- House of Gucci – £1,511,982 – £5,584,060
Down 37.7% in its second weekend; staying #1 due to it being a quiet weekend for new releases
572nd biggest second weekend between The Grudge and Enemy of the State (close to Mary, Queen of Scots, The Social Network, The Iron Lady and Erin Brockovich) and 824th biggest inflation inflated the second weekend between Eyes Wide Shut and The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (close to Lincoln, Philomena, A Beautiful Mind and Up In The Air).
114th biggest Universal Pictures film between ParaNorman and Ride Along 2 (close to Public Enemies, BlacKkKlansman, Green Zone and State of Play) and 121st biggest inflation inflated between Kick-Ass 2 and Skyscraper.
Normally a major studio award contender holds much more strongly but House of Gucci is more style over substance, while it might look like an Oscar contender with its strong acting and creative talent, the film feels more like a soap opera. As the problem was trying to turn The House of Gucci: A Sensational Story of Murder, Madness, Glamour, and Greed by Sara Gay Forden 543-page book into a film. What didn’t help was it was Roberto Bentivegna feature writing debut having only made short films before.
As House of Gucci received mixed reviews it was always likely to drop much heavier than the more prestigious award contenders it was trying to be as after A Star Is Born opened #3 with £4,100,196 including £1,020,096 previews (Fri-Sun £3,083,089) from 526 screens (behind Venom #1 £8,031,342 and #2 Johnny English Strikes Again £4,117,692) strong word of mouth saw it climb to
was #1 in its second weekend taking £3,083,089 and £9,595,670 in 612 screens dropped 25% (without previews 0% drop) with Venom #2; held #1 taking £2,883,000 and £14,874,834 down 7% in its third weekend in 663 screens. Dropped #2 in the fourth weekend with £2,150,987 and £19,238,711 down 25% in 634 screens against Bohemian Rhapsody opening #1 with £9,530,463 from 659 screens (£3,054,530 previews); stayed in top 5 for 7 weeks and top 10 for 9 weeks taking £29,299,129.
Last week House of Gucci opening was seen as strong holding similar to The Truman Show (£1,687,037); American Beauty (£1,654,745); Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (£1,621,878); The Post (£1,604,133); Noah (£1,591,916); Exodus: Gods and Kings (£1,575,131); The Social Network (£1,538,571); King of Thieves (£1,535,876); Mary, Queen of Scots (£1,518,819); The Iron Lady (£1,473,311); Erin Brockovich (£1,466,979); Philomena (£1,407,318); Kingdom of Heaven (£1,385,529) and Atonement (£1,379,790).
Rather than what you would normally expect for a potential Oscar contender that has generated strong media coverage and buzz ahead of release that normally turns into strong word of mouth by their second weekends.
The Silence of the Lambs (£3,562,378); Gladiator (£3,459,104); Darkest Hour (£3,295,717); Downton Abbey (£3,280,442); War Horse (£3,202,493); 12 Years a Slave (£3,055,020); Slumdog Millionaire (£2,630,820); Little Women (£2,599,137); Black Swan (£2,566,346); American Sniper (£2,539,534); Parasite (£2,523,518) and 8 Mile (£2,514,467)
But as almost all films that have opened since May House of Gucci opened with a third less than it should have done pre-pandemic and why it’s taken much less in its second weekend as comparable film. UK BO for 2021 is expected to be about £600m with about 20% from No Time To Die while they are estimating 2022 will take £900m 30% down from 2019 surely after No Time To Die has shown that audiences have returned to cinemas and admissions for October were the highest since 2012 why aren’t audiences returning to pre-pandemic numbers for other films?
Spider-Man; No Way Home 24-hour bookings were better than No Time To Die and industry response is it proves Bond was no fluke, people are prepared to return to the cinema for big tentpole titles, but it doesn’t all it shows is that comic-book fans will rush to book to see the latest MCU. As the demographic House of Gucci was targetting wasn’t the same male under 35s but the older audience who came back to the cinema for the first time since January 2020 to see No Time To Die.
House of Gucci is Lady Gaga second-leading film after 2018’s Oscar-winning and box office hit A Star Is Born, but in that film, she was playing a character similar to herself but House of Gucci is a very different iconic role.
2007’s American Gangster dropped 29.1% taking £1,817,691 (£2,598,758 inflation inflated) and £5,696,978 61.1% of £9,336,495 (£13,348,415 inflation inflated)
2006’s The Devil Wears Prada dropped 42.8% taking £1,870,080 (£2,772,480 inflation inflated) and
£6,751,301 49.3% £13,681,185 (£20,282,989 inflation inflated)
2014’s American Hustle dropped 44.1% taking £1,938,805 and £6,779,242 51.8% of £13,096,887
Other recent Ridley Scott directed films include
2021’s The Last Duel took £859,877;
2017’s All the Money in the World took £3,176,255
2015’s The Martian took £23,578,878
2014’s Exodus: Gods and Kings took £7,529,032
2013’s The Counsellor took £1,855,158
2010’s Robin Hood took £15,381,416
2008’s Body of Lies took £2,859,641
2007’s American Gangster took £9,336,495
2005’s Kingdom of Heaven took £7,755,814
While 1992’s The Bodyguard up 2.4% £2,407,930 (£5,415,967 inflation inflated) and £4,756,260 28% of £17,001,069 (£38,239,165 inflation inflated); 2018’s Molly’s Game dropped 77.1% £522,456 (due to 10 day opening weekend) and £3,378,232 taking £3,788,031)
House of Gucci is Succession with even more exotic global locations and based on a true story but as with Spencer and The Crown will audiences come out to see House of Gucci when they can watch Succession and Ryan Murphy’s The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story at home?
2.Encanto – £1,279,213 – £3,308,973
Down 25.6% in the second weekend; the surprising thing is children’s films have been the one genre that has performed steadily since cinemas reopened in July 2020 and with only Sky Cinemas’ A Boy Called Christmas #11 (£132,870) and Elf #14 (£111,036) would have expected Encanto to open far stronger last weekend and then the second-weekend drop of 25.6% would be far more impressive.
It’s déjà vu for Disney again as Encanto has the second-worst second weekend for Disney made animated film after Onward similar to In March 2020 when Onward had the worst Fri-Sun opening for Pixar when COVID was taking over across the UK and the cinema industry was in denial it was affecting cinema attendance.
714th biggest second weekend between Brokeback Mountain and Click (close to Cruella, A Peanuts Movie, Onward and Pokemon: The First Movie) and 975th biggest inflation inflated between The Boat that Rocked and Ride Along 2 (close to Planes, Horton Hears a Who, Monster House and The Smurfs 2).
40th biggest Disney animation second weekend between Hercules (£1,404,223) and Onward (£1,272,748) (close to The Good Dinosaur, Cars 3, Atlantis: The Lost Empire and Corpse Bride) and 46th biggest Disney animation second weekend between Planes and Onward.
The problem was the buzz on Disney’s Encanto had been very soft for weeks which is very surprising for Disney films as normally they generate strong buzz but maybe the problem was it felt similar to other Disney animated films. While Lin-Manuel Miranda is very well known for Hamilton musical, In The Heights musical underperformed and it opened only a few months after animated Vivo starring Lin-Manuel Miranda which was due to be released in June theatrically but was released on Netflix in August. It was interesting that he was on Graham Norton Show two weeks ago the weekend Encanto opened but it wasn’t mentioned.
Encanto faces competition this weekend from Clifford The Big Red Dog with both films mostly limited to the weekend box office for the next two weeks before the Christmas school holidays begin.
After Disney’s record-breaking 2019 BO this year’s slate it feels like Disney were focused far more o streaming than theatrical with the majority of their films or this year delayed from last year and all co falling short, with Cruella, Black Widow and Shang-Chi and then Eternals and now Encanto. The only positive coming from 20th Century Fox with Free Guy.
3. Ghostbusters Afterlife – £1,066,150 – £9,192, 058
Down 49.2% in its third weekend; took £466,477 more than 2016’s Ghostbusters (£599,673) in its third weekend (Ghostbusters dropped 55% (losing a third of screens) from 680 to 438 screens dropping from #4 to #6 due to new openers Finding Dory #1 £8,122,075 and Jason Bourne #2 £7,600,420; the marketplace was far more crowded being the end of July with The BFG, Star Trek Beyond and The Secret Life Of Pets also ahead of it. While Ghostbusters received poor word of mouth
700th biggest film in the UK between Cliffhanger and Vanilla Sky (close to Juno, The Lego Ninjago Movie, Cloverfield and Knight & Day) will shortly become 635th film to take over £10m+ at the UK BO; and 969th biggest inflation inflated between Victoria and Abdul and Crossroads (close to Wrath of the Titans, Cruella, Alita: Battle Angel and Transformers: The Last Knight).
1989’s Ghostbusters 2 took £8.3m (£25.71m inflation inflated); while Ghostbusters opened December 1984 taking £12.4m (£48m inflation inflated average ticket price £1.90); 2016’s Ghostbusters took £10,554,557.
The end credit scene sees Winston has acquired the Ghostbusters firehouse that featured in the original film with flashing lights showing that something has survived that could set up a sequel set in New York with Winston or the sequel could stay Summerville with the new generation of Ghostbusters.
4. Christmas With Andre £693,676 – NE
Event Cinema screenings have struggled to find an audience post-pandemic as they target older demographic who have been very slow to return to cinemas as seen with Anything Goes took £371,879 from 434 screens on Sunday taking £343,489 from encore screenings on Wednesday #2 and £715,368 total.
While Andre Rieu’s 2021 Summer Concert: Together Again opened with a disappointing £420,056 in August and Andre Rieu’s Magical Maastricht: Together In Music opened with £124,101 in September 2020 both were far from the £1m+ openings for Andre Rieu’s Event Cinema concerts pre-pandemic since 2014.
2020’s Andre Rieu: 70 Years Young opened January taking £1,717,073; 2019’s Andre Rieu’s New Year Concert from Sydney taking £1,745,941; Andre Rieu 2019 Maastricht Concert – Shall We Dance? – £1,492,154; 2018’s André Rieu’s Maastricht Concert, ’Amore £1,783,222; Andre Rieu’s 2017 Maastricht Concert £1,439,604; Andre Rieu’s 2016 Maastricht Concert £1,414,075; Andre Rieu’s 2015 Maastricht Concert £1,107,000; Andre Rieu’s 2014 Maastricht Concert £830,586.
Christmas With Andre is the canary in the coalmine for Event Cinema and films targetting older demographic, while older audiences came out to see No Time To Die the question has always been what film would make them come back to the cinema the next time.
5. Eternals £318,717 – £14,467,114
Down 45.6% in its fifth weekend; 10th biggest film of the year between The Suicide Squad and Space Jam 2.
Had 23rd biggest MCU fifth weekend in the UK between Ant-Man (£326,054) and Captain America: The First Avenger (£38,637); similar to Thor (£335,103); Doctor Strange (£454,088); Thor: The Dark World (£423,374); the 11th biggest 5th-weekend drop between Thor: Ragnorok (-48.9%) and Ant-Man (-42.3%); close to Avengers: Endgame (-49%) Captain Marvel (-48%).
23rd biggest MCU after 5 weeks between Ant-Man (£15,397,073) and Thor (£13,497,496); Eternals will be the lowest-grossing Disney MCU and the lowest-grossing MCU since 2011’s Thor. The three MCU films released by Disney this year (Black Widow, Shang-Chi and Eternals) were never likely to match the success of previous films while they were all leading up towards Spider-Man No Way Home.
422nd biggest film in the UK between Pride and Prejudice and World War Z (close to Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil, Batman and Robin, The Suicide Squad and 300) and 648th biggest film in the UK between The Lion King 3D and Dr Dolittle 2 (close to Kill Bill – Volume 2, Alien3, Kick-Ass and Deep Blue Sea).
58th biggest comic-book movie between Batman and Robin and The Suicide Squad (close to X-Men: First Class, X-Men, The Wolverine and Fantastic Four) and 66th biggest inflation inflated comic-book movie between Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and The Suicide Squad (close to Blade 2, Justice League, Superman IV and The Incredible Hulk).
After Disney had a record-breaking year of MCU In 2019 with Avengers and Captain Marvel along with Spider-Man: Far From Home this year’s films Eternals, Shang-Chi and Blade Widow were never likely to get anywhere close (even without COVID) but all of them were just aperitifs for Spider-Man: No Way Home opening next week. While next year MCU are far stronger, but still aren’t at the same level as 2019 with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Thor: Love and Thunder while without Chadwick Bosman can Black Panther: Wakanda Forever repeat the success of the first film.
Eternals have seen MCU films take £815m at the UK BO (£850m+ inflation inflated) and 2022’s films will see them take over £1 billion since 2008.
Also opened
• Boxing Day – Warner Bros
Opened #7 with £265,263 from 441 screens
Boxing Day is the first British Christmas rom-com featuring an all-black cast, while there have been many similar films in the US and many family central films but for many years they didn’t travel very well internationally with films like About Last Night and Think Like a Man Too. But then in 2015, Kevin Hart came over to the UK to promote The Wedding Ringer opening #5 with £990,445 from 384 screens taking £2,119,244 and they started finding audiences in the UK.
Aml Ameen starred in the critically acclaimed and BAFTA-winning TV series I May Destroy You and Leigh-Anne Pinnock is a member of Little Minx which will help the film build-up media coverage. While Christmas films are very popular in the UK with the last major one Last Christmas in 2019 opened with £2,654,354 taking £17,758,583. While Christmas films have a short cinema window from early December to January 1st many then become a festive mainstay shown on TV every Christmas or as Home Alone, Love Actually and Die Hard any time of the year.
Reviews have been mixed for Boxing Day with many saying it feels like it’s trying to imitate Love Actually as many other films have done since 2003, but instead, opened similar to 2005’s The Family Stone £247,515 #5 from 155 screens.
The weekend after Thanksgiving is normal dump week as distributors clear their shelves before the Christmas films start opening next week with West Side Story and Clifford The Big Red Dog. It wasn’t always this way as before films went day and date with the US films would often open this weekend delayed from Thanksgiving or the summer as with films like Who Framed Roger Rabbit in 1988 and Ghostbusters 2 and When Harry Met Sally in 1989. Or studios wouldn’t open anything big this weekend British films would be released as is the case this year with Boxing Day a film Warner Bros acquired for the UK.
• Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City – Sony Pictures
Opened #8 with £253,199 from 329 screens having the lowest opening of the series in the UK
2002’s Resident Evil opened £801,628 taking £2.68m
2004’s Resident Evil: Apocalypse opened £801,171 taking £1.82m
2007’s Resident Evil: Extinction opened £931,991 taking £2.37m
2010’s Resident Evil: Afterlife opened £1.69m taking £4.12m
2012’s Resident Evil: Retribution opened £792,265 taking £1.79m
2017’s Resident Evil: The Final Chapter opened #8 £463,691
These films are very front-loaded with the last film staying in the top 15 for only one week.
• The Matrix (22nd Anniversary) – Warner Bros
Opened with £128,585 from 338 screens
Ahead of the release of The Matrix Resurrections on December 22nd the first film is re-released in cinemas including IMAX for the first time. 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.
The first film opened in UK cinemas in June 1999 receiving rave reviews (a month before Star Wars: The Phantom Menace) with £3,384,948 (£5,805,065 inflation inflated) taking £17,279,897.
Two sequels opened back-to-back in 2003 6 months apart with receiving mixed reviews; The Matrix Reloaded opened May with a massive £12,165,276 (including £3,267,952 previews) £19,782,273 inflation inflated taking £33,423,117 (£54,350,204 inflation inflated)
The Matrix Revolutions opened with £8,712,350 (including £3,002,097 previews) £14,167,380 inflation inflated 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.
There are now 50 IMAX cinemas in the UK over half opened in the last 8 years mostly retrofitted in conventional cinemas and they take about 10% of the BO of the opening weekend BO of films including Eternals last weekend.
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 a similar demographic.
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: When Harry 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).
• C’mon C’mon
Opened #15 with £106,680 from 134 screens
The film had a world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival receiving critical acclaim (92% Rotten Tomatoes) and was the Surprise Film at the London Film Festival.
Also opened
CBeebies Christmas Show 2021: The Night Before Christmas – Modern Films
£105,864 from 479 screens playing in more screens than previous CBeebies Christmas Shows in 2019 and 2018; in 2019 was in 314 screens taking £154,410 and in 2018 388 screens taking £212,629. It had early matinee screenings over the weekend with tickets half-price at normal prices.
Elf (re-release) #14 taking £111,036 from 252 screens; a year ago Elf was also re-released #1 taking £48,244
Box Office News
The Morning Consult Tracking the return to normal comfort going to the cinema was up 4% to 51% despite the Omicron and despite soft weekend box office in the US last weekend. Comfort for Millennials (60%), GenX (50%), Baby Boomers (41%), GenZ (62%); A fifth of August adults currently feel comfortable going back to the cinema over the next month and this hasn’t changed since August, while 19% of people are currently going to the cinema, this is same Millennials and GenZ who have been going to the cinema over the last 6 months those who went to see Black Widow, Shang-Chi and Venom 2 and will go and see Spider-Man: No Way Home next week.
Cinema has been their own worst enemy in how they dealt with COVID as should have been way ahead of the curve in dealing with it as should have been planning for worst-case scenarios from January 23, 2020, after China closed cinemas days before their most lucrative week of the year.
Exhibitors should have done their homework watched the movies as Steve Martin said in Grand Canyon all of life’s riddles are in the movies.
As Hollywood has made films about every natural and unnatural disaster, only needed to see Contagion in 2011 to see what was going to happen, Matt Hancock saw it in March 2020 and it changed his COVID policies. The problem with the cinema’s industry is they are always slow to do anything and never are proactive. Took them years to bring in Digital Cinema only doing so when they saw Banknote with dollar sign similarly major exhibitors copied Everyman bringing in living room style cinemas.. again seeing that Everyman charged more for it.
There were rumours on Wednesday morning that Plan B will be announced during a press conference on Wednesday evening which could include vaccine passports that have been talked about by the UK government since February and since been brought into many other countries and states in the US. Vaccine passports have always been seen as discriminatory towards the minority who haven’t had the vaccine but now with 90% of the population vaccinated there is the need to think about the many, not the few. But after the government haven’t been following the rules they will be hard to be implemented.
Biggest Films of 2021
The top 10 biggest films of 2021 are currently
No Time To Die £96.03m; Dune £21.44m; Shang-Chi (£21.29m); Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway (£20.47m); Black Widow (£18.83m); Venom 2 £17.85m; Free Guy (£16.78m); F9 (£16.44m); Eternals £14.46m; 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); The Addams Family 2 £10.2m; The Croods 2 (£9.8m); Cruella £9.45m; The Conjuring 3 £9.36m; Ghostbusters Afterlife £9.19m; PAW Patrol: The Movie £8.47m.
UK box office in detail
This weekend was the lowest since July 2021 and the lowest first weekend of December for at least 20 years.
This weekend’s top 10 box office took £6,103,230 down 29.2% from last weekend £8,620,079;
The weekend admissions 807,082 down 31.9% 1,184,876 from last week; 2020 Lockdown 2.
Top 3 took £3,857,345 63.2% of the top 10; House of Gucci 24.7% (£1,511,982); Encanto 21% (£1,279,213); Ghostbusters Afterlife 17.5% (£1,066,150);
Up 2,377% from 2020 (£246,409); Top 3 took £111,293 Elf 19.6% (£48,244); Home Alone 15% (£36,878); Wolfwalkers 10.6% (£26,171); #1 Elf 19.6% £48,244
Down 61.8% from 2019 (£15,983,967); Knives Out (£2,937,305); Charles Angels (£547,004); #1 Frozen 2 £8,711,498 2nd weekend 42% drop 674 screens (54.5% of top 10)
Down 60.3% from 2018: (£15,392,277); Ralph Breaks the Internet (£4,032,775); Creed 2 (£2,991,509); Disobedience (£193,907); Pokemon the Movie: The Power of Us (£177,750); The Possession of Hannah Grace (£113,537); #1 Ralph Breaks the Internet £4,032,775 1st week 613 screens (26.2% of top 10)
Down 38.1% from 2017: (£9,864,139); Wonder (£1,240,245); The Man Who Invented Christmas (£168,137); The Nutcracker – Bolshoi 2017 (£160,421); Happy End (£135,682); The Disaster Artist (£130,238); #1 Paddington 2 £2,883,617 4th week 3rd #1 37% drop 652 screens (29.2% of top 10)
Down 45.3% from 2016: (£11,160,568); Moana (£2,214,898); Sully: Miracle on the Hudson (£1,786,844); The Edge of Seventeen (£273,139); Bleed for This (£250,975); Blue Velvet (Re: 2016) (£16,880); Eat that Question (£1,468); #1 Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them £4,494,727 3rd week 649 screens 50% drop (40.3% of the top 10)
Down 32.8% from 2015; (£9,087,311); Christmas with the Coopers (£683,217); Victor Frankenstein (£431,125); Krampus (£412,713); The Night Before (£272,930); The Lady of the Camellias – Bolshoi 2015 (£105,300); #1 The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2 £2,240,723 3rd week 539 screens 51% drop (24.6% of top 10)
Down 46.7% from 2014: (£11,455,843); Penguins of Madagascar (£1,575,949); Get Santa (£576,722); St. Vincent (£389,136); Black Sea (£246,309); The Pyramid (£190,049); Men, Women and Children (£73,393); #1 Paddington £3,837,885 2nd week 540 screens 25% drop (33.5% of top 10)
Down 42.7% from 2013: (£10,647,204); Frozen (£4,704,940); Homefront (£440,306); Nebraska (£151,332); Old Boy (£94,818); Black Nativity (£61,324); Getaway (£26,467); #1 Frozen £4,704,940 1st week 505 screens (44.2% of top 10)
Down 40.3% from 2012 (£10,220,354); Rise of the Guardians (£1,968,984); Great Expectations (£544,636); Alex Cross (£226,780); Sightseers (£213,066); Trouble with the Curve (£41,391); #1 Skyfall £2,275,469 6th week 4th #1 41% drop 532 screens (22.2% of top 10)
Down 26.8% from 2011 (£8,340,633); Happy Feet 2 (£1,686,197); Hugo (£1,225,987); The Thing (£485,534); The Big Year (£122,591); Margaret (£4,595); #1 Arthur Christmas £1,896,595 4th week 1st #1 502 screens 25% drop (22.7% of top 10)
Down 32.6% from 2010: (£9,062,260); Megamind (£2,827,502); Monsters (£348,577); The Warrior’s Way (£105,389); Secretariat (£40,941); #1 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 1 £3,739,781 3rd week 570 screens 55% drop 41.2% of top 10)
Down 40.1% from 2009; (£10,195,907); Planet 51 (£1,513,003); The Box (£474,938); The Descent: Part 2 (£313,739); Me and Orson Welles (£166,389); #1 Paranormal Activity £1,839,273 2nd week 398 screens 49% drop (18.1% of top 10)
Down 44.8% from 2008; (£11,060,816); Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (£6,342,997); Transporter 3 (£958,615); Lakeview Terrace (£224,493); The Secret Life of Bees (£74,626); #1 Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa £6,342,997 1st week 520 screens (57.3% of top 10)
Down 10.4% from 2007: (£6,812,364); Fred Claus (£1,937,042); Hitman (£1,240,698); The Assassination of Jesse James (£180,886); This Christmas (£46,820); #1 Fred Claus £1,937,042 1st week 445 screens (28.4% of top 10)
Down 50.6% from 2006; (£12,348,508); Flushed Away (£3,106,874); Deck the Halls (£600,047); Stranger than Fiction (£368,627); Big Nothing (£83,829); London to Brighton (£29,153); #1 Casino Royale £5,307,969 2nd week 506 screens 38% drop (43% of top 10)
Down 36.4% from 2005 (£9,591,419); Keeping Mum (£645,886); Doom (£612,087); Where the Truth Lies (£67,446); #1 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire £4,829,804 3rd week 536 screens 48% drop (50.3% of top 10)
Down 24.9% from 2004 (£8,128,185); Christmas with the Kranks (£777,771); Churchill: The Hollywood Years (£148,326); The Merchant of Venice (£147,709); The Polar Express (platform) (£104,632); School for Seduction (£39,213); #1 The Incredibles £4,187,280 3rd week 2nd #1 57% drop 495 screens (51.5% of top 10)
Down 42.2% from 2003 (£10,553,520); S.W.A.T. (£1,960,281); Brother Bear (£887,321); Timeline (£279,505); Thirteen (£53,553); #1 Love Actually £3,202,417 3rd week 478 screens 31% drop (30.3% of top 10)
Down 50.8% from 2002 £12,415,161); The Santa Clause 2 (£951,754); Enough (£340,600); The Quiet American (£240,552); #1 Die Another Day £5,364,433 2nd week 431 screens 41% drop (43.2% of top 10)
Down 33.8% from 2001 (£9,215,665); Zoolander (£676,518); Bandits (£644,271); Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (£381,940); Ghosts of Mars (£104,723); The Devil’s Backbone (£45,145); #1 Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone £5,809,759 3rd week 508 screens 31% drop (63.1% of top 10);
Next weekend in 2019 (£16,232,465); Top three took 85.9% (£13,950,015) of the top 10; Jumanji: The Next Level 58.3% (£9,464,661); Frozen 2 19.7% (£3,196,708); Last Christmas 7.9% (£1,288,646); #1 Jumanji: The Next Level £9,464,661 1st week from 637 screens (58.3% of the top 10)
US Box Office
- Encanto – Disney
Dropped 52% in its second weekend taking $13.14m and $58.36m
Comparable to 2015’s second weekend of The Good Dinosaur down 60.9% taking $15.32m and $75.76m of $123.08m and 2011’s The Muppets $11.08m dropped 62.1% taking $56.35m of $88.63m
Disney’s last animated film opening over Thanksgiving Frozen 2 dropped 59.1% taking $35.16m and $338.09m of $477.37m
Other post-Thanksgiving Disney weekends
2018’s Ralf Breaks the Internet dropped 54.5% taking $25.56m; 2017’s Coco dropped 45.8% taking $27.53m; 2016’s Moana dropped 50.1% taking $28.27m; 2013’s Frozen dropped 53.1% taking $31.61m; 2010’s Tangled dropped 55.7% taking $21.6m; 2008’s Bolt dropped 50.5% taking $9.76m;
Disney has been releasing an animation film close to Thanksgiving ever since Oliver & Company in 1988 (the film that relaunched their animation brand) Encanto will be the 26th time Disney has released an animated film in November. (Soul was due to be released in cinemas in November 2020 before moving to Disney+ due to COVID).
158th biggest animated film between Anastasia and The Boss Baby: Family Business; 1,477th biggest film in the US between Easy A and Open Range; 2,370th biggest inflation inflated between The Shallows and Hot Tub Time Machine; 220th biggest Disney film in the US between Jack and Open Range.
Took $29.3m (down 29.3%) from 49 territories $33.4m total and $116.48m worldwide; France $6.5m; Colombia $5.9m; UK $4.2m; Russia $3.5m; Italy $3.5m; Korea $3.5m; Japan $3.4m; Spain $3.1m; Mexico $3m; Saudi Arabia $2m; 173rd biggest animated film worldwide between Raya and the Last Dragon and Wonder Park; 1,475th biggest worldwide between The Siege and Sliver; 32nd biggest 2021 film worldwide between Raya and the Last Dragon and The Addams Family 2; 193rd biggest Disney film worldwide between Snow Dogs and Saving Mr Banks.
- Ghostbusters Afterlife
Dropped 57% in its third weekend taking $10.35m and $102.2m
Took $430k IMAX cinemas and $10m total.
Third weekend
1984’s Ghostbusters down 13.5% taking $13.6m ($36.13m inflation inflated) and $61.48m ($170.2m inflation inflated) taking $229.24m ($635m inflation inflated); was #1 for 7 consecutive weeks and returned #1 for another 7 weeks over the following 5 months
1989’s Ghostbusters 2 dropped 36.4% taking $8.8m ($20.7m inflation inflated) and $73.64m ($172.6m inflation inflated) taking $112.49m ($275m inflation inflated)
2016’s Ghostbuster dropped 51.8% taking $10.12m and $106.41m and $100.79m and $229.14m worldwide
Took $13.1m (up 52%) from 53 territories and $42.9m total
- House of Gucci – MGM
Down 51% in its second weekend taking $7m and $33.86m
House of Gucci was never going to hold like Lady Gaga’s previous film that held strongly despite never being #1 (staying #2 for 4 weeks) dropped 33.7% second weekend taking $28.44m and $94.6m
Took $14.79m from 60 territories $33.6m total and $67.32m worldwide
- Eternals – Disney
Down 48% in its fifth weekend taking $4.09m and $156.68m.
Fifth weekend
Venom Let There Be Carnage dropped 38.2.6% #5 taking $5.75m and $190.44m of $209.79m
Shang-Chi dropped 53.1% #3 taking $6.1m and $206.18m of $224.51m
Black Widow dropped 44.3% #4 taking $3.92m and $174.28m of $195.97m
Disney announced plans this week for a sequel to Shang-Chi taking $418.2m worldwide while similar global BO to Eternals and Black Widow is one of the lowest-grossing MCU films and the lowest-grossing that has had a sequel announced since Captain America: The First Avenger.
355th biggest film between Scary Movie and Fatal Attraction; 744th biggest inflation inflated between The Wedding Singer and Grumpy Old Men; 7th biggest film in 2021 between No Time to Die and Free Guy; 57th biggest comic-book movie between X-Men and X-Men: Apocalypse; 85th biggest Disney film in the US between The Waterboy and Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
Took $5.8m from 51 territories (down 43.2%) $227.8m international total and $384.41m worldwide; Korea $26.8m; UK $19.3m; France $15.6m; Mexico $14.9m; Brazil $12.1m; Australia $10.7m; Japan $10.2m; Italy $9.6m; Russia $9.1m; Germany $9m
336th biggest worldwide between Cars 3 and Godzilla: King of the Monsters; 9th biggest 2021 film between Shang-Chi and Dune; 59th biggest comic-book movie between Superman Returns and Black Widow; 77th biggest Disney film between Cars 3 and Black Widow.
- Dune – Warner Bros
Down 11% in its sixth weekend taking $1.84m and $104.6m
Lowest drop in the top 10 due to Dune returning to IMAX screens for encore screenings taking $1m from IMAX; took $1.6m from IMAX worldwide taking $52.6m worldwide from IMAX
694th biggest film in the US between Phenomenon and The Princess and the Frog; 1,301st biggest inflation inflated between Heartbreak Ridge and Jagged Edge; 10th biggest 2021 film between Jungle Cruise and Ghostbusters: Afterlife; 115th biggest Warner Bros film between Interview with the Vampire and Every Which Way but Loose.
In comparison 2017’s Blade Runner 2049 dropped 37.1% #8 taking $1.46m and $88.05m 95.6% of $92.05m
The industry needs to slow down before calling a film a hit after taking $100m+ at the US BO as 30+ years ago when a film took $100m at US BO was celebrated as was rare and a sign of success with budgets under $50m, but now when films can take that in a day budgets are 4x as much as ticket prices success needs to be recalibrated with $300m ($600m worldwide) the new $100m.
Tenet took $363m last year globally but Warner would have surely expected it to take double but after Christopher Nolan forced them to open in the middle of a pandemic it lost at least $50m.
The seven films Denis Villeneuve directed have taken $413m in the US and $1.062bn worldwide
Took $5.1m (up 88% drop from last weekend due to opening in Australia with $3.4m and taking $1m from IMAX in the US) from 69 territories $277.6m total and $382.7m worldwide; China $39.2m; France $31.3m; UK $29.3m; Germany $22m; Russia $21.3m; South Korea $13.4m; Spain $9.7m; Italy $8.6m.
338th biggest film worldwide between Godzilla: King of the Monsters and Live Free or Die Hard; 10th biggest 2021 film worldwide between Black Widow and Eternals; 65th biggest Warner Bros film between Godzilla: King of the Monsters and Mad Max: Fury Road.
When Warner Bros greenlit Dune they would have surely expected it to take similar to 2013’s Gravity their #23 biggest film $688.21m and 2017’s It #22 $701.08m in the first part of a similar two partner. Instead, it’s going to take just over half as much.
Platform releases
- Belfast – Focus Features
Dropped 44% in its fourth weekend despite adding 127 screens taking $533,505 and $5.89m total
- C’mon C’mon – A24
Up 57% in its third weekend adding 463 screens taking $462,022 and $1.13m total
- Licorice Pizza – MGM
Down 30% in its second weekend holding in 4 screens taking $241,702 and $779,500 total
As other films have done Belfast had a strong opening limited wide but then expanded far too wide far too quickly. These films need a much slower expansion as they need time to find their audiences.
After Licorice Pizza was named Best Picture of the year by the National Board of Review and over the quiet weekend after Thanksgiving could have been a good time to expand its release to build on the buzz it generated. While Paul Thomas Anderson films receive critically acclaimed they struggle to find a mainstream audience so expanding too quickly could limit their long-term box office chances towards award season.
UK Box Office Top 10
UK Box Office Preview
Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story has received acclaim with many calling it his best film in about 20 years but the question is will it do what Baz Luhrmann did with 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. West Side Story is based on William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet and 20th Century Fox had huge success 25 years ago with Baz Luhrmann’s directed Romeo and Juliet (taking £7,438,055 in the UK and £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!, La Land, Rocketman, Les Misérables, Hairspray, Chicago, and Moulin Rouge.
It was no surprise Spider-Man No Way Home had the ‘best presales’ in 24 hours since Avengers Endgame as all the other Marvel films this year were just aperitifs and didn’t play beyond fanbase as all took similar BO (apart from Eternals).
Far more important is how West Side Story opens this weekend as despite widespread critical acclaim seen analysts predict an opening similar to Cats and Dear Evan Hanson, as older audiences won’t come out due to Omicron and it’s not going to play well to younger (under 35s).. but could have longer legs (play through Christmas and beyond) if Disney and exhibitors allow it to as musicals normally have long legs; despite underperforming in the US In The Heights played in the top 10 in the UK for 5 weeks taking £4,286,073 after opening with £1,073,687 while the poorly received Cats still managed to open with £3,207,471 in December 2019 taking £11,907,188.
Cinema attendance pre-pandemic at Christmas is very different than other times of the year the two weeks of Christmas. It’s a time when people go to see pantomimes, musicals and the cinema as a family far more than other times of the year and seek out family entertainment and musicals have been that genre of films families have been going to over the three years before COVID, in 2017 The Greatest Showman opened with £4,754,049, with Mary Poppins Returns in 2018 with £8,152,210 and the already mentioned Cats opened in 2019.
It’s impossible to look back at Steven Spielberg’s previous films and compare them with West Side Story as none of them are comparable, said audience wise it’s looking at the same demographic as Lincoln, Bridge of Spies and The Post opening with £1,657,337, £1,682,392 and £2,152,977 but then have War Horse also based on a hugely popular stage show, West Side Story is based on a hugely successful stage show but it closed in London in 2000.
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.”
Top price tickets for West Side Story at the Odeon Leicester Square this Friday are £30 more expensive than Spider-Man: No Way Home next Friday £27.50, on Tuesday the Friday evening show was not even a quarter sold.
20 years ago, Moulin Rouge opened in the UK four months after the US in September performing far stronger than it did in the US opening with £2,403,378 down 22.6% in its second weekend taking £1,859,732 and £5,668,964 (31.21% 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 opened with £4,754,049 (including £2,575,147 previews) down 49% in its second weekend taking £2,409,143 and £9,998,783 (20.1% of 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.
Clifford The Big Red Dog will be targetting younger children during the Christmas holidays with Disney’s Encanto the other family film released for Christmas. Films about cats and dogs have been immensely popular over the years in cinemas with films including in 2009’s Marley And Me opening with £4.4m taking £15.4m; 1992’s Beethoven taking £6.8m; 1993’s Beethoven’s 2nd taking £5.8m; 2017’s A Dog’s Purpose opened £1,300,097 (including £667,168 previews) taking £3.2m and 2010’s Hachi: A Dog’s Tale opened £442,753 taking £1,048,876 and also the two The Secret Life of Pets films, the first opened with £9,580,039 in 2016 taking £35,825,195, the second in £3,490,598 taking £18,638,365.
Exhibitors had a big deal about Spider-Man No Way Home having the best presales in its first 24 hours since Avengers Endgame in April 2019 with 150,000 tickets sold at Vue Cinemas, exhibitors expecting it to have one of the biggest openings in December. But bookings aren’t an indication of how big a film will open as fans rush out to book and MCU has many of them but even MCU films need to attract more than fans.
While previous Spider-Man films have dropped heavily against similar-sized tentpoles (in 2017 War For the Planet of the Apes and 2019 The Lion King) this year The Matrix Resurrections opens a week after Spider-Mam No Way Home and The King’s Man 9 days afterwards, both films targetting similar male under 35 demographic.
It would be interesting to see the breakdown in advance ticket sales the percentage of opening weekend box office that came from tickets sold in the first 24 hours many of which would be for the first shows on Wednesday as fans try to avoid spoilers. While Spider-Man: No Way Home had record presales over its first day, how were sales over the following days leading up to the opening on December 15, what percentage of BO comes from presales and then what percentage from walk-ins? While people rush out to book advance for films like Spider-Man what are presales like for other films. What is the breakdown on when people decide to book, is it days before or hours.
In 2019 Spider-Man: Far From Home had the 16th biggest previews taking £5,749,085 over two days 41% of its £14,148,624 opening similar to Deadpool 2 while Star Wars: The Force Awakens was 28.4% and Avengers Endgame 27.4% both from one day.