Took £841,000 from previews (31% of it’s opening weekend similar to Sex Tape and The Dictator (close to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Terminator Salvation, Fantastic Four (2015) and Venom.
547th biggest opening in the UK between The Bourne Supremacy and Star Trek: Insurrection (close to Us, The Last Samurai, A Quiet Place and Kill Bill Volume One) 746th biggest opening Fri-Sun between Fantastic Four (2015) and The Grudge (close to Scream, Edge of Tomorrow, Blade: Trinity and Wolf).
776th biggest inflation inflated opening between Scary Movie 2 and Mirror (close to Dark Shadows, Final Destination 2, A Quiet Place and The Haunting).
89th biggest Warner Bros opening between The Last Samurai and Magic Mike (close to Batman Returns, Birds of Prey, King Arthur, and Wild West).
The eighth film in the Conjuring Universe franchise and the third Conjuring film, the first was released in 2013 and sequel in 2016, with spinoffs Annabelle (2014), Annabelle: Creation (2017), The Nun (2018), The Curse of La Llorona (2019) and Annabelle Comes Home (2019). There are two more films in development The Nun sequel and The Crooked Man.
The previous The Conjuring films have taken over £53m in the UK, the biggest to date is 2018’s The Nun taking £11.3m; 2013’s The Conjuring opened with £2,156,124 taking £9,337,626; 2016’s The Conjuring 2 opened with £4,637,862 (including previews) taking £10,896,992.
Working against The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It was it opened a week after Spiral and the week before A Quiet Place Part 2, which had previews on Sunday at Vue Cinemas as part of a double bill with the first film and previews on Bank Holiday Monday before opening on Thursday.
The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It took £399,510 on Monday, the hottest day of the year (so far) despite A Quiet Place Part II having previews on Bank Holiday Monday showing that the hot weather probably didn’t have much impact as most people would have gone to the cinema in the evening.
2. Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway – £2,045,999 – £7,484,061
Down 56% in its second weekend; took £737,434 on Bank Holiday Monday for £8.2m total.
Had the 385th biggest second weekend in the UK between The Last Samurai and Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (close to Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, Dolittle, Angry Birds and Epic)
569th biggest inflation inflated second weekend between Starship Troopers and The Fly (close to Fantastic Mr. Fox, Pokemon: The First Movie, Rio and How to Train Your Dragon 2.
Peter Rabbit 2 had the lowest second weekend drop of all films in the top 15 with many films dropping over 80% due to last weekend being a 7-day weekend, many films having limited appeal and the hot weather. (the later being the excuse exhibitors will use)
In 2018 Peter Rabbit dropped 36.8% in its second weekend taking £4,595,239 (125% more) and £13,639,088 (82% more).
Other British sourced children’s second weekend drops
2017’s Paddington 2 – dropped 20% taking £6,612,699 and £16,893,580 (39.6%) of total £42,614,170
2016’s The BFG – dropped 37% taking £3,362,699 and £14,478,457 (47.4%) of total £30,514,629
2014’s Paddington – dropped 25% taking £3,837,885 and £10,332,911 (27.4%) of total £37,608,112
20005’s The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – dropped 46% taking £4,798,576 and £17,204,598 (39.4% of its £43,641,024
2005’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – dropped 44% taking £4,441,851 and £19,422,510 (51.9%) of its £37,354,584
2005’s Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit – dropped 29% taking £4,666,723 and £16,688,112 (52.2%) of its £31,956,705
2005’s Nanny McPhee – dropped 18% taking £3,079,722 and £9,828,104 (59.8%) of its £16,428,714
Strange coincidence that four huge children’s classics Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Wallace, and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Nanny McPhee and The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe all opened within months of themselves in 2005 but chances are as the later three were trailer with the first film as what normally happens success breeds success as the trailer for Peter Rabbit was shown with Paddington 2.
Other animal based animated children’s films second weekends.
1999’s Stuart Little – dropped 27% taking £1,398,922 and £6,436,379 (37%) of its £17,392,023
2016’s Zootropolis – dropped 24% taking £2,734,493 and £12,597,202 (54.4%) of its £23,144,354
2016’s The Angry Birds Movie – dropped 6% taking £2,012,663 and £4,551,420 (45.8%) of its £9,929,464
2011’s Hop dropped 56% taking £611,367 and £2,623,612 (35%) of its £7,479,597
2007’s Charlotte’s Web – increased 0.5% taking £1,895,160 and £6,192,820 (58.4%) of its £10,593,589
While Peter Rabbit films might have more in common with The Emoji than to the classic books written by Beatrix Potter the book first published in the early 19th Century sold millions her first look The Tale of Peter Rabbit has sold over 45 million copies. The books have been read by generations of parents to their children as Winnie the Pooh, Paddington, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The Gruffalo over the decades since which has made the books part of our childhood and the books parents turn to read to their children.
Their popularity is seen by their performances at the UK box office with their adaptions including Paddington, The BFG, The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Borrowers, Matilda, The Jungle Book, and Nanny McPhee all performed far stronger in the UK than anywhere else in the world.
To adults Peter Rabbit looks like another The Emoji Movie or The Angry Birds Movie but being based on a beloved children’s book they read to their children but to their children the film is perfect. But the best family films work on two levels for children and adults which Disney and Pixar do always with their films and often Dreamworks Animation with last years The Boss Baby and Captain Underpants parents were laughing more than the children. While with a film like Peter Rabbit as The Emoji Movie they are solely there to carry the popcorn.
Biggest issue many had with the original Peter Rabbit film apart from it not being the Peter Rabbit from the books (unlike the film versions of Paddington) was James Corden being the voice of Peter Rabbit. While James Corden is hugely popular in the US hosting The Late Show since 2015, is a marmite feeling for him in the UK. Gavin & Stacey is hugely popular in the UK, 2019’’s Christmas show was watched by 17.1m.
While critics slated the original Peter Rabbit film in 2018 with Rotten Tomatoes score of 63%, they were far more positive about the sequel as director Will Gluck had listen to critics issues with the film and the sequel is self-ware of itself with jokes for the adults dragged to see it by their children.
Before directing the first Peter Rabbit film Will Gluck directed 2010’s Easy A (a fabulous modern-day version of the Scarlet Woman starring Emma Stone) and 2011’s Friends with Benefits (a fun modern romantic comedy starring Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis), but then came 2014’s Annie remake which was both poorly received critically and at the box office.
So, when he directed Peter Rabbit probably had to tone down his ideas and was guided by Sony in how they wanted the film to play, but after the film was a huge success becoming the studios biggest non-comic-book movie franchise he was able to have much more fun with the sequel and why reaction from critics has been far more positive. Will Gluck said that he has written the script for the third film which will likely be released in 2023.
Peter Rabbit is the 67th biggest film in the UK taking £40,999,583 (Paddington 2 is just slightly ahead #63 taking £42,642,938) and is Sony Pictures UK’s 5th biggest film in the UK (behind Skyfall, Spectre, Casino Royale, and Quantum of Solace) as they have lost distribution rights to James Bond films Peter Rabbit is their MVP.
It’s unlikely Peter Rabbit 2 will come close to the original films box office despite it being a far better film, as the first film opened just before Easter so had two weeks school holidays and was the only family film released, while the sequel only has one half-term week and then will be concentrated on weekend ox office. The positive for Peter Rabbit 2 is it has 8 weeks before the next major family release Space Jam: A New Legacy and The Croods 2: A New Age on July 16 so could do steady weekend box office until then taking upwards of £20m.
3. Cruella – £1,453,635– NE
1,082nd biggest opening in the UK between Vantage Point and Legally Blonde (close to The Call of the Wild, Tomorrowland – A World Beyond, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul and The Jungle Book 2)
1,2,63rd biggest inflation inflated opening between Gosford Park and Far From The Madding Crowd (close to Tomorrowland – A World Beyond, The Lone Ranger, Eat Pray Love and Sense and Sensibility) and 140th biggest Disney opening between Tomorrowland – A World Beyond and The Jungle Book 2 (close to Mulan (1998), Lilo & Stitch, Flubber and Muppet Treasure Island).
Comparisons were made with 2006’s The Devil Wears Pada which opened with The Devil Wears Prada (including £1,057,535 previews) Fri-Sun £2,210,045 taking £13,681,185.
While 1996’s 101 Dalmatians reimagination opened with £2.36m 62% more (£4.6m inflation inflated 200% more) taking £20.4m (£39.8m inflation inflated)
Samba TV reported 83,000 UK households paid £19.99 to watch Cruella on Disney+, (£1.65m) with 4m+ subscriptions in the UK only 2% who saw it on Disney+, 14% more than it took in cinemas over the weekend.
With Cruella opening similar to Tomorrowland – A World Beyond and The Lone Ranger this shows the film underwhelmed as both films were big flops for Disney.
Cruella 13th Disney reimagination since 2010 released in cinemas (Mulan was due to be released but was released straight to Disney+ last year as was Lady and the Tramp) and their first reimagination of a reimagination as Disney previously made a live-action remake of 101 Dalmatians in 1996, but while that was a straight remake, but when the trailers were released for Cruella many compared it to Joker, Emma Stone said at the time “It’s very different from Joker in many ways…I would never even remotely compare myself to Joaquin Phoenix. I wish I were more like him.” (Joker was a 15 certificate (R) while Cruella is a 12A (PG-13).
It was a surprising decision for Disney to go for PG-13 rather than PG for Cruella as all other reimaginations have been PG (the 1996 reimagination of 101 Dalmatians was U) but hiring director Craig Gillespie who previously directed the dark comedy I, Tonya as well as Lars and the Real Girl and Fright Night must have expected he would go darker than other reimaginations.
Disney probably would have had similar issues with Mulan last year had they released it in cinemas as it was also given a 12A certificate while the 1998 animated film was a U.
Cruella is a similar Disney reimagination to 101 Dalmatians as Maleficent was to Sleeping Beauty switching the story to the villains side which is often the more interesting story that isn’t often developed in these films as they are normally told from the heroes prospective.
Maleficent opened the week later in 2014 with £6,590,071 including £2,767,018 previews, (£3,823,053 Fri-Sun) taking £2,605,230 in its second weekend and £11,056,088 and went on to take £19,292,000.
Emma Stone acting career has bee on the rise since 2007’s Superbad, followed up with cult favourites Zombieland and Easy A (directed by Will Gluck director of the two Peter Rabbit films) moving to more grown up films over the last 5 years with her Oscar winning performance in La La Land, but probably far better performance as Billie Jean King the following year in Battle of the Sexes. As many actors Emma Stone to find more interesting roles she will go back to TV next year in The Curse for Showtime.
Edge of Tomorrow (£1,886,096) and A Million Ways to Die in the West (£1,240,465) the same weekend as Maleficent. with X-Men: Days of Future Past and Godzilla opening before and The Fault in Our Stars and 22 Jump Street and as Cruella opened two weeks before the World Cup as Cruella is two weeks before the Euro’s.
The 13 Disney reimaginations have taken over £408m at the UK box office, Mulan was due to be released in cinemas last March but was moved to Disney+ last year when cinemas closed, and Disney have also moved several other reimaginations originally planned as cinema releases to Disney+.
Cruella was available to watch on Disney+ the same day as its cinema release, exhibitors previously threw their toys out of the pram when Disney and other studios announced plans to move films to streaming services or open them day and date, but it looks like exhibitors have realised there is an audience for both, as it’s unlikely Disney would have gone soft with booking terms.
Despite being also available on Disney+ there will still be a huge audience for Cruella over half-term and normally Disney reimaginations hold strongly.
In normal circumstances would expect Cruella to open similar to Maleficent £3,823,053 without previews (opened £6,590,071 including £2,767,018 previews) but despite exhibitors believing everything is awesome again after a strong weekend which was in fact a week, it would likely open similar to 2019’s Maleficent: Mistress of Evil £3.3m.
Normally when a Disney film opens the weather gets cold and wet, but it looks like it won’t be the case with Cruella as we could have the hottest temperatures of the year. 2019’s Monsters University was probably the last Disney film to open in a heatwave opening with £3,463,917 far less than expected but did have very long legs playing throughout the summer taking £29,768,407.
The last Whitsun Bank Holiday that had a bi summer blockbuster that opened against hot sunny weekend was 2012 with Men in Black 3 opening with £2,935,736 1st week 532 screens (43.1% of top 10). The first few heatwaves of the year often see a dip in box office but then when it gets to the summer holidays people still go to the cinema, so if it is a film people really want to see it they will still see it whatever the weather.
15 months ago exhibitors threw their toys out of the pram when Universal Pictures announced plans to release Trolls World Tour on VOD in April when cinemas closed in March. They said they would ban all future Universal Pictures films and any other studio that did similar. A few months later Universal and exhibitors announced a new shorter theatrical window.
When Disney announced plans last July to release Mulan and Hamilton on Disney+ they kept their anger to themselves, as they did when Disney also announced Soul and Raya and the Last Dragon would also go straight to Disney+. There were slight murmurings of dissatisfaction when they announced Cruella and Black Widow would be released in cinemas and on Disney+ same day, but it’s interesting despite rejecting other films that open day and date from Netflix all major exhibitors have booked Cruella.
It was a different story 11 years ago when UK exhibitors threatened to not book Alice in Wonderland when Disney tried to shortened it’s theatrical release by a couple of weeks, Disney had previously tried to shorten window with Up and A Christmas Carol the previous year but was rejected by exhibitors.
Disney+ has over 4m subscribers in the UK compared to over 15m for Netflix, 12.7m SKY TV and 10.1m Amazon.
But as Phil Clapp said recently streaming services aren’t the competition, so why were exhibitors so angry when Universal announced their plans, as they were in a no-win position with Trolls World Tour with its release date less than three weeks after cinemas were forced to close. As Trolls World Tour wasn’t big enough a film to warrant a delay for 6 months or more, (it was surprising they did think it was worth holding back The Croods: A New Age to July).
Had exhibitors come to the table when all studios apart from Disney announced plans in 2017 to shorten theatrical window then they would have likely had a far more lucrative deal and at the time exhibitors and studios were talking about a 10-year deal. The problem was all exhibitors weren’t onboard and neither was Disney, and this would never work if Disney weren’t involved. More plans were announced the following year but then after Disney announced plans to buy Fox these plans fell apart. But studios have been wanting to shorten theatrical window for more than a decade, Disney tried to shorten the window in the UK for Up and A Christmas Carol in 2009 and Alice in Wonderland in 2010 and year later Universal announced plans for early PVOD for Tower Heist.
Upcoming Disney reimaginations include The Little Mermaid, Pinocchio, Peter Pan & Wendy, Snow White, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Robin Hood, Hercules, The Sword in the Stone and Lilo and Stitch with some of them having a cinema release and others opening on Disney.
Craig Gillespie previously directed 2014’s Million Dollar Arm, Disney’s Alan Horn said at CinemaCon tested better than any other movie he had tested at Disney and Warner Bros. Exhibitors reaction after the screening was very positive saying it was “It’s comical, it’s emotional, it has great music”. It opened two months later with $10.5m #4 behind Godzilla, Bad Neighbours and The Amazing Spider-Man taking $36.4m.
Despite Cruella having a soft opening weekend it will have a strong half-term week due to limited choices for tweens.
4. Demon Slayer: Mugen Train – £693,081 – NE
Demon Slayer: Mugen Train became the highest grossing film in Japan’s box-office history on Dec. 26, 72 days overtaking Oscar-winning anime creator Hayao Miyazaki’s “Spirited Away,” which earned ¥31.68 billion, last week it had taken ¥40.01 billion; it took ¥10 billion in its first 10 days in Japan in October.
The film has taken almost $500m worldwide, taking $402m (90%) internationally and $46.7m (10%) in the US, an incredible performance at any time but more so now as this was when COVID cases were increasing in Japan; there were 400+ daily cases when Demon Slayer opened 6 weeks later there were 10 times that amount daily.
5. Godzilla Vs Kong – £254,098 – £1,736,225
Down 79% in its second weekend; as last weeks opening weekends were 7 day all films were expected to drop heavily in their second weekend and then add to that the weekend having the hottest temperatures of the year, this always sees box office drop off.
Godzilla Vs Kong is a very silly stupid popcorn film, that does what it say’s on the tin. deserving the tag ‘the movie we need now’, that should be seen on the biggest screen possible, the film will be instantly forgettable except for how they managed to hack Mechagodzilla as silly as how they managed to hack the alien ship in Independence Day.
Previously it was exhibitors Vs streaming seen by major exhibitors refusing to book Netflix or Sky Cinema films, but now UKCA said “It’s not a competition between us and the streaming sites,”… “People with a voracious appetite for films use streaming and want to go to cinemas. We’re more worried about bars and restaurants. That, and the reinvention of golf and darts as shared communal experiences.”
A few years ago it was live sport and theatre they compared cinema to, but going to the cinema used to be something many people would do as often as the went to the pub. As many say we will have the return of the Roaring Twenties, in 1920s over 20m people went to the cinema in the UK every week, more than half the population of the UK, before COVID was about 2.5%, last weekend 46m attended indoor hospitality with cinema less than 1m of that.
Streaming has never been competition for cinemas, the biggest issue cinema has had over the last 18 years is themselves, pricing out many going often, as for more than a century was a cheap night out, in the 80s was the cost of a Big Mac meal (£1.52) now (£4.79) 50%+.
Last year UKCA wanted cinemas to be classed within hospitality sector as it benefited cinemas, as they were able to get VAT reduced from July last year to September 30th this year, but unlike the majority of the hospitality sector cinemas didn’t pass on the VAT reduction to all customers, only their subscription cinema customers (Cineworld Unlimited and Odeon Limitless) while Vue cinemas have incorporated their service charge within ticket price, it used to be an additional 75p per ticket booking online. But now it disadvantages, they can’t have it both ways, their own website says each cinema ‘runs a significant hospitality business’.
All the research shows that those who stream regularly also go to the cinema regularly, they were never the competition but should have been seen as services that should work alongside each other.
The four MonsterVerse films have taken over £40m at the UK box office.
Second weekends
2019’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters dropped 70.5% taking £1,033,322 and £5,529,880 of £6,779,991.
2017’s Kong: Skull Island dropped 56.6% taking £2,705,634 and £11,066,584 of £15,616,015.
2016’s Godzilla dropped 57.2% taking £2,731,355 and £11,828,213 of £17,074,621.
While the 1998 Godzilla film opened with £4,176,960 (£7,483,288 inflation inflated) taking £15,920,578 (£28,522,723 inflation inflated).
Impossible to compare those films with Godzilla Vs Kong as the film has been available to watch at home for several weeks and the film would have a limited audience in cinemas.
From the 1970s to the 2000s disaster movies were the mainstay of cinema were regularly the biggest films of the year; boats (from The Poseidon Adventure to Titanic), airplanes crash (from Airport to Snakes on a Plane), skyscrapers (from The Towering Inferno to Die Hard), earthquakes (from Earthquake to San Andreas). Volcano (from Krakatoa, East of Java to Dante’s Peak), epidemics (from 28 Days Later to Contagion), asteroids (from Meteor to Armageddon), tornados (from Twister to Geostorm).
As seen by the UK governments vaccine program some of these films are used as historical documents to guide them with policy, after watching Contagion in March Health Minister Matt Hancock changed his vaccine plans. While last week during the select committee evidence given by Dominic Cummings he compared the lack of action plan as like the scene in Independence Day when the US is destroyed by a surprise alien attack.
Over the last decade they have been replaced by comic-book movies which feature more chaos and destruction than any of the natural disaster films could have possibly created apart from 2012. Since Iron Man was released in 2008 only 2012 released in 2009 has had a strong opening (£6,489,809), others Into The Storm, San Andreas, Independence Day: Resurgence, Geostorm and Rampage haven’t been as successful.
Disaster films used to be much more successful but are one of many genres of films that have been squeezed at the box office over the last decade; Independence Day (£37m), The Day After Tomorrow (£25.1m), 2012 (£19.2m) and Armageddon (£16.4m) more recently Geostorm (£4.21m) and Rampage (£8.6m).
While Godzilla Vs Kong might have found an audience in cinemas despite being available to watch at home the same couldn’t be said for the Witches 41 taking £1,029 from 6 screens and £7,394 total. The Robert Zemeckis remake was meant to be released in cinemas in October, but Warner moved the film to HBO Max, and released it on VOD in the UK October 26th, as Roald Dahl film adaptations are hugely popular in the UK it was surprising that it didn’t still have a cinema release over October half-term.
Also opened.
First Cow – Mubi
Opened with £21,619 for Mubi, from 40 screens (Including Monday and previews £34,604) will be released om Mubi on Friday.
Kelly Reichardt’s film received critical acclaim (96% Rotten Tomatoes)
The film received it’s world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival in 2019 and was released in the US in March 2020 just before cinemas closed awaiting cinema release in the UK until now.
Other Box Office News
Nomadland dropped 79% in its second weekend taking £179,011 and £1.5m; it will be the lowest-grossing Oscar best picture winner in the UK since 1990’s Driving Miss Daisy.
The film was released on Disney+ on April 30th but the film struggled to find an audience in the US, so it was always likely to struggle to find an audience in the UK even in normal circumstances.
There are reports that the UK government won’t bring in vaccine passports after all, while there has been much hostility towards but YouGov survey show 71% realise they are the best bad idea we have to get back to normal especially with the new Indian variant.
Research from 2004 highlights what I’ve said for many years that analysts predicted far stronger growth in cinema attendance. In Screen International review of 1993 analyst were predicting admissions would top 200m by 2000. Admissions grew steadily over the rest of the decade and up to 2002 topping out at 175m.
Dodona Research from 2004 said cinema was on track to have 200m+ admissions and £1bn+ box office by 2008, this was despite a drop of 8.5m admissions in 2003. In reality it was 2011 until box office topped £1bn but admissions only grew 1% between 2002 and 2017.
In 2004 UK box office was £769.6m, in 2008 increased to £854.4m despite admissions being flat, so increase was ticket inflation as was its increase to £1bn+ in 2011.
The question always ask is why cinema industry didn’t see admissions had declined in 2003 after 17 years of growth and realise that things needed to change, but only thing that did was prices increased dramatically over the following years. Then came 3D which allowed exhibitors to add 30%+ surcharges and PLF and IMAX to do similar.
At the same time box office was flat streaming service in UK grew with LoveFilm/Amazon and Netflix growing dramatically.
While there was much back slapping by exhibitors last weekend as admissions topped 1m for the first time in a weekend since March 2020 and box office topped £10m far more could and should have been done too boost attendance and get people back into cinemas again, As in comparison with the rest of the hospitality sector last week cinema attendance was way behind close to the 4% YouGov survey said cinema would be the activity they would do from May 17.
UK box office in detail
This weekend’s top 10 box office took £7,692,672 down 17.7% from last weekend £9,347,953 and down 61.2% from 2019 (£19,827,784)
The weekend admissions 1,081,951 down 17.7% 1,314,761 from last week; admissions in 2019 this week was 2,746,230 (down 60.6%)
Top 3 took £6,208,089 80.7% of the top 10; The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It 35.2% (£2,708,455); Peter Rabbit 2 26.6% (£2,045,999); Cruella 18.9% (£1,453,635).
2020 cinemas closed.
Down 61.2% from 2019 (£19,827,784); top 3 (£15,939,275) of the top 10; Aladdin 43.8% (£7,066,773); Rocketman 33.4% (£5,381,904); The Secret Life of Pets 2 21.6% (£3,490,598);
Down 42.7% from 2018: (£13,192,041) Solo: A Star Wars Story (£6,061,231); Show Dogs (£546,405); The Breadwinner (£79,329); McKellen: Playing the Part Live 2018 (£41,110); #1 Solo: A Star Wars Story £6,061,231 1st week 680 screens (45.9% of top 10)
Down 20.9% from 2017: (£9,718,848); Pirates of the Caribbean: Salazar’s Revenge (£5,238,049); Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul (£1,444,092); The Red Turtle (£91,997); The Other Side of Hope (£66,501); #1 Pirates of the Caribbean: Salazar’s Revenge £5,238,049 634 screens 1st week (53.9% of top 10)
Down 13.3% from 2016: (£8,876,599); Alice Through the Looking Glass (£2,229,399); Money Monster (£820,829); Love and Friendship (£263,094); Minuscule: Valley of the Lost Ants (£97,647); Top Cat Begins (£69,784); Bobby (£1,061); #1 X-Men: Apocalypse £2,543,481 590 screens 2nd week 65% drop (28.6% of top 10)
Down 25.7% from 2015; (£10,348,193); Tomorrowland – A World Beyond (£1,482,178); Poltergeist (£1,463,014); The New Girlfriend (£94,839); Moomins On The Riviera (£84,595); #1 Pitch Perfect 2 £2,665,428 534 screens 1st week 47% drop (25.7% of top 10)
Down 53.4% from 2014: (£16,521,299); X-Men: Days of Future Past (£9,144,971); Postman Pat (£774,750); Blended (£688,547); Fading Gigolo (£160,781); The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time – NT Live 2012 (£40,484); Driving Miss Daisy – Melbourne 2013 (£65,389); #1 X-Men: Days of Future Past £9,144,971 537 screens 1st week (57.2% of top 10)
Down 56.1% from 2013: (£17,517,641); The Hangover Part III (£5,964,619); Epic (£3,190,574); The Moth Diaries (£103,228); Something in the Air (£20,948); #1 The Hangover Part III £5,964,619 474 screens 1st week (34.1% of top 10)
Up 12.7% from 2012 (£6,824,026); Men in Black 3 (£2,935,736); What to Expect When You’re Expecting (£661,617); Moonrise Kingdom (£251,760); Iron Sky (£66,076); #1 Men in Black 3 £2,935,736 1st week 532 screens (43.1% of top 10)
Down 48.1% from 2011 (£14,816,587); Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (£11,634,860); Blitz (£266,148); Win (£155,463); Fire in Babylon (£107,312); Julia’s Eyes (£49,142); #1 Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides £11,634,860 1st week 569 screens (78.5% of top 10)
Up 10.7% from 2010: (£6,945,108); Streetdance (£2,493,948); Prince of Persia (£1,371,066); Bad Lieutenant (£178,953); Cop Out (£64,935); #1 Streetdance £2,493,948 1st week 412 screens (35.9% of top 10)
Down 26.2% from 2009; (£10,425,478); Night at the Museum 2 (£4,160,496); Tormented (£284,757); Awaydays (£39,045); Everlasting Moments (£9,530); #1 Night at the Museum 2 £4,160,496 515 screens 1st week (39.9% of top 10)
Down 49.1% from 2008; (£15,095,445); Indiana Jones & The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (£12,227,799); Cassandra’s Dream (£47,359); #1 Indiana Jones & The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull £12,227,799 1st week 538 screens (81% of top 10)
Down 54.1% from 2007:(£16,729,962); Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (£13,412,294); Jindabyne (£109,185); #1 Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End £13,412,294 1st week 522 screens 54% drop (80.1% of top 10)
Down 48.7% from 2006; (£15,005,037); X-Men: The Last Stand (£7,091,820); The Wild (£1,033,153); Curious George (£330,232); Friends with Money (£95,092); Down in the Valley (£39,803); Thief Lord (£38,737); #1 X-Men: The Last Stand £7,091,820 1st week 446 screens (47.2% of top 10)
Down 12.8% from 2005 (£8,828,190); House of Wax (£765,008); The Pacifier (£729,070); Millions (£293,032); It’s All Gone Pete Tong (£261,208); #1 Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith £5,427,091 2nd week 490 screens 62% drop (61.5% of top 10)
Down 14.5% from 2004 (£8,995,085); Troy (expansion) (£6,017,523); Bad Education (£202,324); #1 Troy £6,017,523 2nd week (1st wide) 504 screens 6640% increase (66.9% of top 10)
Down 48.3% from 2003 (£14,900,979); The Matrix Reloaded (£12,165,276); The Hot Chick (£169,452); #1 The Matrix Reloaded £12,165,276 1st week 481 screens (81.6% of top 10)
Down 20% from 2002 (£9,615,592); Not Another Teen Movie (£635,805); Thunderpants (£430,913); Hart’s War (£129,484); #1 Star Wars Ep II – Attack of the Clones £5,955,017 468 screens 2nd week 48% drop (61.9% of top 10)
Next weekend in 2019 (£16,880,406) Top three took 67.2% (£11,337,483) of the top 10; Aladdin 28.9% (£4,888,931); Godzilla: King Of The Monster 20.8% (£3,507,717); The Secret Life of Pets 2 17.4% (£2,940,835;
US Box Office
- A Quiet Place Part 2 – Paramount
Opened with $47.54m over 3 days and $57.08m over 4 days; received positive reviews (91% Rotten Tomatoes) and A- CinemaScore
Took $4.8m from Thursday previews similar to the $4.8m the first film took with previews in 2018; took $19.3m from Friday including previews compared to $18.86m for A Quiet Place
A Quiet Place Part 2 has taken almost the total box office for Tenet ($58.5m) showing what could have been if the industry hadn’t been in such a rush to reopen last summer, as box office isn’t expected to return to pre-lockdown levels before 2023, but China is likely to be back to normal this year.
In February 2020, A Quiet Place Part 2 was tracking to open with over $60m on March 20th up from the $50.2m the original film opened with in 2018, it went on to take $188m (3.7x opening) and $341m worldwide.
What helped for A Quiet Place open as strongly as it did was the Superbowl spot, buzz from SXSW and very positive reviews which gave the film strong word of mouth along with it playing to a younger audience receiving a PG-13 as 2017’s Split opening with $40m while R rated horrors 2017’s Get Out opened with $33.4m and 2016’s The Conjuring 2 $40.4m.
Analysts were comparing A Quiet Place Part II opening to Us ($71.1m), Halloween ($76.2m), and It Chapter 2 ($91m). Tracking has become unreliable over the last decade especially with films with high positive/negative word of mouth and also need to remember this is Memorial Day weekend historical one of the biggest weekend of the year A Quiet Place 2 $57m #21 biggest between The Longest Yard and Mission: Impossible.
If tracking was poor pre-COVID then it must be even worse now, tracking was never intended to be a method to predict BO, it was to gauge how advertising was received, so why does industry still trust it for BO especially as it has been so unreliable over recent years?
Tracking for A Quiet Place Part 2 this year was about half of the predicted opening last year, opening with $30m+over 3 days and $40m+ over 4 days, but some were predicting upwards of $60m for 4 days.
There is a lot of genuine love for John Krasinski, he said In March 2020 “I had no intention of doing a sequel because I didn’t think that I could come up with anything as organic as the first one was to me and certainly nothing as personal as the first one was to me,”… “And so when the studio came to me and asked if I’d do a second one, I said no. As an audience member, I’m wary of sequels. I just didn’t want it to feel like a cash grab from the studio and all those things, so I just opted out. But I had one tiny idea in my head, and when I realized that I could do this, it was because it was organic.”
So surely in normal circumstances A Quiet Place Part 2 could have opened far bigger similar to Us and It Chapter Two with a $100m+ 4 day opening, as many films will often open bigger than expected when buzz is generated.
15 months of low or no BO has really lowered expectations as need to remember this is Memorial Day weekend one of the most lucrative weekends of the year in normal circumstances would expect one of either A Quiet Place 2 or Cruella to open with upwards of $100m over 4 days.
Director William Friedkin tweeted on Saturday “A Quiet Place 2 is a classic horror film…Cinema is back”.
The day before Ryan Reynolds Tweeted “My friend @johnkrasinski can try to shush me all he wants but I won’t be silent about how good the second @quietplacemovie is. I will not scream it, though. That would be indecorous.”
And director Edgar Wright tweeted “I applaud Mr. @johnkrasinski for going all out to support theatres at this time. The first Quiet Place was an unforgettable experience with a crowd & I love that he’s leading the charge to bring the big screen experience back for the many who have missed it. Can’t wait to see it.”
The film will have a 45-day theatrical window so will be released on PVOD in early July.
Opened with $22m from 12 territories including $15m from China (68.2%) and $4m including previews in Australia from 304 screens up 29% from original film despite 30% of cinemas closed. (in comparison Cruella opened with $1.3m).
Expands into more territories this weekend including the UK.
- Cruella – Disney
Opened with $21.49 over 3 days and $26.53m over 4 days; received mixed reviews (73% Rotten Tomatoes) and A CinemaScore
Took $1.4m from Thursday previews compared to Maleficent: Mistress of Evil taking $2.3m
Disney previously made a reimagination of 101 Dalmatians in 1996 opening with $33.5m taking $136.2m and $320.7m worldwide and 2000’s 102 Dalmatians opened with $19.9m taking $67m and $183.6m worldwide.
The reimagination followed the same story of 101 Dalmatians as the animated film whereas Cruella is similar to 2014’s Maleficent the story of the villain which is often far more interesting but never fully told in these films.
In normal circumstances Cruella would be opening close to 2014’s Maleficent opening with $67.87m taking $273.61m but instead opened closer to 2019’s Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil $6.94m.
Instead Cruella opened similar to Christopher Robin ($24.58m), Pete’s Dragon ($21.51m) and Alice Though the Looking Glass ($26.85m).
Of course many will use the excuse that Cruella was also released on Disney+ , but exhibitors can’t keep using this excuse especially when they have also admitted recently that those who stream also regularly go to the cinema.
SambaTV reported Cruella was watched 686k times on Disney+ over the weekend 37% less than the number who streamed Mulan (1.1m), this compares to 2.3m who watched Without Remorse on Amazon and 1.2m who watch episodes of WandaVision and 1.5m The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
Cruella is one of the longest-running Disney reimagination longer than Beauty and the Beast (2hrs, 9 min), Aladdin (2hrs, 8mins), Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (1hr, 59min), and Alice in Wonderland (1 hr, 48min).
Opened with $16.1m from 29 territories and $42.6m worldwide; opened disappointingly in many territories including Mexico UK $2.2m; Australia $1.3m; Spain $0.9m; Japan $0.8m and Italy $0.6, so the hot weather I the UK can’t be used as an excuse;
Cruella did open #1 in Italy, Brazil, Finland, Kuwait, Bulgaria, Serbia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Argentina, Panama, Venezuela, Paraguay, Trinidad, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Colombia, but none of those are known for their cinemagoing.
International Box Office
F9 – Universal Pictures
Dropped 80% in its second weekend to $30.9m from 8 territories; taking $185.2m from China and $229m total; 2017’s The Fate of the Furious took $392.8m total took 32% of it’s global $1.236bn in China.
F9 expands it’s global release on June 25th opening in both the US and the UK.
During an interview with director Colin Trevorrow talking about Netflix’s Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous he mentioned that the first teaser trailer will be released for Jurassic World: Dominion “It’s going to be sooner than you think. I can’t talk about it just yet,”… . “We’ve got something fun planned, and it has everything to do with getting people back into the movie theatres.” This would suggest the teaser will be released with F9 in June.
UK Box Office Top 10
Opening Next week
- A Quiet Place Part 2– Paramount
Horror sequel to the horror film to the 2018 film starring Emily Blunt, Cillian Murphy, Millicent Simmonds, Djimon Hounsou and John Krasinski (in a small flashback role) and written and directed by John Krasinski.
The first film was made for only $17m and was one of the first films made under Jim Gianopulos at Paramount, it was expected to open with about $20m instead opened with $50.2m and $188.1m in the US and $341m worldwide.
At the time John Krasinski considered the film a one off but a few months later came back with some ideas and in February 2019 he signed to direct the sequel and started shooting in July for March 20, 2020, release. The sequel was tracking to open with upwards of $60m before COVID hit and cinemas closed, it was first delayed to September and the April 2021 before settling for May 28th after F9 was delayed to June; the budget for the sequel is more than three times as big ($61m)
Paramount announced in February the film would be available on Paramount+ 45 days after opening in cinemas in the US (12 July), as Paramount+ isn’t available in the UK that will probably mean all normal VOD services.
John Krasinski generated much positivity last March with his excellent web series Some Good News, his weekly videos featuring good news over nine weeks, watched by millions every week, it featured A Hamilton cast Zoom performance and an Office reunion. He sold the brand to ViacomCBS in May 2020.
A Quiet Place opened in April 2018 with £2,696,892 including £704,378 previews (£1,762,505 Fri-Sun) dropping 29% in its second weekend taking £1,907,585 and £6,350,119 going on to take £11,801,912.
Often analysts say the UK opening is about 10% of the US which would see A Quiet Place Part II open with upwards of £5m over it’s 6 day opening but it open closer to the original film between £2.5m and £3m.
A Quiet Place Part II opens a week after The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, while they are two very different kinds of horrors A Quiet Place was huge hit in the US but wasn’t so big in the UK as it’s one of many PG-13 films that gets pushed up to a 15, while blockbusters get the lower 12A, meaning much of its target demographic can’t legally see it, why the 12 certificate needs to return alongside 12A for more grown-up films.
The BBFC launched the 12 certificate in 1989 with Batman, before this many teen films were given 15 certificate so a lot of it’s target audience couldn’t see the films legally. In 2002 BBFC launched the 12A Spider-Man.
The 12A has helped many films attract a wider audience that they would have done as the different between the two is 12A allows younger children into see the films if they go with someone 12 or older.
Had double-bill screenings with the original on Sunday and previews on Monday before opening on Thursday having 6 day opening weekend next week which should see the sequel open #1 in the UK. The original opened second behind fourth weekend of Peter Rabbit (£3,152,269) over Easter weekend taking £704,378 from 478 previews on Easter Monday/Thursday
- Land – Universal
Drama starring Robin Wright and Demián Bichir and directed by Robin Wright (her feature directorial debut); premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival, receiving positive reviews (69% Rotten Tomatoes), and released in the US in February opening with $899,010 from 1,231 screens.
Will have a limited release in the UK and struggle to find an audience.
- Dream Horse – Warner Bros
Comedy-drama starring Toni Collette, Damian Lewis, Owen Teale, and Joanna Page and directed by Euros Lyn, based on the true story of Dream Alliance, a horse that raced in the Welsh Grand National.
Had world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in 2020 receiving positive reviews (90% Rotten Tomatoes) was originally due to be released in April 2020 but delayed due to COVID; opened In the US on May 21st with $796,000 from 1,254 screens.
Similar horse racing films include 2003’s Seabiscuit and 2010’s Secretariat,
These feel-good British comedy dramas used to be hugely successful at the UK box office, but in recent years they have struggled to find an audience as they don’t hold on to screens, but with the European Championships starting on June 11th it could be hold on to screens for much longer.
The film has been compared to feelgood British films including The Full Monty and Calendar Girls as so have many similar films over recent years, but it’s very hard to open a film like this anymore.
Fisherman’s Friends opened in March 2019 with £1,154,864, dropped only 15.7% in its second weekend taking £972,996 and £3,361,336 and £7,380,488; Entertainment Films opens sequel next year.
Sunshine on Leith opened in October 2013 with £770,239 taking £4,499,183.
Finding Your Feet opened February 2018 with £923,220 taking £5,436,523.
Swimming with Men opened July 2018 with £59,301 taking £322,555.
Its 27 years ago in May since Four Weddings and a Funeral opened with £1,432,424 taking £27,369,755 (£60,802,963 inflation inflated) three years later The Full Monty opened with £1,600,000 taking £52,232,058 (£92,657,361 inflation inflated)
Over the years since there have many more feel-good British films from Billy Elliot to Calendar Girls that have had similar success all opening with similar box office (about a third more than Fisherman’s Friends. With ticket inflation over 50% since these films opened it does show have these films have been squeezed at the box office, and these films that would previously had long legs don’t last as long.
Always surprises me when a distributor choosing to open a film like Fisherman’s Friends in 500 screens as often a distributor would open a film limited wide and then expand further the following weekend. The only problem with this is if the film fails to connect with its audience in its first week it’s unlikely it will expand further.
- Nobody – Universal (Wednesday)
Action thriller starring Bob Odenkirk, Connie Nielsen, Michael Ironside, Colin Salmon, and Christopher Lloyd and directed by Ilya Naishuller.
Opened in the US on March 26, 2021 receiving positive reviews opening with $6.7m taking $25.8m and $48m worldwide.
Nobody will have limited interest in the UK especially as The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard has been brought forward to June 14 after F9 was brought forward to June 24.
In March 2021 writer Derek Kolstad said there is potential for a crossover between the John Wick franchise and Nobody and director Ilya Naishuller also spoke of a possible crossover, saying that the same creative teams made the films, David Leitch produced both films.