1. Shazam! – £4,067,068  –  NE

Took £120,000 from previews

324^th biggest opening between The Great Gatsby and Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian and 427^th biggest inflation inflated between Snow White and the Huntsman and Darkest Hour (close to Rampage, Jumanji, Ant-Man and The Lego Movie: The Second Part).

52^nd biggest comic-book opening in the UK between Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer and Ant-Man and 62^nd biggest inflation inflated comic-book movie between Hellboy 2: The Golden Army and Ant-Man) close to Ant-Man and The Wasp, Kick-Ass, Men in Black 3 and Kick-Ass 2)

Warner Bros 57^th biggest opening between The Great Gatsby and The Lego Movie: The Second Part and 72^nd biggest inflation inflated opening between The Nun and The Lego Movie: The Second Part (close to Mad Max: Fury Road, Wild Wild West, the Perfect Storm and Demolition Man)

Seventh DC Extended Universe film released since Man of Steel in 2013; had the lowest opening for DC Extended Universe film but removing £1,405,407 from Aquaman  £5,230,285 opening in December Shazam opened 6% bigger Fri-Sun £3,824,878 highlighting again how previews artificially inflated films openings making direct comparisons now almost impossible.

Sold 53k tickets ahead of release (average price of £10.82) taking £580K

Opened with £1.3m on Friday taking 35% of the top 5 box office 4% more than Captain America: First Avenger and similar to Ant-Man

Shazam was always a hard film to predict as while reviews have been very positive, and word of mouth has been too but as Deadpool was in 2016 Shazam is a very different kind of comic-book movie as Kick-Ass or Chronicle.

Exhibitor reaction to Kick-Ass was poor the first time they screened it but Universal Pictures decided to screen it again for exhibitors but this time with comic-book fans who reacted positively to the film and exhibitors did too.  Similar happened with Avatar and Mamma Mia! and probably also with Te Greatest Showman as sometimes you need an audience to react to which was the case with Shazam as like Deadpool its very much a cinema audience film. 

2010’s Kick-Ass opened with £3,881,704 (£4,710,236 inflation inflated) taking £11,528,933 (£13,989,730 inflation inflated)

2013’s Kick-Ass 2 opened with £2,482,187 taking £5,055,634

2012’s Chronicle opened with £2,193,072 taking £6,493,553

Or Marvel cinematic Universe comedies

2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 1 opened with £6,363,110 (including £1,372,109 previews) taking £28,326,152

2015’s Ant-Man opened with £4,011,345 taking £16,309,117

Other similar films include 1994’s The Mask which took £17,306,976 and 1989’s Big £3,166,076

With positive word of mouth, lucrative Easter holidays and no real competition until Avengers: Endgame in two weeks’ time Shazam should take over £20m overtaking Justice League, Aquaman and Wonder Woman.

Next from DC is The Joker opening in October, the first trailer was released last week with Birds of Prey opening in February 2020 and Wonder Woman 1984 in June 2020 with The Batman and The Suicide Squad in June and August 2021 ad Aquaman 2 December 2022, with the strong start of Shazam a sequel will be likely in 2023.

The seven DC Extended Universe films have taken almost £165m over the last 6 years; in comparison MCU released 10 films over their first 6 years took 36% more (£225.47m); but after seven films DC Extended Universe films have taken 4% more than MCU £165m Vs £158.17m.

2. Dumbo –  £3,508,551 –  £12,083,765

Drown 42.2% in its second weekend due to mixed word of mouth and four new releases

152^nd biggest second weekend between X-Men: Days of Future Past and The Woman in Black and 228^th biggest second weekend inflation inflated between American Pie: The Wedding and Mr Beans Holiday (close to Inside Out, The Croods, The Boss Baby and Stardust)

Had the second biggest drop of Disney reimaginations after Maleficent dropped 60.4% in June 2014 but its opening was inflated with two days of previews taking £2,767,018; without previews it took  £3,823,053 Fri-Sun dropping 32% in its second weekend.

34th biggest Disney second weekend between Inside Out and Doctor Strange and 50th biggest inflation inflated second weekend between Inside Out and Doctor Strange (close to Unbreakable, The Muppets, Enchanted and Cinderella).

Dumbo had similar second weekend as 2015’s Cinderella (taking £2,969,426)

After 10 days on release Dumbo has overtaken Into the Woods (£9,644,236) and Alice Though the Looking Glass (£9,544,781)by the end of next weekend will have also overtaken Christopher Robin (£14,866,346), Oz the Great and Powerful (£rf 14,987,064) and 101 Dalmatians (£15,800,450).

By the Easter holidays if the weather stays cold and wet will also overtake Maleficent £19,292,000, Cinderella £20,960,275 to become the fourth biggest Disney reimagination after Beauty and the Beast, The Jungle Book and Alice in Wonderland.

Dumbo was always likely to be the ugly duckling of Disney’s reimaginations this year as the original animated film wasn’t as beloved as other Disney animated classics, has been along time since it was last released, and the film wasn’t a straight remake as other Disney reimaginations have been unlike Aladdin and The Lion King.

26 years ago Aladdin was the second biggest film of the year after Jurassic Park despite opening in  1992 (was one of the final films Disney released through Warner Bros before they opened Buena Vista International with Sister Act their first release in November 1992). Aladdin took £16,115,822  would be £52,163,050 today almost as much as Bohemian Rhapsody and Dunkirk.

A year later The Lion King was the biggest film of 1994 taking over £34,077,997 (Four Weddings ad a Funeral was second with £27,762,650) would be £108,944,735 today (seventh biggest film ever between LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring and Jurassic Park. As trailers for both look like the reimaginations are almost scene by scene remakes then would expect both to do similar box office?

The 11 Disney reimaginations have taken almost £280m at the box of office and over £320m inflation inflated.

Upcoming Disney reimaginations after Aladdin and The Lion King include Lady and the Tramp (Disney+), Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (October). Mulan (March 2020) and then currently undated Cruella, Pinocchio, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Lilo & Stitch, The Little Mermaid, Tinker Bell, Charming and Peter Pan  and The Sword in the Stone (Disney+).

3. Pet Sematary – £1,554,881  – NE

Included £300,000 from previews on Thursday  

920^th biggest opening in the UK between Intolerable Cruelty and Scary Movie 2 and 1049^th biggest inflation inflated opening between Hercules and Flight (close to Zombieland, Riddick, Evil Dead, Ouija and Poltergeist).

59^th biggest horror opening between The Haunting and Jeepers Creepers and 72^nd biggest inflation inflated between The Hills Have Eyes and Evil Dead (close to Insidious: The Last Key, The First Purge and Paranormal Activity: Ghost Dimension 3D).

76^th biggest Paramount Pictures opening between Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones and Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters and 78^th biggest inflation inflated Paramount Pictures opening between Hercules and Flight.

Pet Sematary has opened close to recent supernatural horrors remakes The Hills Have Eyes and Evil Dead, Poltergeist and Jigsaw target genuine horror fans while films like Get Out, Split, A Quiet Place and It attract a wider audience who don’t normal do horrors.

With mixed word of mouth Pet Sematary is unlikely to last long in the charts especially with Hellboy opening on Thursday.

Pet Sematary was another film you need to avoid seeing the trailers before seeing the film as they featured spoilers which the director of the remake also wished Paramount’s marketing hadn’t spoiled the film with the death of Louis and Rachel’s daughter, Ellie in the trailer.

Dennis Widmyer said “Yeah, we would not have done that, but we don’t work in marketing. But I will say though, to their credit, that we tested the film in a bunch of different cities, as you always do with studio films, and our score went up after the trailer was revealed. I’m not saying it was because of that. We had made the movie better obviously in between, but I don’t know. There is something to be said about people sort of knowing going in already what to expect and then being ready for it rather than blindsided by it if they’re not into it.”

Pet Sematary is just one of many trailers that include major spoilers but there has been research saying that some cinemagoers want to see spoilers while film fans and directors hate them many cinemagoers want to see them. “if someone’s going to pay $20 to go on opening weekend to see this movie, they want to know that they are making a pretty good investment.”

Studios heavily focus test trailers while many complain trailers give too much away 9/10 the more plot you include in a trailer the more interest you get from audiences and audiences respond to the film more.

There is a generational split older audiences want more plot while younger audiences want less. When the first trailer for Jurassic World was released director Colin Trevorrow said “In my opinion, [the studio has] shown far more of this movie than I would ever have wanted,” When the first trailer was released for the sequel Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom he said all the footage came from the first 15 minutes the same has also been said about the trailers for Avengers: Endgame.

In 2011 a woman was so confused by the trailer for Drive she sued the studio as she was expecting The Fast & the Furious

Most trailers now aren’t for the film fan who know about the film and mentally booked their seats as soon as the film was announced trailers are for those people who aren’t sure about seeing the film until days before opening.

4. Captain Marvel –  £1,156,476 –  £34,623,067

Down 34.6% in its fifth weekend

Third biggest MCU fifth weekend after Black Panther and Avenger: Infinity War

Eighth biggest MCU after Avenger Infinity War, Black Panther, Avengers Assemble, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2, Iron Man 3 and Captain America: Civil War;

Should overtake both Iron Man 3 and Captain America: Civil War by next weekend to become the sixth biggest MCU in the UK that is until Avengers: Endgame which is expected to take £80m+ after opening with £30m.

91st biggest film in the UK between Fifty Shades of Grey and Up and 109^th biggest film inflation inflated between Fifty Shades of Grey and Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.

26th biggest Disney film in the UK between Captain America: Civil War and Up and 35th biggest inflation inflated between Ratatouille and Monsters University (close to The Sixth Sense, Toy Story, Calendar Girls and Armageddon).

13th biggest comic-book film in the UK between Men In Black and Spider-Man 3 and 19^th biggest inflation inflated between Batman Vs Superman and Hancock.

The 21 Marvel Cinematic Universe films have taken over £627m over the last 11 years (£664m inflation inflated);

Advance bookings for Avengers: Endgame opened last Tuesday with Odeon Cinemas selling 30 tickets every 10 seconds over the first few hours crashing websites with one in every 4 tickets sold by Odeon for IMAX; between Tuesday and Thursday 781k tickets have been sold for its opening weekend taking over £8.5m with ticket average of £12.30 over 70% more than the industry claimed average price. It broke the records set by Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Star Wars: The Last Jedi for advance sales; with Vue Westfield having 255 screenings of Avengers: Endgame over its opening 4-day weekend there are still millions of seats available

After taking £8.5m+ from advance bookings this week many believe it will have the biggest ever opening in the UK but will likely get close to Star Wars: The Force Awakens opening but unlikely Spectre as it had 7 day opening and James Bond films play to a much wider demographic (old as well as young) as did The Force Awakens than comic-book movies.

Endgame will be similarly front-loaded as Infinity War with its £32m+ opening 40%+ of final £80m+ total taking 90%+ of its BO in its first 4 weeks as Infinity War. (Infinity War opened with £28.3m 41%+ of final BO of £70.4m).

20 years ago 100,000 tickets were sold for Star Wars: The Phantom Menace with most being brought the old-fashioned way with queues outside cinemas was a line across Leicester Square to the Odeon booking tickets and its prices were less than a quarter they are today. Immediately after tickets went on sale people were selling these tickets with marked up prices on eBay. 

5. Peppa Pig: Festival of Fun –  £982,617 –  NE

Starting strongly for the start of the Easter holidays and likely to perform well over the next two weeks with cold wet weather expected for the Easter holidays parents will want a 90-minute escape of watching Peppa Pig at home to watch it on the big screen instead.

Peppa Pig: My First Cinema Experience opened in April 2017 with £1.05m taking £3.62m and was eOne’s second biggest film in the UK in 2017. (after The Death of Stalin)

Opened slightly lower than My First Cinema Experience due to Vue Cinemas selling ticket for Peppa Pig: Festival Of Fun at a reduced price (£5.74 adults and children) as it will be many children’s first cinema experience but Cineworld and Odeon cinemas are charged regular prices for the 68-minute long film.

Peppa Pig: The Golden Boots opened February 13th, 2015 with £687,417 taking £2.32m

Two years ago Disney released Frozen short Olaf Frozen Adventure in November with all tickets £1 taking £1,115,689 from 611 screens opening fifth for the weekend behind Daddy’s Home 2, Paddington 2, Justice League, Murder on the Orient Express

Exhibitors should have been price sensitive with Peppa Pig seeing it as a long-term project chance to nurture a new audience into enjoying the cinema experience and not just be a big TV as to quote Edward Lewis comment about opera in Pretty Woman “People’s reactions to opera the first time they see it is very dramatic; they either love it or they hate it. If they love it, they will always love it.”

The same could be said about cinema if the children enjoyed their first cinema experience, they would be back again and again. But the one thing that could alienate parents from taking their children to see Peppa Pig is exhibitors charged regular prices for the 60-minute film.

Children at the Empire Ipswich were in tears before the start of the film when trailers for horrors Ma and Brightburn were shown before the film, as since digital cinema trailers are selected by exhibitor for all screens so these individual cinema errors should never happen, but they still seem to often happen, but they are only called out when they are horror trailers with children’s films.

UK box office in detail

This weekend’s top 10 box office took £13,628,514 up 20.9% from last weekend £11,266,298

The weekend admissions 1,887,606 up 21.9% from last weekend 1,547,766 average ticket $7.22 down from last year’s £7.49

18 films opened at weekend taking (£7,874,850); Shazam! 51.6% (£4,067,068); Pet Sematary 19.7% (£1,554,881); Peppa Pig: Festival of Fun 12.4% (£982,617); Missing Link 8.2% (£644,649); remaining 14 films shared 7.9% (£625,635): Top three took xx% (£9,130,500) of the top 10; Shazam! (£4,067,068) 29.8%; Dumbo (£3,508,551) 25.7%; Pet Sematary (£1,554,881) 11.4%;    

The weekend was up 2.5% from 2018: (£13,288,645); A Quiet Place (£2,696,892); Love, Simon (£1,179,593); Ghost Stories (£591,787); Death Wish (£156,795); Giselle – Bolshoi 2018 (£124,824); 120 Beats per Minute (£76,509); Thoroughbreds (£50,811); Wonderstruck (£30,642); The Hurricane Heist (£23,348); #1 Peter Rabbit (£3,152,269) down 44% 4 weeks

Down 9.2% from 2017: (£15,013,493); The Boss Baby (£8,025,886); Peppa Pig: My First Cinema Experience (£1,050,962); Going in Style (£569,392); Table 19 (£130,602); City of Tiny Lights (£28,038); Raw (£67,042); #1 The Boss Baby £8,025,886 1^st week

Up 2.8% from 2016: (£13,252,091); Eddie the Eagle (£2,834,785); Madama Butterfly – Met Opera 2016 (£421,695); Victoria (£108,602); #1 Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice £4,661,959 2^nd week 68% drop

Down 38.2% from 2015; (£22,075,680); Fast & Furious 7 (£12,765,033); The Water Diviner (£521,546); While We’re Young (£427,151); Blade Runner: The Final Cut (Re: 2015) (£267,452); #1 Fast & Furious 7 £12,765,033 1^st week

Up 8.6% from 2014: (£12,545,501); Rio 2 (£2,882,680); Noah (£2,511,397); Divergent (£1,767,295); La Boheme – Met Opera 2014 (£374,522); The Double (£281,794); #1 Rio 2 £2,882,680 1^st week

Up 70.01% from 2013: (£8,015,138); Dark Skies (£1,031,948); Spring Breakers (£345,153); The Odd Life of Timothy Green (£269,465); A Late Quartet (£107,158); #1 The Croods £2,364,348 3^rd week 28% drop

Down 1.2% from 2012 (£13,797,117); Titanic 3D (£2,856,540); Mirror Mirror (£2,389,033); The Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists (£2,166,162); The Cold Light of Day (£503,985); Headhunters (£264,769); Le Havre (£61,885); #1 Titanic 3D £2,856,540 1^st week

Up 109.9% from 2011 (£6,490,539); HOP (£1,392,740); Source Code (£1,306,661); Sucker Punch (£814,976); Killing Bono (£112,206); Oranges and Sunshine (£82,922); Psycho (£8,552); The Railway Children (RE) (£1,470); #1 HOP £1,392,740 1^st week

Down 37.3% from 2010: (£21,761,471); Clash of the Titans (£5,682,875); How to Train your Dragon (£4,846,532); Kick-Ass (£3,881,704); Remember Me (£987,310); #1 Clash of the Titans £5,682,875 1^st week

Up 33.9% from 2009; (£10,172,026); Monsters vs. Aliens (£4,345,711); The Boat that Rocked (£1,804,773); Religulous (£18,736); #1 Monsters vs. Aliens £4,345,711 1^st week

Up 105.7% from 2008; (£6,623,644); Son of Rambow (£897,089); Never Back Down (£845,530); Awake (£546,562); One Missed Call (£432,327); Funny Games (£88,376); How She Move (£78,771); #1 27 Dresses £1,028,661 2^nd week 41% drop

Up 93.9% from 2007:(£7,026,692); Blades of Glory (£1,023,836); Sunshine (£1,021,063); The Messengers (262,562); #1 Mr Beans Holiday £2,451,283 2^nd week 62% drop

Down 4.2% from 2006; (£14,229,376): Ice Age II (£9,775,974); She’s the Man (£994,304); Alien Autopsy (£796,119); The Dark (£265,084); The Squid and the Whale (£71,203); Pierrepoint (£38,896); #1 Ice Age II £9,775,974 1^st week

Up 98.8% from 2005 (£6,854,564); Sahara (£1,370,577); The Assassination of Richard Nixon (£157,756); Man of the House (£126,331); #1 Sahara £1,370,577 1^st week

Up 18.7% from 2004 (£11,477,491); Scooby-Doo Too (£3,549,487); The Cat in the Hat (£1,739,814); Gothika (£1,398,777); Monster (£320,983); #1 Scooby-Doo Too £3,549,487 1^st week

Up 219.1% from 2003 (£4,270,657); Shanghai Knights (£749,655); A Man Apart (£527,730); Blue Crush (£491,419); #1 The Recruit £770,014 2^nd week (3^rd weekend 17% drop

Up 110.7% from 2002 (£6,466,007); Collateral Damage (£434,639); 24 Hour Party People (£265,428); Kate & Leopold (£204,325); #1 Blade 2 £1,335,594 2^nd week 47% drop

Next weekend in 2018: (£12,710,945); Rampage (£4,109,247); Truth or Dare (£931,250); Luisa Miller Met Opera 2018 (£231,297); #1 Rampage £4,109,247 1^st week

Also released

• Missing Link – £644,649 from 546 screens

After receiving positive reviews and strong marketing campaign much bigger than Peppa Pig: Festival of Fun was surprising to see Missing Link open with less than half I expected.

The previous four Laika animated films released by Universal Pictures received similarly positive reviews but the one thing that helped them was they opened during less crowded periods with limited children’s competition, but Missing Link opened at the start of the Easter holidays against three other wide releases and Dumbo opening the week before.

The other issue for Missing Link was it played to a much younger audience than other Laika animate films which meant it was in direct competition with Peppa Pig: Festival of Fun while also having a similar plot to last years Smallfoot also didn’t help.

Smallfoot opened last October with £2,324,189 taking £10,932,839

One of the reasons why Universal Pictures might have rejected acquiring rights to Missing Link is they already had animated adventure Abominable also in production from Dreamworks Animation set for release later in 2019.

Coraline opened May 2009 with £2,427,244 taking £7,244,992

ParaNorman opened September 2012 with £1,393,123 taking £5,845,347

The Boxtrolls opened September 2009 with £2,000,597 (including £689,434 previews) taking £8,376,841

Kubo and the Two Strings opened September 2016 with £844,027 taking £2,887,889

With Easter holidays starting on Monday for two weeks and grey wet weather Missing Link should still perform well over the next two weeks but also faced competition from Wonder Park that opened on April 8^th which had a long trailer during the first episode of Britain’s Got Talent last Saturday watched by 8.3m the most watched TV show of the year so far overtaking last weeks Line of Duty first episode.  

• The Sister Brothers – Universal Pictures

Opened with £226,593 from 163 screens

Received positive reviews from critics after its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival last year but failed to find an audience in the US opening last September on platform release slowly expanding to 1,041 screens after 5 weeks taking only $3.1m in the US and $7.1m internationally with a budget of $38m.

Universal Pictures acquired UK rights as part of their distribution deal with Annapurna Pictures

UK Box office news

ComScore data for March box office was down 25% from 2018 with 2019 down 24% from 2018 with taking £90m lower than 2018. This number is higher than my estimates last week of 2019 box office January-March as they only included box office from 2019 released as the holdover box office from 2017 released Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Jumanji Welcome to the Jungle and The Greatest Showman was much more than last year Mary Poppins Returns, Aquaman and Bumblebee.

The top 10 films of 2019 January-March took £135m

Captain Marvel £32.49m; How to Train Your Dragon 3 £19.28m; The Lego Movie 2 £18.19m; Glass £10.65m; instant Family £10.45m; Stan & Ollie £10.20m; Green Book £9.81m; Alita: Battle Angel £9.01m; Mary Queen of Scots £8.78m; Us £6.08m.

While Captain Marvel performed as expected the issue was more with How to Train Your Dragon 3, The Lego Movie 2 and Glass all coming short of their previous films box office as instant Family, Stan & Ollie and Green Book all performed strongly (haven’t included The Favourite as a 2019 release as it opened in the West End in 2018).

Avengers: Endgame, The Lion King, Toy Story 4 and Star Wars: Episode IX are expected to be among the year’s biggest films taking £80m+ but the problem is more the lack of smaller films; two years ago Jumanji surprised audiences but this year the sequel has much more expectations surrounding it.

While after the massive success of The Greatest Showman and Bohemian Rhapsody similar is expected from Elton John’s Rocket Man in May after a likely world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, but opens against Aladdin and The Secret Life of Pets 2.

UK Box Office Top 10

US Box office

• Shazam! – Warner Bros

Opened with $53.5m; received positive reviews (91% Rotten Tomatoes score) and A CinemaScore

A month ago Shazam was tracking to open with $40m+ but after positive reviews and strong word of mouth opening bigger than expected; on Friday morning was expected to open with $45m+ but that was upped to $51.5m by Saturday.

Took $3.3m from previews on Saturday March 23rd (Aquaman took $2.9m) and $5.9m from Thursday previews.

Last week Dumbo opened with $46m and it was seen as a disappointment but this weekend Shazam opened with a similar amount because Dumbo ad a budget of over $170m and Shazam $45m. this makes it harder to compare to other films and comic-book movies as it is a very different film as Deadpool was without the R-rating.

Opened with $102m from 79 territories (#1 in 60 of 79 territories) and $158.6m worldwide

Top international territories China $30.9m; Mexico $6.2m; UK $5.3m; Russia $5.2m; Brazil $5.1m; Indonesia $4.1m; Korea $3.9m; Australia $3.4m.

Should take about $250-$275m internationally

 

• Pet Sematary – Paramount Pictures

Opened with $24.5m; receiving mixed reviews and C+ CinemaScore

Ahead of opening Pet Sematary was tracking to opening with up to $30m after positive reaction to the SXSW

Opening almost 30 years to the day of the original film that opened April 21^st, 1989 with $12.04m taking $57.46m; was followed with sequel Pet Sematary II in 1992 opening with $4.82m taking $17.09m

The 42 Stephen King film adaptations have taken $1.42bn in the US and $1.6bn worldwide since the original Carrie was released in 1976; but away from 2017’s It taking $327.48m (sequel opens in September footage screened at CinemaCon last week was well received and trailer is expected to be released shortly) and 1999’s The Green Mile $136.8m they have had mixed success at the box office despite his 50 novels selling over 350m copies worldwide.

Opened close to remakes

2013’s Evil Dead with $25.77 taking $54.23m

2015’s Poltergeist with $22.62m taking $47.42m

Opened with $17.3m from 46 territories

• Dumbo – Disney

Dropped 60.4% in its second weekend taking $18.21m and $76.26m  

If Dumbo holds like the other Disney reimaginations will take $120m+ but with Avengers: Endgame opening in three weeks and advance bookings already breaking records Dumbo is just a minor blimp with the rest of Disney’s slate this year.

The bigger question will be for Tim Burton as Alice in Wonderland was his last major success and that was nine years ago, he had moderate success with 2016’s Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children taking $87.2m in the US and $296.48m worldwide.

Second weekends

2017’s Beauty and the Beast dropped 48.3% taking $90.42m and $319.03m 63.3% of $504.01m;  $1.26bn worldwide

2016’s Pete’s Dragon dropped 47.2% taking $11.34m and $42.91m 56.3% of $76.23m; $143.69m worldwide

2016’s Alice Through the Looking Glass dropped 57.9% taking $11.31m and $51.39m 66.7% of $77.04; $299.45m worldwide

2016’s The Jungle Book dropped 40.4% taking $61.53m and $192.21m 52.8% of $364m; $966.55m worldwide

2015’s  Cinderella dropped 48.5% taking $34.96m and $122.51m 60.9% of $201.15m; $543.51m worldwide

2014’s Maleficent dropped 50.6% taking $34.32m and $128.17m 53.1% of $241.41m; $758.53m worldwide

2013’s   Oz The Great and Powerful dropped 47.9% taking $41.25m and $144.05m 61.3% of $234.9m; $493.31m worldwide

2010’s Alice In Wonderland dropped 46% taking $62.71m and $209.33m 62.6% of $334.19m; $1.02bn worldwide

1996’s 101 Dalmatians dropped 55.7% taking $16.89m and $66.42m 48.7% of $136.18m; $320.68m

Disney’s 10 live action reimaginations have taken $2.22bn (since 101 Dalmatians in 1996) in the US and over $6bn worldwide.

Aladdin is the next reimagination to open in May reaction to the trailers has been mixed and Disney screened more footage of the film at CinemaCon last week receiving similar mixed reaction. Many wondered how Sony Pictures could possibly remake Jumanji so soon after Robin Williams death but got around it by being a sequel but with the reimagination o Aladdin Will Smith is taking on Robin Williams iconic performance as the genie.

This to me is the problem with the reimaginations they can’t be straight remakes as the original films were iconic movies growing up, but Disney aren’t making these films for my generation they are for a much younger generation who probably didn’t grow up on their films as they weren’t re-released every few years as they were during my childhood.

This has been a similar issue to me with Disney’s Star Wars films being straight remakes of the original films but then when Disney tried to do something different with Star Wars: The Last Jedi audiences didn’t like it.

So similarly with Dumbo not being a straight reboot and reaction being mixed Disney could say to those criticising they have tried a different approach, but audiences prefer the straight reimagination.  

Aladdin is currently tracking for a $100m+ Memorial Day opening weekend while many believe The Lion King will be one of the biggest film this yea and both going by their trailer look like scene by scene live action remakes.

Took $39.6m internationally from 55 territories (down 45% from opening weekend) and $137.5m total and $213.8m worldwide

China $18.6m; UK $15.3m; Mexico $14.7m; Italy $8.2m; Spain $8m; France $7m; Russia $6m; Japan $5.3m; Brazil $5.1m; Australia $3.3m

Opened lower internationally than Alice Through The Looking Glass $75m and Cinderella $89m but it did have the second biggest international opening of 2019 after Captain Marvel but that is because the year has started so soft and will likely be until Avengers: Endgame opens at the next of the month which could opened with anything up to $800m worldwide with $300m+ from US $200m from China.

• Us – Universal Pictures

Dropped 58.5% in its third weekend taking $13.79m and $152.38m

After Us opened with 128% more than Get Out it will take less than 10% more taking about $190m ($280m+ worldwide) as word of mouth wasn’t nearly as strong and dropped much heavier in its second and third weekends.

Get Out didn’t drop over 40% until week 9 and that was after dropping 459 screens Us dropped 53.3% in its second weekend and more in its second weekend while Get Out faced tougher competition in its second weekend with Logan opening with $88.41m but still dropped only 15.4% while Us had Dumbo which was targetting a very different demographic and opened much lower than expected.

Us was always expected to much heavier than Get Out in its second weekend as word of mouth has been much more mixed as were reviews. Us was always likely to be much more front-load than Get Out with Get Out dropping only 15.4% in its second and 26.5% in its third.

Third weekend

2017’s Get Out took $20.74m and $110.72m 62.9% of $176.1m total and $255.4m worldwide with a $4.5m budget;

2018’s A Quiet Place took $20.91m and $131.27m 69.8% of $188.02m and $340.93m worldwide

Us is holding closer to

2028’s Halloween taking $10.83m in its third weekend and $150.22m 94.2% of $159.34m and $253.68m worldwide; will have a longer playing time as Halloween had a much shorter playing window of a week before Halloween and two weeks after while Us had three weekends before Pet Sematary sand five weeks before The Curse of La Llorona.

While Us isn’t your typical horror plays to a wider demographic as Get Out and A Quiet Place attracting audiences who wouldn’t normally see horrors as they are much more society/social horrors rather than gore holds much stronger but not as well as Get Out or A Quiet Place as audience reaction wasn’t nearly as positive.

Took $10.3m from 62 territories $64.2m total and $216.6m worldwide

• Captain Marvel – Disney

Dropped 39.85% in its fifth weekend taking $12.43m and $373.88m

39^th biggest film in the US between The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King and Spider-Man 2; 17^th biggest Disney film in the US between Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and The Jungle Book; 8^th biggest MCU between Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Spider-Man: Homecoming and 12^th biggest comic-book movie in the US between Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Spider-Man 3.

Took about 90% of its final US BO of $415m+ taking similar BO as Iron Man 3 and Captain America: Civil War (close to my expectations) and become the 7^th biggest comic-book movie taking similar total as Wonder Woman despite opening 48% bigger.

Took $26.4m from 54 territories and $663.5m and $1,037bn worldwide #30 between Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and Despicable Me 3; China $153.6m; UK $45.3m; Korea $44.3m; Brazil $36.2m; Mexico $32.6m; Australia $25.9m; France $24.1m; Germany $21.4m; Russia $20m; Indonesia $19.4m.

Has become Disney’s 19^th film to take over $1bn worldwide all of them have from the last 13 years (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest #1 in 2006) 17 of the sequels reboots or comic-book films (10 from acquired existing properties) with two original films Frozen and Zootopia

The 21 Marvel Cinematic Universe films have now taken $7.24bn in the US and $18.56bn worldwide

• The Best of Enemies – STX Entertainment

Opened with $4.5m; received mixed reviews (57% Rotten Tomatoes score) and A CinemaScore

Films like The Best of Enemies are hard to open anytime of the year are more suited to the Fall but even then, will often find it hard to find any audience the best hoe for these films now is streaming as the Best of Enemies will be out of cinemas within a couple of weeks.

UK Box Office Predictions

The next two weeks are the calm before the storm with the release of Avengers: Endgame; opening this week after previews Mon-Thurs Wonder Park the third animated film opening for Easter holidays the 7-day opening should help oy open third behind Shazam and Dumbo.

Hellboy is likely to open between 2004’s Hellboy (£1,058,375 taking £3,005,789) and 2008’s Hellboy 2: The Golden Army (£2,969,602 taking £6,772,936) opening with £1.4m+ over its four-day weekend but the first two films were rated 12 the new reboot is a 15 so younger audiences might stick with Shazam instead.

Peppa Pig: Festival of Fun and Missing Link should hold well being the middle weekend of Easter holidays and with the wet and cold weather.

After Fisherman’s Friends has taken almost £6m over the last four weeks Wild Rose should have good opening too after receiving positive reviews and trailers with Fisherman’s Friends its one of the few films on release targetting audiences over 35.

Comedy Little might spark up some interest after What Men What took over £2.8m at the box office and been in the top 10 for 4 weeks, but that was more down with the lack of content as both last weekend and this weekend will see for films enter in the top 10.

Have been many body switch films over the years including Freaky Friday, 17 Again, Like Father, Like Son, Vice Versa, Switch, The Change-Up, The Hot Chick, 13 Going on 30 and It’s a Boy Girl Thing; the writer of Little admits that she was “inspired” to write the scrip after seeing Big.

13 Going On 30 opened August 2004 with £1,184,273 taking £5,109,348

The Change-Up opened September 2011 with £727,497 taking £1,631,363

Night School opened September 2018 with £1,596,378 taking £4,412,036

What Men Want opened March 2019 with £836,612 taking £2,789,853

While the weekend after next is the dumping ground for many distributors with Avengers: Endgame opening the following weekend.

Opening in UK Next Week

• Dragged Across Concrete – Studiocanal

Neo-noir crime thriller starring Mel Gibson, Vince Vaughn, Tory Kittles, Michael Jai White, Jennifer Carpenter, and Laurie Holden and written and directed by S. Craig Zahler; premiered at the Venice International Film Festival receiving mixed reviews.

It’s the second film Mel Gibson and Vince Vaughn have starred together after appearing together in 2016’s Hacksaw Ridge (was Mel Gibson’s comeback film after most of the industry thought would be no return for him after his DUI arrest and anti-Semitic comments in 2006). Since being Oscar nominated for Hacksaw Ridge Hollywood has seemingly welcomed him back starring in family comedy Daddy’s Home 2 in 2017.

• Greta – Universal Pictures

Psychological thriller starring Isabelle Huppert, Chloë Grace Moretz, Maika Monroe, Colm Feore, and Stephen Rea and directed by Neil Jordan; had world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival receiving mixed reviews.

Focus Features acquired world rights for $6m; opened in the US 1^st March taking $4.6m and $11m to date.

• Head Full Of Honey – Warner Bros

Drama starring Nick Nolte, Matt Dillon, Emily Mortimer, Sophia Lane Nolte, Jacqueline Bisset, Eric Roberts and Claire Forlani and directed by Til Schweiger; an American remake of the 2014 German homonymous film; received poor reviews

Opened in the US in November taking $8,715 from 4 screens; will have a very limited release in the UK too.

• Red Joan – Lionsgate

Spy drama starring Stephen Campbell Moore, Sophie Cookson, Tom Hughes, Ben Miles, Nina Sosanya, Tereza Srbova and Judi Dench and directed by Trevor Nunn; had world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival receiving negative reviews.

This weekend is a distributors dumping week for films with Red Joan, Head Full Of Honey, Greta and Dragged Across Concrete as they clear their shelves ahead of the summer. All four films shouldn’t really have a theatrical release but its more for their lucrative Sky TV deal as will all be out of cinemas in less than a week.

• Monty Python’s Life Of Brian – Trafalgar

Returning to cinemas for its 40th Anniversary, in glorious standard definition and mono-sound, Monty Python delivers a scathing, anarchic satire of both religion and Hollywood’s depiction of all things biblical with their 1979 feature film Life of Brian.

Highly controversial upon its original release and banned in several countries, the film is now frequently ranked as the greatest comedy feature of all time by magazines and media outlets around the world.  As Monty Python member Terry Gilliam says, “It rips bare and makes you laugh at the world we’ve created for ourselves.”

The film was the fourth biggest film of the year when it was released in the UK in 1979 and the highest grossing British film of the year in the US; was named as one of “greatest comedy film of all time” receiving 97% Rotten Tomatoes score

Opening in the US

• Penguins (Disneynature)

The latest nature documentary film Disney created in 2008 and have released about a dozen films since mostly released close to Earth Day.

Disney had a long history of making nature films between 1948 to 1960 it made the True-Life Adventures series winning several Oscars.

After the success of March of the Penguins in 2005 taking $77.43m in the US and $127.39m worldwide from $4m budget winning Best Documentary Feature Oscar; Disney had French rights, but they failed to acquire US and other rights instead being acquired by Warner Bros instead. Bob Iger felt that the film “should have been a Disney film worldwide” and he then launched DisneyNature.

So while many think the Disney-Warner battle started with Marvel Vs DC, it probably started a few years earlier with some penguins. It’s strange to think Warner and Disney are such massive rivals now but in the 80s and early 90s Warner Bros released Disney films internationally with Aladdin one of their final films they released.

DisneyNature released their first film Earth on Earth Day 2009 made by BBC’s Planet Earth

DisneyNature have released 7 films taking $143.92m in the US and $320.8m worldwide

Born in China was the last released two years ago opening with $4.79m taking $13.87m; all of the films apart from Chimpanzee in 2012 and Earth in 2009 have taken BO between $13m-$19m and Penguins is likely to take a similar amount.

• Breakthrough – 20^th Century Fox

Christian drama starring Chrissy Metz, Josh Lucas, Topher Grace, Mike Colter, Marcel Ruiz, Sam Trammel, and Dennis Haysbert and directed by Roxann Dawson.

This is the first film made by 20th Century Fox to be released by Walt Disney after Disney acquired 21st Century Fox last month and one of the last films made by Fox 2000 Pictures after Disney announced they were closing Fox 2000 this year.

It is not known when Disney will bring in 20^th Century Fox films to be released under Disney or they will be released under Fox with exceptions of Avatar sequels while Disney will probably like to keep the final two X-Men films away from MCU that is if New Mutants gets a theatrical release as many expect it to go straight to VoD.

Fox 2000 Pictures released their first film 20 years ago this month (Never Been Kissed) since then have made 42 films taking $2.53bn in the US and $5.57bn worldwide; Fox 2000 Pictures made the mid-range story driven films Disney used to have much success with in the 80s and 90s with Touchstone Pictures and Hollywood Pictures with films including In Her Shoes, Walk the Line, The Devil Wears Prada, Life of Pi, Hidden Figures and The Hate U Give.

The first trailer was released in December  seen over 30m times over 2 days becoming the most-viewed trailer for a religious film over that time period.

Religious dramas have been lucrative at the US box office over the last 15 years with The Passion of the Christ opening with a massive $83.48m in February 2004 taking $370.78m from $30m budget. Captain Marvel has taken a similar amount at the US box office but with a budget of vastly more.

More recent Christian dramas include

2018’s I Can Only Imagine opening $17.1m taking $83.48m

2016’s Miracles From Heaven opening $14.81m taking $61.7m

2014’s Heaven is for Real opening $22.52m taking $91.44m

These films normally have a mid-sized opening but have much stronger legs than other mainstream films but don’t travel well internationally probably why Paramount Pictures dropped 2017’s Same Kind of Difference As Me.

Breakthrough is expected to open between $12m-$20m

• The Curse of La Llorona – Warner Bros

Supernatural horror starring Linda Cardellini, Raymond Cruz and Patricia Velásquez and directed by Michael Chaves; it is the sixth film of the Conjuring Universe; in some international territories it has been retitled as The Curse of the Weeping Woman.

The film is a standalone film but has been marketed as set within the Conjuring Universe

The film premiered at SXSW in March receiving mixed reviews from critics, who felt that the film didn’t deliver anything new but neither did The Nun and that was a massive success opening with $53.8m and taking $117.45m in the US and $365.55m worldwide

The five Conjuring Universe films have taken $543.6m in the US and $1.56bn worldwide; the Annabelle Comes Home is due for release in June and The Conjuring 3 is expected to be released in 2020. All the Conjuring Universe films apart from The Conjuring 2 have budgets of under $20m so are very profitable to Warner Bros.

• Little Woods – Neon

Crime thriller western starring Tessa Thompson, Lily James, Luke Kirby, James Badge Dale and Lance Reddick and written and directed by Nia DaCosta; had world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in  April 2018 receiving positive reviews currently 100% Rotten Tomatoes score so surprising it has taken almost a year to be released.

• Under the Silver Lake – A24

Neo-noir mystery starring Andrew Garfield and Riley Keough and written and directed by David Robert Mitchell; had world premiere in May 2018 at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival receiving polarised reviews (51% Rotten Tomatoes score).