- Barbie – £18,509,235 – NE
Took £6.35m Friday (34.3%); £6.33m Saturday (34.2%); £5.83m Sunday (31.5%); took £3.94m Monday and £4.06m Tuesday
Took 60% share of the top 5 on Friday and had Warner Bro’s third biggest Friday after Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 and Batman V Superman.
Opened in 721 cinemas and 1,703 screens: Warner Bros’ 2nd widest opening after Elvis (744) and ahead of Fantastic Beasts 3 (712) and The Batman (708).
10th widest opening ever as The Lion King and Avatar: The Way of Water (close to Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Super Mario Bros, MI7, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, Mary Poppins Returns and Rocketman; 23rd 700+ opening since Star Wars: The Last Jedi and 173rd biggest 600+ since Jurassic World.
18th biggest opening between Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 (close to Beauty and the Beast, Jurassic World, Black Panther and The Lion King) and 43rd biggest inflated Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason and Barbie and Twilight Saga: Eclipse (close to The Simpsons, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of The Crystal Skull, Monsters, Inc and Die Another Day).
5th biggest Warner Bros opening between HP and The Chamber of Secrets and HP and the Deathly Hallows Part 1; their biggest non-Harry Potter opening and the biggest opening for 12 years. (DH2)
There were over 7,000 screenings of Barbie in London in its opening week with Vue Westfield and Stratford showing about 50 a day with over 60k over its opening week.
The opening was 11.42% of the US similar to Twilight: Breaking Dawn – Part 2, Beauty and the Beast, Frozen 2, Toy Story and The Lego Movie.
It was hard to make comparisons between Barbie and other similar films as none of them had opened anywhere near the expected opening of Barbie, which had gone up over the days leading up to opening and then after receiving very positive reviews.
As the summer holidays have started and cooler wetter weather is still around Barbie could take £12m+ Mon-Thurs and take £40m+ by Sunday and could take £70m or more depending on how it holds over the coming weeks as TMNT, Meg 2: The Trench and Grand Turismo will play to men
As there are films like Enchanted (opened £2,547,975), Elf (£4,538,440) and The Truman Show (£2,210,999) about characters living in their world that find themselves in the real world or films like The Lego Movie (£8,051,140), Legally Blonde (£1,453,148), Clueless (£638,212), Josie and the Pussycats (£37,662), The House Bunny (£894,188), John Tucker Must Die (£845,633), Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion (£366,645) and Pleasantville (£322,622).
Can’t compare Barbie with films like Sex and The City or Mamma Mia! The only female-centric film that has had a huge opening, this also highlights the problem with this summer’s films that have been male-centric and many of them have failed to match expectations. But the reason why Barbie had a strong opening wasn’t just because it was a film targeting female audiences, but because it is a Ronseal film it does exactly what it says on the tin, it’s the perfect fun popcorn film, the perfect summer film as the reviews have shown, receiving many four and five-star reviews.
But when Warner Bros dated Barbie on July 21st, 2023, in April 2022 everyone probably thought they were mad as there was surely going to be only one winner that weekend, Oppenheimer. In the months leading up to the release of the first teaser for The Lego Movie in 2013, the film was regularly mocked, but as with The Lego Movie teaser, the mocking stopped after the first teaser was released in December. Always think you can tell a lot from a teaser if it’s kept simple as it shows the studio believes in the film. The best teasers are the simple ones like the one for Austin Powers 2 in 1999, if you see one film this summer see Star Wars if you see two see Austin Powers.
Barbie’s top cinemas are Cineworld Glasgow, Vue Stratford; Cineworld O2 Stratford; Odeon Trafford; Showcase Bluewater and Cineworld Dublin. As all main screens in Leicester Square had Oppenheimer it was no surprise Barbie didn’t perform as strongly in Leicester Square. This is of course the problem now when big films open in all cinemas in Leicester Square, as it would have been that Cineworld Leicester Square would have played Dead Reckoning Part 1 on the main screen, Oppenheimer Odeon Leicester Square and Barbie playing on all screens at the Vue. Instead, Barbie played on the Mezzanine screens at Odeon Leicester Square and Odeon West End. While Dead Reckoning moved onto small screens at Vue and Cineworld and this was repeated across the country.
Vue Cinemas said they had over 2,000 shows sold out over its opening weekend with over 4,000 including shows for Oppenheimer. While Odeon reported on Thursday over 200,000 advance tickets had been sold with over 10,000 expected to see both films during the opening weekend.
Greta Gerwig previously directed 2018’s Lady Bird opened £1,233,508 (wide after one week limited) from 190 screens #3 taking £5,079,887 and 2019’s Little Women opened £3,578,877 #3 from 382 screens taking £21,283,939.
After Barbie’s opening, we are in unknown territory here as to how will it hold next weekend as comparable openers Beauty and the Beast (£19.7m) and Jurassic World (£19.35m) second weekends weren’t school holidays while also didn’t have A bomb hovering over it taking £12.33m and £11.13m dropping 37.4% and 42.5%.
While Toy Story 3 opened with £23.75m (including £9.7m previews) while Harry Potter Deathly Hallows Part 2 opened with £23.75m dropped 64% taking £8.52m. If it was to follow Jurassic World it would take £12m 2nd weekend, £6m 3rd weekend and £3m 4th weekend, but the difference is that Jurassic World was #1 for 2 weeks with Minions opening £11.6m in its third weekend while Barbie has 7-day opening of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem in its third weekend.
So, Barbie could go on and take anything from £50m to £70m as with school holidays now started and cooler wetter weather expected for the next few weeks cinemas could be as busy during the week as the weekend and Barbie is likely to be a film many will want to see more than once.
What last weekend again proves if they are films people want to see they will see them in the cinemas and both films opened bigger than Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning Part 1 opened in 7 days showing again extended openings will often just share the BO over more days rather than increase their BO.
Industry reaction was predictable, but it shows what could have been three years ago had the industry worked together with a reopening strategy as single films were just short-term fixes that never would generate the 1.21 gigawatts needed to restart cinemagoing after COVID.
Only need to see how big the Chinese New Year was in 2021 taking $1.2bn when 8 films opened the same weekend and all of them perform strongly, as success breeds success and Barbie and Oppenheimer attract each other’s audiences very different to comic-book movies that cannibalize the BO.
The problem is the industry never learns in July 1989 UIP boss Chris Hedges said he ‘believes that the release of the major films is having a positive effect on each other’. This was after Indiana Jones 3 had the biggest-ever opening in the UK and Licence to Kill had a small drop. Opening one tentpole at a time was never going to be enough to kick-start cinemagoing after COVID always needed several profile tentpoles that target different audiences opening close together as happens in China over their New Year which takes about $1bn. Both films helped each other open far bigger than they would have done had they opened separately as success breeds success. I know that I’m a broken record but believe that had the industry come together with a reopening strategy after COVID that wasn’t just believing in the delusions of grandeur of Christopher Nolan believing he was the saviour of cinema the recovery could have happened much sooner, as solo films were never going to be enough.
The French tagline: “Elle peut tout faire. Lui, c’est juste Ken” which translates as “She can do everything. He’s just Ken” went viral as Ken is another word for fuck in French slang so the tagline became “She knows how to do everything. He just knows how to fuck.”
- 2. Oppenheimer – £10,891,486 – NE
Took £3.24m Friday (29.7%); £4m Saturday (36.7%); £3.6m Sunday (33%); took £2.13m on Monday and £2.09m Tuesday.
90th biggest opening between I am Legend and Transformers: Dark of the Moon (close to The Dark Knight, Avatar: The Way of Water. Dunkirk and iT) and the 143rd biggest inflated between Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines and X-Men: Days of Future Past (close to The World Is Not Enough, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Planet of the Apes and The Bourne Ultimatum).
18% of opening from 52 IMAX cinemas (3 IMAX 70mm BFI IMAX; Vue Manchester; Science Museum).
6th biggest Universal Pictures opening in the UK (3 days) between Despicable Me 3 and Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again.
It opened in 667 cinemas, the widest opening for Christopher Nolan’s film 33 more than Dunkirk, but as with Barbie, it was likely playing in double the number of screens.
57 wildest opening close to Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Bullet Train, Fantastic Beasts and Joker
The opening was 13.21% of the US similar to Memphis Belle, Angels and Demons, Joker and Yesterday.
Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer generated a lot of media coverage over recent weeks leading up to its UK premiere last Thursday after the cast walked off the red carpet as the SAG-AFTRA strike started.
2010’s Inception opened £5,912,814 from 452 screens taking £35,264,403; dropped 29% and 22% in the second and third weekends taking £4,172,568 and £3,229,651 held #1 for 1 week and in the top 5 for 5 weeks and top 10 for 8 weeks.
2020’s Tenet opened £5,335,654 from 611 screens taking £17,479,421; dropped 59% and 42% in the second and third weekends taking £2,151,490 and £1,233,090 held #1 for 8 weeks and in the top 5 for 9 weeks and top 10 for 10 weeks
Dunkirk opened £10,023,720 from 638 screens taking £56,797,955; dropped 17% and 43% in the second and third weekends taking £8,235,532 and £4,624,570 held #1 for 4 weeks and in the top 5 for 8 weeks and top 10 for 10 weeks.
Interstellar opened £5,378,220 from 574 screens taking £20,852,599; dropped 29% and 49% in the second and third weekends taking £3,777,804 and £1,895,368 held #1 for 2 weeks and in the top 5 for 4 weeks and top 10 for 6 weeks.
Impossible to compare Oppenheimer with The Dark Knight Trilogy only that the films had similar holds #1 and stayed in the top 5 and top 10 for similar weeks having similar legs.
2005’s Batman Begins opened £4,427,802 from 514 screens taking £16,733,960: #1 for 2 weeks, top 5 for 5 weeks and top 10 for 8 weeks.
2008’s The Dark Knight opened £11,191,824 from 502 screens taking £49,411,323: #1 for 2 weeks, top 5 for 6 weeks and top 10 for 8 weeks.
2012’s The Dark Knight Rises opened £14,362,443 from 594 screens taking £56,446,768: #1 for 2 weeks, top 5 for 6 weeks and top 10 for 8 weeks.
Vue Cinemas said 19% of those who had bought tickets for Barbie had also brought tickets for Oppenheimer.
Christopher Nolan’s biggest hits came when they open in a crowded marketplace in 2010. Inception was #1 for one week replaced by Toy Story 3 in its second weekend but had very long legs playing into September. So, while Tenet was never going to be the saviour of cinema as he and exhibitors believed opening it the weekend after Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part 1 and against Barbie would likely benefit it.
Exhibitors will be hoping Oppenheimer will have similar long legs to Inception playing in the top 10 for 8 weeks and Dunkirk for 10 weeks, rather than the 6 weeks Interstellar lasted, as the 100-day window will mean that it won’t be able to be released on VOD until at least Mid-October. While it will be interesting to see how exhibitors handle Oppenheimer after its opening three weeks as Christopher Nolan has given them everything, they wanted with the film the 100-day theatrical window so surely, they will need to play the film for 100 days?
BFI IMAX took £69k on Friday and was the top cinema in the UK (ahead of Cineworld Leicester Square and Odeon Leicester Square) selling out all 18 shows over its opening weekend, taking in about £210k.
The BFI IMAX has been the unofficial home of Christopher Nolan films since 2012’s The Dark Knight Rises took over £1 million in advance bookings at BFI IMAX 5 weeks before opening selling 62,300 sales (£16 average today tickets are £24). 43 shows ahead of opening were sold out for The Dark Knight Rises including early morning screenings at 04.25 and 04.55; the film broke BFI IMAX records for highest first-day sales (24,754 tickets taking £409,838) and the highest first-week sales (38,658 tickets, taking £634,013) breaking the records previously set earlier in 2012 by Ridley Scott’s Prometheus and James Cameron’s Avatar in December 2009 sold 47,000 tickets, grossing £607,000 (£12.90 average).
Top cinemas for Oppenheimer were Top Engagements BFI IMAX; Cineworld Leicester Square, Odeon Leicester Square, Printworks Manchester and Cineworld Glasgow.
Christopher Nolan’s films have taken almost £275m at the UK BO and almost £350m inflated
There was a 1989 film about the Manhattan Project Fat Man and Little Boy (Shadow Makers in the UK) starring Paul Newman, Dwight Schultz, Bonnie Bedelia and John Cusack and Roland Joffé, the film received poor reviews and flopped at the box office opening $1.47m #10 taking $3.56m; opened in the UK 5 months later with £7,216 from 3 cinemas in March 1990; Empire 2 £6,454; Cannon Tottenham Court Road £1,183 and Canon Fulham Road £2,056.
Barbie and Oppenheimer both opened with £10m beating the previous top two openers in July 2007 #1 The Simpsons £13,626,853 (including £4.1m previews) from 499 screens and #2 Transformers £8,718,561 from 456 screens; the holdovers holding strong Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix #3 £2,879,635; Hairspray £1,390,389; Shrek the Third £730,493; Die Hard 4.0 £473,881. Of course, 16 years later the inflated had 60% inflation while these films didn’t have any premium BO.
As with Barbie, we are in unknown territory in how Oppenheimer will hold as similar to Dead Reckoning Part 1 and Avatar: The Way of Water the lengthy running time will see it drop off far more during weekdays than Barbie. While Oppenheimer opened similarly to Dunkirk it’s unlikely to hold as strongly dropping only 17.8% in the second weekend taking £8,763,310.
- 3. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One – £2,891,093 – £16,434,929
Dropped 72.2% in the second weekend (54% drop without previews)
Took £648k Friday 22.4% dropped 61.9% (£1.7m); £1.23m Saturday 42.5% dropped 56.1% (£1.7m); £1,013m Sunday 35.03% dropped 43.7% (£1.8m).
There was much media coverage about the big drop Dead Reckoning had but despite this, it had the second biggest second weekend of the film series after 1996’s Mission Impossible (£3,465,278) and has also taken more in 14 days than all other Mission Impossible films.
254th biggest second weekend between Johnny English Strikes Back and The Bourne Ultimatum (close to Hobbs & Shaw, Trainspotting 2, Mission: Impossible III and Bad Boys for Life) and 476th biggest inflated between Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn and War for the Planet of the Apes (close to Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, Mad Max: Fury Road, Fast & Furious and The Bourne Supremacy).
In 2018 Mission: Impossible Fallout also opened in a crowded marketplace opening #1 with £7,300,103 with Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again! #2 £7,104,808 2nd weekend (27% drop); Incredibles 2 #3 £5,146,128 (24% drop) and Hotel Transylvania 3: A Monster Vacation opening #4 £3,449,876 with Andre Rieu’s 2018 Maastricht Concert: Amore #5 £1,486,528.
In 2015 Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation opened #1 £5,351,344; Inside Out #2 £3,574,424 2nd weekend; Southpaw #3 £1,129,608; Ant-Man #4 £1,126,080; Minions #5 £1,007,186.
Tom Cruise’s last 37 films took almost £450m (£750m+ inflated) 20% from Top Gun: Maverick (£83.6m) while the 7 Mission Impossible films have taken £125m+ (£180m) combined.
The problem with Dead Reckoning was after being delayed several times it was dated July 14th on January 21st, 2022, months after Oppenheimer (8th October 2021) and Dial of Destiny (October 18th, 2021). As Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 and Fast X were dated for May and Oppenheimer July Paramount couldn’t open earlier or later unless they switched it with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. By dating the two films together they were ahead of the competition for Dead Reckoning Part Two opening June 28, 2024. With Inside Out 2 opening June 14th and Despicable Me 4 July 3rd with Twisters opening three weeks later, so we should be able to keep IMAX screens much longer.
381st biggest between F9 and Nanny McPhee (close to Mad Max: Fury Road, Free Guy, Kingsman: The Secret Service and Forrest Gump) and 690th biggest inflated between The Break-Up and Christopher Robin (close to Raiders of the Lost Ark, The X- Files, Patriot Games and Rocky).
- 4. Elemental – £1,430,063 – £8,960,702
Down 42.3% in the third weekend
Took £255k Friday (17.8%); £647k Saturday (45.2%); £528k Sunday (36.9%)
378th biggest second weekend between Ocean’s 13 and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014) (close to Yogi Bear, The Mask, Moana and Evita) and 635th biggest inflated between Chronicles Of Narnia: Prince Caspian and 28 Days Later (close to Beverly Hills Cop II, Coming To America, Tron: Legacy and Dragonheart).
56th biggest animated third weekend between The Pirates! In An Adventure with Scientists and Moana (close to Lilo & Stitch, Pocahontas, Ralph Breaks the Internet and Beauty and the Beast (1992) and 75th biggest inflated between Moana and The Good Dinosaur (close to Cars 2, Treasure Planet, The Hunchback of Notre Dame and The Little Mermaid (1990).
Despite Elemental dropping heavily on Friday it performed much stronger on Sat/Sun showing that it should have long legs and the film’s opening over the next few weeks will have little effect on Elemental until The Haunted Mansion in mid-August.
786th biggest between The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Scary Movie 3 (close to Wayne’s World, A Fish Called Wanda, Pan and Garfield) and 1,304th biggest inflated between Six Days Seven Nights and The Boat That Rocked (close to You’ve Got Mail, The Fly, Last Action Hero and Lethal Weapon).
The 23 Pixar films that have had cinema releases have taken over £720m since 1996’s Toy Story and £1bn inflated.
133rd biggest animated film between Bee Movie and Planes (close to The Emperor’s New Groove, Mulan, Abominable and Captain Underpants) and 159th biggest inflated between Rango and The Lady and the Tramp (1989 re) (close to The Tigger Movie, Oliver & Company, Peter Pan (1992 re) and Bambi (1993 re).
- 5. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny £677,203 – £17,999,463
Down 61.6% in the fourth weekend
544th biggest fourth weekend between Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn 1 and The Spiderwick Chronicles (close to Armageddon, Crocodile Dundee II, Cape Fear and Jerry Maguire) and 806th inflated between Dangerous Minds and A League of Their Own (close to Insomnia, Eyes Wide Shut, Wanted and Scent of a Woman).
2008’s Kingdom of the Crystal Skull dropped 34% £1,759,754 #3 £35,586,886 of £40,285,476 (£61,745,239 inflated); #1 Sex and the City £1,787,507; #2 The Incredible Hulk £3,253,723
1989’s The Last Crusade dropped 33% £636,532 #1 from 310 screens (£2,205,722 inflated) and £8,092,612 of £15,923,168 (£54,466,802 inflated); #2 Licence to Kill £494,139 201 screens
In 1981 Raiders of the Lost Ark was the #6 biggest film in the UK taking opening with £983,710 (£4,993,738 inflated) taking £3.31m (£17.1m inflated) and #1 in the US; #1 Superman II; #2 For Your Eyes Only; #3 Flash Gordon; #4 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs; #5 Any Which Way You Can; #6 Clash of the Titans; #7 Private Benjamin; #8 Raiders of the Lost Ark; #9 The Elephant Man; #10 Tess.
In 1984 Temple of Doom was #1 biggest film in the UK taking £9.25m (£41.3m inflated) and #2 in the US (behind Ghostbusters); #2 Never Say Never; #3 The Jungle Book; #4 Police Academy; #5 Sudden Impact; #6 Terms of Endearment; #7 Educating Rita; #8 Trading Places; #9 Greystoke: The Legend of the Apes; #10 Jaws III.
In 1989 The Last Crusade was #1 biggest film in the UK (£15.92m) and #2 in the US (behind Batman); #2 Who Framed Roger Rabbit (£15.61m); #3 Batman (£12.03m); #4 Rain Man (£9.66m); #5 The Naked Gun (£7.74m); #6 Licence To Kill (£7.55m); #7 Lethal Weapon 2 (£6.74m); #8 Twins (£6.55m); #9 Dead Poets Society (£5.87m); #10 Cocktail (£5.76m).
In 2008 Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was #4 biggest film in the UK (£40.28m) and #3 in the US ($317.1m); #1 Mamma Mia! (£68.9m); #2 Quantum of Solace (£51.1m); #3 The Dark Knight (£49.31m); #4 The Crystal Skull; #5 Sex and the City (£26.23m); #6 Hancock (£24.41m); #7 Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (£23.3m); #8 High School Musical 3 (£22.63m); #9 Wall·E (£22.2m); #10 Kung Fu Panda (£19.63m).
337th biggest film between Coco and Troy (close to Jurassic Park 3, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Goldeneye and Mission: Impossible II) and 629th biggest inflated between Ant-Man and (close to Aliens, Good Morning Vietnam, Trainspotting 2, Rocky IV and The Rock).
The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was #1 for only 1 week toppled by Sex and the City (£8,767,265); The Last Crusade was #1 for 6 weeks toppled by Batman also had a bigger opening £2,058,159; but it still took a huge £83,260 at the Empire 1 Leicester Square in its 7th weekend taking £978,995; played at the Empire for 21 weeks taking £1,452,298 taking £15,794 in its 21st weekend Empire 2.
UK box office in detail
This weekend’s top 10 box office took £35,475,322 up 95.1% from last weekend’s £18,187,968: 4,451,107 admissions up 51.3% from 2,282,054.
Friday was the biggest ever taking £10,994,430 for all films topping July 15th, 2011, £10,834,539 when Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallow Part 2 opened with £9.48m, the difference was while DH2 took about 90% of Friday BO Barbie took 60%.
The second £20m+ top 10 of 2023 after 07 April 2023 when Super Mario Bros opened; were 5 £20m+ weekends in 2022 (Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Top Gun Maverick, Jurassic World: Dominion, Thor: Love and Thunder and Minions: The Rise of Gru). 3 £20m+ in 2021 (two for No Time to Die and Spider-Man No Way Home). 1 in 2020 (Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker) and 8 in 2019 (Captain Marvel, Avengers Endgame x2 weeks, Aladdin, Toy Story 4, Spider-Man: Far from Home, The Lion King x2 weeks, Joker, Frozen 2 and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker x2 weeks).
4th biggest top 10 of the last 21 years (out of 1,112) between 18 December 2015 #1 Star Wars: The Force Awakens £34,011,849 (88.58% of top 10) and 17 December 2021 #1 Spider-Man No Way Home £31,899,232 (92.59% of top 10) and 14th biggest inflation inflated between 17 December 2021 #1 Spider-Man No Way Home £31,899,232 (92.59% of top 10) and 02 July 2004 #1 Shrek 2 £16,220,752 (81.55% of top 10).
The top 3 took (£32,291,814) 91.02% of the top 10; Barbie 52.17% (£18,509,235); Oppenheimer 30.7X% (£10,891,486); Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part 1 8.15% (£2,891,093)
238th highest percentage (52.17%) between 06 January 2023 Avatar: The Way of Water (52.36%) and 12 October 2007 Ratatouille (51.99%).
45th biggest admissions #1 (2,322,363) between 12 November 2004 Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2,324,096) and 09 July 2010 Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2,312,043).
27 December 2019 Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (1,309,598) and 26 July 2002 (Austin Powers in Goldmember (1,302,093).
Up 87.2% from 2022 (£11,455,674); Where the Crawdads Sing (£1,395,704); Prima Facie – NT Live 2022 (£447,014); #1 Minions: The Rise of Gru £3,086,374 2nd #1 split over 4 weeks (26.94% of top 10)
Up 483% from 2021; (£6,084,995); Old (£866,860); #1 Black Widow £1,410,288 3rd week 644 screens (23.18% of top 10)
Up 8,708.2% from 2020 (£402,752); The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Re: 2020) – Extended Version £24,136 (81 screens); The Lord Of the Rings: The Two Towers (Re: 2020) Extended Version £10,479 (57 screens); The Lord Of the Rings: The Return Of The King (Re: 2020) – Extended Version £10,205 (57 screens); #1 Onward £60,074 5th week split over 5 months 123 screens (14.92% of top 10)
Up 44.6% from 2019; (£24,533,644); The Lion King (£16,671,764); #1 The Lion King £16,671,764 1st week 713 screens (67.95% of top 10)
Up 80.7% from 2018: (£19,632,861); Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again! (£9,735,930); Hotel Artemis (£357,261); Spitfire (£211,464); Thomas & Friends: Big World! Big Adventures! The Movie (£125,081); Escape Plan 2 (£6,737); #1 Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again! £9,735,931 1st week 702 screens (49.6% of top 10)
Up 60.8% from 2017: (£22,066,254); Dunkirk (£10,023,720); Andre Rieu’s 2017 Maastricht Concert (£1,439,604); #1 Dunkirk £10,023,720 1st week 638 screens (45.4% of top 10)
Up 109.7% from 2016: (£16,914,463); The BFG (£5,288,529); Star Trek Beyond (£4,740,040); Andre Rieu’s 2016 Maastricht Concert (£1,414,075); #1 The BFG £5,288,529 1st week 680 screens (31.2% of the top 10)
Up 108.2% from 2015; (£17,039,800); Inside Out (£7,376,513); Southpaw (£1,662,296); The Legend of Barney Thomson (£163,395); #1 Inside Out £7,376,513 1st week 608 screens (43.3% of top 10)
Up 119% from 2014: (£16,203,729); Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (£8,705,995); Monty Python Live (Mostly) – O2 London 2014 (£1,178,091); Andre Rieu’s 2014 Maastricht Concert (£830,586); Pudsey the Dog: The Movie (£446,450); Some Like It Hot (Re: 2014) (£12,869); #1 Dawn of the Planet of the Apes 1st week 561 screens (53.7% of top 10)
Up 262.4% from 2013: (£9,787,596); The World’s End (£2,123,576); The Frozen Ground (£89,515); Breathe In (£26,910); Easy Money (£21,346); Roman Holiday (Re: 2013) (£12,701); #1 Monsters University £2,791,078 2nd week 532 screens 19% drop (28.5% of top 10)
Up 89.2% from 2012 (£18,751,675); The Dark Knight Rises (£14,362,443); Lola Versus (£348); #1 The Dark Knight Rises £14,362,443 1st week 594 screens (76.6% of top 10)
Up 109.2% from 2011; (£16,959,452); Cars 2 (£3,541,664); Horrible Bosses (£2,077,239); Beginners (£146,096); #1 Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 £8,523,417 2nd week 581 screens 64% drop (50.2% of top 10)
Up 22% from 2010: (£29,078,984); Toy Story 3 (£21,187,264); The Rebound (£360,015); Splice (£110,225); #1 Toy Story 3 £21,187,264 1st week 562 screens (72.8% of top 10)
Up 160.2% from 2009; (£13,633,561); The Proposal (£3,249,640); Antichrist (£99,092); #1 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince £5,176,950 2nd week 586 screens 74% drop (37.9% of top 10)
Up 139.1% from 2008; (£14,835,085); Wall·E (£4,253,736); Meet Dave (£681,584); Donkey Punch (£144,953); City of Men (£17,000); Standard Operating Procedure (£3,539); #1 Mamma Mia! £4,561,109 2nd week 435 screens 31% drop (30.7% of top 10)
Up 196.3% from 2007: (£11,971,119); Hairspray (£2,045,912); Firehouse Dog (£90,730); #1 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix £6,639,973 2nd week 566 screens 60% drop (55.4% of top 10)
Up 209.1% from 2006; (£11,474,975); The Break-up (£2,412,097); Stormbreaker (£1,244,892); Garfield 2 (£739,560); #1 Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man’s Chest £3,868,216 3rd week 36% drop 520 screens (33.71% of top 10)
Up 199.2% from 2005: (£11,856,897); Fantastic Four (£3,541,391); Dark Water (£480,199); Kicking and Screaming (£240,452); #1 Fantastic Four £3,541,391 1st week 406 screens (29.9% of top 10)
Up 297.7% from 2004 (£8,920,625); Thunderbirds (£1,350,974); Two Brothers (293,237); Before Sunset (£139,278); Cowboys and Angels (£18,806); #1 Spider-Man 2 £3,590,463 2nd week 503 screens 59% drop (40.2% of top 10)
Up 353.1% from 2003 (£7,829,988); The Hulk (£3,529,440); Buffalo Soldiers (£113,664); Brown Sugar (£90,877); Four Feathers (£61,800); #1 The Hulk £3,529,440 1st 500 screens (45.1% of top 10)
Up 349% from 2002 (£7,900,053); Stuart Little 2 (£1,343,398); Jason X (£233,090); Monster’s Ball (£40,132); #1 Scooby-Doo £2,513,564 2nd week 50% drop 474 screens (31.8% of top 10)
Next Week 2022 (£10,826,088); DC League of Super-Pets (£2,694,626); #1 DC League of Super-Pets £2,694,626 1st week 665 screens (24.9% of top 10)
US Box Office
- Barbie – Warner Bros
Opened $162m; received positive reviews (90% Rotten Tomatoes) and A CinemaScore.
Opened with $6m more than Sunday’s estimates ($155m) as held stronger on Sunday than expected.
Took $22.3m from Thursday midnights; comparisons include Beauty and the Beast ($16.3m); Hunger Games ($19.7m); Twilight Saga: New Moon ($26.3m): interestingly, Twilight’s opening has a lot of similarities for Barbie in both its US and UK opening.
20th biggest opening between Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and The Dark Knight Rises (close to Beauty and the Beast, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, Captain Marvel and The Hunger Games).
It took $70.5m on Friday (more than Hunger Games ($67.2m), Beauty and the Beast ($63.7m), and 2010’s Twilight Saga: Eclipse ($68.5m) and was what Barbie was tracking three weeks ago to open ($70m-$80m) with Warner Bros estimating $60m. Most films post-pandemic have opened slightly lower than their tracking, but Barbie has opened with more than double.
EntTelligence reported four out of five moviegoers went to see Barbie or Oppenheimer this weekend; Barbie 52%; Oppenheimer 27%, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning 6.5%; average ticket price Barbie $12.65 and Oppenheimer $13.65.
It’s interesting to see a level-headed response from AMC’s Adam Aron saying ‘It sure feels fabulous to see that our theatres are packed. “Barbenheimer” caused the busiest weekend at AMC in 4 years, both in the U.S. and in Europe.’ He also said ‘BUT, we should not let ourselves be confused by the euphoria arising from this weekend’s huge box office numbers. Moviegoing in 2023 still will be well below 2019 pre-Covid levels.’
Part of the problem was there weren’t any comparable films for Barbie apart from 2014’s The Lego Movie opened $69.05m taking $257.96m and $468.26m WW.
Other similar films took far less.
2007’s Enchanted opened $34.44m taking $127.8m and $340.48m WW
2003’s Elf opened $32.1m taking $178.05m and $227.35m WW
1998’s The Truman Show opened $31.54m taking $125.61m and $264.11m WW
2001’s Legally Blonde opened $20.37m taking $96.52m and $141.77m WW
2008’s The House Bunny opened $14.53m taking $48.23m and $70.43m WW
While 1995’s Clueless opened $10.61m taking $56.63m; 2001’s Josie and the Pussycats opened $4.56m taking $14.27m; 2006’s John Tucker Must Die opened $14.27m taking $27.83m; 1997’s Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion opened $7.42m taking $29.23m and 1998’s Pleasantville opened $8.85m taking $40.58m.
Had the biggest opening of 2023 ahead of The Super Mario Bros. Movie $146.3m; Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse $120.7m; Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 $118.4m; Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania $106.9m.
Barbie was heavily female 68% while Oppenheimer was male-heavy 64%.
Over the last few weeks Tom Cruise, Christopher Nolan, Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig have been buying tickets for their rival films to get people to see both of them under the hashtag Barbenheimer, this has also inspired many memes and huge social media coverage.
AMC said on July 10th 20,000 cinemagoers bought tickets for both Barbie and Oppenheimer via AMC Stubs.
Barbie’s opening shows films don’t need IMAX or PLF to open big and exhibitors will have very mixed feelings having had the put their 100% support towards Christopher Nolan as he is giving them exactly what they claim to want but looking over at Dead Reckoning and Barbie at what they are missing out on as Dead Reckoning would have played more weeks in IMAX. It’s also audiences who are missing out on not being able to see it in IMAX beyond its opening weekend. But the problem is the delusions of grandeur from Christopher Nolan believing he is the Messiah of cinema, even though Super Mario Bros and Barbie will both take more than Oppenheimer.
In September 2021 it was announced Universal Pictures would release Christopher Nolan’s next film but it came with several demands from the director including a budget of $100m an equal marketing budget, a theatrical window of at least 100 days, 20% of the first-dollar gross, and Universal couldn’t release another film either three weeks before or after. (They released Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken is June 30th and the next is Last Voyage of the Demeter on August 11th).
This weekend was the 4th biggest of all time, after 2019’s Avengers: Endgame ($402m; 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War ($314.8m) and 2015’s Star Wars: Force Awakens ($313.2m). The difference being these films were always expected to open as big as they did and they also took 90% of the BO while Barbie will take about 60% (of $308m) and is far healthier.
Barbie has blown away all the cobwebs of Warner Bros’ disappointing start of 2023 and will start climbing up the studio chart over the coming weeks moving ahead of both Paramount and Sony very soon, while Universal will top Disney for a few weeks; Disney’s $1.19bn; Universal $1.17bn; Sony $588m; Paramount $536.5m and Warner $426.5m
While Oppenheimer took all IMAX and most PLF screens Barbie opened in many Dolby Vision screens, but Barbie didn’t need gimmick formats to get audiences into cinemas.
Opened with $194.3m (up from $182m estimates) from 69 territories; UK $24.2m; Mexico $22.9m; Brazil $17.6m; Australia $14.6m; France $10.2m; Italy $8.8m; China $8.1m; Spain $7.8m; Germany $7.8m.
- Oppenheimer – Universal Pictures
Opened $82.45m; received positive reviews (93% Rotten Tomatoes) and A CinemaScore.
Was tracking to open between $40m-$49m.
Took $10.5m from Thursday midnights; taking $33m on Friday.
111th biggest opening between Despicable Me 2 and Monsters University (close to X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Solo: A Star Wars Story, I Am Legend and The Da Vinci Code).
Opened similarly to 2017’s Logan $88.41m; Friday $33m ($33.01m) Saturday $31.31m (26.24m) and Sunday $24.09m ($23.18m); Logan went on to take $226.27m and $619.02m WW.
Had 80% of all PLF with IMAX/PLF taking 47% of opening; 26% IMAX; 2% from 25 IMAX 70MM $70K IMAX average; 85 standard 70mm screens took 4%; AMC Dolby Cinema, Cinemark XD, and Regal RPX took 17%.
Tenet B CinemaScore/74% Rotten Tomatoes; Insomnia B (92%); Batman Begins A (84%); The Prestige B (76%); The Dark Knight A (94%); Inception B+ (87%); The Dark Knight Rises A (87%); Interstellar B+ (72%); Dunkirk A- (92%)
2014’s Interstellar also opened #2 ($47.51m) behind Big Hero 6 ($56.21m) and dropped 40.4% and 45.8% in the second and third weekends, dropping to third taking $28.3m and $15.34m stayed in the top 10 for 6 weeks.
2010’s Inception opened $62.78m #1 dropping 32% and 35.7% in the second and third weekends taking $42.72m and 27.48m held #1 for 3 weeks and staying in the top 10 for 11 weeks.
2017’s Dunkirk opened $50.51m #1 dropping 47.3% and 36.5% in the second and third weekends taking $26.61m and $17.13m held #1 for 2 weeks and stayed in the top 10 for 9 weeks.
Variety estimated with its budget and marketing costs Oppenheimer will need to take at least $400m to make a profit; Christopher Nolan’s previous original films.
2020’s Tenet ($205m budget) took $58.5m in the US and $365.3m worldwide; 2017’s Dunkirk ($150m+ budget) took $189.74m in the US and $527m worldwide; 2014’s Interstellar ($165m+ budget) took $188m in the US and $773.43m worldwide; 2010’s Inception ($160m+ budget) took $292.58m in the US and $870.1m worldwide.
2014’s Interstellar opened with $82.9m from 62 territories (UK $9.05m 11% of opening) and $132.6m worldwide (opened in China the week after); Interstellar opened in the US with $52.2m from 5 days opened early in 250 screens in IMAX and 70mm taking $13.4m (25%) from IMAX and large format screens; male (52%) and 75% over 25.
2017’s Dunkirk opened with $55.4m from 46 territories and $105m worldwide; the UK was the biggest international territory taking $12.4m (22.4%) with IMAX taking 14% of its box office with the BFI IMAX the top IMAX cinema in the UK the spiritual home for Nolanites.
Opened with $98m from 78 territories; UK $14m; India $7.1m; France $7m; Germany $6.6m; Australia $6.4m; Mexico $4.6m; Saudi Arabia $4m; Spain $3.8m
Took $35m from 720 IMAX cinemas worldwide (20%), taking $13.9m internationally from IMAX (14.8%) from 329 screens.
- Sound of Freedom – Angel Studios
Down 27% in the third weekend taking $19.82m and $124.33m
166th biggest third weekend between 300 and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (close to Forrest Gump, The Blind Side, Gladiator and Signs.
535th biggest film between Enchanted and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; 1,067th biggest inflated between National Lampoon’s European Vacation and Norbit; 13th biggest 2023 between Elemental and Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One.
The film was made in 2018 and was due to be released by 20th Century Fox but after the studio was brought by Disney the producers brought the rights back for the film and Angel Studios acquired world rights and used crowdfunding to pay for marketing and distribution costs encouraging audiences to pay it forward to get people who might have not seen the film in cinemas for free.
Sound of Freedom was expected to open with $11m-$15m but opened with $21.3m over 5 days despite playing in far fewer cinemas than all the other major films on release. They also had a website live tracking ticket sales and have currently sold almost 12m tickets.
Soon after opening it had a 100% Rotten Tomatoes score, this has since dropped to 93% and received A+ CinemaScore. Faith-based films have been very lucrative in the US as they are often low-budget and attract audiences by word of mouth without needing expensive marketing budgets, but they don’t travel well outside the US. Over the last decade, Sony Pictures have had a lot of success with films made by Affirm including Heaven is for Real, Miracles from Heaven, and War Room.
- Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part 1 – Paramount Pictures
Dropped 65% in the second weekend taking $19.35m and $118.6m
472nd biggest second weekend between Maleficent: Mistress of Evil and 8 Mile (close to Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Salt, Inglourious Basterds and A Quiet Place Part II).
Comparing Dead Reckoning’s second weekend with the other films, it’s performing similarly to most of the other films just having a slightly bigger drop, maybe the opening which was inflated with previews has made its second weekend look much less. That’s of course the problem with extended openings, they look much more impressive but then you compare 5 days with 3 and then the loss of IMAX/PLF surcharges which for a film like Dead Reckoning could be up to $10m.
Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation #233 $25.8m; Mission: Impossible II #263 $27.01m; Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol #218 $29.5m; Mission: Impossible Fallout #142 $35.3m; Mission: Impossible III #302 $25m ($76.75m); Mission: Impossible #388 $21.62m.
607th biggest between Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events and Blades of Glory; 1,179th biggest inflated between The Mule and Public Enemies; 14th biggest 2023 between Sound of Freedom and Scream VI; 81st biggest Paramount film between Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events and Blades of Glory.
Previous Mission Impossible films have held strongly in the weeks after opening.
1996’s Mission Impossible dropped 52.4% and 52.2% in the second and third weekends (the third was against The Rock)
2000’s Mission Impossible II dropped 53.3% and 36.2% in the 2nd and 3rd weekends (3rd was against Gone In 60 Seconds
2006’s Mission Impossible III dropped 47.6% and 54.6% in the 2nd and 3rd weekends (3rd was against The Da Vinci Code
2011’s Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol is harder to compare as had an exclusive opening weekend in IMAX cinemas holding strong despite immediate competition from Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and then held strongly in 4th and 5th weekends down 32.5% and 41.2%; stayed in top 5 for 5 weeks as many more films opened in the weeks after.
2015’s Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation dropped 48.7% and 39.7% in 2nd and 3rd weekend (3rd was against Straight Outta Compton) and stayed in the top 5 for 7 weeks
2018’s Mission Impossible: Fallout dropped 42.3% and 45.2% in 2nd and 3rd weekend (3rd was against The Meg $45.4m)
Tom Cruise films have taken $5.2bn at the US box office since making his acting debut in 1981’s Endless Love and $11.54bn worldwide; 6 Mission Impossible films have taken $1.155bn in the US and $3.6bn worldwide.
Took $55m from 72 territories $252.1m total and $370.9m worldwide; China $25.8m; Korea $14.2m; UK $13.8m; India $9m; Australia $8.3m; France $7.7m; Taiwan $7m.
385th biggest worldwide between Shark Tale and Captain America: The First Avenger; 12th biggest 2023 between Transformers: Rise of the Beasts and Barbie; 45th biggest Paramount film between The Adventures of Tintin and Captain America: The First Avenger.
- Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny – Disney
Dropped 46% in the fourth weekend $6.67m and $158.99m
675th biggest fourth weekend between X-Men: First Class and 12 Years a Slave (close to Murder on the Orient Express, Quantum of Solace, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Ford v Ferrari).
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom #377 $9.11m; Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull #125 $14.74m; Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade #214 $11.27m; and Raiders of the Lost Ark took #589 $7.34m.
370th biggest film between 1917 and The Secret Life of Pets 2; Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom #284 $179.9m; Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade #237 $197.17m; Raiders of the Lost Ark #177 $225.7m and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull #88 $317.1m.
790th biggest inflated between The English Patient and Kingsman: The Secret Service; #18 Raiders of the Lost Ark $728.1m; #68 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom $491m; #82 Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade $453.2m; Kingdom of the Crystal Skull #123 $405m.
8th biggest 2023 film between Barbie and Creed III; 92nd biggest Disney between The Waterboy and Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
2008’s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull dropped 35.3% $14.74m and $276.52m of $317.1m ($470m) and $790.65m worldwide ($1.2bn)
1989’s Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade dropped 26.9% taking $11.72m and $122.37m of $197.17m ($520m) and $474.17m worldwide ($1.25bn)
1984’s Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom dropped 24.1% taking $9.11m and $103.48m of $179.87m ($565m) and $333.1m worldwide ($1.1bn)
1981’s Raiders of the Lost Ark took $7.34m up 4% and $46.279m of $248.15m ($940m) and $389.92m worldwide ($1.5bn)
In 1981 after Raiders of the Lost Ark Variety said it would have to be one of the biggest films of all time to register a profit for Paramount, showing nothing has changed over the past 41 years. The budget for Dial of Destiny is about $300m so would need to take over $1bn worldwide to turn a profit.
Kingdom of the Crystal Skull took $473.55m internationally and $790.65m worldwide ($1.2bn)
1989’s Last Crusade took $277m internationally; 1984’s Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom in$153.5m; 1981’s Raiders of the Lost Ark $141.8m.
Took $8.2m (down 47%) from 52 territories $157m and $334.63m worldwide; UK $23m; France $18.2m; Japan $15.2m; Germany $11.5m; Spain $10.6m.
465th biggest worldwide between A Quiet Place and Never Say Die; #104; Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade #262; Raiders of the Lost Ark #387; Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom #466.
15th biggest 2023 between Elemental and Creed III; 96th biggest Disney between The Rock and The Good Dinosaur.
- Elemental – Disney
Dropped 37% in the sixth weekend taking $5.72m and $137.15m
245th biggest sixth weekend between Pocahontas and Suicide Squad (close to The Incredibles #310 $5.03m; Wall-e #369 $4.6m; Up #188 $6.5m and Monsters, Inc. #183 $6.59m).
91st biggest animated film between Dinosaur and Chicken Little; 477th biggest film between Click and The Green Mile; 964th biggest inflated between Midnight Express and Blade; 12th biggest 2023 between Fast X and Sound of Freedom; 1054th biggest Disney between Dinosaur and Ransom.
23 Pixar films have taken $6.33bn since 1995 ($8.9bn inflation inflated) and $15.27bn worldwide.
Took $18.3m (down 37%) from 51 territories $219.4m total and $356.6m worldwide; Mexico $18.2m; China $15.8m; France $14m; Brazil $12.2m.
85th biggest animated film worldwide between Dinosaur and The Angry Birds Movie; 424th biggest worldwide between Catch Me if You Can and X-Men: First Class; 14th biggest worldwide between Barbie and Dial of Destiny; 88th biggest Disney worldwide between Dinosaur and Dumbo.
UK Box Office Top 10
UK Box Office Preview
Barbie and Oppenheimer will likely drop about 40% in their second weekend.
With Barbie taking about £11m-£13m. Holding similar to 2017’s Beauty and the Beast (£12,334,338); 2015’s Jurassic World (£11,133,912) and 2019’s The Lion King (£10,660,287) and will have taken about £40m by next Sunday after taking roughly Mon £3.94m; Tues £3.4m; Weds £3.25m; Thurs £2.8m; Fri £3.45m; Sat £4.5m and Sun £3.8m.
Super Mario Bros took £7,568,523 down 51.8% and £35,855,948 after 12 days.
Oppenheimer will likely drop closer to Inception (29.43%) rather than Dunkirk (17.84%) taking £6m-£7.5m and about £25m by next Sunday; Mon £2.13m; Tues £1.8m; Weds £1.7m; Thurs £1.5m; Fri£ 2.2m; Sat £2.5m and Sun £2.35m.
With no new major releases Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One and Elemental will have much lower drops in their third and fourth weekends each dropping about 30% with Dead Reckoning taking about £2m and Elemental £1m+.
In fifth it could be either Bollywood’s Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani or horror Talk To Me as Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny and Insidious: The Red Door are both likely to drop 50% again.
Monday sees another 7-day opening from Paramount Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem which is unlikely to affect either Barbie or Oppenheimer as will play to the same audience as Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. That said being a 7-day opening it will likely push Oppenheimer down to third.
It’s the seventh theatrical Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film since 1990, the first was released as Hero Turtles in the UK and is the second animated film after 2007’s TMNT opened £948,791 #2 taking £2,739,160 and Paramount’s third film after 2014’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles opened £4,785,448 #1 taking £13,771,574 and 2016’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows opened £3,495,445 #2 taking £5,957,182.
1990’s Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles opened £769,000 (£2,630,442 inflated) taking £5,452,740 (£18,651,647 inflated)
1991’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 opened £458,539 (£1,206,124 inflated) taking £2,250,201 (£5,918,846 inflated).
Last weekend was the second £20m+ top 10 of 2023 after 07 April 2023 when Super Mario Bros opened and this weekend with likely strong holds for both Barbie and Oppenheimer should see the third £20m+ of the year.
There were 5 £20m+ weekends in 2022 (Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Top Gun Maverick, Jurassic World: Dominion, Thor: Love and Thunder and Minions: The Rise of Gru). 3 £20m+ in 2021 (two for No Time to Die and Spider-Man No Way Home). 1 in 2020 (Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker) and 8 in 2019 (Captain Marvel, Avengers Endgame x2 weeks, Aladdin, Toy Story 4, Spider-Man: Far from Home, The Lion King x2 weeks, Joker, Frozen 2 and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker x2 weeks). The question is will there be another £20m+ weekend this year, there may be a lot of films still to open this year with some busy weekends ahead and of course the lucrative half-term and Christmas period.
Opening in two weeks
- The Blackening – Universal Pictures
Comedy horror starring Dewayne Perkins, Grace Byers, Jermaine Fowler, Melvin Gregg, X Mayo, Antoinette Robertson, Jay Pharoah, and Yvonne Orji and directed by Tim Story.
It premiered at the Toronto Film Festival last year, receiving positive reviews and was released in the US in June by Lionsgate, taking $17m but will have a limited audience in the UK.
- Theater Camp – Disney
Comedy stars Galvin, Gordon, Platt, Jimmy Tatro, Patti Harrison, Nathan Lee Graham, Ayo Edebiri, Owen Thiele, Caroline Aaron and Amy Sedaris and directed by Molly Gordon and Nick Lieberman.
It had the world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival receiving positive reviews (83% Rotten Tomatoes) and was acquired by Searchlight Pictures for $8m. Opened in the US in July, taking $400k.
As with The Blackening, Theatre Camp will have a limited audience in the UK.
- Andre Rieu’s 2023 Maastricht Concert: Love Is All Around – Piece Of Magic Entertainment
The last Andre Rieu in Dublin 2023 opened in January with £715,986 #5 similar to similar 2022’s Andre Rieu Maastricht Summer Concert opened #1 £798,706; the first Event Cinema #1 post-pandemic and the first since Billy Elliot The Musical Live 2014 (£1,904,098).
André Rieu’s concerts grew in popularity since the first one released in 2014’s Maastricht Concert £830,586.
Andre Rieu’s 2015 Maastricht Concert £1,107,000.
Andre Rieu’s 2016 Maastricht Concert £1,414,075.
Andre Rieu: Christmas with Andre 2016 £1,180,208 #4 470 screens.
Andre Rieu’s 2017 Maastricht Concert £1,439,604.
2018’s André Rieu’s Maastricht Concert, ’Amore £1,783,222.
Andre Rieu’s 2019 New Year Concert from Sydney £1,745,941 #4 570 screens.
Andre Rieu 2019 Maastricht Concert – Shall We Dance? (July) £1,492,154 #4 587 screens.
2020’s Andre Rieu’s Magical Maastricht: Together In Music (September) £124,101 #4 403 screens.
2020’s Andre Rieu: 70 Years Young (January) £1,717,074 #6 579 screens.
Andre Rieu’s 2021 Summer Concert: Together Again (August) £420,056 #4 551 screens.