Took £796,965 from previews Mon-Thurs.
Took £226,840 from Monday from 334 cinemas with an £679 average: taking £167,001 on Tuesday taking £393,841 from two days and £235,472 from Wednesday up 41% from Tuesday with the addition of 120 Cineworld cinemas.
It’s biggest day was Saturday taking £1.77m (39% of opening) in comparison 2018’s Peter Rabbit took £3.3m (45%) on Saturday, impossible to compare the two but with half-term, next week will be the saviour of cinema, not Tenet, that is until No Time To Die in September.
Had the second biggest opening since cinemas closed in March 2020 after Tenet opening with £5.3m over 5 day opening weekend, but Tenet had the hype around it, the critical acclaim, exhibitors believing that it was going to be their saviour, with IMAX and PLF screens, adult tickets, school holidays and no competition.
While Tenet had a bigger opening, as the majority of Peter Rabbit 2 box office was from the weekend it had a bigger weekend taking £3,810,000 Vs £3,291,406, having the biggest weekend box office since Sonic The Hedgehog (£4,733,768) as previews were only 17.3% of it’s opening compared to 38.3% for Tenet showing that cinephiles rushed out to see it over the two days of previews (£2,044,248).
Had the 305th biggest opening in the UK between The Bourne Legacy and Toy Story (close to Sonic The Hedgehog, Shrek, Wreck-It Ralph, and Ratatouille) and 427th biggest inflation inflated between Flushed Away and Hannah And Her Sisters (close to Pokemon: The First Movie, Kung Fu Panda 3, Bean and The Smurfs).
31st biggest Sony Pictures UK opening between 22 Jump Street and Ghostbusters (2018’s Peter Rabbit is their 18th biggest between Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and Men In Black); and 41st biggest inflation inflated between Trainspotting 2 and The Smurfs.
To put the opening into perspective it would have been 19th biggest opening of 2019 between Pokemon Detective Pikachu and Shazam!
The industry heralded the success of the UK box office this week, this is what happens when you have a slate of films targetting different genres opening together, this was why China had such a successful reopening, but July reopening was very sift as cinemas reopening far too quickly and there weren’t the films available.
Exhibitors believed, Christopher Nolan could be the saviour of cinema on his own, but Tenet was never strong enough a film to reopen cinema, as all of his other films needed other films to support it. We will never know if it was Christopher Nolan that forced Warner Bros to release Tenet last summer, but after he wrote his op-ed in the Washington Post in March it forced Warner Bros hand to be the first major film to be released.
Odeon said it sold 300,000 tickets across the entire week, with around 60% of audiences seeing Peter Rabbit 2 there were strong concessions sales, with 9,000 portions of nachos, 3,000 hot dogs and 25,000 litres of Ice Blast and Coke sold. Maybe as cinemagoers could take their masks off to eat many brought concessions to be able to do so. Odeon also reported “strong pre-sales” for upcoming titles Cruella, Demon Slayer and The Conjuring.
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 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, is a feeling that whatever role his playing he is always James Corden, why that same dread was expressed by many that he was hosting the eagerly awaited Friends reunion that will be broadcast on Sky One next Thursday with many people suggesting on Twitter there should be an edit for the UK without him.
James Corden should be heralded in the UK going from Hollyoaks in 2000 to hosting The Late Late Show since 2015 which is an incredible achievement, but he always seems to be playing the same character in all of the films he stars in, maybe he is acting the part that he knows the US loves as one of his earlier film roles The History Boys in 2006 he showed use a different side to this.
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 it felt like the scriptwriters had listen to critics issues with the film and the sequel is self-ware of itself with Bea Potter saying she’d rather spin in her grave than have her books turned into a “sassy hip feste” that “someone, probably an American”, can “boorishly capitalise on”.
The film also includes jokes for the adults dragged to see it by their children, including Barnabas saying how the houses of middle-class humans, always have a bottle of champagne in the fridge for a celebration that is never going to happen, and parents always put healthy, boring uneatable food in the kids’ school lunch boxes “so the teachers won’t judge them”.
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 (not helped that the film was leaked online as part of the Sony hackings).
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.
Will Gluck, talked about his love of the big screen experience “Often when you’re watching something on the small screen, you have your phone nearby. I remember being furious when I saw executives who were watching my films take a text. Now we all do it. We watch and consume, without ever focusing on one thing. Cinemas by contrast are a phone-free zone. There’ll be a beautiful scene, with beautiful music, where nothing’s really happening, and you just have a moment to reflect. It’s kind of funny that we’re now using the cinema – which is bombarding us with sound and vision – to slow down our world, so we can think”.
(Cinemas are a phone-free zone? They might be for press screenings but in public screenings people are messing about with their phones).
He also said he was eager to see A Quiet Place II. That and Top Gun: Maverick in the cinema, saying “There was a moment when Top Gun: Maverick was going to open the same week as our movie. I know for sure my dad would have chosen Top Gun!”
The question will be if it’s as successful as the first film, Peter Rabbit opened with a strong £7,273,207 as it did it without the normal weekend previews children’s films normally have. Its box office was mostly from Saturday taking £3.3m and Sunday £2.9m compared with £960,000 from Friday.
Peter Rabbit opening was bigger than UK openings of Paddington £5.13m, The BFG £5.3m, Coco £5.25m and Zootropolis £5.32m, and close to 2017’s Paddington 2 £8.26m. (Paddington 2 still has 100% Rotten Tomatoes score).
The first trailer received negative response from fans and critics calling it an insult to Beatrix Potter as they had turned the beloved children’s classic into something as bad as Yogi Bear and shockingly voiced by James Corden. But as seen with the equally terrible The Emoji Movie critics and the parents who took their children to see it might have hated it, it’s target audience loved it up having enjoyed the TV series on CBeebies.
The one issue films like Peter Rabbit is the children who saw the first film in 2018 have now moved on to different things, but Beatrix Potter books are a perennial favourite of young children.
Back in March 2020 there must have been discussions within Sony Pictures if they would follow in the footsteps of Universal Pictures with Trolls World Tour and release Peter Rabbit 2 straight to DVD when cinemas closed.
Peter Rabbit 2 was due to be released in the UK on March 27th, it’s marketing campaign was running through its gears and they had a multi-million promotion with Cadbury’s running for the previous few months. The only thing that probably stopped them was that Peter Rabbit was potentially the studios biggest property now the share Spider-Man with Marvel and if they did release the sequel to PVOD it would lessen the value of it for further films.
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.
Impossible to make comparisons with any other films that opened since cinemas reopened for the first time in July 2020, as Tenet opened in August with massive media coverage being “the saviour of cinema” opening with £5,335,654 including £2,044,248 from previews opening in 619 cinemas and 3,066 screens.
While Tenet received huge media coverage and had cinephiles gushing the Christopher Nolan film was never going to be the saviour of cinema on it’s own, as almost all of his previous films opened alongside big films and they helped each other. It was different for Peter Rabbit 2, but with half-term still two weeks away it was surprising Sony opted to open it on Monday as most children would be at school.
The Guardian’s Catherine Shoard gave Tenet a poor revies saying that Tenet is “not a movie it’s worth the nervous braving a trip to the big screen to see, no matter how safe it is.” And “I’m not even sure that, in five years’ time, it’d be worth staying up to catch on telly. To say so is sad, perhaps heretical. But for audiences to abandon their living rooms in the long term, the first carrot had better not leave a bad taste.” 9 months later Tenet for many does leave that bad taste feeling as Tenet should have never opened last August, I’m not saying this in hindsight, as I said this immediately in March 2020 when cinemas closed, I said that all films should be undated, while most films were Tenet and Mulan were the two that kept their summer dates for months before they moved in June.
With preview box office included in the films opening weekend Peter Rabbit 2 will drop much heavier about 45% without previews second weekend drop will likely be about 25% taking between £2.5-3m so will likely see a close battle for #1 with Cruella.
Found out on Twitter yesterday that Sony Pictures has moved from their 25 Golden Square offices where they have been since the late 90s, I did relief projection in their lovely preview theatre between 1998 and 2001 and it was a lovely theatre, and the building was also stunning.
Sony announced they were moving to Paddington in 2018 but of course most weren’t aware of this until now and this happening so soon after 20th Century Fox offices were closed last year is a sad time for the film industry as Soho for decades was the home of the UK film industry, Rank 127 Wardour St, Warner 135 Wardour St, Columbia 19-23 Wells Street, UIP 37-41 Mortimer St, Fox 31-32 Soho Sq. and now Sony 25 Golden Sq., now only Screening Rooms D’Arblay St of old and Dolby of new remains. In the 90s and early noughties would go throughout Soho delivering and collecting prints from these and many other locations in Soho and Leicester Square.
2. Godzilla Vs Kong – £1,227,878 – NE
Took £443,999 from Mon- Thurs
On Monday took £93,868 from 296 screens with £317 average; taking £79,217 on Tuesday down 16% taking 173,085 over two days; the film was released on VOD on April 1st
1,211st biggest opening in the UK between This is 40 and A Beautiful Mind (close to Zombieland: Double Tap, Saw, Die Hard and Skyline; and 1,305th biggest inflation inflated opening between BlacKkKlansman and Lion.
It was surprising to see Phil Clapp has changed his opinion about streaming services in Evening Standard article last week, as previously it was exhibitors Vs streaming seen by major exhibitors refusing to book Netflix or Sky Cinema films. Saying “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.”
In Wales regulations for cinemas are the same as indoor hospitality. Because cinemas have become hospitality over the last decade with restaurant style food brought to your seats, this is why he said cinemas be more worried about bars and restaurants than streaming services as they have become their competition.
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.
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%+.
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%.
Godzilla Vs Kong is one very silly stupid film deserving the tag ‘the movie we need now’, but will be remembered from how they managed to hack Mechagodzilla that is as silly as the hacking the alien ship in Independence Day. It is the perfect big screen popcorn movie, why many people who probably watched it at home in April came back to watch it on the big screen this week.
The fourth film in Legendary’s MonsterVerse and sequel to 2019’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters and 2017’s Kong: Skull Island
2019’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters opened with £3,507,717 took £552k from first day of preview and £1.21m from two days of previews and then £767k on Friday; taking £6,779,991.
Godzilla: King of the Monsters opening opened second after Aladdin suffered from the hottest temperatures of the year and Champions League Final, while Godzilla Vs Kong benefited from the cold wet May weather.
Kong: Skull Island opened March 2017 with £6,230,997 (including £615,360 previews) taking £15,616,015.
Godzilla opened May 2016 with £6,385,483 (including £1,185,844 previews) taking £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).
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 The Omega Man to 28 Days Later), asteroids (from Meteor to Armageddon), tornados
Over the last decade they have been replaced by comic-book movies which feature more chaos and destruction that 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). Over the last decade Into The Storm, San Andreas, Independence Day: Resurgence, Geostorm and Rampage.
Maybe part of the reason is that events that featured in these disaster films was fictional but with extreme weather becoming a regular occurrence people don’t want to go to the cinema to experience a film about their journey to the cinema.
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).
3. Nomadland – £874,785 – NE
Took £378,785 from Mon- Thurs
On Monday opened with £96,567 from 259 cinemas and £373 average.
The film was released on Disney+ on April 30th, in December there were 3.5m subscribers in the UK but that number is likely to have increased since with Star being launched in February.
At the Oscars Nomadland won three awards Best Film, Best Director and Best Actress for Frances McDormand during her acceptance speech she urged people to watch the film in cinemas saying, “Please watch our movie on the largest screen possible,”…. “And one day very, very soon, take everyone you know into a theatre”.
Nomadland also won Best Film, Director, Actress and Cinematography at the BAFTAs and Best Picture Drama and Director at the Golden Globes.
Nomadland will be the lowest grossing Best Picture Oscar winner for over 30 years. Even if the film opened in normal conditions the film would have been the lowest grossing Best Picture winner since The Hurt Locker in 2009 as despite receiving widespread critical acclaim (94% Rotten Tomatoes) the film has a limited audience in the UK. Nomadland failed to find an audience I the US since opening in February taking $2.1m and $13.3m worldwide.
4. Spiral – £779,107 – NE
On Monday took £73,184 from 193 cinemas with £379 average
The ninth installement of the Saw franchise was originally set for release in October 2020 and was brought forward in July 2019 to May 2020 but then was delayed to May 2020 due to COVID.
The previous eight Saw films have took over £57m over the last 18 years, Spiral is the first Saw film not to open at Halloween.
2004’s Saw opened £1,239,813 taking £6,645,485
2005’s Saw II opened £2,189,212 taking £7,181,561
2006’s Saw III opened £2,522,521 taking £8,458,236
2007’s Saw IV opened £2,482,889 taking £6,195,963
2008’s Saw V opened £2,436,817 taking £6,123,282
2009’s Saw VI opened £1,736,287 taking £4,684,976
2010’s Saw 3D opened £3,600,083 taking £8,022,330
2017’s Jigsaw opened £1,851,249 taking £4,855,609
It’s the first of three horrors opening over three weeks with The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It opening on Thursday with A Quiet Place Part 2 opening the following Thursday. The first Saw films had stronger legs than the more recent films, but as these aren’t normal circumstances audiences might not rush out to see the films over opening weekend so films could hold better than they used to do.
5. The Unholy – £405,391 – NE
Taking £156,031 from Mon- Thurs
The Unholy is based on 1983 novel Shrine by James Herbert, always surprises me when film titles are changed when they are based on books and books written by a famous author as in the case with The Unholy.
The film received poor reviews, opening against another horror was a strange decision but with The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It opening this weekend and A Quiet Place Part 2 the following weekend maybe Sony hoped it would get a boost from cinemas reopen, as it was never going to last long in cinemas.
The film was produced by Sam Raimi currently in post-production on Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, the first film he has directed since 2013’s Oz the Great and Powerful. Over the last decade has produced many films including Evil Dead, Poltergeist and The Grudge remakes, Crawl and Don’t Breathe with sequel being released in August.
The Unholy has taken $14.9m in the US since opening in April and $13.8m internationally and $28.7m worldwide.
Also opened.
Judas and the Black Messiah – Warner Bros
Opened with £261,776 from 289 screens; included £134,776 from previews Mon-Thurs.
Daniel Kaluuya won Best Supporting Actor at the Oscars, BAFTAs, and Golden Globes
The film was released on VOD in the UK in March
Ammonite – Lionsgate
Opened with £130,324 from 54 screens; included £117,000 in previews, including £100,000+ from London Film Festival previews in October. It took only £13,400 from the weekend.
The film received mixed reviews but praised the performances of Saoirse Ronan and Kate Winslet, the film was released on digital in March. Kate Winslet currently stars in the excellent Mare of Easttown now on Sky Atlantic, last episode next Monday night.
UK box office in detail
This weekend’s top 10 box office took £9,347,953: down 11.9% from same weekend last year (£10,607,906)
It was the biggest weekend at the UK box office since March 6th, 2020.
But as was £1.2bn+ spent over the weekend in the hospitality sector, this shows that going to the cinema was still low on this list of priorities for most people, was a survey by YouGov a few weeks ago that said only 4% would rush back to the cinema; over the weekend there were 46.6m customers for the hospitality sector; Friday 16.1m taking £389.1m; Saturday 18.3m taking £426.2m; and Sunday 12.2m taking £354.5m; and cinema accounted for less than 3% close to the 4% from YouGov survey.
The weekend admissions 1,314,761; admissions in 2019 this week was 1,469,239 (down 10.5%)
Monday box office £633,758 on Monday, Tuesday dropped 25.2% taking £474,055 with a total of £1.1 million from two days.
Top 3 took £6,708,336 72.8% of £9,347,953; Peter Rabbit 2 50% (£4,605,673); Godzilla Vs. Kong 13.2% (£1,227,878); Nomadland 9.5% (£874,785);
2020 cinemas closed.
Down 11.9% from 2019 (10,607,906); Top three took 80.5% (£8,512,755) of the top 10; John Wick: Chapter 3: Parabellum 33.7% (£3,562,524); Pokemon Detective Pikachu 25.7% (£2,718,116); Avengers: Endgame 21.1% (£2,232,115);
Down 45.2% from 2018: (£17,042,583); Deadpool 2 (£12,974,669); An American in Paris – The Musical (£68,201); On Chesil Beach (£67,017); 2001: A Space Odyssey (Re) (£4,646); #1 Deadpool 2 £12,974,669 636 screens 1st week (76.1% of top 10)
Up 6.9% from 2017: (£8,745,494); King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (£2,501,993); Snatched (£842,489); Colossal (£150,642); King Arthur: Legend of the Sword £2,501,993 564 screens 1st week (28.6% of top 10)
Down 33.5% from 2016: (£14,060,126); X-Men: Apocalypse (£7,354,293); A Hologram For The King (£378,759); Thomas & Friends: The Great Race (£147,617); Sing Street (£126,269); X-Men: Apocalypse £7,354,293 598 screens 1st week (52.3% of top 10)
Down 30.1% from 2015; (£13,363,529); Pitch Perfect 2 (£5,005,394); Mad Max: Fury Road (£4,538,933); #1 Pitch Perfect 2 £5,005,394 496 screens 1st week (37.4% of top 10)
Down 2.9% from 2014: (£9,627,777); Godzilla (£6,385,483); The Two Faces of January (£328,438); Concussion (£9,507); #1 Godzilla £6,385,483 550 screens 1st week (66.3% of top 10)
Down 49.7% from 2013: (£18,557,112); Fast & Furious 6 (£8,717,534) The Great Gatsby (£4,095,325); #1 Fast & Furious 6 £8,717,534 462 screens 1st week (46.9% of top 10)
Down 23.8% from 2012 (£12,276,016); The Dictator (£4,963,745); The Raid (£417,596); 2 Days in New York (£87,385); #1 The Dictator £4,963,745 1st week 509 screens (40.4% of top 10)
Up 23.5% from 2011 (£7,566,720); Attack the Block (£1,133,859); The Way (£104,397); Take Me Home Tonight (£45,859); Taxi Driver (35th Anniversary) (£15,161); #1 Thor £1,360,418 30% drop 3rd week 472 screens (17.9% of top 10)
Down 12.3% from 2010: (£10,656,307); Robin Hood (£5,750,332); Pandora and the Flying Dutchman (£5,623); #1 Robin Hood £5,750,332 1st week 537 screens (53.9% of top 10)
Down 38.7% from 2009; (£15,250,846); Angels and Demons (£6,054,627); Fighting (£991,180); Synecdoche, New York (£123,125); #1 Angels and Demons £6,054,627 506 screens 1st week (39.7% of top 10)
Up 62.4% from 2008; (£5,755,952); Caramel (£122,790); Charlie Bartlett (£97,181); Smart People (£88,235); Shutter (£72,574); #1 Iron Man £1,917,925 3rd 496 screens 3% drop (33.3% of top 10)
Up 58.4% from 2007:(£5,900,836); Zodiac (£818,369); Magicians (£366,188); Love Wrecked (£223,400); Spider-Man 3 £2,549,712 3rd week 508 screens 54% drop (43.2% of top 10)
Down 30.4% from 2006; (£13,433,839); The Da Vinci Code (£9,501,444); Waiting (£307,791); #1 The Da Vinci Code £9,501,444 1st week 523 screens (70.7% of top 10)
Down 46.3% from 2005 (£17,406,831); Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith (£14,361,469); Mysterious Skin (£39,382); Only Human (£26,574); #1 Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith £14,361,469 1st week 490 screens (82.5% of top 10)
Up 123.3% from 2004 (£4,185,573); The Football Factory (£207,683); Troy (platform) (£89,286); Shattered Glass (£46,921); #1 Van Helsing £2,403,036 2nd week 456 screens 56% drop (57.4% of top 10)
Up 60.4% from 2003 (£5,829,019); Kangaroo Jack (£764,917); The Actors (£226,860); Secretary (£165,318); Antwone Fisher (£59,976); To Kill a King (£59,701); Extreme Ops (£14,751); #1 X-Men 2 £2,115,011 3rd week 468 screens 31% drop (36.2% of top 10)
Down 36.6% from 2002 (£14,728,512); Star Wars Ep II: Attack of the Clones (£11,386,209); The Closet (£75,396); #1 Star Wars Ep II – Attack of the Clones £11,386,209 467 screens 1st week 32% drop (77.3% of top 10)
Next weekend in 2019 (£19,827,784); top three took 80.4% (£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);
UK Box Office since restart
Before lockdown in March were 848 UK cinemas open; UK cinemas reopened from July closing in December till May 16th
Week 1 £189,000 from 460 screens (73 cinemas) 141 films on release; top 5 took £81,880.
Week 2; Up 76.2% £333,002 (182 films) from 1,059 screens (123 cinemas 85 from the UK the rest from Ireland and drive-ins) up 130.2%; The Empire Strikes Back (40th Anniversary opening with £50,406 from 1012 screens); top 5 £148,675.
Week 3: Down 7.5% £308,154 (191 films) from 151 cinemas and 1,286 screens up 21.4%; top 5 took £136,559; top 5 took £169,911.
Week 4: Up 30.7% £402,752 (214 films) from 185 cinemas and 1,734 screens Up 34.8%; top 5 took £328,783.
Week 5: Up 61.8% £651,914 (218 films) from 3,016 screens (326 cinemas reopened) up 74%; Unhinged opened with £175,263 from 243 screens); top 5 took £328,783.
Week 6: Down 17.4% £538,716 (236 films) from 338 cinemas and 3,393 screens up 12.5%: American Pickle opened with £27,732 from 162 screens; top 5 took £262,058.
Week 7: Up 85.2% £997,837 (269 films) from 366 cinemas; Inception: 10th Anniversary opened £207,675 from 313 screens; top 5 took £628,678.
Week 8: Up 10.9% £1,107,153 (264 films) from 3,889 screens (491 cinemas) up 21.5%; top 5 took £643,139.
Week 9: Up 462.2% £6,224,288 (204 films) from 3, 856 (629 cinemas); Tenet opened with 85.7% (£5,335,654); top 5 took £5,868,018.
Week 10: Down 39.8% £3,746,637 (198 films) 658 cinemas 4,607 screens (198 films on release; 487 England); top 5 £3,167,757
Week 11: Down 25% £2,812,496 from 5,522 screens; top 5 took £2,223,661; top 5 took £2,086,954.
Week 12: Down 7.4% £2,603,624 from 5,401 screens; 613 cinemas; top 5 took £1,598,935.
Week 13: Down 18.9% £2,112,443 from 5,564 screens 620 cinemas; top 5 took £1,598,935.
Week 14: Up 24.6% £2,633,473 from 6,372 screens; top 5 took £1,753,045.
Week 15: Down 36.5% £2,425,745 from 4,527 screens (closure of 1,180+ Cineworld screens); top 5 took £1,139,278.
Week 16 Down 59.3% £1.2m from 4,031 screens in 488 cinemas (closure of Northern Ireland cinemas); The top five took £570,127 down 38.7% from £1,139,278 last week.
Week 17 Up 54.2% £1.85m from 4,124 screens in 461 cinemas (Wales cinemas closed); 20 new releases taking almost £1m between them.
Week 18 Up 9.7% £2.03m from 469 cinemas; box office has risen well over the last two weeks, but they were boosted by over 30 films being released and being half-term and Halloween.
Week 19 Down 98.9% £22,908 from 119 screens in Scotland only; first week of second English Lockdown; #1 The Three Kings £3,521 from 2 screens most films in the top 15 dropped close to 98%
Week 20 Up 43.2% £32,804 from 143 screens in Scotland; second weekend of second English Lockdown; #1 The Secret Garden £5,147 from 15 screens up 201%; box office increased strongly for most films.
Week 21 Down 20% £26,250 from 128 screens in Scotland; third weekend of second English Lockdown; #1 Two By Two: Overboard! £3,422 from 16 screens many films increasing box office from last weekend despite box office down from the weekend before.
Week 22 Down 10% £23,597 from 125 screens in Scotland; fourth weekend of second English Lockdown; #1 Home Alone £2,705 from 4 screens
Week 23 Up 2,069% £512k from 1,549 screens in 231 cinemas 20% of UK cinemas reopened with 50 Vue cinemas reopening next weekend.
Week 24 up 91% £980k from 3,068 screens (up 98% of screens from last weekend) about 70% of UK screens were open in the UK out of 4,500 with Cineworld being 1,100+ screens still closed along with cinemas who went into tier 3 last week.
Week 25 up 43% £1.4m from 2,213 screens down 28% from 279 cinemas (33% of UK cinemas open the lowest since the end of July); London and the Southeast have 40% of UK cinemas and they are the most expensive across the UK with many central London cinemas over £20 (almost three times average ticket price) and many outside London and Southeast cinemas over £15.
When cinemas reopened last July independent distributors including Vertigo, Signature Entertainment, Trafalgar, and Altitude released most of the new releases. They took the gamble to release films ahead of the major studios and many of the films have been steady performers with films like 100% Wolf in the top 10 for 10 weeks and Two by Two: Overboard! For 8 weeks in the top 10 taking £1,071,693. In normal circumstances these films would be lucky if they lasted more than a week in the top 10.
While the reopening of cinemas this week independent distributors were squeezed by the studios again by the major exhibitors. Independent exhibitors should get their chance over the middle weeks of June during the European Championships with Oscar and Bafta winner The Father opening.
Since cinemas closed last year’s studios have come to terms with most exhibitors about shortening the theatrical window from 90 days with some including Disney and Paramount having a 45-day window and others like Universal opting for 17 days for smaller films and 31 days for films opening with over $50m. This doesn’t change the problem with the window as what was always needed was a flexible window that was tailored to each film that could change during the films release.
The same week Peter Rabbit opened in cinemas in March 2018 The Greatest Showman had been in the top 10 for 12 weeks taking £1m+ for each week only Titanic took £1m+ a week for longer but that was in 1998 with 100% ticket inflation; in comparison Star Wars: The Last Jedi took £763 in its 12th weekend.
I mention The Greatest Showman because the film’s composers Justin Paul and Benj Pasek latest film Dear Evan Hanson based on the smash hit musical opens in the US in September and in the UK in October.
The film won’t open with $50m but if the fans of the musical embrace the film as strongly it could have long legs, so studio should be able to be more flexible with it’s window.
As with The Greatest Showman Dear Evan Hanson created much fan content that boosted the musicals popularity which will be likely for the film, being a film is of course much more accessible to many who can’t afford to see live theatre.
Ever since cinemas closed in March exhibitors and studios should have set aside their differences and worked together as they previously did in 1985 with British Film Year (started the renaissance of cinema in the UK and the launch of the first multiplex cinemas in the UK) and National Cinema Day in 1996 (repeated the following year) when all cinemas across the UK were £1 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of cinema.
In the US to promote the return of cinema exhibitors have got behind Cinema Week between June 22nd– 27th that will showcase exclusive content, with giveaways and special guests to reenergize audiences with the cinema experience, studios also got behind The Big Screen Is Back event on May 19th showcasing films opening in movie theatres for the rest of the year. Filmmakers including J.J. Abrams, and Jason Blum, actors, and executives from all major studios.
NRG research from over 1 million moviegoers across 13 countries, which said 70% of domestic moviegoers now say they’re comfortable coming back to theatres, up from 45% in January. The goal was for the world to get to where China is with 95% of moviegoers comfortable with going to theatres now.
The reason why confidence returned to China much quicker than the West was they kept cinemas closed for several months longer than the West and then had far stricter safety measures from the start and then opened with a far stronger slate of local films which was different to the West. Had the West not been in such a rush to reopen with Christopher Nolan’s Tenet we would be in a far different position now. The problem was that Tenet was never going to be the saviour of cinema on it’s own despite what exhibitors believed.
In the UK to promote the return of cinema have National Lottery Cinema Weekend, previously held in 2018 and 2019 both were damp squibs poorly marketed and had no impact on box office. This year its on June 19-20th with 200,000 free cinema tickets; the first was held on Sunday 30 September with the second on 25th August 2019 with over 500,000 tickets given away.
Always thought the best way to showcase cinema experience is to use Fox’s excellent Star Wars 1997 re-release trailer, for the last 15 months you have watched movies the only way possible on the TV screen, but if you only seen them this way you haven’t seen them at all.
Surely if you’re going to hold a two-day event it should be more than the last single day event especially now when the aim it to get people back into the cinemagoing habit.
A research by Cinema First said 38% of U.K. audiences planned to return within the first month of sites reopening, and another 34% within the first few months of reopening; the study said teens, young adults and families would be among the first to return; 59% said the cinema experience could not be recreated at home.
Despite positivity from exhibitors recently there is still a lot of hesitancy from studios in opening anything that isn’t a sure thing theatrical only this year, with Paramount’s The Tomorrow War sold to Amazon along with Cinderella and Everybody’s Talking About Jamie and Universal Pictures announced on Monday they were going to release Boss Baby on July 2 in theatres and on their streaming service Peacock.
On Tuesday Amazon annouced they were going to buy MGM Studios for $8.45bn, the studio has been looking for buyers for over a year, Amazon made an offer of $2bn+ for James Bond rights about a year ago, along with an offer for No Time To Die but both were rejected. Hoefully this will give the studio the security it has needed for the last 40+ years as it as had many owners and gone into bankrupcy several times. In the late 90s Polygram were looking to buy the studio but then thier owner Philips decided to sell up thier film arm and rather than buying MGM, MGM acquired Polygram’s film library.
While MGM have a huge 4,000+ title film library they will find out as Disney, Universal, Warner and Paramount have found out that due to licenising deals made many years in advance they won”t get access to many of these films for some time. It will be iteresting to see what Amazon do with the studio as up till now they have choosen to build thier own studio along with some expensive acquistions recently including Coming 2 America, The Tomorrow War and Without Remorse.
While Disney previously announced Cruella, Black Widow and Jungle Cruise would be released in theatres same day as Disney+. Disney have promised to give 45-day windows for certain films including Free Guy and Shang-Chi.
As seen with the strong opening of Godzilla Vs Kong if it’s a film people want to see in cinemas they will still see it in the cinema, so even though Cinderella and Everybody’s Talking About Jamie are being released straight to streaming these films could play very well in cinemas in the UK as British audiences do love their musicals. With the fragmentation of streaming services exhibitors could sell their subscription services as the only way to see all the films for one monthly fee.
US Box Office
- Spiral – Lionsgate
Down 47.5% in its second weekend taking $4.59m and $15.87m
Holding better than the previous Saw film 2017’s Jigsaw which dropped 60.6% in its second weekend but took a 43% more $6.55m and $28.69m (45% more)
The first Saw film released in October 2004 dropped 39.3% in its second weekend taking $11.09m and $35.39m and went on to take $55.15m
The nine Saw films have now taken over $1bn worldwide since 2004 which is an incredible achievement as the budget for most of the films was under $20m so the franchise has been very lucrative for Lionsgate.
Spiral took $2.67m from 21 territories with total $6.72m and global total $22.5m; with The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It and A Quiet Place Part 2 opening over the next two weeks it will likely drop steadily over the next few weeks.
- Wrath of Man – United Artists
Down 19.6% in third weekend taking $2.97m and $18.5m
Guy Richie’s last film 2020’s The Gentlemen took $4.21m in its third weekend down 24.8% and $26.88m and took $36.54m
- Those Who Wish Me Dead – Warner
Down 32% in its second weekend taking $1.92m and $5.62m
The film has struggled to find an audience in cinemas, as with all other Warner films it was also available on HBO Max, and it was probably a film people didn’t think needed to be seen in cinemas.
International Box Office
F9 – Universal Pictures
Opened with $162.4m from 8 territories; taking $135.6m from China, having the second second-biggest opening for Universal and the Fast franchise; 2017’s The Fate of the Furious had the biggest opening in China for the franchise with $184.9m taking $392.8m total took 32% of it’s global $1.236bn in China.
F9 also had the biggest opening in China for a US film since 2019’s Hobbs & Shaw opening with $93.94m taking $201m.
F9 opens in the US on June 25 and was brought forward two weeks from July 8th to June 24th in the UK which will mean it won’t open against Black Widow but will be opening during the later stages of the European Championships, normally studios don’t like opening any major releases during either Euros or the World Cup and will either open film earlier as 2014’s Edge of Tomorrow and 2018’s Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.
Maybe this is a test for next years World Cup which starts 21 Nov ending 18 Dec which will impact heavily on next Christmas film slate, as these films can’t open earlier and many of them also won’t be able to open later, Qatar are only 2 hours ahead of the UK so most of these games will be 7pm and 9pm starts.
UK Box Office Top 10
Opening Next week
- The Coinjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It – Warner Bros
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 is that it opens the week after Spiral and the week before A Quiet Place Part 2, but all three are very different horrors, but will still likely play to similar audience. 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.
In normal circumstances would expect The Conjuring 3 to open similar to the first film £2.15m with two days of previews but will likely take about 25% less (40% without previews) £1.7m+. the film has received positive reviews, but wit A Quiet Place Part 2 opening next Thursday and having previews on Bank Holiday Monday the two are likely to cannibalize each other as being both 15 horrors they will be targetting similar demographic despite A Quiet Place Part 2 playing to a younger audience that won’t be legally able to see it.
- Cruella – Disney
13th Disney reimagination since 2010 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).
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 same day in 2014 with £6,590,071 including £2,767,018 previews, (£3,823,053 Fri-Sun) taking £2,605,230 in it’s second weekend and £11,056,088 and went on to take £19,292,000.
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 will be also 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.
As Disney imaginations have performed well in the UK previously and being half-term holidays and being the only film for tweens and teenagers for half-term as Peter Rabbit 2 will play much younger and The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It being a 15 will play to older teens.
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.
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.
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.