1. Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse – £9,159,823 – NE

Took £3.55m Friday (38.8%); £2.66m Saturday (29.1%); £2.15m Sunday (23.5%);

Includes £855,266k from previews (from 7 pm) on Thursday (8.8%)

117^th biggest opening between Monsters, Inc. and X-Men: Days of Future Past (close to Spider-Man, Spider-Man Homecoming, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man 2) and 194^th biggest inflated between Kingsman: The Golden Circle and Mary Poppins Returns (close to The Lego Movie, The Sixth Sense, Mission: Impossible and Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn).

33^rd biggest comic-book opening between X-Men: Days of Future Past and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (close to Man of Steel, Hancock, X-Men: Apocalypse and Justice League) and 45^th biggest inflated between Batman and Robin and Venom (close to X-Men: The Last Stand, Batman Forever, X-Men and Batman).

Friday was Odeon cinema’s best Friday for 18 months since Spider-Man No Way Home opened.

Opened in 676 cinemas 46^th widest opening (165^th 600+ cinema opening since 2015’s Jurassic World).

The 4-day opening was 7.6% of the US opening (close to Eternals, Shang-Chi, Marvel Avengers Assemble and Shazam!) and the 3-day opening (£8,304,557) was 6.9% of the US (similar to Sonic the Hedgehog 2, F9, Venom 2 and Black Panther Wakanda Forever).

If you compare Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse opening with the first film that opened in 2018 then of course it’s a massive opening. But after the huge success of 2021’s Spider-Man No Way Home, multi-verse MCUs including Doctor Strange 2 and other Spider-Man films then its opening wasn’t such a surprise as the audience for those films would also want to see Across The Spider-Verse.

The audience was fan led seen by Friday being its strongest day and as it didn’t increase on Saturday it looks like its front-loaded is unlikely to play beyond the Spider-Man fanbase, as seen by its opening being close to four of the non-MCU Spider-Man films. How it holds in its second and third weekend will be key if it is to have similar success as previous Spider-Man films but as Transformers: Rise of The Beasts and The Flash target the same tween/teen male audience it is likely to drop upwards of 60% in its second weekend.

Sony started developing the sequel soon after the release of the first film and was originally due to be released in April 2022 but delayed to June 2023 due to COVID with a third film set for release in March 2024.

2018’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse opened £2,279,995 (including £1.05m from 6 days of previews) #2 from 567 screens taking £10,040,340; #1 Aquaman £5,230,285 (including £1.4m previews); opened the weekend before Christmas against The Grinch and Ralph Breaks the Internet.

The first film performed far stronger in the US opening with $35.36m taking $190.24m and $384.25m.

Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse received widespread critical acclaim and has been called The Dark Knight of animated films with some saying it should be a Best Picture Oscar contender. But with the hefty running time of 140 mins, playing young and coming so soon after Oscar-winning Everything Everywhere it’s unlikely another multi-verse film will have Oscar success.

• 2. The Little Mermaid – £4,225,713 – £16,214,841

Dropped 15.7% in the second weekend.

Took £1.51m (35.7%) Friday 3.8% drop (£1.57m); £1.44m (34.1%) Saturday 17.7% drop (£1.44m; £1.25m (29.6%) Sunday 23.8% drop (£1.64m)

Half-term saw The Little Mermaid take a similar BO for the last 10 days; £1.57m (9.7%) Friday; £1.75m (10.8%) Saturday; £1.64m (10.1%) Sunday; £1.91m (11.8%) Monday; £1.56m (9.6%) Tuesday; £1.85m (11.4%) Wednesday; £1.67m (10.3%) Thursday; £1.51m (9.3%) Friday; £1.44m (8.9%) Saturday; £1.25m (7.7%) Sunday; but likely dropped heavily Mon-Fri this week.

Had a small second-weekend drop being half-term Friday BO held close to its opening weekend, will be interesting to see how it performs Monday to Friday this week as likely to be down 50%+ over each day.

130^th biggest second weekend between Suicide Squad and War of the Worlds (close to Les Miserables, La La Land, Frozen and Life of Pi) and 252^nd inflated between X-Men: Days of Future Past and Deadpool 2 (close to Hook, 101 Dalmatians (1996), Honey, I Shrunk the Kids and Spice World).

6th biggest Disney reimagination second weekend between Aladdin (£4,888,931) and Dumbo (£3,508,551); 38th biggest Disney second weekend between Tangled and Frozen (close to Up, Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, Incredibles and A Bug’s Life) and 57th biggest inflated between Wreck-It Ralph and Ransom (close to Bolt, 101 Dalmatians (1996), Enchanted and Lilo & Stitch).

Disney is celebrating their 100th anniversary this year and for the first 90 years they were the most creative studio in Hollywood, but over the last 10 years have acquired properties from other studios and turned into massive hits Marvel, Star Wars and Indiana Jones to quote Doctor Ian Malcolm ‘it didn’t require any discipline to attain it. You know, you read what others had done and you took the next step. You didn’t earn the knowledge for yourselves, so you don’t take any responsibility for it. You stood on the shoulders of geniuses to accomplish something as fast as you could and before you even knew what you had, you patented it, packaged it and slapped it on a plastic lunchbox and now you’re selling it!’

The problem with Disney over the last decade is they have always taken the easy option, remaking a classic animated film and it takes $1bn is no surprise, let’s see Disney do that with an original live-action film, the last Disney-made original hit was The Proposal 14 years ago, The Help was Dreamworks and Free Guy was complete before Disney’s acquisition.

This is the reason why The Little Mermaid hasn’t done similar BO to other Disney reimaginations released over the last 5 years but instead held similar to inflation inflated second weekend BO of 1996’s 101 Dalmatians in the UK (took £2m in its second weekend £4.3m inflated and it even had a similar 15% drop).

China’s The Global Times said, “The controversy surrounding Disney’s forced inclusion of minorities in classic films is not about racism but its lazy and irresponsible storytelling strategy.” 

Most of Disney’s reimaginations have been almost shot-by-shot photo-realistic remakes it’s the unnecessary changes many have taken issue with for The Little Mermaid, the removal of some songs and the addition of others, giving Ariel amnesia as part of the spell and its almost an hour longer than the original animated film?

For decades Disney would re-release their classic animation films to new generations (The Little Mermaid was re-released in the summer of 1998 opening £234,783 (£470,731 inflated) taking £1,768,481 (£3,545,739 inflated) always successful in cinemas and the 80s and 90s, (in the early 80s re-releases of animated classics including The Jungle Book and Snow White were the top 3 biggest films of the year). The cinema re-release would be followed by a home video release available for a limited time. In the 90s and 00s, Disney made direct-to-video sequels to their classic animated films.

These films are called live-action, but they are photo-realistic animation, while looking stunning feels emotionless unlike 2D animation which is a far more emotional experience; The Lion King when Mufasa dies, or when The Iron Giant sacrifices himself to protect everyone on Earth as his hero Superman would do. These moments bring tears to the audience young and old as seen in a recent Ted Lasso episode.

The Little Mermaid was first released in cinemas in October 1990 almost a year after its US opening in November 1989; was the 9th biggest film of 1990 between Gremlins 2: The New Batch and Parenthood taking (15.46x opening) £6,266,749 (£21,731,902 inflated).

These reimaginations are nostalgia-led due to the love of the original and attract audiences of all ages, but as with Disney’s Star Wars films they are all hype and no sustenance once the pixel dust fades away, but that often happens after they have taken $1bn+ worldwide. Critics have given The Little Mermaid mixed reviews with Halle Bailey being the best thing about it, but as with Rachel Zegler cast in the Snow White reimagination (opening next year) surely their talents are being wasted remaking a classic animated film rather than starring in a remake.

The biggest Disney re-imaginations on second weekends:

2017’s Beauty and the Beast dropped 37% £12,334,338 #1 636 screens £39,884,575 55% of £72,430,579

2019’s The Lion King dropped 36% £10,660,287 #1 721 screens £36,889,089 48.5% of £76,023,435

2010’s Alice in Wonderland dropped 30% £7,343,506 #1 533 screens £22,749,115 54% of £42,169,542

2016’s The Jungle Book dropped 18% £8,095,442 #1 604 screens £21,662,461 46.9% of £46,235,032

2019’s Aladdin dropped 30% £4,888,931 #1 645 screens £19,783,972 53.9% of £36,710,978

• 3. Fast X – £1,074,873 – £13,304,583

Down 52.4% in the third weekend

Took £369k (34.3%) Friday 41.8% drop (£643k); £410k (38.2%) Saturday 52% drop (£853k); £294k (27.4%) Sunday 61.4% drop (£762k).

481^st biggest third weekend between Mrs Brown’s Boys D’Movie and The Social Network (close to Fast & Furious 9 (£1,096,046), The Bourne Supremacy, Die Hard 4.0 and Fast & Furious (£1,052,533) and 618th biggest inflated between Shazam! And LA Confidential (close to 2 Fast 2 Furious, Misery, Top Gun and Bad Boys).

7th biggest Fast & Furious third weekend between Fast & Furious 9 (£1,096,046) and Fast & Furious (£1,052,533); 10^th biggest inflation-inflated third weekend between 2 Fast 2 Furious and The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift; the second-biggest third-weekend drop of 52.4% between Fast & Furious 9 and Fast & Furious 8; 6th biggest Fast & Furious film after 17 days between Fast Five (£14,393,127) and Fast & Furious 9 (£13,064,613).

Originally Fast X was meant to be the first part of a two-part finale. Vin Diesel recently said he plans to make it into a trilogy of films and spoke of spinoffs including an all-female spinoff; but after the lower-than-expected global BO performance of Fast X will Universal Pictures be willing to spend $700m+ on two more films, as the likelihood is the box office of the next two films will drop even more.

The 11 Fast & Furious films have taken £195m and £240m inflation inflated.

498th biggest film between Crocodile Dundee II and Chicken Little (close to Fast & Furious, Jumanji, Hook and Baby Driver) and 877th biggest inflated between Kingdom of Heaven and Spy Kids (close to Backdraft, Clear And Present Danger, Wild Wild West and The Expendables).

• 4. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 – £993,389 – £34,604,975

Down 37.7% in the fifth weekend

Took £346k (34.8%) Friday 16.6% drop (£415k); £361k (36.3%) Saturday 41.1% drop (£732k); £283k (28.5%) Sunday 50.1% drop (£567k).

Fifth Weekends

Thor: Love and Thunder dropped 50% taking £938,257 #4 from 635 screens and £33,270,408 89.1% of £37,369,361; #1 Bullet Train £2,858,197 1st week.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness dropped 16% £1,151,843 #2 from 627 screens and £40,711,421 96.7% of £42,082,100; #1 Top Gun: Maverick £10,325,500 2nd week 16% drop

Black Panther Wakanda Forever dropped 46% £803,800 #2 from 608 screens and £30,830,078 89.8% of £34,345,903: #1 Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical £2,102,867 3^rd week 16% drop

2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 1 dropped 18% £1,027,274 #5 from 473 screens and £24,500,496 85.7% of £28,599,216: #1 Lucy £1,972,039 2^nd week 35% drop

2017’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 dropped 54% £885,675 #3 from 557 screens and £37,819,438 92.6% of £40,839,462; #1 Pirates of the Caribbean: Salazar’s Revenge £5,238,049 1^st week.

Guardians 3 will come short of Guardians 2 BO and continues the

171^st biggest fifth weekend between The Lego Movie and Happy Feet (close to War of the Worlds, Daddy’s Home, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End and Deadpool) and the 329^th biggest inflated between Avengers: Endgame and Die Hard with a Vengeance (close to Look Who’s Talking, Wayne’s World, The Golden Child and Patriot Games).

16th biggest comic-book fifth weekend between Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 1 and Deadpool (close to The Batman, Men in Black 3, Thor: Love and Thunder and Wonder Woman) and the 23^rd biggest inflated between Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man Homecoming (close to Avengers Assemble, Deadpool, Spider-Man 2 and Iron Man).

8th biggest MCU fifth weekend between Guardians of the Galaxy (£1,027,274) and Thor: Love and Thunder (£938,257) (close to Captain Marvel, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse, Thor: Love and Thunder and Spider-Man Homecoming).

The 32 MCU films have made £1.1bn since 2008 and almost £1.3bn inflation inflated.

12th biggest MCU film after 33 days between Captain Marvel (£34,623,067) and Thor: Love and Thunder (£33,275,908) close to Captain America: Civil War, Iron Man 3, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Thor: Ragnarok).

21^st biggest comic-book film between Men in Black and Black Panther Wakanda Forever (close to Captain America: Civil War, Batman Vs Superman, Spider-Man 3 and Deadpool 2) and 34th biggest inflated between Suicide Squad and Black Panther Wakanda Forever (close to Hancock, Man of Steel, Superman III and Batman and Robin). 

113th biggest film between Ice Age III and Black Panther Wakanda Forever (close to Die Another Day, Jurassic World Dominion, Fantastic Beasts 2 and Spider-Man 3) and 255^th biggest inflated between Mr Beans Holiday and Three Men and a Little Lady (close to Look Who’s Talking, Home Alone 2: Lost In New York, True Lies and Rain Man).

• 5.      The Boogeyman – £492,070 – NE

Took £190k (38.6%) Friday; £178k (36.2%) Saturday; £123k Sunday (25%).

Horror has been a steady performing genre since cinemas re-opened after COVID with 18 horrors opening over the last two years taking over £100m; Evil Dead Rises, The Pope’s Exorcist, Scream VI, Knock at the Cabin, M3gan, The Menu, Prey for the Devil, Halloween Ends, Smile, Nope, The Black Phone, Scream, Halloween Kills, Candyman, Old, The Forever Purge, A Quiet Place Part II and The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It.

The film was first announced in 2018 by 20th Century Fox but was cancelled along with many other films when Disney acquired the studio. In November 2021 it was revived as a film for Hulu, but after a positive test screening in December and a positive response from Stephen King, it was announced in January that it would have a theatrical release. Disney did the same last year with Barbarian opening £380,812 and taking £1,082,037 as Smile opening £1,860,452 and taking £11,584,505 and Evil Dead Rises £1,477,840 taking £5,288,972,

Stephen King film adaptions have had mixed success at the BO from the huge success with the two It films but then mixed success with Doctor Sleep, The Mist, Carrie, Pet Sematary and most recently Firestarter last year opened £250,006 taking £530,497. The 30 adaptations have taken £100m+ at the BO and £140m+ inflated.

Are questions over when Stephen King’s other film adaptation Salem’s Lot, Warner Bros first announced in April 2020, will be released as it was originally due to be released in September 2022, but was then moved to April 2023. But then disappeared (as a Sesame Street film) as wasn’t mentioned during the Warner Bros CinemaCon presentation in April. In 2021 plans for a new adaption of The Running Man with Edgar Wright attached to direct.

UK box office in detail

This weekend’s top 10 box office took £16,560,628 up 68.8% from last weekend’s £9,809,374: 2,077,871 admissions up 69.4% from 1,226,389; 374^th highest top 10 admissions over the last 21 years between 28 July 2006 (2,078,138 admissions) #1 Cars and 13 February 2004 (2,077,871) #1 Cheaper by the Dozen

158^th biggest top 10 of the last 21 years (out of 1,105) between 09 November 2018 #1 The Grinch £5,019,677 (30.3% of top 10) and 14 February 2020 #1 Sonic the Hedgehog £4,733,768 (28.6% of top 10) and 390^th biggest inflation inflated between 13 August 2004 #1 The Bourne Supremacy £2,720,016 (29.5% of top 10) and 13 November 2015 #1 SPECTRE £7,833,891 (53.1% of top 10).

The top 3 took £14,460,409 87.3% of the top 10; Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse 55.3% (£9,159,823); The Little Mermaid 25.5% (£4,225,713); Fast X 6.5% (£1,074,873);

195^th highest percentage #1 between 20 July 2007 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (55.5%) and 10 September 2021 Shangi-Chi (55.2%).

213^th biggest admissions #1 (1,149,288) between 27 May 2005 Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith (1,152,249) and 27 July 2012 The Dark Knight Rises (1,142,160).

Up 16.5% from 2022 (£14,210,581); Men (£519,907); Hamlet – Met Opera 2022 (£27,446); Dashcam (£9,060); #1 Top Gun: Maverick £10,325,500 756 screens 2nd week 35% drop (8% without previews) (72.7% of top 10)

Up 91.5% from 2021; (£8,645,168); A Quiet Place Part II (£3,567,048); Dream Horse (£209,389); The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (Re: 2020) – Extended Version (£24,652); Land (£14,615); #1 A Quiet Place Part II £3,567,048 1^st week 561 screens (41.3% of top 10)

2020; Lockdown

Down 1.9% from 2019; (£16,880,406); Godzilla: King of the Monsters (£3,507,717); Ma (£509,624); Thunder Road (£44,065); #1 Aladdin 2nd week £4,888,931 31% drop 645 screens (28.96% of top 10)

Up 69% from 2018: (£9,802,656); Book Club (£720,858); My Friend Dahmer (£37,940); #1 Solo: A Star Wars Story £3,147,338 684 screens 48% drop (32.1% of top 10)

Up 2.8% from 2017: (£16,108,699); Wonder Woman (£6,179,616); Baywatch (£4,631,244); My Life as a Courgette (£55,566); Dough (£51,426); #1 Wonder Woman £6,179,616 1st week 599 screens (38.3% of top 10)

Up 13.6% from 2016: (£14,572,147); Warcraft: The Beginning (£3,623,725); Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (£3,495,445); Me Before You (£1,790,657); The Nice Guys (£1,004,622); Race (£39,990); #1 Warcraft: The Beginning £3,623,725 500 screens 1st week (24.8% of top 10)

Up 91.3% from 2015; (£8,657,357); Spy (£2,557,824); Insidious Chapter 3 (£1,440,299); The Empire Strikes Back (Secret Cinema 2015) (£304,115); Survivor (£130,307); Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films (£4,442); #1 Spy £2,557,824 531 screens 1st week (29.5% of top 10)

Up 33.9% from 2014: (£12,366,516); 22 Jump Street (£4,854,991); D-Day 70 Years On (£287,767); Grace of Monaco (£238,862); Der Rosenkavalier – Glyndebourne 2014 (£75,428); Fruitvale Station (£30,162); #1 22 Jump Street £4,854,991 454 screens 1st week (39.2% of top 10)

Up 36.3% from 2013: (£12,145,608); The Purge (£1,019,877); The Big Wedding (£595,956); Byzantium (£114,339); Populaire (£106,192); #1 The Hangover Part III £2,917,887 498 screens 51% drop 2nd week (24.1% of top 10)

Down 1.7% from 2012 (£16,285,480); Prometheus (£6,236,580); Snow White and the Huntsman (£3,589,027); Top Cat – The Movie (£457,287); The Angels’ Share (£256,446); LOL (£114,545); #1 Prometheus £6,236,580 1st week 514 screens (38.2% of top 10)

Up 23.9% from 2011; (£13,361,869); X-Men: First Class (£5,438,386); Eyes Wide Open 3D (£463,914); Senna (£375,173); Last Night (£51,245); Prom (£34,885); Screwed (£9,297); #1 X-Men: First Class £5,438,386 1st week 507 screens (40.7% of top 10)

Up 117.8% from 2010: (£7,601,859); Death at a Funeral (£696,280); 4.3.2.1 (£433,218); She’s Out of My League (£400,554); The Killer Inside Me (£124,006); #1 Sex and the City 2 £2,473,043 2nd week 521 screens 60% drop (32.5% of top 10)

Up 17.4% from 2009; (£14,109,630); Terminator Salvation (£6,936,528); Last Chance Harvey (£640,390); Anything for Her (£89,467); #1 Terminator Salvation £6,936,528 1st week 489 screens (49.1% of top 10)

Up 94.2% from 2008; (£8,527,504); Superhero Movie (£851,353); Prom Night (£507,985); Gone, Baby, Gone (£351,127); #1 Sex and the City £3,085,231 2^nd week 65% drop 469 screens (36.2% of top 10)

Up 102.6% from 2007: (£8,174,672); Wedding Daze (£803,471); Paradise Lost (£406,822); The Hitcher (£217,973); Flyboys (£38,531); #1 Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End £5,381,920 2nd week 550 screens 60% drop (65.8% of top 10)

Up 117.1% from 2006; (£7,629,707); Poseidon (£1,349,080); United 93 (£616,882); Wah-Wah (£46,159); Benchwarmers (£40,366); #1 X-Men: The Last Stand £ 2,310,683 2nd week 448 screens 67% drop (30.3% of top 10)

Up 84.7% from 2005: (£8,963,845); Sin City (£2,452,299); The League of Gentlemen’s Apocalypse (£555,996); #1 Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith £3,313,328 3rd week 490 screens 39% drop (36.9% of top 10)

Down 43.1% from 2004 (£29,089,953); Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (£23,882,688); Japanese Story (£37,580); #1 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban £23,882,688 1st week 535 screens (82.1% of top 10)

Up 154.8% from 2003 (£6,499,525); Anger Management (£1,768,335); The Hunted (£394,122); Dark Water (£34,978); #1 The Matrix Reloaded £2,485,938 3rd week 473 screens 34% drop (38.2% of top 10)

Up 175.6% from 2002 (£6,007,556); 40 Days and 40 Nights (£1,027,578); The Time Machine (£808,389); Snow Dogs (£331,432); #1 Star Wars Ep II – Attack of the Clones £2,442,698 471 screens 3rd week 40.6% drop (61.9% of top 10)

Next Week 2022 (£18,965,681); Jurassic World: Dominion (£12,121,728); #1 Jurassic World: Dominion £12,121,728 1^st week 707 screens (63.9% of top 10)

US Box Office

• Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse – Sony Pictures

Opened with $120.66m; received positive reviews (95% Rotten Tomatoes); A CinemaScore

52^nd biggest opening between Toy Story 4 and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (close to Finding Dory #37 $135.06m; Frozen II #42 $130.26m; Minions #57 $115.71m; Toy Story 3 #60 $110.3m).

EntTelligence reported it had 9m admissions over the weekend and 31% BO came between 1 pm-5 pm; 29% 5 pm-8 pm and 23% after 8 pm.

33% came from IMAX and PLF with IMAX taking $20m worldwide with $13.5m from 401 US IMAX cinemas 11.2% of the opening.

Took $17.4m on Thursday; had the biggest opening day of the year, $51.7m more than Super Mario Bros $31.7m and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 $48.1m. Also had the third-best day ever for a Spider-Man movie after Spider-Man: No Way Home $121.9m and Spider-Man 3 $59.8m and the third-biggest animated opening day after Incredibles 2 $71.2m and Finding Dory $54.7m.

Ahead of the opening, it was tracking to open with $80m.

The sequel’s second trailer had 148.6m views in the first 24-hour period, more than Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (116.9m) and The Flash (81.6m) and is the second most watched trailer for recent Marvel films in a 24-hours.

2018’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse opened $35.36m taking $190.24m and $384.25m WW, unlike live-action Marvel films the BO was almost 50/50 US and international.

Opened with $88.1m from 59 territories and $208.6m worldwide; China $17.3m; Mexico $11.6m; UK $11.5m; Australia $5.3m; Brazil $3.7m; France $3.7m;

• The Little Mermaid – Disney

Dropped 57% in the second weekend taking $41.38m and $186.99m

107^th biggest second weekend between Man of Steel and Captain America: The Winter Soldier (close to Aladdin #99 $42.84m; Shrek #101 $42.48m; Oz the Great and Powerful #109 $41.25m; The Lion King (1994) #113 $40.88m).

EntTelligence reported average price was $13.37 with $11.19 for children.

255^th biggest between The Croods and John Wick: Chapter 4; 571^st inflated between Space Jam and The Sum of All Fears; 4^th 2023 film between Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and John Wick: Chapter 4; 74^th biggest Disney between Wreck-It Ralph and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

The biggest Disney re-imaginations on second weekends:

2017’s Beauty and the Beast dropped 48.3% $90.42m #1 $319.03m 63.3% of $504.01m

2019’s The Lion King dropped 60% $76.62m #1 $351.87m 64.7% of $543.63m

2010’s Alice in Wonderland dropped 46% $62.71m #1 $209.33m 62.6% of $334.19m

2016’s The Jungle Book dropped 40.4% $61.53m #1 $192.91m 53% of $364m

2019’s Aladdin dropped 53.2% $42.84m #2 $185.53m 52.2% of $355.55m

1989’s The Little Mermaid up 39% $8.38m #3 $16.83m 20% of $84.35m

Rob Marshall previously directed 2018’s Mary Poppins Returns (took $171.95m and $349.54m WW), 2014’s Into the Woods ($128m and $212.9m WW); 2011’s Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides ($241.07m and $1.046bn WW); 2005’s Memoirs of a Geisha (took $57.49m and $162.24m WW) and 2002’s Chicago (took $170.68m and $306.77m WW)

Opened with $42.3m (dropped 38.1%) from 51 territories $140.5m total and $326.7m worldwide; UK $20m; Mexico $14.5m; Italy $9.2m; Brazil $8.5m; Australia $7.4m; France $7.4m; Spain $6.8m; Germany $6.0m.

476^th biggest worldwide between Taken 3 and John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum; 8^th biggest 2023 between John Wick: Chapter 4 and Creed III; 97^th biggest Disney film between Bolt and The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

• The Boogeyman – Disney

Opened with $12.35m; received mixed reviews (60% Rotten Tomatoes); B- CinemaScore

Took $1.1m from Thursday midnights less than recent horrors Evil Dead Rise $1.9m; Smile $2m and M3gan $2.75m.

Horror has been a steady performing genre since cinemas re-opened, this year Evil Dead Rises, The Pope’s Exorcist, Scream VI, Knock at the Cabin and M3gan opened. Last year The Menu, Prey for the Devil, Halloween Ends, Smile, Nope, The Black Phone and Scream.

The film was first announced in 2018 by 20th Century Fox but was cancelled along with many other films when Disney acquired the studio. In November 2021 it was revived as a film for Hulu, but after a positive test screening in December and a positive response from Stephen King, it was announced in January that it would have a theatrical release. Disney did the same last year with Barbarian opening with $10.54m taking $40.84m, Smile opening $22.6m taking $105.93m and Evil Dead Rises opening $24.5m taking $67.03m.

Upcoming horrors include Insidious: Fear the Dark (July), The Nun 2 (September), The Exorcist (October), and Saw X (October) with the next Stephen King Salem’s Lot currently undated and originally due for release last September.

Opened with $7.7m from 47 territories.

• Fast X – Universal Pictures

Dropped 58% in the third weekend taking $9.59m and $128.82m

711th biggest 3^rd weekend between Trainwreck and Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (close to The Equalizer, Enemy of the State, The Expendables and Lucy).

It had the second-lowest third weekend of the Fast & Furious series only 2006’s The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift took less ($4.48m) but as ticket inflation since is over 60% it had the lowest.

Third weekends

2021’s Fast 9 dropped 50.3% $11.43m and $141.88m of $173m and $726.22m WW

2019’s Hobbs & Shaw dropped 43.9% $14.17m and $133.78m of $174m and $760.73m WW

2017’s Fate of the Furious dropped 48.1% $19.93m and $193.26m of $226m and $1.236bn WW

2015’s Fast 7 dropped 51.1% $29.15m and $294.51m of $353m and $1.515bn WW

2013’s Fast and Furious 6 dropped 44.2% $19.62m and $202.81m of $238.67m and $788.67m WW

2011’s Fast Five dropped 37% and $20.44m $169.69m of $209.83m and $626.13m WW

2009’s Fast and Furious dropped 56.8% $11.77m and $136.2m of $155.06m and $360.36m WW

2006’s The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift dropped 54.2% $4.48m and $51.71m of $62.51m and $158.96m WW

2003’s 2 Fast 2 Furious dropped 40.6% $11.09m and $102.88m of $127.15m and $236.35m WW

2001’s The Fast and the Furious dropped 38.8% $12.28m and $101.38m of $144.53m and $207.28m WW

518^th biggest film between The Ring and The Nutty Professor; 1,003^rd biggest inflated between Demolition Man and The Specialist; 7^th biggest 2023 film between Creed III and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse; 72^nd biggest Universal Pictures between American Gangster and The Nutty Professor.

The 11 Fast and the Furious films have taken over $1.992bn in the US and over $7.21bn worldwide.

The box office of the Fast and the Furious franchises highlights the way global BO has changed over the last 20+ years and the impact China has had on the global box office.

2023 top 5 studios

Universal $1.05bn; Disney $745.3m; Lionsgate $313.9m; Sony $303m; 20^th Century Studios $295.4m. Warner Bros will be joining the top 5 this summer with The Flash, Barbie and The Meg 2: The Trench.

Universal likely gave exhibitors similar terms to exhibitors for Fast X as Super Mario Bros either a flat fee of 63% rental for the entire run or 63% in the opening weekend and then a sliding scale dropping down to 35% after a few weeks. As previous films were front-loaded exhibitors would have chosen a 63% flat fee, but it gets complicated as with 75%+ of BO from international with 40% from China its rental is about 20%. Fast 9 took $217m in China but Universal’s rental was about $45m.

It won’t be the same for Indy 5 as Yogurt said in Spaceballs ‘merchandising, where the real money from the movie is made’ as Disney will take $8bn+ global BO this year but will be dwarfed by the $60bn+ Disney will make from merchandising sales with another $30bn from theme parks. 

Films like Indy 5, The Little Mermaid, Avatar 2 and Haunted Mansion are just software for the hardware of merchandise and theme parks, as Sony hoped after buying Columbia Pictures in 1989 films would be software to Sony’s hardware but weren’t able to exploit anywhere nearly as much as Disney has done over the last decade. 

Took $41.4m from 84 territories $474.8m total and $603.3m worldwide; China $125m; Mexico $33.3m; Brazil $21.4m; Japan $19.6m; UK $16.4m.

Took $32m worldwide from IMAX including $23.8m internationally.

177^th biggest worldwide between War of the Worlds and Transformers: The Last Knight; 3^rd biggest 2023 between Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania; 20^th biggest Universal Pictures between The Lost World: Jurassic Park and Mamma Mia!

• Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 – Disney

Dropped 49% in the fifth weekend taking $10.67m and $323.18m

111^th biggest fifth weekend between Up in the Air and The Ring (close to The Batman #98 $11m; Deadpool #103 $10.94m; Aquaman #120 $10.17m; Suicide Squad #133 $9.91m).

82^nd biggest between Deadpool 2 and Shrek the Third; 2^nd biggest 2023 film between The Super Mario Bros. Movie and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania; 202^nd biggest inflated between Platoon and Sing; 29^th biggest comic-book film between Deadpool 2 and Iron Man; 34^th biggest Disney film between Guardians of the Galaxy and Thor: Ragnarok.

Fifth Weekends

2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 1 dropped 0.7% taking $17.08m #1 and $275.37m 82.6% of $333.17m

2017’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 dropped 39.7% taking $9.83m #4 and $355.58m 91.2% of $389.81m

8^th biggest MCU fourth weekend between Black Panther Wakanda Forever ($21m) and Captain Marvel ($20.6m) close to Avengers Infinity War, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Iron Man and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2).

2014’s GOTG took $333.7m US, $439.6m internationally and $773.3m worldwide; GOTG2 took $389.8m US, $473.09m internationally and $863.8m worldwide, so GOTG3 should take $1bn+ worldwide.

Took $12.4m (50.6% drop) from 52 territories and $457.4m internationally and $780.1m worldwide; China $79.8m; UK $39.8m; Mexico $33.7m; Korea $30.2m; France $26.6m.

107^th biggest worldwide between Deadpool and Star Wars Ep. IV: A New Hope; 27^th biggest comic book worldwide between Deadpool and Guardians of the Galaxy; 37^th biggest Disney film between Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales and Guardians of the Galaxy;

UK Box Office Top 10

UK Box Office Preview

With Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse dropping 50% in its second weekend taking £4m-£5m it could be a closing fought battle for #1 against Transformers: Rise of the Beasts which is likely to open a similar amount over a 4-day opening similar to 2018’s Bumblebee opened £5,103,382.

Hard to make comparisons with their openings as some of them had extended openings; 2007’s Transformers opened £8,718,561 from 456 screens #2 (no previews) against The Simpsons #1 £13,626,853 and was the 9th biggest film of the year £22,863,864 while 2014’s Transformers: Age of Extinction had the biggest opening £11,756,482 but was inflated with a week of previews.

The 6 Transformer films have taken almost £120m in the UK (£160m inflated), $1.58bn in the US and $4.84bn worldwide.

While Bumblebee received far better reviews than all of the other Transformer films it was also the lowest-grossing film of the series, but also had the lowest budget of the franchise $102m compared with $217m for the last Transformers film and $200m for Rise of the Beasts.

Early tracking has been close to Shazam! Fury of the Gods, Morbius, X-Men: Dark Phoenix and Terminator: Dark Fate.

The Little Mermaid will likely drop 45%-50% (will see a big drop from Fri-Fri) taking £2m-£2.5m as after a strong opening 10 days due to half-term its weekend BO will return to normal.

Guardians 3, Fast X and The Boogeyman will likely drop upwards of 50% as Fast X will likely end up being the fifth lowest-grossing film of the series in the UK coming short of Fast 9’s £16,453,294 while Guardians 3 will come short of Guardians 2.

While Chevalier is likely to struggle to find an audience despite receiving positive reviews (81% Rotten Tomatoes), the lower half of the top 10 will be very soft and should open in the top 10.

Opening in two weeks

• Elemental – Disney

27^th Pixar animated romantic comedy featuring voices of Leah Lewis, Mamoudou Athie, Ronnie del Carmen, Shila Ommi, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Catherine O’Hara, Mason Wertheimer, Joe Pera, and Matt Yang King directed by Peter Sohn (The Good Dinosaur).

The first original Pixar film to have a theatrical release since Onward in 2020, Soul, Lucia and Turning Red were all released straight to Disney+ while the last Pixar film was Toy Story prequel Lightyear which disappointed both critically and at the BO.

Elemental received its world premiere out of competition at the Cannes Film Festival, receiving a mixed reception. The plot of the film is similar to many other Pixar film formulas, what if x had feelings? Toys with feelings (Toy Story), monsters with feelings (Monsters Inc), robots with feelings (Wall-E), feelings with feelings (Inside Out) and now elements with feelings (Elemental).

Unlike recent Pixar films, Elemental doesn’t open day and date with the US and opens three weeks later so it’s closer to the start of the school holidays and without any other major family film until Haunted Mansion should play strongly throughout the summer.

Elemental is the first Pixar film since 2018’s Incredibles 2 to have a short attached which used to be the norm for Pixar films.

The 23 Pixar films that have had cinema releases have taken over £715m since 1996’s Toy Story and £1bn inflated.

• Insidious: The Red Door – Sony Pictures

Supernatural horror and fifth instalment of the Insidious franchise and direct sequel to 2010’s Insidious and 2013’s Insidious: Chapter 2. Starring Ty Simpkins, Wilson, Andrew Astor, Rose Byrne, and Lin Shaye and is directed by Patrick Wilson.  

2011’s Insidious opened £1,441,292 taking £7,035,245

2013’s Insidious 2 opened £2,877,742 taking £6,996,519

2015’s Insidious Chapter 3 opened £1,440,299 taking £3,874,112

2018’s Insidious: The Last Key opened £1,840,992 taking £5,040,844

• Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One – Paramount Pictures (Tuesday)

Sequel to 2018’s Mission: Impossible Fallout and the seventh instalment in the Mission Impossible film series. Starring Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Esai Morales, Vanessa Kirby and Henry Czerny and directed by Christopher McQuarrie.

In January 2019 Tom Cruise announced the seventh and eighth Mission: Impossible films would be shot back-to-back and would be released on July 23, 2021, and August 5, 2022

Filming began in February 2020 stopping and starting several times to COVID, in December 2020 during filming in London an audio recording of Cruise shouting to crew members not following COVID rules was released and was likened to his Les Grossman character from Tropic Thunder.

The first trailer was shown at CinemaCon in April 2022 and was released online in May.

The sequel, Dead Reckoning Part Two will be released June 28, 2024.

The big question is whether the huge success of Top Gun: Maverick impacts Mission Impossible 7 as the previous films performed similarly.

Tom Cruise’s last 34 films took £432m+ (£710m+ inflated) 20% from Top Gun: Maverick (£83.6m) while the previous 6 Mission Impossible films have taken £115m (£170m) combined.