This weekend
Major release
• Sisters – Universal Pictures (0pening Saturday 12th)
Comedy starring Tina Fey and Amy Poehler; feels like a remake of the wonderful 90s comedy Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion. Official release date of December 18th but has a similar opening to Bad Neighbours opening the Saturday before to give it a nine day opening weekend against the five day opening weekend Star Wars The Force Awakens has.
Bad Neighbours opened with £8.42m with its 9-day opening taking £5.12m from 6 days of previews with opening weekend of £3.3m; Bridesmaids opened with £3.4m in June 2011 taking £23m; female centric comedies this year Pitch Perfect 2 took £17.2m and Spy £10m.
Everyone expects Star Wars The Force Awakens to break records and after selling thousands of advance tickets it will likely have the biggest 4 day weekend. But Sisters could be very lucrative for Universal Pictures as sci-fi audience is very male focused even though The Force Awakens looks to have a female protagonist is unlikely to be as woman friendly as Avatar was which made it the huge success it was.
In 1999 New Line were releasing Austin Powers the Spy Who Shagged Me two weeks after Star Wars The Phantom Menace knowing most will see Phantom Menace included film within its marketing. “if you see one film this summer see Star Wars, if you see two see Austin Powers.”
This campaign worked with it opening with $54.9m overtaking Phantom Menace from top spot after 4 weeks doing similar in the UK opening with £6m. Universal Pictures are doing a similar #youcanseethemboth campaign.
Tina Fey in in UK this week to promote; Sisters has received positive reviews with a talker screening program on Thursday to build word of mouth.
Also released
• By The Sea – Universal Pictures
Drama written and directed by Angelina Jolie which she starred in with her husband Brad Pitt their first film they have starred together with since 2005’s Mr and Mrs Smith the film they met on 9and fell in love).
Universal Pictures acquired it in July 2014 to keep their relationship with Angelina Jolie following on from making Unbroken as they were hoping she would make either The Bride of Frankenstein or Wanted 2. After the failure of By the Sea many wondered if studios would stop making these films but will always finance director’s vanity projects in hope they will then make a more commercial film for them.
The next vanity film to come maybe next year is Warren Beatty’s Howard Hughes ensemble he started filming in February 2014 was original attached at Paramount now New Regency are producing likely to be released through their deal with 20th Century Fox.
The film premiered at AFI Festival receiving negative reviews but Universal choose to open it on only 10 screens on November 13th having a disappointing opening. Universal said that they had always planned to open the film on limited release before expanding the following weekend.
Will be interesting to see how wide release has in UK chances are it will have a very limited release.
• Grandma – Sony Pictures
Comedy drama written and directed by Paul Weltz starring Lily Tomlin in her first leading role since starring in Big Business with Bette Milder in 1988; had premiere at Sundance (was acquired by Sony Classics) receiving positive reviews; will have a limited release.
• When Harry Met Sally – Park Circus
Re-release for the romantic comedy made by Castle Rock written by Nora Ephron and directed by Rob Reiner 26 years after opening; originally released in UK by Palace Pictures.
Out next week
Major release
• Star Wars: The Force Awakens – Disney
(This includes possible spoilers gleamed from the web so anyone who doesn’t want to know them don’t read the ** parts)
After acquiring Lucasfilm in October 2012 only took Disney 6 months to announce plans for a new Star Wars trilogy 18th April 2013 for the next 1,398,240 minutes’ hype has grown for the films. On November 6th 2014 announced the title The Force Awakens three weeks later released the first teaser generating 58.2 million views in the first 7 days.
(for anyone who wants to catch up with what happened in the last 6 films)
In April 2015 a second teaser was released during Star Wars Celebration which was viewed 88 million times in its first 24 hours; third trailer was released 19th October receiving 128 million global views in first 24 hours with a Japanese trailer showing more unseen footage. In the weeks since Disney has released numerous TV spots focusing on different elements.
All of this has generated much hype and expectations boosting by cinemas opening advance booking on 19th October crashing websites Vue Cinemas said they had sold 10,000 tickets in the first 90 minutes of sales selling 45,000 tickets in first 24 hours. The BFI IMAX has sold out almost every show Thurs-Sunday at £22 per ticket taking over £225,000 while Empire and Odeon Leicester Sq. have sold out several screenings.
The Force Awakens was shot in part in 70mm IMAX only 15 cinemas in the world will screen the film in that format the Science Museum being the only one in the UK; interestingly it will be 33% cheaper than BFI IMAX and cheaper than both Odeon and Empire Leicester Square.
This does compare similarly to July 1st 1999 The Phantom Menace crashed phone lines UCI selling 11,500 tickets in 35 minutes. With lines across Leicester Square of fans booking to at Odeon. Vue Cinemas announced they have sold 238,000 tickets with tickets of £12.60+ will add £3 million to its box office
Many are predicting The Force Awakens to open with £30m over its four day opening weekend and to beat Spectre’s 7 day opening of £41.3m some predicting it could take £110m. With school holidays starting December 21st will see it play strongly throughout the following two weeks. Many have said it could play like Avatar and Titanic staying top for weeks but the market has changed since those were released with its box office likely to be concentrated over the first 4 weeks.
All of this is speculation as I remember being at Fox was much excitement as staff waited to watch the first screening of The Phantom Menace in May 1999 but response when it ended was muted. Similarly, was in Scotland for Ewan McGregor in May 2002 to have the first screening in Europe of Attack of the Clones watched it in silence with him and then again for the press who were there to interview him.
Similar to The Force Awakens trailers for Phantom Menace were great so until the film has been seen we won’t know how it will really perform. Disney boss Alan Horn saying it’s amazing but these comments must be taken with a pinch of salt.
JJ Abrams said in a last week Star Wars was always a boy’s thing, and a movie that dads could take their sons to. And although that is still very much the case. I was really hoping this could be a movie that mothers could take their daughters to as well,”. With Rey the likely lead in the film its then a surprising there has been low stock on Rey merchandise released so far similar to Black Widow for Avengers Age of Ultron and Gamora for Guardians of the Galaxy. Covergirl makeup has been the only merchandising has been released targeting women.
Since Force Friday in September there has been a huge amount of merchandise release for the film some of the strangest The Light Side or the Dark Side Ice Cream four tubs cost $36 but sadly not available to buy in the UK;
Rumours Disney are will have few pre-release screenings for The Force Awakens; used to be when a studio chose not to screen a film early it was because it was a dud but this time Disney say they don’t want spoilers revealed. But with the LA premiere on December 14th followed by UK premiere two days later in London spoilers will be revealed before it opens. After Spectre premiere was at Royal Albert Hall was surprising Star Wars The Force Awakens is in Leicester Square and not a bigger location like O2?
UK Release Opening WE Av Price 2015 price diff Total BO
The Phantom Menace 18 July 1999 £9.51m £4.15 +61.9% £50.74m
Attack of the Clones 19 May 2002 £11.38m £4.29 +56.4% £37.23m
Revenge of the Sith 22 May 2005 £14.36m £4.71 +42.6% £39.18m
The Force Awakens 17 Dec 2015 n/a £6.72* n/a n/a
* Claimed average price but with The Force Awakens from my research tickets are average £12 in n IMAX/3D £15+.
Harrison Ford and George Lucas have both said they have seen it but these comments are meaningless after James Cameron said similar things about Terminator Genisys.
**The web went crazy when Harrison Ford supposedly dropped a major spoiler but had you seen any trailers that was as expected as Benedict Cumberbatch was Khan in Star Trek into Darkness and Christoph Waltz was Blofeld in Spectre. Similarly, many went crazy when Guardian revealed Mark Hamill spoiler in their header he is about to start filming Star Wars VIII; but this isn’t really spoiler as live or dead he would return as part of team Ghost Force.
**With limited plot details revealed have been many fan theories of the plot one suggested the Star Wars prequels revealed villain from The Force Awakens; Andy Serkis is Supreme Leader Snoke who was mentioned by Palpatine (in Revenge of the Sith) as Darth Plagueis who found a way to cheat death by affecting midi-chlorians. Palpatine said “Unfortunately, he taught his apprentice everything he knew. Then his apprentice killed him in his sleep. Ironic. He could save others from death, but not himself.” Many believe Palpatine was his apprentice and Darth Plagueis alter ego was Jedi Master Sifo-Dyas who placed the order for the clone army Kamino Obi-Wan discovers in Attack of the Clones
The US junket was held yesterday at an undisclosed location but the press attending wasn’t allowed to see the film; Not much was revealed only that some of the cast members will be returning for the next film, will sadly be no Ewoks or Jar Jar Binks and there won’t be an end credit scene as many expected there to either be a Rogue One or Star Wars VII teaser at end. EW have a transcript of press conference
Experts calculated the cost of building the two Death Stars in the original films as $193 quintillion for the first version; $419 quintillion for the second.
Alamo Drafthouse in Austin has announced a viewing endurance contest for seven hard core Star Wars fans to keep watching the 16-hour film series with a minimal break again and again until there is only one contestant still awake.
Star Wars fans crazily started lining up on Monday outside the Chinese Theatre to see The Force Awakens. Fans are allowed be line-up in costume but masks, face paint and weapons are not allowed.
These people must of all pre-booked their seats over a month ago so seems crazy to camp out for over 10 days. This was done for the first prequel film in 1999 which made some kind of sense as advance booking and choosing seats wasn’t as widely available.
The Chinese Theatre was one of the first 30 theatres the original Star Wars film opened in May 1977 and since then has held a special place amongst fans.
Fans camped outside for all previous Star Wars films for Revenge of the Sith fans started camping outside the cinema six weeks before only to find 20th Century Fox hadn’t booked in the cinema.
There was online outrage when the Chinese poster for The Force Awakens had John Boyega minimised on the poster with Oscar Isaac Poe Dameron and Chewbacca both removed completely. China is a key territory for Star Wars as they only got to experience the original Star Wars films earlier this year could be very lucrative to Disney if it was as successful as films like Transformer Age of Extinction and Furious 7.
If they were Disney will probably add an Asian actor to the later films as many other studios have done to buy into the Chinese market which has become a saviour to Hollywood in recent years. The internet might get annoyed with the removal of these characters in the poster but I’m sure they are done to make sure the film plays to its widest possible audience maybe the focus group had an issue with Wookies?
Showing how crazy some fans are after a reporter made some negative comments about Star Wars she received death threats. Saying “I have never had any interest in watching space nerds poke each other with their little space nerd sticks, and I’m not going to start now.”……“Yesterday I tweeted something, and all I said was that I wasn’t familiar with Star Wars because I’ve been too busy liking cool things and being attractive.”
Running time has been confirmed as 2hr 16 mins the middle running time of all the films to date; has been rated PG-13 in the US; was given a 12A today by BBFC; all previous films were U/PG’s apart from Revenge of the Sith which was 12A.
Star Trek Beyond trailer will screen before The Force Awakens in US not such a surprise as both are produced by Bad Robot;
Trailers for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, The Huntsman’s Winter War, X-Men: Apocalypse and Independence Day: Resurgence are also expected to screen with it along with Captain America: Civil War and The Jungle Book.
Also released
• Snoopy And Charlie Brown: The Peanuts Movie – 20th Century Fox
Based on Charles M. Schulz’s comic strip Peanuts Charlie Brown has never been as popular internationally similar to Mr. Peabody & Sherman last year opened with £3.9m.
Had weekend previews December 5th/6th (taking £300,000) and will have again 12th/13th adding to its Monday 21st opening to give it a 10 day opening weekend.
Will be competing with The Good Dinosaur to entertain younger children over the lucrative two weeks of Christmas holidays.
Out in two weeks
Major release
• In the Heart of the Sea – Warner Bros
Biographical adventure based on Nathaniel Philbrick’s 2000 non-fiction book directed by Ron Howard starring stars Chris Hemsworth, Benjamin Walker, Cillian Murphy, Tom Holland, Ben Whishaw and Brendan Gleeson.
After being pushed back in January from March to December for the reason film would be suited in a winter slot rather than spring. But opening a week after The Force Awakens won’t get to be seen in the big screens in multiplexes to see the epic action sequences this is a film to be seen in 3D and IMAX but unlikely many will get to see it in the later; early reviews have been mixed being compared to Life of Pi opened December 23rd 2012 with £2.59m; had its UK premiere last week in London.
Also released
• Daddy’s Home – Paramount
Comedy re-teaming Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg with The Other Guys director Sean Anders; trailer was well received at CinemaCon in April; receiving its UK premiere on December 9th having its Irish premier on December 6th with Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell both attending.
Opening Friday in US
• In the Heart of the Sea – Warner Bros
After being delayed from March this year as Warner Bros felt December was a better date for it would normally be if not for Star Wars The Force Awakens; but audience for In the Heart of the Sea would be different to The Force Awakens.
Has been compared to Life of Pi (opened November 2012 with $22.4m) on the scale of adventure or Thor fights whales.
Opening on limited release
• The Big Short – Paramount
Biographical comedy-drama based on the book by Michael Lewis starring Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling and Brad Pitt and directed by Adam McKay; has received positive reviews from critics opening on limited release before opening wide on December 23rd.
Martin Lewis previous books The Blind Side and Moneyball were both box office and Academy Award winners; Blind Side opened with $34.1m in November 2009 and Moneyball opened with $19.5m in September 2011.
Its produced by Brad Pitt was to get a Best Picture Oscar Nomination he would have received three in a row previously for 12 Years A Slave and Selma