- Unhinged – £178,820 – £962,191
Up 31.1% in its fourth weekend adding 98 more screens; normally these films will have a decent opening weekend and then drop heavily but as Unhinged expanded over the four weeks it’s been released as more and more cinemas have reopened.
83% of UK cinemas have now reopened 800 of 959 cinemas, which includes all of the cinemas from the major exhibitors, but most independent cinemas are unlikely to be reopened until at least October.
UK cinemas have now been open for 8 weeks with box office up 485.8% from £189,000 to £1,107,153 but with 638% more screens open than the first weekend (from 42 cinemas+ drive-ins (460 screens) to 800 cinemas+ drive-ins (3,889 screens up 745.4%) last weekend) and with a much wider choice of old and new releases (Unhinged took 16.1% of the weekend’s box office, last year #1 Angel Has Fallen took 21.6%)). Would have expected growth to be much stronger now with the number of screened opened, showing that all the research while cinemas were shut that it will be many months before the majority would return is correct.
Week 1 £189,000 from 460 screens (42 cinemas)
Week 2; Up 76.2% £333,002 from 1,059 screens (122 cinemas 85 from the UK the rest from Ireland and drive-ins) up 130.2%; The Empire Strikes Back (40th Anniversary opening with £50,406 from 1012 screens)
Week 3: Down 7.5% £308,154 from 1,286 screens up 21.4%
Week 4: Up 30.7% £402,752 From 1,734 screens Up 34.8%
Week 5: Up 61.8% £651,914 from 3,016 screens (326 cinemas reopened) up 74%; Unhinged opened with £175,263 from 243 screens)
Week 6: Down 17.4% £538,716 from 3,393 screens up 12.5%: American Pickle opened with £27,732 from 162 screens
Week 7: Up 85.2% £997,837 from 3,200 screens approx.: Inception: 10th Anniversary opened £207,675 from 313 screens
Week 8: Up 10.9% £1,107,153 from 3,889 screens (503 cinemas) up 21.5%
This time last year UK box office was over 88.8% more taking £9,815,681; Top three took 71.3% (£5,325,890) of the top 10; Angel Has Fallen #1 39.8% (£2,122,408); Once Upon A Time In Hollywood 39.6% (£2,109,591); The Lion King 20.5% (£1,093,891); Unhinged would have charted #14 and Inception #15.
This shows there will need to be a massive jump this week with Tenet, while there will be a jump can’t believe it will be anywhere nearly as big as the propaganda that has been around Tenet ever since Christopher Nolan’s op-ed for the Washington Post in March which felt like it could have been written by NATO’s John Fithian.
While it’s understandable exhibitors want cinemas to reopen as quickly as possible, they have to reopen when the majority are ready to return to the cinema, while research from the industry says one thing; US distributor of Unhinged Solstice Studios issued a press release saying 97% of US moviegoers recommended seeing a movie in theatres to their friends; 93% rate new enhanced safety experience in theatres as positive; 57% started their top motivation for going to the movie theatre was the desire to socialise and return to normal. (how do you socialise in darkness for a couple of hours).
Over the last few months, there have been many surveys from the industry and also away from it, the problem with surveys is the company running the survey is doing it to get a certain response and will skew questions to get the answer they want from a survey, surveys run by the busy involved will be biased. This poll as asked to people coming out of a cinema having just watched Unhinged,
Most of the cinemas had just been reopened less than a day so cinemas should be clean while with the film opening with $4m from almost 2,000 cinemas and playing in multiple screens the screenings weren’t crowded. It will be different with Tenet opening on Wednesday with many shows far busier, so would be interesting to see the result of a similar survey in the UK next Wednesday night.
Who is the more foolish, the fool or the fool who follows him? As surely more incompetent to be reliant on an incompetent government to make a decision rather than make a decision themselves, while it was completely understandable exhibitors wanted to reopen cinemas as soon as possible. It was important to get cinemagoers supporting that decision, while cinephiles were desperate to return asap the majority have been much slower to return and reopening cinemas too soon was always likely to spook others as they could see the situation with cases not dropping down as fast as other countries that reopened cinemas.
When exhibitors announced social distancing policies it was expected to be at two seat gap either side and in front and behind, which would be the 2m separation,
While the social distancing policies UK exhibitors have brought in are confusing to cinemagoers as some cinemas have two-seat gaps either side others have one and few have gaps in front and behind which was originally planned, similarly, why don’t cinemas check temperatures before entry?
Exhibitors had months to prepare for the reopening of cinemas and to make cinemagoers feel safe the safety measures should have been mandatory across every cinema in the UK and they shouldn’t have just been the minimum required. This to me shows how poor the judgment has been from the UK Cinema Association to be reliant on government advice rather than seeing how other countries have done and do similar in the UK. Weeks before the lockdown exhibitors in Europe and Asia were having social distancing policies and installing more hand sanitizers but while this was being done in Irish cinemas, it wasn’t in the UK.
To enforced the minimum required by the government with safety measures with reopening policies even though many businesses are still enforcing the two-metre rule when not wearing masks. The 2m gap can give people a false sense of security similar to wearing masks as it has been reported tiny droplets containing Covid-19 and could remain in the air for a prolonged time. If exhibitors allow masks to be removed in auditoriums for customers to eat and drink then to counterbalance this there needs to be the 2m gap or more is needed, as cinemas don’t have access to fresh air and are dependent on air-conditioning filters to cleanse the air?
Part of the issue is cinemas reopened far too soon, when Boris announced in mid-May that hospitality could reopen July 4th exhibitors immediately announced cinemas would reopen on July 4th as both Tenet and Mulan were still dated for July. Had Warner and Disney delated Tenet and Mulan before UK exhibitors announced the reopening of cinemas as happened in the US exhibitors would have delayed the reopening of cinemas.
When Warner announced they were delaying the release of Tenet which was the same day the cinemas that were opening on July 4th announced their schedules so was too late for them to cancel, but other major exhibitors slowed down the opening of their other cinemas with Vue opening their final cinemas next Wednesday the day Tenet opens.
Over the last few months, all the medical experts have said that going to the cinema when cases are high is a risk not worth taking. But it’s, of course, understandable why exhibitors are desperate to reopen as cinemas are their only source of income the question is why when almost all other studios delayed their films many into next year didn’t Christopher Nolan want Tenet delayed. It is, of course, a choice for people to go to the cinema but it’s not a choice for their employees as if they don’t work they don’t get paid.
While cinemas have been reopened in the UK for 8 weeks the demand hasn’t been there so cinemas could cope with the number of customers but with a film like Tenet if it has sold out screening even with reduced capacity with social distancing still means several hundred people there are potential issues in how staff can keep them distant. In many other hospitality sectors that have been to capacity, there have been outbreaks, what would happen if an outbreak was traced back to a cinema? (There is, of course, the issue if exhibitors are keeping records of all customers attending) If an outbreak has happened in restaurants, pubs and bars then it’s probable that it would also happen in a cinema even with the safety measures exhibitors say are in place. As exhibitors are still reliant on customers to be responsible and think about others health and safety, but many are selfish and rude and had poor hygiene long before lockdown and unlikely to change.
Unhinged has similarities to Steven Spielberg’s Duel; Joel Schumacher’s Falling Down; Roger Michell’s Changing Lanes (took £2,823,244); John Dah’s Joy Ride (aka Roadkill internationally) written by J. J. Abrams (took £2,215,996).
More recently Russell Crowe starred in HBO drama The Loudest Voice and 2016’s critical acclaim The Nice Guys which failed to find an audience; (took £3,792,002) which was a sorta sequel to Shane Black’s Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, also received positive reviews but failed to find an audience in cinemas.
- Onward – £142,108 – £6,226,845
Up 54.3% in the 10th week of its cinema release and 8th week since cinemas reopened adding 111 screens; 25 weeks after opening in cinemas in March is still managing to attract cinemagoers; Onward has taken £935,159 over the last 8 weeks since cinemas reopened on July 4th despite being available on digital download since May and on video since June.
Onward is the 975th biggest film in the UK between Small Soldiers and Bad Neighbours 2 (close to South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, Freaky Friday, Jackie Brown and Demolition Man) and ParaNorman) and 1,184th biggest inflation inflated film between The Monuments Men and Spy Game (close to Ice Age: Collision Course, Happy Feet 2, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World and Zathura).
Onward is currently the 11th biggest film of 2020 between The Invisible Man and The Personal History Of David Copperfield and will likely be Disney’s third-biggest film of 2020 with their next film (not including 20th Century Fox films) with Black Widow and Soul both still set to be released in November.
Even if Black Widow and Soul took £100m combined Disney would be down about 80% from their record-breaking year last year taking £464.5m having moved Artemis Fowl, Mulan, The One and Only Ivan all to Disney+, had they been released theatrically they would have probably taken about £80m so their box office for this year would still have been less than 50% of last year.
146th biggest animation film in the UK between ParaNorman and The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (close to Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Spies In Disguise, The Angry Birds Movie 2 and Wonder Park).
Onward is Disney’s second-lowest grossing animated film just ahead of 2001’s Atlantis: The Lost Empire £5.9m and £9.83m inflation inflated).
Onward as most of February and March releases will have a star beside its total box office as it took £5.29m before cinema lockdown opening two weeks before impacted on it is box office. With the Easter holidays two weeks later Onward should have gone on to take more than double its box office even with the competition from Peter Rabbit 2 and Trolls World Tour.
23 Pixar films have taken over £690m at the box office since Toy Story in 1996 and over £890m inflation inflated.
Disney is due to release their 24th Pixar film Soul on November 27th (are rumours Disney might release it also to Disney+ depending on how Tenet did in cinemas and Mulan on PVOD) with Luca set for release in 2021, two untitled in 2022 and one untitled In 2023.
- Inception (10th Anniversary) – £117,415 – £432,449
Down 43.4% in its second weekend (down 10.3% from last weekend’s Fri-Sun opening £130,914) despite adding 128 screens from last week including screenings at the Odeon Leicester Square Inception still had the biggest drop in the top 10 (second biggest not including previews) as Interest in Inception cinema re-release would be limited to Nolanites wanting to see the film in cinemas before the release of Tenet on Wednesday.
Inception was re-released in the US over the weekend, but they didn’t report US box office,
6 weeks ago The Empire Strikes Back re-release opened with £50,406 from 101 screens less than a third of the screens Inception reopened in and didn’t play in IMAX screens as Inception did. Removing the £74k Inception took in previews it took £134k only 166% more, with 210% more screens Inception should have open with far more especially now cinemas have been reopened for 7 weeks now if cinemagoers are really comfortable about going back to the cinema.
Vue Cinemas reopened more cinemas last Friday ahead of the release of Tenet on Wednesday, but cinemagoers are still hard to come by with the only four people going to the Vue Watford on Friday.
Film Stories reported on Wednesday that Warner wouldn’t be reporting limited UK box office for Tenet’s opening weekend, but UK BO data is already restricted as while can get daily BO freely available online the UK is rarely released Warner put themselves in this position by deciding to open Tenet in August there should be more extensive data released not less
This makes me believe the comments in ScreenDaily article last Friday was propaganda as from what I’ve seen looking at selected cinemas advance sales are soft even at the home of Nolanites BFI IMAX which normally sell out most opening weekend screening of Nolan films. (only a couple are currently sold out with reduced capacity).
Exhibitors were saying Tenet was selling strongly similar to Rocketman, Inception and Once Upon a Time In Hollywood £7m+ over 5-day opening? Warner was quick to reveal Tenet first day sales were 60% of daily sales at Vue but haven’t released any more information since.
Warner put this scrutiny of BO data on themselves deciding to make Tenet the canary in the coalmine and selling it to the media as ‘the film that saves cinema’ from the saviour of cinema Christopher Nolan. now the media wants to know has he saved cinema, or will more films go to VOD?
- 100% Wolf – £105,517 – £498,737
Up 25.7% in its fourth weekend after adding more 112 screens from last weekend as even more cinemas opened over the weekend with the remaining major exhibitors’ cinemas opening next week ahead of the release of Tenet, but many independent cinemas won’t reopen until later in the year.
In May 100% Wolf took only $21,000 went it was released in Australian cinemas the same time it was released on VOD, but the film has performed well over the last month in the UK and took $500k in Vietnam when it was released in June. It is seen as a success because of the pandemic, but normally a film like 100% Wolf would be limited to weekend matinees as there would be much higher profile family films in cinemas for the summer holidays.
Independent distributors including Vertigo Releasing and Signature Entertainment took a massive gamble opening so many films in cinemas over the last two months and due to the lack of major releases have attracted a much wider audience than they would have done, with many opening in the top 10, in normal circumstances films like 100% Wolf and Dreambuilders would barely get into the top 15.
While exhibitors were crying out for the distributor to release their US films early, this was never likely to happen as the US and China are the two key territories for their films, but distributors should have opened some of their British films. Studiocanal had originally dated The Secret Garden in April, delaying it to August after cinema lockdown, but STX the US distributor decided to release it straight to VOD in August. Studiocanal sold the film onto Sky Cinema who are showing it on Sky Cinema and in selected cinemas in October, but surely it could have been given a cinemas release in August?
- Pinocchio – £99,277 – £324,179
Down 8.6% in its second weekend adding 184 screens
Since cinemas reopened on July 4th Vertigo Releasing have released 9 films and 100% Wolf, The Vigil and Pinocchio all entered the top 10, last year Vertigo had two films in the top 10 Child’s Play (opened with £247,573 in June) and Five Feet Apart (opened with £253,341 in March).
The UK independent film distribution is extremely hard to break as your competing against studios and independents including Lionsgate, eOne and Studiocanal who have been acquired by large foreign companies that have deep pockets to acquire multiple territories for films. This has seen many high-profile casualties over the years closing from Palace Pictures to Rank Film Distributors, so for a company like Vertigo to still be releasing up to 20 films a year 18 years after launching is quite an achievement.
Matteo Garrone’s Pinocchio received positive reviews but as with all previous versions even the Disney animated film it has a dark edge to the children’s story (even the Disney animated film), the scene where the naughty children turn into donkeys still scares me as it did when I was a child.
There have been many versions of Pinocchio made over the years alongside the classic 1940’s animated classic and there are two more film versions upcoming a darker animated film produced by Guillermo del Toro and a reimagination of the Disney animated film with Tom Hanks in talks to star as Geppetto with Robert Zemeckis directing.
UK box office in detail
This weekend’s top 10 box office took £879,529 up 7.3% from last weekend (819,747)
The weekend admissions 123,703 up 7.3% from last week (115,295)
Top three took 49.8% (£438,343) of the top 10); Unhinged 20.3% (£178,820); Onward 16.1% (£142,108); Inception (10th Anniversary) 13.3% (£117,415)
2019: (£8,636,602); top three took 71.3% (£5,325,890) of the top 10; Angel Has Fallen 39.8% (£2,122,408); Once Upon A Time In Hollywood 39.6% (£2,109,591); The Lion King 20.5% (£1,093,891); #1 Angel Has Fallen 1st week (£2,122,408) 537 screens (24.5% of top 10)
2018: (£12,788,350); BlacKkKlansman (£1,234,214); The Spy Who Dumped Me (£1,057,211); The Children Act (£517,378); Slender Man (£389,339); Alpha (£225,606); Luis and the Aliens (£218,248); #1 Disney’s Christopher Robin £2,138,824 2nd week 673 screens 16% drop (16.7% of top 10)
2017: (£6,700,471); American Made (£1,067,075); Logan Lucky (£705,087); Detroit (£658,028); Rough Night (£244,462); Mayweather Vs. McGregor (Boxing) (£171,256); Thomas & Friends: Journey Beyond Sodor (£92,389); #1 American Made £1,067,075 1st week 543 screens (15.9% of the top 10)
2016: (£13,012,003); David Brent: Life on the Road (£1,460,290); Lights Out (£1,126,543); Swallows and Amazons (£676,175); Nine Lives (£636,804); Tickled (£25,602); #1 Finding Dory £2,868,459 4rd week (2nd #1) 627 screens up 12% (22.1% of the top 10)
2015; (£9,389,554); Paper Towns (£2,072,789); Sinister 2 (£1,069,261); Vacation (£608,748); The Bad Education Movie (£594,861); Strange Magic (£56,127); Good People (£25,454); #1 Paper Towns £2,072,789 1st week 472 screens (22.1% of top 10)
2014: (£11,216,125); Lucy (£3,076,997); Into the Storm (£1,147,657); Deliver Us from Evil (£629,554); What If (£592,501); Doctor Who: Deep Breath (£522,908); 2 Days, 1 Night (£165,278); Thomas and Friends: Tale of the Brave (£60,328); Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (£12,117); Sin City (Re: 2014) (£10,244); #1 Lucy £3,076,997 1st week 486 screens (27.4% of top 10)
2013: (£10,580,446); Elysium (£3,127,005); We’re the Millers (£1,508,326); The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones (£1,143,385); Thomas & Friends: King of the Railway (£63,311); Jurassic Park 3D (£111,703); What Maisie Knew (£95,852); Lovelace (£86,076); The Kings of Summer (£6,773); #1 Elysium £3,127,005 1st week 463 screens (29.5% of top 10)
2012 (£10,782,345); Keith Lemon: The Film (£1,196,310); The Three Stooges (£509,324); The Imposter (£252,170); Shadow Dancer (£201,936); #1 Brave £2,371,691 4th week (2nd #1) 556 screens 55% drop (21.9% of top 10)
2011 (£15,690,651); One Day (£2,208,724); Final Destination 5 (£1,450,464); Conan the Barbarian (£622,268); The Skin I Live In (£325,349); #1 The Inbetweeners Movie £5,696,848 2nd week 471 screens 57% drop (36.3% of top 10)
2010: (£14,228,206); The Expendables (£3,935,700); Piranha 3-D (£1,325,324); Marmaduke (£1,243,789); The Illusionist (£164,950); The Human Centipede (£6,145); #1 The Expendables £3,935,700 1st week 453 screens (27.6% of top 10)
2009; (£8,384,307); Inglourious Basterds (£3,596,415); Dance Flick (£462,825); Shorts (£171,876); I Love You, Beth Cooper (£123,519); #1 Inglourious Basterds £3,596,415 1st week 444 screens (42.8% of top 10)
2008; (£10,756,388); Hellboy 2: The Golden Army (£2,969,602); Get Smart (£1,542,005); College Road Trip (£121,360); Somers Town (£121,345); #1 Hellboy 2: The Golden Army £2,969,602 1st week 464 screens (27.6% of top 10)
2007: (£7,941,925); Knocked Up (£1,583,998); Lady Chatterley (£48,776); Flood (£2,501); #1 The Bourne Ultimatum £2,864,804 2nd week 457 screens 56% drop (36.1% of top 10)
2006; (£6,106,683); You, Me and Depree (£1,636,249); Severance (£483,152); Volver (£433,283); #1 You, Me and Depree £1,636,249 1st week 409 screens (26.8% of top 10)
2005 (£6,589,529); Bewitched (£1,053,432); Unleashed (£498,058); The Perfect Man (£186,460); #1 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory £1,691,431 4th week 516 screens 41 drop (25.6.1% of top 10)
2004 (£8,540,203); The Village (£2,945,763); A Cinderella Story (£611,209); #1 The Village £2,945,763 1st week 433 screens (34.5% of top 10)
2003 (£8,393,708); Tomb Raider 2 (£1,524,676); Confidence (£325,685); The Man Who Sued God (£195,418); Swimming Pool (£119,092); #1 American Pie: The Wedding £2,180,783 2nd week 425 screens 47% drop (26% of top 10)
2002 (£6,787,774); The Guru (£1,521,984); Reign Of Fire (£932,168); Talk To Her (£174,757); Black Knight (£167,084); #1 The Guru £1,521,984 1st 368 screens (22.4% of top 10)
2001 (£6,685,496); Heartbreakers (£751,754); Crocodile Dundee in L.A. (£354,593); Lucky Break (£348,613); Josie and the Pussycats (£37,662); #1 Planet of the Apes £2,364,945 2nd week 447 screens 57% drop (35.3% of top 10);
Next weekend last year (£7,501,394); Top three 56.7% (£4,255,931) of the top 10; Once Upon A Time In Hollywood 24.5% (£1,841,873); The Lion King 16.3% (£1,226,964); Angel Has Fallen 15.8% (£1,187,094); 16 films opened taking (£1,135,694); The Informer 26.5% (£301,424); remaining 15 films shared 74.5% (£834,270);
US Box Office
- Unhinged – Solstice Studios
Up 565.6% from last weekend taking $4m and $5m total adding 1,524 screens
The five busiest movie theatres were drive-ins showing that most people aren’t yet comfortable going back to the movie theatres yet and New York and Los Angeles movie theatres have not yet reopened. It is then surprising Warner Bros won’t release Tenet in drive-ins.
Unhinged was originally due to be released in September before it was brought forward to July 1st to be the first film to open when movie theatres reopened, but then Warner and Disney delayed Tenet and Mulan and Solstice Studios delayed the US release to August 24th, but the film still opened internationally in mid-July and the UK on July 24th.
The film has received mixed reviews (48% Rotten Tomatoes).
Solstice Studios gave social media badges to anyone brave enough to see Unhinged in cinemas first “I Saw Unhinged In A F*!#king Theater!”
The rest of the top 10 made for a very usual mix of films including The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge On The Run opening #2 from Canada only, Netflix will release the film in November in the rest of the world;
#4 The Goonies re-release; #6 Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back; #8 Jurassic Park #9 Back to the Future
Warner Bros re-released Inception in the US last weekend but they didn’t report US box office taking $850k from 37 territories and $3.7m total; Japan ($739k) UK ($560k) South Korea ($378k) Taiwan ($209k) Russia ($140K) Spain ($129k) Germany ($118k)
Other Box Office News
Last Thursday UK cinema industry launched their campaign to get people back to cinema titled Love Cinema the industry heralded it as the second coming, but this should have launched ahead of when cinemas started reopening on July 4th. The 90 second advert showed clips of many classic films, many of which have been playing in cinemas over the last 7 weeks and could have been “see these classics and many more again for the first time in cinemas for only a fiver”.
The problem with the advert is that it targets the cinephiles who have been back at the cinema over the last two months and Nolanites who have already booked for Tenet it’s not targetting the nervous majority who need don’t trust cinemas are as safe as they could be and why they won’t be returning even for Tenet next week.
UK cinema industry has been awfully slow to react to Coronavirus in early March on March 7th UKCA said, “It’s definitely a developing picture, but we’re not seeing any discernible impact in terms of cinema admissions across the piece.”
This was days after Onward had the fourth-lowest openings for a Pixar film in the UK and the lowest opening not including previews. As at the time people had other things on their mind including queuing up for hours to buy toilet paper and pasta.
In late February early March cinemas across Europe were closing and those that weren’t were implementing social distancing and hand sanitizers policies but UKCA decided to wait on government guidance before doing anything.
The British government were far too busy dealing with Brexit they failed to notice how Coronavirus was affecting the rest of Europe and they were probably also scared to implement the same draconian measures other countries had done but the delay to the lockdown it probably meant that the British reopening was weeks behind the rest of Europe. While governments bring in laws it’s industry leaders that know businesses better than governments, as while cinema is vital to UKCA it comes down very low on the list of priorities to governments more people.
On Friday NATO announced their COVID-19 Safety Protocols called CinemaSafe they were developed by guidance from the Centres for Disease Control, World Health Organization, and Occupational Safety and Health Administration. While all major exhibitors say they will follow them the problem is the protocols are voluntary so if exhibitors can’t control mobile phone use how are staff going to make sure cinemagoers are wearing masks when not eating. Also to enhanced cleaning measures, reduced capacity and social distancing.
Cinemagoers at Alamo Drafthouse cinemas have to sign a disclaimer similar to the one Disney World have ““By visiting this cinema, you voluntarily assume all risks related to exposure to COVID-19.” As people don’t read terms and conditions and just click yes when they sign up to services online could exhibitors of hidden similar disclaimer on the back of cinema tickets?
Adam Aron said “From the day we shut down in March, the single biggest and most important issue was to restore consumer confidence,” but his comments in June saying masks won’t be mandatory in AMC Theatres, but he would wear a mask when he went to a cinema generated backlash on social media and he made mask-wearing mandatory in cinemas. The question has been how exhibitors would monitor and make sure cinemagoers are wearing masks as cinemagoers are allowed to take off masks to eat and drink in the auditorium.
On Friday Adam Aron said “You could eat off the floor of our theatres, they’ve never been this clean,” The question is shouldn’t cinemas have always been this clean as cinemas have long had hygiene issues. The problem with cinemas is your putting your health and safety in the literately the hands of your fellow cinemagoers, the problem is that before the lockdown a survey said 69% of men didn’t wash their hands when they went to a public toilet. To quote 2011’s Contagion “The average person touches their face three to five times every minute. In between that, we’re touching doorknobs, water fountains, and each other.”
Vue West End has reduced its ticket prices for Tenet to £6.99 almost 60% less than Cineworld Leicester Square 2D (also screened in Laser IMAX and 4DX) and 73% less than Odeon Leicester Square (presented in 70mm) which has seen both cinemas also reduce their prices so no more £40+ OLSQ tickets?
Checking last Friday opening day Wednesday Vue Westfield Shepherds Bush 29 shows 350 tickets sold while my local Vue Harrow 22 shows 12 tickets sold; both cinemas cinemagoers will be able to social distance by many having their own screenings as have 175+ screenings of Tenet over 5 days.
Advance bookings of Tenet went on sale on August 12th the following day it was reported that sales were strong and that at Vue Cinemas they were 60% of tickets sold that day, 60% sounds a lot but when the daily box office was less than £50k less than 5% of the normal daily August sales of £1m+ sales were probably about £30k selling about 2,000 seats.
Since then there were no more details of how to advance sales were going until last Friday when they said they were comparable to Rocketman or Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, this would see an opening of £5m+ over 5 days opening weekend. Others said they were similar to Inception and expecting it to close to pre-lockdown levels. Nor having access to the data they have at their fingertips and only being able to do a manual check online at several cinemas it doesn’t look like that to me.
Before lockdown Tenet was expected to be one of the biggest films of the year opening with £8m+ over 5 days and take £40m+ similar to Inception; Tenet was expected to perform strongly in the UK as all other Christopher Nolan films have done and
Exhibitors have a crazy number of screenings with many cinemas having close to 30 each day and over 5 day opening weekend closer to 200 screenings and up to 20,000 seats available,
Also up to Friday BFI IMAX had sold out only one screening of Tenet on it’s opening night August 26th with its reduced capacity of about 350 down from its normal 498 capacity (tickets are £23.75 and it’s showing in 70mm/IMAX) despite Nolanites flocking to book seats at BFI IMAX as they have always done, in 2012 The Dark Knight Rises took over £1 million in advance bookings at BFI IMAX in 5 weeks before opening selling 62,300 sales (£16 average today tickets for Tenet are £23.75).
This beat the previous advance sales record at the BFI IMAX by James Cameron’s Avatar in December 2009 sold 47,000 tickets, grossing £607,000 (£12.90 average).
Forty-three shows ahead of opening were sold out for The Dark Knight Rises including early morning screenings at 04.25 and 04.55; the film broke BFI IMAX records for highest first-day sales (24,754 tickets taking £409,838) and the highest first-week sales (38,658 tickets, taking £634,013) breaking the records previously set earlier in 2012 by Ridley Scott’s Prometheus.
The 9 Christopher Nolan films have taken over £240m at the UK box office (over £280m inflation inflated).
After a new TV spot featuring a five-star review from Total Film and a review quote from Empire Magazine was expecting the film to receive many more five-star reviews when the embargo ended last Friday, but there were only a couple and Empire Magazine who has given every Christopher Nolan film five-star review gave Tenet 4 stars.
A few years ago was talk of Christopher Nolan directing a James Bond film with Tom Hardy replacing Daniel Craig and with Warner Bros releasing the film, from reviews sounds like his taken all the elements from Bond film and Nolanized them to make Tenet which of course Nolanites will adore but others will wait for the real thing in November.
Many reviews said it’s a film for Nolan fans which could alienate some as while his films are visually stunning they are emotionless and pretentious, Nolan previously said “I try not to be obvious about it. That gives people a little more freedom to interpret the movies their way, bring what they want to it. I’ve had people write about my films as being emotionless, yet I have screened those same movies and people have been in floods of tears at the end. It’s an impossible contradiction for a filmmaker to resolve. In truth, it’s one of the things that is really exciting about filmmaking though. I seem to be making films that serve as Rorschach tests.”
Ahead of Tenet’s release was expecting it to be as so many films are a three-star film given a five-star film due to the hype and expectations around it as so many times especially with critics see as “British” they get caught up in the hype, this often happens when the embargo ends immediately after the screening.
With Tenet embargo was several days after the screening which allowed critics to mull over the film and why you go alongside five-star reviews in Total Film and The Telegraph also got a very surprising two-star review from The Guardian “Lucky, really, because Tenet is not a movie it’s worth the nervous braving a trip to the big screen to see, no matter how safe it is. I’m not even sure that, in five years’ time, it’d be worth staying up to catch on the telly. To say so is sad, perhaps heretical. But for audiences to abandon their living rooms in the long term, the first carrot had better not leave a bad taste.”
The problem with Christopher Nolan films is they are often styled over substance and while previous Nolan films this was possible as they were based on comic-books, historical events or had big star name actors Leonardo DiCaprio or strong ensemble casts, Tenet is all about Christopher Nolan. While Nolanites and cinephiles will love that it is, any many comments have been that Tenet is for Nolan fans the question will be how it plays to a wider audience and if that wider audience is willing to go to the cinema.
On Saturday, several front pages of British newspapers asked “is Tenet the film that will save cinema” few films receive the media coverage Tenet has received in the media and on social media over the last 6 months. This propaganda is madness as this just plays to Christopher Nolan’s delusions of grandeur that he is the saviour of cinema to his disciples, but his, not the messiah and Tenet isn’t the second coming.
Warner Bros have done their job with Tenet, they have marketed the sh*t out of it, now it’s all down to exhibitors to show that cinemas are safe as they were so desperate for the film to open in the summer so it’s now up to them to show that Warner Bros made the right decision to stand by them.
Tenet is expected to open with $25m+ from 70 international territories this weekend;
In 2010 Inception opened internationally along with the US on July 16th in 7 other territories taking $15.6m with the UK leading the way taking 55% of the box office ($8.6m).
In 2014 Interstellar opened with $82.9m from 62 territories (UK $9.05m 11% of opening) and $132.6m worldwide (opened in China the week after); Interstellar opened in the US with $52.2m from 5 days opened early in 250 screens in IMAX and 70mm taking $13.4m (25%) from IMAX and large format screens; male (52%) and 75% over 25.
In 2017 Dunkirk opened with $55.4m from 46 territories and $105m worldwide; the UK was it’s biggest international territory taking $12.4m (22.4%) with IMAX taking 14% of its box office with the BFI IMAX the top IMAX cinema in the U, which it normally is and is the spiritual home for Nolanites.
While most cinemas have a two-seat gap each side BFI IMAX only has one seat and has other cinemagoers sitting immediately in front and behind, while exhibitors will say this is to government guidelines, it is the minimum required, in an auditorium of up to 300 people the distance between others should be more than the minimum especially as they will be seated for almost 3 hours watching Tenet while they are able to eat and drink as normal. Cinemagoers will nervously react to every cough and sneeze.
In April AMC Adam Aron said the chain was “pricing out temperature-reading machines.” While exhibitors will check staff temperatures daily they won’t check the temperatures of customers> It’s crazy that I had my temperature checked before I went into the hairdressers also wearing a mask, but people can go into a cinema mixing with complete strangers for up to 3 hours without temperature checks. This does put cinema staff at risk as staff in restaurants having to interact very closely with people that could be infected or asymptomatic having no symptoms themselves but being able to infect others.
Mooky Greidinger of Cineworld said, “We put a lot of effort, first and foremost, into the safety issues because the priority to us is the safety of our customers and our team,”… “There is no doubt we cannot perform at the numbers we used to have at this stage,”… “But safety is the priority.”
Exhibitors had planned checkboard seating in cinemas people would only sit on the black or white seats would mean was no one directly in front or behind or either side, instead, people are sitting immediately in front and behind and some cinemas have 1 seat gap and others 2. BFI IMAX has one seat empty either side but people directly in front and behind while Vue has two empty either side but again have people directly in front and behind.
The problem is there should have been universal guidance that indoors it was 1m social distancing if wearing masks and temperature checks but 2m without as without making it mandatory businesses will surely do the least possible and the loser will always be the customer.
Two years ago Watchdog report found drinks from three of the UK’s largest cinema chains (Cineworld, Odeon and Vue) were found to contain extremely high levels of bacteria including traces of salmonella and Listeria. The exhibitors rejected the findings and said they take hygiene “incredibly seriously” and have robust cleaning procedures in place.
Exhibitors made a big deal about their enhanced safety measures but the majority of which should have been standard before Coronavirus. One of the things they have made a big deal about is their enhanced cleaning, but in Odeon cinemas in Scotland, they have been cutting back from the daily cleaning by professional cleaners to three times a week with cinema staff forced to take up the slack to be done with their other duties. The cinema staff weren’t given any training, this is similar to when Odeon and Cineworld cinemas reopened many went to social media to say they weren’t given any additional training for the extra duties they were given.
While exhibitors say there is a 1m gap between rows and that is what governments demand the difference is that your in that seat for up to 3 hours while in a pub, café or restaurant you can move around and there is likely to be a source of fresh air, while in a cinema you’re depended on if the air conditioning filter is up to standard and regularly maintained. The AMC advert showing their safety measures says cinemas have MERV-13 filters, but in small writing it says were possible, customers should be able to know which cinemas have the filters installed so they can make the choice themselves if they want to take the risk going to a cinema without a filter that removes COVID from the air.
In a recent interview with Variety Adam Aron predictably said AMC’s new safety and cleaning procedures will be expensive and that the costs will be “passed on to the consumers.” Which will be either higher ticket prices or concessions in similar way ticket prices previously increased with the conversion from film to digital and the recent unnecessary installation of recliners.
Christopher Nolan wants to be the saviour of cinema, but the way Tenet is being released globally is the worst possible opening in Australia and South Korea from August 21st, Sweden and France seeing from August 24th and then 60+ territories from August 26th and then selected states in the US (not New York and Los Angeles but incredibly Florida) and China from September 3rd. As spoilers will be online from August 21st when the embargo ends.
The other major issue is piracy as the film opens in many Asian countries ahead of the US on August 26th and the majority of piracy is now generated there so there will be many illegal streams online before it opens in the US. This is also likely to happen with Mulan as it opens in China a week before being released on Disney+.
On Monday New York Gov Andrew Cuomo said opening movie theatres is far riskier than other businesses after he announced gyms and museums could reopen with social distancing and reduced capacity next week only if MERV-13 filters were fitted in air-conditioning and they were inspected before opening. Gov Andrew Cuomo previously said in June movie theatres could reopen if they have MERV-13 filters installed the problem is not all theatres have them fitted.
Two days later Cuomo said, “New York theatres will likely be the next to re-open, ‘the matrix is how essential is the business, how dangerous is the business if your positive and breathing in and out sitting two seats from another person it could be a real problem’.
It’s understandable that reopening movie theatres is far down on the list of priorities for Cuomo as while cinema seems huge to those that work within in and go to the cinema it is still only a small cog in the US economy, last year Movie Theatres added about 10% ($11.3bn BO and similar amount concessions) to the $21.44 trillion US economy and while the risk might be similar to hospitality but is worth over 3000% more ($660bn) than cinema employing far more people.
Last week Morning Consult ran another survey ad the results were as they have been for the last few months 74% of U.S. adults said they are unlikely to go to a movie theatre in the next month and 54% said that studios should hold off on new releases until sometime in 2021.
All the research since April has said it will take months for the majority to return to the cinema with only 18% willing to go back immediately..
16% said they only want to see Tenet” in cinemas; 54%, said would prefer to see in theatres but are also ok to see it at home. While No Time to Die and Top Gun: Maverick would prefer to see in cinemas but that is probably because by November most hope the pandemic will be over and things will go back to normal and people will be going back to the cinema as they did before lockdown.
A similar survey a few days later by Atom Tickets said 40% are ready to return to the cinema immediately, but those 16,000 surveyed were movie fans while the 2,000+ asked by Morning Consult were a much wider mix of people.
On Saturday Warner Bros held DC Fandome a virtual convention (similar to Disney’s D23 Expo) this included trailers, gameplay footage and announcements of upcoming DC projects, this included the second trailer for Wonder Woman 1984 and the first trailer for The Batman (both films don’t have dates on the end of the trailers), James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad, Black Adam and the first trailer of Zack Snyder’s Justice League which will premiere in the US on HBO Max but probably have a cinema release in the UK as American Pickle that also premiered on HBO Max earlier this month but was given a theatrical release in the UK.(opened with £27,732 taking £82,856 to date).
It was great to see the new trailers for Wonder Woman 1984 and The Batman but we saw them on our phones and tablets rather than first in the cinema, it would be interesting to see if people’s reactions to films differ from those who saw trailers on phones or in the cinema first?
As we used to see the trailer first in cinemas, going to multi-media screenings in the 90s and early 00s that was where you would see the trailer first, it must have some psychological impact on our brains when we see the trailer for films on 5-inch screens rather than 40ft screens and many will opt to see the films on the same 5-inch screens rather than the cinema screen a few months later.
Watching Gravity for the first time since the cinema on Saturday, what it lacks from the visual intensity of the vastness of space on the IMAX screen it makes the film even more claustrophobic and intense and strangely works better on the small screen
On Tuesday Tom Cruise posted a video online of him attending a preview screening of Tenet at the BFI IMAX on Monday on the way out of the cinema he was asked by another cinemagoer what he thought, and he said “I loved it” Tom Cruise is currently filming Mission Impossible 7 and 8 at Warner Bros Studios Leavesden.
UK Box Office Top 10
UK Box Office Predictions
- The New Mutants – Disney/Fox
The 17th and last 20th Century Fox Marvel film based in the X-Men Universe. The release of The New Mutants feels like the end of the era of 20th Century Films as the film was meant to be the start of a new generation of X-Men films and the first of a trilogy but instead it will be the final film before they are rebooted into the Marvel Universe in the coming years.
The New Mutants stars Maisie Williams, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Heaton, Alice Braga, Blu Hunt and Henry Zaga and directed by Josh Boone who previously directed the young adult drama The Fault in Our Stars.
Fox was happy with the original cut of the film but after the success of It Chapter One wanted the film to focus on the scary moments which is when the trouble started as the filmmakers had to turn the film into a completely different film it was intended to be.
In 2000 20th Century Fox took a massive gamble making X-Men as at the time comic-book films were poorly received both at the box office and critically with films like Batman and Robin and Barb Wire. The studio had little faith in the film bringing its release forward 6 months from December to July to fill a gap in their schedule, but it’s success launched a new generation of comic-book films and saw Sony finally make Spider-Man two years later that had been in development for many years. The success of both X-Men and Spider-Man allowed Marvel to take the risk ad self-finance a series of films that Paramount Pictures would release, and their success saw Disney acquire Marvel for $4bn in 2009.
The New Mutants started filming in July 2017 and was originally due to be released in April 2018 but was delayed many times until it’s the final release date in May, with it opening August 28th in the US and September 4th in the UK. After the film was delayed many times many expected it to be released straight to Disney+ or Hulu but the film was contractually bound to have a theatrical release.
The first trailer was released in October 2017 a new trailer was released incorporating changed made to the film in January 2020, the trailer felt remarkably similar in tone to all of Disney’s MCU trailers and a further trailer was released in July during Comic-Con @Home
The long delays for the release were partly to do with the film needing extensive reshoots and took time to get the cast together and the acquisition of the studio by Disney as immediately after Disney acquired the studio all plans for the X-Men universe 20th Century Fox had started in 2000 were over and the film had little value to Disney (as Dark Phoenix) and it was always likely they would dump it and end of August is normally where studios dump their films. (it open in the US August 28th and isn’t being screened for critics, having previews over the Bank holiday weekend in the UK before opening September 4th which is likely to see it being DOA before it’s the official opening.
Director Josh Boone said the film was never going to go straight to streaming service as the last scene of the film the last act of the movie was designed to be seen on IMAX screens, he said “people should be going to the movies” instead of going to “a house party with 700 people without masks on.”
In January 2020 Disney’s official fan club website D23 called the film a “new addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe”, which was picked up by fans, but soon after all mentions of the film was removed from the website and Disney said it was an error and it wasn’t part of the MCU.
The 16 X-Men films have taken almost £270m at the UK box office over the last 20 years (over £320m inflation inflated); the biggest opening of an X-Men film was 2016’s Deadpool (£13,729,803) and its lowest-grossing was 2005’s Elektra (£791,914) but The New Mutants could open lower.
The New Mutants is being released in US cinemas on Friday, but many US critics are refusing to review the film unless Disney offers them safe screenings options to watch the film, the only way is in a public cinema screening.
AV Club wrote an in-depth article about why they won’t be reviewing the film he wrote “Science experts did not mince words: There’s a very good chance you could get sick. And that’s a risk The A.V. Club will not be taking to review a movie, any movie,”… “We are, in fact, adopting the official policy of only reviewing films our writers can safely watch, whether in a socially distanced press screening or with a digital screener. And yes, that applies to all our writers, even those willing to take the risk for an assignment, because we’re not willing to monetize that risk, either.”
Disney could be doing this on purpose as they don’t want reviews ahead of its release after the film is being dumped in cinemas this week,
The New Mutants is surprisingly having 3 days of previews this weekend in the UK ahead of its release next Friday, which will see the film being DOA before it’s officially opening.