This weekend
Key release
- The BFG – eOne
Fantasy adventure starring Mark Rylance, Ruby Barnhill, Penelope Wilton, Jemaine Clement, Rebecca Hall, Rafe Spall and Bill Hader screenplay by Melissa Mathison based on Roald Dahl novel (her last before she died last year) and directed by Steven Spielberg.
The BFG is one truly big film for eOne and have pulled out all the stops for it similar to Studiocanal Paddington in 2014 (which opened with £5,112,367) with Paddington as Roald Dahl’s books have been children’s favourites for generations with many turned into films and theatre shows over last 40+ years. From Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory in 1971 to Esio Trot broadcast Christmas 2014 audiences have enjoyed his fantasy adventures while for adults was his twisted short stories Tales of the Unexpected turned into TV series in 70s/80s warping my fragile little mind when younger.
Eone has a line-up of licensees from apparel, toys, games, home, gift-wares, stationery and FMCG sold at wide range of retailers online and in-store. They also are teaming up with Save the Children, Visitlondon.com, The Roald Dahl Literary Estate, Bensons for Beds, Pizza Hut and Parcelforce.
Recent film adaptions:
| Matlida | 19th Jan 1997 | £6,003,450 | 36.5% | £16.4m |
| James and the Giant Peach | 18th Aug 1996 | £2,340,204 | n/a | n/a |
| Charlie and the Chocolate Factory | 31st July 2005 | £7,972,168 | 21.2% | £37.2m |
| Fantastic Mr Fox | 23rd Oct 2009 | £1,517,312 | 17.3% | £8.7m |
Received its world premiere at Cannes Film Festival receiving positive reviews where Roald Dahl’s anti-Semitism cast a shadow over the press conference Spielberg said he wasn’t aware of any of Roald Dahl’s personal stories. In a 1983 interview for the New Statesman he self-identified as anti-Semitic saying in interview for the Independent “I am certainly anti-Israel, and I have become anti-Semitic.”
First teaser was released in December 2015, second in April and third in May all well received on social media being compared to Harry Potter in tone; received its US premiere in LA on June 22nd’and London premiere 17th July eOne built BFG’s Giant Land in Leicester Square for members of the public to explore on the day of the premiere attracted more than 7,000 people and 2,500 enjoyed the experience on Sunday as part of the UK premiere
eOne will be the first company to make commercial use of Google’s Nearby Notifications placing 50 six-foot dream jars around London landmarks featuring the childhood dreams of celebrities including Steven Spielberg and Mark Rylance.
Film disappointed in the US opening July 1st but was always likely opening far too close to Finding Dory in the UK The BFG opens a week before Finding Dory which should give it a better chance along with the huge marketing campaign eOne will give it.
Also released
- Star Trek Beyond – Paramount
Thirteenth film of the Star Trek film franchise and third part of the rebooted series; starring John Cho Simon Pegg Chris Pine Zachary Quinto Zoe Saldana Karl Urban Anton Yelchin and Idris Elba directed by Justin Lin replacing J.J. Abrams who was busy with Star Trek The Force Awakens.
The first trailer released in December wasn’t well received featuring heavily Beastie Boys Sabotage that made it feel like a Fast and Furious film.
In April Paramount Pictures brought Simon Pegg and J.J. Abrams to CinemaCon who talked about the film but surprised audience no footage was screened instead announcing a Star Trek event in May where the second trailer premiered which was far better received. At the event announced Star Trek Beyond will have its world premiere at Comic Con on July 20th in IMAX with full orchestra performing. But strangely it will have its UK premiere July 12th.
Star Trek Beyond had press screenings in the US last week with UK premiere July 12th. Reviews have described it as fun but not your normally Star Trek film has touches of nostalgia to previous Star Trek films like so many sequels do recently becoming much more of a remix like Star Wars The Force Awakens, Jurassic World and Independence Day: Resurgence that a real sequel. For me it was instantly forgettable reminding me of previous far better Star Trek films but I guess that’s what happens when you have Simon Pegg a Trekkie co-writing the script similar to J.J Abrams with The Force Awakens. As this excellent video says everything is a remix.
Simon Pegg said during the press conference Jaylah was inspired by Jennifer Lawrence Ree character from Winter’s Bone but was probably also inspired from Rey and Katniss Everdeen from The Force Awakens and The Hunger Games. After all the controversy surrounding Ghostbusters female reboot strong female characters in films like these films shows most of the sexist and misogynist comments for the reboot were from a few moronic idiots the problem most had with Ghostbusters reboot was nothing to do with strong female characters shown by the success of films like The Force Awakens and The Hunger Games.
There are concerns over piracy over the Comic-Con premiere with an open air IMAX screening to over 3,000 people makes it accessible to possibly pirates there are also concerns over how IMAX may play outside with the neighbourhood noise and sound.
A third and final trailer was released in June featuring Rihanna’s single Sledgehammer which was also positively received but still looked far too much Star Furious than Star Trek. Similar to issue with Ghostbuster first trailer Simon Pegg also admitted to not liking the trailer.
A trailer was created for Star Trek Beyond in Barco Escape format. Which will screen selective scenes of the film across three screens giving an immersive panoramic experience similar to Cinerama of the 50s which had three film projectors projecting the film on a curved screen. In the 1950’s studios launched many different formats as they thought TV would kill cinema in a similar way exhibitors adding extras like IMAX, 3D and 4DX now. But cinema-goers have tired of 3D and in recent years 3D sales have dropped as 3D TV.
Rihanna’s single Sledgehammer video was filmed in IMAX was reported as the first music video to be shot entirely with IMAX.
| Star Trek | May 2009 | £5.95m | 27.8% | £21.4m |
| Star Trek into Darkness | May 2009 | £8.43m | 33.1% | £25.5m |
In a year of misfiring sequels and opening against The BFG its unlikely to match the opening of the previous films but possibly targeting the Fast and Furious fans with the trailers it could attract audiences to it that wouldn’t otherwise and it is also sadly one of Anton Yelchin’s final films before his death last month his parents showed their appreciation of the fans with an advert thanking fans in the Hollywood Reporter.
Paramount Pictures announced today Star Trek 4 with no release date but summer 2019 is likely. Simon Pegg Tweeted on Sunday for fans not to watch any new TV promos the day before Be ready TV spot was released which has a huge spoiler that angered many fans.
On Simon Pegg’s Channel 4 comedy show Spaced 17 years ago he said all odd numbered Star Trek films were shit and he has written and starred in Star Trek Beyond the thirteenth Star Trek film.
Out next week
Key release
- Finding Dory – Disney
Sequel to 2003’s Finding Nemo featuring voices of Ellen DeGeneres, Albert Brooks Hayden Rolence Diane Keaton Eugene Levy. Directed by Andrew Stanton first film has directed since John Carter back doing what he does best animation having also directed Finding Nemo and Wall-e.
Disney hold back their summer animated film to the start of the school holidays forcing their rivals to open their films in less lucrative dates The Angry Birds Movie in May, The Secret Life of Pets in June and Ice Age: Collision Course two weeks ago.
Day and date releasing has meant the UK school summer holidays don’t have the same fierce competition for family films as earlier in the summer as US studios prefer to open their family films in June/July. Last year the only competition from family films Inside Out had was from Pixels while this year it has stablemate Pete’s Dragon opening similar to The BFG after Finding Dory in the US weeks after in UK but two months after for the US
Finding Nemo opened in October 2003 with a then massive £7.38m (after opening exclusively at Odeon Leicester Square taking £152,793) taking £37.2m. Compare this with Inside Out opening last year with £7.34m ending on £38.9m shows how successful the first film was. Showing how Pixar films have held their own Finding Nemo and inside Out opening to final box office is very similar 19.8% Vs 18.8% unlike most other films over the same 12-year period so Finding Dory is unlikely to have the massive openings of Secret Life of Pets but its will still be charting strongly come the end of the school holidays.
Over the years there have been many theories all of the Pixar movies are connected all taking place in the same universe being interconnected. One is they have underlying theme of the negative influence of pollution is constant factor in the films between humans, machines, and animals
Unlike most family films similar to Inside Out last summer Finding Dory opens without w/e previews. Received its UK premiere at the Edinburgh Film Festival on June 18th and London premiere on July 10th same day was a Guardian masterclass with its director Andrew Stanton.
Also released
- Jason Bourne – Universal
Fifth film in the Bourne film series and fourth about Jason Bourne. Starring Matt Damon, Julia Stiles, Alicia Vikander, Vincent Cassel, and Tommy Lee Jones and directed by Paul Greengrass who also directed The Bourne Supremacy, The Bourne Ultimatum.
Before the release of The Bourne Ultimatum in 2007 Matt Damon said he wasn’t interested in making another Bourne film but a year later it was reported to be in development. In 2010 Matt Damon said he wouldn’t be part of another Borne film unless the right script came along and revealed plans for a prequel which became The Bourne Legacy and was released in 2012 receiving mixed reception.
The first trailer premiered on February 7th during Super Bowl 50 which also revealed its title as Jason Bourne as it had previously only been known as Bourne 5. Second trailer was released in April
Jason Bourne received its world premiere in Australia on July 4th and has UK premiere July 11th and US premiere on July 18th in Las Vegas. While there is still an embargo probably until its US premiere early buzz is it’s as good as the previous Bourne films if not better. Which makes for an interesting battle with Suicide Squad getting also very positive buzz opening the following weekend.
During a Twitter Q&A for Jason Bourne Ben Affleck trolled Matt Damon with a picture of Matt Damon from 1988 asking if you could go back in time what advice would you give this guy. Ben and Matt will put their friendship on ice this summer as Jason Bourne battles it out Batman with Suicide Squad opening week after Jason Bourne opens buzz on both is very strong but targeting similar audiences. During an interview with The Guardian Matt Damon revealed he had only 25 lines of dialogue in the film.
| The Bourne Identity | September 6th 2002 | £2.1m | 27.2% | £7.71m |
| The Bourne Supremacy | August 13th 2004 | £2.72m | 23.8% | £11.39m |
| The Bourne Ultimatum | August 17th 2007 | £6.55m | 27.9% | £23.42m |
| The Bourne Legacy | August 17th 2012 | £4.62m | 42.5% | £10.86m |
Last year Mission Impossible Rogue Nation opened same weekend with £5.33m a similar opening is expected for Jason Bourne opening against Finding Dory (but with two days more) and only a week after Star Trek Beyond and The BFG marketplace could cannibalize as holdovers are much tougher than Rogue Nation had to deal with last year Southpaw, Ant-Man and Minions were played out.
Out in two weeks
Key release
- Suicide Squad – Warner Bros
Anti-hero superhero film the third part of the DC extended Universe starring ensemble cast Will Smith, Jared Leto, Margot Robbie, Joel Kinnaman, Viola Davis, Jai Courtney, Jay Hernandez, Scott Eastwood, Cara Delevingne and Ben Affleck and directed by David Ayer.
Held a panel at last year’s Comic-Con but before the event the trailer leaked online Warner Bros released a cut down version as a teaser trailer day after. The first trailer was released in January featuring Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody has been viewed over 50 million times, the second trailer featured cover of You Don’t Own Me has been viewed over 25 million times.
Has been top of ComScore PreAct social media weekly charts for months and after receiving very positive reaction from test screenings from May along with a positive reaction to screening at CineEurope. After disappointing reception of Batman Vs Superman Dawn of Justice in March Suicide Squad had reshoots as Warner Bros wanted to lighten its tone was seen in more recent trailers.
Advance bookings opened July 15th while most superhero films have been 2.5 hours long Suicide Squad is 2 hours long and a 15. Earlier this year much was made by Deadpool’s marketing campaign being an R-rated comic-book movie but thanks to the BBFC Suicide Squad will be getting similar certificate but audiences won’t be getting the same R-rated content which could possibly disappoint audiences expecting more than the other comic-book movies that have been 12A.
After four comic-book films released in less than 100 days Suicide Squad had 76-day gap since X-Men: Apocalypse opened. Are similarities to Guardians of the Galaxy with a group of anti-heroes which opened same weekend two years ago with £6.35m but has a 15 certificate compared with Guardians of the Galaxy 12A; New York premiere August 1st and UK premiere August 3rd
Ahead of the release of Suicide Squad Honest Trailers have don’t Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice
Lindsay Lohan went on another Instagram rant after her live Tweeting during the EU Referendum to tell people not to see Suicide Squad. She wrote on Instagram (which she later deleted) after the recent tragedies in France and Turkey. “a suicide squad movie is not helping the world but hurting people. Anger is not an answer for peace. #love #turnup #beherenow #lovenotwar”
Lohan also appeared to suggest Suicide Squad star Jared Leto, as well as actors Heath Ledger and Jack Nicholson, had all drawn inspiration from Brandon Lee’s performance in The Crow when portraying the comic book character, The Joker.
| Deadpool | February 10th | £13.79m |
| Batman Vs Superman | March 25th | £14.62m |
| Captain America: Civil War | April 29th | £14.46m |
| X-Men: Apocalypse | May 20th | £7.35m |
Also released
Unusually are no other releases from any of main UK film distributors as are many released over the following few weeks especially as Suicide Squad and Jason Bourne are targeting similar audiences.
US Opening Friday
- Ice Age: Collusion Course – 20th Century Fox
Fifth part of the animated film franchise from Blue Sky Studios. As so many animated films recently opened internationally three weeks before US to avoid going head to head in many territories with Finding Dory; has received negative reviews from critics but they are unlikely to hurt its opening. Tracking to opening with around $35-40m but could be less as The Secret Life of Pets has held top far longer than expected.
The previous films have all had strong openings but not Pixar or Illumination Entertainment sized. As the fourth animated film of 2016 after Angry Birds, Finding Dory and The Secret Life of Pets could soften its opening but 2016 had been so far the year of the family film with Zootopia and The Jungle Book also performing strongly.
Similar to Alvin and the Chipmunks 4 last Christmas this is seen as likely the final chapter of the film series bur with 20th Century Fox looing distribution deal with Dreamworks Animation probably in 2018 will be looking to Blue Sky Studios to fill the gaps in their release schedules.
| Ice Age | March 2002 | $46.3m | 26.2% | $176.4m |
| Ice Age: The Meltdown | March 2006 | $68.1m | 34.8% | $195.3m |
| Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs | July 2009 | $41.6m | 21.1% | $196.6m |
| Ice Age: Continental Drift – | July 2012 | $46.6m | 28.9% | $161.3m |
- Star Trek Beyond – Paramount
Thirteenth film of the Star Trek franchise celebrating the TV series 50th anniversary; last two reboot films were directed by J.J. Abrams who left to make Star Wars The Force Awakens passing directing duties to Justin Lin most famous for Fast & Furious films which was seen in the trailers as it feels far less like a Star Trek movie than previous films. Was tracking to open with $48-55m a few weeks ago which would be a lot less than the previous two films reviews have been mixed but that won’t stop the fans.
Idris Elba could be the highest grossing actor ever this year (but still be unrecognisable to most) replacing Dwayne Johnson who was highest grossing actor in 2013 and 2015 and Jennifer Lawrence in 2014. While they did it mostly from one film Furious 6, Furious 7 and Hunger Games Idris Elba has done it with several Zootropolis $1.2bn, The Jungle Book $935m, Finding Dory $642m to date and Star Trek Beyond.
Unlike previous two films which had weekends to themselves Star Trek Beyond has to deal with Ice Age Collusion Course for younger audiences, Absolutely Fabulous for female audiences and Lights Out aimed at similar audience.
Star Trek: Nemesis in December 2002 suffered when it faced similar competition with Maid in Manhattan opening ahead of it with Drumline just behind and The Hot Chick opening in fifth.
| Star Trek: The Motion Picture | December 1979 | $11.9m | 14.4% | $82.2m |
| Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan | June 1982 | $14.3m | 18.1% | $78.9m |
| Star Trek III: The Search For Spock | June 1984 | $16.6m | 21.7% | $76.4m |
| Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home | November 1986 | $16.8m | 15.3% | $109.2m |
| Star Trek V: The Final Frontier | June 1989 | $17.3m | 33.1% | $52.2m |
| Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country | June 1991 | $18.1m | 24.2% | $74.8m |
| Star Trek Generations | November 1994 | $23.1m | 30.6% | $75.6m |
| Star Trek: First Contact | November 1996 | $30.7m | 33.3% | $92.1m |
| Star Trek: Insurrection | December 1998 | $22.1m | 31.5% | $70.1m |
| Star Trek: Nemesis | December 2002 | $18.5m | 42.8% | $43.2m |
| Star Trek | May 2009 | $75.2m | 29.1% | $257.7m |
| Star Trek into Darkness | May 2013 | $70.1m | 30.6% | $228.7m |
- Lights Out – Warner Bros
Supernatural horror directed by directed by David F. Sandberg based on his 2013 short film starring Teresa Palmer, Gabriel Bateman, Billy Burke and Maria Bello produced by New Line Cinema.
Received its world premiere at the Los Angeles Film Festival receiving positive reviews.
New Line Cinema began as an independent studio who made low budget horror and cult films in the 1970s A Nightmare on Elm Street in 1984 being one of their breakout successes. 10 years later was acquired by Turner Broadcasting System which merged with Warner Bros but was kept as a separate studio releasing their own films until 2008 after the failure of The Good Compass which cost $180m and made only $70m. 2010’s Valentine’s Day was NLC first film produced for Warner Bros its films were a mix of comedies and horrors and was the home of the Hobbit trilogy after it also produced Lord of the Rings 10 years earlier.
With the launch of The Conjuring in 2013 NLC had rediscovered its identity making low budget horror taking $318m worldwide creating a new franchise. While many big budget films have been a disappointment for Warner Bros this year NLC their slate of How to Be Single, Barbershop: The Next Cut, Keanu, Me Before You, The Conjuring 2 and Central Intelligence have all done well at the box office.
NLC last film of the year is Collateral Beauty (opening against Rogue One: A Star Wars Story) directed by David Frankel (10 years after The Devil Wears Prada) starring Will Smith who after several disappointments at the box office with Suicide Squad looks to have a hit on his hands will be hoping for similar success as The Pursuit of Happyness which opened same weekend 10 years ago with $26.5m taking $163.5m.