went on to take $2.02bn.
Opens in China on January 5th if it does close to The Force Awakens and Rogue One will take about $100m+. Disney has been heavily promoting the Star Wars films in China over the last few years and the casting of Donnie Yen in Rogue One and Kelly Marie Tran in The Last Jedi many have called ‘Asian Rey’. Both are just token characters especially Kelly Marie Tran as her character Rose doesn’t add anything to the film apart from trite dialogue including “That’s how we’re gonna win. Not fighting what we hate, saving what we love”.
Were reports that over 30 minutes were cut from The Last Jedi to bring it to a 2 and a half hour running time which then makes you wonder why the Finn and Rose trip to Canto Bight stayed in the final cut as it adds very little to the film. While it sets up the possibility of more younglings Jedi’s the many reasons why the scene stayed in the film was that if it wasn’t included Finn would be missing for a large amount of the film. After setting up Finn as the hero in The Force Awakens after being split from Rey for most of The Last Jedi he needed to have a major scene in the film but if you are told by Maz Kanata to meet a specific codebreaker on Canto Bight why would then trust a random stranger to do the job when you have no idea if he can even do it.
The more I think of The Last Jedi the more frustrated I am about it as there is so much set up for key scenes but then they all have anticlimactic endings and the film starts as it ends with the Resistance on the run. As the Resistance hasn’t disabled the tracking software won’t the First Order just track the Millennium Falcon around the galaxy for the next 2 years and as it must be over 80-year-old how much longer can it hold together.
There have been many lists of worst films of the year with Justice League in most of them. For me, The Last Jedi should be on the list too as while expectations for Justice League expectations for The last Jedi were very high being a much bigger disappointment. After it received critical acclaim as Blade Runner 2049 and Mother the disappointment was much bigger than Justice League was close to Christopher Nolan’s 2014 film Interstellar came out of the cinema angry.
Sony Pictures – Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle up 38.4% in its second weekend taking $50.05m and $169.01m; after opening week before with $36.4m from 3 days and $53m from its 5-day opening.
Jumanji opened in December 1995 with $11.08m would be the equivalent of $23m today (n 1995 average ticket price was $4.35 compared to $8.95 today). Taking $100.47m would be over $200m today;
Jumanji took $70.2m international $175m total and $360m worldwide
Universal Pictures – Pitch Perfect 3 dropped 15.8% in its second weekend taking $16.81m and $63.3m; after opening week before with $19.92m.
Pitch Perfect 3 added $13m internationally with total of $30.3m worldwide is $98.5m opened in Australia this week having had its world premiere there over a month ago; Pitch Perfect 2 took $103m in 2015 with UK, Australia and Germany the three biggest international territories while the first film took $50.4m in 2012.
20th Century Fox – The Greatest Showman up 76.3% in its second weekend taking $15.2m and $49.03m; after opening with $8.8m from 3 days and $13.4m from 5 days.
The Greatest Showman received mixed reviews, but audience reaction has been much more positive as the film is the perfect Christmas popcorn film being something different than the sequels and another overrated Star Wars film.
The Greatest Showman took $28m international; while 20th Century Fox took $2.45bn in 2017; 9th consecutive time it has grossed over $2bn and the 11th overall in the studio’s history
20th Century Fox – Ferdinand – up 55.6% in its third weekend taking $11.38m and $53.54m;
Two years ago, 20h Century Fox released Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip against Star Wars: The Force Awakens in its third weekend took $12.07m and $67.64m going on to take $85.88m;
Ferdinand took $23m internationally now up to $71.8m having strong second weekends in France, Holland and Germany were 30,000 copies of the book were given to children after the end of the Second World War to encourage peace. This was after Hitler ordered the book burned as “degenerate democratic propaganda”. So understandable that the film was popular in those three countries while less known in the UK.
Disney – Coco – up 38.6% the sixth weekend taking $7.46m and $179.84m; after six weeks Moana took similar $10.98m and taken $210.04m.
Coco has taken $40.3m internationally and global box office of $541.5m.
Sony Pictures – All the Money in the World – opens with $5.58m from 3 days opening and $12.71m from Christmas Day;
Took $1.4m internationally with $1.7m total.
Focus Features – Darkest Hour up 40.9% in its sixth weekend taking $5.48m and $18.12m
Paramount Pictures – Downsizing dropped 5.1% in its second weekend taking $4.7m and $17.16m total after opening with a very disappointing $4.95m.
After premiering at the Venice International Film Festival receiving positive reviews from critics in August would have expected a decent performance for Downsizing. But Matt Damon expanded on the sexual harassment in Hollywood comments he made ahead of the release of Suburbicon in October which then flopped.
Matt Damon and Ben Affleck must be very hard for Matt Damon to avoid questions about the sexual allegations as Harvey Weinstein was a major influence on both producing their Oscar-winning Good Will Hunting which opened 20 years ago last month. It’s a lose/lose if they talk about it or try to avoid talking about it.
Will Matt Damon cameo in Ocean’s 8 also hurt its box office; similar to Johnny Depp being cast in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald many have said they should be recast in those roles.
Paramount Pictures ended the year taking only $534.3m the seventh biggest distributor with their lowest ever box office almost $100m lower than their previous ever low. It’s incredible to think that only seven years ago Paramount was the #1 studio in the US and they took almost $2bn that was when they released Marvel Cinematic Universe, Dreamworks Pictures and Dreamworks Animation.
Poor management decisions saw them turn down the opportunity to buy Marvel before Disney acquired it while lost Dreamworks Pictures not giving Steven Spielberg the respect deserved.
Fox Searchlight – The Shape of Water up 17.6% taking $3.53m from 756 screens and $15.67m total just out of the top 10. The film has expanded slowly over the last five weeks of its release after received very positive reviews and will continue to expand over the coming weeks.
The problem is the marketplace is very crowded with award contenders with All the Money in the World and Darkest Hour in the top 10 and Molly’s Game, Lady Bird, The Disaster Artist, Call Me by Your Name, I, Tonya, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and The Post all hovering just out of the top 10. As with the cannibalization, last September cinemagoers don’t rush out to see these films as they do for The Last Jedi or Pitch Perfect 3 so need much more careful handling.
On limited release
STX – Molly Game – opened with $2.34m from 3 days and $5.22m from Christmas Day from only 271 screens; will expand over the next few weeks after opening #13 should climb up the charts as the family Christmas movies drop down.
Focus Features – Phantom Thread – opens with $216,495 from 3 days and $527,840 from Christmas Day from 4 screens; an unspectacular launch for Paul Thomas Anderson’s which was overshadowed by it being Daniel Day Lewis final acting role.
Always surprising studios are willing to finance Paul Thomas Anderson films as while they receive critical acclaim only 2007’s There Will Be Blood performed strongly at the box office. His last two Inherent Vice and The Master both disappointed.
Neon – I, Tonya up 60.1% taking $610,568 from 49 screens in its fourth weekend and $2.35m;
Academy screeners started leaking last week and I, Tonya was one of the first to do so much more will be released over the next few weeks but have said they won’t release Star Wars: The Last Jedi. So, Pirates are happy to leak the films that need all the cinemagoers they can get but get sentiment about cinema with The Last Jedi.
Opening UK
Opened January 5th
- All the Money in the World – Sony Pictures
Crime thriller starring Michelle Williams, Christopher Plummer, Mark Wahlberg, Romain Duris, Andrew Buchan, and Timothy Hutton and directed by directed by Ridley Scott. After several sexual harassment allegations made against Kevin Spacey Sony Pictures and Ridley Scott made the shock announcement they would reshoot the scenes he appeared in with Christopher Plummer who was Ridley Scott’s first choice to play Getty.
Sony Pictures screened the film to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and was no surprise it received three nominations: Best Director, Best Actress Drama for Williams and Best Supporting Actor for Plummer; has received positive reviews praising the performances especially Michelle Williams.
Despite the media coverage the film has received it will be a much harder sell to UK audiences than the US as the John Paul Getty III kidnapping is not as well-known and will probably open close to last year’s Manchester by the Sea and Silence between £0.69- £1.4m.
- Hostiles – Entertainment Film Distributors
Western starring Christian Bale, Rosamund Pike, Wes Studi, Jesse Plemons, Adam Beach, Rory Cochrane and Ben Foster and written and directed by Scott Cooper; had the world premiere at the Telluride and Toronto Film Festivals in September receiving positive reviews with many praising Christian Bale’s performance.
While receiving positive reviews still going to be a very hard sell to find an audience in the UK.
- Molly’s Game – eOne (opened January 1st)
Crime drama film starring Jessica Chastain, Idris Elba, Kevin Costner, Michael Cera, Brian d’Arcy James, Chris O’Dowd, Graham Greene and Jeremy Strong and written and directed by Aaron Sorkin based on memoir Molly’s Game: From Hollywood’s Elite to Wall Street’s Billionaire Boys Club, My High-Stakes Adventure in the World of Underground Poker by Molly Bloom.
Premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival receiving positive reviews with an 87% Rotten Tomatoes score praising Jessica Chastain’s performance and Aaron Sorkin’s script and received two Golden Globe nominations for Best Screenplay and Best Actress Drama for Chastain.
25 years after writing screenplay for Oscar-winning A Few Good Men went on to write 1995’s The American President was the inspiration to The West Wing which ran from 1999 to 2006 also created underrated TV series Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and The Newsroom and screenplays to Charlie Wilson’s War, The Social Network, Moneyball and Steve Jobs.
Opening in US
- Insidious: The Last Key – Universal Pictures
Fourth part of the Insidious franchise supernatural horror starring Lin Shaye, Angus Sampson, Leigh Whannell, Josh Stewart, and Caitlin Gerard and directed by Adam Robitel.
Insidious opened April 2011 with $13.27m taking $54m
Insidious Chapter 2 opened September 2013 with $40.27m taking $83.58m
Insidious Chapter 3 opened June 2015 with $22.69m taking $52.21m
A few weeks ago, would not be a chance for Insidious: The Last Key replacing Star Wars The Last Jedi from #1 in its fourth weekend but as it is likely to drop over 50% and Insidious: The Last Key could open upwards of $25m it could open #1; more likely Jumanji: Welcome to The Jungle will climb #1 with Insidious: The Last Key opening in third will be very front-loaded.