Top 5 Breakdown

1. Suicide Squad – £4,211,803 – £22,184,538

 2D – £3,398,150 (80.6%) –total £16,358,792 (73.7%) 3D – £541,726 (12.8%) – total £4,098,776 (18.4%) – IMAX /3D – £271,928 (6.4%) – total £1,726,970 (7.7%)

Despite all the negativity surrounding its release still managed to take more than £6.5m Mon- Thurs which was similar to the £6.45m Deadpool took Mon-Thurs; Suicide Squad took £18m in its opening 7 days whilst Deadpool £20.1m which included £3.76m from previews Wed/Thurs but Suicide Squad did have the extra 3D surcharges.

Removing the previews from Deadpool its opening was similar to Suicide Squad but the notable difference is Deadpool dropped only 42.9% Fri-Sun while Suicide Squad 62.4% which was a huge drop but not as big as many expected as X-Men Apocalypse (taking £12.1m), Captain America: Civil War (taking £27.3m) and Batman Vs Superman (taking £27.8m) all had bigger second weekend drops but had far bigger openings and the lower 12A certificate.

After two weeks Guardians of the Galaxy had taken £13.8m in 2014 so despite Suicide Squad huge drop off its UK performance has been strong but will of course drop don the chart far quicker than Guardians of the Galaxy in the coming weeks. 

Second weekend % drops for selective DC and Marvel releases

X-Men Apocalypse	2016	65.4%	£2.52m
Captain America: Civil War	2016	66.6%	£4.79m
Batman Vs Superman	2016	68.1%	£4.66m
Thor: The Dark World	2013	66%	£2.91m
Iron Man	2008	64%	£1.91m
Deadpool	2016	59%	£5.69m
Man of Steel	2013	55%	£5.07m
The Dark Knight Rises	2012	49%	£7.27m
Superman Returns	2006	46%	£2.41m
The Dark Knight	2008	40%	£6.37m
Batman Begins	2005	34%	£2.92m

 With Suicide Squad likely to drop 50%+ in its third weekend David Brent: Life On The Road will likely take top spot next weekend.

 Suicide Squad will likely join Finding Dory to become the seventh film of 2016 to take £30m+ joining The Jungle Book, Deadpool, Captain America: Civil War, Batman Vs Superman and The Secret Life of Pets) one more than 2015 but those 6 films Jurassic World, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Minions, Inside Out, Fast & Furious 7 and 50 Shades of Grey would have taken 8% more shows up the different between 2015 and 2016 at the box office.

A letter from an alleged ex-employee of Warner Bros went viral laying the blame of the disappointing DC movies on studio head Kevin Tsujihara saying that his decisions resulted in the loss of about 1,000 jobs in 2014. She also said the upcoming Wonder Woman was a mess which surprised its director Patty Jenkins who went on Twitter to say this was entirely false there is no truth to these rumours no one has said anything about the film they were making was a mess.

It is understandable there would be so much disappointment of how the DC films are turning out especially after the success of Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Trilogy arriving three years before the first Marvel film. But have to remember even though DC has been making movies for many years Suicide Squad is only the third film from their Extended Universe Marvel’s first three were Iron Man 1 and 2 and Thor taking $1.65bn while DC’s first three films Man of Steel, Batman Vs Superman and Suicide Squad taking $1.92bn.

 DC had many false starts in with their DC films while their rivals Marvel with Paramount and then Disney and Marvel with Spider-Man at Sony and X-Men at 20^th Century Fox were having successes while Warner was having disappointments of V for Vendetta, Superman Returns, Johan Hex and Green Lantern.

What is most surprising with the DC Vs Marvel battle while Marvel have been very successful with their movies DC have had far better success with their TV series The Flash, Gotham, Smallville, Legends of Tomorrow, Lucifer, Supergirl, Arrow and Powerless launching next year.

While Marvel have had lessen success Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, Agent Carter (only one series), Daredevil, Jessica Jones with Luke Cage, Cloak and Dagger, Legion, Iron Fist and Defenders all coming to Netflix next year.

2. Finding Dory – £2,552,997 – total £27,299,045

 2D took £2,343,303 (91.7%) – total £23,227,045 (85.1%)– 3D took £209,650 (8.2%) total £4,071,847 (14.9%)

Down 35.4% in its third weekend adding almost £4.5m Mon-Thurs has become Pixar’s tenth biggest film in the UK and will overtake A Bug’s Life £29.45m and Monsters University £30.7m by next weekend.

Currently 18.5% ahead of last year’s Inside Out after three weeks which had taken £22.8m with two more weeks of school holidays ahead and defeating its only real competition of new releases Pete’s Dragon as Swallows and Amazons is unlikely to have much impact should see Finding Dory go past last summer’s Inside Out £38.9m total.

Finding Dory will shortly overtake The Secret Life of Pets to become the biggest animated film of the year becoming Disney’s third film to take £30m at box office in 2016 and with Rogue One still upcoming will match Universal Pictures four £30m UK box office earners.

But as Disney release far fewer films than their rivals their disappointments Alice Through the Looking Glass and Pete’s Dragon are far more noticeable than their rivals.

Alice Through the Looking Glass was one of the many unnecessary unwanted sequels their rivals have released this year failed to match the opening weekend box office of the original film released in 2010 in its whole release. While Pete’s Dragon failed to find an audience due to close proximity to the release of Finding Dory caused by studios not releasing all their films day and date. Disney held back release of Finding Dory to avoid going head to head with The Secret Life of Pets but in doing so put it up against its own film had Disney held back its release by a week would have given both films a chance to find audiences.

There will be similar dating issues in 2018 with Universal bringing forward the release of Jurassic World 2 two weeks to avoid opening during the World Cup so will open against Transformers 6. While we aren’t getting the Despicable Me 3 Vs Toy Story 4 battle in 2017 we do have The Secret Life of Pets 2 Vs Toy Story 4 with only 3 weeks between them.  Then in 2019 again due to Disney delaying their summer animation currently have The Incredibles 2 Vs Indiana Jones 5.

3. Jason Bourne – £1,466,006 – total £17,456,719

Holding surprisingly well in its third weekend down 39.8% showing audiences don’t mind paying to see Bourne greatest hits film when they could have stayed home and watched the far better original The Bourne Identity on TV.

Has gone ahead of last year’s Mission Impossible Rogue Nation dropping similar 34.2% in its third weekend taking similar £1.58m having taken 16% (£14.74m) less than Jason Bourne.

4. The BFG £1,103,321 – total £23,500,583

2D took £1,059,740 (96%)– total £19,626,387 (83.5%) – 3D took £42,608 (3.8%) – total £3,587,455 (15.2%) – IMAX/3D £974 (0.08%) – total £286,740 (1.2%)

Down 34.9% in its fourth weekend holding similar to Finding Dory which squeezed Pete’s Dragon from having any impact at the box office.

With hot sunshine at weekend the weekdays are much more lucrative after adding £2.2m Mon-Thurs.

After four weeks Paddington had taken £18.1m but as school holidays had yet kicked it its box office was concentrated om its weekend taking 126% more than The BFG over its weekend (£2.5m).

The BFG is now the eighth highest-grossing film in the UK of 2016, behind The Jungle Book, Deadpool, Captain America: Civil War, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, The Secret Life of Pets, Finding Dory and Zootropolis which it will shortly overtake with only two weeks of school holidays to come Finding Dory is more likely to overtake The Secret Life of Pets rather than The BFG but £30m+ is a massive achievement for The BFG after disappointing in the US I always thought it would perform similar to Paddington which it has done so not such a surprise to me.   The big question is can eOne strikes magic twice as they follow The BFG up with another British classic novel adaption the fourth part of the Narnia franchise The Silver Chair.

Has now become Steven Spielberg’s fifth biggest directed film in the UK becoming his fourth by next weekend overtaking Jurassic Park: The Lost World’s £25.8m. With The BFG likely by the end of the summer to overtake his 2005 remake of War of the World £30.3m; Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull £39.7m and Jurassic Park £46.4m his two biggest films ever in the UK the only film that could be a match for them will be Indiana Jones 5 in 2019.

After four weeks on release Tim Burton’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in 2005 took £1.69m and £30.09m total having far less competition from Herbie: Fully Loaded which took £499,804 and £3.37m in comparison the new releases were Bewitched £1.05m and Unleashed £498,068.

5. Mike & Dave Need Wedding Dates – £1,063,462 – NE

Best performing of the four new releases (boasted by £370,000 from previews Weds/Thurs) three of them targeting similar teen audience cannibalised their performance stopping any from breaking out.

Had an extensive talker screening program to build word of mouth for the fun raunchy teen comedy a female version of Wedding Crashers with a very watchable cast of Adam Devine, Zac Efron, Aubrey Plaza and Anna Kendrick in her first lead role since last summer’s Pitch Perfect 2 who is always watchable in anything she stars in (upcoming Trolls, The Accountant, Table 19 and then returning as Beca in Pitch Perfect 3).

Wedding Crashers opened July 2005 with £2.18m; pre-release was seen as a potential summer sleeper opening the same weekend in the US as original American Pie opened with £2.09m in 1999.

Earlier this year Zac Efron Dirty Grandpa opened with £2.05m which included £604,675 from previews. Opening was more similar to That Awkward Moment £957,350 opened in January 2014 and The Lucky One in May 2012 with £1.2m while ahead of The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud opened with £643k in 2010. Upcoming Zac Efron co-stars with Dwayne Johnson in Baywatch and The Greatest Showman on Earth with Hugh Jackman.

20^th Century Fox have had a mixed 2016 starting strongly with The Revenant, Deadpool and Alvin and the Chipmunks 4. But then Kung Fu Panda 3, X-Men: Apocalypse, Independence Day: Resurgence and Ice Age 5 all disappointed but then Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie surprised.

Remaining releases is light compared to their previous years of Gone Girl and The Martian with animated Trolls their key release along with Miss Pergrine’s Home for Peculiars, Keeping Up with the Jones, Morgan and A United Kingdom opening film for the London Film Festival.

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The other three new releases opening in the next three places disappointed after the media coverage and positive reviews they received Pete’s Dragon, Nerve and The Shallows all would of expected to open stronger but ended cannibalizing each other as they wanted to avoid opening against Life o the Road next weekend which is a big unknown if it will perform  similar to Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie or Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa reviews have been mixed and humour is more cringe than laugh out funny which could work against it. 

Other box office news:

This weekend’s top 10 box office took £13,591,392 down 35.8% from last weekend £21,178,761; 

Weekend was up a massive 20.5% from same weekend last year (£11,278,834) when Pixels £2,660,772, The Man From U.N.C.L.E. £1,448,298, Trainwreck £931,981 and Absolutely Anything £487,147 opened.

Next weekend 2015: Paper Towns £2,068,751, Sinister 2 £1,066,862, Vacation £606,191, Bad Education Movie £593,315 and Strange Magic £57,000 opened.

 Complete UK Box office top 10 – August 12^th – 14^th 2016

US Box Office

1. Warner Bros – Suicide Squad – dropping 67.3% – $43.7m – $222.8m; after disappointing reviews and poor word of mouth a big drop was always expected but many thought it would be bigger than Batman V Superman dropped 69.1% in March; after 10 days on release BvS had taken $260.4m and while Man of Steel $210.1m so after the doom and gloom Suicide Squad while not Captain America sized hit still far from the failure many expected and has seen DC Extended Universe three films take over $2bn worldwide.

2. Sony Pictures – Sausage Party — opens with $33.6m; received B CinemaScore Seth Rogen best opening since Neighbours in 2014 and his best opening for a Sony Pictures release ahead of 2011’s The Green Hornet $33.5m and 2007’s Superbad $33.1m.

3. Disney – Pete’s Dragon – opens $21.5m; receiving A CinemaScore; it’s the worst performing recent Disney re-imagination which Alice Through the Looking Glass had a disappointing opening early this summer it also received poor reviews Pete’s Dragon received very positive reviews but unlike other re-imaginations the original wasn’t beloved by audiences.

4. Universal Pictures – Jason Bourne – dropped 39.2% – $14.6m – $126.7m; has overtaken The Bourne Identity with similar box office of The Bourne Supremacy after three weeks had taken $124.6m but is 23% less than The Bourne Ultimatum; while 9% down from last year’s Mission Impossible Rogue Nation which had taken $138.3m after 3 weeks.

5. STX – Bad Moms – dropped 18.2% – $11.4m- $71.4m; best drop-off of the top 10 performing similar to last year’s Trainwreck wile opening more than Bad Moms $30.1m Vs $23.8m its holding far better.

6. Universal – The Secret Life of Pets – dropped 23.1% – $8.8m – $335.9m; will overtake Minions in the next few days and will overtake Zootopia by next weekend.

7. Paramount Pictures – Star Trek Beyond – dropped 32.2% – $6.8m – $139.6m; In comparison Star Trek into Darkness $199.9m and Star Trek took $209.3m in 4^th w/e’s.

8. Paramount Pictures – Florence Foster Jenkins – opens $6.5m; received A- CinemaScore; receiving positive reviews being talked up as a possibly Oscar contender was strange to open in 1,500 screens and normally these films would be given slower platform release.

9. EuropaCorp – Nine Lives – dropped 44% – $3.5m – $13.5m

10. Warner Bros – Lights Out – dropped 46.4% – $3.2m – $61.1m;

Opening on limited release

Lionsgate – Hell or High Water – opens $592,000 from 32 screens; after receiving rave reviews with any calling it the best film of the year and an Oscar contender opened strongly on limited release. 

Expanded

Sony Classics – Equity – $143,706 up 163.6% after adding 26 screens – total $343,055