Top 5 Breakdown

1. Avengers: Infinity War – £10,143,580 – £49,120,290   

Down 65.5% (or 55.57% not including previews) while many will blame the big second-weekend drop on the hottest Bank Holiday weather for 40 years Infinity War probably wasn’t affected as much as other film releases;

The second weekend of Infinity War was similar to both Star Wars The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi second weekends after opening with £34.1m and £28.1m The Force Awakens took £10,164,805 and The Last Jedi took £10,158,640 dropping 70.1% and 63.7% in their second weekends.

Plaudits celebrated Avengers: Infinity War becoming the biggest film of the year on Bank Holiday after taking £2.7m overtaking Black Panther £50.4m and on Tuesday becoming the biggest Marvel Cinematic Universe film overtaking Avengers Assemble £51.9m. Its second-weekend box office probably wasn’t as affected by the sunny weather as other releases as it dropped close to other MCU films in their second weekend that had four-day openings.

Avengers Infinity War took £37.89m in its opening 7 days the fifth biggest first week behind Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Star Wars: The Last Jedi (both had an extra day) Spectre and Quantum of Solace.

Had the seventh biggest second weekend in the UK behind Skyfall, Spectre, Beauty and the Beast, Jurassic World, The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi.

After 11 days on release only four films have taken more Spectre (boasted by two extra days) Skyfall, Star Wars The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi those two films had taken about 60% of their box office after 11 days Infinity War is likely to of done similarly likely to end with about £83m close to The Last Jedi box office which will probably be the biggest film of the year.

In 2012 Avengers Assemble dropped only 48.5% in its second weekend taking £8,121,916 and £29,851,680 47.5% of its final box office of £51,910,045.

Held #1 for 3 weeks dropping 49% in its second weekend taking £8,121,916 against American Pie: Reunion #2 with £6,334,539; down again 49% in its third weekend taking £4,169,087 against American Pie: Reunion #2 £2,546,626 and Dark Shadows #3 £2,404,029. In its fourth weekend The Dictator which opened with £4,963,745 #1 while Avengers Assemble took £2,814,216 and £44,983,702 staying in the top 10 for 9 weeks.

In 2015 Avengers: Age of Ultron dropped 52.3% in its second weekend taking £8,591,670 and £32,297,331 66.9% of its final box office of £48,227,409.

Held #1 for 3 weeks dropped 53% in its second weekend taking £8,591,670 against Far From The Madding Crowd #2 £1,450,297 and Unfriended #3 £1,346,952; down 59% in its third weekend taking £3,509,620 and £40,353,610 with Spooks: The Greater Good opening #2 with £1,010,363; dropped down to third in its fourth weekend behind Pitch Perfect 2 £5,005,394 and Mad Max: Fury Road £4,538,933 taking £1,661,968 and £43,250,662 in third.

The third weekend is when the box office stabilises for MCU films dropping 40%+ as word of mouth kicks in except for The Incredible Hulk and Avengers: Age of Ultron. But with Deadpool 2 opening in its third week it is likely to have a similar 60%+ drop in its third weekend as comic-book fans are fickle and despite the last year being hyped up for Infinity War most will quickly move on to Deadpool 2.

According to an interview with Buzzfeed News with the Avengers: Infinity War writer Christopher Markus the deaths are very much real in the film has been much speculation that the deaths are in an alternative reality or that the end credit scene with Nick Fury and the pager will have Captain Marvel time travel back to save them.

So, if this is true where does the already confirmed Spider-Man: Homecoming 2 and Guardians of the Galaxy 3 fit into this. Marvel previously would announce their slate years in advance but have said that future films and title for Avengers 4 will be a spoiler for what comes next but as they already announced Spider-Man: Homecoming 2 for July 2019 saying that it would be the end of the story arc that started with Captain America: Civil War in 2016 haven’t they already? 

Or is Marvel doing again what they did with Avengers Infinity War and Lucasfilm with Star Wars: The Last Jedi are on purpose misdirecting fans with its marketing as it won’t go the way you think but as we are now expecting the unexpected could this be a double bluff? (from the soundtrack of Solo: A Star Wars Story it looks like they are misdirecting the audience agai with the trailers). As it was always far more likely the older Avengers characters, Iron Man and Captain America would be replaced by younger versions and as Marvel’s Kevin Feige has previously said Marvel superheroes never die and they have twisted their rules across the years saying that non-superheroes die but then brought back Bucky. I write all of this not being a comic-book geek so am clueless about what can go on in comic-book land,

The website http://www.didthanoskill.me will tell you if you were one of those who was disintegrated by Thanos.  

The directors of Avengers; Infinity War went to extreme methods to keeps the plot of the film secret from giving actors only the pages of the script they feature into the red herrings that feature in the trailers, but this didn’t stop the actors from revealing the plotline. Mark Ruffalo had an interview with Don Cheadle for Good Morning America in July 2017 the interviewer says someone always dies in a Marvel film Ruffalo replied: “Wait until you see this next one (Infinity War), everybody dies!” Last week a regular screening in Los Angeles Marvel’s Kevin Feige and directors Joe and Anthony Russo introduced several cast members to the cinema audience Tom Holland tells the audience “I’m alive” Benedict Cumberbatch followed saying his alive too, but both supposedly disintegrated by Thanos.

This has been one of many accidental leaks by Tom Holland last November leaked the teaser poster of Infinity War which he was sent from Mark Ruffalo “Dear Tom, I’m so excited to be working with you on Infinity War. I thought you’d like to be the first to see the poster from the movie. Enjoy! Mark Ruffalo.”

This has made many believe that these leaks were done on purpose Mark Ruffalo left is mobile n for the first 10 minutes of the premiere of Thor: Ragnarok that was broadcast on Facebook live. As all of these “leaks” generate a lot of coverage online without revealing much played into the film campaigns #ThanosDemandsYourSilence to try to avoid spoilers being leaked but of course this didn’t stop them from being revealed as there are many trolls on social media who purposely like to reveal the spoilers on social media to ruin it for everyone else. But the question is when can you spoil a film I remember seeing The Sixth Sense several months before opening in the UK and the person who saw it with me said it was very similar to Angel Heart at the time I hadn’t seen it and told people about The Sixth Sense saying that it was similar to Angel Heart not realising I had accidentally spoiled the film.  

 

As with Disney’s Star Wars trailers the trailers for Avengers: Infinity War had many red herrings to put audiences off while this works but making the film more of a surprise but while fans liked it this backfired on many which saw audience reaction much more mixed than critical reaction as happened with The Last Jedi. 

Leading up to the films release and as the film trailers were suggesting it was the older Marvel superheroes likely to be in danger of not surviving the film including Iron Man and Captain America but in a similar The Last Jedi “this isn’t going to go the way you think” twist t was the newer comic-book heroes that died. While Disney hasn’t announced titles for their upcoming slate of films after Captain Marvel we do know Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 is happening likely to be released in 2020 as a Black Panther sequel as there is no way Disney will kill off Black Panther after one film.

Warner Bros announced on Monday Sherlock Holmes 3 for December 2020 release a sequel had been planned since 2011 after the first film was released in 2009 a year after Robert Downey Jr. starring in Iron Man. Since starring in Iron Man in 2008 Robert Downey Jr. has starred in few non-Marvel films 2014’s The Judge and Chef were his last non-Marvel films so its likely that Avengers 4 is likely to be his final Marvel film.

Infinity War directors Anthony and Joe Russo admitted that many of those key sequences in the trailers were shot just for the trailers which were like those shots in Rogue One trailers that weren’t in the final film. The audience could and should feel cheating with these key scenes missing from the film.

The 18 Marvel Cinematic Universe films have taken over £550m at the UK box office over the last 10 years with an average of £29.01m over the 10 years but since Avengers Assemble opened six years ago this climbs up to £34.4m. Only minor blip since was 2015’s Ant-Man was surprising as it was which took only £16.3m as it’s the most enjoyable MCU film but was poorly marketed will be interesting to see how Ant-Man and the Wasp does in August being the first MCU to open in the UK a month after the US.

2. I Feel Pretty – £1,272,154 – NE

A surprisingly stronger opening that might have been expected after mixed reviews, Amy Schumer not coming to London and the hot Bank Holiday weather giving STX their biggest opening in the UK to date. The film generated much media coverage mostly in female media and had a big talker screening program.

But it’s the performance of films like I Feel Pretty that should be sending shivers down the backs of studio executives and exhibitors as while “everything is awesome” with opening weekends of the latest megamovies films like I Feel Pretty are opening to similar levels they did almost 20 years ago. While megamovies openings have doubled in size as ticket prices have also more than doubled over those same 20 years films like I Feel Pretty are still performing as they did 20 years ago which was good then but now not so much.

Over the years have been many films seeing women transformed by makeup, fashion and manners including My Fair Lady, The Breakfast Club, Mean Girls (opened June 2004 £1,393,494 taking £5,411,323), Pretty Woman, Clueless, Easy A (opened October 2010 £277,975 taking £773,795), Grease, The Devil Wears Prada (opened October 2006 £3,267,580 taking £13,681,185), The Princess Diaries (opened December 2001 £587,677 taking £4,904,418), She’s All That (opened May 1999 £1,200,565 taking £ 5,787,132) Miss Congeniality (opened March 2001 £1,873,246 taking £10,040,993), Never Been Kissed (opened August 1999 £825,168 taking £4,500,033). All based on the Cinderella fairy-tale an ugly duckling can become a swan, but they were already but people couldn’t see.

When the trailer was released it received backlash over the central theme which was close to the 2001 comedy Shallow Hal but whereas in that film it was Jack Black fixated on physical beauty in I Feel Pretty Amy Schumer believes she’s a supermodel after she hits her head. It is also a spin on the Mel Gibson 2000 film What Women Want (opened February 2001 with £3,375,075 taking £17,091,251 back when he wasn’t a racist, anti-Semite wife beater and one of the biggest stars on the planet), currently being updated with a female version What Men Want which will be released next year.

Amy Schumer was due to come to London for promotional tour and UK premiere last week, but she had to cancel due to having a kidney infection as distributors use the press tour as final part of the film’s campaign missed out on alot of valuable media Amy Schumer was meant to be on Friday Night’s Graham Norton Show gets an audience of 4m+. The films marketing campaigns build up to its premiere (when it has one) or junket so when a film misses either it will lose much of the momentum its marketing campaign led up to it.

As film premieres are often planned months in advance occasionally the talent expected to attend must pull out or event gets cancelled most famous Bruce Willis pulled out of the London Film Festival premiere of Bandits in November 2001 rumoured to be he was scared to fly after September 11th terrorist attacks. In 2010 Sandra Bullock pulled out of UK premiere for The Blind Side while last year

Warner Bros and Universal Pictures cancelled Wonder Woman and The Mummy premieres after Ariana Grande and London terrorist attacks. Despite very positive reviews and strong buzz for Wonder Woman opened far less than the US. Of course, we will never know if Wonder Woman would have done better had it had a premiere as while premieres might not generate the same media coverage they used to unless it’s a Star Wars, Bond or Harry Potter film Wonder Woman had huge awareness and expectations.

For a film like I Feel Pretty which was generating mixed buzz needed Amy Schumer to be the opposing voice to the negativity as she did in the US with interviews on shows like The Late Show with Stephen Colbert which she gave in early April.

Bill Maher also talked about the backlash the film received and the publications who took issue with the films “message” “Schumer remade ‘The Nutty Professor,’ where someone not thin, and not cool, magically sees themselves as better looking and gains confidence. Except, when Eddie Murphy did it, he didn’t have the Purity Police up his ass.”

being which will, of course, affect the films marketing campaign and media coverage it will receive ahead of its opening.

Trainwreck opened in August 2015 with £931,981 taking £2,824,472

Snatched opened in May 2017 with £842,489 taking £1,955,348 

Shallow Hal opened in February 2002 with £1,277,183 taking £5,620,87i4

I Feel Pretty is the sixth film released by STX International and the third film released this year after Den of Thieves opened with £1.08m taking £2.79m their current highest grossing film in the UK. Upcoming from STX this year include Adrift, The Happytime Murders, American Animals. Peppermint and Second Act will any of them be their breakout film as are still living in the shadows of Bad Moms and its sequel that they didn’t release in the UK.

3. A Quiet Place – £395,335 – £10,773,694

Down 57.04% in its fifth weekend while Avengers: Infinity War dropped close to expected in its second weekend and I Feel Pretty had a decent opening the other holdovers suffered badly from the hot weather.

Has overtaken last years Get Out and should overtake Spit by next weekend and has become Paramount Pictures biggest film in the UK since 2016’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 taking £14.98m.

A Quiet Place took close to Split in its fifth weekend £413,791 and £10,543,484 93.4% of £11,283,545 and fifth weekend of Get Out £455,122 taking £8,961,947 90.8% of £9,860,890

A Quiet Place has now taken $160m at the US box office but only taken 6.73% of its box office in the UK. Many box office experts believe films in the UK take about 10% of the US box office while this is the case for many mainstream releases including Rampage and many comic-book films including Thor: Ragnarok and Guardians of the Galaxy 2, but A Quiet Place has performed close to films like Get Out, Truth or Dare, John Wick Chapter Two and Atomic Blonde.

2018 is a holding year for Paramount Pictures while A Quiet Place surprised and have Mission Impossible: Fallout in July the rest of their slate is unlikely to speak much interest as they look ahead to next year with their strongest slate for many years.

4. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society – £357,429 – £4,293,764

Down 59.2% in its third weekend targeting similar older audience as Salmon Fishing in the Yemen held against Avengers Assemble six years ago dropping 41% in its third weekend taking similar £641,051 and £4,470,916 of £5,938,040 total.

Holding close to last year’s Their Finest taking £325,717 in its third weekend down 48% taking £3,247,805 80.8% of £4,019,741 if The Guernsey Literary held similarly would take £5.5m+

Mid-April after the schools return from Easter holidays as early June has been when distributors have opened films targetting older audiences. In 2016 Eye in the Sky opened with £1,110,959 from 428 screens holding well in its second weekend taking £826,374 and £2,617,312 52.1% of £5,026,117.

The film was made by the producers of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel dropped only 24% £1,787,352 in its third weekend taking £10,855,596 57.1% of £18,994,423 and the sequel The Second-Best Marigold Hotel took £1,409,311 down 48% in its third weekend and £11,731,915 75.3% of £15,575,797.

5. Rampage – £256,219 – £8,323,117

Down 65.1% in its fourth weekend just managing to stay in the top five with only £25,000 between Secret Cinema Blade Runner: The Final Cut in sixth. But Secret Cinema screening was booked up months in advance the hot weather wouldn’t have affected its audience as well as tickets far more expensive.

Three years ago, Dwayne Johnson’s San Andreas fourth weekend saw it drop 48% taking similar £443,0289 against the second weekend of Jurassic World opening with £11,133,912. After four weeks on release, San Andreas had taken £10,742,136 94.8% of final £11,316,171 if Rampage held similarly would take about £8.5m.

Warner Bros has had a disappointing first four months of 2018 with Tom Raider £7.45m, Ready Player One £16m and Game Night £4.63m they will be hoping the positive buzz for Ocean’s 8 new trailers will translate into box office but opening two weeks after the US if the reaction isn’t positive will harm its box office. Remaining films of the year The Meg and Crazy Rich Asians could generate some interest as the latest spinoff from The Conjuring The Nun but of course Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them Part 2 is their big gun for the year. Warner Bros had a surprisingly light slate of films for 2018 with a much stronger slate for 2019.  

UK box office in detail

This weekend’s top 10 box office took £13,277,203 down 60.7% from last weekend £33,778,277;

The weekend admissions 1,7042,08 down 60.9% from last weekend 4,364,0323; 2018 average ticket price is probably up about 3% from last year’s £7.49 to £7.67 for 2018;   

13 films opened at weekend taking £1,986,809; I Feel Pretty took 64.03% (£1,272,154); remaining 12 films shared 35.96% (£714,655): Avengers: Infinity War took 76.6% of the top 10;

The weekend was up 23.9% from last year (£10,714,932) A Dog’s Purpose £1,300,097, Sleepless £369,004, Mindhorn £280,483, Unlocked £258,452, Lost in London £25,248,

Up 25.2% from 2016: (£10,605,061) Bad Neighbours 2 £1,691,699, Florence Foster Jenkins £712,899, Robinson Crusoe £575,321, I Saw the Light £17,248, Knight of Cups £10,323                           

Next weekend in 2017: (£11,133,770) Alien: Covenant £5,178,531, Der Rosenkavalier – Met Opera 2017 (Opera) £313,653, Miss Sloane £190,295, Frantz £69,982,

Other news

Even with Avengers: Infinity War opening with £29.4m and the strong performance of Peter Rabbit April 2018 box office is 10% down from last year and year to date is 5% down from 2017.

 Also opened

The Strangers: Prey At Night – Vertigo

Opened with £205,325 from 299 screens

Sequel to the 2008 film The Strangers which opened August 2008 with £1,250,624 taking £4,025,916

Tully – Universal Pictures

Opened with £138,674 from 200 screens;

As with US opening was surprising opened so wide as distributors seem to open their art-house films far too wide nowadays and they would probably be as successful if they targeted locations. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is still playing in over 500 screens is crazy for a film like that of course with digital releasing costs are much less but distributors used to target locations for individual films now it seems like they are almost block booked. 

eOne recently released Funny Cow on a limited release but performed far stronger in north England than in the south there are certain films that will play better to different audiences. Was a time 20 years ago distributors would only release films that featured heavily African American cast in areas like Brixton, Streatham and Holloway but only in the last 5 years they have played to regular audiences.

Close to Jason Reitman’s 2012’s Young Adult which also received positive reviews opened with £137,736 from 157 screens

10 years ago, he directed the Oscar-winning Juno received critical acclaim and was a huge success at the box office opened in February 2008 with £2,002,120 taking £9,240,584 winning Best original screenplay Oscar (over the years since has been a backlash to the film Lady Bird will likely also get).

He followed up with Up in the Air in 2009 starring George Clooney with a breakthrough performance by Anna Kendrick was also nominated for Oscars and received critical acclaim; opened January 2010 with £1,298,023 taking £5,580,729.

But his films since have disappointed at the box office

2012’s Young Adult received positive reviews opened with £137,736 from 157 screens

2013’s Men Women and Children received poor reviews opened with only £73,182 from 211 screens

2014’s Labor Day received poor reviews opened with £278,726 from 319 screens

 UK Box Office Top 10

US Box office

• Avengers: Infinity War – Disney

Drops 56.4% in its second weekend taking $114.77m and $453.1m.

Having the second biggest second weekend behind Star Wars: The Force Awakens $149.2m slightly ahead of Black Panther $111.65m only $9m more than 2012’s The Avengers $103.1m.

After 10 days

Star Wars: The Force Awakens took $540.1m 57.6% of $936.66m total

Black Panther took $403,51m 56% of $720m expected the final total

Jurassic World rook $402.8m 61.7% of $652.2m

The Avengers took $373.1m 59.8% of $623.25m

Avengers: Age of Ultron took $313.4m 68.2% of $459m

Black Panther took 3.41x opening Avengers: Infinity War will likely holder closer to Avengers: Age of Ultron 2.4x opening and Marvel’s Avengers 3x opening which would take about $650m which would be less than Black Panther. While Black Panther took more in the US than internationally Avengers: Infinity War will be as most other recent MCU films a take over $1bn internationally.

In 2015 Avengers: Age of Ultron was the fourth biggest film globally taking $1.4bn behind Furious 7 $1.51bn, Jurassic World $1.67bn and Star Wars: The Force Awakens $2.06bn while Marvel’s The Avengers was the biggest film globally in 2012 taking $1.51bn; Black Panther has taken $1.33bn.

The 18 Marvel Cinematic Universe films have taken $6.42bn in the US and $16.04bn

Infinity War took $162.6m internationally (54% drop from the opening weekend) taking $713.3m and $1.164bn worldwide opening in China on Friday. It is the fifteenth biggest film worldwide overtaking Captain America: Civil War $1.153bn, The Dark Knight Rises $1.085bn and The Dark Knight $1.004bn and fifth biggest MCU film overtaking Iron Man 3 and Black Panther this week.

• Overboard – Pantelion

Opened with $14.71m; received A- CinemaScore but only 31% Rotten Tomatoes score.

A remake of the 1987 film of the same name starring Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell; original film opened in December 1987 with $1.88m taking $26.21m; average ticket pieces have gone up 135% from $3,91 to $9,18; 2018 opening would be $4.5m and $63m total.

• A Quiet Place – Paramount Pictures

Down 38% in its fifth weekend taking $7.76m and $160.5m

A Quiet Place has become Paramount Pictures #40 biggest film in the US and will shortly overtake 2016’s Star Trek Beyond becoming their biggest film since 2015’s Mission: Impossible: Rogue Nation $195m.

In Get Out’s fifth weekend it took $8.85m and $147.66m 83.8% of its final box office of $176.1m if a Quiet Place was to hold similar could take about $192m.

Took $4.1m internationally from 57 territories and $95.4m total and $256.1m globally with several major countries still to come including China.

• Tully – Focus Features

Opened with $3.28m; received 87% Rotten Tomatoes score surprisingly after the positive reviews it wasn’t given a platform release instead feels more like it was dumped as it was only Jason Reitman’s second film to open wide after 2014’s Labor Day his previous films took (also dumped by the studio).

Incredibly less than 10 years ago since he directed Up in the Air which was a critical and box office success but since then his films have disappointed both critically and at the box office. His next film is The Front Runner starring Hugh Jackman (his first since The Greatest Showman) and Vera Farmiga

2006’s Thank You For Smoking opened with $262,923 taking $24,793,509

2007’s Juno opened with $413,869 taking $143,495,265

2009’s Up in the Air opened with $1,181,450 taking $83,823,381   

2011’s Young Adult opened with $310,263 taking $16,311,571

2014’s Labor Day opened with $5,175,282 taking $13,371,528

2014’s Men, Woman & Children opened with $48,024 taking $705,908     

His previous six Jason films have taken $282.5m in the US and $483m worldwide

• Warner Bros – Rampage

Down 35.6% in its fourth weekend taking $4.63m and $84.81m total

Dwayne Johnson’s San Andreas took $8.7m and $12.69m of total $155.9m; Rampage is now unlikely to take over $100m and is his 15^th biggest film in the US. Rampage was always going to be a hard sell even with Dwayne Johnson made more difficult with Black Panther success and Avengers: Infinity War being brought forward a week which meant Warner Bros had to bring Rampage forward.

Rampage is performing stronger internationally taking $13.7m from 61 territories taking $293.1m total and $377.9m. As Dwayne Johnson said Rampage is performing far stronger internationally hugely helped with $150m+ from China and has overtaken Journey 2: The Mysterious Island $335.3m and G.I. Joe: Retaliation $375.7m becoming his eighth biggest film.

• STX Entertainment – I Feel Pretty

Down 38.2% in its third weekend taking $5.05m and $37.94m;

Still holding close to Amy Schumer’s last film Snatched taking $3.97m in its third weekend and $40.25m total.

Many compared the film to 2001’s Shallow Hal which took $8.51m in its third weekend taking $54.99m of $70.83m.

After received mixed reviews I Feel Pretty is holding better that might of expected but its probably more to do with the lack of anything similar and this week Amy Schumer has the latest Melissa McCarthy comedy which has performed steadily over recent years. 

On limited release

• Bleecker Street – Disobedience

Up 28.9% in its second weekend adding 26 screens taking $305,991 and $634,364

UK Box Office Predictions

The third weekend is normally when Marvel Cinematic Universe films stabilise at the box office after having an inflated opening then a heavy 60% drop including the previews to settle down to a 40-50% third-weekend drop. Avengers Assemble dropped 49% in its third weekend but Avengers: Age of Ultron dropped 59% reaction to Avengers: Infinity War was closer to Age of Ultron than the first film so a 55%+ third-weekend drop is likely seeing it take £4.5m-£5m taking about £65m after three weeks.

Are no figures available for Sherlock Gnomes previews but it was second behind Infinity War o Bank Holiday Monday and I Feel Pretty took about £300,000 in the third so likely to of taken about £800,000 from previews over the weekend which would give it a £2m+ opening weekend?

 Opening UK

• Sherlock Gnomes – Paramount Pictures

Animated fantasy romantic comedy mystery featuring the voices of James McAvoy, Emily Blunt and Johnny Depp and directed by John Stevenson; sequel to 2011’s Gnomeo & Juliet opened in February 2011 with £2,945,627 taking £15,326,020.

The film opened in the US in March receiving poor reviews only 20% Rotten Tomatoes score compared with 56% for Gnomeo & Juliet; Sherlock Gnomes opened with only $10.6m taking $40.68m to date compared to Gnomeo & Juliet opening with $25.35m taking $99.96m.

It will be the first film from Paramount Animation to be entirely animated previous two were a mix of animation and live action 2015’s The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water and 2016’s Monster Trucks. It is also first fully animated film from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer since 2008’s Igor. 

Opening an animated film in the middle of May two weeks before holidays is unusual especially as its opening for Easter in the US, but Sony Pictures had success with The Angry Birds Movie opening May 13^th, 2016 with £2,138,507 without previews taking £10,002,458.

The British connection to Sherlock Gnomes and with Peter Rabbit almost played out will likely see it open with £2m+ boosted by weekend previews over the Bank Holiday weekend suffered from the hottest May Day Bank Holiday for 40 years.

I Feel Pretty drop 40%+ in its second weekend with Melissa McCarthy’s Life of the Party as direct competition but the films don’t perform that well in the UK, her last film ignoring Ghostbusters reboot The Boss opened with £594,672 compared with $23m in the US.

 

• Life of the Party – Warner Bros

Comedy starring Melissa McCarthy, Molly Gordon, Gillian Jacobs, Maya Rudolph, Julie Bowen and directed by Ben Falcone.  

Its Melissa McCarthy’s first film since 2016’s Ghostbusters reboot and stars in The Happytime Murders and Can You Ever Forgive Me? also released this year and will star in Superintelligence, The Kitchen and Margie Claus (also from Warner Bros) next year.

Previous Melissa McCarthy films have had mixed success at the box office Spy and The Heat were helped her co-stars the films she leads herself took much less. 

2016’s The Boss opened June 10^th £594,672 taking £1,692,452

2015’s Spy opened June 5^th £2,557,824 taking £9,654,086

2014’s Tammy opened 4^th July £471,429 taking £1,433,635

2013’s The Heat opened 1^st August £2,500,522 taking £6,825,860          

2013’s Identity Thief opened 22^nd March 2013 £1,313,162 taking £4,716,437

Will be targetting the same audience as I Feel Pretty that opened the week earlier which was three weeks after its US release but both films are likely to perform similarly.

Been many films featuring adults who go back to college over the years including 2012’s 22 Jump Street, 1986’s Back to School, 1995’s Billy Madison, 1999’s Never Been Kissed, 2003’s Old School and 2008’s The House Bunny.

Never Been Kissed opened August 1999 with £825,168 taking £4,500,033

The House Bunny opened October 2008 with £894,188 taking £2,931,090

• Breaking In – Universal Pictures

High tech home invasion thriller starring Gabrielle Union and directed by James McTeigue.

Over the years home invasion films have been popular the box office from last years Get Out to 2002’s Panic Room and many others including 2008’s Funny Games, 2013’s The Purge, 1990’s The Desperate Hours, 2009’s Obsessed, 1992’s Unlawful Entry and Single White Female.

With trailers shown with A Quiet Place and The Strangers: Prey At Night could generate some interest for the film

Panic Room opened May 2002 with £2,022,582 taking £8,202,281 but more likely to open closer to Obsessed opening in May 2009 with £154,344 taking £393,854 and 2014’s No Good Deed opening with £40,583 likely to do much better in the US.

• How to Talk To Girls At Parties – Studiocanal

Romantic comedy starring Elle Fanning, Alex Sharp, Nicole Kidman, Ruth Wilson, and Matt Lucas and directed by John Cameron Mitchell based on the short story by Neil Gaiman; had world premiere at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival receiving average reviews 6 months later received its UK premiere at the London Film Festival opening six months later in the UK.

The Cannes and London Film Festival’s might get the glamour and the parties but their position and importance to box office and award success has lessened over the last decade with Venice and Toronto becoming far more important. While Solo: A Star Wars Story might premiere next week at the Cannes Film Festival it benefits Disney as the film will get huge media coverage while possibly overshadowing Deadpool 2 opening a week earlier.

Warner Bros were rumoured to of wanted to have their A Star Is Born remake to premiere at Cannes Film Festival with the release date in May but delayed its release to October as Toronto and Venice are far better launching platforms for Oscar success as so many Oscar winners over recent years have premiered at those festivals.

While film premiering at Cannes will generate huge media coverage the problem is if the reaction is negative it could kill the film months before opening. This is similarly true with London Film Festival while Oscar winners Three Billboards and The Shape of Water might have premiered at the festival this was only after screening at both Venice and Toronto.

        

• Entebbe – eOne

Crime thriller starring Rosamund Pike, Eddie Marsan and Daniel Brühl and directed by José Padilha about the story of Operation Entebbe it is the fourth film to dramatize the events of Operation Entebbe, after the American TV films Victory at Entebbe (1976) and Raid on Entebbe (1977) and the Israeli film Operation Thunderbolt (1977); had its premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival receiving average reviews.

• Anon – Altitude Film Distribution

Sci-fi starring Clive Owen and Amanda Seyfried and directed and written by Andrew Niccol received mixed reviews will be released in cinemas and on Sky Cinema simultaneously but major exhibitors won’t play the film as they didn’t the two previous films Sky Cinema have simultaneously released.

Andrew Niccol is better known for writing 1998’s The Truman Show screenplay and also 2004’s The Terminal has also written the screenplay for Ang Lee’s sci-fi thriller Gemini Man starring Will Smith which is set for release in October 2019. He also directed the smart sci-fi Gattaca in 1997 and Simone in 2002.

• Deadpool 2 – 20^th Century Fox (Tuesday)

Eleventh instalment in the X-Men film series, and sequel to the 2016 film Deadpool starring Ryan Reynolds, Josh Brolin, Morena Baccarin, Julian Dennison, Zazie Beetz, T.J. Miller and directed by David Leitch.

When the first Deadpool film opened in February 2016 it was surrounded by strong buzz but had little buzz but after it received critical and fan acclaim is so much more expectation on the sequel. It was originally due to be sandwiched between Solo: A Star Wars Story and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom o n June 1^st but was brought forward to May 18^th in January to open ahead of Solo and only three weeks after Avengers: Infinity War.

In February were reports online about negative test screenings but this was denied in March saying that it was testing very well the first over 90 and the second even higher. Testing means very little as both Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League both tested well but then were poorly received critically while also many other films that tested well but underwhelmed at the box office.

The first teaser trailer was released in November but Instead of having an advert during the Superbowl Deadpool live tweeted the game and the second trailer was released the week after wit featured a work in progress trailer with the first full trailer released at the end of March with the final trailer released at the end of April featuring the character Peter.

20^th Century Fox had planned to release this Marvel films this year as they were two years ago with Deadpool, X-Men: Apocalypse and Gambit the first films were released but Gambit was delayed due to scheduling conflicts with its then director Rupert Wyatt. Deadpool 2 was meant to be joined with New Mutants opening in April and X-Men: Dark Phoenix. New Mutants was delayed to 2019 after extensive reshoots and X-Men: Dark Phoenix was also delayed for similar reasons but due to actors scheduling issues reshoots couldn’t happen till mid-2018.

Both films are now due for release in 2019 joined with the long-delayed Gambit film but where the X-Men films go after these films is unknown as they are expected to be incorporated within Disney’s Marvel films from 2020. In 2016 20^th Century Fox had plans for a third Deadpool film.

The 10 Marvel X-Men film have taken over £200m at the box office over the last 18 years; while of course not as successful as Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe they began before comic-book movies became so popular as they have done over the last decade.

While Disney get much credit for the success of MCU it is only due to 20^th Century Fox taking a massive risk in 2000 making the first X-Men movie which was made to fill an empty slot on their release schedule after Steven Spielberg delayed making Minority Report a year. Two years later Sony Pictures launched Spider-Man but took another 6 years before Marvel released their first MCU film Iron Man it was only after Iron Man success

in 2008 Disney took notice of Marvel and acquired Marvel Entertainment the following year in the years that followed Disney gave just continued what Marvel previously did 20^th Century Fox, Sony Pictures and Paramount Pictures did all the hard work launching the genre of films to audiences.

But like Disney’s acquisition of Lucasfilm and their Star Wars films and from 2020 Indiana Jones films they are just building on the success other studios built. This is my biggest issue with Disney as they used to be one of the most creative studios over the previous decades, but their current success has built on the hard work of their rivals Disney just had the big pockets that allowed them to buy these companies and are just continuing what these companies made.

The first Deadpool film in 2016 became 20^th Century Fox’s biggest film in the UK until The Greatest Showman earlier this year but opening only three weeks after Avengers: Infinity War and a week before Solo: A Star Wars Story will it be able to get close.

Deadpool is currently 20^th Century Fox’s eighth biggest film and Deadpool 2 is probably their last major film that is likely to take over £30m before it is sadly incorporated within Disney next year. And due to this 20^th Century Fox reportedly demanded Ryan Reynolds to remove a joke about Disney, but they didn’t remove all the jokes as kept in a joke about Disney’s Frozen. At Cinema Con last month Fox had a video with Deadpool and Hugh Jackman being interrupted by Pluto.

Last week the soundtrack line-up was announced that featured a surprising track from Celine Dion 21 years after she sang My Heart Goes On for the soundtrack to Titanic, the track for Deadpool 2 called Ashes was released on Thursday Mat 3^rd and was vied almost 2 million times within the first couple of hours.

Deadpool 2 has a fans screening in the UK on Thursday, May 10^th with Ryan Reynolds and Josh Brolin in attendance and has its US premiere on May 14^th. Social media embargo ends May 11^th with review embargo ending May 15^th same day as Star Wars Solo which premieres in Cannes on May 15^th but opens 10 days later. As Deadpool receives its US premiere on May 14^th makes sense that its embargo is the following day while as Solo premieres at Cannes embargo must end on the day it premieres so nothing more can be read into those dates even though I’m sure many have.

Deadpool opened with £13,729,803 including £3,762,513 from Wednesday and Thursday previews unlike other comic-book films its not been retrofitted into 3D and is a 15 certificate rather than 12A all other comic-book films apart from Logan have been. 

The first Deadpool film had limited competition for several weeks but the sequel must deal with Solo: A Star Wars Story opening only a week with embargo ending 10 days due to its Cannes premiere and having its US premiere at the weekend.  Deadpool was going to be in the middle of Solo and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom so opening ahead should benefit it as well as trailers played with both Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War.

For Avengers: Infinity War Thanos asked for cinemagoers silence and it Deadpool trolled the campaign as they did with the posters using the tag “from the studio that killed Wolverine”

Opening in the US

• Life of the Party – Warner Bros

Previous Melissa McCarthy films have had mixed success at the box office while Spy and The Heat were successful others have been less so and Life of the Party is her first film since 2016’s Ghostbusters female reboot. 

She has had far bigger success in the US than the UK with her films to date many have been surprise hits or sleepers but her biggest have been The Heat and Bridesmaid she had the co-star role against Sandra Bullock and ensemble cast.

2016’s The Boss opened 8^th April $23.58m taking $63.28m

2015’s Spy opened June 5th $29.08m taking $110.82m

2014’s Tammy opened 2th July $21.57m taking $84.52m

2013’s The Heat opened 28^th June $39.11m taking $159.58m         

2013’s Identity Thief opened 8^th February 2013 $34.55m taking $134.5m

• Breaking In – Universal Pictures

Produced by Will Packer his films have taken almost $1 billion with eight of his films to opened at #1. His films include Ride Along 2, No Good Deed, Think Like a Man Too, Ride Along, Think Like a Man and Takers and has a production deal at Universal Studios; upcoming Night School starring Tiffany Haddish and Kevin Hart opening September and a female remake of What Women Want called What Men Want opening in January.

With trailers played with films including Black Panther and A Quiet Place Breaking In could open close to his 2014’s thriller No Good Dead opening with $24.25m in September 2014 taking $52.54m and Don’t Breathe in 2016 opened with $26.41m taking $89.21m.

Home invasion films have always been very popular horror as the fear is much more real as we all hear noises at night and wonder what it was, and should we go downstairs. Are far too many films to list but listed a few above and more here The Hand that Rocks the Cradle, Cape Fear, Don’t Breathe, Get Out, Malice, Obsessed, Pacific Heights, The Strangers and You’re Next.