Top 5 Breakdown
- Bridget Jones’s Baby – £8,111,077 – NE
Having the biggest September opening ever beating last year’s Legend opened with £5.19m and seventh biggest opening of the year; took £3.08m on its opening day breaking records of the biggest comedy/romantic comedy opening ever in the UK/Ireland taking 67% of the box office for Friday and 63.4% of the top 10 box office for weekend; slightly below Les Misérables Working Title’s biggest Fri-Sun opening w/e with £8.12m
But lower than £4.61m 50 Shades of Grey took on it’s opening Friday in February 2015 targeting similar audience but after audiences have enjoyed Bad Moms in recent weeks I’m sure many felt Bridget Jones’s Baby while funny was predictable as predictable as the “surprise” ending.
2016 has had several big British comedy movies which have had mixed success at the box office success was Absolutely Fabulous: Movie in July opening with £4.29m but Dad’s Army opened disappointingly in February with £2.06m as did David Brent: Life on the Road in August with £1.4m.
Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason took £3.31m from previews in 2004 which inflated its box office to £10.4m its Fri-Sun box office was £7.13m was less 12.7% than Bridget Jones’s Baby but as cinema ticket prices (using CEA figures) are up over 60% since Edge of Reason was released in 2004 today this would be £11.4m making the claims over Bridget Jones’s Baby beating Edge of Reason’s box office meaningless.
Similarly, Bridget Jones diary opened with £5.71m in April 2001 when average ticket prices were according to CEA £4.21 70% less than they are today which would be £9.76m
Comparing Bridget Jones’s Baby box office with previous films is impossible as its 15 years ago since Bridget Jones Diary was released and 12 years since Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason. Using Cinema Exhibitors Association own data average ticket prices have increased by over 60% since 2012 from £4.49 to £7.21 Bridget Jones’s Baby would have needed to open with £11.68m to match Edge of Reason’s 3-day box office.
As ticket prices have really gone up over 100% my local Vue Cinema is £11.99, Bridget Jones’s Baby would have needed to of had the biggest opening of the year to match Edge of Reason’s 3-day opening. When comparing a film with more than 5-year difference it’s impossible to compare like for like which is why admissions would be a far better way to compare the performance of films but then have the issue with what is an average ticket price is it what exhibitors claim it is or what cinemagoers know it is?
50 Shades of Grey was similar fan fiction as Bridget Jones was to pride and Prejudice had a similar audience and hype would have thought Bridget Jones’s Baby would have had a similar opening. But as it didn’t it puts Baby in the same category as disappointing openings this year including Independence Day Resurgence, Life on the Road and Alice Through the Looking Glass but all those had things working against them but Baby has everything going for it.
While Bridget Jones’s Baby had everything going for its sequel to two massive films with receiving huge media coverage TV with Renée Zellweger being interviewed for BBC News something only a James Bond or Harry Potter film would receive). Also had a strong marketing campaign which has worked many times before with previous Working Title films from Four Weddings and a Funeral to Love Actually, positive reviews far better than Edge of Reason, the weekend with no competition.
But a sequel needs to open with much more than the previous film more so when there is such a long gap between films.
I regularly comment about the rising ticket prices but Bridget Jones’s Baby highlights its failure even more compared to Bridget Jones Diary released in 2001 and Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason in 2004. Average cinema ticket prices were £4.14 in 2001 and £4.49 in 2004 and claimed to be £7.21 in 2014 which is 74% more than in 2001 but at my local Vue Cinema it wold cost me £11.99 to see Bridget Jones’s Baby this evening which is almost 190% more than I would have paid to see Bridget Jones’s Diary at the same cinema 15 years ago.15 years ago Bridget Jones Diary opened in April 2001 with £5.72m dropping only 25% in its second weekend staying in the top 10 for 17 weeks taking £41.69m. While Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason opened in November 2004 with £10.4m was up to last February Universal Pictures biggest opening in the UK (replaced by 50 Shades of Grey and a few months later by Jurassic World); dropping 52% in its second weekend staying in the top ten for half as long 8 weeks going on to take £35.6m.
For Bridget Jones’s Baby to match Bridget Jones’s Diary box office needed to open with £10.9m almost 30% more than it did while Bridget Jones’s Baby need to open with £16.24m to beat the opening of 2004’s Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason having the biggest opening of the year to date.
So why did Bridget Jones’s Baby disappointed at the box office when a sequel takes over 10 years to happen you have to ask why the long delay, especially after the first two films were massively successful.
In the 12 years since female comedy has developed with films like Knocked Up, Trainwreck, and Bad Moms but the comedy in Bridget Jones’s Baby is dated which was the similar issue with Sacha Baron Cohen’s latest Grimsby and Ricky Gervais Life on the Road they used to be funny but now it’s just far too predictable.
The plot of Bridget Jones’s Baby is Mamma Mia the who’s the father has been done before and I don’t have to of seen the film to know who’s the father but what would of made the film much more interesting was throughout the film Mark is trying to cope with the possibility he isn’t the father (but the audience knows he is of course as this is Working Title there will be a nice happy ending with a wedding) so there is no real twist or surprise which the marketing has tried to make you think there is.
Both Bridget Jones’s Baby and Blair Witch show that while it might be nice to see another instalment most film fans will prefer to watch the original film instead as there is nothing new to see in either film and why they both underwhelmed at the box office compared to previous films. Bridget Jones’s Baby opening might be bigger than the last two films but as they are 12 and 15 years ago when ticket prices were a third of what they are now they have taken far less.
In November 2012 Twilight Breaking Dawn Part 2 took £6.9m on its opening Friday night while Skyfall opened with £6.2m can’t compare Spectre as it opened on Monday which still beat Bridget Jones’s Baby despite only having screenings after 7.30pm taking £4.18m.
The big question is how it will hold over Denzel Washington must be wondering why it’s always Working Title as 2 years ago The Equalizer didn’t get to #1 because of Billy Elliot Live and this year even if Bridget drops 50% Bridget Jones’s Baby will still beat his Magnificent Seven. But Bridget Jones’s Baby likely to lose top spot the following weekend with Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children likely to have similar opening of Dark Shadows opening with £2,404,029 in May 2012 and Stardust with £2.24m in 2007 and Bridget Jones’s Baby dropping below £2m.
- Blair Witch – £959,401 – NE
2016 has had many similar films from animation to comic-book adaptions to horrors including The Forest, The Witch, The Boy, The Darkness, The Conjuring 2, Lights Out, Don’t Breathe, The Purge: Election Year, The Other Side of the Door and Morgan.
The Conjuring 2 in the summer performed strongly but over the last 6 weeks 6 horrors have been released in recent weeks Nerve, The Shallows, Lights Out, The Purge: Election Year, Morgan, Don’t Breathe and Blair Witch all targeting the same audience all have cannibalised and under-performed. Shown by many of these films had similar openings The Purge: Election Year, The Shallows, Nerve, Lights Out and Don’t Breathe.
Many of these films would of likely performed better if they weren’t released week after week as audiences want to see different kinds of films not feel like it’s the same Groundhog Day that it has been with comic-book movies when audiences have watched Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice and Captain America: Civil War only to release they are exactly the same films. There is a gap till the next two horrors Ouija: Origins of Evil and the long-delayed Rings which should help both.
Blair Witch opening was similar to last year found footage The Visit £1.03m opening the same weekend but as an original horror compared to Blair Witch being a reboot can’t compare the two especially as Blair Witch was boosted by two days of previews adding £160,324 to its weekend box office. With poor word of mouth will likely drop heavily this coming weekend to have similar box office of Nerve £2.32m.
17 years ago The Blair Witch Project re-launched the found footage horror genre low-budget films including Paranormal Activity franchise and Cloverfield followed. For the past several years were rumours of a possible Blair Witch sequel or reboot but as Paramount Pictures earlier in the year surprised audiences with the Cloverfield sequel 10 Cloverfield Lane, Lionsgate surprised Comic-Con audiences revealing low budget horror The Woods was actually Blair Witch reboot.
The original The Blair Witch Project was shot in 1997 for a budget of $35,000 acquired by Artisan for $1.1m spending $20m to market it; receiving its world premiere at Sundance Film Festival in 1999 receiving critical acclaim many audiences believed it was real which was helped by the studio putting up missing posters of the cast members and having their IMDB listing as missing.
The Blair Witch Project opened in the US in July 1999 the same weekend as Eyes Wide Shut, Lake Placid in only 27 screens taking $1.5m taking three weeks to expand into 1,101 screens climbing up to second with $29.7m behind new entry Runaway Bride the following weekend dropped only 16.6% again The Sixth Sense.
All through its marketing and its release in US many thought the film was real and was still the case when the film opened in the UK 3 months later opening October 24th in only 36 screen taking £750,822 going wide the following Halloween weekend taking £5,875,318 dropping r 60% in its third weekend going on to take £14.9m; remember doing press screenings of the film audience reaction was incredible as many thought it was real.
Of course after the massive success of the first film the studio rushed out a sequel following weekend which took a fraction of the original opening with £1.09m taking £2.37m. Over the years after sequel was released were many rumours of another film or reboot.
- The Beatles: Eight Days A Week – £654,726 – NE
Taking the majority of its box office £596,957 (91%) from its live-stream of its Odeon Leicester Square premiere on Thursday night (September 15th); took £56,600 from encore screenings on Fri-Sun.
Hard to compare with other films as having one shown and then weekend encore performances it was more Event Cinema screening rather than regular release but Event Cinema screenings don’t often have the benefit of a big London premiere and major marketing campaign behind it.
- Sausage Party – £615,120 – total £6,560,005
Dropping 49.6% in its third weekend has overtaken Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg 2016’s Bad Neighbours 2 and 2007’s Superbad £6.2m as well as 1999’s South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut £6.36m.
- Kubo and the Two Strings – £599,304 – £1,707,990
Down 29.5% in its second weekend but climbed up one place more due to failings of other releases but Kubo and the Two Strings did have the lowest drop off all films in the top 10 with Finding Dory close by showing again why Kubo it has disappointed at the box office compared with previous Lakia films.
Lakia’s previous animations held far stronger in weeks after opening The Boxtrolls in 2014 opened in top spot holding the top in its second weekend increasing its box office by 2%. Similarly, in 2012 ParaNorman opened with £1.39m opening in second place climbing top in its second weekend dropping only 12% and dropping only 11% in its third weekend. Coraline in 2009 dropped 44% in its second weekend due to its opening weekend inflated with previews and having to deal with mega-movies against Angels and Demons in its second weekend and dropping 67% in its third weekend against Night at the Museum 2.
Kubo and the Two Strings received rave reviews and the strong word of mouth should have helped it climb up the chart with a minimal drop as previous Lakia films have done would have seen it climb into second.
Also released
Hell or High Water – Studiocanal – dropped out of the top 10 after only one weekend despite receiving strong reviews dropping over 50% in its second weekend with £255,847 taking £1.15m; always expected opening wide in its first weekend which had little scope to expand in its second weekend.
Captain Fantastic -eOne – performed similar to Hell or High Water in its second weekend surprisingly not expanding its screens from its first week dropped 50% taking £111,150 with total £525,827.
Anthropoid – Icon- also dropped 50%+ in its second weekend taking £102,724 with total £484,299
Other box office news:
This weekend’s top 10 box office took £12,670,555 up 99.9% from last weekend £6,335,370;
The weekend was up 9.8% from same weekend last year (£11,539,308) when Everest £3,160,154, A Walk in the Woods £252,175, Bill £221,807 opened.
Next weekend 2015: Miss You Already £467,924 and Solace £340,515, Captive £52,227, 99 Homes £39,559, Life £36,000, McFarland £13,000 opened.
Bridget Jones’s Baby took 63.4% of the top 10 films but should of on its on taken more than the top 10 films £12,670,555.
August admissions were up 26% from August 2015 the year is now up 0.4% from 2015 but while there are many major films still to be released in 2016 it’s unlikely Star Wars Rogue One and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them will come close to last year’s Spectre and Star Wars The Force Awakens.
Complete UK Box office top 10 – September 16th – 18th 2016
US Box Office
- Warner Bros – Sully – drops 37.2% – $22m – $70.5m; holding strongly in its second weekend and with the three new releases under-performing surprisingly held top spot for a second weekend. Will shortly overtake total box office of Tom Hanks last film Bridge of Spies $72m released last October. Over the coming weeks should also overtake Saving Mr Banks and Captain Philips which took $83.3m and $107.1m both in 2013; next up for Tom Hanks is Inferno released October 28th.
- Lionsgate – Blair Witch – opens $9.6m; received D+ CinemaScore; after surprising fans at Comic-Con in July with Blair Witch expectations were high for its box office but 17 years after The Blair Witch Project expanded in its third weekend taking $29.2m to open 67% less is a shocking performance especially most were predicting a similar opening to last years The Visit $25.4m; with D+ CinemaScore will drop heavily this weekend.
- Universal – Bridget Jones’s Baby – opens $8.2m; receiving B+ CinemaScore opening is less than both 2001’s Bridget Jones’s Diary $10.7m and 2004’s Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason $8.6m. While always expected to do poorly in the US was still expected to open with more than previous films especially 15 years later and the strong opening of Bad Moms in July but shows up the different between Us and UK humour.
- Open Road – Snowden – opens $8.1m; receives A CinemaScore after receiving much media coverage and decent reviews was expected to open far better but instead opened with less than half of Oliver Stone’s two previous films 2012’s Savages and 2010’s Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. Oliver Stone films always generate huge media coverage and often controversy from JFK to Nixon which many critics compared Snowden to but the positive is it took over 150% more than similarly themed The Fifth Estate in 2013.
- Screen Gems – Don’t Breathe – dropped 32.1% – $5.6m – $75.3m; already overtaken directors previous film Evil Dead 2013 reboot.
- Screen Gems – When the Bough Breaks – dropped 61.1% – $5.5m- $22.6m; genre films like these are very front-loaded The Perfect Guy dropped 62.3% last year in its second weekend and No Good Deed dropped 59.6% in 2014.
- Warner Bros – Suicide Squad – dropped 17.7% – $4.7m – $313.8m; has overtaken Iron Man 2 and will shortly overtake Iron Man’s Us box office climbing up to 13th biggest comic-book movie in the US behind Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice taken $330.3m.
- Lionsgate – The Wild Life – dropped 20.7% – $2.6m – $6.6m;
- Focus Features – Kubo and the Two Strings – dropped 24% – $2.5m – $44.2m; similar to 2014’s The Boxtrolls which had taken $47.6m, ParaNorman $49.3m in 2012 after 5 weeks but far less than Coraline which had taken $65.6m in 2009 after 5 weeks. After receiving rave reviews and limited competition Kubo and the Two Strings should have done far better especially as original animation has done so well with other films in 2016.
- Disney – Pete’s Dragon – dropped 34.2% – $2.1m – $72.8m
Also opened
Pure Flix – Hilsong – $1,300,000 from 816 screens
Abramorama – The Beatles: Eight Days a Week – $615,632 from 85 screens
Freestyle – Mr Church – $407,151 from 354 screens; Eddie Murphy’s first film since 2012’s A Thousand Words flopped 2016 was to be his comeback year with the long in development Beverly Hills Cop reboot originally due for release in March 2016.