- John Wick: Chapter Four – £5,321,533 – NE
Took £515k (9.6%) Thursday; £1.5m (28.2%) Friday; £1.96m (36.8%) Saturday and £1.32k Sunday (24.8%)
260th biggest opening between How to Train Your Dragon 3 and Zootropolis (close to Mission: Impossible III, Fast Five, Ocean’s Eleven and Die Hard 4.0) and 414th biggest inflated between Tenet and Daddy’s Home 2 (close to Armageddon, Basic Instinct, True Lies and The Mask).
68th widest opening in the UK between The Duke and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (similar to Spectre and Coco); Lionsgate’s third widest opening after surprisingly Military Wives (671) and The Personal History Of David Copperfield (656); opened in 109 more cinemas than John Wick 3; 216 more than John Wick 2 and 261 more than John Wick (but of course, John Wick 4 opened in multiple screens playing in about 1,000 screens.
394th biggest screen average (£8,174) between Snatch and Ali G Indahouse (coincidentally opened the same weekend 21 years ago)
2nd biggest opening of 2023 between Ant-Man 3 and Creed III
Thursday previews took 21.5% of the opening
2019’s John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum opened #1 £3,562,524 including £849,972 from 2 days of previews from 542 screens taking £10,203,138
Opened 560%+ than 2015’s John Wick and 60%+ than John Wick: Chapter 2 was Keanu Reeves’s biggest opening in the UK since 2003’s The Matrix Revolutions at £8,712,350 and his first #1 since 2008’s The Day the Earth Stood Still at £2,752,132
2017’s John Wick: Chapter 2 opened #3 £2,232,055 (including £248,415 previews) from 435 cinemas taking £5,766,633
Warner Bros opened the first John Wick film over 6 months after its US release in the UK opening April 2015, the week after Fast & Furious 7 taking £539,602 #7 from 390 screens taking £1,439,149.
It’s 38 minutes longer than the previous film at 2hrs 49 mins and almost twice as long as the first film 1hr 36 mins.
4th different #1 over 4 weeks, last time this happened was in September 2018 when Night School, The House with a Clock in its Walls, The Predator, The Nun and Venom all opened #1 over 5 weeks, as John Wick 4 will likely drop 60% this weekend Dungeons & Dragons could make it 5 weeks with Super Mario Bros making it 6 weeks. While in 2018 played to different demographics John Wick: Chapter 4, Shazam! Fury Of the Gods, Scream VI and Creed III all play to the same demographic, why they opened as they did and also why they all dropped similarly in the second weekend.
Critics called John Wick the second-best action film franchise after Mission Impossible; Keanu Reeves and Tom Cruise have similar acting careers and similar ages and made a wide mix of genres and two franchises each they are now best known for The Matrix/John Wick and Mission Impossible/Top Gun.
But Keanu Reeves and Tom Cruise have had very different paths to get where they are today.
Tom Cruise’s career went supersonic after their breakthrough role in 1983’s Risky Business and then Top Gun in 1986 for the next decade made mainstream studio films but then started to mix them up with Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut and Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia alongside Mission: Impossible II, Minority Report and War of the Worlds. After Edge of Tomorrow disappointed in 2014, he has concentrated on franchises Mission: Impossible: Rogue Nation, Mission: Impossible: Fallout, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back and The Mummy reboot and Top Gun and next Mission Impossible 7 and 8.
While Keanu Reeves starred in more quirky roles mixed in with commercials. 1988’s Dangerous Liaisons and 1989’s Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure were his breakthrough roles (showing the range he had) followed by Parenthood but then starred in the flop I Love You to Death, followed up with 1991’s Point Break and Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey both moderate successes along with Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Much Ado About Nothing but then made two independent films Even Cowgirls Get the Blues and Little Buddha both disappointed before 1994’s Speed (tenth biggest film in the UK taking £10.2m) and turned down Speed 2.
After Speed starred in several flops Johnny Mnemonic, A Walk in the Clouds, and Chain Reaction and turned down Speed 2. 1997’s Devil’s Advocate took £5.12m but then The Matrix blew audiences away in 1999, opening with £3.38m, taking £16.91m. The Replacements, The Watcher, The Gift, Sweet November and Hardball followed all disappointing at the box office before returning to The Matrix in 2003 with The Matrix Reloaded opening with £12.16m taking £32.51m and The Matrix Revolutions opening with £8.71m and taking £17.75m.
His films since have had mixed success Something’s Gotta Give in 2004 opening £1.2m and taking £6.68m, Constantine in 2005 opening £2.09m and taking £6.45m, The Lake House in 2006 £761,465m taking £2.75m, The Day the Earth Stood Still in 2008 opened £2.75m taking £6.95m and 2013’s 47 Ronin £2.72m.
- 2. Shazam! Fury of the Gods – £1,094,706 – £4,093,818
Down 54.3% in the second weekend
Took £186k Friday 61.1% drop (16.9%); £552k Saturday 49% drop (50.2%); £360.7k Sunday 56.9% drop (32.9%)
928th biggest second weekend between Taken and The Haunting (close to Team America: World Police, Green Lantern, Dragonheart and Blade) and 1,505th biggest inflated between Hanna and Stepmom (close to Rambo III, The Running Man, The Lawnmower Man and Stakeout).
84th biggest comic-book second weekend opening between Green Lantern (£1,105,089) and Blade (£1,067,918) close to Fantastic Four (2005), The Hulk, X-Men: Dark Phoenix and Daredevil) and 94th biggest inflated between Hellboy (£1,137,686) and Super Mario Brothers (£1,050,596) (close to Black Widow, Superman IV, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (1997) and Spawn).
97th biggest comic-book film between Ghost Rider and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (1997) (close to Fantastic Four (2015), The Green Hornet, Superman IV and Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance).
1,563rd biggest film between Star Trek V The Undiscovered Country and The Lone Ranger (close to Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, Falling, This is the End and Analyze This) and 2,064th biggest inflated between Under Siege 2: Dark Territory and Revolutionary Road (close to The Avengers (1998), The Saint, True Romance and Pretty in Pink).
The industry gets caught up in its hype with comments 18 months ago after the huge opening of No Time To Die saying it was the start of a second golden age of cinema and the next 12-18 months will extraordinary, while very quick to dissect the reasons why films like Shazam 2 and Ant-Man 3 failed to meet expectations, that said Shazam 2 had low expectations for months tracking low while expectations for Ant-Man 3 were far stronger and of course hype got it to have the biggest opening of the trilogy but then as predictable dropped off far quicker than the first two films.
While it surely doesn’t take a genius to realise that opening five films over five weeks all targetting the same demographic will see them cannibalize each other, the problem is industry focuses all of its attention on the opening weekend, films didn’t regularly drop 60% in their second weekends showing that these films are all hype no sustenance all playing to the same fickle audience who rush off to the next shiny new film as flies do to the light or lemmings to a cliff. The industry never learns as this is similar to their sequel mania in the early 90s which saw enormous success from original films Pretty Woman, Ghost and Home Alone.
Since Man of Steel DC has tried to build a similarly extended universe as MCU but they have struggled both critically and at the BO, but at least they are trying different things with films like Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman, Shazam! Joker and Birds of Prey while MCU is similar to how it was in 2016. DC keeps changing which saw James Gunn join DC Studios announcing a new slate in January, whilst he is editing Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3.
2019’s Shazam! dropped 48% in the second weekend taking £2,162,719 and £8,906,160 69.2% of £12,873,300; dropped 54.7% in third weekend £979,787 same weekend Avengers Endgame opened.
Similar films on second weekends
2010’s Kick-Ass dropped 69% £1,191,069 (inflation inflated £1,445,297) and £7,001,080 taking £11,528,933 (£13,989,730 inflation inflated)
2013’s Kick-Ass 2 dropped 75% £613,817 and £4,230,695 taking £5,055,634
2012’s Chronicle dropped 53% £1,024,583 and £4,055,680 taking £6,493,553
Shazam! Fury Of the Gods is the first of four DC films set for release this year The Flash, Blue Beetle and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom will open over the next 9 months. The one positive for Warner Bros is buzz is far more positive for their next DC film The Flash and Tom Cruise loved it especially as it has received a lot of negative media coverage due to Ezra Miller’s arrests and being delayed several times.
The 14 DC Extended Universe films have taken over £320m since Man of Steel opened 10 years ago.
- 3. Creed III – £731,273 – £12,842,819
Dropped 40.9% in the fourth weekend.
Took £186k 25.5% (down 46.7%) Friday; £346k (39.9% drop) Saturday (47.3%); £199.27k Sunday (36.3% drop (27.2%)
Had a similar fourth weekend as Mission: Impossible III, X-Men: The Last Stand, Troy and Bram Stokers Dracula and inflated close to The Rock, Bad Boys, Die Hard 4.0 and The Social Network.
Fourth weekends
Variety said Creed III “was a sports film that’s closer to ‘Cape Fear’ than ‘Rocky”; 1992’s Cape Fear dropped 22% £670,524 (£1,606,333 inflated) and £7,349,874 of £10,396,215 (£26,168,666 inflated).
2015’s Creed dropped 70% £168,956 #13 and £5,684,690
2018’s Creed II dropped 39% £453,102 #7 and £8,371,913 of £9,672,937
2007’s Rocky Balboa dropped 67% £260,084 #11 and £8,503,135
1991’s Rocky V took £3,482,057 (£9,285,485 inflated).
1977’s Rocky took £1,656,000 (£16,317,659 inflated)
1980’s Rocky II took £1,655,000 (£9,483,972 inflated)
1982’s Rocky III took £3.1m (£15,089,157 inflated)
1987’s Rocky IV took £4,030,109 (£17,990,763 inflated).
510th biggest film between Space Jam: A New Legacy and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (close to 8 Mile, Baby Driver, Trainspotting and Ghostbusters) and 902nd biggest inflated between Scandal and Groundhog Day (close to Superman IV, The Krays, Beetlejuice and Misery).
- 4. Scream VI – £597,937 – £6,291,354
Down 39.4% in the third weekend
Took £182k 43.8% drop Friday (30.4%); £263k 76% drop Saturday (44%); £152.93k Sunday 30.9% drop (25.6%)
The Scream series has taken in over £40m to date and £65m inflation inflated. Scream VI has overtaken Scream 3 and Scream 4 and will likely get close to 2022’s Scream BO but will come short of both Scream and Scream 2
3rd weekend
2022’s Scream dropped 37.1% £788,123 taking £6,150,844 of £7,438,313
2011’s Scream 4 dropped 46% £396,190 taking £5,096,897 of £5,581,902
2000’s Scream 3 £454,746 dropped 49% taking £5,133,109 and £5,585,267 (£9.16m inflation inflated)
1998’s Scream 2 £523,390 dropped 56.8% taking £5,992,264 and £8,280,725 (£14.68m inflation inflated)
1997’s Scream £907,748 dropped 5.6% taking £4,303,003 of £8,247,094 (£14.62m inflation inflated)
1,114th biggest film between G. I. Joe and Monster-in-Law (close to The Specialist, Jackie Brown, Taken and Maverick) and 1,678th biggest inflated between Crazy Rich Asians and How to Be Single (close to LA Story, John Carter, The Craft (1996) and Plane’s Trains and Automobiles).
51st biggest horror between White Noise and Jeepers Creepers (close to M3gan, My Bloody Valentine, 28 Days Later and Scream 3) and 88th biggest inflated between Jeepers Creepers 2 and The Strangers (close to Nightmare on Elm Steet 4, Freddy’s Dead the Final Nightmare, House on Haunted Hill and Piranha 3-D).
- 5. Allelujah – £463,973 – £2,029,756
Down 35.2% in the second weekend
Took £149k 28% drop Friday (32.1%); £182k (39.2%) 18.8% drop Saturday; £132.97k Sunday (28.7%) 44.1% drop.
1,813th biggest second weekend between Ghost Ship and A Perfect Murder (close to Amelie, Scandal, The Hunt for Red October and O’ Brother, Where Art Thou) and 2,162nd biggest inflated between Quiz Show and Long Shot (close to Living, The Damned United, The Shawshank Redemption and Empire of Light).
As with other films targeting the grey pound Allelujah took more Mon-Thurs £850k than in its opening weekend £715,783 including £27,275 previews) £688,508 Fri-Sun and it was #1 Mon/Tues and it climbed from #5 to #2 on Monday.
The play was seen as a love letter to the NHS celebrating its 70th anniversary in 2018 and five years later the film is commemorating the 75th anniversary. The film received mixed reviews since its premiere at the Toronto Film Festival last year.
Previous Alan Bennett’s second-weekend film adaptations include.
2006’s History Boys dropped 19% £639,051 #7 and £1,996,235 of £4,024,741 (£6,677,599 inflated)
2015’s The Lady in the Van dropped 28% £1,609,943 #3 and £6,437,140 of £12,660,028) and 1995’s The Madness of King George dropped 22% £240,567 and £1,103,972 (on limited release) taking £4,531,966.
While other recent British grey-pound films’ second weekends include 2022’s Living down 26.3% £493,618 and £1,735,421 of £3,804,018; The Lost King dropped 46.8% £195,942 and £880,109 of £1,281,757; Mrs Harris Goes to Paris dropped 36.2% £514,977 and £2,245,532 of £4,982,330; The Duke dropped 31.3% £682,096 and £2,740,233 of £5,283,515.
Richard Eyre previously directed films including 2001’s Iris (dropped 12.2% £332,484 and £998,828 of £3,647,197) 2004’s Stage Beauty (dropped 45% £70,049 and £307,839 of £470,208) 2007’s Notes on a Scandal (dropped 27.2% £830,943 and £2,731,922 of £5,665,431) and 2018’s The Children Act (dropped 30% £359,044 and £1,366,554 of £2,875,350).
Also Opened
80 For Grady – Paramount Pictures
Opened #9 £158,937 from 427 screens.
While the film had a small audience in the US opened with $12.5m taking $37m. Films about US sports rarely find an audience in the UK so there was no reason to give the film a cinema release, studios would regularly give films a token cinema release to be part of their lucrative Sky Cinema deal.
80 For Brady was originally due to be released on Paramount+ but as with Smile they gave it a theatrical release, other studios have also switched films made for streaming like Magic Mike’s Last Dance and given them theatrical release.
.
Infinity Pool – Universal Pictures
Opened #15 £83,972 from 152 screens.
26 years after his father sparked controversy with the release of Crash which saw the film banned by Westminster Council opened #6 on 6 June 1997 £168,895 from 56 screens (£3,015) taking £505,941.
Also Released
Rye Lane – Disney
Dropped 41.8% (32% without previews) in the second weekend taking £150,824 #10 from 238 screens, (lost 131 screens from the opening weekend) and £599,189
Ahead of opening the film received widespread critical acclaim with many comparing it to a Richard Curtis romcom and also received much love on social media from Jack Whitehall and Marion Keyes while the writers were on BBC Radio 5 last week talking about the film for almost an hour.
So why after all this positivity towards the film did it not find the audience it deserved? Sadly, its box office performance was as predictable as so many other similar films opened far too wide and then after failing to find the audience in its opening weekend which it was never going to do it had its shows cut back in its second weekend and will be cut back even further on Friday.
Films like Rye Lane need careful handling with cinema locations carefully chosen as they used to be when distributors had to worry about 35mm prints. Seen by how it dropped only 32% despite losing over 100 screens and on many of the screens it held it had a reduced number of showtimes.
Not saying this in hindsight as I expected it to open similarly to the 2021 film Boxing Day, but it should have opened in London only and then expanded into 100, and then 200 and 300 screens over the following weekends and seen as counterprogramming to Shazam 2, John Wick Chapter 4 and Dungeons & Dragons.
As the problem is these are films audiences don’t rush out to see they take time to see them after hearing about them from friends and social media but then when they do decide to see them, they find them either not playing anymore or having one random afternoon show.
UK box office in detail
This weekend’s top 10 box office took £9,441,651 up 27.3% from last weekend’s £7,418,582: 1,215,962 admissions up 26.1% from 964,705.
641st biggest top 10 of the last 21 years (out of 1,095) between 14 October 2022 #1 Lyle, Lyle Crocodile £2,783,562 (29.4% of top 10) and 21 April 2017 #1 Fast & Furious 8 £3,593,733 (38.1% of top 10) and 931st biggest inflation inflated between 14 October 2022 #1 Lyle, Lyle Crocodile £2,783,562 (29.4% of top 10) and 18 May 2007 #1 Spider-Man 3 £2,549,712 43.2% of top 10).
The top 3 took £7,147,512 75.7% of the top 10; John Wick: Chapter Four 56.4% (£5,321,533); Shazam! Fury Of the Gods 11.6% (£1,094,706); Creed III 7.8% (£731,273)
56.38% of the top 10 180th highest percentage #1 between 30 June 2006 Over the Hedge (56.41%) and 09 July 2004 Shrek 2 (56.16%).
456th biggest admissions #1 (692,007) between 17 January 2014 the Wolf of Wall Street (692,855) and 12 May 2017 Alien: Covenant (691,393).
Up 119.4% from 2022 (£4,302,969); RRR (£650,204); Ambulance (£521,049); Don Carlos – Met Opera 2022 (£72,610); Umma (£35,692); #1 The Batman £1,664,503 4th weekend 50% drop 683 screens (38.7% of top 10)
2021; Lockdown
2020; Lockdown
Down 1.6% from 2019; (£9,597,710); Us 74.2% (£2,766,839); The White Crow (£326,997); Five Feet Apart (£253,341); The Great Escape with Dan Snow: A Gala Screening On The 75th Anniversary (£172,550); #1 Captain Marvel £3,378,583 3rd week 632 screens 49% drop (32.5% of top 10)
Down 18.4% from 2018: (£11,575,592); Pacific Rim: Uprising (£1,655,186); A Wrinkle In Time (£655,542); Unsane (£478,451); Blade Runner: The Final Cut (Secret Cinema 2018) (£349,492); Proud Mary (£26,291); #1 Peter Rabbit (£4,595,239) 2nd week 37% drop (39.7% of top 10)
Down 49.7% from 2017: (£18,777,727); Power Rangers (£1,574,624); Life (£743,281); The Lost City of Z (£270,139); CHiPs: Law and Disorder (£205,933); Idomeneo – Met Opera 2017 (£186,423); #1 Beauty and the Beast £12,334,338 2nd week 37% drop (65.7% of top 10)
Down 61.6% from 2016: (£24,577,822); Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (£14,621,007); Zootropolis (£5,306,726); My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 (£983,534); Capture the Flag (£86,104); #1 Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice £14,621,007 1st week (59.5% of top 10)
Down 19.9% from 2015; (£11,794,092); Home (£6,025,917); The Divergent Series: Insurgent, (£2,938,860); The Gunman (£405,934); Wild Card (£152,034); The Voices (£118,255); #1 Home £6,025,917 1st week
Up 54.8% from 2014: (£6,099,424); Starred Up (£495,181); A Long Way Down (£361,901); Labor Day (£278,726); About Last Night (£173,376); Yves Saint Laurent (£123,913); #1 The Grand Budapest Hotel £1,267,408 1st week 9 (2nd weekend) 3% drop.
Down 15.1% from 2013: (£11,114,309); The Croods (£5,372,290); Jack the Giant Slayer (£1,591,736); Identity Thief (£1,313,162); Stolen (£202,373); Compliance (£72,417); #1 The Croods £5,372,290 1st week.
Up 3.3% from 2012 (£9,142,345); The Hunger Games (£4,900,177); Act of Valour (£262,935); The Kid with a Bike (£66,822); Wild Bill (£60,430); #1 The Hunger Games £4,900,177 1st week
Up 31.4% from 2011 (£7,183,735); Limitless (£2,087,363); A Turtle’s Tale (£1,122,067); The Eagle (£1,038,954); Faster (£157,169); Country Strong (£22,001); #1 Limitless £2,087,363 1st week (29.1% of top 10)
Down 8.1% from 2010: (£10,270,286); Nanny McPhee & the Big Bang (£2,586,760); The Blind Side (£1,313,317); #1 Nanny McPhee & the Big Bang £2,586,760 1st week (25.2% of top 10)
Up 32.1% from 2009; (£7,146,864); Paul Blart: Mall Cop (£1,289,513); Duplicity (£796,244); Lesbian Vampire Killers (£648,634); The Age of Stupid (£101,752); Flash of Genius (£15,626); #1 Marley & Me £2,166,270 2nd week 51% drop
Down 24.6% from 2008; (£12,516,106); Horton Hears a Who (£2,947,089); The Spiderwick Chronicles (£2,555,791); Step Up 2 (£2,358,003); Meet the Spartans (£1,140,100); The Orphanage (£329,009); Love in the Time of Cholera (£91,784); Lars and the Real Girl (£78,707)); #1 Horton Hears a Who £2,947,089 1st week.
Up 5.4% from 2007: (£8,956,317); 300 (£4,746,071); TMNT (£948,791); Amazing Grace (£431,967); I Want Candy (£349,301); #1 300 £4,746,071 1st week (53% of top 10)
Up 44.4% from 2006; (£6,536,128): Inside Man (£1,806,854); Hostel (£1,215,987); The Ringer (£560,520); Transamerica (£137,932); The Boys from County Clare (£36,708); #1 Inside Man £1,806,854 1st week (27.6% of top 10)
Up 26.1% from 2005 (£7,489,470); Miss Congeniality 2 (£1,302,070); Valiant (£1,096,329); Melinda and Melinda (£129,257); Maria Full of Grace (£84,335); Mickybo and Me (£47,918); #1 Hitch £1,660,358 2nd week over 4 weeks (22.2% of top 10)
Up 17.1% from 2004 (£8,067,662); The Passion of the Christ (expansion) 3rd week (£2,019,935); Dawn of the Dead (£1,944,745); Agent Cody Banks 2 (£246,755); Under the Tuscan Sun (£203,634); The Station Agent (£97,044); The Honeymooners (£8,229); Fear X (£7,902); #1 The Passion of the Christ £2,019,935 3rd week up 573% (25.1% of top 10)
Up 119.6% from 2003 (£4,300,084); Just Married (£973,469); National Security (£426,698); Evelyn (£344,270); #1 Just Married £973,469 1st week.
Down 7% from 2002 (£10,151,091); Ali G Indahouse (£3,231,673); Ice Age (£3,029,738); Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius (£541,453); Return to Neverland (£266,149); #1 Ali G Indahouse £3,231,673 1st week.
Next week 2022; (£12,727,545); Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (£4,986,334); Morbius (£3,254,830); The Bad Guys (£2,279,074); #1 Sonic the Hedgehog 2 £4,986,334 1st week (39.2% of top 10)
US Box Office
- John Wick: Chapter Four – Lionsgate
Opened $73.81m; received positive reviews (95% Rotten Tomatoes); A CinemaScore
2019’s John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum opened $56.81m (88% Rotten Tomatoes and A- CinemaScore) taking $171.01m and $327.77m worldwide
$8.9m from Thursday previews up 51% from John Wick 3 ($5.9m); 2015’s John Wick $950k and 2017’s John Wick: Chapter 2 $2.2m
38% from IMAX and PLF
123rd biggest opening between The Simpsons Movie and The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (close to I Am Legend, Avatar, Spectre and The Bourne Ultimatum); #206 John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum; #578 John Wick: Chapter 2.
Ahead of John Wick: Chapter 3 opening was tracking between $30m-$40m
2019’s John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum opened $56.81m taking $171.01m and $328.34m
2017’s John Wick: Chapter Two opened $30.43m (89% on Rotten Tomatoes and A- CinemaScore) taking $92.02m and $171.53m worldwide.
2014’s John Wick opened $14.41m (86% Rotten Tomatoes and B CinemaScore) taking $43.03m and $88.76m
Reaction to its opening was predictable but as with the previous three films opening #1 over the last three weeks with Dungeons and Dragons and Super Mario Bros opening over the next two weeks John Wick Chapter Four will be even more front-loaded than Chapter 3 which dropped 56.7% taking 33% of its total BO over the opening weekend; took $24.58m #2 and $101.22m 59% of total against Aladdin #1 $91.5m.
John Wick Chapter Two opened with 46% less and opening $30.43m was a similar 33% of the total $92.02m but had a budget half the size of Chapter 3. Chapter 2 also had a lower second-weekend drop of 46.7% taking $16.21m and $58.4m a similar 63.5% of the total. After opening #3 behind The Lego Batman Movie and Fifty Shades, Darker (all opening the same weekend) dropped #4 in second
2014’s John Wick opened with $14.41m 53% less than Chapter 2, 77% less than Chapter 3 and 80.5% less than Chapter 4, having a budget a quarter of the size of Chapter 4 ($30m) but also took 33.5% of the total in its opening weekend. Opened #2 behind Ouija by $19.87m dropping #6 in the second weekend down 44.5% by $7.99m and $27.53m by 64% of $43.03m.
John Wick opened 9 months after 47 Ronin flopped and in the 11 years since The Matrix Revolutions Keanu Reeves films struggled at the box office including 2008’s The Day the Earth Stood Still (taking $79.36m and $237.37m). So little was expected from B movie John Wick and after taking $43m at the BO few expected there would be a sequel but it became a far bigger success on video.
If Chapter 4 holds similar to previous instalments it will take $180-$190m and Lionsgate will be dating John Wick Chapter 5 for 2025 within a few weeks.
Opened with $64m from 71 territories and $137.5m worldwide; 73% more than John Wick Chapter 3 $35.2m from 66 territories and $92.2m worldwide.
Took $12.7m from IMAX worldwide and $4.3m from 282 internationally.
- Shazam! Fury Of The Gods – Warner Bros
Dropped 69% in the second weekend $9.34m and $45.97m
2019’s Shazam! dropped 54.3% in the second weekend $24.45m and $94.22m and $365.97m WW
1,970th biggest film between The Full Monty and The Rainmaker; 2,930th biggest inflated between Iron Will and The Freshman; 9th biggest 2023 between Jesus Revolution and 80 for Brady; 100th biggest comic-book film between Wonder Woman 1984 and Catwoman; 324th biggest Warner Bros film between Gangster Squad and 12 Strong.
Shazam! opened internationally with $102m from 79 territories (#1 in 60 of 79 territories) and $158.6m worldwide; top international China $30.9m; Mexico $6.2m; UK $5.3m; Russia $5.2m; Brazil $5.1m; Indonesia $4.1m; Korea $3.9m; Australia $3.4m.
Took $12.1m from 77 territories $55.8m total and $101.74m worldwide; Mexico $7.7m; China $5.8m; UK $5m; Brazil $2.5m; Australia $2.4m.
1,720th biggest worldwide between The Devil Inside and Little Man; 10th biggest 2023 between Pathaan and Cocaine Bear; 263rd biggest Warner Bros film between Vacation and Mars Attacks!
- Scream VI – Paramount Pictures
Dropped 52% in the third weekend $8.33m and $89.82m
867th biggest third weekend between Paranormal Activity 3 and Life of Pi (close to Scream 3, The Others, Don’t Breathe and Terminator Salvation). Scream 3 #826; Scream 2 #763.
Third weekends
1996’s Scream increased 10.4% #3 taking $10.01m and $39.08m taking $103.04m and $173.04m worldwide (#5 behind Michael and Jerry Maguire, had an extraordinarily strong word of mouth and held very strongly staying in the top 10 for 9 weeks)
1997’s Scream 2 dropped 34.7% by $9.08m #6 and $71.1m taking $101.36m and $172.36m WW
2000s Scream 3 dropped 42.7% $8.61m #1 and $34.71m taking $89.14m and $161.83m WW
2011’s Scream 4 dropped 69% by $2.17m #13 and $35.49m taking $38.18m and $97.23m WW
2022’s Scream dropped 40.8% by $7.22m #2 and $62.01m taking $81.64m and $137.74m WW
897th biggest film between The Black Phone and Terminator: Genisys; 1,594th biggest inflated between Friday the 13th Part IV: The Final Chapter and the A-Team; 4th biggest 2023 between M3gan and John Wick: Chapter 4; 34th biggest horror between The Black Phone and Don’t Breathe; 120th biggest Paramount Pictures film between Trading Places and Terminator: Genisys
2022’s Scream took $6.5m in the third weekend from 55 territories and $44.1m total international and $106.2m worldwide; UK$8.3m; Australia $3.8m; France $3.7m.
Dropped 47% with $5.9m internationally from 53 territories $49.37m total and $139.2m worldwide; 1,306th biggest worldwide between Die Hard and The Invisible Man; 64th biggest horror between Gothika and The Invisible Man; 146th Paramount Pictures between The Rugrats Movie and Star Trek: The Motion Picture; just overtaken 2022’s Scream $138.87m
- Creed III – MGM
Dropped 46% in the fourth weekend $8.36m taking $140.88m
449th biggest fourth weekend between Wayne’s World and S.W.A.T. (close to Smile, Rocky IV, Total Recall (1990) and The Karate Kid).
443rd biggest film between Rush Hour and The Blair Witch Project; 884th biggest inflated between Heat and Tango & Cash.
2015’s Creed dropped 50.5% by $5.01m and $87.82m of $109.76m and $173.56m worldwide
2018’s Creed II dropped 46% by $5.38m and $104.87m of $115.71m and $214.21m worldwide
The 8 Rocky films have taken almost $940m in the US and $1.76bn worldwide but as of course the first Rocky film opened almost 50 years ago, Rocky’s $225m worldwide BO would be $2.1bn worldwide.
Took $5.4m internationally from 75 territories $105.9m total and $246.7m worldwide.
669th biggest worldwide between Glass and Love Actually; 4th biggest 2023 film between Ant-Man 3 and Scream VI.
UK Box Office Top 10
UK Box Office Preview
While it was always expected Creed III, Scream VI, Shazam! Fury Of the Gods and John Wick: Chapter Four would all open #1 over the last four weeks it was less sure if Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves could find a similar audience. The positive for Dungeons & Dragons is the trailer has played before all those films targeting similar demographic and has received positive reviews.
While John Wick: Chapter Four is expected to be front-loaded and drop upwards of 60% and loses many of the IMAX, PLF and 4DX screens to Dungeons & Dragons, the negative is with the Easter school holidays starting Monday Super Mario Bros opens Wednesday and Dungeons & Dragons will lose many of the IMAX, PLF and 4DX screens after only 5 days.
Co-director John Francis Daley said the film’s influences included The Princess Bride, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, The Lord of the Rings, Willow, and Indiana Jones. Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley previously directed 2018’s Game Night (opened £1,094,478 taking £4,633,708) and 2015 Vacation and wrote screenplays for Horrible Bosses, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 and Spider-Man: Homecoming making the film accessible to non-fans.
Of course, fantasy and Dungeons & Dragons have had mixed success at the BO. Few will remember the 2000 film that opened with £366,840 in the UK, taking £1,425,131.
Similar films have had mixed success at the box office including (Clash of the Titans opened the same weekend in 2010)
2006’s Eragon opened at £1,317,687 taking £8,551,316.
1996’s Dragonheart opened £1,204,249 (£2,629,819 inflated) taking £6,573,083 (£14,354,192 inflated);
2015’s Seventh Son opened £411,576 taking £867,103
2010’s Clash of the Titans opened £5,682,875 taking £20,111,003
1999’s The Mummy opened £3,771,429 (£7,238,277 inflated) taking £17,439,339 (£33,470,275 inflated)
1988’s Willow opened £299,652 (£1,052,691 inflated) taking £1,641,213 (£5,765,653 inflated)
1987’s Masters of the Universe opened £342,680 (£1,287,839 inflated) taking £2,198,857 (£8,263,611 inflated);
2016’s Warcraft opened £3,623,725 taking £5,947,228
2002’s Reign of Fire opened £932,168 (£1,819,304 inflated) taking £3,216,609 (£6,277,826 inflated)
1986’s Labyrinth opened £608,513 (£2,615,311 inflated) taking £3,568,402 (£15,336,536 inflated)
1991’s Highlander 2: The Quickening opened £1,302,491 (£3,473,309 inflated) taking £5,250,692 (£14,001,845 inflated)
2007’s Beowulf opened £2,199,848 taking £7,043,429 (£11,269,486 inflated)
1988’s The Princess Bride opened £27,325 from 9 screens; The Princess Bride has since become one of the most beloved fantasy films but as with so many other films it struggled to find an audience in cinemas, it did ok in London cinemas (opened at Cannon Haymarket £10,811 with tickets £2) opened the same weekend as Batteries Not Included and the week before Three Men and A Baby opened in London.
Also Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies along with How to Train Your Dragon and Shrek.
Also opening for younger audiences is animated Mummies likely to open similarly to Epic Tails at £259,637 #9 taking £2,082,956 and Tad the Lost Explorer and the Curse of the Mummy opened with £818,525 (inflated with £467,361 of previews) taking £1,606,387.
John Wick Chapter 4 will drop 60% taking £2m-£2.3m
2019’s John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum dropped 60.2% of £1,416,278 and £6,246,151 65.1% of £9,587,828
2017’s John Wick: Chapter 2 dropped 49% (42% without previews) taking £1,146,520 and £4,443,479 #4 (after The Lego Batman Movie, Fifty Shades Darker and Sing) 77.1% of £5,766,633.
2015’s John Wick dropped 42% taking £311,102 and £1,185,362 of £1.5m total; 6 months after its US release and a week after Fast & Furious 7
Creed III and Scream VI will also drop around 50% while Allelujah will hold better as it continues to hold well during weekdays as the weekend.
NT Live’s Life Of Pi screens on Thursday with screenings also on Saturday and Sunday, the 2012 film was a huge hit opening £3,610,604 having long legs taking £28,726,668 and the stage show also received positive reviews so likely to spark interest in cinemas.
Opening Wednesday Ben Affleck’s Air has received positive reviews and being a sports film without any sport will help it find an audience outside of the US despite being a very American film, some critics have compared it to Jerry Maguire, but of course, never going to get anywhere near its box office despite opening 26 years later. Jerry Maguire opened March 1997 £1,532,506 (£2,895,570 inflated) taking £9,930,120 (£18,762,315 inflated).
While Super Mario Bros could open with £8m-£10m including up to £4m from previews from Weds/Thurs as the Easter holidays start on Monday. Being the only major family film released for Easter, Super Mario Bros should take £30m+ similar to The Secret Life of Pets and Sing especially with three Bank Holidays coming up in the next 3 weeks.
Opening in two weeks
- Renfield – Universal Pictures
The comedy horror film stars Nicholas Hoult, Nicolas Cage, Awkwafina, Ben Schwartz, and Adrian Martinez in supporting roles and directed by Chris McKay along with co-writing the screenplay for Dungeons & Dragons.
Chris McKay previously directed 2021’s The Tomorrow War (made by Paramount and sold to Amazon) and 2017’s The Lego Batman Movie.
Have been many different Dracula films from 1992’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula featuring an ensemble cast directed by Francis Ford Coppola to 1996’s Dracula: Dead and Loving It directed by Mel Brooks.
- Assassin Club – Paramount Pictures
Action thriller starring Henry Golding, Noomi Rapace, Sam Neill, and Daniela Melchior and directed by Camille Delamarre.
The spy film was shot in Italy in 2021 and Paramount Pictures acquired most world rights for the film last month after acquiring UK rights earlier, opened in Italy in February.
No UK trailer despite being due for release in two weeks.