- Top Gun: Maverick – £10,325,500 – £38,471,380
Down 35.2% in its second weekend (8% not including previews) took 69% of the week’s BO and took 72.66% of the top 10 in its second weekend (53rd biggest percentage of the film in the top 10 in the last 20 years which was similar to the percentage of the top 10 War of the Worlds had in its opening weekend in 2005); in its opening weekend had 82.6%.
On Friday Top Gun Maverick had taken £31.5m becoming Tom Cruise’s biggest film in the UK overtaking 2005’s War of the Worlds by £30.6m (£49m inflation inflated) on Tuesday became the biggest film of the year and the biggest Paramount Pictures film in the UK overtaking Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull £40,285,476 (£58,258,996 inflation inflated).
£3.3m on second Friday (down 15%); £3.8m on Saturday (down 2.6%); £3.2m Sunday (down 18%)
Over its opening 12 days took £2.7m Weds; £2m Thurs; £3.3m Friday; £3.9m Sat; £3.9m Sun; £2.5m Mon; £2.9m Tues; £3m Weds; £3.75m Thurs; £3.3m Fri; £3.8m Sat; £3.2m Sun (Mon June 6 took £1.4m)
Took £11.95m Mon-Thurs more than £10.5m taking in its opening weekend due to several reasons including films targetting older demographic will often prefer going during the week to see a film than the weekend, that said the weekday was half-term so it was as busy.
8th biggest second weekend between The Lion King and Star Wars: The Force Awakens (close to Star Jurassic World, The Lion King, Quantum of Solace and Fantastic Beasts) and 25th biggest inflation inflated opening between Monsters, Inc. and Toy Story 3 (close to Jurassic Park, Star Wars: Attack of the Clones, Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves and Die Another Day).
81st biggest film in the UK between Fifty Shades of Grey and Fast & Furious 7 (close to Captain Marvel, Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith Shrek The Third and Deadpool) and 169t biggest inflation inflated between The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and X-Men 2 (close to Men In Black 2, The Bodyguard, I am Legend and Goldeneye).
14th biggest film after 2 weeks on release between Jurassic World and The Lion King (close to Beauty and the Beast, Toy Story 3,, Star Wars: Rogue One and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1.
2nd biggest Paramount Pictures film in the UK between Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and Shrek The Third and 4th biggest Paramount Pictures film between Shrek Forever After and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen)
There is a confusion over what the original film took in 1986 as Screen Daily said it took £8.5m (£20.5m inflation inflated) but after the film opened with £441,267 from 235 cinemas it must have taken about £5.5m as it was the fourth biggest film of the year after Back the Future, Rocky IV and Out of Africa, with the very limited BO data I have of the 80s known that Out of Africa took £6.3m. The problem is there are so few accurate UK BO data and very little pre-2001 unlike the US when they have sights like BoxofficeMojo and the numbers…
While many might be surprised by the hold of Top Gun Maverick you only need to see the films it’s the second weekend is close to they including Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, Jurassic World and Star Wars: The Force Awakens they all have a lot in common as they play as strongly to young and old audiences and as they follow the same story as the original are accessible to new fans but also have the nostalgia factor for those who saw the original films when they were children.
While as Jerry Bruckheimer said when he first read the article that inspired him to make Top Gun in 1986 that the film is Star Wars on Earth as was the case with 1996’s Independence Day. The problem was Fox still decided to make the sequel Independence Day: Resurgence despite Will Smith not returning as it would have been like making Top Gun 2 without Tom Cruise.
The reason why Top Gun Maverick held strongly was due to very strong word of mouth and opening ahead of half-term holidays which meant every day was like a Saturday for it over its opening 12 days. While also rival studios kept their distance o either side of its opening as due to Doctor Strange 2 opening on May 6th nothing major opened two weeks after and with Jurassic World Dominion nothing major opened the weekend after. It was also of course helped with the trailer playing with both No Time to Die and Spider-Man No Way Home and all other major releases over the last year.
Normally with half-term, a family film would have opened about a week ahead while Bob’s Burger Movie opened on May 27th it was always going to struggle to find an audience internationally. So it May 25th release date for Top Gun Maverick Storm for the film was boosted by strong buzz for the film over the month before and Tom Cruise being everywhere, but he was overshadowed by Paddington for the Queen’s Jubilee as when you saw he was signed to be part of the ITV celebrations on May 15 was expecting something unique like a helicopter landing in Trafalgar Square but instead, it was just a host role in which he looked completely out of place doing alongside British TV talent.
On Monday Paramount Pictures was hit by a copyright lawsuit from the original 1983 magazine “Top Guns” article heirs, they claim Paramount didn’t reacquire rights that expired in 2020 a year before the film was completed. Producer Jerry Bruckheimer spoke a lot about the article being his inspiration for Top Gun. (reading the article there are many similarities to the film). There have been several similar lawsuits announced after the film has been become a hit, while most are thrown out of court but then was Buchwald vs. Paramount in 1990 which the studio lost and Warner Bros settled a $900m lawsuit over The Conjuring in 2017;
Top Gun Maverick is very similar to Star Wars The Force Awakens as it is a remake of the original film the opening credit scene is the same but on a different aircraft carrier and repeats scenes straight from the first film as The Force Awakens does, so do wonder as with The Force Awakens when the bubble will burst and audiences realise this. With The Force Awakens, it was after it had taken $2bn worldwide but with other legacy sequels, audiences realise this far sooner.
Of course, this is what sequels do they repeat the best bits from the original film and put them in a slightly different location and people enjoy it as they enjoyed the first one, but with such a long gap with these sequels you do expect more than that and not repeat the same 30 years later the son/daughter have similar adventures of what their parents did but as when Marty went Back to the Future and mixed with his parents who were his age this has been happening for a long time. But with The Force Awakens, it was introducing Star Wars to a whole new generation whilst also attracting fans of the original films for a film like Top Gun Maverick its key audience will be those who grew up with the original film.
You can give the same reasons why audiences are attracted to films like Top Gun Maverick, Star Wars The Force Awakens and Jurassic World to the speech in Field of Dreams to these films “Ray, people will come Ray. They’ll come to Iowa for reasons they can’t even fathom. They’ll turn up your driveway not knowing for sure why they’re doing it. They’ll arrive at your door as innocent as children, longing for the past. Of course, we won’t mind if you look around, you’ll say. It’s only $20 per person. They’ll pass over the money without even thinking about it: for it is money they have and peace they lack. And they’ll walk out to the bleachers; sit in shirtsleeves on a perfect afternoon. They’ll find they have reserved seats somewhere along with one of the baselines, where they sat when they were children and cheered their heroes. And they’ll watch the game and it’ll be as if they dipped themselves in magic waters.”
Of all the legacy sequels Top Gun Maverick has probably the most in comparison with 2008’s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull opening 19 years after Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. As surely having Shia LaBeouf as Indiana Jones’s son the plan was to have further films with a younger Indiana Jones but that’s more likely to happen with Disney’s Indiana Jones 5 opening next year. As with films like Top Gun and Indiana Jones while they might have strong casts the draw is Tom Cruise and Harrison Ford which was one of the reasons why Solo: A Star Wars Anthology disappointed as it was someone else playing trying to be Han Solo but there is only one.
Much has been written about why Top Gun Maverick opened strongly but the answer was simple it was the reason why Jerry Bruckheimer was so interested in making a film after reading an article about Top Gun pilots and seeing it as Star Wars on Earth. If Disney can remake Star Wars A New Hope as The Force Awakens then with surely can do the same with Top Gun when you have Tom Cruise front and centre.. it was all about timing the audience was primed in a similar way to how they were for No Time To Die and Spider-Man.
Top Gun Maverick is as critics have said non-stop action and it starts exactly like the original film with the same music starting full of nostalgia to the original film and that continues throughout the film, so its understand that when exhibitors and critics saw the film in crowded cinemas full of fans of the original the reactions would be as they were. The film gets a bit silly when Maverick steals an aeroplane from the airfield they bombed and was immediately able to fly it making it feel like the Clint Eastwood film Firefox.
The film played strongly in its second weekend in 50 IMAX cinemas and PLF screens all of which it lost to Jurassic World Dominion on Friday as about 40% of its BO come from these screens it will be interesting to see how it holds. Much was made about its second-weekend drop but along with the strong word of mouth it was helped by being half term and the wet weather.
Did think the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee events over the weekend would have had more impact on its BO as the Platinum Party at the Palace concert was watched by 13.5m on Saturday with 74% of the share similar to the One Love Manchester concert held the same weekend 5 years ago watched by 14.5m with 49.3% share and 69% were 16-24. This was the same weekend Wonder Woman opened which did suffer as its target demographic women aged 16-24 were watching their Wonder Woman Ariana Grande perform in concert after the horrific terrorist attack at her concert a few days earlier.
Paramount Pictures would surely live the year to end now after having their best year probably since 2011 with Scream, Jackass Forever, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, The Lost City and now Top Gun Maverick taking over £90m. This will likely see the studio have its first £100m+ year since 2011 when they took £160m and were the UK #1. But Paramount only have two small releases for the rest of the year Tadeo Jones 3 and Smile while their rivals have far strongest slates.
.
- 2. Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness – £1,151,843 – £40,711,421
Dropped 16% in its fifth weekend having a low drop due to half-term
5th biggest MCU 5th weekend between Captain Marvel (£1,156,476) and Avengers: Age of Ultron (£1,151,843) close to Avenger Infinity War (£1,215,206); Guardians of the Galaxy (£1,067,076); Spider-Man Homecoming (£1,027,274)
Took £697,755+ than Doctor Strange’s 5th weekend (£454,088) was the second weekend of Fantastic Beasts (£8,892,489).
74th biggest 4th weekend between Downton Abbey and Moulin Rouge (close to The Incredibles, Shang-Chi, Dune and Interstellar); took £293,184 less than The Batman’s fourth weekend (£1, 664,503) and £399,114 less than Captain Marvel (££1,770,433).
It’s the 7th biggest MCU film after 5 weeks between Black Panther (£42,779,145) and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 (£37,819,438) close to Avengers Assemble, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: Civil War and Iron Man 3.
74th biggest film in the UK between The Batman and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (close to Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, Star Wars: Attack of the Clones and Independence Day) and 154th biggest inflation inflated between The Batman and The Hangover Part II (close to The World Is Not Enough, 101 Dalmatians, Fast 7 and Men In Black 2).
12th biggest comic-book movie between The Batman and Captain Marvel (close to Avengers Age of Ultron, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Deadpool and Spider-Man: Far From Home) and 18th biggest inflation inflated between The Batman and The Mask (close to Spider-Man 2, Batman Forever, Batman and X-Men 2).
4th biggest film since cinemas reopened between The Batman and Top Gun Maverick.
The 28 MCU films have taken almost £950m and almost £1bn inflation inflated; Thor: Love and Thunder opening in July will see the 29 MCU films taking over £1bn at the UK BO since 2008.
Thor: Love and Thunder open in a month and will likely perform similar to Doctor Strange 2 and then Black Panther: Wakanda Forever opens in November which is unlikely to be as big as the first film which was a one-off, being the first “Black Marvel movie” despite Blade opening 20 years earlier it became a phenomenon playing to people who don’t watch comic-book movies.
Took £203,957 from previews on Weds/Thurs
Men try to be a Get Out for women but despite strong performances by Jessie Buckley and Rory the Alex Garland film ends up being like so many horror films female in a remote location is terrorised by men,
It’s Alex Garland’s third film directed after 2014’s Ex Machina opened for £1,093,952 #5 taking £2,502,929 and 2018’s Annihilation (released in cinemas in the US and internationally by Netflix).
Alex Garland is best known for writing 1996 novel The Beach which became a 2000 starring Leonardo DiCaprio and directed by Danny Boyle, Alex Garland also worked with the director on 28 Days Later and Sunshine
Up 62.7% in its 9th weekend due to half-term holidays
An encore returns into the top 5 after being in the top 10 for the last 9 weeks ahead of its VOD release on June 15th and then onto Paramount+ launching in the UK on June 22nd.
5th biggest film of 2022 between Sing 2 and Uncharted; 7th biggest film since cinemas reopened between Sing 2 and Uncharted.
While many are surprised by Sonic the Hedgehog 2 but as it’s similar to both Uncharted and Wreck-It Ralph it’s not surprising at all as it would have attracted a similar audience as Uncharted.
In 2020’s Sonic The Hedgehog was pulled from cinemas at its sixth weekend after the first lockdown taking £19,280,822 but had cinemas not closed as often with half-term films Sonic The Hedgehog would have played through to Easter and taken £25m+.
Uncharted dropped 52% in its ninth weekend taking £109,039 #6 from 443 screens and £23,942,862 taking £24,091,881.
168th biggest film in the UK between Sex and the City and The Lost World: Jurassic Park (close to The LEGO Batman Movie, The Croods, The Amazing Spider-Man and Home) and 334th biggest inflation inflated between Nanny McPhee and Home (close to Ice Age, Arthur Christmas, Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted and Brave).
7th biggest Paramount Pictures film between Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and Star Trek: Into Darkness) (close to Shrek Forever After, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Mission Impossible: Fallout and Rocketman) and 13th biggest inflation inflated between Iron Man 2 and Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted.
Paramount have yet to confirm a release date for a third film but that would be likely in April 2024 release with the spinoff series Knuckles set to be released on Paramount+ in 2023.
- 5. The Bad Guys – £403,176 – £12,944,403
Up 102.7% in its 9th weekend due to half-term holidays despite the film being available to watch at home on VOD.
Showing again that people will still see films in the cinema despite being available to watch at home cheaper as so many children’s films have done since Onward returned to cinemas in July 2021 months after its cinema release and Disney+ release. Trolls World Tour took about £1m in cinemas despite being released on VOD for several months and Encanto took half of its BO after being released on Disney+.
10th biggest film of 2022 between Downtown Abbey 2 and The Lost City and 22nd biggest since cinemas reopened between Downtown Abbey 2 and Space Jam 2.
23rd biggest Dreamwork Animation film between Mr Peabody and Sherman and Rise of the Guardians (close to Puss in Boots, Kung Fu Panda 3, Over the Hedge and Flushed Away) (28th to take £10m+) and 28th biggest inflation inflated between Bee Movie and Turbo
91st biggest animated film between Epic and Lilo & Stitch (close to The Rugrats Movie, Chicken Little, The Lion King 3D and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2) and 111th biggest inflation inflated between The Smurfs 2 and Space Jam: A New Legacy (close to Valiant, Bee Movie, The Cat in the Hat and Megamind).
492nd biggest film between Three Men and a Little Lady and Alien: Covenant (close to Rio, Hook, Space Jam: A New Legacy and Jungle Cruise) and 768th inflation inflated between Titanic 3D and 50 First Dates (close to Look Who’s Talking Too, The Meaning of Life, Much Ado About Nothing and Buster).
While comic-book movies and No Time To Die have received the plaudits from the industry since cinemas reopened their children’s films that have performed steadily over the weeks cinemas have been open. As under 10s have gone to the cinema many times over the last 18 months seeing children’s films of all sizes from going to see films like Onward and Trolls World Tour in cinemas when they first reopened after the first lockdown, to Two By Two: Overboard!, The Secret Garden, Home Alone and Elf (during October and November 2020 when the majority weren’t). To Peter Rabbit 2, Space Jam: A New Legacy, The Croods: A New Age and many smaller independent children’s films that opened after the first lockdown when studios weren’t releasing them.
All these films will pale into insignificance when Lightyear and Minions: The Rise of Gru when opening in June and July but their huge success will be thanks partly to all those smaller children’s films that came before over the weeks previous that kept children returning to cinemas regularly.
Other Cinema News
Curzon Cinemas announced o Friday that they were cutting cinema prices in response to “changing customer habits and the cost-of-living crisis”, With tickets down to £8 and £10 in the evening. Vue Cinemas previously cut the prices of many of their cinemas to £5.99 but over the last 2 years, many of those cinemas have increased their prices to £6.99, £7.99 and £8.99, the industry average is £7.52 but most people are probably paying double to see Top Gun Maverick in IMAX and PLF screens.
I know that I am a broken record when I say this but for more than a century a trip to the cinema was a cheap night out, the price of a pint of Guinness in the 40s to 60s, the price of a Big Mac meal in the 70s to 90s which saw cinema attendance grow in most recessions. The industry always says the price isn’t the reason why people aren’t going to the cinema and always will say that there are cheap cinemas out there like PeckhamPlex but the vast majority have seen their prices grow.
Odeon Leicester Sq. top price for Top Gun Maverick and Jurassic Dominion is £32,50 and BFI IMAX 330, how can cinemas justify these prices especially as exhibitors aren’t in the cinema business but the popcorn and syrup business. I always believe that had prices not increased in the early 00s as quickly as they did admissions would have been over 250m in the years before COVID. In 1994 after the huge success of Jurassic Park industry experts were predicting 200m admissions by 2000 and the industry’s long-term goal was 300m.
2022 UK BO January-May was £397.1m which is about 78% of 2019 levels Industry expects BO for the year will be about £1.05bn similar to 2009; 2021 was £597m and 2020 £323m. With BO returning to pre COVID levels in 2023 which was expected when cinemas shut after the first lockdown.
UK Distributor share estimates 2022 Jan-May
Paramount £90m 22.7%; Universal £88m 22.2%; Warner £70m 17.6%; Sony £58m 14.6%; Disney £50m 12.6%; Entertainment £7m 1.7%; Pathe £6.6m 1.6%; A24 £4m 1%; eOne £2.5m 0.6%; Lionsgate £1.5m 0.4%.
Future releases
Disney – Thor: Love and Thunder, Black Panther 2, Strange World and Avatar will add £150m+ (£200m+)
Sony – Lyle Lyle Crocodile, I Wanna Dance With Somebody, Bullet Train and Matilda will add £70m+ (£130m+)
Universal – Jurassic World 3, Minions: The Rise of Gru, Nope, Ticket To Paradise, Halloween Ends and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish will add £150m+ (£223m+)
Warner – Elvis, DC Super-Pets, Don’t Worry Darling, Shazam 2, Salem’s Lot and Black Adam will add £90m+ (£160m+)
Paramount Pictures are currently the #1 biggest studio in the UK but their lack of future releases will see them drop to fifth for the year despite having their first £100m+ year since 2011. The huge positive for the year is that the box office will be shared out over the five big studios rather than over previous years Disney running away with it, but it will be Universal Pictures who will likely be leading the pack from mid-June to early December as so much depends on if Avatar The Way of Water can match the success of the original released in 2009.
UK box office in detail
This weekend’s top 10 box office took £14,210,578 down 26.3% from last weekend’s £19,286,684
263rd biggest top 10 of the last 20 years between 20 August 2010 #1 The Expendables £3,935,700 (27.66% of top 10) and 13 July 2018 #1 Incredibles 2 £9,650,000 (67.96% of top 10) and 463rd biggest inflation inflated between 08 February 2019 #1 The LEGO Movie 2 £4,016,730 (29.89% of top 10) and 15 February 2008 #1 Jumper £3,068,803 (31.26% of top 10).
The weekend admissions were 1,889,705 down 26.3% from last week 2,564,719
Top 3 took £11,997,250 84.4% of the top 10; Top Gun: Maverick 72.6% (£10,325,500); Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness 8.1% (£1,151,843); Men 3.6% (£519,907)
Up 150.7% from 2021 (£8,645,168); A Quiet Place Part II (£3,567,048); Dream Horse (£209,389); The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King (Re: 2020) – Extended Version (£24,652); Land (£14,615); #1 A Quiet Place Part II £3,567,048 (41.26% of top 10)
2020 n/a cinemas closed
Down 15.8% from 2019; (£16,880,406); Godzilla: King Of The Monsters (£3,507,717); Ma (£509,624); Thunder Road (£44,065); #1 Aladdin 2nd week £4,888,931 31% drop 645 screens (28.96% of top 10)
Up 45% from 2018: (£9,802,656); Book Club (£720,858); My Friend Dahmer (£37,940); #1 Solo: A Star Wars Story £3,147,338 684 screens 48% drop (32.1% of top 10)
Down 11.8% from 2017: (£16,108,699); Wonder Woman (£6,179,616); Baywatch (£4,631,244); My Life as a Courgette (£55,566); Dough (£51,426); #1 Wonder Woman £6,179,616 1st week 599 screens (38.3% of top 10)
Down 2.5% from 2016: (£14,572,147); Warcraft: The Beginning (£3,623,725); Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (£3,495,445); Me Before You (£1,790,657); The Nice Guys (£1,004,622); Race (£39,990); #1 Warcraft: The Beginning £3,623,725 500 screens 1st week (24.8% of top 10)
Up 64.1% from 2015; (£8,657,357); Spy (£2,557,824); Insidious Chapter 3 (£1,440,299); The Empire Strikes Back (Secret Cinema 2015) (£304,115); Survivor (£130,307); Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films (£4,442); #1 Spy £2,557,824 531 screens 1st week (29.5% of top 10)
Up 14.9% from 2014: (£12,366,516); 22 Jump Street (£4,854,991); D-Day 70 Years On (£287,767); Grace of Monaco (£238,862); Der Rosenkavalier – Glyndebourne 2014 (£75,428); Fruitvale Station (£30,162); #1 22 Jump Street £4,854,991 454 screens 1st week (39.2% of top 10)
Up 17% from 2013: (£12,145,608); The Purge (£1,019,877); The Big Wedding (£595,956); Byzantium (£114,339); Populaire (£106,192); #1 The Hangover Part III £2,917,887 498 screens 51% drop 2nd week (24.1% of top 10)
Down 12.7% from 2012 (£16,285,480); Prometheus (£6,236,580); Snow White and the Huntsman (£3,589,027); Top Cat – The Movie (£457,287); The Angels’ Share (£256,446); LOL (£114,545); #1 Prometheus £6,236,580 1st week 514 screens (38.2% of top 10)
Up 6.3% from 2011 (£13,361,869); X-Men: First Class (£5,438,386); Eyes Wide Open 3D (£463,914); Senna (£375,173); Last Night (£51,245); Prom (£34,885); Screwed (£9,297); #1 X-Men: First Class £5,438,386 1st week 507 screens (40.7% of top 10)
Up 87% from 2010: (£7,601,859); Death at a Funeral (£696,280); 4.3.2.1 (£433,218); She’s Out of my League (£400,554); The Killer Inside Me (£124,006); #1 Sex and the City 2 £2,473,043 2nd week 521 screens 60% drop (32.5% of top 10)
Down 0.7% from 2009; (£14,109,630); Terminator Salvation (£6,936,528); Last Chance Harvey (£640,390); Anything for Her (£89,467); #1 Terminator Salvation £6,936,528 1st week 489 screens (49.1% of top 10)
Down 13.5% from 2008; (£16,421,392); Sex and the City (£8,767,265); Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay (£265,346); Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins (£40,380); #1 Sex and the City £8,767,265 460 screens 1st weeks (53.4% of top 10)
Up 73.8% from 2007: (£8,174,672); Wedding Daze (£803,471); Paradise Lost (£406,822); The Hitcher (£217,973); Flyboys (£38,531); #1 Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End £5,381,920 2nd week 550 screens 60% drop (65.8% of top 10)
Up 86.2% from 2006; (£7,629,707); Poseidon (£1,349,080); United 93 (£616,882); Wah-Wah (£46,159); Benchwarmers (£40,366); #1 X-Men: The Last Stand £ 2,310,683 2nd week 448 screens 67% drop (30.3% of top 10)
Up 58.5% from 2005 (£8,963,845); Sin City (£2,452,299); The League of Gentlemen’s Apocalypse (£555,996); #1 Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith £3,313,328 3rd week 490 screens 39% drop (36.9% of top 10)
Down 51.1% from 2004 (£29,089,953); Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (£23,882,688); Japanese Story (£37,580); #1 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban £23,882,688 1st week 535 screens (82.1% of top 10)
Up 118.6% from 2003 (£6,499,525); Anger Management (£1,768,335); The Hunted (£394,122); Dark Water (£34,978); #1 The Matrix Reloaded £2,485,938 3rd week 473 screens 34% drop (38.2% of top
Up 136.5% from 2002 (£6,007,556); 40 Days and 40 Nights (£1,027,578); The Time Machine (£808,389); Snow Dogs (£331,432); #1 Star Wars Ep II – Attack of the Clones £2,442,698 471 screens 3rd week 40.6% drop (61.9% of top 10)
Next weekend 2020 Cinemas Closed First Lockdown
Next weekend 2021 (£4,771,829); Nobody (£574,399); The Father (£397,418); Fargo (25th Anniversary) (£8,585); #1 A Quiet Place Part II £1,314,938 53% drop 2nd weekend 620 screens (27.56% of top 10)
US Box Office
- Top Gun: Maverick – Paramount Pictures
Dropped 28.9% in the second weekend taking $90.03m (higher than the Sunday $86m estimates while early estimated midweek was $60m) and $295.64m
Had the lowest percentage second-weekend drop of any $100m+ opening as most of these $100m+ openings join the $100m+ loser club as the film doesn’t live up to the hype and as these films play to a younger audience they rush out to see it over opening weekend. While a film like Top Gun Maverick targets an older audience who will see it over weeks and will also see it multiple times in the cinema. The previous lowest drop was Shrek 2 I 2004 dropping 33%.
As in the US Top Gun Maverick overtook the lifetime BO of Tom Cruise’s previous biggest film in the US 2005’s War of the Worlds $243.3m having overtaken 1986’s Top Gun BO $180.3m within 6 days, but of course, inflation inflated would be $600m+ and War of the Worlds $500m+.
Having the lowest 2nd weekend post-Memorial Day drop ahead of 2009’s Up $44.13m (-35.2%);
8th biggest second weekend between Beauty and the Beast and Frozen 2
Historically films heavily (60%+) drop the week after Memorial Day including
2008’s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull $44.75m (-55%);
2007’s Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End $44.2m (-61.5%);
2013’s Fast & Furious 6 $35.6m (-63.9%); 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand $34.01m (-66.9%); 2011’s The Hangover Part II $31.38m (-63.5%); 2019’s Solo: A Star Wars Story $29.39m (-65.2%); 2004’s The Day After Tomorrow $27.86m (-59.5%); 2000’s Mission: Impossible II $27.01m (-53.3%);
But most of these films didn’t have the strong word of mouth Top Gun Maverick had received so hard to make any direct comparisons with any of them.
Paramount films have been #1 for 6 weeks out of the 22 weeks of the year after Scream, Jackass Forever, The Lost City and Sonic the Hedgehog, having their best year at the BO since 2011. But they will be superseded by their rivals over the rest of the year as after the news last week Secret Headquarters is now being released on Paramount+ leaving the studio with only Paws of Fury in July and horror Smile in September until Babylon opens on platform release on Christmas Day. Paramount’s 2023 slate is probably their strongest for more than a decade with Transformers: Rise of the Beats, Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning Part 1, Scream 6 and Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie.
Currently, Paramount have but will drop to about 10% by the end of the year as only have only Paws of Fury and Smile before Babylon having moved Secret Headquarters to Paramount+ last week.
Paramount’s previous high was in 2011 with 19.33% and was the biggest studio in the US and globally but in the years since mostly due to poor management, decisions have failed to match the success of their rivals with their annual share under 10% between 2012 and 2019.
EntTelligence reported 11.6m had seen Top Gun: Maverick in its opening weekend compared with 2m who saw the at its opening weekend of May 16-18, 1986, and 20.6m for Spider-Man: No Way Home and 14m Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness over their opening weekends.
The difference is the original film had very long legs taking over $3m ($10m+ inflation inflated) for 19 weeks while Top Gun Maverick will likely be less than a quarter of that time
The average ticket price was $12.96 (42%+ than the industry average) and the average ticket price for a Top Gun 2 IMAX/PLF ticket is $16.41 (80%+ than the industry average).
Tom Cruise’s 42 films have taken $4.25bn in the US and $10.61bn worldwide; had huge success in the 80s and 90s and is the last action hero outlasting Bruce Willis, Sylvester Stallone, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. As his biggest hits were in the 80s and 90s Top Gun, Rain Man, A Few Good Men, the Firm, and Interview With the Vampire hasn’t had a $1bn film globally yet, but inflation inflated both Top Gun and Rain Man would have taken over $1bn.
New Paramount boss Brian Robbins receives the plaudits for the success of Top Gun Maverick but he became boss of the studio in September 2021 long after the film had been completed. While of course there wouldn’t have been Top Gun Maverick without Tom Cruise but without Jim Gianopulos, Jerry Bruckheimer and Skydance it wouldn’t have been made. Jim Gianopulos left in September, and Skydance Productions moved to Apple after 10 years at the studio in December 2020 it was reported Paramount weren’t extending Jerry Bruckheimer’s production deal ended in December 2020.
This highlights why the studio has struggled over the last decade failing to maintain good relationships with talent even having a very public falling out with Tom Cruise in 2006 along with Blumhouse, Dreamworks and Marvel all going to rivals.
Took $85.8m (down 30.8%) taking $261.6m and $557.2m worldwide from 64 territories; UK $48.4m; Australia $23.5m; Japan $22.4m; France $21.6m; Germany $13.1m.
Took $23m and $62.7m from 350 IMAX screens internationally most of these screens it will lose on Friday along with most PLF, 4DX and ScreenX screens with the arrival of Jurassic World Dominion (opened with $55.5m from 15 territories).
Top Gun Maverick could be Paramount’s first $1bn+ film globally since 2014’s Transformers: Age of Extinction (inflated with China BO) but they will still likely end being the fifth biggest studio of the year as all their rivals have far stronger slates for the rest of the year.
- The Bob’s Burgers Movie – 20th Century Studios/Disney
Dropped 64% in the second weekend $4.5m and $22.24m
Took $400k from 8 territories $1.7m total and $23.9m worldwide
- Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness – Disney
Dropped 43% in its fifth weekend taking $9.17m and $388.63m
43rd biggest film between Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II; 114th biggest inflation inflated Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Rambo: First Blood Part II; 24th biggest Disney film between Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 and Finding Nemo; 16h biggest comic-book movie between Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 and Spider-Man 2.
While Doctor Strange 2 will be released on Disney+ on June 22nd 47 days after opening in cinemas
MCU films have taken $10.31bn in the US and $26.57bn worldwide
Took $11.4m from 49 territories $520.6m and $909.3m worldwide; UK $50.3m; Korea $49m; Mexico $39.9m; Brazil $32.5m; France $26.4m;
63rd biggest film worldwide between The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and Spider-Man 3; 14th biggest comic-book movie between The Dark Knight and Spider-Man 3; 30th biggest Disney film between Finding Nemo and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2.
- Downton Abbey: A New Era – Focus Features
Dropped 45% in its third weekend taking $3.19m and $35.89m
Took 60% less than 2019’s Downton Abbey the third weekend taking $7.98m dropped 44.3% and $73.61m (51.2% less) taking $96.85m and $192.19m worldwide
2001’s Gosford Park took $41.3m and $87.75m worldwide
2,462nd biggest film between The Pink Panther 2 and The Theory of Everything; 3,433rd biggest inflation inflated between Did You Hear About the Morgans? And Psycho III; the 15th biggest 2022 film between Death on the Nile and The Northman; the 20th biggest Focus Features film between Pride & Prejudice and The Theory of Everything
Took $43.46m internationally from 53 territories and $79.36m worldwide
- Everything Everywhere All at Once – A24
Down 18% in its eleventh weekend taking $2.02m and $60.56m
A24’s biggest film in the US ahead of Uncut Gems $50.02m and Lady Bird $48.95m
12th biggest film of 2022 between Dog and Jackass Forever; 1,425th biggest film in the US between Jingle All the Way and Kiss the Girls; 2,311th inflation inflated between The Last Starfighter and Dora and the Lost City of Gold.
Since opening on a platform at the end of March taking $501,305 from 10 screens and then $1.07m from 38 screens at the second weekend it then expanded into 1,250 screens at the third weekend and 2,220 at the fourth weekend. Often films will expand far too quickly and then lose screens but word of mouth has kept audiences returning.
The film has overtaken the box office of many award contenders from last year including Nightmare Alley, West Side Story and Licorice Pizza and will shortly overtake the box office of House of Gucci.
In the UK it has taken almost £4m after 4 weeks #7 taking £370,968 holding well despite dropping out of the top 5 due to family films increasing BO due to half-term
Took $15.7m internationally and $76.26m worldwide; 21st biggest 2022 film worldwide between Downton Abbey: A New Era and Dog; 3rd biggest A24 film worldwide between Lady Bird and Moonlight.
UK Box Office Top 10
dow
UK Box Office Previews
Jurassic World Dominion opens in the UK on Friday with less hype than previous films all of which were massive media coverage around them maybe it’s opening in the shadows of Top Gun Maverick and the mixed reaction to the film and the similarly mixed reaction to Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom in 2018 which feels a long time ago.
But despite all of that it is still a Jurassic Park film and the sixth and potentially final Jurassic World film and it features the casts of both films so should play to old and new fans of the film series but of course
2015’s Jurassic World opened with £19,350,727 from 605 screens (including £2,514,284 13% previews) £16,836,443 Fri-Sun taking £64,322,933
Spy #2 £1,549,756 2nd w/e; San Andreas #3 £844,397 3rd w/e
2018’s Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom opened 26% less with £14,334,894 from 663 screens (including £3.65m 25.4% previews) £10,684,894 Fri-Sun taking £41,573,492
Solo: A Star Wars Story #2 £1,192,220 3rd w/e; Deadpool 2 #3 £1,182,010 4th w/e
If Jurassic World Dominion dropped a similar 26% then it will take a similar to £10.5m Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom opened without previews.
After Top Gun Maverick had a small second-weekend drop it’s the big test will be how it holds against Jurassic World Dominion as will lose all IMAX and PLF screens where a large percentage of BO came (10% from 50 IMAX cinemas), after taking £10.3m in its second weekend. In normal conditions Jurassic World Dominion would open with £10m+ would see it drop upwards of 60% in its third weekend but dropping less than 50% will eat into Jurassic World Dominion box office.
As Dr Alan Grant said in “Dinosaurs and man, two species separated by 65 million years of evolution have just been suddenly thrown back into the mix together. How can we possibly have the slightest idea what to expect?”
When a new tentpole opens the previous film will often drop heavily as the marketplace can maintain two films and instead the films cannibalize each other taking box office away from each other.
In May 2012 the second weekend of Marvel Avengers Assemble it took £8,121,916 from 523 screens down 49% from £15,778,074 opening with American Pie: Reunion opening with a strong £6,334,539 #2 and The Lucky One (£1,159,435); Beauty and the Beast 3D (£685,024); Safe (£679,716) also had decent openings.
While in 2007 The Simpsons opened #1 at £13,626,853 from 499 screens and Transformers opened #2 at £8,718,561 from 456 screens with Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix at #3 at £2,879,635 and Hairspray #4 at £1,390,389 both holding strongly.
But then in 2014 previous Tom Cruise film Edge of Tomorrow struggled opening #3 with £1,886,096 from 439 screens to Maleficent opening #1 with £6,590,071 from 486 screens and X-Men: Days of Future Past #2 second weekend £3,518,389 554 screens.
What is interesting to see from these films is these films are now opening in about third more cinemas, distributors used to be far more selective in the number of cinemas films opened with film but now with digital it go as wide as possible, it would be interesting to see how that box office compares in different cinemas when a film opens in 500 screens or 750.
With the strong second weekend of Top Gun Maverick while it will lose IMAX and PKF screens it will still be playing on multiple screens in most cinemas and then add the screens Jurassic World Dominion will open in 730 cinemas 2,500+ screens all other films will be squeezed with these two taking about 90% of the weekend BO.
In the US Jurassic World Dominion is tracking to open with $125m but with Top Gun Maverick taking $90m in its second weekend it will surely also have to dop 60%+ in its third weekend or will eat into JW3 opening weekend and will see it with 30% less than JW2 with $105m Vs Top Gun Maverick’s $40m+
Opening next week
- Lightyear – Disney
26th Pixar animated film and spinoff of Toy Story and origin story about Buzz Lightyear featuring the voices of Chris Evans, Keke Palmer, Peter Sohn, James Brolin and Taika Waititi and Angus MacLane.
There was a 2000 direct-to-video film Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins a pilot for spin-off TV series, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command.
It’s the first Pixar film to be given a theatrical release since 2020’s Onward which had a limited cinema release opening in March two weeks before the first lockdown, but still performed well when it returned to cinemas in July despite being released on Disney+.
The last three Pixar films Soul, Luca and Turning Red were all originally meant to have theatrical releases but were moved to Disney+.
After releasing Toy Story 4 in 2019 Pixar said it would be their last sequel for a while as over the previous decade, Pixar made 7 films all original and Pixar were seen as the most creative studio in Hollywood. Pixar was acquired by Disney in 2006, at the time Ratatouille, Wall-e and Up were in various stages of production so Toy Story 3 was probably the first wholly made by Disney.
It must be frustrating for the interns who created original short films for Pixar’s SparkShorts program to then be spending so much time making sequels rather than developing new ideas.
The 23 Pixar films that had theatrical release have taken almost £700m since 1996 and almost £930m inflation inflated; $6.07bn in the US and $14.7bn worldwide.
Pixar recently announced their 2023 film will be called Elementa and have two more currently untitled films dated in March and June 2024. Normally if it’s an original film Pixar announces the title of its next film about a month before it releases the next.
Disney dates their Pixar films for the middle weekend of June due to Father’s Day but it used to be that Disney would hold back the release in the UK until the start of the summer holidays but with Universal Pictures over recent years dating their Illumination Entertainment film early in July, they have had to go day and date in the UK. This year Minions: The Rise of Gru opens only two weeks after Lightyear. The two animated studios have opened films near each other before but this is the first time they are both parts of existing franchises.
It’s unlikely Lightyear will play similar to either Toy Story 3 or Toy Story 4 as both had huge nostalgia factor to the original two films so played as strongly to adults and children. As with Star Wars Anthology films, Rogue One and Solo and the Star Wars spinoff show the Toy Story films already have enough of the backstory for Buzz Lightyear for most people so do we need a film to tell us more?
The biggest problem is as with Star Wars Anthology and TV spinoff shows like Obi-Won Lightyear introduces characters that aren’t mentioned by Buzz Lightyear in the Toy Story films so they surely didn’t matter to him as much as they seemed to do so at the time.
The teaser trailer was released in October having 83 million views in the first 24 hours, second behind Incredibles 2 114m, with a first trailer released in February and a second in April with a final trailer in May.
It’s expected to open in the US between $90m-$120m
- Good Luck To You, Leo Grande – Lionsgate
Comedy-drama starring Emma Thompson and Daryl McCormack and directed by Sophie Hyde; premiered at the Sundance Film Festival receiving positive reviews (97% Rotten Tomatoes) and US rights were acquired by Searchlight Pictures. The film is being released on Hulu in the US on the same day as the UK.