Top 5 Breakdown
- Bridget Jones’s Baby (Universal Pictures) – £4,807,165 – £31,350,360
Down 25.5% in its third weekend taking £30m in 17 days; Bridget Jones Diary took 31 days in 2001 going on to take £42m while Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason took 24 days going on to take £36m.
Thanks to Bridget Jones’s Baby industry are claiming the highest admissions for September since 1997 when The Full Monty was released as the average ticket prices have increased by almost 90% using CEA data the admissions of Bridget Jones’s Baby Vs The Full Monty are almost 50% less which shows everything is far from awesome at the UK box office. If UK cinema admissions would have increased as dramatically in the 90s-2003 in 2004-2015 UK admissions would be the highest for almost 50 years over 220 million. My average ticket price for 2016 is £7.66 which is 6% increase (same percentage increase CEA claimed for 2014 Vs 2015) from CEA claimed £7.21 of 2015 but of course in reality the real average ticket price cinema-goers are paying is £9.50+.
Has become the fourth biggest rom-com at the UK box office overtaking 1999’s Notting Hill £31.01m behind the two Bridget Jones films and 2003’s Love Actually £36.2m. All three films were made by Working Title.
Last week Working Title announced their films have taken $1 billion at the UK box office the first British production company to do so. While Working Title began as British in 1983 were brought by Polygram in 1992 who were owned by Philips (Dutch) made only four films as a British production company their first a critical success but not a box office hit My Beautiful Laundrette.
In the early years Working Title had more misses than hits in 1994 had Four Weddings and a Funeral which became was then the highest-grossing film in the UK and critical hits like Fargo but it was only in 1998 in the shadows of Polygram being sold to Universal Pictures had continued success with The Big Lebowski, Elizabeth, Notting Hill, Billy Elliot, About a Boy and Love Actually but all of those films were made and released by Universal.
In 1999 Canal+ started a 50/50 joint venue with Working Title to co-finance their films which developed in distributing some of their films like Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and I Give It a Year. Since 1992 Working Title is as British as James Bond and Eon Productions who might be a British Production company but without MGM would have never made any of the James Bond films.
Comparisons with the previous two films are impossible given its 12 years since Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason;
In 2004 Bridget Jones Edge of Reason took £3.09m down 40% in is fourth weekend taking £27.07m, in its fourth down 44% with £1.69m taking £30.57m and in its fifth weekend £863,219 taking £32.47m and in its sixth weekend £517,953 taking £33.6m; with the arrival of over those weekends Blade: Trinity with £2.63m, Phantom of Opera £1.2m and expansion of The Polar Express £2.13m and Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events £2.21m. Bridget Jones’s Baby is likely to perform similarly with The Girl on the Train out week four, Inferno week five and Jack Reacher: Never Go Back and Doctor Strange in week six.
In 2001 Bridget Jones Diary dropped 17.6% in its third weekend taking £3.5m and £21.31m; dropping 20.9% in the fourth weekend taking £26.41m; dropping 50.4% in its fifth weekend taking £29.5m and up £1.43m up 4% taking £32.25m.
Impossible to compare the performance of those two films by box office so admissions they compare using £4.14 average ticket price in 2001, £4.49m in 2004 and £7.66 for 2016 up 6.5% from average ticket prices Cinema Exhibitors Association claimed to be for 2015.
Bridget Jones Diary – 5,149,429 (£21.31m)
Bridge Jones: Edge of Reason – 6,015,025 (£27.01m)
Bridget Jones’s Baby – 4,092,736 (£31,350,360m)
Bridget Jones’s Baby admissions are 47% less than Edge of Reason and 26% less than Bridget Jones Diary.
Using the same CEA data using today’s ticket prices box office of Bridget Jones Diary after 17 days is £39.44m and Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason £46.07m compared with Bridget Jones’s Baby 17-day total.
.
| R-Date | OWE | 2WE | Drop | 3WE | Drop | 4WE | Drop | |
| Bridget Jones Diary | 13 April 2001 | £5.72 | £4.26 | 25% | £3.5 | 18% | £2.77 | 21% |
| Bridget Jones: EOR | 12 Nov 2004 | £10.4 | £5.04 | 29%* | £3.0 | 40% | £1.69 | 44% |
| Bridget Jones’s Baby | 16 Sept 2016 | £8.11 | £6.25 | 22% | £4.8 | 25% | £1.66* | 45% |
| 50 Shades of Grey | 13 Feb 2015 | £13.2 | £4.56 | 66% | £2.2 | 51% | £1.06 | 53% |
With Bridget Jones’s Baby dropping only 20% in its third weekend puts extra pressure on The Girl on the Train next weekend which for months has been hyped up as this year’s Gone Girl. It was always going to be hard to open similar to Gone Girl but this had been made even harder with Bridget Jones’s Baby as after two weekends of dropping 20% it will likely drop heavier against The Girl on the Train but even if it drops 40% would still have weekend box office of £3.1m. But The Girl on the Train will of course benefit from Weds/Thurs previews having a five-day weekend over Bridget Jones’s Baby 3-day weekend.
- Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children (20th Century Fox) – £3,473,781
2D £1,487,231 with previews £1,544,696 – 3D £1,344,249 – with previews £1,384,461
After recent disappointing openings for Tm Burton of 2014’s Big Eyes and 2012’s Frankenweenie opening was far ahead of his similar quirky Dark Shadows which opened with £2,404,029 in 2012. The British setting along with screenplay by Jane Goldman who also wrote the 2007 screenplay to Stardust which opened in October 2007 with £2.24m. Next for Jane Goldman is Kingsman: The Golden Circle released next summer
Was Tim Burton’s sixth biggest opening in the UK and his biggest since 2010’s Alice in Wonderland. He decided to make Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children instead of Alice Through the Looking Glass which opened with £2.22m in May. Parts of the film were shot in the UK in Caerhays Castle and Minions in Cornwall, and Blackpool.
After receiving mixed reviews should put it in a decent position in the run up to half-term holidays in a few weeks’ time targeting older audiences compared to animated Storks and Trolls which open over the next two weeks. The marketplace is crowded over the next few weeks but should keep teens entertained until Doctor Strange opens in three weeks’ time.
| Beetlejuice | 19th August 1988 | £524,740 |
| Batman | 11th August 1989 | £2,058,159 |
| Edward Scissorhands | 26 July 1991 | n/a |
| Batman Returns | 10th July 1992 | £4,307,045 |
| Ed Wood | 26th May 1995 | n/a |
| Mars Attacks! | 28th February 1997 | £3,413,345 |
| Sleepy Hollow | 7th January 2000 | £2,848,933 |
| Planet of the Apes | 17th August 2001 | £5,445,983 |
| Big Fish | 30th January 2004 | £1,828,644 |
| Charlie and the Chocolate Factory | 29th July 2005 | £7,972,168 |
| Corpse Bride | 21st October 2005 | £1,150,464 |
| Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber… | 25th January 2008 | £4,525,246 |
| Alice in Wonderland | 5th March 2010 | £10,555,220 |
| Dark Shadows | 11th May 2012 | £2,404,029 |
| Frankenweenie | 17th October 2012 | £741,683 |
| Big Eyes | 26th December 2014 | £135,582 |
- Deepwater Horizon – £1,984,340 (Lionsgate Films)– NE
2D took £1,384,461 – with previews £1,597,925 – IMAX took £120,751
After receiving its premiere at Toronto Film Festival last month receiving positive reviews had its London premiere last week while it’s underwhelming opening in the US is understandable opening a few weeks after Sully but despite its strong marketing campaign and positive reviews, the opening was underwhelming.
Mark Wahlberg has had mixed success at the UK box office over his 20 years acting career after appearing in several smaller films his breakthrough role was in 1997’s Boogie Nights opening with £792,712 in January 1998, 2003’s The Italian Job remake £2.29m, 2005’s Four Brothers £789,718, 2007’s Shooter £716,202, 2008’s The Happening £1.62m, 2013’s Pain & Gain £1m, 2014’s Lone Survivor £744,058 (also starred in Ted movies, Transformers: Age of Extinction in 2014 and Transformers: The Last Knight released next June and also stars in Patriot’s Day also directed by Peter Berg). He also starred with Will Ferrell in Daddy’s Home opened with £1.61m taking £16.71m having previously starred together in 2010’s The Other Guys opening with £1.98m taking £8.1m. But his previous three films Ted 2 and Entourage in 2015 and The Gambler disappointed
Director Peter Berg made his directorial debut 1998’s Very Bad Things opened with £437,514 having mixed success with his other films 1998’s Welcome to the Jungle £635,485 was one of the first films for Dwayne Johnson then still called The Rock and also 2008’s Hancock £9.58m, 2012’s Battleship £3.76m and directed Mark Wahlberg in 2014’s Lone Survivor.
- The Magnificent Seven – £1,004,373 (Sony Pictures) – £4,354,269
Down a disappointing 59.4% in its second weekend which compared to a drop of only 35% for The Equalizer in 2014 which had to deal with the arrival of Gone Girl opening with £4.1m.
After decent reviews and only Deepwater Horizon being direct competition for The Magnificent Seven would have expected Denzel Washington and Chris Pratt pairing to hold far stronger against the arrival of Mark Wahlberg and Kurt Russell but they just cannibalized each other as neither got audiences interested despite big marketing campaigns for both.
Has overtaken Denzel Washington’s 2000’s The Bone Collector, 2010’s The Book of Eli and 2013’s 2 Guns and will shortly overtake 2006’s Déjà Vu, 2009’s The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, 2010’s Unstoppable and 2013’s Flight.
But would have expected the additions of the other Magnificent Six to Denzel Washington like Chris Pratt would have expanded its audience.
Next up for Denzel Washington he returns to directing and acting in the film version of Fences which is unlikely to generate much interest in the UK unless it gets Oscar and BAFTA nominations. The first two films he directed Antwone Fisher in 2003 and The Great Debaters while receiving positive reviews had very limited releases in the UK. For Chris Pratt, stars in December with Passengers with Jennifer Lawrence opening days after Star Wars: Rogue One.
- Supersonic – £542,263 (Picturehouse)– NE
Two weeks’ after the live-stream simulcast of The Beatles: Eight Days A Week documentary from Leicester Square taking £596,957 it was the turn of Manchester and Liam Gallagher with the premiere of Mat Whitecross documentary about Oasis. The films Manchester premiere was simulcast in 300 cinemas across the UK on Sunday.
The documentary was produced by Asif Kapadia who directed 2015’s Amy and 2010’s Senna documentaries. Amy opened July 2015 with £523,192 (including £127,000 from previews) from 133 screens going to take over £2m; Comparing Supersonic box office without previews opened ahead of Amy which shows again how previews manipulate box office figures as film performances should be compared like for like shouldn’t be able to benefit from previews to inflate their openings.
2010’s Senna opened with £375,000 from only 67 screens going on to take £3.17m; the biggest ever documentary was 2004’s Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 opening with £1.3m going on to take £6.55m.
Other box office news:
Outside the top 10 – The BFG – eOne – £157,699 – £29,977,984 in its 11th week on release by now has taken over £30m at the UK box office becoming the ninth film to take over £30m at the UK box office in 2016.
For most after disappointing in the US in the shadows of Finding Dory were surprised by the success of The BFG but Roald Dahl books are as beloved by children as Michael Bond’s Paddington Bear so was always likely to perform similarly. Had it not been for Finding Dory would of likely of overtaken 2005’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’s £37.22m only had Madagascar as its only real competition which had been already out for three weeks topping the chart for 4 weeks compared to The BFG’s one.
With half-term holidays in a couple of weeks, The BFG still has a chance to overtake Steven Spielberg’s War of the Worlds (his third biggest film at UK box office) which took £30.36m.
Also released
Free State of Jones – Studiocanal – £116,686 from 226 screens
Swiss Army Man – Picturehouse – £80,403 from 59 screens
Southside With You – Soda — £6,184 from 27 screens
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This weekend’s top 10 box office took £13,075,476 up 17.1% from last weekend £11,162,139; weekend admissions 1,707,109 up 17.1% from last weekend 1,457,193.
The weekend was up 15.5% from same weekend last year (£11,313,582) when The Martian £6,522,453, Macbeth £746,642, The Intern £732,184 and The Walk £157,597 opened.
Next weekend 2015: Sicario £1,374,398, Regression £214,489, and The Walk expanded taking £526,503.
After calculating admissions for Bridget Jones’s Baby against Bridget Jones Diary and Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason as being 12 and 14 years after they were released they can’t be compared by their box office would add admissions to my box office chart. The average ticket price using is £7.66 which would see it as a 6.5% increase from Cinema Exhibitors Association average ticket price of £7.21 for 2015 which was a 7.3% increase from 2014.
Complete UK Box office top 10 – September 30th – October 2nd, 2016
US Box Office
- 20th Century Fox – Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children – opens with $28.5m; received B+ CinemaScore; slightly lower than Tim Burton’s 2012’s Dark Shadows $29.6m was his 8th biggest opening in the US. But will be hoping to hold better in its second weekend to Dark Shadows which dropped 57.6% taking $12.5m; was originally set for release July 31st 2015 moved to March 4th 2016 then moved to Christmas Day 2016 before moving to its September 30th release date.
- Lionsgate – Deepwater Horizon – opens $20.6m; received A- CinemaScore; after receiving positive reviews opening was slightly disappointing especially as the film had a reported budget of $156m which was almost double of Clint Eastwood’s Sully which likely affected its box office.
- Sony Pictures – Magnificent Seven – drops 54.8% – $15.7m – $61.6m; after having similar opening weekend to Denzel Washington’s last film The Equalizer which opened the same weekend two years ago Magnificent Seven dropped 16% more in its second weekend taking $18.7m Vs $14.7m and $64.2 after 10 days. The Equalizer also dropped two places after Gone Girl and Annabelle opened with $37.5m and $37.1m.
- Warner Bros – Storks – drops 35.2% – $13.8m – $38.8m;
- Warner Bros – Sully – drops 37.9% – $8.4m – $105.3m; has overtaken Tom Hanks 2002’s Road to Perdition becoming his 18th biggest film in the US will overtake Captain Philips in a couple of days and over the next few weeks will also overtake 1992’s A League of Their Own, 1988’s Big and 1998’s You’ve Got Mail. Later this month stars in Inferno, the second sequel to 2006’s The Da Vinci Code his fifth biggest film.
- Relativity – Masterminds – opens $6.6m; received B- CinemaScore; release delayed over a year due to bankruptcy of the studio was tracking to open with about $10m; was originally developed as Loomis Fargo to star Jim Carrey in 2012.
- Disney – Queen of Katwe – $2.6m up 755% after adding 1,190 – $3.1m; after receiving positive reviews disappointed opening last weekend opening on far too many screens and this weekend expanded far too quickly; Disney used to be experts at feel-good sports dramas but in recent years films like McFarland and Million Dollar Arm disappointed at the box office as Disney concentrated on franchise properties; 2006’s Invincible and Glory Road, 2005’s The Greatest Game Ever Played, 2004’s Miracle, 2000’s remember the Titans, 1993’s Cool Runnings and many fiction films too like The Mighty Ducks and Angels in the Outfield.
- Screen Gems – Don’t Breathe – drops 37.1% – $2.3m – $84.7m
- Universal Pictures – Bridget Jones’s Baby – drops 50% – $2.3m – $20.9m; after 17 days Bridget Jones Diary had taken $36.2m in 2001 and Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason $31.9 2004 while Bad Moms had taken more than three times $71.3m showing the different between US and UK humour.
- Open Road – Snowden – dropped 50% – $2.1m – $18.7m
Also opened on limited release
Bleecker Street – Denial – opens £102,101 from 5 screens
A24 – American Honey – opens $75,370 from 4 screens
Main opening Friday weekend predictions:
Opening UK
- The Girl On The Train – eOne (opening Wednesday)
Thriller based on the 2015 debut novel by Paula Hawkins starring Emily Blunt, Rebecca Ferguson, Haley Bennett, Justin Theroux, Luke Evans, Allison Janney, Édgar Ramírez and Lisa Kudrow and directed by Tate Taylor.
On paper, this is a slam-dunk box office success as the novel sold over 3 million copies alone in the US similar to Gone Girl, but everything about The Girl On The Train feels like a clone of Gone Girl from its marketing to its release date exactly two years to the weekend Gone Girl opened;
Gone Girl had Ben Affleck hot after his Oscar-winning Argo in 2012 (he did star in flop Runner Runner the year before) while Rosamund Pike might of not had the same memorable roles as Emily Blunt did star 12 years before as Miranda Frost in Die Another Day.
Similar to Rosamund Pike, Emily Blunt started her acting career in UK TV dramas before her breakthrough role as Emily in The Devil Wears Prada in 2006 memorable roles in in The Young Victoria in 2009, The Adjustment Bureau in 2011, Looper in 2012, Edge of Tomorrow in 2013, Into the Woods in 2014 and Sicario in 2015 and has been casted as Mary Poppin’s in the Mary Poppins Returns which will be released December 2018 54 years after the original film.
Justin Theroux has been on the edge of glory for many years starring in many TV shows including Six Feet Under and Parks and Recreation but his most memorable are his latest as Kevin Garvey in the incredible The Leftovers its final series is broadcast next year.
Two years ago Gone Girl opened with £4.1m (taking £22.01m) dropping only 16% in its second weekend faces much tougher competition in its second weekend with Inferno while Gone Girl had The Mazer Runner, Annabelle, and One Direction: Where We Are Concert film none targeting the similar audience.
The film received its world premiere on September 20th in London. Embargo ended on Monday and reviews were mixed many comparing it obviously to Gone Girl as a poor imitation feeling more Desperate Housewives melodrama than a thriller.
This is probably due to director Tate Taylor who made the excellent The Help in 2011 but The Girl on the Train needed a director similar to David Fincher who knows how to do action. Instead, the action feels staged as Sydney Pollack in 1993’s The Firm, Brian De Palma in 1996’s Mission Impossible and Sam Mendes with Skyfall in 2012 and Spectre in 2015.
The film isn’t helped with the screenplay by Erin Cressida Wilson previous films were more dramatic than the thriller with Secretary and Men, Women & Children. The shame with The Girl on the Train is the onscreen cast is great includes another performance by Jennifer Lawrence lookalike Haley Bennett who also recently appeared in The Magnificent Seven and stars in Warren Beatty’s Rules Don’t Apply released in the US in November.
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, Into the Woods opened in 2015 with £2.48 taking £9.83m and Edge of Tomorrow opened with £1.88m taking £7.75m
The Girl on the Train has received strong media coverage opening four weeks after Bridget Jones’s Baby will replace it in top spot after toping the chart for three weekends only likely due to its previews from Wednesday/Thursday.
The Girl on the Train does benefit from having a 15 certificate instead of 18 Gone Girl received, also opening Wednesday giving it a five-day opening and the trailer being shown with Bridget Jones’s Baby which is targeting the similar audience. How Bridget Jones’s Baby holds in its fourth weekend will affect its opening as it could be taking over £1.5m+ (Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason took £1.69m and Bridget Jones Diary took £2.77m in its fourth weekend. With Bridget Jones’s Baby holding well its box office will likely eat into The Girl on the Train as even if it drops 50% next weekend it would still have a £2m+ weekend.
in 2014 Gone Girl had Dracula Untold opening against it taking £1.7m and The Equalizer with £1.2m neither film aimed at similar audience demographic.
Opening US Friday
- The Girl On The Train – Universal
After selling over 3 million copies in the US alone has been much anticipation for the film version of Paula Hawkins 2015 novel. But the novel was a couple of years after Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl and many compared it to Gone Girl, Paula Hawkins has disliked the comparisons between The Girl on the Train and Gone Girl but the filmmakers and the studio with its marketing has cloned Gone Girl so will be compared. In a year of so few original films, it’s a shame that The Girl on the Train isn’t allowed to be seen as the original had it been so audiences and critics could have seen the film as it is not in the shadows of Gone Girl.
Two years ago the same weekend Gone Girl opened with $37.5m going on to take $167.7m in US and $369.3m worldwide receiving Golden Globe, Oscar, and BAFTA nominations. But while Gone Girl starred Ben Affleck neither Emily Blunt or Justin Theroux have opened a film last year’s Sicario had a platform release opening $12.1m wide.
After receiving mixed reviews, The Girl on the Train is expected to open lower than expected with possibly Hurricane Matthew being seen as a potential excuse Universal Pictures will use if it does underperform at the box office.
Emily Blunt’s biggest openings 2010’s The Wolfman, 2014’s Into the Woods and Edge of Tomorrow and 2006’s The Devil Wears Prada she was co-star not lead while often giving memorable performances audiences didn’t go to see the films because she was starring in them. Ben Affleck was coming off his Oscar win Argo but he hadn’t had a $30m+ opener since 2003’s Daredevil.
Gone Girl received its world premiere the week before opening at the New York Film Festival while The Girl on the Train received its US premiere in New York two days before opening two weeks after the world premiere in the US and after embargo broke receiving mixed reviews.
With Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children expected to drop 40%+ The Girl on the Train will top the US box office this weekend with $18-26m but while Gone Girl held strongly over following weeks The Girl on the Train isn’t likely to have the same legs doing battle with Ben Affleck next weekend in The Accountant.
- The Birth of a Nation – Fox Searchlight
Period drama based on the story of Nat Turner; starring Nate Parker, Armie Hammer, Aja Naomi King, Jackie Earle Haley, Penelope Ann Miller and Gabrielle Union and directed by Nate Parker (his directorial debut).
Since receiving its world premiere at Sundance Film Festival in January winning the Audience Award and Grand Jury Prize after receiving positive reviews; Fox Searchlight acquired world rights for $17.5m after the outcry with #OscarsSoWhite positioned it as the Oscar favorite for next year.
In January at Sundance Film Festival the film received huge attention possibly as it was in the shadows of Oscars So White campaign here was a film that was historically important with a strong non-white cast, But at the film festival studio acquisitions teams often get caught up in the hype paying out huge amounts for films but when they get released months later don’t live up to the hype.
Sundance Film Festival successes have included Sex, Lies and Videotape, Clerks, Little Miss Sunshine, Shine, Napoleon Dynamite, The Way, Way Back, The Kids are All Right, Garden State, Memento, Once, Precious and The Blair Witch Project studio Artisan acquired it for $1m and took $140m at US box office. (some of the trailers below)
But had many more disappointments 1992’s In the Soup, 1998’s Wonderland, 1996’s The Spitfire Grill, 1999’s Happy, Texas, 2000’s Girlfight, 2007’s Son of Rambow, 2008’s Choke, 2011’s The Details and last year Me and Earl and the Dying Girl and Dope both received positive reviews with strong marketing but failed to find cinema audience.
But then in August 1999 rape charges resurfaced against Parker who was acquitted in 2001 which put the film under scrutiny and what was seen as odds-on Oscar success was put in doubt. But after Oscars So White last year, a film about enslaved man who led a slave rebellion especially during troubled times in the US if it wasn’t nominated would cause as much controversy as last year’s Oscar awards. But the Academy and Fox Searchlight are in a no-win position as if it is nominated and wins could be seen as condoning rape even though he was acquitted.
While rape charges for Nate Parker which he has been acquitted to have cast a dark shadow over the release of The Birth of a Nation the allegations over sexual allegations against other directors had no affect on the box office performance of their films.
The teaser trailer was released in April (above) with the trailer in June both was received positively.
The Birth of a Nation has been compared to 12 Years a Slave which was also released by Fox Searchlight in October 2013; but while 12 Years A Slave opened on limited release expanding over for weeks The Birth of A Nation will open in more screens than 12 Years A Slave played in; as 12 Years A Slave opened with $923,715 from 19 screens.
The Birth of A Nation could be affected by the Presidential Election race relations has been a key part of it after the police shootings which has generated a lot of racial tension which could work both ways.
The Birth of A Nation is a hard film to judge due to these films normally having a platform release 12 Years a Slave and Selma instead it’s having a wide 1,500 release. Selma opened wide in January 2015 with $11.3m a similar opening for The Birth of A Nation is likely.
Would have expected The Birth of a Nation to have a platform release and then expand over several weeks but strangely opting to open wide. But platform releases don’t always work as seen last year by The Walk and this year with Hell or High Water which did ok, but should have done a lot better after the rave reviews and strong buzz it received but Queen of Katwe opened far too wide on platform two weeks ago and then expanded far too quickly.
The problem is Fall season is very crowded with adult-targeted films studios feel they have to open wide quickly or they might not have a chance. In December Jackie, A Monster Calls, Silence, Julieta and Live By Night all have platform releases before going wide making for a very busy January all of which have been seen as potential Oscar films.