This weekend
Key release
- The Magnificent Seven -Sony Pictures
Remake of the 1960 western which was also remake of Akira Kurosawa’s 1954 Seven Samurai.
The 1960’s remake now seen as a classic #79 on the AFI’s list of American cinema’s 100 most thrilling films and is the second most showed film in US TV history behind The Wizard of Oz. Received mixed reviews when it was first released and was a box-office disappointment in the US but was a hit in Europe. Three sequels were made but none as successful as the original it also inspired a TV series and many films including 1986’s Three Amigos and the 1980’s TV series The A-Team.
Stars Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke, Vincent D’Onofrio, Lee Byung-hun, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Martin Sensmeier, Peter Sarsgaard and Haley Bennett and directed by Antoine Fuqua (his third film with Denzel Washington).
Denzel Washington’s last film The Equalizer opened with £1.89m two years ago which was his biggest opening in the UK ahead of 2009’s The Taking of Pelham 123 £1.78m and Unstoppable with £1.7m in 2010.
It’s Chris Pratt’s first film since Jurassic World last summer (had a cameo as himself in Jem and the Holograms) and Guardians of the Galaxy in 2014 (with sequels in 2017 and 2018) and stars in Passengers with Jennifer Lawrence out in December. The Lego Movie, Guardians of the Galaxy and Jurassic World all were massively successful but while Chris Pratt did add to them being successful The Magnificent Seven and Passengers will show if he can open a film on his own as has yet done so.
For almost 30 years (since his powerful performance as Steve Biko in Richard Attenborough’s Cry Freedom) Denzel Washington has had a long career of memorable films while maybe not had the success at the box office as other actors of the 80s.
Winning two Oscars Best Supporting Actor for 1989’s Glory and Best Actor for 2001’s Training Day. Has made memorable roles in Malcolm X, The Hurricane, Remember the Titans, Philadelphia, American Gangster one of my favourites which had a limited release in the UK was his directorial debut Antwone Fisher in 2002; film’s producer heard the story from Fisher who was then a security guard at Sony Pictures Studios.
Denzel Washington films have been a steady performer in the UK but not had a Will Smith style box office hit. The Equalizer 2 next year will be his first ever sequel which is quite an achievement nowadays but has starred in several remakes The Preacher’s Wife, The Manchurian Candidate, The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, The Equalizer and The Magnificent Seven.
| The Equalizer | 26 September 2014 | £1.87m | £6.80m |
| 2 Guns | 16 August 2013 | £1.42m | £4.17m |
| Flight | 1 February 2013 | £1.40m | £4.69m |
| Safe House | 24 February 2012 | £2.14m | £6.99m |
| Unstoppable | 24 November 2010 | £1.71m | £4.61m |
| The Book of Eli | 15 January 2010 | £1.23m | £4.01m |
| The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 | 31 July 2009 | £1.78m | £4.31m |
| Deja Vu | 15 December 2006 | £1.09m | £4.94m |
| Inside Man | 24 March 2006 | £1.80m | £8.10m |
| The Manchurian Candidate | 19 November 2004 | £624,441 | £1.91m |
| Man on Fire | 8 October 2004 | £656,466 | £1.97m |
| Out of Time | 26 December 2003 | £311,508 | £1.29m |
| Antwone Fisher | 18 May 2003 | £59,976 (46 screens) | n/a |
| John Q | 26 April 2002 | £306,517 | £779,214 |
| Training Day | 1 February 2002 | £739,718 | £1.94m |
| Remember the Titans | 9 February 2001 | £276,680 | £503,771 |
| The Hurricane | 24 March 2000 | £94,558 (29 screens) | £579,291 |
| The Bone Collector | 16 January 2000 | £816,104 | £3.60m |
Similar to Denzel Washington, Ethan Hawke has made more interesting quirky films rather than blockbusters. 26 years ago this weekend he starred as Todd Anderson in Dead Poet’s Society. After made films were more critical successes like the Before Sunrise trilogy than at the box office before starring with Denzel Washington in 2001’s Training Day and Boyhood in 2014. Next up is director Luc Besson’s Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets.
The Magnificent Seven was voted as second-most anticipated fall movie behind Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them in a recent poll by Fandango but means nothing as Independence Day: Resurgence was voted similarly for the summer and disappointed at the box office.
James Horner was signed to score the film but died on June 22, 2015, having already started scoring will be the third and final score to be released posthumously; receives world premiere on September 8th at the Toronto Film Festival and closes the Venice Film Festival on September 9th.
The teaser trailer was released in April having over 7.7m views and trailer released in July with over 3.8m views; we will likely finally get to see the first trailer of Passengers attached to the front which was expected several months ago after footage was screened at CinemaCon in April and CineEurope in June which was positively received.
Westerns used to be a mainstay of studios but before Kevin Costner’s Oscar-winning Dances with Wolves in 1990 nearest to them were Young Guns and Back to the Future 3. Was followed by Clint Eastwood’s Oscar- winning Unforgiven in 199, But westerns that followed all underwhelmed at the box office Geronimo, Tombstone, Bad Girls, Wyatt Earp, The Quick and the Dead and Wild Bill. Only successful westerns were comedies based on TV series Maverick and Wild, Wild West and Brokedown Mountain.
But Coen Brother’s remake of True Grit which opened February 2011 with £1.82m dropping only 20% in its second weekend went on to take £8m and win five Bafta’s, nominated for 10 Oscars.
Django Unchained followed in 2013 opening with £2.8m going on to take £15m+
In recent years had smaller westerns The Homesman, The Salvation and Slow West that performed well along with this year The Revenant opening with £5.07m and taking £22.86m and The Hateful Eight opening with £2.76m taking £6.34m which is more likely for The Magnificent Seven.
Denzel Washington must be wondering why it’s always Working Title as 2 years ago The Equalizer didn’t get to #1 because of Billy Elliot Live and this year even if Bridget drops 50% Bridget Jones’s Baby will still beat his Magnificent Seven.
Also released
- The Girl with All the Gifts – Warner
Post-apocalyptic horror drama film directed by Colm McCarthy based on the novel by Mike Carey former Marvel Comic writer starring stars Sennia Nanua, Gemma Arterton, Glenn Close and Paddy Considine; has been described as a post-apocalyptic zombie movie meets the X-Men with a young girl who has a special ability.
The film was shot in Birmingham for a budget of £4m backed by the BFI and Creative England both of whom put in more than £1m, Altitude Films came in as the sales company with Warner Bros acquiring UK rights with the US going to Saban Films who plan to release next year.
Received its premiere last month at Locarno Film Festival receiving mixed reviews which is disappointing as the trailer was promising; receives UK gala screening on September 19th.
September 30th
Key release
- Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children – 20th Century Fox
Fantasy adventure based on 2011 novel by Ransom Riggs screenplay by Jane Goldman starring Eva Green, Asa Butterfield, Chris O’Dowd, Allison Janney, Rupert Everett, Terence Stamp, Judi Dench and Samuel L. Jackson and directed by Tim Burton choosing to direct this instead of Alice Through the looking Glass.
Tim Burton’s first film since 2014’s Big Eyes opened with £135,582 on limited release; animation Frankenweenie in October 2012 second weekend expansion £741,683.
But Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children is more similar to Tim Burton’s quirky fantasy adventure films like Dark Shadows opened in May 2012 with £2,404,029 taking £7.1m and Sweeney Todd opening in January 2008 with £4,525,246 taking £10.8m; Big Fish second weekend expansion in 2004 took £1,644,011 and Sleepy Hollow in 2000 opened with £2.84m taking £9.8m.
Nine years ago Jane Goldman’s first screenplay was the excellent Stardust opened in October 2007 with £2.24m; followed up with Kick- Ass and The Debt in 2010, C-Men: First Class in 2011, The Woman in Black in 2012, X-Men: Days of Future Past and Kingsman: The Secret Service in 2014 with the sequel Kingsman: The Golden Circle released next summer.
An opening £2m-£2.5m is expected to open similar to Dark Shadows and Maze Runner Scorch Trials £2,799,428 and 2007’s Stardust £2.24m.
Also released
- Deepwater Horizon – Lionsgate
Biographical disaster thriller-drama starring Mark Wahlberg, Kurt Russell, John Malkovich, Gina Rodriguez, Dylan O’Brien and Kate Hudson and directed by Peter Berg based on New York Times’ article Deepwater Horizon’s Final Hours about the Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Some of the survivors have taken issue with Mark Wahlberg’s Mike Williams being cast as the “hero” as there were many other bigger heroes. Was also the concern the “hero trapped in a disaster” angle within the trailer will portray the event as an unavoidable disaster, like tornados or earthquakes, without giving enough attention to BP’s safety failures.
Disaster films regularly perform strongly at the box office last year but audience prefer fiction stories more than real life but Everest, World Trade Centre, Unstoppable and The impossible had some success at the box office and of course there was that little film about a big boat and an iceberg but while it was based on real events there was no Jack and Rose onboard the Titanic.
Receives its world premiere at Toronto Film Festival September 13th and European premiere on September 26th at the Cineworld Leicester Square.
Mark Wahlberg’s last film Daddy’s Home was a massive success in the UK taking £16.71m but his dramas have underwhelmed at the box office Lone Survivor while a massive hit in the US only opened with £744,058, Ted 2, Entourage and The Gambler also disappointed at the box office. But it will be the subject matter of the film rather than the cast which will attract audiences.
Opening of £1.4m-£2m is expected.
- Free State of Jones – Studiocanal
War film inspired by inspired by the life of Newton Knight and his armed rebellion against the Confederacy in Jones County, Mississippi during the American Civil War. Starring Matthew McConaughey, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Keri Russell and Brendan Gleeson and directed by Gary Ross.
Received mixed reviews and had a disappointing opening in the US as the events featuring within the film are unknown is unlikely to attract an audience in the UK.
October 7th
Key release
- The Girl on the Train – eOne
Mystery thriller drama based on the 2015 debut novel by Paula Hawkins stars Emily Blunt, Rebecca Ferguson, Haley Bennett, Justin Theroux, Luke Evans, Allison Janney, Édgar Ramírez and Lisa Kudrow and directed by Tate Taylor.
Novel debuted at No. 1 on The New York Times Fiction Best Sellers of 2015 list and remained in the top position for 18 weeks, selling more than 3 million copies in the U.S. alone, as of July 2015; similar to the sales of Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl in 2012 selling over 2 million copies in the first year. 2015 novel Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll has been compared with both The Girl and the Train and Gone Girl and in 2015 Lionsgate optioned film rights with Reese Witherspoon’s Pacific Standard to produce who also developed Gone Girl which she was originally set to star in.
Emily Blunt and Rebecca Ferguson both co-starred in films with Tom Cruise, Blunt in 2014’s Edge of Tomorrow and Ferguson in 2015’s Mission: Impossible: Rogue Nation.
Dreamworks acquired film rights to the novel in March 2014 director Tate Taylor and Emily Blunt joined the film in 2015 and announced they would switch film’s setting from London to Westchester, New York.
Many readers of the book have taken issue with the change in location while having an English actress in the lead as it making it a clone of Gone Girl as the marketing and its release date has shown rather than allowing The Girl On the Train to be its own film. Just like the summer season filled with reboots and remakes, this could be seen as a remake of Gone Girl rather than being an original movie.
The teaser trailer was released in April and trailer in July with many similarities to 2014’s Gone Girl. The film is being released exactly two years after the release of Gone Girl which opened with £4.1m going on to take £22.01m.
The first week of October has been very lucrative in last two years Gone Girl in 2014 and The Martian in 2015 opening £6,522,453 taking £23.52m
Director Tate Taylor’s The Help opened with £0.89m in October 2011 taking £3.9m and Get on Up in 2014 £110,000. Last October Emily Blunt starred in Sicario opening with £1.37m taking £4.62m.
Gone Girl received its world premiere at New York Film Festival on September 26th 2014 before opening October 3rd but surprising despite its New York setting The Girl on the Train instead had its world premiere in London on September 20th
Also released
- Blood Father – Warner Bros
Action thriller starring Mel Gibson, Erin Moriarty, Diego Luna, Michael Parks and William H. Macy and directed by Jean-François Richet 9previously directed 2005’s Assault on Precinct 13 remake); had the world premiere at Cannes Film Festival receiving positive reviews.
It is the first of two comeback movies for Mel Gibson Blood Father as an actor and Hacksaw Ridge as a director (which received its world premiere at Venice Film Festival) after small roles in 2014’s The Expendables 3 and 2013’s Machete Kills his first lead role since 2011’s The Beaver.
In the 80s and 90s Mel Gibson had massive success at the box office starring in some huge franchises including Mad Max and Lethal Weapon and making his directorial debut with The Man Without a Face and then winning Best picture and Best Director for Braveheart in 1995.
But 10 years ago he was arrested for drunk driving exploded into an angry tirade when the arresting officer would not allow him to drive home abusing the arresting officer “Fucking Jews… the Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world. Are you a Jew?” The arresting police officer James Mee, was Jewish. This was one of many outbursts made him box office poison only starring in The Singing Detective, Paparazzi, Edge of Darkness, The Beaver and How I Spent My Summer Vacation as were produced by his production company Icon Productions.
- War on Everyone – Icon
Buddy cop black comedy directed and written by John Michael McDonagh starring Alexander Skarsgård, Michael Peña and Theo James; premiered at the 66th Berlin International Film Festival in February and SXSW in March receiving very positive reviews saying it’s a much more accessible comedy than the director;s two previous films Calvary and 2011’s The Guard;
The Guard opened in August 2011 with £163,751 in the UK (taking £762,689) taking £3,827,169 in Ireland; Calvary opened in April 2014 with £569,000 taking £2,905,119.
October 14th
Key release
- Inferno – Sony Pictures
The second sequel to 2006’s The Da Vinci Code after 2009’s Angels & Demons based on novels by Dan Brown starring Tom Hanks, Felicity Jones, Omar Sy, Sidse Babett Knudsen, Ben Foster, and Irrfan Khan and directed by Ron Howard. Sony Pictures originally developed The Lost Symbol as the third part of the film series in March 2012 before announcing in July 2013 they were instead adapt Inferno instead.
The Da Vinci Code took $758m worldwide in 2006 and Angels & Demons in 2009, took in $486m.
Was originally set for release December 18 2015 but as pushed back to October 28th 2016 to avoid opening against Star Wars: The Force Awakens its UK release date pushed forward two weeks to avoid opening against Doctor Strange but in doing so opens a week after The Girl on the Train which if does perform similarly to Gone Girl is likely to have a strong second weekend (Gone Girl dropped only 16% taking £3,058,418 and only 23% in the third weekend with £2.4m)
The Da Vinci Code opened in May 2006 with £9,501,444 taking £30,249,489
Angels & Demons opened in May 2009 with £6,054,627 taking £18,302,597
| A Hologram for a King | 20 May 2016 | £0.37m | £0.78m |
| Bridge of Spies | 27 November 2015 | £1.67m | £7.79m |
| Captain Philips | 16 October 2013 | £3.48m | £15.5m |
| Saving Mr Banks | 29 November 2013 | £0.79m | £4.3m |
Prior films Cloud Atlas, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close and Larry Crowne all underwhelmed at the box office his last major success at the box office apart from Toy Story 3 was Angels & Demons.
Also released
- Storks – Warner Bros
Animated adventure buddy comedy featuring voices Andy Samberg, Katie Crown, Kelsey Grammer, Keegan-Michael Key, Jordan Peele, Jennifer Aniston, Ty Burrell and Danny Trejo.
Originally set for release February 10th 2017 brought forward after The Lego Ninjago Movie was delayed untill next September. Storks will have the short The Master based on the Lego Ninjago.
The first of two animated films released for half-term Trolls opening the following weekend both likely to have previews the weekend earlier to inflate their opening weekends. When two similar genre films open close together the first film normally has the advantage but Trolls has had a slight advantage as Justin Timberlake’s Can’t Stop the Feeling single released in May is part of the soundtrack the video has been viewed on YouTube over 213 million times.
Reviews have been mixed but benefits being the first animated film released ahead of half-term holidays normally the first film has the advantage but as both films are original and Trolls has Justin Timberlake both are likely to perform similarly but neither are likely to match the success of Hotel Transylvania 2 last year.
While most genres of films have underperformed this year animation and original animation has been hugely successful this year with Finding Dory, The Secret Life of Pets, Zootropolis, Kung Fu Panda 3 and Angry Birds and others taking over £150m at the box office; animation will contribute about 15% of the UK box office for 2016 from only 15 films.
- American Honey – Universal Pictures
Drama road film was written and directed by Andrea Arnold starring Sasha Lane, Shia LaBeouf, and Riley Keough; premiered at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival (receiving positive reviews despite the 162-minute running time) winning the Prix du Jury.
Had its North American premiere at Toronto Film Festival and UK premiere at London Film Festival. In January 2016 A24 acquired US rights in May Universal Pictures acquired international rights.
October 21st
Key release
- Doctor Strange – Disney (opening Tuesday)
14th film of the Marvel Cinematic Universe starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Rachel McAdams, Benedict Wong, Michael Stuhlbarg, Benjamin Bratt, Scott Adkins, Mads Mikkelsen, and Tilda Swinton and directed by Scott Derrickson.
Doctor Strange had a long development history going back 30 years; first developed by Regency Film in the early 90s would have been released by Warner Bros. Then it was developed by Savoy Pictures with Wes Craven directing to be released in 1995 when Savoy shut project moved to Columbia Pictures in 1997 with Chuck Russell and Stephen Norrington set to direct but moved to Dimension Films in 2001 and the Miramax Films with 2005 release date planned.
In 2005 Paramount Pictures acquired Doctor Strange while promoting Transformers: Dark of the Moon Patrick Dempsey said he was interested in being Doctor Strange. In June 2014 Scott Derrickson was signed to direct in July Joaquin Phoenix was in talks to play Doctor Strange in October he dropped out with several other actors in line to take over including Ryan Gosling but Benedict Cumberbatch was officially announced in December 2014 despite saying at 2014’s Comic-Con he was unable to accept the role due to other projects. Film finally started shooting November 2015.
In August 2015 a concept trailer was shown at D23 Expo; the first teaser was released April 12 2016; trailer 2 was released in July having over 15 million views.
2016 has had many comic-book adaptions receiving mixed reactions critically and at the box -ffice adding over £169m to 2016 box office to date with Doctor Strange likely to take upwards of £30m comic-book movies will have taken almost £200m in 2016 which would be about 15% of 2016’s box office totals up from 9% last year taking £124.93m.
| Deadpool | 10 February 2016 | £13.79m | £37.73m |
| Batman Vs Superman | 25 March 2016 | £14.62m | £36.17m |
| Captain America: Civil War | 29 April 2016 | £14.46m | £36.94m |
| X-Men: Apocalypse | 20 May 2016 | £7.35m | £18.34m |
| TMNT2 | 30 May 2016 | £3.49m | £5.82m |
| Suicide Squad | 5 August 2016 | £11.21m | £33m* (to date) |
Previous 13 Marvel Cinematic Universe films have taken £326.85m at the UK box office: Paramount Pictures 18.7% (£61.10m), Disney (78.8%) £257.69m, Universal Pictured 2.4% (£8.06m).
In 2005 Marvel announced plans to make fully finance 10 films which Paramount pictures would release Doctor Strange was one of those movies was planned to be a part of those 10 films the others were Captain America, The Avengers, Nick Fury, Black Panther, Ant-Man, Cloak & Dagger, Hawkeye, Power Pack, and Shang-Chi. But in December 2009 the Walt Disney Company purchased Marvel Studios for $4 billion buying back distribution rights from Paramount Pictures for Avengers Assemble and Iron Man 3.
| Iron Man | 2 May 2008 | £5.46m | 31.8% | £17.13m |
| The Incredible Hulk | 13 June 2008 | £3.25m | 40.3% | £8.06m |
| Iron Man 2 | 30 April 2010 | £7.68m | 36.7% | £20.92m |
| Thor | 27 April 2011 | £5.44m | 39.3% | £13.84m |
| Captain America: The First Avenger | 29 July 2011 | £2.98m | 32.3% | £9.21m |
| Avengers Assemble | 26 April 2012 | £15.78m | 30.3% | £51.91m |
| Iron Man 3 | 25 April 2013 | £11.39m | 31.1% | £36.68m |
| Thor: The Dark World | 30 October 2013 | £8.65m | 43.8% | £19.71m |
| Captain America: Winter Soldier | 26 March 2014 | £6.03m | 31.2% | £19.31m |
| Guardians of the Galaxy | 31 July 2014 | £6.35m | 22.3% | £28.53m |
| Avengers Age of Ultron | 23 April 2015 | £17.99m | 37.2% | £48.32m |
| Ant-Man | 17 July 2015 | £4.01m | 24.6% | £16.29m |
| Captain America: Civil War | 29 April 2016 | £14.46m | 39.1% | £36.94m |
Also released
- Trolls – 20th Century Fox
Animated musical comedy film based on the dolls of the same name by Thomas Dam featuring voices of Anna Kendrick, Justin Timberlake, Zooey Deschanel, Russell Brand, James Corden, and Gwen Stefani.
Trolls features Justin Timberlake’s summer hit single Can’t Stop the Feeling which has been viewed almost 226 million times on YouTube.
The 33rd animated feature by DreamWorks Animation and the eighth released by 20th Century Fox.
Comcast acquired Dreamworks Animation in August 2016 but 20th Century Fox have a distribution deal with Dreamworks Animation till the end of 2017 so are likely still to release The Boss baby and Captain Underpants before Universal Pictures start releasing in 2018 with Larrikins and How to Train Your Dragon 3.
These are the seven Dreamworks Animation films 20th Century Fox have released; the opening percentage box office has a massive variation from a low of 20.2% to high 34.3%.; which is due to some of the films have extended previews that boasted their box office while also some of them had like Penguins of Madagascar had massive competition from rival releases opening before them; Trolls opening the week after rival original animation Storks.
| Kung Fu Panda 3 | 18 March 2016 | £4.76m | 34.1% | £13.99m |
| Home | 20 March 2015 | £6.02m | 24.1% | £24.97m |
| Penguins of Madagascar | 5 December 2014 | £1.61m | 20.2% | £7.96m |
| How to Train Your Dragon 2 | 11 July 2014 | £7.81m | 32.2% | £24.25m |
| Mr Peaboy & Sherman | 7 February 2014 | £3.91m | 28.8% | £13.55m |
| Turbo | 17 October 2013 | £3.89m | 34.3% | £11.32m |
| The Croods | 22 March 2013 | £5.37m | 20.5% | £26.15m |
- Jack Reacher: Never Go Back – Paramount
Action thriller sequel to 2012 film Jack Reacher starring Tom Cruise, Cobie Smulders, Danika Yarosh, Aldis Hodge, Patrick Heusinger, and Holt McCallany and directed by Edward Zwick.
Jack Reacher was originally developed as a major franchise for Paramount but as the first film, Jack Reacher disappointed in 2012 opening with only $15.2m taking $80.1m opened in the UK with £3.5m taking £9.1m in the UK and $218.3m globally. Normally a film taking such a low global box office a studio wouldn’t consider making a second film but due to Paramount Pictures lack of franchises and wanting to keep Tom Cruise happy to make more Mission Impossible films who has recently confirmed a January 2017 start for Mission Impossible 6.
As often these days’ studios Entertainment Weekly premiered footage of the first trailer on June 14th before being released on June 22nd receiving 4.8 million views.
Used to be a Tom Cruise film was a major event with his films given the weekend to themselves in the US was done up to Knight & Day in June 2010 but from Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol in 2012 which had Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows and Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked opening against it, Rock of Ages with That’s My Boy and Jack Reacher with This Is 40 in 2012. Oblivion was his first film to open without rivals having Tom Cruise’s biggest since Mission Impossible 3 in 2016 repeating this in 2015 last year with Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation having his best opening since War of the Worlds in 2005. But then in 2014 Edge of Tomorrow opened against The Fault in Our Stars and suffered despite receiving strong reviews.
| Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation | 31 July 2015 | £5.33m | 25.2% | £21.07m |
| Edge of Tomorrow | 30 May 2014 | £1.85m | 23.8% | £7.75m |
| Oblivion | 10 April 2013 | £4.91m | 46.8% | £10.48m |
| Jack Reacher | 26 December 2012 | £3.75m | 41.1% | £9.12m |
| Rock of Ages | 13 June 2012 | £1.01m | 39.4% | £2.56m |
| Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol | 26 December 2011 | £2.71m | 15.4% | £17.53m |
| Knight and Day | 6 August 2010 | £2.40m | 26.4% | £9.07m |
| Valkyrie | 23 January 2009 | £1.85m | 29.1% | £6.34m |
| Tropic Thunder | 19 September 2008 | £2.48m | 29.5% | £8.38m |
| Lions For Lambs | 9 November 2007 | £0.65m | 52.8% | £1.23m |
| Mission Impossible 3 | 4 May 2006 | £5.37m | 35.1% | £15.34m |
| War of the Worlds | 1 July 2005 | £8.64m | 28.4% | £30.36m |
Upcoming Tom Cruise stars in The Mummy reboot next June, American Made in September and then Mission Impossible 6 likely for release Christmas 2017.
- Ouija: Origins of Evil – Universal
Supernatural horror film directed by Mike Flanagan; prequel to the 2014 film Ouija starring Elizabeth Reaser, Annalise Basso, Lulu Wilson, Henry Thomas, Kate Siegel, and Alexis G. Zall;
2016 has had many horrors after August/September had many horror films opening with Nerve, Light Out, The Purge: Election Year, Morgan, Don’t Breathe and Blair Witch. It is the first horror film released since Blair Witch five weeks ago and the only horror released for Halloween unless Rings opening November 4th has Halloween previews.
The first Ouija film opened with £1,369,378 in October 2014 taking £3.2m it had the second biggest horror film of 2014 biggest was Annabelle which opened £1.93m taking £7.4m.
- The Queen of Katwe – Disney
Biographical sports drama directed by Mira Nair starring David Oyelowo, Lupita Nyong’o, and Madina Nalwanga; the film depicts the life of Phiona Mutesi, a Ugandan chess prodigy from Katwe who becomes a Woman Candidate Master after her performances at World Chess Olympiads.
The film is produced by Walt Disney Pictures and ESPN Films; received its world premiere at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival and has UK premiere at London Film Festival.
- I, Daniel Blake -eOne
Drama directed by Ken Loach starring Dave Johns, Hayley Squires, Dylan McKiernan, and Briana Shann; received its world premiere at Cannes Film Festival winning Palme d’Or. Had its North American premiere at Toronto Film Festival and has its UK premiere at London Film Festival.
October 28th
- Keeping Up with the Joneses – 20th Century Fox
American action comedy starring Jon Hamm, Zach Galifianakis, Gal Gadot, Isla Fisher and Maribeth Monroe and directed by Greg Mottola.
The success of Bad Moms earlier this year along with the lack of comedies this autumn and strong cast and being an alternative to yet another comic-book movies this year gives audiences an alternative. But sandwiched between so many other high profile released will find it hard to find an audience. Will need to have a big talker program to build awareness against the Doctor Strange, Jack Reacher and The Accountant opening either side of it.
Opening a year to the day of Spectre I’m sure it’s going to be a far more enjoyable spy movie as Spectre was just plain Dullfinger but sadly won’t get the audience it deserves.
The trailer is fun playing similar to Date Night released six years ago opened in April 2010 £1.27m taking £3.79m. This time, a regular suburban couple who finds themselves living in Arlington Road along with 2005’s Mr and Mrs Smith opened June 2005 £3.94m taking £13.4m. Keeping Up with the Joneses is also similar to the TV series The Americans but after first launching on ITV it has been since dumped to ITV Encore.
Last year were several spy films while Spectre was the biggest by far it didn’t have the legs of other spy movies; The Man From U.N.C.L.E had a more modest opening of £1.44m but had the smallest opening the final box office of all the spy film was helped by summer holidays and also by the fact it was the best spy film of 2015.
2015 spy movies
| Kingsman: The Secret Service | 29 January 2015 | £4.23m | 25.7% | £16.43m |
| Spooks: The Greater Good | 8 May 2015 | £1.03m | 31.8% | £3.23m |
| Spy | 5 June 2015 | £2.55m | 25.4% | £10.01m |
| The Man From U.N.C.L.E | 14 August 2015 | £1.44m | 22.3% | £6.45m |
| Spectre | 26 October 2015 | £41.25m | 43.3% | £95.17m |
November 4th
Key release
- The Accountant – Warner Bros
Action thriller starring Ben Affleck, Anna Kendrick, J.K. Simmons, Jon Bernthal, Jeffrey Tambor and John Lithgow and directed by Gavin O’Connor.
Removing Ben Affleck’s appearances in Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad it’s his first lead role since 2014’s Gone Girl.
Similar films include:
1994’s Leon; 1995’s Assassins; 1997’s The Jackal; 2004’s Collateral; 2005’s Mr and Mrs Smith, 2008’s In Bruges: 2010’s The American; 2014’s John Wick and 2016’s Allied
Lead roles only
| Gone Girl | 2 October 2014 | £4.01m | 19.1% | £22.01m |
| Runner Runner | 27 September 2013 | £0.76m | 28.8% | £2.63m |
| Argo | 7 November 2012 | £1.28m | 26.1% | £4.92m |
| The Town | 24 September 2010 | £1.01m | 21.1% | £4.77m |
| The Company Man | 11 March 2011 | £36,785 | n/a | £36,785 tbc |
| State of Play | 24 April 2009 | £1.51m | 27.9% | £5.41m |
| Hollywoodland | 24 November 2006 | £65,735 | n/a | £65,735 tbc |
| Surviving Christmas | 3 December 2004 | unknown | n/a | unknown |
| Jersey Girl | 18 June 2004 | £226,970 | 53.4% | £423,556 |
| Paycheck | 16 January 2004 | £927,212 | 41.1% | £2.26m |
| Gigli | 26 September 2003 | unknown | n/a | unknown |
| Daredevil | 14 February 2003 | £1.95m | 36.4% | £5.35m |
| The Sum of All Fears | 16 August 2002 | £1.14m | 25.4% | £4.48m |
| Changing Lanes | 1 November 2002 | £808,268 | 28.6% | £2.82m |
Next up for Ben Affleck is his directorial follow-up to Oscar-winning Argo gangster drama Live By Night released January 13th 2017.
Also released
- Nocturnal Animals – Universal Pictures
Drama thriller starring Amy Adams, Jake Gyllenhaal, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Michael Shannon, Isla Fisher, Armie Hammer and Laura Linney and directed and written by Tom Ford, based on the 1993 novel Tony and Susan by Austin Wright; received its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival, North American premiere at Toronto Film Festival with its UK premiere at the Lindon Film Festival in October. Receiving critical acclaim after Venice screening with acting performances praised.
Focus Features acquired world rights at Cannes Film Festival in 2015 with Universal Pictures releasing it internationally.
At the Toronto Film Festival as the film got towards the ending, the sound and picture stopped the audiences waited for a few minutes until the projectionist got to start the film showing that even in a digital age these projector faults can still happen.
Tom Ford’s directional debut A Single Man opened February 2010 with £1.26m taking £2.65m.
- The Light Between Oceans -eOne
Drama film was written and directed by Derek Cianfrance based on the 2012 novel by M. L. Stedman starring Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander, Rachel Weisz, Bryan Brown, and Jack Thompson.
Received world premiere at Venice International Film Festival receiving mixed reviews but was surprisingly absent from the London Film Festival.
Director Derek Cianfrance previous film The Place Beyond the Pines opened with £665,935 in April 2013 taking £1.64m and Blue Valentine opened in 2010 with £176,422 from 36 screens.
After disappointing in the US probably more to do with poor timing and the fact it was Disney’s last Dreamworks film didn’t spend as much care on its release as their own films. Similar to The BFG after premiering at Cannes it was overshadowed by Pixar’s Finding Dory opening three weeks after failed to make much impact at US box office. In the UK it was different as The BFG opened a week before Finding Dory so was able to find its legs before the arrival of Finding Dory and both were very successful at the UK box office with The BFG taking similar to Paddington and Finding Dory becoming the second biggest film of the year to date.
But The Light Between Oceans is sandwiched with many similar adult-targeted films which is unlikely to find an audience especially as eOne themselves will be concentrating more on Arrival opening next weekend.
Michael Fassbender breakout role was as Erick Lensherr in X-Men: First Class in 2011 with Shame, Prometheus, 12 Years A Slave most recently Steve Jobs and Erick Lensherr again in X-Men: Apocalypse will be seen next in Alien: Covenant and The Snowman. Alicia Vikander had an incredible 2015 starring in Ex Machina, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and Burnt and this year in The Danish Girl and Jason Bourne and has been cast in the Tomb Raider reboot set for release in 2018.
It was the last Dreamworks film to be released by Disney’s Dreamworks signed a 30 picture deal in February 2009 but only actually made 14 films only 6 of they released globally. Their first I A Am Number Four released February 2011 was a flop but had much better success with Oscar-winning The Help and Oscar-nominated War Horse but most disappointed including Fright Night, Real Steel and People Like Us.
In August 2012 Dreamworks signed a deal with Mr Smith Entertainment which saw eOne release their films in the UK and in December 2015 announced were launching Amblin Partners replacing Dreamworks with a five-year distribution deal with Universal Pictures and eOne with the first film to be released The Girl on the Train in October 2016. Upcoming Office Christmas Party (UK eOne), A Dog’s Purpose (UK eOne), Ghost in the Shell (worldwide Paramount), Ready Player One (worldwide Warner Bros) and Thank You for Service (UK eOne)
- Rings – Paramount Pictures
A supernatural psychological horror film starring Matilda Lutz, Alex Roe, Johnny Galecki, Aimee Teegarden, Bonnie Morgan and Vincent D’Onofrio and directed by F. Javier Gutiérrez. It is the third film in the Ring franchise, directly following The Ring and The Ring Two. It is also the remake of the 2012 Japanese horror film Sadako 3D.
The Ring opened in October 2002 with £3.2m taking £9.45m
The Ring 2 opened April 2005 with £2.06m taking £5.16m
Rings has been moved almost as many times as Paramount Pictures Monster Tracks and their Friday 13th reboot. Originally set for November 13 2015, moved to April 1 2016 and then October 28th 2016 but then moved to November 4th the weekend after Halloween which seems rather a strange move.
At CinemaCon Paramount Pictures Rob Moore said if Rings is successful Rings could become an annual Halloween event as Paranormal Activity films were for five years. Maybe we could have Rings Extended Universe including Paranormal Activity, Friday 13th and The Grudge?
- A Street Cat Named Bob – Sony Pictures
Comedy-drama directed by Roger Spottiswoode starring Luke Treadaway, Ruta Gedmintas, Joanne Froggatt, Anthony Head and Bob the Cat as himself based on the book of the same name by James Bowen.
November 11th
Key release
- Arrival – eOne
Science fiction drama starring Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner and Forest Whitaker and directed by Denis Villeneuve based on the short story “Story of Your Life” by author Ted Chiang; received its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival receiving positive reviews also screened at Toronto International Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival and London Film Festival.
Always surprised when filmmakers change a book’s title as Ted Chiang short story won the 2000 Nebula Award for Best Novella as well as the 1999 Sturgeon award. Why change the film to a generic title when original is known my only thought was they thought people might confuse it to One Direction’s Story of My Life but as the video has been seen 512 million times that would be a confusion worth having. Instead, by calling it Arrival could be confused with similar themed Charlie Sheen 1996 film The Arrival?
Arrival has been compared to Robert Zemeckis’s 1997 Contact and Steven Spielberg’s 1997 Close Encounters of the Third Kind and The Day the Earth Stood Still the 2009 remake was poorly received opened with £2.75m taking £6.9m.
Adult sci-fi dramas over the last three years has been very successful in the autumn with Gravity (opened same weekend in November 2013 with £6.23m taking £30m+); Interstellar in 2014 and The Martian in 2015 the question is will this year be Arrival or Passengers.
Problem for Arrival is being sandwiched between Doctor Strange, The Accountant and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
As often with films, a teaser of the trailer was released in August with the full trailer released the following week posters featuring international locations the poster for Hong Kong generated controversy as it featured skyline which included Shanghai’s Oriental Pearl Tower.
Denis Villeneuve previous films Sicario opened last October £1.37m taking £4.62m and Prisoners opened September 2013 with £1.32m taking £6.9m; next he directs the long-awaited Blade Runner sequel released in October 2017.
Also released
- American Pastoral – Entertainment Films
Crime-drama starring Ewan McGregor, Dakota Fanning, Jennifer Connelly, Rupert Evans and Valorie Curry and directed by Ewan McGregor (his directorial debut) based on the 1997 novel of the same name by Philip Roth; premiered on September 9, 2016 at Toronto Film Festival receiving average reviews.
The film had a long development history 13 years ago called Pastoral was to be directed by Philip Noyce for Lakeshore Entertainment. In 2015 was announced Ewan McGregor would direct after Philip Noyce left the film.
Ewan McGregor has had many ups and downs over his 22 year acting career starring Shallow Grave in 1994 and Trainspotting in 1996 and A Life Less Ordinary in 1997 directed by Danny Boyle. With roles in Emma and Brassed Off in 1996. Before starring in the Star Wars prequels in 1999,2002 and 2005. Starring in the incredible Moulin Rouge and Black Hawk Down both in 2001. But then many films disappointed like Velvet Goldmine, Down With Love, Stay, Big Fish, Jack the Giant Slayer and Mortdecai.
2017 looks like an incredible year for Ewan Macgregor with T2- Trainspotting and Beauty and the Beast and stars in the third series of Fargo.
- Kevin Hart: What Now? – Universal Pictures
Stand-up comedy film starring comedian Kevin Hart filmed live at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field on August 30th 2015.
After small roles in Little Fockers, The Five-Year Engagement and This Is the End Ride Along in 2014 with Ice Cube was his breakout success in the UK opening with £1.41m with its sequel in January opening with £2.1m. Kevin Hart’s success can be shown with The Wedding Ringer as after coming to the UK to promote the film opened with £986,123 in February 2015 previously his films while successful in US underperformed in UK; Think Like a Man – 2012 -81,516, About Last Night – 2014 – £172,181 and Think Like a Man 2 – 2014 – £131,000. This summer Central Intelligence opened with £3.04m taking £8.32m starring with Dwayne Johnson which he is currently shooting Jumanji with being released next summer.
Stand-up comedy movies have been a rarity in recent years have to go back almost 30 years since Eddie Murphy’s Raw for the last major US comedian stand-up comedy movie released weeks after Beverly Hills Cop 2 in 1987.
November 18th
Key release
- Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – Warner Bros
Fantasy adventure First part of the prequel trilogy to the Harry Potter film series based on J. K. Rowling book of the same name. Starring Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Dan Fogler, Alison Sudol, and Colin Farrell and directed by David Yates (his second film of 2016 Legend of Tarzan was released in July).
In July 2011 after Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 was released most people thought that this was the end of the Harry Potter franchise but the films have taken almost $2.4 billion worldwide. But The Warner Bros. Studio Tour at Leavesden Studios which opened in 2012 has continued to attract Harry Potter fans as has the two-part West-End play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child tickets went on sale 28 October 2015 and in under 8 hours 175,000 tickets were sold currently booking until December 2017. Rumours a few weeks ago Warner Bros were planning to turn the show into a film they denied it but when the third Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them film is released in 2020 I’m sure Harry Potter and the Cursed Child parts 1 & 2 will be announced for release in 2022 and 2024.
An announcement trailer was released December 15th 2015 with the first teaser shown during the MTV Movie Awards on April 10th with more footage shown at Comic-Con with the trailer released 23 July 2016.
| HP and the Philosopher’s Stone | 16 November 2001 | £16.33m | 24.7% | £66.1m |
| HP and the Chamber of Secrets | 15 November 2002 | £18.71m | 34.1% | £54.8m |
| HP and the Prisoner of Azkaban | 31 May 2004 | £23.88m | 51.8% | £46.1m |
| HP and the Goblet of Fire | 18 November 2005 | £14.93m | 24.6% | £60.5m |
| HP and the Order of the Phoenix | 12 July 2007 | £16.49m | 28.4% | £58m |
| HP and the Half-Blood Prince | 15 July 2009 | £19.78m | 39.1% | £50.7m |
| HP and the Deathly Hallows P1 | 19 November 2011 | £18.31m | 35.1% | £52.2m |
| HP and the Deathly Hallows P2 | 15 July 2011 | £23.75m | 32.4% | £73.1m |
Similar to Star Wars Rogue One, Fantastic Beasts is an unusual prequel as unlike other prequels it features new characters within the universe of Harry Potter so while it is Harry Potter it’s not. (as Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson were as important to the films as Hogwarts) it’s so hard to compare with previous Harry Potter films even though it will be as Rogue One will be with previous Star Wars films. As with Rogue One trailers, Fantastic Beasts haven’t been viewed in the huge number as Harry Potter films.
November 25th
Key release
- Allied – Paramount Pictures
Romantic thriller starring Brad Pitt, Marion Cotillard, Lizzy Caplan, Matthew Goode and Jared Harris and directed by Robert Zemeckis. Steven Knight wrote the screenplay said it was based on true story about two assassins who fall in love during a mission to kill a German ambassador in Casablanca. Which sounds like a World War II version of Mr and Mrs Smith.
The film was untitled for many months before given the working title of Five Seconds of Silence which did sound a bit corny but better than the generic title Allied similar to Story of Your Life being changed to Arrival.
Sometimes non-film issues effect films performance The Full Monty opened the same weekend as Princess Diana in 1997 while in 2001 Moulin Rouge opened weekend before 9/11 attacks cinema audience wanting a feel good away from the horrible headlines. On September 20th Angelina Jolie filed for divorce from Brad Pitt citing irreconcilable differences the media tried to find a reason for it going back to 2004 when they both met and fell in love on the set of Mr and Mrs Smith Allied is very similar with Brad Pitt getting steamy with Marion Cotillard. Before September 20th Allied was just one of many November releases now for many it is a film to see.
Paramount Pictures strangely released a new TV spot on September 20th showing them getting all loved up not exactly what either Mr or Mrs Smith would have wanted to see. The question was it planned to be released yesterday or did Paramount see an opportunity to do so added fuel to the fire that Brad Pitt getting close to Marion Cotillard might have been the reason for the divorce.
A few months after Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie got married she directed him in the divorce drama By the Sea a depressing drama about a marriage breaking down this was the film they decided to make on their honeymoon.
While it might seem like perfect casting if husband and wife appear in the same film together the chemistry they have together in real life is not often shown on screen; Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez starring in Gigli in 2002 and in 1992 Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise met on the set of Days of Thunder were married when they made Far and Away in 1992 but then starred in Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut in 1999 and then divorced in 2001. In 1995 I did a screening for Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman for her new film To Die For and the way they interacted together you could tell they were in love. Some married actors have worked toether making movies together most famously Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell and Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon.
Mr and Mrs Smith opened in June 2005 with £3.94m taking £9.97m.
Similar films include 1997’s Grosse Pointe Blank, 2012’s This Means War opened with £1.82m and 2014’s 3 Days to Kill £323,911. But opening a couple of weeks after modern day hitman movie The Accountant could that harm its potential box office especially opening a week after Fantastic Beasts. There is little buzz about the film and was surprisingly not screened at any film festivals unlike Robert Zemeckis last film Flight in 2012
Also released
- Bad Santa 2– eOne
Black comedy crime film starring Billy Bob Thornton, Tony Cox, Brett Kelly, Kathy Bates, and Christina Hendricks and directed by Mark Waters.
After the first film took $60.1m in 2003 and became a cult success on DVD have been plans for a sequel for many years originally planned for Christmas 2011 release then delayed to Christmas 2013 to be made by Dimension Films. Filming finally started last October with Christmas 2016 release date; the first trailer was released in August.
Original Bad Santa opened a year after opening in the US in November 2004 with £474,450 taking £.2.4m became a cult favourite over the years since.
December used to be when Christmas films were released, while November for Thanksgiving based films but similar to shops Christmas decorations going up earlier and radio stations play Christmas songs earlier Christmas films are opening earlier to give them a longer run as no one wants to see a Christmas film in January saying that back in 1990 Warner Bros released National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation in May.
- Almost Christmas – Universal Pictures
Christmas comedy starring Kimberly Elise, Mo’Nique, Nicole Ari Parker, Gabrielle Union, Jessie Usher, Danny Glover, Omar Epps, and Romany Malco and directed by David E. Talbert.
Dysfunctional Christmas American family comedy rarely successful in the UK see 2005’s The Family Stone opening with £247,515 and even worse with 1995’s Home From the Holiday.
but then add African American comedy minus Kevin Hart equals box office openings of the likes of 2006’s Last Holiday £399,542; 2012’s Think Like a Man £81,516; 2014’s About Last Night £172,181; 2014’s Think Like a Man 2 £131,000; opening during a busy time for films Universal Pictures must be dumping it.
There have of course been many successful Christmas family comedy films like 2006’s The Holiday opening £2.82m taking £12.1m and 2003’s Love Actually opening £6.65m taking £36.2m.
- A United Kingdom – 20th Century Fox
Biographical romantic drama starring David Oyelowo and Rosamund Pike and directed by Amma Asante based on the true-life romance between Seretse Khama and his wife Ruth Williams Khama.
Received its world premiere at Toronto Film Festival and opens the 60th London Film Festival in October. US reviews have described the film as simplistic with the lead performances making the film worth watching; I’m sure British critics will give it stronger praise as similar themed Loving is much more the film it should have been which had a standing ovation following its premiere at Cannes, A United Kingdom will too at the London Film Festival but be more forced than deserved.
Amma Asante last film was Belle opened June 13th 2014 opening with £402,805 taking £1,764,700.
December 2nd
Key release
- Moana – Disney
Animated musical fantasy comedy adventure; the 56th Disney’s animated feature film includes voices of Auli’i Cravalho as Moana and Dwayne Johnson as Maui and directed by Ron Clements and John Musker film’s songs were co-written by Lin-Manuel Miranda.
| Zootropolis | 25 March 2016 | £5.30m | 22.4% | £23.61m |
| Big Hero 6 | 30 January 2015 | £4.29m | 22.1% | £19.34m |
| Frozen | 6 December 2013 | £4.70m | 12.0% | £39.14m |
| Wreck-It Ralph | 8 February 2013 | £4.52m | 20.9% | £21.61m |
| Winnie the Pooh | 15 April 2011 | £159,369 | 31.6% | £504,076 |
| Tangled | 28 January 2011 | £5.10m | 25.5% | £19.97m |
| The Princess and the Frog | 5 February 2010 | £2.23m | 20.2% | £10.99m |
| Bolt | 6 February 2008 | £5.45m | 30.7% | £17.74m |
| Meet the Robinsons | 30 March 2007 | £895,955 | 20.4% | £4.39m |
| Chicken Little | 10 February 2005 | £3.17m | 23.8% | £13.29m |
| Home on the Range | 6 August 2004 | £198,226 | 13.8% | £1.43m |
| Brother Bear | 5 December 2003 | £887,321 | 16.4% | £5.40m |
| Treasure Planet | 14 February 2003 | £888,084 | 13.7% | £6.47m |
| Lilo & Stitch | 4 October 2002 | £1.51m | 11.7% | £12.89m |
Also released
- Sully – Warner Bros
Biographical drama film directed by Clint Eastwood (his 35th feature as director and his shortest at only 96 mins) about US Airways Flight 1549 and its pilot, Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, based on the autobiography Highest Duty by Sullenberger and Jeffrey Zaslow; starring Tom Hanks, Aaron Eckhart, Laura Linney, Anna Gunn, Autumn Reeser, Holt McCallany, Jamey Sheridan and Jerry Ferrara; was shot almost entirely with Digital IMAX cameras; received world premiere at Telluride Film Festival; receiving positive reviews.
After a year of American “heroes” wearing tights and lycra Sully is the perfect antidote about a regular guy with no superhero powers who saves the lives of all the passengers and crew on his flight going against protocol. Sully says, “I don’t feel like a hero. I was just a man doing a job,”
Clint Eastwood’s first film since the Oscar-nominated American Sniper which opened with £2.52m in January 2015 taking £13.62m.
On paper it’s Oscar fodder directed by Oscar-winning Clint Eastwood and starring two-time Best Actor Tom Hanks playing a US pilot who after multiple bird strikes which caused both engines to fail glided his plane to have a water landing on the Hudson River in 2009 with all 155 passengers and crew successfully evacuated.
While in the US Warner Bros opened Sully early to avoid cannibalizing with the many other adult-targeted dramas opted to be the last in the UK. With Tom Hanks Inferno opening October 14th having its premiere at the London Film Festival was unlikely after 2013 had Captain Philips and Saving Mr Banks both received positive reviews but Saving Mr Banks underperformed at the box office.
Tom Hank’s last major release was Steven Spielberg’s Bridge of Spies opening with £1.67m last November holding well in the weeks after release taking £7.79m. His 2013 Captain Philips is an obvious comparison which opened with £3.48m taking £15.5m but Tom Hanks has starred in many similar regular guy turned hero roles in the past including Philadelphia, Forrest Gump (£15.8m), Apollo 13 (£10.9m), Saving Private Ryan (£18.7m), Castaway (£14.4m), Road to Perdition (£6.4m) and Catch Me if You Can (£14.6m) which Sully could be compared to.
| A Hologram for a King | 20 May 2016 | £0.37m | £0.78m |
| Bridge of Spies | 27 November 2015 | £1.67m | £7.79m |
| Captain Philips | 16 October 2013 | £3.48m | £15.5m |
| Saving Mr Banks | 29 November 2013 | £0.79m | £4.3m |
- Keep Watching – Sony Pictures
Horror thriller directed by Sean Carter starring Bella Thorne, Ioan Gruffudd, Natalie Martinez, Chandler Riggs, Leigh Whannell, Matthew Willig, and Christopher James Baker.
Screen Gems acquired rights last October changing the title from home Invasion to Keep Watching.
Most horrors had strong openings this year having similar sized openings Keep Watching being different to other current releases is likely to have similar opening a month after Rings and six weeks’ after Ouija: Origin of Evil is an alternative to all other films on release.
Keep Watching being different to other current releases is likely to have similar opening a month after Rings and six weeks’ after Ouija: Origin of Evil is an alternative to all other films on release.
Keep Watching being different to other current releases is likely to have similar opening a month after Rings and six weeks’ after Ouija: Origin of Evil is an alternative to all other films on release.
- Bleed For This – Icon
Biographical boxing film starring Miles Teller, Aaron Eckhart, Katey Sagal, Ciarán Hinds and Ted Levine and directed by Ben Younger based on the life of former world champion boxer Vinny Paz; had world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival receiving mixed reviews also screened at Toronto Film Festival and has UK premiere at London Film Festival; will have limited appear boxing dramas apart from Rocky with Creed early this year and last year’s Southpaw rarely find audiences and Bleed For This has limited interest away from fans.
December 9th
Key Release
- Office Christmas Party – eOne
Christmas comedy starring Jason Bateman, Olivia Munn, T. J. Miller, Jillian Bell, Courtney B. Vance, Kate McKinnon and Jennifer Aniston directed by Josh Gordon & Will Speck and based on a story by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore.
From the writers of The Hangover and Bad Moms comes Project X (opened in 2012 with £561,655 taking £2.1m) with adults a gross out Christmas party film similar to Horrible Bosses first film opened with £2.1m in 2011 taking £10m but sequel disappointed opening with £1.25m taking £3.6m.
December 16th
Key Release
- Star Wars: Rogue One – Disney
The first of many planned Star Wars Anthology films starring Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Ben Mendelsohn, Donnie Yen, Riz Ahmed, Mads Mikkelsen, Alan Tudyk, Jiang Wen, and Forest Whitaker and directed by Gareth Edwards.
After the massive success with Star Wars :The Force Awakens last December despite taking $528m globally in its opening weekend failed to overtake 1997’s Titanic $2.18n and 2009’s Avatar $2.78bn taking $2.06bn.
Audiences were blown away by the film only to admit a few months later it was little more than a fan remake of A New Hope probably why fans loved it so much as when studios remix the rights films like Star Wars and Jurassic Park audiences are warmly accept them but then with so many other reboots like Ghostbusters and Pointbreak they aren’t the big question is after fans went crazy about Jumanji remake will Dwayne Johnson and Kevin art ease that pain when it opens next summer.
In 2012 Disney announced plans of a third series of Star Wars films and also a series of spin-off films focusing on characters of the film franchise Rogue One was the first to be announced with Han Solo and others soon after but sadly Jar Jar Binks has yet to be officially announced.
These spin-off films will be prequels to events that feature in the Star Wars film series. Rogue One telling how the rebel spies stole the plans for the Death Star which straight away will be tonally darker than The Force Awakens similar to Revenge of the Sith but there is the problem as that is the tone Star Wars fans would want the film to be but Disney after spending $4.05bn for Lucasfilm wants Star Wars films and the merchandise to be family friendly.
It was not a surprise then when there was news of reshoots in June as the filmmaker had made the Star Wars film he wanted but Disney were reportedly unhappy with the tone of the film. When Disney announced plans of Star Wars films were concerns the films would be Disneyfied but as with Marvel The Force Awakens didn’t have their Disney logo on the front of the film.
In June when these rumours started about reshoots there were crazy stories about how much of the film was being reshot with the director being replaced all of this speculation. Almost all films have re-shoots nowadays but the fact it was Rogue One made it a far bigger story.
But the big question after all of that I how will it do? Star Wars The Force Awakens teaser was viewed 88 million times in its first 24 hours with its trailer 112 million times in its first 24 hours (that record was broken in September with Fifty Shades Darker receiving 114 million views in its first 24 hours). In comparison Rogue One teaser 42m and trailer 21m views on YouTube which is similar to Deadpool trailer views.
While The Force Awaken was new but old was easily accessible to fans but also audiences new to the Star Wars film series but while Rogue One and other spin-off films fans will love they are probably a bit too geeky for many non-fans who just enjoyed the spectacle of the film.
Star Wars The Force Awakens opened last December with £33.9m a few weeks after Spectre opened with £41.2m for a 7 day opening weekend while the record books will show Spectre as the biggest ever opening weekend it did it with 7 days while The Force Awakens took £33.9m in 4 days.
Similar to Fantastic Beasts which opened in November which was Harry Potter but not Potter, Rogue One is Star Wars but not the Star Wars we have known which we have only before on TV in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars: Rebels. The world Fantastic Beasts and Star Wars is in is the same but everything else is different which makes them hard films to judge how audiences will respond to them as a massive part which made both Harry Potter and Star Wars film series is the characters in these prequels we are starting again. With the Star Wars prequels there were characters from the original film trilogy to guide us alongside the new characters but Rogue One it’s a whole new world why probably Darth Vader was added.
In an interview in September Riz Ahmed described Rogue One as ‘grittier’ than previous films apart from Revenge of the Sith when Anakin kills younglings the Star Wars films have been light in tone but as with Revenge of the Sith the events that feature within Rogue One are darker and it’s no spoiler to think most of the people die in Rogue One with the exception of Darth Vader; in Return of the Jedi Mon Mothma said “Many Bothans died to bring us this information.” talking about the plans for Death Star 2 while in A New Hope Princess Leia’s spaceship intercepts transmissions of the Death Star plans but is no other information on where they came from.
Rogue One is likely to perform similar to comic-books movies like last year’s Avengers: Age of Ultron which opened with £17.99m in April 2015 but while it took £43.24m Rogue One thanks to the lucrative Christmas holidays will take about 50% more with a final box office of £65.43m.
Building up to Star Wars Force Friday September 30th Star Wars fans have released a series of videos about Star Wars Go Rogue
The big elephant in the room is Passengers footage was screened at CinemaCon in April and CineEurope in June which audiences loved but Sony Pictures strangely didn’t release the trailer until September. As Passengers has been compared to Gravity while it might look like suicide to release another sci-fi film only days after but with Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt in a female-friendly film could be far more accessible to audiences as Gravity.
December 23rd
Key Release
- Passengers – Sony Pictures
Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt star in sci-fi Passengers both coming off huge franchise this is a film that will show if they can open a film without having the support of a franchise. While Chris Pratt will be back over the next two years with sequels to his franchises Guardians of the Galaxy 2 in 2017 and Jurassic World 2 in 2018. While Jennifer Lawrence finished The Hunger Games last year she still has Raven/Mystique from X-Men movies.
As with so many films Passengers had a long development process featuring on 2007’s Black List of scripts with Keanu Reeves and Reese Witherspoon who was replaced by Rachel McAdams and in 2012 Weinstein Co acquired US rights at the Cannes Film Festival but after she dropped out a year later its original April 3rd 2015 release date was cancelled and Weinstein also withdrew from the film.
In December 2014 was announced Sony Pictures was originally budgeted as a $35m film but grew to $120m when Sony Pictures signed Jennifer Lawrence $20m and Chris Pratt $12m. The film was caught up early this year in a legally despite with VFX company Digital Domain.
Footage was screened at CinemaCon in April and in June at CineEurope which wowed audiences was then surprising there was no trailer with Ghostbusters but that was similar to many expected the first teaser of Ghostbusters with Star Wars The Force Awakens. Summer is normally the time when studios tease their Christmas films including Almost Christmas and Bad Santa 2. There were rumours Passengers trailer was going to be released in July with Ghostbusters but then went all quiet the first stills featured on ew.com in August. The first trailer finally launched on September 20th to be screened with The Magnificent Seven in September which also co-stars Chris Pratt.
While it might seem strange opening two sci-fi films within days of each other Passengers will be targeting female audience and non-geeks of Star Wars with Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt likely to bring similar audience as Gravity. But the question is exhibitors will of course book Rogue One into their main screens so Passengers will be left with the smaller screens. While similar to The Martian last year with The Walk won’t be available in IMAX as Rogue One will likely be keeping IMAX screens till then end of January.
If Arrival in November wasn’t this year’s Gravity Passengers could be opening at the start of the lucrative two weeks Christmas holidays with Christmas Day on Sunday while some cinemas will open it will give passengers a 4-day opening weekend which could see it have a similar opening to Gravity £6.23m if the buzz from CinemaCon and CineEurope footage means anything. But was just very strange there was no teaser for the film released in the summer which was similar to no teaser of Ghostbusters with Star Wars The Force Awakens.
December 29th
Key Release
- Collateral Beauty – Warner Bros
Drama starring an ensemble cast of Will Smith, Kate Winslet, Keira Knightley, Helen Mirren, Edward Norton, Michael Peña and Naomie Harris and directed by David Frankel.
Twenty-one years ago Will Smith have starred in action movie Bad Boys which was a moderate success but then starred in Independence Day a year later which turned him from a US TV star to a global action hero in the years after Men in Black, Enemy of the State, and was Oscar nominated for Ali.
Sequels to Men in Back and Bad Boys followed along with I, Robot, Hitch, The Pursuit of Happyness, I Am Legend and Hancock but then Seven Pounds underperformed and MIB 3 took less than previous two films soon followed by the massive failure of Another Earth and Winer’s Tale. Last year Focus did ok but Concussion underperformed but this summer Suicide Squad taking over $700m worldwide despite all the negativity around it had much to do with Will Smith.
Over the years Will Smith has mixed the massive big budget films with the smaller films his breakthrough role which was underrated was Six Degrees of Separation in 1993 few saw but remember screening it in preview theatre and was a very strong performance by him.
In 2006 Will Smith starred with his son Jaden in the biographical drama The Pursuit of Happyness about Chris Gardner the film opened with £2.62m taking £9.58m. Collateral Beauty feels very similar in tone to The Pursuit of Happyness being described as It’s a Wonderful Life mixed with The Wizard of Oz. Trailer reminding me of Meet Joe Black Brad Pitt’s underrated 1998 film directed by Martin Brest and co-starring Anthony Hopkins and Nicolas Cage’s 2000 film The Family Man along with films like Miracle on 34th Street and Scrooged.
Opens in the US against Star Wars Rogue One which might look crazy but is likely to be a strong alternative to sci-fi films.
Ten years ago David Frankel directed the fabulous The Devil Wears Prada opening with £3.26 taking £13.68m and followed it with Marley & Me in 2009 opening with £4.41m taking £15.12m. His last two films one Chance in 2013 and Hope Strings in 2012 weren’t nearly as successful.
- Why Him? – 20th Century Fox
Romantic comedy starring stars James Franco, Bryan Cranston, Zoey Deutch, Megan Mullally, Griffin Gluck, and Keegan-Michael Key and directed by John Hamburg.
In 2000 John Hamburg also wrote the screenplay to Meet the Parents opening with £2.26m taking £15.1m also writing the sequel Meet the Fockers in 2005 opening with £7.91m taking £28.5m he also directed Along Came Polly in 2004 opened with £2.25m taking £7.8m Why Him? Has a similar vibe to those films with parents meeting the boyfriend of their daughter for the first time.
Last Christmas Daddy’s Home opened Boxing Day with £1.61m taking £16.71m the fun trailer could attract similar audience being an alternative to other films on release only real competition is Office Christmas Party opening two weeks earlier probably the reason why 20th Century Fox opened to open Why Him? After Christmas which does limited the Christmas themed comedy playing time but avoids them cannibalizing each other.