- Spider-Man No Way Home – £6,055,345 – £69,849,930
Up 31.1% in its third weekend; the positive of opening a film the week before Christmas is every day between then and New Years Bank Holiday is a Saturday at the box office as the two weeks of Christmas is the most lucrative of the year. While two weeks ago due to Christmas Day Spider-Man No Way Home had a two-day weekend dropping 85.5% (£4,619,518) the following weekend is the only weekend when most films in the top 10 see an increase or very minimal drop.
So while The Force Awakens dropped 70.1%, Rogue One 67.3%, The Last Jedi 63.7% in their second weekends their third weekends The Force Awakens increased 1%, The Last Jedi dropped 22% and Rogue One increased 4%.
8th biggest third weekend between LOTR: Return of the King (£6,496,723) and LOTR: The Fellowship of the Rings (£5,967,910); biggest MCU third weekend ahead of Avenger Infinity War (£5,706,170); Avengers: Endgame (£4,414,015); Avengers Assemble (£4,169,087); Black Panther (£3,736,954) but can’t be compared with other MCU third weekends as its second weekend was 2-day weekend so it was always likely to increase its BO this weekend and then it will return to the normal drop this weekend.
Spider-Man No Way Home is the 8th Spider-Man film made by Sony Pictures since 2002; original trilogy directed by Sam Raimi starring Tobey Maguire between 2002 and 2007 (Spider-Man £27.5m; Spider-Man 2 £26.41m; Spider-Man 3 £33.45m); The Amazing Spider-Man in 2012 with a sequel in 2014 directed by Marc Webb starring Andrew Garfield (The Amazing Spider-Man £25.74m; The Amazing Spider-Man 2 £26.64m); then Spider-Man part of the MCU directed by Jon Watts and starring Tom Holland between 2017 and 2021 (Spider-Man: Homecoming £30.38m; Spider-Man: Far From Home £37.03m) and then Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse £10.04m (sequel in 2022)
14th biggest film in the UK (22nd film taking over £50m since Titanic in 1998) between Avengers: Infinity War and Mamma Mia!; 3rd biggest Sony Pictures film in the UK between Spectre and Casino Royale and 32nd biggest film in the UK inflation inflated between Beauty and the Beast and Independence Day (close to Quantum of Solace, Avengers: Infinity War, The Dark Knight and Toy Story 4)
61st biggest historical in the UK by admissions between Toy Story 2 (£71,364,812) and Independence Day (£69,652,472( close to The Godfather, The Lion King, Men In Black and Ghost.
The 27 MCU films have taken almost £885m in the UK since 2008 (almost £905m inflation inflated) with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Thor: Love and Thunder and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever the film series will top £1bn at the UK BO next year.
As No Time To Die was heralded as the saviour of UK cinema, Spider-Man No Way Home is similarly be heralded as the saviour of US and global cinema but this is all made from pixel dust that will fade quickly over the next month while the Oscar contenders Belfast, King Richard, Licorice Pizza and West Side Story will last much longer in the memories of most cinemagoers. As with the hype over Black Panther receiving Best Picture nomination but then the far superior The Dark Knight wasn’t nominated, many believe Spider-Man No Way Home could receive a Best Picture nomination for “saving cinema”.
The reason why Spider-Man opened so big was simple if Spider-Man No Way Home looks like an Avengers film, swims like an Avengers film, and quacks like an Avengers film, then it probably is an Avengers film. As the previous comic-book movies released this year Black Widow, Shang-Chi, Venom Let There Be Carnage and Eternals were always going to be aperitifs for Spider-Man No Way Home, all playing to comic-book fans, not the extended fanbase Avengers films attract.
Over the last few weeks the hospitality sector live entertainment sector has suffered due to the increase in COVID/Omicron but while exhibitors will use that as an excuse for soft box office in November and early December after Spider-Man No Way Home opening this of course is just an excuse. Cinemas have benefited from VAT reduced from 20% to 5% from July 2020 to September 30th, 2021, and from October 1st to March 31st, 2022, at 12.5% but while most of the hospitality sector passed on the reduction to its customer’s exhibitors haven’t done so as their excuse was it was only a few pennies. While that would be the case if ticket prices were the average price industry claims but for many, this would be over £1 a ticket.
The problem with MCU now is they aren’t accessible to newbies need to have seen all of the other 26 MCUs and Spider-Man films, why for all the positivity surrounding Spider-Man No Way Home it’s a comic-book movie for the fans, not the extended fanbase many other MCU films have been?
The MCU films have become similar to the problem with Star Wars Anthology with lots of in-jokes only the fans who have watched and dissected all previous films will understand but won’t play wider, why ‘record presales’ doesn’t mean Avengers sized opening for Spider-Man No Way Home.
This is why Jumanji and The Greatest Showman performed so strongly against The Last Jedi, Spider-Man, Matrix and The King’s Man are all similar fan service films why Sing 2 will likely be the big winner this Christmas being the Ronseal movie doing exactly what it says on the can.
Sony announced on Tuesday they were delaying Morbius again for the fifth time, while the industry blamed the delay from January to April on COVID the reason is due to extensive reshoots to the film that started in December featuring Michael Keaton and probably after the huge success of Spider-Man wants toad a cameo. Originally Morbius was due to open in July 2020 15 months before Spider-Man No Way Home but as with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness both were originally due to open before Spider-Man.
2010 was the last year Christmas Day was on Saturday Little Fockers opened with £3,035,717 with BO split almost 50/50 with previews £1,592,643/£1,443,074
As with this year, all other films in the top 10 dropped heavily apart from Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader #2 down 24% in its third weekend £929,958; all films saw big increases in the following weekend with Gulliver’s Travels opening with £7,028,747 including £4,728,938 from 5 days of previews and Little Fockers increased 80% in its second weekend.
While 2016 was the last time Christmas Day was on a Sunday which didn’t have a similar impact on BO with Rogue One: A Star Wars Story down 67% (57% without previews which would be the normal drop for this fan led film as The Matrix: Resurrections is too); in the second weekend taking £5,652,730 with Passengers opening with £2,418,976 including £1,217,430 from previews with Rogue One increasing by 4% and Passengers increased by 58%.
2. The King’s Man – £3,496, 627 – NE
Took £2,379,192 from 5 days of previews (68% of opening) taking £1,117,435 Fri-Sun
Had the 429th biggest opening between Godzilla: King Of The Monsters and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 (close to John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, Fantastic Four, Cloverfield and American Hustle) and 607th biggest inflation inflated opening between Sister Act 2 Back In The Habit and Dinosaur (close to 12 Monkeys, Captain America: The First Avenger, Leon and Baby Driver).
The third instalment of the Kingsman film series and prequel to 2014’s Kingsman: The Secret Service and 2017’s Kingsman: The Golden Circle. In 2018 Matthew Vaughn announced a Kingsman film was in development at that time The Kingsman film series was a valuable film series for 20th Century Fox and there were plans for Kingsman shared universe with prequels, sequels and spinoffs. The King’s Man started production in January 2019 but two months later the studio was acquired by Disney and they had no interest in the film series as it didn’t fit in Disney’s plans. So as with X-Men: Dark Phoenix and The New Mutants which 20th Century Fox had planned to be the start of a new series of X-Men films it’s unlikely there will be anymore theatrically made King’s Man films.
It was originally set for release in November 2019 by Fox and then to 14th February 2020, in November 2018 was delayed by Disney to 18th September, then to February 2021 due to COVID and then to August 2021 and delayed again in March 2021 to December 2021.
The teaser trailer was released in July 2019, the second trailer in September 2019, the third in June 2020 and a red band trailer was released in August 2021. In September Disney announced it would have a 45-day theatrical window.
After directing Daniel Craig in Layer Cake Matthew Vaughn was briefly attached to direct Casino Royale before Martin Campbell was signed and Matthew Vaughn instead moved on to develop Kingsman: The Secret Service.
The problem many had with the Kingsman films was they were laddish ad women were seen as weak and needed saving by men and they had unnecessary misogyny scenes especially the end scene in the first film that ruined the film for me.
2015’s Kingsman: The Secret Service opened £4,241,292 (including £679,498 previews) taking £16,418,247
2017’s Kingsman: The Golden Circle opened £8,525,664 (including £2,327,105 previews) taking £24,883,225
While critics responses to the films have decreased with Kingsman: The Secret Service 75% Rotten Tomatoes; Kingsman: The Golden Circle 51% Rotten Tomatoes; The King’s Man 42% audience score for The King’s Man was similar to the first 79% Vs 84% with the second film both disliked by critics and audiences 64%.
The King’s Man was originally going to open against The Matrix Resurrections as it did in the US but delaying it to Boxing Day gave it enough distance from Spider-Man No Way Home and gave it an 8-day opening weekend and between Christmas and New Year’s every day is like a Saturday. While the fanbase who enjoyed the previous two films don’t listen to critics.
As with most other films that have extended previews The King’s Man will have a short run-in cinema and be out of them long before its 45-day theatrical window ends. Why theatrical windows need to be flexible and decisions made once they have opened as all but one of the films (Free Guy) Disney announced several months before their release would have 45-day windows were played out of cinemas far quicker. The King’s Man was always likely to even after the huge popularity of the first two films in the UK due to its opening being so close to Spider-Man No Way Home and The Matric Resurrections.
It will likely drop upwards of 80% in its second weekend
3. Clifford The Big Red Dog – £776,802 – £5,982, 503
Up 122.6% in its fourth weekend; other children’s films also increased strongly Encanto up 54%, The Boss Baby 2 3,599%, Ron’s Gone Wrong 244% (despite being about to watch at home) the only one to drop heavily was A Boy Called Christmas 93% for obvious reasons.
With the Christmas holidays now over Clifford, The Big Red Dog will drop down the chart but has performed very strongly helped by Encanto underperforming and will overtake its box office (£ £6,168,091) as normally family films at Christmas perform very strongly as they open in November and play till January. Universal held back the release of Sing 2 to January as they did with the first as Disney released Moana in December 2016 taking £20,041,031 while Sing took £28,840,000 in January 2017.
78th biggest family film between The Santa Clause 3 and The Wild Thornberrys (close to Freaky Friday, The Borrowers, The Magic Roundabout and Happy Feet 2), 37th biggest eOne film between Now You See Me 2 and Spotlight (close to Divergent, Miss Potter, Racing Stripes and Arthur and the Invisibles).
Films about pets have been popular over the years in cinemas with films including in 2009’s Marley And Me £15.4m; 1992’s Beethoven £6.8m; 1993’s Beethoven’s 2nd £5.8m; 2017’s A Dog’s Purpose £3.2m also the two The Secret Life of Pets films, the first took £35,825,195 and the second £18,638,365.
2001’s Cats and Dog took £23,013,391 (£40,134,464 inflation inflated); despite poor reviews, the film performed strongly and played for 14 weeks in the top 15 and was one of the biggest films of 200; 2010’s Cats & Dogs: Revenge of Kitty Galore took £3,972,149 (£4,819,986 inflation inflated) and even in October 2020 Cats & Dogs: Paws Unite! Took £1.36m.
4. The Matrix Resurrections – £760,427 – £5,294,923
1,157th biggest second weekend between Why Him? and Bringing Down the House (close to Bad Boys, 10 Cloverfield Lane, Layer Cake and Scream 4) and 1,256th biggest second-weekend inflation inflated between Total Recall and Candyman (close to Zombieland, Halloween Kills, Poltergeist and Poseidon).
157th biggest Warner Bros second weekend between Annabelle Comes Home and Happy Feet 2 (close to Jupiter Ascending, Payback, Get Smart and Geostorm The Matrix Reloaded #28; The Matrix Revolutions #45 and The Matrix #57; 173rd biggest inflation inflated between Annabelle Comes Home and Poseidon (close to V for Vendetta, Gangster Squad, King Arthur and Godzilla Vs. Kong)
The Matrix: Resurrections opening only a week after Spider-Man No Way Home targetting the same demographic was always likely to struggle as it’s 18 years since the last films were released and after all the excitement of the original film in 1999 the back-to-back sequels were disappointing.
As with other long-gap sequels, there was always the question of who its was target audience those teenagers who grew up with the original films 20+ years ago or their children who are more interested in comic-book movies. As seen recently with Ghostbusters Afterlife opening with £4,314,263 similar to the 2016 reboot taking £10,712,666.
Keanu Reeves is now best known for playing John Wick sequels (the first film struggled to find an audience in the UK opening 6 months after the US); 2017’s John Wick: Chapter Two dropped 50.7% taking £965,946 and £3,812,377 of £5,766,633 and John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum dropped 60.2% taking £1,416,278 and £6,246,151 of £9,587,828; John Wick 4 has recently been delayed from May 2022 due to open against Top Gun Maverick to March 2023. While Wachowski’s previous film was 2015’s Jupiter Ascending opening dropped 38.6% taking £827,604 and £2,821,198 of £4,241,234.
The problem is studios are now desperately looking to make sequels to films that were successful 20+ years ago as they try to find films that can compete with comic-book movies but these films aren’t as popular with younger audiences as they were with their parents and the only way to get younger audiences interested is rebooting them with a younger generation as was the case with Star Wars The Force Awakens and Jurassic World. The films themselves were remakes of previous films they had new characters alongside the actors from the original films so they played cross-generational as surely will be the plan with Indiana Jones 5.
The first film opened in UK cinemas in June 1999 (two months after the US) receiving rave reviews (a month before Star Wars: The Phantom Menace) dropped 32.7% taking £2,275,576 (£3,902,532 inflation inflated) and £7,342,530 taking £17,279,897 (£29,634,408 inflation inflated)
Two sequels opened back-to-back in 2003 6 months apart with receiving mixed reviews;
The Matrix Reloaded dropped 68.9% taking £3,783,905 and £21,978,201 taking £33,423,117 (£54,350,204 inflation inflated)
The Matrix Revolutions dropped 70.4% taking £2,575,595 and £13,443,237 taking £17,754,338 (£28,870,793 inflation inflated) it was the first live-action film to be released in regular and IMAX cinemas at the same time;
In 1999 The Matrix gave audiences something they hadn’t seen on the big screen, remember doing many preview screenings of the first film and the audience reaction was always so good afterwards. So the hype and expectation for the sequels in 2003 were almost as high as Star Wars: The Phantom Menace and of course when that happens the films can never live up to that hype.
Over the years since there have been many film series that have taken up the mantle of The Matrix from John Wick to MCU and The Matrix Resurrections opens the week after Spider-Man No Way Home with both films targetting similar demographic males under 40. As will The King’s Man opening on Boxing Day.
In 2003 when The Matrix Reloaded opened in May X-Men 2 was #2 £903,221 in its fourth weekend taking £18,303,458 having comedies opening the weeks after Bringing Down the House, Anger Management, Dumb and Dumberer allowing it to stay #1 for 4 weeks until 2 Fast 2 Furious.
While in November The Matrix Revolutions opened against the 6th weekend of Finding Nemo £1,659,861 and dropped 70% in its second weekend despite no films opening against it (taking £ 2,575,595) with Love Actually opening in its third-weekend #1 with £6,657,479 as The Matrix Revolutions dropped 55% (£1,158,971).
Ahead of the release of The Matrix Resurrections on December 22nd, the first film was re-released in cinemas on December 4th for the first time in IMAX. The Matrix was last re-released in July 2019 (4K Restoration) for its 20th anniversary with £163,812 #11 from 286 screens with The Matrix Reloaded (4K Restoration) #61 £876 12 screens; The Matrix Revolutions (4K Restoration) #66 £583 10 screens.
It was always going to be a massive gamble for Warner Bros opening The Matrix: Resurrections so soon after Spider-Man No Way Home even if Spider-Man only opened similar to Homecoming and Far From Home so it was a surprise that Warner didn’t bring the release forward to Thanksgiving after Paramount delayed Top Gun Maverick or switch the release with King Richard.
5. West Side Story £397,792 – £5,087,727
Up 88.1% in its fourth weekend; having a big increase this weekend shows again it should have been given The Greatest Showman release slot opening Boxing Day as many successful musicals have done in the past including Evita and Chicago.
A Steven Spielberg film is a massive event for cinephiles and West Side Story should have performed far better than it did but its failure was sadly expected for many months due to the industry’s failure to deal with the issue that older audiences would take much longer to return to cinemas. Much was made by the industry after No Time To Die in October that brought back millions of older cinemagoers to the cinema for the first time since January 2020 but hasn’t returned since.
27th biggest musical in the UK between Muppets Most Wanted (£7,041,911) and In The Heights (£4,286,073) and (close to Dreamgirls, Into the Woods, Walk the Line and The Producers)
1,184th biggest film in the UK between Grimsby and Epic Movie (close to Groundhog Day, Shallow Grave, The Prince of Egypt and Birdman) and 1,367th biggest inflation inflated film between Apocalypto and Hero (close to Eat Pray Love, The Bridges Of Madison County, Dreamgirls and A Simple Favour).
Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story has received acclaim with many calling it his best film in 20 years but it was always going to struggle to find a wide audience unlike Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet 25 years ago bring West Side Story to GenZ along with the Millennials and GenX who grew up watching the original on TV never getting to experience it in the cinema. Unlike what Baz Luhrmann managed to do 25 years ago with William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet (West Side Story is based on) taking £7,438,055 in the UK (£13,194,781 inflation inflated).
Musicals are extremely popular in the UK with the massive success of films like The Greatest Showman, A Star Is Born, Bohemian Rhapsody, Mamma Mia!, Rocketman, Les Misérables, Hairspray Chicago, Into The Woods and Moulin Rouge. Even universally slated Cats in 2019 opened with £3,207,471 taking £11,907,188 staying in the top 10 for 4 weeks taking a similar £434,743 at its fourth weekend; In The Heights dropped 50% taking £232,045 and £3,849,103 taking £4,286,073
As with many films recently do have to question why if 20th Century Fox had enormous success with The Greatest Showman opening two weeks later why Disney didn’t release West Side Story on December 22nd as an alternative to The Matrix Resurrections didn’t instead The King’s Man opens Boxing Day which targets the same demographic as The Matrix and Spider-Man. Boxing Day used to be a lucrative date to open films with musicals Evita and Chicago opening limited before expanding in the New Year.
Many believed West Side Story would have longer legs (play through Christmas and beyond) as musicals normally have long legs as musicals normally do so as despite underperforming in the US In The Heights played in the top 10 in the UK for 5 weeks taking £4,286,073, while the poorly received Cats still managed to take £11,907,188 in December…
Steven Spielberg said in 2004 “I’ve always wanted to make a musical. Not like Moulin Rouge though – an old-fashioned, conservative musical. … Like West Side Story or Singin’ in the Rain. I’ve been looking for one for 20 years. I just need something that excites me.”
20 years ago, Moulin Rouge #2 down 13% in fourth weekend taking £1,337,411 and £10,636,791 58.5% of total box office taking £18,166,288 (£31,681,304 inflation inflated) was in the top 15 for almost 3 months.
Likewise, 2017’s The Greatest Showman #4 dropped 2% in its fourth weekend taking £2,103,605 and £16,865,309 34.1% of the total box office taking £49,523,728 and played wide in cinemas for over 16 weeks, was still in the top 10 when it was released on DVD.
Not including BO from Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom the 23 other Steven Spielberg films he has directed have taken since E.T in 1982 over £375m and almost £700m inflation inflated. Over the last decade, the box office of his films has softened as he has branched out making a wide range of films deciding to direct West Side Story and The Fabelmans instead of Indiana Jones 5 due for release in 2023 after several delays and will surely perform stronger than 2008’s very disappointing Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull.
Steven Spielberg’s next is The Fabelmans due for release Thanksgiving 2022 in the US, it’s loosely based on Steven Spielberg’s childhood and his relationship with his family.
Also opening
• The Electrical Life Of Louis Wain – Studiocanal
Opened with £85,763 from 232 screens
It was surprising box office was reported for the film as it opened on Sunday, January 1st as universal Pictures didn’t report the box office for Licorice Pizza also opening on January 1st opting instead for it to have an 8-day opening as The King’s Man did this weekend.
Despite Benedict Cumberbatch, Claire Foy both doing many interviews for The Electrical Life Of Louis Wain it was always likely to struggle to find an audience in cinemas.
Also, Altitude’s Titane opened Boxing Day also struggled to find an audience taking £121,920 over its 8-day opening weekend from 81 screens
Box Office News
2021 box office is expected to be about £557m up 88% from the 2020s £296.7m which was 76.3% less than 2019 (£1,251bn) the lowest since 1992 (but due to ticket inflation was the lowest for 40+ years).
While the UK Home Entertainment market grew 13.3% in 2021 to £3.7bn with No Time To Die selling 1.14m with 717,000 sold in two weeks, the largest week one-disc sales since 1997 with over 21.1m physical sales sold in the U.K. At the height of DVD sales in the UK, they sold 252.9m a year growing from 0.2m in 1998 (compared to 98m VHS film were sold in 2000). DVD sales have steadily dropped over the years since and by 2014 they were half they were only 7 years earlier. While Blu-ray sold 0.8m in 2007 and 17.3m in 2014.
16m of the 27m total UK households had at least one streaming account with the average amount of subscriptions per household being 2.3.
The industry celebrated the performance of No Time To Die taking £96m as it has done with Spider-Man No Way Home taking £68m+ but these two films have taken a third of the box office of the year with the top 5 (#1 No Time To Die £96.5m; #2 Spider-Man: No Way Home £68m; #3 Dune £21.8m; #4 Shang-Chi £21.3m; #5 Peter Rabbit 2 £20.5m) taking 42% (£230m) and the top 10 taking almost 60% (£330m) with the 6 comic-book movies taking almost £160m a third of the BO.
It’s not healthy for such a large percentage of the annual box office shared between so few films as it used to be successfully brought success over multiple genres, now success for one comic-book movie gives success to the next. While all those millions who came to the cinema for the first time since January 2020 to see No Time To Die haven’t returned since and probably won’t for some time. The industry should have done far more to get people back into the cinemagoing habit as David Hancock from Omdia “Streaming can’t kill cinema,”…. “Only cinema can kill cinema by not continually investing in its environment to stay ahead of other leisure and film-watching options.” As exhibitors see cinema now more as hospitality rather than cinema, seen by how they were able to get the reduced VAT from July 2020 to September 30th, 2021, to 5% and 12.5% from October 1st to March 2022 but unlike other hospitality venues they didn’t pass on the VAT savings to their customers, so about 10% of 2021 BO is probably from VAT overpayment from cinemagoers.
While 2021 will be the lowest since 1998 but by ticket inflation 1986. Of course, the industry still claims the average ticket price is only £6.75, while Vue have reduced some cinemas to £5.99 and some independent cinemas are cheaper, the vast majority are more than the double industry average.
With many cinemas in the South East and London about three times as much and with the growth of IMAX (taking about 10% of films like No Time To Die and Spider-Man No Way Home BO from 50 screens) and PLF, Dolby Cinema, 4DX and Premium also adding surcharges to ticket price this has artificially inflated BO admissions for the past decade. Then need to add Event Cinema when most are £15+ and Secret Cinema which will likely return for the first time since 2019 with tickets £75+ so each ticket sold add 11 admissions and these events normally take £1.5m+ so the 200,000 attendees add 2.2m+ admissions to the cinema.
This was the real reason why admissions were the highest for over 40 years in 2018 despite only increasing 0.83% since 2002 as “growth” since has been made by ticket inflation, as using industry’s data average ticket price increased 68.3% (from £4.29 to £7.22) between 2002 and 2018 but the only grown over the years between was box office. The films released between 2003 and 2017 were no different than those released between 1984 and 2002 and included many far biggest box office hits but despite this fewer people were going to the cinema, Why after a few years of no growth didn’t the industry ask the question and do something to change it, the reason was as Guy Hands famously said after buying Odeon Cinema in 2004, “the management team believed they were part of the film business. I had the difficult job of explaining to them that they were in the popcorn-selling business.” As for the new owners it was all about selling 92% profit popcorn and boosting ticket prices to turn a quick profit on the £650m spent.
The former owners of Odeon, Rank were a massive part of the UK film industry between the 1930 and 1960s and had owned the cinema chain since the 1930s but the cinemas were rundown compared to the modern multiplexes that had been built by US exhibitors since 1984. Odeon opted to split single screens into multi-screens as they had done in the 70s and were late to build multiplexes.
But the acquisition of Odeon and UCI cinemas came just ahead of the film to digital conversion of cinemas which took the industries eyes off the game and while promising before the conversion that the switch to digital would be good for cinemagoers with cheaper prices cinemagoers saw prices increase further as soon after that also came 3D and exhibitors saw it as a way to add 30% surcharges on tickets. This predictable made 3D become a fad as, despite the popularity of 3D for films like Avatar, Gravity and Hugo 3D was retrofitted to many films that were made in 3D had cinemagoers realised over a short time there was little difference with glasses on or off with these films. The question is will 3D return later this year with Avatar 2 and will it be glasses-free 3D?
A decade ago the Odeon Leicester Square would make over £5m annually from ticket sales, in 2009 they were about £3.8m, it would be interesting to see what they are now and since the cinema was refurbished in 2018 with seating capacity reduced by half.
Every genre that isn’t comic-book, sequel or reimagination as China is the only country in the world that’s having success from films not based on existing properties. Free Guy and Encanto were the only two original non-Chinese films in the top 30 biggest 2021 films worldwide and while they were original they were still household brands Ryan Reynolds and Disney which brought audiences to see them.
So the issue isn’t just musicals and until the industry deals with this, it’s only going to get worse with the bigger films taking a bigger chunk of BO cannibalising everything else. With the news of Morbius being delayed to April means BO is going to be soft until The Batman in March as comic-book movies are now the only sure things that will bring back audiences and they are the same who came to see the previous one.
Lockdown gave the industry a massive chance to relaunch itself in the streaming era but cinemas reopened and nothing had changed but audience habits have, Millennials and GenZ predictable rushed back older audiences will be much slower to return as industry’s research 20+ months ago. While analysts say BO won’t get back to pre-pandemic levels before 2023.
Odeon Cinemas are launching a new marketing campaign but why is this being launched now when it should have been done 18 months ago? (Or alongside No Time To Die as millions returned to the cinema for the first time since January 2020 but haven’t returned since.) As immediately cinemas went into the first lockdown, the industry should have worked together for a long-term plan and marketing campaign to get all audiences feeling comfortable returning to the cinema. Instead what we got instead was the Love Cinema campaign in August 2020 which predictably went down as a damp squib targeted cinephiles who had already returned. As predictably instead of without any plan or strategy and rushing to reopen many months too soon BO was soft.
I always thought cinema should have reopened with a National Cinema Month similar to the very successful National Cinema Days between 1996-98 and British Film Year in 1985 that boosted admissions, or at least make Meerkat Movies 7 days a week. While orange Wednesday was hugely popular there has been very little data released on the popularity of Meerkat Movies, with Spider-Man No Way Home opening with £7.6m how much of its box office came from Meerkat Movies 2for1?
The one thing Odeon needs to do is not see themselves as Guy Hands famously said in 2004 “Odeon were in the popcorn-selling business” (not the film business as management believed). Put film and customers first and the price is central to getting people back to the cinema and back into the cinema-going habit and maybe cinema admissions can finally top 200m about 23 years after many analysts expected 25 years ago.
The cinema industry behaved like a bull in a china shop rushing to reopen but then react so slowly to launching marketing campaigns to get people into the cinemas .. as these marketing campaigns should have launched ahead of cinemas reopened not months or as Odeon is doing 18 months later… I’m not saying this in hindsight as I said this 18 months ago need to reopen cinemas with someone huge to get all audiences feeling confident returning but predictably all they cared about was cinephiles and Covidiots first then Millennials and GenZ and then far later on it was Bond will bring back older audiences so we don’t need to do anything.
UKCA said the UK the demand showed “high levels of confidence in the safety of the cinema experience, particularly amongst those audience segments – teens and young families – which in many ways led the return to the big screen and so have seen for themselves the efforts that all cinemas have made to ensure that the experience is an enjoyable and reassuring one”. But the problem is cinema should be for the many, not the few but since they reopened for the first time in July 2020 only younger audiences have been going regularly to the cinema and despite older audiences returning for No Time To Die in October they haven’t returned since, why West Side Story predictably underperformed last weekend but then also predictable Spider-Man No Way Home opened so strongly.
US BO for 2021 was $4.5bn with over a third ($1.5bn) coming from five comic-book movies (Spider-Man No Way Home, Shang-Chi, Venom Let There Be Carnage, Black Widow and Eternals) up from 19% $2.15bn in 2019 (Avengers Endgame, Captain Marvel, Spider-Man Far From Home, Joker and Shazam). The top 10 films of 2021 will take over 50% of the year’s BO compared to 38% ($4.4bn). In 2019 the top 10 films that took $4.4bn will be about the same as the 2021 total US BO with a third ($1.5bn) from the top 5 comic-book movies compared to 19% ($2.25bn) in 2019.
While China remained the world’s biggest cinemagoing country taking almost 40% more than the US $7.3bn, over the last year China has lost interest in most US movies which has had a massive impact on the global box office. Spider-Man No Way Home opens in China this weekend and will probably be the biggest US film in China for over 2 years and is the first comic-book movie to open in China since Spider-Man Far From Home taking $199m.
in 2019 showing the divide has gotten bigger as audiences are much more selective with the films they pay to see and those they wait to see. With Free Guy the only original film in the top 10 and No Time To Die the only film playing to older audiences that featured in the top 10 with Dune #12. While there were no original films in the top 10 in 2019 they played the other films The Lion King, Toy Story 4, Star Wars The Rise of Skywalker, Aladdin and It Chapter Two played to a wide range of demographics young and old which this year predictably failed to achieve as industries focus was always on under 35s.
In focusing all efforts on under 35s this alienated older audiences as despite exhibitors always saying that there haven’t been any COVID cases traced back to cinemas older cinemagoers don’t believe that and far more should have been done to make older demographics feel comfortable returning to cinemas over 20 months ago when industry’s research said while younger audiences would return quickly to cinemas older audiences will take far longer.
While older audiences did return for No Tine To Die in the UK they haven’t returned since the problem with the industry focusing on under 35s is this audience is fickle they will rush out to see the Spider-Man No Way Home over opening weekend and then they will quickly move off to the next film. Older audiences won’t rush to see a film over opening weekend and see it over the following weeks so these films would hold better after opening, the reason why The Lion King and Toy Story 4 held strongly after opening was they both played to young and old audiences, those adults who were children when the original Lion King animated film opened and have grown up watching the Toy Story films.
This was similar to why the first Disney Star Wars The Force Awakens was far bigger than the sequel as it reminded them of the past, the problem with the sequels The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker they were trying too hard to play to the fans they forget what made Star Wars special and MCU special at first was they were accessible for all, but now with the MCU as Star Wars you need to do your homework before and after to understand them.
Biggest Films of 2021
The top 10 biggest films of 2021 are currently
No Time To Die £96.55m; Spider-Man No Way Home £69.84m; Dune £21.8m; Shang-Chi £21.3m; Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway (£20.5m); Black Widow (£18.83m); Venom 2 £18m; Free Guy (£16.78m); F9 (£16.44m); Eternals £14.76m; The Suicide Squad (£14.2m);
No Time To Die is the only film that is performing as it would in normal circumstances all others opened about a third less than they would and taken a third less.
The following 10 biggest films from 11-20)
Space Jam 2 (£12.85m); Jungle Cruise (£12.55m); A Quiet Place 2 (£11.54m); Ghostbusters Afterlife £11.05m; The Addams Family 2 £10.2m; The Croods 2 (£9.8m); Cruella £9.45m; The Conjuring 3 £9.36m.
UK box office in detail
This weekend’s top 10 box office took £12,120,376 up 43% from last weekend £8,477,200
The weekend admissions 1,716,777 up 44% 1,192,293 from last week;
Top 3 took £10,330,774 85,2% of the top 10; Spider-Man No Way Home 49.6% (£6,055,345); The King’s Man 28.6% (£3,496,627) Clifford the Big Red Dog 6.4% (£778,802);
Down 43.9% from 2020 (£21,600,665); The Gentlemen 41.7% (£3,057,108); Jojo Rabbit 33% (£2,415,233); Andre Rieu: 70 Years Young 23.4% (£1,717,074); #1 Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker 3rd weekend £4,396,258 (20.3% of top 10)
Down 29.5% from 2019 (£17,185,874); The Favourite (£3,973,975); Andre Rieu’s 2019 New Year Concert from Sydney (£1,745,941); Welcome to Marwen (£242,156); Life Itself (£54,131); #1 Mary Poppins Returns £4,444,023 3rd week #1 718 screens 40% drop (25.8% of top 10)
Down 30.3% from 2018: (£17,391,172); Molly’s Game (£2,283,420); Hostiles (£380,718); Brad’s Status (£33,579); #1 Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle £3,895,450 3rd week 1st #1 579 screens 25% drop (22.43% of the top 10)
Up 29.5% from 2017: (£17,194,216); Assassin’s Creed (£5,285,064); A Monster Calls (£1,920,744); Silence (£1,542,926); Nabucco – Met Opera 2017 (£335,390); #1 Assassin’s Creed £5,285,064 1st week 527 screens (30.7% of top 10)
Down 38.1% from 2016: (£19,553,004); Joy (£1,519,936); The Danish Girl (£1,376,191); Sherlock: The Abominable Bride (£224,022); Sleeping with Other People (£10,197); #1 Star Wars: The Force Awakens £10,164,805 2nd week 665 screens 70% drop (52% of top 10)
Down 38.9% from 2015; (£19,828,105); The Theory of Everything (£3,749,293); The Woman In Black: Angel of Death (£2,431,823); Birdman (£1,524,667); Enemy (£20,937); #1 The Theory of Everything £3,749,293 1st week 532 screens (18.9% of top 10)
Down 34.4% from 2014: (£18,483,581); Last Vegas (£1,811,695); Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones (£1,543,091); Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (£1,472,500); #1 American Hustle (expansion) £3,467,644 2nd week 1st #1 411 screens up 7,401% (18.7% of top 10)
Down 36.3% from 2013 (£19,026,396); The Impossible (£4,034,470); Quartet (£2,294,917); Playing for Keeps (£507,319); Chinatown (Re: 2013) (£16,138); #1 The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey £4,075,781 4th week 568 screens 41% drop (21.4% of top 10)
Down 38.1% from 2012 (£19,565,424); Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (£8,188,209); The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (£4,325,594); The Lady (£91,690); The Artist (platform) (£48,445); Hannah and Her Sisters (Re: 2011) (£2,548); #1 Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol £8,188,209 1st week 509 screens (41.8% of top 10)
Up 29.3% from 2011 (£17,137,638); Gulliver’s Travels (£7,028,747); Love and Other Drugs (£1,606,253); The Way Back (£1,327,650); #1 Gulliver’s Travels £7,028,747 1st week 497 screens (41.1% of top 10)
Down 21.2% from 2010: (£15,390,090); Did You Hear About The Morgan’s (£1,155,060); Post Grad (£12,486); #1 Avatar £5,940,479 3rd week (38.6% of top 10)
Up 2.1% from 2009; (£11,872,842); The Spirit (£1,351,370); The Reader (£671,064); Che: Part One (£429,836); Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants 2 (£41,305); #1 Yes Man 2nd week £2,223,950 434 screens 5% drop (18.7% of top 10)
Down 5.1% from 2008; (£12,768,659); Lust, Caution (£240,665); #1 I Am Legend £3,740,369 2nd week 458 screens 66% drop (29.3% of top 10)
Up 10.1% from 2007: (£11,003,216); Miss Potter (£1,400,943); Apocalypto (£1,360,110); Employee of the Month (£1,075,883); White Noise: The Light (£698,461); #1 Night at the Museum £2,958,093 2nd week 487 screens 62% drop (26.8% of top 10)
Up 11.5% from 2006; (£10,866,142); Just Friends (£1,750,481); Brokeback Mountain (£987,261); Match Point (£751,992); Running Scared (£275,498); #1 King Kong £2,160,421 4th week 473 screens 19% drop (19.8% of top 10)
Up 78.7% from 2005 (£6,781,968); Without a Paddle (£595,060); #1 The Incredibles £1,296,333 7th week 3rd week #1 over two sessions up 144% 485 screens (19.1% of top 10)
Down 11.5% from 2004 (£13,698,709); Stuck On You (£1,114,837); American Splendor (£135,568); #1 Lord of the Rings: Return of the King £6,496,723 3rd week #1 498 screens 9% drop (47.4% of top 10)
Up 2.9% from 2003 (£11,773,904); Star Trek X: Nemesis (£1,957,845); City Of God (£307,177); Spider (£63,949); #1 Lord of the Rings: Two Towers 3rd week #1 £5,774,170 502 screens 29% drop (49.1% of top 10)
Up 8.1% from 2002 (£11,208,567); The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (£5,967,910); Behind Enemy Lines (£903,589); The Last Castle (£161,862); Mulholland Drive (£134,798); Monsoon Wedding (£130,466); Beauty and the Beast (£44,797); #1 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring £5,967,910 3rd week #1 470 screens (53.2% of top 10)
Next weekend in 2020 (£17,942,442); 1917 90.8% (£7,446,302); Wozzeck – Met Opera 2020 (££112,187); Seberg (£47,992); #1 1917 £7,446,302 1st week 683 screens (41.5% of top 10)
US Box Office
- Spider-Man No Way Home – Sony Pictures
Dropped 34% in its third weekend taking $56.02m and $613.6m
Took $5.1m (6.5%) from IMAX in the US $52.4m total and $3.3m international and $81.3m worldwide becoming the highest-grossing IMAX release of 2021.
10th biggest film in the US between Star Wars The Last Jedi and Incredibles 2 (11th film to take over $500m since Titanic in 1997) and the 5th biggest comic-book movie after Avenger Endgame, Black Panther, Avengers Infinity War and The Avengers; 28th biggest inflation inflated between Home Alone and Incredibles 2.
As it used to be success breeds success over multiple genres now success for one comic-book movie means success for the next as audiences have become much more selective with the films they see in the cinema and those they wait to see. This has been known for more than a decade and becoming more so but the industry seems to be in complete denial as the bigger films are bigger than ever but then there is a massive gap now with the rest.
Christmas used to be a time when the box office could handle multiple films opening close together like 2017 with Star Wars The Last Jedi, Jumanji Welcome to the Jungle and then also Pitch Perfect 3 and The Greatest Showman and 2019 with Star Wars The Rise of Skywalker and Jumanji The Next Level. What didn’t help this year was Spider-Man No Way Home, The Matrix Resurrections and The King’s Man opened within a week of each other targetting the same demographic, this is why Sing 2 opened well.
The problem over recent years has been poor dating of films with all the data available studios are making strange costly decisions over dating. As surely December 22nd was crying out for a film not targetting young males why it was always a surprise West Side Story didn’t open with The King’s Man opening two weeks earlier.
Third weekends
2017’s Spider-Man Homecoming dropped 49.9% taking $22.15m and $251.85m 75.3% of $334.2m
2019’s Spider-Man: Far From Home dropped 53.3% taking $21.2m and $319.86m 81.9% of $390.53m
2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron dropped 50% taking $38.85m and $372.02m 81.1% of $459m
2018’s Avengers Infinity War 45.9% taking $62.07m and $548.09m 80.7% of $678.81m
2019’s Avengers Endgame dropped 57.1% taking $63.29m and $723.74 84.3% of 858.37m
But Spider-Man No Way Home third weekend can only really be compared to Christmas releases as films between Christmas and the New Year perform differently than any other time of the year often increasing the weekend after Christmas.
2009’s Avatar dropped 9.4% taking $68.49m and $352.11m 46.9% of $749.76m
2015’s Star Wars The Force Awakens dropped 39.5% taking $90.24m and $742.2m 79.2% of $936.6m
2016’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story dropped 22.5% taking $49.6m and $424,98m 79.9% of $532.17m
2017’s Star Wars The Last Jedi dropped 26.6% taking $52.52m and $517.21m 83.4% of $620.18m
2018’s Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle dropped 25.6% taking $37.23m and $245.6m 60.7% of $404.54m
2019’s Star Wars The Rise of Skywalker dropped 52.3% taking $32.52 and $451.58m 87.6% of $515.2m
After opening with $600m worldwide last weekend and taking $1bn in 12 days with Christmas holidays limited competition you would expect $2bn could be likely but as with Avengers Endgame opening weekend of $1.2bn worldwide many believed it would canter past Avatar’s global BO of $2.84bn but only managed to squeeze past its total after a re-release, Avatar recently overtook Avengers Endgame after being re-released in China.
Has become Sony Pictures biggest film in the US overtaking 2017’s Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle in 2017 ($404.5m)
Spider-Man No Way Home is the 8th Spider-Man film made by Sony Pictures since 2002;
Original trilogy directed by Sam Raimi starring Tobey Maguire between 2002 and 2007
Spider-Man dropped #2 36.9% taking $45.03m and $285.57m of $407.02m; $418m international and $825.02m);
Spider-Man 2 dropped #2 45.2% taking $24.77m and $302.28m of $373.58m; $415.39m international and $788.97m WW);
Spider-Man 3 dropped #2 50.1% taking $29.02m and $282.37m of $336.53m and $558.45m and $894.98m WW);
The Amazing Spider-Man in 2012 with a sequel in 2014 directed by Marc Webb starring Andrew Garfield
The Amazing Spider-Man #3 dropped 68.6% taking $10.88m and $228.61m of $262.02m and $495.9m and $757.93m WW;
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 #3 dropped 52.7% taking $16.8m and $172.16m of $202.85m and $506.12m and $708.98m WW);
Spider-Man then became part of the MCU directed by Jon Watts and starring Tom Holland between 2017 and 2021
Spider-Man: Homecoming dropped 62.2% taking $44.2m and $207.27m of $334.2m and $545.96m and $880.16m WW);
Spider-Man: Far From Home dropped 51% taking $45.35m and $274.58m of $390.53m and $747.39m and $1.13bn WW)
Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse up 14.2% taking $18.79m and $104.12m of $190.24m and $185.29m and $375.54m WW with Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse Part 1 and Morbius set for 2022 release.
Spider-Man also appeared in Captain America Civil War, Avengers Infinity War, Avengers Endgame MCU films and also in the end credit scene in Venom Let There Be Carnage with Spider-Man 4 currently in a development likely to be released in November 2023 with The Marvels in February, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 in May, Ant-Man 3 in July. (Ant-Man featured the first mention of Spider-Man in the MCU during the end credit scene).
Took $78.3m (35.5% drop) from 61 territories (26,900+ screens) $759m total and $1.372bn worldwide; UK took $92.4m; Mexico $64.9m; South Korea $51.4m; Germany $29.5m; Australia $42m; Indonesia $22.9m; Brazil $40.2m; Russia $34.0m; India $34.2m; 12th biggest film worldwide between Avengers : Age of Ultron and Black Panther (46th film to take over $1bn worldwide since Jurassic Park in 1993).
- The Matrix Resurrections – Warner Bros
Dropped 68% to $3.82m taking $30.91m #5
Similar second-weekend drops to Warner Bros date and date HBO Max releases Dune (-62%), Mortal Kombat (-73%); The Suicide Squad (-72%).
Took $3.7m in IMAX US (22%) and $1.5m internationally and $6.6m worldwide from IMAX.
When a massive film opens like Spider-Man No Way Home which is playing like an Avengers film it often cannibalizes the box office for future releases targetting similar demographics for several weeks to come. It was always a massive gamble for Warner Bros to open The Matrix Resurrections only a week after targeting a similar demographic, so wasn’t a surprise the Matrix sequel and The king’s Man struggled to find an audience but Sing 2 open second.
2nd weekends
1999’s The Matrix dropped 18.8% taking $22.56m and $73.31m 42.7% of $171.47m and $466.62m WW
2003’s The Matric Reloaded dropped 59.8% taking $36.9m and $200.77m 71.3% of $281.57m and $741.84m WW
2003’s The Matrix Revolutions dropped 66.1% taking $16.41m and $114.26m 82% of $139.31m and $427.34m WW
Took $13.7m from 75 territories and $75.1m taking $106m worldwide; Japan $9.7m; UK $7m; Russia $6.8m; France $5.8m; Germany $3.9m; Mexico $3.9m; Australia $3.7m; Spain $2.5m; Brazil $2.3m
- Sing 2 – Universal Pictures
Dropped 10% in its second weekend taking $20.16m and $90.24m
118th biggest animated film between Disney Planes and The Emperor’s New Groove; 869th biggest film in the US between Disney Planes and Mystic River; 1,558th biggest inflation inflated between Love Actually and The Animal; 21st biggest 2021 film between Encanto and Cruella; 118th biggest Universal Pictures film between The Scorpion King and Oblivion.
2016’s Sing second weekend up 21.7% taking $42.89m and $166.49m 61.6% taking $270.44m and $634.2m WW
Took $17.1m from 48 territories $54.8m total and $144.45m worldwide; 152nd biggest animated film worldwide between The Boss Baby: Family Business and Surf’s Up; 1,216th biggest inflation inflated between Blades of Glory and Surf’s Up; 28th biggest 2021 film worldwide between The Boss Baby: Family Business and Space Jam: A New Legacy; 158th biggest Universal Pictures film worldwide between The Boss Baby: Family Business and Spy Game; opens in the UK on 28th January ahead of half-term holidays as the first film was in January 2017 but this time it’s the main children’s film while Sing had competition from The LEGO Batman Movie opening two weeks later.
- The King’s Man – 20th Century Studios
Dropped 24% in its second weekend taking $4.5m and $19.51m
3,743rd biggest film in the US between Igor and Police Academy 5: Assignment: Miami Beach; 4,596th biggest inflation inflated between Bangkok Dangerous and Addicted; 48th biggest 2021 film between Ron’s Gone Wrong and Spirit Untamed.
2015’s Kingsman: The Secret Service dropped 49.3% taking $18.34m and $67.92m 52.9% of $128.26m and $414.35m WW
2017’s Kingsman: The Golden Circle dropped 56.6% taking $16.93m and $66.63m 66.5% of $100.23m and $410.9m WW
Took $28.3m from 22 territories $28.3m total and $47.81m worldwide; Korea $6.6m; Japan $4.8m; the UK $4.6m; Taiwan $2.8m; France $2.2m; Indonesia $1.3m; Hong Kong $0.9m; Mexico $0.8m; Spain $0.6m; Saudi Arabia $0.5m; 2,972nd biggest film worldwide between Trouble with the Curve and Arthur; 64th biggest 2021 film worldwide between Escape Room: Tournament of Champions and Don’t Breathe 2.
- West Side Story – 20th Century Studios
Up 26% in its fourth-weekend #6 taking $2.1m and $29.57m
2,886th biggest film between Did You Hear About the Morgans? And Tora! Tora! Tora! (#2,871st In The Heights); 3,805th inflation inflated between Timeline and More American Graffiti; 38th biggest 2021 film between In the Heights and Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins; 62nd biggest musical between In the Heights and Rent (1961’s West Side Story #45 $43.7m)
The film will be released on Disney+ on January 24th 45 days after opening
Normally Steven Spielberg films have long legs making a sizeable percentage of their box office after their opening weekend War Horse (91%); Lincoln (88%); Bridge of Spies (79%); The Post (76%) normally would be expected West Side Story would also have long legs but not in these current conditions.
Never understand if a studio has had success opening a film over one date as 20th Century Fox and Disney both had with The Greatest Showman and Mary Poppins Returns that they didn’t open West Side Story on December 22as it was originally due to be released on December 18th, 2020. What is also interesting is that almost all of the films Disney announced months before opening would have a 45-day theatrical window have disappointed at the box office all except for Free Guy. This is why the theatrical window needs to be flexible depending on how a film opens.
Recent musicals fourth weekends
2021’s In The Heights #10 dropped 46.9% $1.18m taking $26.79m and $29.87m and $43.87m worldwide
2019’s Rocketman #6 dropped 40.5% $5.6m taking $77.28m and $96.36m and $195.32m worldwide
2018’s Mary Poppins Returns #6 down 51.8% $7.65m and $151.09m of $171.95m and $349.54m worldwide
2018’s Bohemian Rhapsody #5 down 12.7% $14m and $152.15m taking $216.42m and $911.1m worldwide
2018’s A Star Is Born #2 dropped 26.3% $14.03m and $148.61m of $215.28m and $436.18m worldwide
2017’s The Greatest Showman #4 down 9.5% $12.46m and $95.22m of $174.34m and $436.94m worldwide
2014’s Into the Woods #7 dropped 29.1% $6.77m and $114,52m of $128m and $212.9m worldwide
2001’s Moulin Rouge #8 dropped 23.4% $3.85m (after two weeks on platform) and $43.43m of $57.38m and $179.21m worldwide
While 1996’s Romeo & Juliet #7 down 41.1% $3.19m and $35.81m of $46.35m and $147.55m worldwide
Many have said could West Side Story have similar legs as 2017’s The Greatest Showman but these are two very different films, West Side Story had critical acclaim while The Greatest Showman was belittled by critics but became the peoples champion as younger audiences created a huge amount of user-generated content, this won’t happen with West Side Story.
Took $1.9m from 46 territories (dropped 14%) and $47.17m worldwide; the UK $6.8m; France $3.6m; Australia $1.3m; Germany $1m; Spain $0.9m; Italy $0.4m; Sweden $0.4m; Holland $0.4m; Israel $0.3m; Mexico $0.3m; 2,998th biggest film worldwide between The Wedding Date and Soul Surfer; 66th biggest 2021 film between Don’t Breathe 2 and In the Heights; 54th biggest musical worldwide between West Side Story (1961) and In the Heights.
- Licorice Pizza – MGM
Dropped 32% in its 6th weekend taking $1.29m and $6.38m
1996’s Hard Eight took $222,559
1997’s Boogie Nights opened with $50,168 in 2 screens taking 6 weeks to expand to its widest point 1,003 screens taking $2.57m but then dropped 50% of its screens over the following two weeks taking $26.4m
1999’s Magnolia opened with $193,604 from 7 screens taking 7 weeks to expand to its widest point 1,086 screens taking $1.58m but then dropped 50% of its screens over the following two weeks taking $22.45m
2002’s Punch-Drunk Love opened with $367,203 from 5 screens taking 5 weeks to expand to its widest point 1,293 screens taking $2.5m but then dropped 50% of its screens over the following two weeks taking $17.84m
2007’s There Will Be Blood opened with $190,739 from 2 screens taking 7 weeks to expand to its widest point 1,620 screens taking $3.97m but then dropped 50% of its screens over the following four taking $40.22m
2012’s The Master opened with $736,311 from 5 screens expanded into 788 screens in its 2nd weekend taking $4.39m losing screens from its 5th weekend taking $16.37m
2014’s Inherent Vice opened with $328,184 from 5 screens taking 6 weeks to expand into 653 screens its widest point taking $1.13m but then lost 50% of screens the following weekend taking $8.11m
2017’s Phantom Thread opened $127,272 from 4 screens taking 6 weeks to expand to 1,186 screens taking $2.12m but then lost 50% of screens the following weekend taking $21.19m
- A Journal for Jordan – Sony Pictures
Dropped 45% in its second weekend taking $1.21m and $4.77m
Another film targetting older audiences has struggled to find an audience in cinemas it’s the fourth film directed by Denzel Washington. As Tom Bernard said in an article in Variety, “The older audience they will come back when they feel safe”.. “but theatres have not done enough” despite exhibitors own research from 22 months ago saying older audiences would take much longer to return, as they focused on the under 35s who returned quickly.
The problem is there was no plan to get older audiences returning, while they returned briefly in the UK to see No Time To Die they haven’t returned since and won’t for some time as exhibitors concentrated on fickle under 35s with sure things comic-book movies and F9. Everything that happened from Tenet to Spider-Man was very predictable billions of BO was lost due to the industry not having any strategy behind the reopening of cinemas instead it was like a bull in a China shop rushing to reopen ignoring the predictable long-term consequences.
2002’s Antwone Fisher opened $210,013 taking $21.07m
2007’s The Great Debaters opened $6m taking $30.22m
2016’s Fences opened $129,462 taking $57.68m
UK Box Office Top 10
UK Box Office Preview
Licorice Pizza opened on Boxing Day and despite critical acclaim While Paul Thomas Anderson films struggle to play beyond cinephiles. Having an 8-day opening weekend should see it open similar to Phantom Thread £727,104 and have his highest opening #3
20000’s Magnolia opened #5 £428,435 taking £1,021,833
2002’s Punch-Drunk Love opened #13 £151,494 from 82 screens taking £322,921
2007’s There Will Be Blood opened #11 £215,490 from 24 screens; expanded into 181 screens 2nd-weekend #7 £540,472 and £888,968 taking £4,392,471
2012’s The Master opened #14 £65,701 from 1 screen; expanded in 3rd weekend into 153 screens taking £372,360 #6 and £553,521 taking £1,213,977
2014’s Inherent Vice opened #9 £363,133 from 187 screens; dropped 61% in 2nd weekend £147,087 #13 from 175 screens taking £739,232
2017’s Phantom Thread opened #10 £727,104 from 196 screens; down 40% in 2nd weekend £434,351 #11 from 192 screens £1,658,992 taking £2,611,458
While early January release date which has been lucrative for action films over recent years including 2016’s Ride Along 2 (opened £2,141,341 taking £5,512,631) 2017’s xXx: The Return of Xander Cage (opened £1,620,811 taking £3,339,562) 2018’s The Commuter (opened £1,602,680 taking £3,643,253) and 2020’s Bad Boys For Life (opened £3,781,233 taking £15,953,076). Is unlikely The 355 will be too likely to open similar to 20
2017’s Atomic Blonde – £1,686,430 (£555,569 previews) £1,130,861 Fri-Sun taking £3,063,918
Unlikely to last long in cinemas far less than its 45-day theatrical window, why films theatrical windows shouldn’t be made ahead of release, as surely The 355 could be released in VOD within 17 days.
Opening next week
- Scream – Paramount Pictures
The fifth instalment of the Scream film series and relaunch of the franchise while also being a direct sequel to Scream 4 and the first not directed by Wes Craven.
Starring David Arquette, Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Melissa Barrera, Mason Gooding, Jenna Ortega, and Jack Quaid and directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett.
As with the original Scream film, the reboot features several actors from TV series in the late 90s many teen horrors featured actors from popular teen TV shows and the Scream reboot also has actors from popular teen TV shows. Scream is horror for horror fans and those who don’t like horrors like me as I remember seeing the first film in October 1996 at a Pre-MIFED screening and you knew by the reaction it got that if audiences found it that it was going to be a big hit.
In 2011 Wes Craven was planning a second trilogy of Scream films but after the fourth film was underwhelmed at the box office the film series found a new home on TV. In 2019 were rumours Blumhouse Productions were interested in rebooting the film series but instead, Spyglass acquired rights to the Scream franchise with Paramount Pictures releasing it.
As with all previous films apart from Scream 4 the fifth film is also an 18 certificate
2011’s Scream 4 opened £2.06m (£2.45m inflation inflated) taking £5,581,902 (£6.65m inflation inflated)
2000’s Scream 3 opened £2.45m (£4.02m inflation inflated) taking £5,585,267 (£9.16m inflation inflated)
1998’s Scream 2 £2.49m including £713,000 from previews (£4.42m inflation inflated) taking £8,280,725 (£14.68m inflation inflated)
1997’s Scream £1.06m (£1.88m inflation inflated) taking £8,247,094 (£14.62m inflation inflated)
- Cyrano – Universal Pictures
Musical romantic drama based on Schmidt’s 2018 stage musical based on the 1897 Edmond Rostand play Cyrano de Bergerac starring Peter Dinklage, Haley Bennett, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Bashir Salahuddin, and Ben Mendelsohn and directed by Joe Wright.
Had its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival receiving mixed reviews (83% Rotten Tomatoes) nominated for Golden Globe’s Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy and Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy (Dinklage).
It’s the eleventh direct adaption of the play and several films based on it including 1987’s Roxanne starring Steve Martin and Daryl Hannah, 1996’s The Truth About Cats & Dogs and 2010’s Megamind.
Director Joe Wright the last film was The Woman in the Window the last film made by Fox 2000 was delayed many times before being sold to Netflix.
Previously directed 2017’s Darkest Hour; 2015’s Pan; 2012’s Anna Karenina; 2011’s Hanna; 2009’s The Soloist; 2007’s Atonement and 2003’s Pride & Prejudice
Also, the opening is Sky Cinema’s Save The Cinema, a British film about a cinema manager who wrote a letter to Steven Spielberg asking to have the premiere of Jurassic Park at their cinema to save it from closure. Ironically, a film about saving cinema won’t be playing in many cinemas as major exhibitors refuse to book Sky Cinema’s films. Exhibitors have talked so much about needing to save cinema due to COVID closing cinemas twice over the last 18 months.
But surely it should be a small British film they should be supporting rather than a massive US tentpole, as these small feel-good British films used to be the lifeblood of cinema but now struggle to find an audience, but the fact is exhibitors really aren’t interested in the film industry as it all about food sales and only want to book sure things.
It never makes any sense that major exhibitors refuse to book these Sky Cinema films as the channel is subscription-based so only available to about a quarter of the public but exhibitors are happy to book Event Cinema screenings like Anything Goes – The Musical in November in 436 screens taking £371,880 despite it being broadcast freely on the BBC a month later. While all these Sky Cinema films get strong marketing and media coverage as A Boy Called Christmas which opened the same weekend on only 172 screens taking £120,770.