Top 5 Breakdown
- Fast & Furious 8 – £14,026,301 NE
While Universal Pictures will claim The Fate of the Furious had the biggest opening of the franchise in the UK this was only was because of two days of previews taking £5,380,621 Wednesday/Thursday.
Fri-Sun box office of £8.62 was slightly lower than 2013’s Fast & Furious 6 £8.72m showing again how previews make it impossible to make a direct comparison. Its 5-day opening was 6.6% bigger than Furious 7 3 day opening weekend £12.74m; Including Easter, Monday total was £16.3m compared with Furious 7 £15.6m up 4.5% but as prices are up 5.5% and had two days less opening isn’t nearly as impressive as it seems.
As seen by Beauty and the Beast opening of £19.7m over three days extending opening weekends don’t expand its box office only stretches its box office over more days. As you can’t compare its five-day opening with previous 3-day openings it’s not as straightforward as just comparing their Fri-Sun box office as those who might see it on Friday will instead see it on Wednesday so weekend box office would be lower. This is highlighted by Furious 7 taking £5.6m on its opening day in 2015 compared with Fast & Furious 8 taking £5.38m over two days.
The Fate of the Furious become Universal Pictures second biggest opening in the UK overtaking 2015’s Fifty Shades of Grey £13.47m; Jurassic World is still their biggest UK opening £19.33m that will likely be broken next year with Jurassic World 2 which opens two weeks earlier than the US in the UK due to the World Cup.
The eight films of the series have now taken over £127m at the UK box office by the time the 10 films are released they would have taken over £200m at the box office.
The first three films of the series didn’t light up the UK box office taking only £19.19 it wasn’t until Fast & Furious in 2009 the series connected with UK cinemagoers taking £13.53m.
Two years ago, Furious 7 was met by tears from critics during a montage of Paul Walker character O’Connor scenes from previous Furious films before he hits an exit ramp and drives into the sunset and then For Paul appears on the screen. This scene brought critics to tears giving the film positive reviews but The Fate of the Furious is a more generic sequel receiving mixed reviews but as these films are critic-proof shouldn’t have had any effect on its opening.
There was originally a post-credit scene featuring Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham characters to set up a possible spin-off film and The Fast and the Furious 9, When Vin Diesel found out he demanded the scene to be removed when he found out it didn’t include his character which continued the candy-ass feud he has had with Dwayne Johnson. It’s rumoured that the post-credit scene may be on the video release.
The Fate of the Furious is the second film of the franchise not to star Paul Walker after The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift and was also the first film of the series not to feature Corona beer which was the unofficial beer of the film series which wasn’t product placed being replaced by product placement by Budweiser and Stella in The Fate of the Furious. The Corona beer in the previous films is thought to be worth over $15m; in 2012 Heineken paid $45 million to turn James Bond into beer drinker in Skyfall.
Universal have already dated Furious 9 and 10 for April 2019 and 2021 while screenwriter Chris Morgan has spoken about how he would like the franchise to fade out. Universal will have other ideas to keep churning these Furious films every two years infinitely and as Vin Diesel’s last non-Furious success was The Pacifier released 12 years ago he will also want to continue them forever. If Harrison Ford can star in Indiana Jones 5 when his 76 years old could we see Furious 23 opening against Star Wars Episode 22 and Transformers 22 in 2045.
Furious 23 could look something like this
- The Boss Baby – £3,619,765 – £16,733,174
Despite having 9 day opening weekend last weekend thanks to the Easter holidays and the cooler weather than last weekend dropped only 56% but comparing just its Fri-Sun box office increased by 25%.
Including Easter Monday box office is up to £18.15m; The Boss Baby is currently 20th Century Fox’s best performing Dreamworks Animation film but of course had 4 extra days’ box office than most of them. While The Boss Baby will drop heavily this coming weekend if it continues to hold strongly and with no animation competition until Despicable Me 3 it’s possible.
The Big Boss could be the box of Dreamworks Animation films released by 20th Century Fox with the possibility of topping the box office of both Trolls and The Croods. 20th Century Fox releases their final Dreamworks Animation Captain Underpants in July and then release Ferdinand from Blue Sky Studios in December.
As most of the other Dreamworks Animation films opened either away from school holidays The Boss Baby can only be compared with The Croods opened in March 2013 with £5.37m included £1.85m from weekend previews took £3.30m in its second weekend dropping 38% but excluding previews drop was only 6%. In March 2015 Home opened with £6.025m including £2.61m from weekend previews in its second weekend.
Extended opening weekends for family films has become the norm over the last 10 years. 25 years ago, they were Thursday night previews which extended to all day previews on Thursday than with the first Harry Potter film in 2001 it had Sat/Sun previews the weekend opening.
Since then many films opening weekends have been artificially inflated making the comparison of their openings impossible. Baywatch and Despicable Me 3 will probably also have extended opening weekends which will inflate their openings against rival releases opening against them.
- Beauty and the Beast – £2,598,163 – £65,048,372
Down only 7.2% in its fifth weekend, thanks to Easter holidays and cooler temperatures this weekend; including Easter Monday took £65.9m.
Beauty and the Beast have overtaken Jurassic World and on Tuesday overtook Rogue One to become the tenth biggest film in the UK.
Beauty and the Beast thanks to a strong Easter holidays box office is slightly ahead of Toy Story 3 which took £2.1m in its fifth weekend taking £63.84m but with holidays finished for most children will likely have a 50% drop this weekend which would be close to Toy Story 3’s sixth weekend £1.49m and total of £67.59m.
The eight live-action reimaginations of Disney animations have now taken over £200m at the UK box office. Upcoming live action reimagining’s of Disney animated classics included The Lion King directed by Jon Favreau, Aladdin directed by Guy Ritchie, Dumbo directed by Tim Burton, Cruella starring Emma Stone, Mulan directed by Niki Caro, Winnie the Pooh directed by Marc Forster, Pinocchio, The Little Mermaid with additional songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Peter Pan directed by David Lowery, Tinkerbell starring Reese Witherspoon and Jungle Book and Maleficent sequels.
- Peppa Pig: My First Cinema Experience – £514,923 – £2,375,396
Down 51% in its second weekend overtaking the total box office of the previous film Peppa Pig: The Golden Boots which took £2.32m taking a similar £504,253 in its second weekend; including Easter Monday total was £2.58m.
It’s also performing close to Ballerina which took £594,356 and £2.54m total in its second weekend last December which went on to take £4m.
Films like Peppa Pig, Ballerina and previously the Tinker Bell films are vital to nurturing the next generation to the cinema. After going with my niece and nephew last weekend for their first trip to the cinema last week to see Peppa Pig: My First Cinema Experience which they enjoyed had their second trip on Monday to The Boss Baby and will be back again to see much more in future.
Exhibitors should be looking longer term with these films as it gives them a chance to build an audience but if parents feel ripped off paying full price for an hour-long film they might not come back.
Exhibitors have recently created children screens in their multiplexes (Odeon cinemas in Milton Keynes and Bournemouth) includes soft play which generated controversy with cinephiles but if this nurtures a new generation of cinemagoers it must be a positive if alongside the regular screens. As going with my niece and nephew to see The Boss Baby after about an hour sat in their seats eating popcorn they got a bit restless if there was soft play toddler-friendly zone this could avoid this issue. In the US children get 20 minutes of playtime before the film starts then half way through (which is at the point children start getting restless) the film stops for 15 minutes for playtime and then the film continues.
Exhibitors also charged regular prices for the final episode of Broadchurch which was shown in cinemas the same time it was being broadcast on ITV receiving an audience of 9.3m. If cinema wants to be the home of more than just films it needs to offer them at a price that audiences will be willing to pay.
Have often questioned why Event Cinema is often 100%+ more than regular ticket prices while audiences might be willing to pay the surcharges now you only need to see 3D sales to see that audiences aren’t willing to long term. The distributors of these screenings say it’s because the costs of acquiring the rights and screening them but this is the same for all films that are acquired by distributors?
- Going in Style – £499,928 – £1,742,396
Down only 12% in its second weekend; Going in Style opening last week was the film most affected by the hot sunny weather as adults opted to get out their barbeques and go to the pub to enjoy the hottest temperatures of the year while being Easter holidays parents would still take their children to cinema to get a couple of hours’ rest.
The top of the chart was dominated by films for teenagers Fast & Furious 8 and children. But there was also a strong mix of films for older audiences Going in Style, The Handmaiden and The Sense of Ending which will be joined by Their Finest and The Zookeeper’s Wife this weekend.
Was report recently by AARP said 30% of moviegoers in the US are aged 50 and over. Despite younger audiences shrinking studios are still targeting most their films to them often cannibalizing the marketplace in the summer months it used to be studios would mix popcorn movies with more grown up films during these months but they have become a rarity which means the autumn months are crowded.
Legacy-sequels studios made in recent years including Jurassic World and Star Wars: The Force Awakens and their upcoming sequels along with upcoming Blade Runner 2049 and Mary Poppins Returns will cross generations attracting the audience who saw the originals when they were children or young adults and their own children.
Eye in the Sky (opened with £1.11m taking £5.01m) last year and Woman in Gold in 2015 (opened with £494,512 taking £2.75m) both performed strongly in April both targeting the older audience who often go to the cinema more mid-week than weekends.
RED also featured an ensemble of retirees opened with £1,662,472 in October 2010 taking £6.84m and its sequel opened with £1.02m in August 2013 taking £2.75m.
Just missing out on the top 5 was Park Chan-Wouk’s South Korean erotic psychological thriller The Handmaiden opening with £474,752 from only 95 screens as most films its opening was inflated with £196,986 from previews.
The Handmaiden opening beat his biggest opening 2003’s Stoker opening in March 2013 with £367,509 from 261 screens.
Director Park Chan-Wouk is best known for directing 2003’s Oldboy and 2006’s Lady Vengeance.
The strong opening of The Handmaiden shows there is still an audience for foreign language films which has been squeezed in recent years; of course, The Handmaiden was helped by strong reviews and being an alternative to fast cars and children films for adults.
Other box office news
This weekend’s top 10 box office took £23,324,163 up 55.3% from last weekend £15,013,493;
Weekend admissions 3,147,660 up 55.3% from last week 2,026,112;
Fast & Furious 8 took 60.1% of the top 10 box office which compares to Fast & Furious 7 taking 72.2%.
The weekend was up 48.7% from last year (£15,680,644): The Jungle Book £9,868,926, Eye in the Sky £1,102,667, Criminal £247,424 and Secret Cinema 28 Days Later £160,186 opened.
Up 6.6% from 2015: (£21,883,832): Avengers: Age of Ultron – £17,996,523 opened.
Next weekend in 2016 (£12,544,021): Bastille Day £761,361, Friends Request £624,209, Shakespeare Live! £248,693, Miles Ahead £165,313, and Jane Got A Gun £31,448 opened.
UK Box Office Top 10
US Box Office Top 10
US Box office
The Fate of the Furious opened with $98.78m below tracking had been estimating over the past few weeks of over $120m while films like Logan, Kong: Skull Island, Beauty and the Beast and The Boss Baby opened far bigger than tracking had predicted.
As mentioned above for UK performance The Fate of the Furious was unlikely to open as big as Furious 7 $147.18m in 2015 as it was a memorial to Paul Walker after his death. Furious 8 opening was very close to Fast & Furious 6 2013 opening of $97.37m if it holds similar Furious 8 will take $240m about 32% less than Furious 7 but Furious 8 had 305 bigger budget than Furious 7 and 60% more than Furious 6. The budget for Furious 8 is over 550% more than the first film released 16 years ago.
Furious 8 received very mixed reviews with some critics describing it as the worst film of the series but received an A CinemaScore;
But expectations were very high for Furious 8 after becoming the most-viewed in history 139 million views within first 24 hours in December 2016 beating previous records Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, 127.6 million times, also beating Fifty Shades Darker 114m and Star Wars: The Force Awakens 112 million; record was recently broken by the trailer of Stephen King’s It in March seen by 197 million in its first 24 hours and was beaten again on Friday with the release of the first trailer for Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
Globally Furious 8 overtook Jurassic World record of $316.7m taking $432.3m taking $532.5m globally beating the previous record of Star Wars: The Force Awakens $529m #1 in all 60+ territories it opened in, But opening was inflated by the $192m taken in China; in recent years China has artificially the box office for many films because rental studios receive is less than half they received in the rest of the world.
The Boss Baby down 39.3% in its third weekend taking $16.1m and total of $116.79m; The Boss Baby is holding close to last year’s Trolls and will likely end with similar $153m; currently #82 biggest animated film in the US overtaking Mr. Peabody & Sherman and The Angry Birds Movie and will shortly overtake Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, The Good Dinosaur, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and The Peanuts Movie.
Beauty and the Beast drops 42.1% in its fifth weekend taking $13.7m and $454.72m total; has become the 12th biggest film in the US ahead of The Dark Knight Rises and Shrek 2 and will shortly overtake Avengers: Age of Ultron and Star Wars which will see Star Wars leave the top 10 biggest films in the US for the first time in its history. It
With the release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi in December Disney will have at least six of the top 10 biggest films in the US by the end of the year all of them sequels. Showing how unique the performance of Avatar in 2009 and Titanic in 1997 two original films that became the biggest films of their year’s something that is unlikely to ever happen again. By the end of the year, seven of the top 10 films would have been released in the last 5 years showing how ticket prices have had so much effect on BO.
The Jungle Book last year held far better in its fifth weekend dropping 30.1% taking $17.1m and total of $311.1m 85% of its final box office of $364m; if Beauty and the Beast was to continue to hold as The Jungle Book will added another $64m and will now unlikely overtake Rogue One: A Star Wars Story $532m taking $520m showing Beauty and the Beast is as front-loaded as any other film.
Beauty and the Beast has now taken $1.043m billion worldwide #22 biggest film while shortly overtake Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest and Toy Story 3.
On limited release
Fox Searchlight’s Gifted added 1,090screens up 589% taking $3.1m and $4.44m and will add more screens this coming weekend.
Neon’s Colossal added 94 screens up 285% taking $462.869m and $616,344 total; the film has received very positive reviews with a strong marketing campaign helped by Ann Hathaway generating strong coverage after a recent interview.
STX’s Their Finest added 48 screens up 372% taking $346,779 and $460,569 total.
Bleecker Street’s The Lost City of Z opened with $112,633 from 4 screens; the film has received very positive reviews with many calling it the best film of the year so far.
Opened April 21st
Opening UK
- Their Finest – Lionsgate
Romantic comedy starring Gemma Arterton, Sam Claflin, Bill Nighy, Jack Huston, Jake Lacy, Richard E. Grant, Henry Goodman, Helen McCrory, and Claudia Jessie and directed by Lone Scherfig based on the 2009 novel Their Finest Hour and a Half; had world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival and the UK premiere at London Film Festival in October with a gala screening last week in London.
Their Finest is the first of two films about Dunkirk released this year with Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk being the much higher profile film about the rescue Their Finest is a more intimate story of the rescue.
Reviews highlighted the performances of Gemma Arterton and Sam Claflin but many had issues with the confusing tone of comedy and drama. Opening the week after Easter and a week
Lone Scherfig previous films took
An Education opened 30th October 2009 -£283,080 taking £1.36m
One Day opened 24th August 2011 -£2.20m taking £7.94m
The Riot Club opened 19th September 2014 £496,647 taking £1.55m
- Unforgettable – Warner Bros
Thriller starring Katherine Heigl, Rosario Dawson, Geoff Stults, Isabella Rice, and Cheryl Ladd and directed by Denise Di Novi her directorial debut.
- The Zookeeper’s Wife – Universal Pictures
War drama starring Jessica Chastain, Johan Heldenbergh, Michael McElhatton and Daniel Brühl and directed by Niki Caro based on the non-fiction book by Diane Ackerman; had the world premiere on March 8, 2017, in Warsaw, Poland receiving mixed reviews.
Since her breakthrough roles in The Help and The Debt, Jessica Chastain has starred in films including Zero Dark Thirty, Interstellar, The Martian and Miss Sloane next starring in Molly’s Game the directorial debut for Aaron Sorkin.
Niki Caro will next direct the live-action reimagining of Disney’s Mulan due for release November 2018. Previously directed 2002’s Whale Rider and 2015’s McFarland USA.
The Zookeeper’s Wife was surprisingly brought forward two weeks to open against Their Finest which has received far more media coverage with both films targeting similar audience seems a strange decision to open them against each other.
Distributors will normally release a lot of smaller films a week after a blockbuster opens as the film opening the weekend before will often drop heavily giving room in the marketplace for smaller films to get the media coverage they wouldn’t otherwise do but the problem is now they release so many against each other they cannibalize each other. While Rules Don’t Apply, The Belko Experiment and Unforgettable will all be easily forgettable at the box office both Their Finest and The Zookeeper’s Wife could have been far more had they not been opening against each other.
- Rules Don’t Apply – 20th Century Fox
Romantic comedy-drama film written, co-produced and directed by Warren Beatty, starring ensemble cast including Warren Beatty, Annette Bening, Matthew Broderick, Lily Collins, Alec Baldwin, Martin Sheen, Haley Bennett and Alden Ehrenreich (who is currently filming the untitled Han Solo Star Wars Spin-off as the young Han Solo.
Received its world premiere at AFI Festival on November 10th receiving positive reviews with many calling it an old-fashioned Hollywood movie but the problem for Rules Don’t Apply was isn’t the audience for these types of films now after only managing to open with $1.58m over its opening weekend in November in the US one of the worst openings in the US was beaten earlier this year by Collide opening with $1.51m.
https://player.vimeo.com/video/211033122
Rules Don’t Apply is Warren Beatty’s first directed role since 1998’s Bulworth and first acting role since 2001’s Town & Country and has been a film he has been working on for over 40 years. In June 2011 Paramount Pictures announced would produce the film but three later they pulled out with New Regency Pictures picking it up stayed in development till 2014 when it was announced New Regency and RatPac Entertainment were producing the film and started production February 2014.
In April 2016 Warren Beatty and producer Arnon Milchan came to CinemaCon to announce 20th Century Fox would release the then-untitled film in the Fall.
Warren Beatty is the only person to have been twice nominated for acting in, directing, writing, and producing the same film 1978’s Heaven Can Wait and 1981’s Reds but of course for most he will be always remembered for this year’s Oscars when he and his Bonnie and Clyde co-star Faye Dunaway was given the wrong envelope announcing La La Land as Best Film instead of Moonlight.
Since 1981’s Reds Warren Beatty has made few films and they have been famous mostly for being massive flops next month is 30th anniversary of Ishtar (no one will be celebrating) followed by 1990’s Dick Tracy while not a flop the $47m budget film took $103m in the US. It still caused then Disney chief Jeffrey Katzenberg much concern about the rising budgets and issues facing the industry he wrote his famous memo a year later; the memo was the inspiration to Cameron Crowe for 1996’s Jerry Maguire.
A year later he starred in the Oscar-nominated Bugsy but then starred in 1994’s Love Affair which flopped.
1998’s Bulworth was Warren Beatty’s last directed film released in May 1998 the film received positive reviews. In an interview with the New York Times in 2013, President Obama talked about wanting to “go Bulworth” and say what he really thought.
Warren Beatty’s last acting role was Town & County a massive failure at the box office opened with $3.1m in April 2001 taking only $6.7m with a budget of $90m. As with Rules Don’t Apply, Town & Country had a long production started filming in June 1998 with a $44m budget with a planned Fall 1999 release delays occurring during shooting due to Beatty’s meticulous demand for numerous takes (was similar to Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut just finished a record breaking 15-month shoot).
Warren Beatty is one of a few actors/directors who is still able to make the so-called vanity projects as Martin Scorsese was making Silence last year as normally after one massive failure Martin Brest 2003’s Gigli, Kevin Reynold 1995’s Waterworld and Michael Lehmann 1991’s Hudson Hawk they fade away into oblivion. After directing Warren Beatty in Bugsy Barry Levinson was allowed by 20th Century Fox to make his long in the works vanity project Toys after directing Good Morning, Vietnam and Rain Man.
- The Belko Experiment – Vertigo Releasing
Horror thriller starring John Gallagher, Jr., Tony Goldwyn, Adria Arjona, and Melonie Diaz directed by Greg McLean and written by James Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy); premiered at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival. It has been described as Battle Royale in office.
Opening in the US
After Fate of the Furious was given weekend itself will likely drop close to Fast & Furious 6 64%+ taking $30-35m and 45%+ week 3 $15-20m but unlikely any of this weekend or next weekend films will still be able to get close to it.
Fate of the Furious will likely hold top for three weeks until Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 which is currently tracking to opened with $150m+ which would be close to 60% more than the first film opened in August 2014.
- Unforgettable – Warner Bros
Katherine Heigl has been box office poison in recent years and despite starring in hit TV series Rosewell and Grey’s Anatomy has also become similar for TV with her latest TV series Doubt pulled by CBS after only two shows earlier this year.
2007’s Knocked Up is probably the role she is most well-known for and was her biggest film to date but she was part of an ensemble. She followed with 27 Dresses and The Ugly Truth in 2008 and 2009 which were surprise hits but since her films have underperformed at the box office with films including Killers, New Year’s Eve and 2013’s The Big Wedding which was her last major film role.
Denise Di Novi has produced many great films over the last 29 years her first was 1988’s Heathers and afterward she produced many of Tim Burton’s films including Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas and Ed Wood. She recently also produced the TV remake of the classic 80s tearjerker Beaches.
Do wonder who at Warner Bros thought Unforgettable was a good idea after the many great films Denise Di Novi has produced over the years she deserves a far better film to make her directorial debut on.
The erotic thriller will be looking to similar openings as 2016’s When the Bough Breaks $14.2m and 2015’s The Boy Next Door $14.9m. The 90s brought many erotic thrillers most of which doing badly at the box office. Of course, the many of these films are far from erotic and more laughable as 1994’s Color of Night.
1990 – Presumed Innocent, The Hot Spot
1991 – Shattered, A Kiss Before Dying, Zandalee
1992 – Basic Instinct, Final Analysis, Poison Ivy, Single White Female, Consenting Adults, Unlawful Entry, Whispers in the Dark, Traces of Red, Bitter Moon
1993 – Indecent Proposal, Sliver, The Crush, Malice, Dream Lover, Guilty as Sin, Red Rock West, Blink, Boxing Helena, Body of Evidence
1994 – Color of Night, Disclosure, The Last Seduction
1995- Jade, Never Talk to Strangers, Fair Game
1996 – Diabolique, Crash, Fear, Bound
1997 – Goodbye Lover,
1998 – Wild Things,
1999 – Cruel Intentions, Eyes Wide Shut, 8MM
- The Promise – Open Road Films
Historical drama starring Oscar Isaac, Charlotte Le Bon, and Christian Bale and directed by Terry George; premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival receiving poor reviews.
On IMDB the film has received over 120,000 ratings with almost 62,000 giving the lowest score but none have probably seen the film. Due to a group of internet trolls on a Turkish message board believing the film insults Turkishness which made the film be one of the lowest rated films on the website.
- Free Fire – A24
Action-comedy starring Brie Larson, Sharlto Copley, Armie Hammer, Cillian Murphy and Jack Reynor and directed by Ben Wheatley; had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival and closed London Film Festival on 16 October 2016 receiving positive reviews.
But after flopping recently in the UK it’s unlikely to do much better in the US.
- Born in China – Disney
Tenth nature documentary film made by DisneyNature which was set up in 2008; Before Disney got into the comic-book business Disney were famous for their nature films producing the Tre-Life Adventures series between 1948 and 1960;
DisneyNature first release was Earth in 2009 which took $32m, Oceans in 2010 took $19.4m, African Cats in 2011 took $15.4m, Chimpanzee in 2012 $28.9m, Bears in 2014 $17.7m and the Monkey Kingdom $16.4m in 2015.