Top 5 Breakdown

1. Black Panther – £6,859,230 – £29,540,019

Down 61.25% in its second weekend including previews but with down only 35% after 13 days on release.
Black Panther took £22.81m in 10 days in the UK close to £22.56m Captain America Civil War in 7 days showing extended 6-day weekends share the box office over more days but doesn’t increase its overall box office. Last year Beauty and the Beast opened with £19.7m in 3 days and £27.55m in 7 days; Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 opened with £13.09m in three days and £21.32m in 7 days.
As Black Panther had three extra days of previews its hard to compare to other Marvel Cinematic Universe films apart from Thor: Ragnarok £20,789,487 and Doctor Strange 15,730,195. But neither film had the huge non-comic-book media coverage Black Panther has received its been much more than just a comic-book movie and is attracting a much wide audience that wouldn’t normally see comic-book movies. This was close to Star Wars: The Force Awakens attracted non-Star Wars fans while Rogue One and The Last Jedi were much more fan focussed why their box office was much lower.
After 13 days on release, Black Panther is the biggest non-Avengers film, Avengers: Age of Ultron had taken £32,297,331 (including £3.59m from previews) The Avengers £29,851,680 (including £2.55m from previews) while Black Panther took £29,540,019 (including £7.19m from previews).

Removing previews Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 £27,419,501 and Captain America: Civil War £27,372,922 held far strong both didn’t have previews and were from 10 days on release. Showing while Black Panther has performed phenomenally in the US it is performing close to recent Marvel Cinematic Universe films in the UK.
But Black Panther did have the biggest non-Avengers second weekend in the UK despite having played for 3 days longer so will likely be the biggest non-Avengers film in the UK overtaking last years Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 £40.8m.
Black Panther is likely to hold #1 against Red Sparrow this weekend taking £4m+ and probably the following weekend too but will Rabbit will defeat Panther in three weeks’ time when Peter Rabbit opens by which time it will have taken £40m+.
In the US Black Panther is expected to be defeated by A Wrinkle in Time which Disney is releasing surprisingly two weeks after the UK despite Black Panther opening a week ahead of the US. After receiving a mixed reception from its US premiere those two weeks are likely to damage its prospects at the UK box office it was always going to be a hard sell, but the two weeks delay just makes it harder. While Disney has had huge success from their franchise their original films have disappointed at the box office The Lone Ranger, John Carter and Tomorrowland.

2. The Greatest Showman – £2,000,922 – £33,563,952

Up 3.82% in its ninth weekend; weekend screenings had singalong screenings over the weekend; last week overtook La La Land £30.4m and Spider-Man: Homecoming, Thor: Ragnarok and It and will shortly overtake Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.
The Greatest Showman is now holding stronger than Titanic while it will take £25m+ more and of course be 20 years old having three times more admissions for The Greatest Showman but to of taken more than Titanic in its ninth weekend £2,000,922 Vs £1,953,082 in an incredible achievement.
Titanic had huge media coverage and teens swooned over Leonardo DiCaprio watching the film multiple times while there has probably been far less swooning over Hugh Jackman they have been seeing it probably the same amount of times. Have been reports from many who have seen it half a dozen times or more must be more than twenty years since I paid to see films multiple times when I was at 20^th Century Fox I screened and attended over 100 screenings of Moulin Rouge in 2001 got to a point when I knew the script almost word for word.

If The Greatest Showman takes over £40m will of taken 16.3 times its opening compared to 14.26 times opening for Titanic and its opening (not including previews) will be only 6.13% compared with 7.01% for Titanic. Compare this to current box office #1 Black Panther which will have taken 4.63 times opening and 21.6% opening (not including previews).
20 years ago, films would play for more than three times the number of weeks current films play for, so their openings were much smaller The Full Monty opened with £1.6m in August 1997 went on to take £51,992,765 opening with only 3.08% of final box office and taking 32.5x it’s opening. Four Weddings and a Funeral opened with £1.4m in May 1994 with only 5% of its final box office of £28m. While Jurassic Park opened with £4.9m in July 1993 and ran for almost a whole year in cinemas taking £46m compared Jurassic World opened with £19,350,727 in June 2015 taking £63,674,773 after 10 weeks.
The Greatest Showman had the best ninth weekend box office since Avatar (£2,817,009) and bigger than many other films many of which were far bigger box office earners including; Titanic £1,953,082, Mamma Mia! £1,059,102, Paddington 2 £1,034,372, Paddington £748,628, Chicago £618,675, Skyfall £554,958, Star Wars: The Force Awakens £442,768, Billy Elliot £356,434, Moulin Rouge £318,880, Les Miserables £293,893, Spectre £212,123, Jurassic World £178,441, The Avengers: Age of Ultron £78,050, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story £69,089, Arthur Christmas £60,860, Star Wars: The Last Jedi £57,866 and in 7 weeks’ time will of taken more than Black Panther’s ninth weekend which would be likely about £50,000.
The Greatest Showman has become the 8th biggest film of 2017 and 20th Century Fox’s biggest film of 2017 and their biggest film since 2016’s Deadpool and currently their 12th biggest film in the UK and will likely become their fifth biggest film ever and probably be their biggest film of the year taking over £40m overtaking Les Miserable.
While the headlines were being made with Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Jumanji Welcome to the Jungle both having much higher profiles The Greatest Showman has connected to its fans over the nine weeks that followed in a way a film hasn’t done since probably Titanic 20 years ago. The fans have been a major part of its success as they have created their own versions of the songs using social media and YouTube they took over the films marketing campaign from 20th Century Fox and became the film’s marketing.

The film’s soundtrack has been streamed almost 1 billion times with the theme song This is Me streamed over 160m times worldwide. After the film opened fourth in the US December 22^nd with $8.8m few would have imagined it would become the phenomenon it has become over the weeks since.

The success of The Greatest Showman was a surprise to everyone compared to last years La La Land which was delayed from a planned July release and then premiered at Venice Film Festival in August generating strong buzz and rave reviews up to its release in December. But the success of La La Land helped The Greatest Showman to get made and got audiences excited about musicals again as success often breeds success.

Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again! Opening in July ten years after the original film was a sleeper box office hit taking £68,116,092 which would be the equivalent of £100m today. In October the long in development A Star is Born opens starring Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper who also directs Beyoncé was originally due to star with Clint Eastwood directing.

At Christmas two different kinds of music epics, Mary Poppins Returns opening over 40 years after the original and the long in development Queen Biopic Bohemian Rhapsody rumoured to look and sound stunning despite Dexter Fletcher having to replace Bryan Singer as the director includes the recreation of Queen’s Wembley performance at Live Aid in 1985.

3. Fifty Shades Freed – £1,190,524 – £16,195,582

Down 56.3% in its third weekend; after 17 days on release Fifty Shades Darker took £1,499,678 and £20,310,579 – 89.5% of £22,694,878 total; Fifty Shades of Grey took £2,248,492 and £30,314,012 – 87.5% of £34,662,255 total if Fifty Shades Freed holds similarly will take £19m+.
Fifty Shades Freed has become the 10^th biggest 18 films in the UK but as I’ve said before these films can only be compared with the other two Fifty Shades films and Twilight films. The audience for the other biggest 18 films are 18 because they are adult films the Fifty Shades films were always young adult films dressed up to be adult films and I’m sure the studio requested the films to get 18s as they needed to be 18s to make them what they are but were given 12 certificates in France.

Would see the three films taking £76m at UK box office which compares to £132m for the five Twilight films the books were based on showing how that two-year gap between Fifty Shades of Grey and Fifty Shades Darker had a huge impact on the sequels box office. Had opened over three years as Twilight and Hunger Games films had would have held their box office better seen by the totals for Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed being similar.

4. Lady Bird – £937,160 – £1,233,508

After opening 10 screens last weekend taking £184,254 expanded into 180 screens up 408.6% adding 180 screens.
Despite opening last week on ten screens Universal Pictures have added £184,254 taken last week and added it to its opening weekend which is complete nonsense and I have done. Lady Bird opened on limited release last week in 10 cinemas and should be counted that way. It makes no sense for Universal to do this as the only film it has overtaken adding last weeks box office is Fifty Shades Freed.
Ever since Lady Bird received its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival in September has received rave reviews with 99% Rotten Tomatoes score. Was chosen by the National Board of Review, the American Film Institute, and Time as one of the top 10 films of the year and received five Oscar nominations including Best Picture, Best Actress for Ronan, Best Supporting Actress for Metcalf, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Director.
After the rave reviews and Oscar nominations was watching and waiting throughout Lady Bird to see why critics had raved about the film but while performances are strong was left as was with Get Out surprised had received award recognition as have been many far better and more deserving films. Probably both films were helped by outside events Harvey Weinstein sexual harassment scandal and Donald Trump becoming president and the 2015 Oscars So White campaign.
Greta Gerwig becoming only the fifth woman to be nominated as Best Director, the first since Greta Gerwig Kathryn Bigelow for 2009 film The Hurt Locker the other three Lina Wertmüller (Seven Beauties), Jane Campion The Piano), Sofia Coppola (Lost in Translation). Many believed before the Oscar nominations were announced Patty Jenkins would have been the woman who would have received Best Director nomination for the much more deserving Wonder Woman.

Another recent coming of age films 2015’s The Diary of a Teenage Girl and Mistress America, 2014’s Girlhood and 2016’s The Edge of Seventeen felt more original.
Lady Bird felt more like the dozen films Greta Gerwig said inspired her to make the film including include 1973’s American Graffiti, 1976’s Carrie, 1990’s Flirting, 1986’s Pretty in Pink (her parents living on the wrong side of the tracks as Andie was in Pretty in Pink), 1989’s Say Anything and 1996’s Secrets & Lies.

Do find incredible that Greta Gerwig has been nominated for an Oscar for making a film inspired by many classic teen films made by John Hughes and Cameron Crowe but neither of them was ever nominated for their teen films which makes me feel Lady Bird feels like this year’s La La Land a film that has received much praise from critics and cinemagoers seek out as it is the film they need to see.
While Lady Bird has a 99% Rotten Tomatoes score from critics it has 81% score from audiences showing that audience reaction isn’t as positive while the film has played strongly on limited release it didn’t play as well when it went wide in the US and over 17 weeks is slowly moving towards $50m.

Lady Bird has more in common with 2007’s Juno which was also a huge hit on the festival circuit after premiering at the Toronto Film Festival receiving critical acclaim and four Oscar nominations winning Best Original Screenplay; opened in February 2007 with £2,002,120 taking £9,240,584 but in the years since has been overrated which I’m sure Lady Bird will be seen in years to come.

5. I, Tonya – £1,049,551 – NE
With the addition of £214,414 from previews opened in fifth but if preview box office wasn’t including Brit comedy Finding Your Feet would have opened in fifth taking £923,220 both being released by eOne.
While distributor needed to open I, Tonya by last weekend opening between BAFTA awards and Oscar ceremony this weekend. They must have had much more flexibility with British comedy Finding Your Feet but by opening them same weekend become a direct competition with themselves along with the other Oscar nominees already on release.
As eOne already had expected award contenders Molly’s Game and Steven Spielberg’s The Post (has overtaken Bridge of Spies and Lincoln to be his biggest adult drama in the UK since Warhorse in 2012).
Many critics as I did compare I, Tonya with the 1995 Gus Van Sant film To Die For which was a fantastic black comedy about one woman who would do anything to be on TV. To Die For took a disappointing £1,645,594 in the UK.

Nicole Kidman won Best Actress Golden Globe for To Die For as Margot Robbie was similarly nominated for Best Actress for the Golden Globes, BAFTAs and Oscars but Saoirse Ronan will likely win for overrated Lady Bird, but the film won’t go home empty-handed as Allison Janney is expected to win Best Supporting Actress.
Since her breakthrough role in The Wolf of Wall Street Margot Robbie has starred in many films including Focus, The Big Short, Suicide Squad and Goodbye Christopher Robin (opened last September with £0.78m taking £2.72m) next voices Flopsy in Peter Rabbit out next month and Mary Queen of Scots (starring with Saoirse Ronan) released in September. She starts work on Quentin Tarantino’s Project #9 dated for release August 9th, 2019 by Sony Pictures which has generated controversy recently after Tarantino’s comments about Roman Polanski and wanting him to star in the film.
Also released

eOne – Finding Your Feet opened with £923,220 from 500 screens
Over the last few weeks the film has received positive reviews and strong media coverage being a British film opening same weekend as The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel opened February 26th, 2011 with £2,222,051 up 6.2% in its second weekend (£2,359,383) taking £18,994,423 and The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel opened February 26th, 2015 with £3,771,852 down 36% in its second weekend (£1,957,256) taking £15,555,179.
Other films targeting grey pound include Calendar Girls opened September 14th, 2003 with £1,762,505 up 5.3% in its second weekend (£1,855,986) taking £20,174,133; The Lady in the Van opened 13th November 2015 £2,256,121 down 29% in its second weekend (£1,609,943) taking £13,161,728; Waking Ned opened 21st March 1999 £911,901 down 18.1% in its second weekend (£746,476) taking £6,665,029.
Its opening was close to Shall We Dance opened February 20th, 2005 £1,080,140 taking £3,776,565 which was the US remake of the 1996 Japanese film.
Finding Your Feet did open bigger than some recent films targeting older audiences like Hampstead openly managed to open with £0.45m taking £1.59m and Churchill, My Cousin Rachel, The Beguiled, Rules Don’t Apply, Wilson, Miss Sloane, The Zookeeper’s Wife, The Sense of Ending.
Normally these films targeting the grey pound perform stronger in the week than the weekend but in a crowded marketplace with the Oscar contenders Three Billboards, Darkest Hour, The Shape of Water, I, Tonya will find it hard to hold screens for long especially as it opened so wide.
UK box office in detail
This weekend’s top 10 box office took £15,741,381 down 45.9% from last weekend £29,122,391
The weekend admissions 2,101,653 down 45.9% from last weekend 3,888,170; despite 3% inflation in the UK in 2017 UK Cinema Association/BFI are claiming average ticket prices in 2017 was up only 1% to £7.49; in the US inflation for 2017 was only 2% but their average price increased by 3.6%.
14 films opened at weekend taking £2,471,349; I, Tonya took 42.4% (£1,049,551); Finding Your Feet took 37.3% (£923,220); remaining 12 films shared 20.1% (£498,578): Black Panther took 43.5% of the top 10 box office.
The weekend was down 6.2% from last year (£16,799,621): Patriots Day £843,380, A Cure for Wellness £409,540,
Up 66.7% from 2016: (£9,440,280): Grimsby £1,928,789, The Forest £448,258, Secret In Their Eyes £117,094,
Next weekend in 2017: (£16,157,614) Logan £9,443,363, Viceroy’s House £921,309, Fist Fight £400,112,

UK Box Office Top 10

US Box Office Top 10

US Box office

• Disney – Black Panther

Down 48% in its second weekend to $111.65m and $403.61m total; currently ahead of all Marvel Cinematic Universe films after two weeks
Having the second biggest second weekend in the US behind $149.2m Captain America: The First Avenger; holding close to Jurassic World which took $106.58m and $402.8m.

While much has been written about the success of Black Panther being a surprise the surprise is more than the industry believes it was a surprise as Disney knew exactly what they were doing with Black Panther and it is probably performing as many expected. As Black Panther as always going to perform strongly to comic-book fans with an opening close to Captain America: Civil War (which the film was he made his debut in) the bigger question was always how it would play to non-comic-book fans as Wonder Woman also played strongly to women.
23% of the US population is non-white and the film ahead of release had massive awareness with very high levels of want to see as it was the comic-book film many had been waiting their whole lives to see. There is always an issue with tracking for films targeting non-white audiences so why tracking was so poor for its opening weekend and its second weekend as studios have no films to compare it to, why second weekend estimates were so all over the place early last week many were predicting $100m+ which was always likely but then that dropped the too high 80s towards the end of the week and then grew to high 90s and over 100 on Saturday. Why Sundays estimates were $3m less than Monday finals likewise opening weekend estimates were $10m less than finals as there was no benchmark to compare the film against as the film wasn’t just a comic-book movie or a solo MCU and should be compared as such.
My issue with Black Panther and the coverage has received is more than a film and that it brings change in Hollywood is that other studios took the bigger steps in the previous years and Marvel like Disney who used to be innovators now build on their rival’s success. As to why didn’t Marvel make Black Panther as they originally planned as part of their first 10 film slate as announced in 2005 close to why will it not be until 2020 before we see a Black Widow spin-off movie despite making her debut in Iron Man 2 in 2010.
Much has been made about Ryan Coogler directing Black Panther but would he have ever been considered to direct the film had it not been for the critical and box office success of Creed in 2015. As Ava DuVernay was attached to direct Black Panther but left in 2015 after developing the film for some time which was close to Edgar Wright with Ant-Man but due to “creative differences” she left the film and Ryan Coogler was signed up in early 2016 several months after Creed was a success.
Ava DuVernay moved on to adapt A Wrinkle in Time for Disney which will open in two weeks which many believe will be the film that will replace Black Panther as #1. A Wrinkle in Time was tracking to open with $30m+ a few weeks ago but after being trailered before Black Panther was expected to open with more than double. The embargo for the film is surprisingly only one day before opening as Valerian, The Mummy, and King Arthur compared to 10 days for Black Panther and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 as the film is based on 1962 novel by Madeleine L’Engle it can’t be for spoilers. While much has been made about the film being the first $100m+ budget film directed by an African American director and its strong racial cast the trailers have had a mixed reaction.
The film received its world premiere on Monday and reaction was average at best and as this was the premiere regular critical reaction will likely be much worse. Many described the novel unfilmable as were Life of Pi, Where the Wild Things Are, Lord of the Rings but became great films but much more like Cloud Atlas, Dune and Breakfast of Champions weren’t while many others never get past the development stage.
Disney used to be innovators making unique original films but rarely do now with their recent original films John Carter, Tomorrowland and now A Wrinkle In Time. It’s no surprise they want to buy 20^th Century Fox who has had much success in recent years making the types of films Disney used to make before they moved into the properties making a business buying success with purchasing Pixar, Marvel and Lucasfilm.
For white male directors, the jump from independent films to megamovies is a regular occurrence; Michael Lehmann directed two quirky films Heathers and Meet the Applegate’s Sony signed him to direct Hudson Hawk. Colin Trevorrow went from directing Safety Not Guaranteed to Jurassic World but then made The Book of Henry and was dropped from directing Star Wars IX. Josh Trank-directed Chronicle and then directed 2015’s Fantastic Four was signed up to direct a Star Wars film afterwards but after Fantastic Four flopped he was fired. Gareth Edwards went from 2010’s Monsters to directing 2014’s Godzilla and 2016’s Star Wars: Rogue One. Marc Webb went from 2009’s 500 Days of Summer to 2012’s The Amazing Spider-Man. Jordan Vogt-Roberts from 2013’s Kings of Summer to Kong: Skull Island, Sam Taylor-Johnson from 2009’s Nowhere Boy to 2015’s Fifty Shades of Grey and Jon Watts directed Spider-Man: Homecoming previously directing Cop Car with an $800,000 budget. Nikolaj Arcel went from low budget Danish films previously including the critically acclaimed A Royal Affair to last years The Dark Tower.
But when a woman does similarly as Patty Jenkins having only made a low budget film before Wonder Woman she was criticised. Since Wonder Woman’s success Disney have signed Niki Caro to direct their live-action reimagination of Mulan, Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck will direct Captain Marvel and Jennifer Lee will direct Frozen 2.
Took $83.8m and $304m internationally and $704 worldwide currently #101 biggest fil globally already the tenth biggest Marvel Cinematic Universe film (overtaking Thor: The Dark World, Iron Man 2, Iron Man, Ant-Man, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger and The Incredible Hulk) will likely become the biggest non-Avengers film globally taking $1.2bn+.

• Warner Bros – Game Night

Opens with $17m; received positive reviews and B+ CinemaScore
Date Night opened with $25.2m in April 2010 taking $98.71m and Horrible Bosses opened July 2011 with $28.3m taking $117.53m.
Since New Line Cinema became a production company for Warner Bros in 2009 they have made 5-6 films a year mainly horror (The Conjuring franchise and last year It) and low budget comedies Horrible Bosses, We’re the Millers, Vacation, How to be Single, Keanu, Fist Fight, The House and then upcoming Life of the Party, Tag and Isn’t It Romantic having mixed success with them. Comedies used to be a mainstay of studio slates but have become a rarity in recent years as few successful in recent years apart from films like Central Intelligence and Bad Moms.
It took $5.2m from 22 territories expanding this weekend, comedies haven’t performed that strongly internationally recently.

• Sony Pictures – Peter Rabbit

Down 27.3% in its third weekend taking $12.76m and $71.5m total
Peter Rabbit is ahead of last years, The Emoji Movie which took $6.45m in its third weekend and $63.43m and Goosebumps taking $9.86m and $56.76m; The Angry Birds Movie took $10.2m and $87.1m going on taking $107.5m;
Peter Rabbit has opened in a few international territories but opens in key ones in two weeks’ time ahead of Easter.

• Paramount Pictures – Annihilation

Opens with $11.07m after receiving very positive reviews 87% Rotten Tomatoes score only received C CinemaScore.
Alex Garland’s directorial debut 2015’s Ex Machina opened on limited release for two weeks before going wide taking $5.34m and $25.44m total.
Last year after poor test screening being described as “too intellectual” and “too complicated” Skydance Productions demanded changes to the film including the ending and Natalie Portman’s character, but Alex Garland refused as did Scott Rudin who had final cut.
A few days later Paramount announced they had sold international rights except for China to Netflix who would release it 17 days after its US opening close to the deal done for Shaft remake due to be released by Warner Bros next year).
Over the last few weeks buzz for the film was very positive and reviews last week were calling it the best sci-fi film since Arrival. Alex Garland said in an interview “I don’t believe in it, as a bit of phrasing, nor do I actually think the film is very intellectual. I think it’s quite intuitive. There’s a requirement to have an open mind, I think, but that is not intellectual.” “Annihilation is not more intellectual, say, than a bit of music that you can subjectively respond to and think that’s a beautiful bit of music or an ugly bit of music . . . I think the use of that word is sort of lazy . . . what it really means is the person watching it the person making that statement felt confused. But that’s a different thing. “And it’s also something that I think belongs to a kind of contempt for moviegoers. I make (movies) as thoughtful as I can.”
Alex Garland directorial debut was 2014’s Ex Machina previously writing screenplays for 28 Days Later, Sunshine, Never Let Me Go and Dredd, and wrote The Beach novel which Danny Boyle directed the 2000 film and Alex Garland says are plans for a reboot.

• Universal Pictures – Fifty Shades Freed

Down 58.7% in its third weekend taking $7.14m and $89.79m total
After three weeks
Fifty Shades of Grey took $10.55m and $147.39m (39.2% more) total $166.16m
Fifty Shades Darker took $7.79m and $103.72m (13.7% more) total $114.58m
After three weeks Fifty Shades of Grey took 88.7% of final box office and Fifty Shades Darker 90.5% if Fifty Shades Freed holds similar will just squeeze past $100m.
Fifty Shades Freed took $230.8m internationally and $320.4m worldwide; Fifty Shades of Grey took $572m globally and Fifty Shades Darker took $381.1m globally; the trilogy will take over $1.3bn worldwide 44% from Fifty Shades of Grey showing how the two year gap had major impact on the performance of the sequels that and the sequels were terrible films.
As four is the new three will we see a film version of E.L James fourth book Darker in the years to come but as Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson can’t stand each other probably be dependent on how both of their careers post-Fifty Shades will be. As 26 years after Basic Instinct was released Sharon Stone is still connected to the film and that famous scene. Will, of course, be easier for Jamie Dornan instead of Dakota Johnson to do so even though she has starred in many more films between the films including How to Be Single and Black Mass and stars in Bad Times at the El Royale opening later this year.

• Sony Pictures – Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle

Down 28.8% in its tenth weekend taking $5.65m and $387.28m;
Within the next 10 days, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle will become Sony Pictures biggest film overtaking 2002’s Spider-Man $403.7m.
It is the 31^st biggest film in the US overtaking Finding Nemo, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 and will shortly overtake Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Frozen, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and Jurassic Park.
Jumanji took $533.7m internationally and $921.3m worldwide; Jumanji is now the #45 biggest film globally having overtaken Shrek 2 and will shortly overtake The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers depending on how well it does in Japan in April it could overtake Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Finding Nemo

• 20th Century Fox – The Greatest Showman

Dropped 32.2% in its tenth weekend taking $3.41m and $160.77m;
It is now the fourth biggest musical film in the US and the biggest original musical in the US and could overtake Chicago by the end of next weekend taking a final box office of $175m+.
It is #298 biggest film in the US overtaking The Sound of Music, Fatal Attraction, X-Men and Die Another Day and will overtake over the next week Straight Outta Compton, The Pursuit of Happyness; it is 20^th Century Fox’s 42^nd biggest film in the US and will likely overtake Gon Girl, Hidden Figures and even The Boss Baby over the next few weeks. Do wonder how many of their films will do better than The Greatest Showman over the next 18 months before it becomes incorporated into Disney.
The Greatest Showman took 50% more in its tenth weekend than La La Land in its tenth week on wide release (14^th overall) taking 8% more $148.44m Vs $160.96m; This Is Me is expected to win Best Song at the Oscars next weekend.
When the film opened with $8.8m 10 weeks ago few would have thought it would have taken much more than $60m but taking almost three times that amount how it has impacted audience who have seen it multiple times. As with Mamma Mia! it is very much an audience film that people
Its holding stronger than last year’s La La Land which had 92% Rotten Tomatoes compared to only 55% for The Greatest Showman and only has been nominated for Best Original Song; after 9 weeks of La La Land going wide it took $4.59m and $133.59m; 88.4% of final box office of $151m if The Greatest Showman held similarly would take over $175m overtaking Chicago to become the third biggest musical behind Beauty and the Beast and Grease.
The Greatest Showman took $7.7m over the weekend and $200.5m internationally taking over $361.3m worldwide. (holding strong in Australia and Japan) Has become the 315^th biggest film ever overtaking Murder on the Orient Express and has become 20^th Century Fox’s 60^th biggest film globally.

Oscar nominees dropped

• 20^th Century Fox – The Post – down 255 screens – down 37.6% – $78.88m
• Fox Searchlight – The Shape of Water down 236 screens – down 28.9% – $55.36m
• Fox Searchlight – Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri down 89 screens – down 17.6% – $50.15m
• Neon – I. Tonya down 79 screens – down 35.8% – $28.09m
• Focus Features – Darkest Hours – up 193 screens – down 19.6% – $54.46m
• Focus Features – Phantom Thread – up 296 screens – up 20.4% – $19.01m
• A24 – Lady Bird – up 194 screens – up 7.4% -$47.3m
• Sony Pictures Classics – Call Me By Your Name – up 343 screens – up 3% – $15.76m

Opening UK
UK Box Office Predictions
Black Panther to hold top for a third weekend down about 40% taking £4m+ will be up ro £36m+ which will see it become the sixth biggest MCU film in the UK behind Avengers Assemble, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2, Iron Man 3 and Captain America: Civil War.
Red Sparrow should be opening with £2.5m+ over its four-day opening after receiving positive reviews and strong media coverage thanks to Jennifer Lawrence and her strong fanbase along with thrillers very popular at the box office. Playing more to Salt audience rather than female lead action films Lucy and Atomic Blonde as its more Tinker Tailor Sexy Spy than female John Wick.
Game Night should have a decent opening after receiving positive reviews and a comedy targeting younger audiences it should open with £1m+.
As last weekend this weekend is likely to be again down from last year when Logan £9,443,363, Viceroy’s House £921,309 and Fist Fight £400,112 opened and the top 10 took £16,157,614.
Next weekend with no major releases is also likely to be down from last year as is the following weekend despite Tomb Raider and Peter Rabbit opening neither will come close to last years Beauty and the Beast.

Last February had strong performances from Sing, The Lego Batman Movie, Trainspotting 2 and Fifty Shades Darker all taking £15m+ Black Panther, Coco and Fifty Shades Freed will be the only £15m+ earner since Darkest Hour.

Opening March 1^st
Opening UK

• Red Sparrow – 20^th Century Fox

Spy thriller starring Jennifer Lawrence, Joel Edgerton, Matthias Schoenaerts, Charlotte Rampling, Mary-Louise Parker and Jeremy Irons and directed by Francis Lawrence (reteaming with Jennifer Lawrence after directing several Hunger Games films) based on the 2013 novel by Jason Matthews. The film stars an ensemble cast made up of and Jeremy Irons; premiered at Newseum in Washington, DC on February 15 with European premiere in London on February 19^th has received mixed reviews from critics.
As with Steven Spielberg’s The Post feeling like it was based on modern news rather than 40 years ago, Red Sparrow feels very real after the recent federal grand jury issued indictments against 13 Russian nationals for inferring in US election Red Sparrow
Were reports last year Hollywood studios changed the countries of certain films not to include Russia in fear of being hacked as Sony Pictures were in 2014 reportedly by North Korea after they made The Interview.
Whenever a new Jennifer Lawrence film opens generates huge media coverage some of it is due to her being much more forthright with her views about things than others might be and the media tour for Red Sparrow has been vocal about many subjects. The ‘outrage’ over her wearing a dress at the photocall last week while the men were wrapped up from the cold to consenting to the nudity in Red Sparrow ’empowered her after phone hacking’ after a hacker stole her private photos and released them on the internet in 2014.
While also being honest about turning off Phantom Thread after three minutes while I’m sure many Academy members have probably voted for many films they haven’t seen and the outrage she had hearing about Harvey Weinstein (wanting to kill him when she heard of the sexual misconduct claims) saying “The way he destroyed so many women’s lives, I want to see him in jail,” Lawrence worked with Harvey Weinstein on her Oscar-winning film Silver Linings Playbook and was “never inappropriate” with her
After the recent scripted joke during the BAFTA awards two weeks ago Joanna Lumley which generated much reaction on social media. This was after Joanna Lumley her as “the hottest actress on the planet” and “ravishing” and Jennifer reacted by saying “that was a bit much” (if it wasn’t a joke it would have been a strange introduction by Joanna Lumley to Jennifer Lawrence with the current #MeToo campaign to call her out for being ravishing rather than the Oscar-winning actress she is). She has announced she won’t be making any more jokes she said “”I have a horrible, awful sense of humour that I’m just gonna cut it out”. But she has always had a great sense of humour
This makes her feel much more genuine and normal to her fans doing and saying things that many might not otherwise say or do as people forget that she’s only in her mid-20s.
Jennifer Lawrence was at the London photocall last Tuesday with her male co-stars and the director in the freezing cold wearing a plunging dress while the men were wearing jumpers and coats.

The picture went viral on social media summing up too many what it is like to be a woman in Hollywood, but she reacted angrily on Facebook saying “Wow. I don’t really know where to get started on this “Jennifer Lawrence wearing a revealing dress in the cold” controversy. This is not only utterly ridiculous, I am extremely offended. That Versace dress was fabulous, you think I’m going to cover that gorgeous dress up with a coat and a scarf? I was outside for 5 minutes. I would have stood in the snow for that dress because I love fashion and that was my choice.
This is sexist, this is ridiculous, this is not feminism. Overreacting to everything someone says or does, creating controversy over silly innocuous things such as what I choose to wear or not wear, is not moving us forward. It’s creating silly distractions from real issues. Get a grip, people. Everything you see me wear is my choice. And if I want to be cold THAT’S MY CHOICE TOO!
Originally set for release November 10^th, 2017 but was delayed to March 2^nd, 2018 in April 2017 after Logan opened strongly the month earlier 9taking $616m worldwide). Allowed them to bring forward the release of Murder on the Orient Express by two weeks in its new date the film took over $350m worldwide. 20^th Century Fox gave already dated crime thriller The Force directed by James Mangold to open the same weekend next year.
Delaying Red Sparrow to March also allowed it to have distance with Jennifer Lawrence’s film mother! directed by Darren Aronofsky receiving critical acclaim after premiering at Venice Film Festival but flopped at the box office which was due to the confusing marketing rather than her performance which received much praise.
Jennifer Lawrence has starred in two successful franchises The Hunger Games and X-Men won an Oscar, nominated for three other films. In 2015 and 2016, she was named the highest-paid actress in the world and was on the cover of Vogue magazine’s 125th issue. In 2017 Emma Stone replaced her as the highest paid actress but that was because she won an Oscar for La La Land and starred in Battle of the Sexes while Jennifer Lawrence starred in Passengers and mother! but with Red Sparrow and X-Men: Dark Phoenix likely to return to this year.
Since starring in the final Hunger Games films in 2015 Jennifer Lawrence has starred in ensembles Joy and X-Men: Apocalypse and Passengers which despite mixed reviews still managed to take more than £10m at the UK box office. But Darren Aronofsky’s Mother flopped which she was playing against type more like her earlier roles while was a very polarized reaction to Mother was nothing wrong with her performance it was more the confusing marketing that alienated audiences.
Jennifer Lawrence breakthrough role was 2010’s Winter’s Bone which she received the first of her four Best Actress Oscar nominations followed it up with Sundance hit Like Crazy a year later which saw her cast in two franchises X-Men: First Class in 2011 and The Hunger Games in 2012 also starring in Silver Linings Playbook winning her Best Actress Oscar stumbling on the way to collect the award every actor’s nightmare but it made her fans war to her even more as she felt genuine after she gave an interview in Elle in 2012 by Hollywood standards she was considered as a fat actress.
Over the next couple of years Hunger Games Catching Fire, American Hustle, X-Men: Days of Future Past, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 and Part 2, Joy and X-Men: Apocalypse followed. With Passengers starring Chris Pratt her first film after Hunger Games despite poor reviews still opened with £2.41m in December 2016 taking over £10m. with X-Men: Dark Phoenix opening in November possibly her last X-Men film Red Sparrow should play far better to her fan-base more than mother! as it alienated Jennifer Lawrence’s fanbase Red Sparrow is just what they want a female spy, movie following in the footsteps of Angelina Jolie. If Red Sparrow is a hit then hopefully there will be more female lead spy movies that can hold their ground against Jason Bourne, Ethan Hunt and James Bond.
Jennifer Lawrence stars in X-Men: Dark Phoenix opening in November and then has nothing set afterwards was rumoured she would take a year off but just taking time to decide on her next project.
Have been few female leading action/spy films 2018 has Red Sparrow and Tomb Raider and 2019 already has Blake Lively in The Rhythm Section produced by Eon Productions and released by Paramount Pictures directed by Reed Morano previously directed episodes of The Handmaid’s Tale. Barbara Broccoli said in December 2017 that she’s up for a female James Bond to replace Daniel Craig after Bond 25 which is expected to be his final Bond film released in October 2019.
For many Red Sparrow feels like the Black Widow film many comic-book fans have been wanting since she appeared in Iron Man 2 in 2010. Have been recent rumours that Black Widow film might finally happen but its another example of Marvel following rather than leading the way as was the case also with a non-white male leading comic-book film Wonder Woman before Black Panther and Captain Marvel.
Atomic Blonde opened August 2017 with £1.69m taking £3.56m
Lucy opened August 2014 with £3.07m taking £14.5m
Salt opened August 2010 with £2.16m taking £6.73m
Wanted opened June 2008 with £3.81m taking £9.58m

• Game Night – Warner Bros

Comedy thriller starring Jason Bateman, Rachel McAdams, Kyle Chandler, Billy Magnussen, Sharon Horgan, Lamorne Morris, Kylie Bunbury, Jesse Plemons, Michael C. Hall, Danny Huston and Jeffrey Wright and directed by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein; has received positive reviews 89% Rotten Tomatoes.
Trailers look like Date Night meets Horrible Bosses; Date Night opened with £1,272,405in April 2010 taking £3,795,016 and Horrible Bosses opened July 2011 with $28.3m taking $117.53m but since then the bottom has fallen out with R-rated comedies except for Bad Moms.
Other comedies include We’re The Millers opened August 2013 with £1,508,326 taking £8,077,006
John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein last film was 2015’s Vacation the National Lampoon’s reboot underwhelmed at the box office opened with £608,748 taking £1,356,880; they also wrote the screenplay to last year’s Spider-Man: Homecoming
Opening in the US

• Red Sparrow – 20^th Century Fox

Jennifer Lawrence reteams up with Francis Lawrence who previously directed three of the Hunger Games films. Red Sparrow is based on the first part of The Red Sparrow Trilogy by Jason Matthews who was a former CIA operative
The Hunger Games were based on young adult novels, but Red Sparrow is very much an adult thriller so the teens who grew up watching The Hunger Games films seeing Jennifer Lawrence play a strong powerful teen now see her playing a strong powerful woman.
While Disney is going after a younger audience with their franchises rather than trying to compete directly 20^th Century Fox have been targeting the older adult demographic having had strong success in recent years with films including Logan, Deadpool and Gone Girl.
Atomic Blonde opened July 2017 with $18.28m taking $51.68m
Ghost in the Shell opened March 2017 with $18.67m taking $40.56m
Lucy opened July 2014 with $43.89m taking $126.66m
Hanna opened April 2011 with $12.37m taking $40.25m
Salt opened July 2010 with $36.01m taking $118.31m
Red Sparrow is expected to open with $15-20m it was tracking higher but dropped off against Black Panther but as the film has generated strong media coverage thanks mostly to Jennifer Lawrence and received positive reviews and with the current US/Russia news stories could open stronger.

• Death Wish – MGM

The action film starring Bruce Willis and directed by Eli Roth a remake of the 1974 film directed by Michael Winner and starring Charles Bronson; the original had a budget of $3m and took $22m at the box office which saw four Death Wish sequels ending with 1994’s Death Wish V: The Face of Death.
After the recent mass shooting at a High School in Parkland, Florida when seventeen people were killed its surprising MGM didn’t delay its release; it was originally due for release last November but in October was delayed until March; it was expected to open between $14m-$16m but likely to open with much less.