Top 5 Breakdown
- Darkest Hour – £4,058,356 – NE
Distributors for years have dated their major award contender for the first three weeks of January which allows it to build on the media coverage from the Golden Globes, BAFTA nominations and Oscars nominations. Birdman, 12 Years a Slave, The Theory of Everything, The Artist, The Kings Speech, Slumdog Millionaire, No Country For Old Men, Les Miserables, Million Dollar Baby, Chicago and much more have benefited from this release pattern. some having a platform release other going wide.
Was interesting to see while 20th Century Fox opted to have Three Billboards closing the London Film Festival Universal Pictures its UK premiere on December 11th a month before its UK release. As they did five years earlier with the world premiere of Les Miserables a month before its UK opening the same weekend as Darkest Hour with £8,127,991 and taking £40,479,864 and won three Oscars and four BAFTAs.
Darkest Hour is immediately comparable to the last British actors to win Best Actor Oscar Eddie Redmayne for 2015’s The Theory of Everything and Colin Firth for 2011’s The King’s Speech. Both openings £3,749,293 and £3,523,102 were very similar to Darkest Hour’s £4,058,356.
The Best Actor Oscar winner and Best Film tend to have a long play time in cinemas after BAFTA awards announced last week the Oscar nominations announced January 23rd, BAFTA awards February 18th and Oscars on 4th March with Darkest Hour likely to hold steady over those next seven weeks. Normal releases will take about three times their opening box office, but Best Actor or Best Film is closer to five times, 2011’s The Artist was an incredible 192 times opening but that was because it started on a one screen platform release.
Darkest Hour was director Joe Wright’s biggest opening in the UK ahead of Pan opened 16th October 2015 £2,738,758 taking £9,223,837, Pride and Prejudice opened 16th September 2005 £2,529,947 taking £14,490,636, Atonement opened 7th September 2007 £1,634,065 taking £11,513,269, The Soloist opened 25th September £373,151 taking £1,060,061, Hanna opened 6th May 2011 £1,135,782 taking £3,645,789 and Anna Karenina opened 7th September 2012 £875,702 taking £5,405,648
Also opening bigger than similar films War Horse opened 13th January £3,944,746 taking £18,625,481, The King’s Speech opened 7th January £3,523,102 taking £45,354,368, The Theory of Everything opened 1st January 2014 opened with £3,749,293 taking £21,411,313.
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy opened 15th September 2011 £2,814,860 taking £14,072,324, The Imitation Game opened 14th November 2015 £2,742,725 taking £16,353,466, The Iron Lady opened 6th January 2011 £2,151,368 taking £9,635,515.
Ever since Darkest Hour had world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festival in September Gary Oldman’s performance as Winston Churchill heralded as his best performance of his career while the film itself felt quite stiff with a poor script
While Gary Oldman gives an Oscar, worth career-best performance as Winston Churchill the film itself feels very stiff in a paint by numbers biopic. While Gary Oldman is favourite to win Best Actor BAFTA and Oscar is more open the film is unlikely to win any other major awards highlighting the problem with the film that all about Gary Oldman’s performance.
Darkest Hour would be the second biggest film that went on to win Best Actor after 2016’s The Revenant being also a “British” film about Winston Churchill and have been reports of standing ovations in cinemas at the end of screenings Dunkirk also had them while they are often heard at premieres regular cinema audiences aren’t often so vocal in their appreciation of films as you would do for a live show in a theatre.
Over the past year have had Churchill and Dunkirk telling different parts of his life. Darkest Hour is about the early days of World War II almost a prequel to Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk. While Churchill released last June is about the later years of the Second World War and the Normandy landings; Churchill opened June 16th £392,732 taking £1,564,031 and Dunkirk opened July 21st £10,023,720 taking £56,650,294.
Dunkirk was the front-runner of Oscars for months after its release but then the autumn films overshadowed it was nominated for three Golden Globes but didn’t win and was nominated for eight BAFTA awards including Best Film and Directing but will more likely win Best Original Music, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Production Design, Best Sound, and Best Special Visual Effects,
Normally the big Oscar contender will hold strongly over the following weekends of its release with Coco, The Post and The Commuter opening this weekend and the not such wide-spread acclaim for Darkest Hour will likely drop heavier than recent Best Actor winners. I am comparing Darkest Hour directly with these other films as Gary Oldman must now be favourite to win Best Actor Oscar he was previously nominated in 2011 Best Actor for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and was also nominated for Best Actor BAFTA but never won.
- Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle – £2,435,626 – £29,912,422
Down 37.48% in its fourth weekend; has overtaken both Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2 to become Sony Pictures ninth biggest film in the UK by next weekend will have also overtaken The Da Vinci Code and Spider-Man Homecoming. Could possible overtake Spider-Man 3 and even Men In Black to be Sony’s biggest film in the UK, not James Bond. Spider-Man 3 £33.45, Men in Black £35.8m, Quantum of Solace £51.05m, Casino Royale £55.6m, Spectre £95.2m and Skyfall £103.2m head of it;
Jumanji has become the 11th biggest 2017 release and will shortly overtake La La Land, Thor: Ragnarok and Spider-Man: Homecoming becoming Sony Pictures biggest 2017 film in the UK.
After Jumanji’s success Dwayne Johnson stars next in two action films Rampage and Skyscraper before starring in Stephen Merchant directed comedy Fighting with My Family. Kevin Hart stars in comedy Night School which will be his first major film he has toplined since The Wedding Ringer in 2015 and Jack Black stars in The House With A Clock In Its Walls the first in a series of books written by series of books by John Bellairs.
- Three Billboards – £2,361,782 – NE
Having director Martin McDonagh biggest opening in the UK more than his previous two films 2012’s Seven Psychopaths opened with £1,121,679 in December 2012 taking £3,123,893 and 2008’s In Bruges after taking almost £2m from Ireland opened with £638,654 (opened with £343,760 from Ireland from 70 screens 6 weeks earlier) taking £4,765,329.
The film has generated strong media coverage over the last week after winning four Golden Globe awards and receiving nine BAFTA nominations. Since its world premiered at Venice International Film Festival also screening at Toronto International Film Festival in September and closing the London Film Festival in October has received widespread critical acclaim currently 93% Rotten Tomatoes score and being compared to Fargo.
But recently there has been a backlash to the film which could be the most polarized Best Picture Oscar winner since 2005’s Crash as while it received critical acclaim has received a backlash from many from the violence and race as you never get to see the black person Sam Rockwell’s Dixon is said to of tortured.
NPR’s Gene Demby said “I think festival audiences are so used to the centrality of white people’s inner lives treated as the Actual Emotional Stakes that they don’t get what’s janky about a movie set in a town where cops torture black people, but the plot is about thwarted justice for a white lady, The Washington Post’s Alyssa Rosenberg wrote how the film’s handling of Dixon undermines its own moral convictions while the Daily Beast called the film “unearned, manipulative and altogether offensive.”
- The Greatest Showman – £2,142,337 – £13,537,211
Incredibly down only 11.17% in its third weekend showing audiences didn’t agree with the patronising critical reviews describing the film as fake while giving La La Land critical acclaim.
The Greatest Showman doesn’t try to be anything it’s not just an enjoyable fun popcorn movie. La La Land plays into the nostalgia of the classic Hollywood musicals lifting scenes from many classic musicals which makes the film feel faker as seen with Honest Trailer review of La La Land and a La La Land movie reference video both films should be compared similarly.
Ahead of The Greatest Showman few would have thought it was likely to match the box office of Oscar-winning Chicago and Moulin Rouge but after dropping 11% in week 2 and 13% in week 3 it could do so.
But of course, as Chicago took £16,111,718 in January 2003 and Moulin Rouge took £17,047,358 in September 2001 they won’t get anywhere near their 2018 equivalent box office; Moulin Rouge had 4.18m admissions in 2001 would be £31.45m (more than last years La La Land which opened with £6.59m taking £6.59m) today while Chicago had 3.62m admissions in 2003 would be £27.72m,
20th Century Fox screened The Greatest Showman to critics in early December but had an embargo very close to its opening. Were murmurings on Twitter that wasn’t a good idea as it allowed critics to over think the film was seen by the reviews received as other films like Skyfall and Spectre never had embargoes and you saw that critics got caught up in the hype in their reviews which was also seen in The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi.
The embargo is a strange tool studio use to control the flow of critical reaction as with social media and the internet it seems strange they believe they can control reviews especially with Rotten Tomatoes algorithm which will score the films soon after reviews are published.
Studios have blamed Rotten Tomatoes in recent years for the failure of many of their films but only must look at box office performance of films like The Greatest Showman, The Emoji Movie, Paddington 2 and the hold of Jumanji and the fast drop off The Last Jedi audiences make their own minds up.
The film’s soundtrack was #1 in the UK with several songs This Is Me (recently won Best Original Song Golden Globe and expected to do similar at the Oscars) The Greatest Show and Rewrite The Stars in the top 40 singles chart
- Insidious: The Last Key – £1,840,992 – NE
The fourth film of the franchise opened bigger than the first film opened in April 2011 with £1,441,292 and the last film Insidious Chapter 3 in June 2015 with £1,440,299.
But while the first film held strongly staying in the top 10 for five weeks taking £7,035,245 the sequels were much more front-loaded and with such a crowded marketplace Insidious: The Last Key is likely to drop heavily in its second weekend
Blumhouse Productions will have much bigger success from Truth or Dare, The Purge: The Island and Halloween that will be released by Universal Pictures late this year. Universal Pictures announced several untitled Blumhouse films for release in 2019 and 2020.
With one set December 13th, 2019 with some speculating that this could be a Friday the 13th reboot. Over the last few years, Paramount Pictures have been developing a Friday the 13th film since they acquired rights for the film and South Park in 2013 from Warner Bros for 5 years in exchange for international rights to Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar those rights will revert to Warner Bros later this year.
Other Film news
Was surprised to see Star Wars: The Last Jedi dropping out of the top 5 after only 4 weeks as Rogue One was in the top 5 for 6 weeks and The Force Awakens 7 weeks and most box office experts were predicting it would have much longer legs than Rogue One.
Instead The Last Jedi fifth weekend was 45.3% less than The Force Awakens and 2.66% down from Rogue One with its total 30% less than The Force Awakens but 27.3% more than Rogue One; The Last Jedi is currently on £79.86m after 5 weeks The Force Awakens had taken £113.95m 92.64% of its final box office of £123m if The Last Jedi was to be at a similar level it will end with £84.3m.
The Last Jedi will shortly overtake Titanic to be the fifth biggest film in the UK but most “experts” predicted it would take £100m I had a slightly more modest £95m total overtaking Avatar and Spectre.
While Paddington 2 had a disappointing opening in the US it became the fifth biggest 2017 film at the UK box office with £41.05m overtaking Guardians of the Galaxy 2; Studiocanal must be officially dating Paddington 3 for November 2020 shortly.
.UK box office in detail
This weekend’s top 10 box office took £16,859,941 down 3.05% from last weekend £17,391,171
The weekend admissions 2,206,799 down 3.3% from last weekend 2,282,306 (average price £7.62 by UK Cinema Association/BFI for 2017);
13 films opened at weekend taking £8,616,965; Darkest Hour 47.09% (£4,058,356); Three Billboards 24.7% (£2,361,782); Insidious: The Last Key 21.3% (£1,840,992); remaining 10 films shared 4.1% (£355,835
The weekend was up 20.03% from last year (£14,046,174): La La Land £6,596,256, Manchester by the Sea £729,478, Live by Night £698,218, The Bye Bye Man £535,492, Underworld: Blood Wars £349,301, Sherlock: The Final Problem £322,253
Up 6.66% from 2016: (£15,806,711): The Revenant £5,235,851, Creed £2,221,758, Room £674,033
Next weekend in 2017: (£12,971,749) Split £2,548,516, xXx: The Return of Xander Cage £1,620,811, Lion £1,265,282, Jackie £662,900.
UK Box Office Top 10
US Box Office Top 10
US Box office
Sony Pictures – Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle down 27.4% in its fourth weekend taking $27.03m and $283.17m;
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle has overtaken Men in Black and The Amazing Spider-Man to become Sony Pictures sixth biggest film in the US and by next weekend will overtake Skyfall to be their biggest film that is not Spider-Man film.
Few would have possibly predicted Jumanji would have held so strongly especially opening a week after The Last Jedi as The Force Awakens held strongly over Christmas, but Jumanji and The Last Jedi were much closer than expected.
I did think the combination of Jumanji and Pitch Perfect 3 would squeeze The Last Jedi box office which was laughed at on Twitter. But those two films have eaten away at The Last Jedi box office which was expected to take 20% less than The Force Awakens but now will be over 30% less is due to a combination of Jumanji and the polarized reaction to The Last Jedi.
I’m sure Sony will soon announce Jumanji 2 to replace their Master of the Universe reboot on December 18th, 2019 currently set to open two days before Star Wars: Episode IX.
Jumanji took $81m internationally (including $40m from China was more than The Last Jedi opened with last weekend) $383m total and $666.2m worldwide; Jumanji is now the #109 biggest film globally having overtaken Justice League and will shortly overtake Man of Steel, Interstellar, Doctor Strange, The Hunger Games and probably Suicide Squad by next weekend climbing into the top 80;
Jumanji is Sony Pictures 11th biggest film worldwide overtaking Men in Black, Casino Royale and Hancock overtaking The Amazing Spider-Man 1 & 2 by next weekend.
Fox – The Post – up 995.4% in its fourth weekend taking $18.6m from 2,783 screens up from 36 (after three weeks on platform release) and $23.08m; received A CinemaScore
The Post has received critical acclaim but despite receiving six Golden Globe nominations didn’t win and while it failed to receive any nominations at the BAFTAs will be interesting to see if The Post receives any Oscar nominations when they are announced on January 23rd.
Despite the likelihood of The Post not winning any major awards (when the film was originally announced the casting of Streep/Hanks with Spielberg directing and the subject matter was an award favourite but has seen been overshadowed by the likes of Lady Bird, The Shape of Water, Three Billboards and Darkest Hour) but The Post will likely be the biggest box office earner of the award contends highlighting the divide between audience and critics and Academy members.
The Post is expected to hold strong over the weeks ahead as Tom Hanks previous films based on real like people Sully and Bridge of Spies did with limited competition from opening over the next few weeks from the other award contenders should only drop about 30% taking $13m+ next weekend which should see it overtake Bridge of Spies the last Hanks/Spielberg film released in 2015 which took $72m.
The Post is Steven Spielberg’s sixth film since Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull released 10 years ago all except Lincoln and The LFG have performed similarly at the box office. Next up is Ready Player One which he was editing while shooting The Post as to what he did 25 years ago shooting Schindler’s List and editing Jurassic Park
Lionsgate – The Commuter – opens $13.45m; after receiving positive reviews but only B CinemaScore had a disappointing opening 53% less than Non-Stop released 4 years ago opening was closer to Liam Neeson’s last action film 2015’s Run All Night $11.01m opened in the shadows of Taken 3 opening two months earlier with $39.2m.
Last September Liam Neeson retired and unretired from action films over two weeks; next stars in Widows directed by Steve McQueen opening in November based on 1983’s UK TV series Widows created by Lynda La Plante with a screenplay by Gillian Flynn writer of Gone Girl novel and screenplay.
Universal Pictures – Insidious: The Last Key dropped 59% in its second weekend taking $12.13m and $48.37m; was always expected to drop heavily in its second weekend as these older style horrors are very front-loaded, but only 5 years ago when the first opened they had much longer legs.
Insidious: The Last Key will overtake the total box office of Insidious $54m and Insidious Chapter 3 $52.2m but won’t get close to the total of Insidious Chapter 2 $83.58m; are fewer horrors released this year most from Blumhouse Truth or Dare, The Purge: The Island and Halloween but also the latest spin-off from The Conjuring The Nun
It took $17.7m internationally total $44.2m.
20th Century Fox – The Greatest Showman dropped only 14.3% in its third weekend taking $11.8m and $94.55m;
The Greatest Showman had sing-along screenings in 300 cinemas over the weekend with the soundtrack holding #1 for a second weekend only the fifth soundtrack in the last 10 years to be number 1 for multiple weeks. Suicide Squad: The Album, Guardians of the Galaxy: Awesome Mix Vol. 1, Frozen and Glee: The Music, Volume 3 — Showstoppers. The last live-action musical soundtrack to be #1 for more than a week was Dreamgirls in 2007.
After opening with $8.8m three weeks ago it has held strongly due to strong word of mouth and is the twelfth biggest musical film in the US overtaking High School Musical 3: Senior Year and The Muppets and will shortly overtake Dreamgirls, The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Hairspray.
The Greatest Showman took $15.2m internationally taking over $100m and $195m worldwide
Disney – Star Wars: The Last Jedi – down 52.5% in its fifth weekend $11.27m taking $591.45; in its fifth weekend Star Wars: The Force Awakens dropped to #3 taking $26.34m down 37.8% and $852.73m (30.69% more than The Last Jedi) taking 91.04% of its final box office of $936.6m
The Last Jedi box office after five weeks is close to Jurassic World $591m Vs $590.68m but Jurassic World took 37% more than The Last Jedi in its fifth weekend (taking 90.5% of its final box office) will see The Last Jedi take slightly less than Jurassic World’s $652.27m.
Before The Last Jedi opened it was expected to take more than $750m which would have seen it get close to Avatar as the second biggest film in the US but instead it will be the fifth biggest behind Titanic and Jurassic World; The Last Jedi is currently sixth biggest film behind Marvel’s The Avengers $623.35m.
The Last Jedi took $30m internationally taking total $632.7m; has now taken $1.264.9bn worldwide and 10th biggest film globally overtaking Beauty and the Beast $1.26m;
But after having a disappointing opening in China last weekend it dropped 90% in its second weekend despite Disney heavily marketing the Star Wars brand over the last few years but as Star Wars doesn’t have the brand history it has elsewhere it was always going to be a hard sell in China despite this and the addition of token Asian characters in Rouge One and The Last Jedi.
Now after three Star Wars films have disappointed in China it will be interesting to see if Disney change anything in how the films are marketed in China. Is there is any point Disney releasing Solo: A Star Wars Story in China? If the new stories aren’t finding an audience and Rogue One only took $69.4m was only likely because of Asian actor Donnie Yen but Solo doesn’t have any Asian actors in the film so even less interest in audiences.
Kevin Smith spoke about the backlash to The Last Jedi saying “I think at the end of the day, audience expectation plays into the backlash,” “Like when, you know, the next movie is going to be all about Luke and I’ve seen Luke in the trailer and I know exactly who Luke Skywalker is and now he looks like Obi-Wan so he’s going to be like this version of Obi-Wan,’ and then they give you a version of Luke that even Mark Hamill reportedly was like ‘I don’t know, is this really supposed to be Luke Skywalker? He’s not the one I remember.” Smith also said The Force Awakens was the easier movie to like because it provided the nostalgia rush of being back in the Star Wars universe.
Warner Bros – Paddington 2 – opens $10.62m; very disappointing opening for the sequel as it received 100% Rotten Tomatoes score; the first film took $268m worldwide and $76.27m in the US after opening with $18.96m;
The sequel has taken $142m worldwide compared to $268.1m for the original
Sony Pictures – Proud Mary – opens with $10m; received B+ CinemaScore and poor reviews 24% Rotten Tomatoes score; ahead of the films release many questioned why Sony wasn’t marketing the film the answer was the film was a very poor film but was a strange decision to open the film against The Commuter which saw both films perform badly cannibalizing their limited box office appeal.
Universal Pictures – Pitch Perfect 3 dropped 46.1% in its fourth weekend taking $5.65m and $94.65m; after three weeks Pitch Perfect 2 took $160.8m will likely end with $108m+.
Pitch Perfect 3 added $8.3m internationally with a total of $67.7m worldwide is $163.35m; Perfect 2 took $103m in 2015 and the first film took $50.4m in 2012.
Focus Features – Darkest Hour down 25.2% in its eighth weekend dropping 40 screens (now playing in 1,693 screens) taking $4.52m and $35.73m;
Was surprising Darkest Hour didn’t add screens after Gary Oldman won Best Actor Golden Globe but while his performance has received critical acclaim the film hasn’t received as positive reviews as it received in the UK with many having an issue with the script which British critics fail to see as it is a British film.
Fox Searchlight – The Shape of Water down 14% taking $2.m from 723 screens in its seventh weekend and $26.42m total; after winning Best Director at the Golden Globes it was surprising as Darkest Hour the film didn’t take advantage of the media coverage and expand its release instead dropping screens.
After The Shape of Water won Best Picture last week at the Critics’ Choice awards last week producer J. Miles Dale asked Disney and its CEO Bob Iger to leave Fox Searchlight alone “I don’t know if Bob Iger is out there or not, I don’t know what’s going to happen with this Disney thing,” he said, “but I urge you not to mess this up.” Director Guillermo del Toro also said that the fact that those companies like Fox Searchlight still exist as something that gives him hope “We always want to tell stories that matter and are difficult to pitch,”
Since Fox Searchlight was launched in August 1995 releasing The Brothers McMullen it has won Oscars for Slumdog Millionaire, 12 Years a Slave, and Birdman and received nomination for many films including The Full Monty, Sideways, Little Miss Sunshine, Juno, Black Swan, 127 Hours, The Tree of Life, The Descendants, Beasts of the Southern Wild, The Grand Budapest Hotel and Brooklyn.
While recent Disney films receive positive reviews, and are box office successes few of their live action films have been nominated for Best Film in recent years the last were 2011’s War Horse, The Help, 2012’s Lincoln and 2015’s Bridge of Spies all three made by Dreamworks only released by Disney their last in-house 2000’s Chocolat 2002’s Chicago (their last Best Picture winner), 2004’s Finding Neverland made by Miramax, 1999’s The Sixth Sense and The insider (Spyglass) and The Cider House Rules (Miramax), 1998’s Shakespeare in Love (Miramax) 1997’s Good Will Hunting (Miramax), 1996’s The English Patient (Miramax), 1994’s Pulp Fiction (Miramax). Disney ‘s last in-house produced film to receive Best Picture Oscar was 1994’s Quiz Show but have yet to win a Best Picture Oscar.
While 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight have won 13 Best Picture Oscars and have had strong success in recent years from adult-targeted films both areas Disney used to have success in the 80s and 90s before they moved into the comic-book and franchise properties business.
If Disney takes Marvel from Fox but then keep 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight as labels within Disney as Pixar, Marvel and Lucasfilm are they could supply them with a much-needed adult and award-friendly films Miramax used to give them in the 90s.
20th Century Fox has had much success from in recent years including Murder on the Orient Express; Hidden Figures, The Revenant, The Martian, Gone Girl and Life of Pi, these were the kinds films Disney’s Touchstone Pictures label made for the studio in the 80, the 90s and 00s. But have been lacking since they Steven Spielberg’s Dreamworks moved to Universal Pictures in 2016.
On limited release
Focus Features – Phantom Thread – up 376.5% with $1.14m from 62 screens adding 56 screens taking $2.22m; expands into 500 screens this weekend but after being an early award favourite for Daniel Day-Lewis it is likely to miss out on awards. Will hurt chances of finding a wider audience and will perform similar to previous Paul Thomas Anderson films that get critical acclaim, but audiences don’t see.
Neon – I, Tonya up 35% taking $3.3m from 517 screens (adding 261 screens) in its fifth weekend and $10m; will expand further this weekend after Allison Janney won Best Supporting Actress at the Golden Globes with Margot Robbie missing out on Best Actress to Saoirse Ronan for Lady Bird which has been award favourite ever since premiering at the Telluride Film Festival in September.
A24 – Lady Bird up 7.2% adding 90 screens to 652 screens taking $1.68m and $36.9m in its eleventh weekend after Saoirse Ronan won Best Actress Golden Globe she is now favourite to win Best Actress Oscar so will return to many more screens over the coming weeks.
Opening UK
Opened January 19th
- Coco – Disney
19th Pixar animated film featuring voices of Anthony Gonzalez, Gael García Bernal, Benjamin Bratt, Alanna Ubach, Renée Victor, Ana Ofelia Murguía, and Edward James Olmos and directed by Lee Unkrich; received 96% Rotten Tomatoes score winning
opening in the US in November and has taken over $590m worldwide to date Best Animated Film Golden Globe and nominated for BAFTA Best Animated Feature Film.
Coco is Pixar’s first original animated film since 2015’s The Good Dinosaur with their next original film not until 2020 after Incredibles 2 and Toy Story 4
Originally due for release December 1st was delayed to January 19th to avoid Paddington 2 and probably after Universal Pictures had so much success delaying Sing from December 2016 to January 2017.
Coco took £1.8m from previews over the weekend must be looking at about £5.1m for its opening weekend opening #1
- The Post – eOne
Political thriller starring Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, Sarah Paulson, Bob Odenkirk, Tracy Letts, Bradley Whitford, Bruce Greenwood, Carrie Coon, and Matthew Rhys and directed by Steven Spielberg; receiving 88% Rotten Tomatoes score.
When Steven Spielberg announced the film early last year it was expected to be an award favourite being with the Spielberg/Hanks/Streep combo and the subject matter while set 40 years ago could be set now about fake news and the freedom of the press. So was then surprising even though received six Golden Globe nominations including Best Picture Drama, Best Director, Best Actress and Best Actor for Best Screenplay but never won and was ignored by BAFTA.
Often critics call a film the film of the moment, but The Post is truly this with the current battles with President Trump declaring many trusted the news organisations fake news. With critics making comparisons between the administrations of Richard Nixon and Donald Trump.
Steven Spielberg had originally planned to direct The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortar after Ready Player One but after casting issues in March 2017 was announced he would direct and Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep would star. It is the fifth film directed by Steven Spielberg Tom Hanks had starred in (Saving Private Ryan, Catch Me If You Can, The Terminal and Bridge of Spies). Spielberg said. “When I read the first draft of the script (in February), this wasn’t something that could wait three years or two years this was a story I felt we needed to tell today.”
The Post also handles the treatment of women in the workplace showing how Meryl Streep character the first female publisher of a major American newspaper is undermined by her male bosses who don’t believe a woman can run a newspaper. Institutionalized sexism and a free press are “joined at the hip,” Spielberg said. “The relevance is up to everybody. But obviously, sometimes bad things happen twice, and history is certainly repeating itself.”
Despite a lack of Golden Globe wins and BAFTA nominations The Post is on the top of the list of most people’s award contenders list and should opening with £2.1m+
- The Commuter – Studiocanal UK
Action film starring Liam Neeson, Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Jonathan Banks, Elizabeth McGovern, and Sam Neill and directed by Jaume Collet-Serra; has received positive reviews
In the 90s after the success of Die Hard and Die Harder were many films that copied the plot from Die Hard on a Battleship aka Under Siege, Die Hard on a Plane aka Air Force One to Die Hard on a Train aka Under Siege 2.
Twenty years later after the success of Taken have seen Liam Neeson repeat his roles on an aeroplane Non-Stop and now on a train in The Commuter.
Non-Stop opened in February 2014 with £2,652,364 taking £9,365,368
Taken opened September 2008 with £1.16m taking £6.3m
Taken 2 opened October 2012 with £7.38m taking £23.4m
Taken 3 opened January 2015 with £6.7m taking £17.45m
As the first action film opening of 2018 surrounded by Oscar contenders The Commuter might be just what regular audiences want to do battle with the annual fare prices rises but what most commuters will be amazed to see is that he got a seat; has received positive reviews.
But with a very crowded market and disappointing opening in the US likely to open close to Liam Neeson’s last action film 2015’s Run All Night opened with £823,833 taking £2,037,542 and 2011’s Unknown opened March 2011 with £1,356,345 taking £6,432,496.
Box Office Predictions UK – January 19th top 10
Opening in the US
- 12 Strong – Warner Bros
AKA 12 Strong: The Declassified True Story of the Horse Soldiers war drama starring Chris Hemsworth, Michael Shannon, Michael Peña, Navid Negahban, Trevante Rhodes, Geoff Stults, Thad Luckinbill, and William Fichtner and directed by Nicolai Fuglsig based on Doug Stanton’s non-fiction book Horse Soldiers.
Was developed by Jerry Bruckheimer at Disney in 2009 but when he left Disney in 2013 he took the project with him eventually moving to Alcon Entertainment who have a US distribution deal with Warner Bros.
- Den of Thieves – STX Entertainment
Heist action thriller starring Gerard Butler, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, Pablo Schreiber, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Evan Jones, Dawn Olivieri, Mo McRae, and Max Holloway and directed by Christian Gudegast.
It’s surprising that studios decided to release four action films over two weeks as they would all be targeting similar audiences last week The Commuter and Proud Mary and this weekend 12 Strong and Den of Thieves which looks like a 90s action film opening 20 years too late. After The Communter disappointed last weekend its unlikely this can do much better.