Top 5 Breakdown

1. Dunkirk – £ 10,023,720 – NE

Dunkirk took £2.8m on its opening day (Friday) taking 56% of the top 10 from 1,313 screens. Had the fourth biggest Fri-Sun UK opening of 2017, behind Beauty and the Beast £19.7m, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 £13.09m and Despicable Me 3 £11.15m. 

Dunkirk had Christopher Nolan’s third biggest opening in the UK behind The Dark Knight Rises and The Dark Knight and his second-biggest Fri-Sun more than The Dark Knight’s £8.7m.

In 1998 Saving Private Ryan opened with £2.7m taking £18.74m

In 2001 Pearl Harbour opened with £3.07m taking £14.22m

While Christopher Nolan’s most recent non-The Dark Knight Trilogy films Inception opened in July 2010 £5.91m and Interstellar in November 2014 £5.37m (would be the inflated opening for Saving Private Ryan today).

Christopher Nolan’s 9 films have taken almost £196m to date.

The next couple of weeks Dunkirk faces little direct competition being the start of the summer holidays Captain Underpants and The Emoji Movie are targeting a much younger audience while Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is unlikely to have much impact.

Dunkirk should hold top for at least three weeks before Atomic Blonde and Annabelle 2 both open, both of which are generating strong buzz and have very positive reviews, surprisingly for a horror Annabelle 2 had a 100% Rotten Tomatoes score a few weeks ago. The Dark Tower opens the following weekend but after being delayed for 6 month and delays on trailers buzz is poor. Unless audiences respond to the positive reviews for Captain Underpants and children choose to see over the inferior Despicable Me 3 if so its 6-day weekend could see them being close.

Dunkirk took 14% of its box office from IMAX £1.3m the best performing cinema was no surprise the BFI IMAX with 7 shows a day and tickets costing £22. What would be interesting to compare would be how Cineworld Leicester Sq in Laser IMAX compared with the Odeon Leicester Sq 70mm but exhibitors keep cinema box office a close secret. But wasn’t all that way as up to the mid-90s Screen International used to publish West End cinema weekend data for transparency of the data it should be still available as I’m sure it will make interesting reading at how West End cinema box office has declined over the last 20 years even with the more than doubling of their prices. 

Normally a film would have a similar less a zero opening in the UK as the US but with Dunkirk and Wonder Woman they are very different. Whereas in the US Dunkirk opened as expected opened almost twice as big in the UK. While the audience demographic breakdown in the US was much older Dunkirk must have attracted audiences of all ages in the UK including a few Harry Styles fans who were desperate Twitter would spoil the film in the same way the history books spoiled the ending of Titanic almost 20 years ago. Dunkirk received huge media coverage become of its subject matter and a lot at its world premiere when Prince Harry met Harry Styles. So do wonder what impact canceling Wonder Woman premiere had after the terrorist attack at Ariana Grande concert in May had on the films box office performance as do believe Wonder Woman would have probably taken more than £10m more and be one of the biggest DC Extended Universe films in the UK as it is in the US.

On Monday MGM announced November 8th, 2019 release date for Bond 25 with a likely October 22nd UK release the big question will be what studio will get it after Sony have released the last four Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace, Skyfall and Spectre and with Daniel Craig rumoured to return James Bond could stay at Sony and give them a much-needed franchise or many are saying Warner Bros are favourites. When Warner Bros first dated Dunkirk as with so many films on the release schedule it was Untitled Christopher Nolan which led many to speculate it was Bond 25 especially after Tom Hardy was cast.

A few months ago, was rumoured Christopher Nolan was in talks with James Bond producers and during the press tour Christopher Nolan was asked if he would like to direct a James Bond and said he would start speculation again. If   Christopher Nolan was to direct Bond 25 will likely be released by Warner Bros and will it be shot in 70mm IMAX and then as Dunkirk, he would demand Warner to release it in that format as Dunkirk.

Dunkirk was generated strong buzz and great reviews but then came the question Warner Bros must have feared asked by IndieWire to director Christopher Nolan

if he uses Netflix he said rarely preferring to watch films at home via Blu-ray. He went on to say, “Netflix has a bizarre aversion to supporting theatrical films,” “They have this mindless policy of everything having to be simultaneously streamed and released, which is obviously an untenable model for theatrical presentation. So, they’re not even getting in the game, and I think they’re missing a huge opportunity.”

Before I go on want to apologise to the one other person who probably reads my blog that I will go on a rant brought my Christopher Nolan and his above comment about Netflix. He is a fantastic director but must know why Netflix is as popular as it is for film fans and film makers as while he can ring up Warner Bros and make any film he wants and demands it to be released on film none of the filmmakers making films for Netflix can do this.

Will Smith said at Comic Con at the weekend Netflix allowed them to make the film he wanted to make. A year ago, he worked with director David Ayer on Suicide Squad but the end film was a lot different to the film he envisaged when starting on the project his latest Bright starring Will Smith again he could make the film he wanted.

Netflix and Amazon have become the United Artists of modern cinema which was launched in 1919 by filmmakers who wanted to control their own interests rather being controlled by a studio. But they found out as Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen found out decades later launching Dreamworks that it wasn’t as simple as that when they don’t own a way to distribute content directly to the audience which of course makes Netflix different. Spending $6 billion a year on content film and TV are spending more than most studios and by making so much content is becoming less reliant on studio content which makes studios become even more nervous about them.

Ten years ago, Netflix started streaming services (7 years earlier Blockbuster famously turned down a chance to buy Netflix for $50m now worth $67 billion while Blockbuster are no more their than owners Viacom worth $17 billion) but was fully reliant on studio content. It wasn’t until 2013 when Netflix started making its own content House of Cards. Last year Netflix made 126 original films and TV series more than any other TV and film company. Netflix is likely to continue this investment for many years to come to build up a library of content as big as any studio which will mean soon they won’t need them that thought must terrify studios as does each year their subscriptions growing now to 105m whilst cinema admissions will likely be flat for the last 15 years so must just be coincidence cinema admissions are dropping the same time have been huge increases in Netflix subscribers? Sorry, my pre-rant warning became a rant itself.

This was the sequel to Cannes Netflix controversy which occurred after two Netflix films were selected for the film festival. French exhibitors were angry that these films wouldn’t be given theatrical releases (in France is a 36-month window before theatrical films can be released on SVOD) but these films would have received very limited releases had they had a theatrical release in France. Both films suffering “technical difficulties” during their screenings at the festival. Cannes Film Festival organisers then decided that from 2018 all films screened in competition at the festival must have a French theatrical release.

Christopher Nolan’s comments, of course, generated a backlash online but as I have said many times before Netflix and Amazon aren’t the enemy, they have been created to be this by exhibitors. Bad cinema presentation is the problem when exhibitors announced their plans to convert cinemas from 35mm film to digital it was meant to be done to improve the cinema-going experience. Christopher Nolan shot Dunkirk in 70mm IMAX and he is one of only a few directors studios will agree to their demands as with Interstellar in 2014 he requested the film was to be shown in as many cinemas as possible in 70mm IMAX, 70mm and 35mm all of which give a far better quality than 2K or 4K DCP. Over the weekend Dunkirk was screened in 70mm IMAX and 70mm in about a dozen screens in the UK but over 100 in the US but for the rest of its 600 screens in the UK and 3,500 screens in the US audiences saw the film in inferior 2K and 4K.

The Mirror reported customers of an unnamed Picturehouse cinema in London have complained about the sound of Dunkirk with the music drowning out the dialogue.

Last week Netflix announced a 5.5 million increase to their subscribers now having 105 million globally the majority of whom are film fans and most would probably in the past go regularly to the cinema. 25 years ago, that would mean for me going every week the cinema either in the early years in the West End but as local multiplexes opened would go to local cinemas including Vue Harrow, North Finchley, and Finchley Road. But in the last 10 year, I like all cinemagoers have seen ticket prices dramatically rise over this time especially during the film to digital conversion which originally was claimed would cut prices. In recent years, I’m sure many others have become much pickier with the film I see in the cinema and those I’m happy to wait 3 months to see. Only have to compare ticket prices to Dunkirk at the Cineworld Leicester Square in Laser IMAX £21.70 at the Odeon Leicester Sq.£18.50 in 70mm, Odeon Uxbridge £18.45, Swiss Cottage £15.50 both in IMAX Digital (Swiss Cottage is cheaper only probably because many prefer to go to the Vue Finchley Road which is £16.99) while BFI IMAX in 70mm IMAX is £22. 

Was going to see Dunkirk yesterday at my local Vue Cinema booking online three tickets only to see a £2.25 booking charge whilst most other cinemas have removed this fee. From January these booking fees will be made illegal so this will be added to the cost of the ticket. I asked Vue on Twitter why they add the charge their reasoning “a booking fee is added as we believe it is a service that warrants a charge to be able to book……and secure your tickets to your chosen performance in advance of visiting the cinema”. But me booking online save them not having box office ticket staff at the cinema? 

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Have been a massive supporter of film was a projectionist in preview theatres at Rank Film Distributors and 20th Century Fox and locum for Polygram Films and Columbia TriStar for over 9 years showing 35mm films with changeovers. For many more years used to delivery 35mm prints to cinemas across West End using my trusty trolley. Had many nightmare experiences showing 35mm as I have mentioned before but was always something unique and special about it as seen in many films about cinema including Cinema Paradiso

Wouldn’t say by any means I was a brilliant projectionist as there were many with far superior knowledge and expertise but for me, it was all about giving the best presentation possible whoever was watching as you never knew who might be watching. I had my fair share of focus and missed changeovers the fear each time the reel was running down wondering was that the first set of dots and then the finding out that the dots you thought were first were actually the second having the realisation that there will either be a blank screen for a few seconds or the countdown leader showing and then the fear of what might be said or written about with the missed changeover. Wrote before about how early in my career as a projectionist I did a national press show for a very forgettable Michael Madsen B movie released by Polygram The Final Combination missed a changeover and Time Out said the best part of the film when he was woken by countdown leader on screen. After another missed changeover which was for Barry Norman for Film 9something went in to apologise and as many have recently said was a lovely man telling me not to worry as it wasn’t noticeable afterwards he would often say hello when he came for screenings.

I always loved how West End cinemas would open their tabs to see the film logo appear as the curtains open with the cinema music fading out and the studio logo fanfare replace it just those small personal touches that make you realise there is someone in the projection room rather than all being done by computer. Would always try to do similar every time I screened a film. Having done everything manually always strange watching from the box of a multiplex seeing all if this being done automatically I know that every film I screened wasn’t perfect but it was all me occasionally on the floor in tears when things went bad like that Mike Figgis incident I mentioned in about me but many times energised screening films seeing and hearing audience reaction via the intercom didn’t know was in the theatre. One thing I wouldn’t miss is double hand rewinding reels to check cur dots as many prints we screened didn’t have dots or if they did they weren’t so easy to see. So, had to double rewind 2000-foot reels of film which was 20 minutes so a film was normally 6 reels. Sometimes the wind was loose and picked up the reel from the can and it just unwound across the room fortunately only happened to me a couple of times similarly the reel falls off the projector. Even after all these and many more nightmares don’t get me started on 16mm film to me will always be cinema and why digital is no longer cinema for me.

When I was at 20th Century Fox was looked after many UK screenings for about 18 months going to cinemas in the West End and across the country for premieres q&a and press screenings always having rehearsal before to make sure the film was screened the way it should be seen. Remember annoying the projectionist at Odeon West End rejecting several prints of Star Wars: Attack of the Clones.

Digital cinema to me isn’t cinema as my niece said on her first trip to the cinema earlier this year to see Peppa Pig she said looking at the cinema screen ‘look a big TV’. Which is what Digital has turned cinema into it used as film and TV have swapped places it used to be cinema where you saw a mix of original content and sequels while we moaned about TV being all repeats now it’s switched with so much original content on TV thanks to Netflix Amazon Sky Channel 4 and BBC cinemas are now full of repeats sequels, remakes and reboots it feels like Groundhog Day.

So, my comments are more out of sadness as I remember the 90s when there was tremendous growth year on year especially in 1996 when to celebrate the 100^th anniversary of cinema we had National Cinema Day in June a day when all cinemas were £1 this had a massive impact on admissions for the year and was repeated the following year.

In 1994 an after the massive success of Jurassic Park the year earlier box office experts in Screen International January preview were predicting by 2000 admissions would top 200m. Admissions didn’t get that high by the year 2000 but in 2002 they were the highest since the 70s had they continued to grow admissions would be over 250m. But then was when exhibitors got greedy and started dramatically increasing prices and the years since despite the films getting bigger and box office doubling admissions have stayed the same. I never understand how admissions can stay flat but box office double as this must mean the average price being paid isn’t the price that is being claimed?

What I was surprised last year was the 120^th anniversary while Irish Cinemas held a National Cinema Day the rest of the UK didn’t I contacted BFI and others in the months before asking if there would be any celebrations but there were none. A yearly National Cinema Day would be a fantastic way to get people excited about going to the cinema again make them realise that they might have Netflix and 50-inch 4K TVs in their home but none of that compares to watching the same film in a cinema.

Netflix 105 million subscribers are film fans who previously would regularly go to the cinema but now far more selective with the films they pay to see and those they wait to see. With the current Groundhog Day slates studios are churning out film fans are choosing to stay at home and watch in their mini cinema some with 4K HDR Dolby Vision 50-inch TV with Dolby Atmos same technology in cinemas to have a month of content for less than the cost of one cinema ticket. Cinema is the natural home of film but instead of worrying about extending food ranges exhibitors need to deal with the reason why these 105m cinema fans gave gone to Netflix and this is not parking or the weather it is and has always been price.

NATO announced the average cinema price in US has gone up to $8.95 making some excuse that inflation increased 1977 price would be $9.24 But as with the UK claimed average of £7.41 by BFI (how can we possibly trust what they said after it took them over 100 years to admit there was a ‘culture of nepotism in the film industry’ anyone working in it knows this and organisations like BFI and UK Cinema Association are part of the establishment which keep it going on. Take me for example I have great knowledge and understanding of the industry but have been past over for literally hundreds of jobs over the years but then others just sail from one to the next as they are part of the old boys drinking network or have friends and family that get them the jobs.

2. Despicable Me 3 – £ 3,082,983 – £30,319,469

With summer holidays starting on Friday and a rainy weekend Despicable Me 3 held strongly in its fourth weekend; but will face competition from Captain Underpants which opened on Monday with surprisingly very positive reviews. But Captain Underpants will still find it hard against Despicable Me 3 but of course having a seven-day opening weekend should see it opening with upwards of £6m.

Despicable Me 3 has become the sixth film to take £30m at the box office this year overtaking The Lego Batman Movie, The Boss Baby and Sing to become the biggest animation film of 2017 where it will likely stay for the rest of the year.

Despicable Me 3 has also overtaken Fifty Shades Darker and Furious 8 to become Universal Pictures biggest film of the year in the UK and will likely be their biggest of the year. Remaining films Girls Trip, Atomic Blonde, Victoria and Abdul, American Made, The Snowman, Happy Death Day, Ingrid goes West, Better Watch Out and Pitch Perfect 3 are unlikely to get close.

Despicable Me 3 is unlikely to match the box office totals of either Despicable Me 2 or Minions but will shortly overtake Illumination Entertainment’s The Secret Life of Pets possibly by next weekend.

3. War for the Planet of the Apes – £ 2,714,119 – £12,667,484

Dropping 62.3% in its second weekend after previous weekend was a 6-day weekend the drop is much lower than expected especially as Dunkirk opened so strongly and the audience would have been similar. 

Hard to compare War for the Planet of the Apes with the previous two films as they only had one fay of previews compared with 3 days. But War for the Planet of the Apes is currently above Rise of the Planet of the Apes and 2001’s Planet of the Apes.

After the last three weekends with Spider-Man: Homecoming, War for the Planet of the Apes and Dunkirk this weekend is a breather for adult films before the arrival of Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets in two weeks after flopping in the US unlikely to do much better in the UK. Those three films are likely to take a hold of the chart until Atomic Blonde and Annabelle open in three weeks’ time both receiving strong buzz.  

4. Spider-Man: Homecoming – £2,183,542 – £ 21,072,253

Down 40.8% in its third weekend which is ahead of all the other Spider-Man films apart from Spider-Man 3 and The Amazing Spider-Man after three weeks. But of course, really should be holding close to Spider-Man 3 £28.49m if it hopes to take £30m+ at the UK box office.

Spider-Man: Homecoming has become the eighth biggest Marvel Cinematic Universe film in the UK overtaking Thor, Ant-Man, Iron-Man, Captain America: Winter Soldier, Thor: The Dark World, and shortly Iron Man 2 and Doctor Strange.

Could still possibly overtake Guardians of the Galaxy as its harder to predict now school holidays have begun as most of the other Marvel films didn’t benefit from school holidays so box office was more limited to weekends.

5. Cars 3 – £ 1,636,488 – £ 5,072,811

Down 37.9% in its second weekend thanks to the start of the school holidays but being squeezed by Despicable Me 3 and with Captain Underpants opening Monday likely to drop down the charts in the coming weeks.

Cars took £1.84m in its second weekend dropping 31% taking £7.5m (32.6% more than Cars 3) dropping down to second against newcomer Miami Vice £2.23m but returned to #1 in its third weekend with £1.34m and £10.62m

But Cars 2 took £1.87m taking £8.2m (38.4% more than Cars 3) dropping 47% third to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 and new opener Captain America: The First Avenger; taking £1.24m in its third weekend down 34% taking £11.33m with Super 8 and Mr. Popper’s Penguins opening;

The first Cars film took £16.1m in 2006 and Cars 2 took £15.09m in 2011; Cars 3 if it holds similarly will take about £10m.

After Disney’s first two films Beauty and the Beast took £72.3m and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 £40.9m Pirates of the Caribbean: Salazar’s Revenge and Cars 3 were always likely to be the films that would fail to meet expectations. Was similar to last year after Zootropolis took £23.6m The Jungle Book £46.1m and Captain America: Civil War £36.9m success Alice Through the Looking Glass was always expected to underwhelm taking only £9.9m which was less than Alice in Wonderland took in its opening weekend in 2010.

Disney’s two remaining films Thor: Ragnarok new trailer recently screened at Comic Con likely to perform better than the first two films. While Star Wars VIII The Last Jedi is likely to do similar to the first film. Pixar’s Coco was originally set for December release but probably concerned about Paddington 2 and seeing the success Sing had in January this year have moved its release to January 2018. Other films for 2018 include Black Panther, A Wrinkle in Time, The Avengers: Infinity Wars, Han Solo and The Incredibles 2.

Also released

CinemaLive – Andre Rieu’s 2017 Maastricht Concert – £1,439,604 from two screenings over the weekend from 546 screens; breaking the record set last year but was only up 1.9% from 2016 on 8% more screens than last year with tickets Cineworld £20.70 Everyman Cinema £21 Vue Cinemas £17.79 and Odeon Cinemas £18;

The last three years took

Andre Rieu’s 2016 Maastricht Concert £1,408,251

Andre Rieu’s 2015 Maastricht Concert £1,034,403

Andre Rieu’s 2014 Maastricht Concert £830,586

Event Cinema is a fantastic addition to regular cinema but as with 3D price is the issue how tickets are up to 100% more than already expensive cinema tickets. If Event Cinema is not to be a fad as 3D price needs to be controlled.  Event Cinema does allow audiences a front row seat to theatre, sport, concerts and opera that would normally be out of their price bracket but that’s how regular cinema has become for many cinemagoers and why so many are going to Netflix and illegal streaming.

Special Mention

The Beguiled – Universal Pictures £140,861 dropped 66% in its second weekend taking £853,566 after receiving positive reviews dropped far heavier than would of expected but as Dunkirk is playing to all audiences young and old;

Have been many films targeting alternative audiences The Beguiled was expected to be the one that would hold the best after receiving huge media coverage but instead has performed close to My Cousin Rachel, Wilson, Gifted, Churchill and Hampstead will The Big Sick do any better this week.

Wonder Woman – Warner Bros – £77,375 – £21.92m in what is almost certainly its final week in the UK box office couldn’t mention the film as after writing so much about it for months recently finally watched it delayed my viewing as was concerned that it couldn’t live up to the hype. But Wonder Woman did and it was probably one of the best and most enjoyable comic-book movies I have seen in years.

What is so disappointing is while Wonder Woman has become the biggest film of the summer and the biggest DC Extended Universe film in the US it wasn’t able to do similar in the UK I’m sure there had been an inquest in Warner Bros UK asking why it was.

My only explanation is what I have said previously that Wonder Woman was hurt by three non-film related issue the Ariana Grande terrorist attack, the weather and then the One Love Manchester Concert the watched by 14.5m on BBC which were mostly the young female audience that would have otherwise seen the film but instead choose to watch their real-life Wonder Woman Ariana Grande. Do also believe the cancellation of the UK premiere had a massive impact as that was the focal point of the films marketing campaign and while premieres don’t get the same media coverage they used to get there was so much media interest in Wonder Woman and Gal Gadot it would have received a lot of media coverage. Was similar the case for The Mummy but after the shocking terrorist attacks, it was understandable why both Warner Bros and Universal Pictures canceled both.

Warner Bros announced December 13^th, 2019 release date for Wonder Woman 2 only two weeks after Frozen 2 ending a crazy year for studios with many more massive sequels, reboots and franchises than previous years. Warner Bros previously had a Untitled DC Film dated for November 1^st as its very unlikely they would release two DC films in 6 weeks was this moved to accommodate Bond 25 for November 8^th as it was rumoured Warner Bros were favorite to acquire James Bond. Warner Bros has a long history with James Bond whilst never releasing official James Bond films theatrical they did release the unofficial Never Say Never in 1983 and until 1999 Warner Home Video released all MGM films on home entertainment since have been released by 20^th Century Fox Home Entertainment who last year extended the deal till June 2020.

Justice League is next for DC opening in November after Wonder Woman was the only positive from last year’s Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice and after the success of Wonder Woman this year she had a far bigger role in the footage screened at Comic-Con. But depending on what you read there are currently extensive reshoots being done for the film with Avenger’s director Joss Whedon recently coming in to replace Zack Snyder after a family tragedy. But major reshoots are common recently with megamovies as seen with last year’s Rogue One and after Phil Lord and Christopher Miller were fired from Han Solo and replaced by Ron Howard as studios get nervous wanting more hands-on control with these films.

The long in development The Dark Tower based on Stephen King novel opens in two weeks it is directed by Nikolaj Arcel who directed the critically acclaimed 2012’s A Royal Affair but The Dark Tower is his first high budget English language film. While many questioned why Patty Jenkins who had only directed a low budget independent film was directing Wonder Woman the same is never asked about novice male directors who go from indie to megamovie. Colin Trevorrow went from directing tiny budget Safety Not Guaranteed to Jurassic World then made the terrible Jurassic World but still signed to direct Star Wars: Episode IX.

UK box office broken down

This weekend’s top 10 box office took £22,066,254 up 14.89% from last weekend £19,205,602  

The weekend admissions 2,806,440 up 11.2% from last weekend 2,523,732 (now into the second half of 2017 average price predicted increase by UK Cinema Association/BFI for 2017).

13 films opened at weekend taking £11,655,945; Dunkirk took 86% (£10,023,720); Andre Rieu’s 2017 Maastricht Concert 12.3% (£1,439,604) with the remaining 11 films sharing £192,621 xx (1.6%)

Dunkirk took 45.4% of the top 10 box office; 

Weekend was up 37.5% from last year (£16,044,946): The BFG £5,243,193, Star Trek Beyond £4,718,051, Andre Rieu’s 2016 Maastricht Concert £1,408,251,

Up 29.5% from 2015: (£17,039,800): Inside Out £7,376,513, Southpaw £1,662,296.

Next weekend in 2016: (£23,366,167) Finding Dory £8,122,075, Jason Bourne £7,600,420,

 

UK Box Office Top 10

 

US Box Office Top 10

US Box office

Warner Bros- Dunkirk opens with $50.51m (Sunday estimates were $50.05m but as Warner Bros and 20^th Century Fox often underestimate film openings as with Wonder Woman and War for the Planet of the Apes was always likely to grow when final figures were released on Monday.

It took 23% of its box office $11.7m from 402 IMAX cinemas no figures for how much it took from the 200+ screens it was shown in 70mm and 35mm. It had the widest 70mm release in the US since Far and Away in 1992. In recent years Quentin Tarantino and Paul Thomas Anderson have also demanded their films to be released in 70mm for audiences to see the film how they made them be seen it is rumoured that other films including Star Wars: The Last Jedi also shot in 70mm could also be released in 70mm IMAX.

For the last few weeks while Warner Bros were predicting a $35-$40m opening most others were predicting $50m+. Was close to the build up to the release of Wonder Woman buzz was strong and then that turned into strong reviews the only question was how will opening third after Spider-Man: Homecoming and War for the Planet of the Apes might affect its opening. But audience breakdown was 60% male audience vs. 40% female audience and 76% was over the age of 25. Which must show Harry Styles fans while they talked much about it online in the build-up to release they didn’t go and see it in the same numbers as the UK.

As to both films, the buzz had been very strong for Dunkirk for weeks and then embargo ended about 10 days before opening and that buzz turned into rave reviews which have it a 92% Rotten Tomatoes score the same as Wonder Woman while War for the Planet of the Apes received 94%.

Dunkirk opening can only be compared to Christopher Nolan’s non-The Dark Knight trilogy films his most recent Interstellar opening with $47.5m in November going on to take $188.1m and Inception which opened with $46.78m in July 2010 taking $292.57m but with Leonardo DiCaprio leading the ensemble cast was a much bigger name having starred in Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island a few months earlier. Saying that before had a few disappointing films at the box office since The Departed.

Many compared Dunkirk to Saving Private Ryan which opened the same weekend 19 years ago with $30.57m (inflation increased opening $56.3m) and went on to take $216.54m staying #1 for 4 weeks dropping less than 30% for 7 weeks and went on to win five Oscars including Best Film and Best Director. Will Dunkirk do similarly? Will Dunkirk hold similarly to Wonder Woman dropping 43% instead of the normal 50%+ for a summer movie?

The big question is how will Dunkirk hold top against Atomic Blonde and The Emoji Movie and go on to take $200m+. As opening as the third action film after Spider-Man: Homecoming and War for the Planet of the Apes both of which also received high Rotten Tomatoes scores had ok if not spectacular opening but then dropped +50% in their second weekends despite also receiving high CinemaScore A- as Dunkirk received.  

Will it go on to give Christopher Nolan his first Best Director Oscar nomination (has received three nominations Best Picture and Original Screenplay for Inception and Original Screenplay for Memento) being snubbed for The Dark Knight and Inception?

Dunkirk was called by many the first major Oscar contender but with Venice and Toronto Film Festivals announcing their line-up this week are many more Oscar contenders to be seen many of them will be first seen at those two film festivals in September and then at the London Film Festival in October.

Are probably over 30 upcoming films currently seen as potential Oscar contenders but as seen every year that many don’t live up to expectations and then others come out from nowhere as La La land and Moonlight. My list of contenders includes Phantom Thread (Daniel Day Lewis final acting role) The Papers (directed by Steven Spielberg starring Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep (23 years ago since Tom Hanks last won Best Actor Oscar after winning for Philadelphia and Forrest Gump he is long overdue winning another). Downsizing directed by Alexander Payne starring Matt Damon has been announced to open the Venice Film Festival. Others include The Disaster Artist, The Darkest Hour, The Greatest Showman on Earth, All the Money in the World, Molly’s Game, Wonder, Roman Israel, Esq, Goodbye Christopher Robin, Victoria and Abdul Judi Dench repeating her role as Queen Victoria 20 years after being nominated for Best Actress for Mrs Brown and winning Best Actress BAFTA. The BAFTA lovies are likely to give her another Best Actress award likewise they are much more likely award the “British” Dunkirk film than the American Academy with so many other films likely to overshadow it in 7 months’ time.

As mentioned above in Dunkirk UK box office of price comparing several cinemas in the UK showing Dunkirk in different formats the National Association of Theatre Owners announced average ticket price in the US had risen to $8.95 making some claim that this was still lower than the inflated $9.24 price it would be in 1977. But as exhibitors might claim average is only $8.95 to see Dunkirk in 70mm IMAX at AMC Lincoln Square New York $25.29 plus $2 tax $27.29; at Chinese Theatre in IMAX in Los Angeles $21.75 plus $2 tax $23.75. While New York and Los Angeles costs far more than local cinemas close to West End to local in the UK but Dunkirk in an AMC Florida cinema is still $15.29 plus $3.09 tax $18.58 which is still almost double claimed average ticket price.

Universal Pictures – Girls Trip opened with $31.2m; going into the weekend was tracking to open with $20m but tracking often fails these types of films after receiving very positive reviews. After recent female comedies Snatched and Rough Night Flopped Girls Trip opening is $7m more than last summer’s Bad Moms $23.8m which went on to take $113m. with no competition in the coming weeks should hold similarly as strong.

Girls Trip received an A+ CinemaScore 79% female vs. 21% male, 50% under the age of 30. 59% African American, 19% Caucasian, 17% Hispanic and 3% Asian.

Sony Pictures – Spider-Man: Homecoming drops 49.8% with $22.15m taking $251.85m.

Has overtaken the total box office of the first The Amazing Spider-Man and will shortly overtake the sequel. But will come short of getting close to the box office of the original trilogy which it should have been able to do 15 years later with the addition of Marvel.

Internationally Spider-Man: Homecoming added $33.2m taking an international box office of $320m and global box office of $570m.  

20^th Century Fox -War For the Planet of the Apes drops 62.8% in its second weekend taking $20.88m and $98.28m total; having a second weekend drop as Spider-Man: Homecoming and Transformers: The Last Knight despite receiving 94% Rotten Tomatoes score it was hurt being sandwiched in the middle of Spider-Man: Homecoming and Dunkirk as all three films are targeting similar audience.  

Has taken $77.04m internationally and $175.27m globally; unlikely to get close to either 2014’s Dawn of the Planet of the Apes $710.6m or 2011’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes $481.6m global box office despite receiving very positive reviews. Being sandwiched between Spider-Man: Homecoming and Dunkirk were always likely to cannibalize it. Despite so much positivity surrounding the film pre-release screening the film very early and ending embargo early, it was then overshadowed by Spider-Man: Homecoming and Dunkirk as audiences are very fickle and quickly forget.

STX Entertainment – Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets opened with $17.01m opening was very close to Luc Besson directed The Fifth Element opening with $17.03m 20 years ago.

Reviews have been very mixed saying Valerian looked great and was a fun dumb holiday movie the kind we used to have regularly but was always unlikely to find an audience in the US.

The big question is will it perform better internationally and in France where it highest budget French film ever with $180m; as the film was independently financed pre-selling international rights in over 100 territories STX put up a share of the budget and paid for marketing of about $60m unlikely to see much of that back after receiving only B- CinemaScore unlikely to last that long in the charts especially with Atomic Blonde opening on Friday. 

It was a strange weekend with three original films opening on wide release opening so soon after Spider-Man: Homecoming and War for the Planet of the Apes was a strange choice but with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 and Transformers: The Last Knight there were limited other options.

Universal Pictures – Despicable Me 3 drops 32.7% taking $13.01m taking $213.62m;

Internationally Despicable Me 3 took $45.7m now taken $514.1m internationally and a globally total of $727.4m; won’t match global box office of Minions $1.15bn or Despicable Me 2 $970.8m but has overtaken global box office of Despicable Me $543.1m.

Warner Bros – Wonder Woman drops 32.2% taking $4.6m and $389.01m;

After eight weeks become the 8th biggest comic-book movie in the US overtaking Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 becoming the biggest film of the summer and possibly he biggest comic-book movie of the year so far with Thor: Ragnarok and Justice League while both received a lot of social media coverage over the weekend it’s still unlikely they will hold as strong as will be much more front-loaded.  

Wonder Woman is the Warner Bros third biggest film in the US behind The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises. It is #27 biggest film in the US and is expected to take over $400m which should see it overtake Frozen, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Jurassic Park, and Spider-Man.

Has now taken $779.4m worldwide with $390.4m internationally; #70 biggest film in the world (#17 biggest Warner Bros film) having overtaken Guardians of the Galaxy and Star Wars and will shortly overtake Deadpool and Spider-Man 2.  

At Comic-Con at the weekend Warner Bros officially announced Wonder Woman sequel which is expected to be released in 2020. They also announced several other DC films including The Flash: Flashpoint and Shazam which will be the next DC film to open after Aquaman. While Ben Affleck confirmed that he will star in The Batman (expected in 2019) after recent rumours that he might exit after being replaced as director after Live By Night flopped earlier this year.

Lionsgate – The Big Sick dropped 33.4% taking $5m taking $24.54m; With the second worst screen average of the top 5 its unlikely to be the summer sleeper that many expected it to be as The Beguiled performed strongly on limited release but expanded far too quickly and too wide and will likely be out of the top 10 next week, Similarly The Beguiled dropped 72.7% losing more than half of its screens has  taken $10m but after a strong platform release should have held far stronger but again went too wide too soon.

Opened July 28^th

Opening UK

• 47 Metres Down – eOne

Shark horror starring Mandy Moore, Claire Holt, Chris J. Johnson, Yani Gellman, Santiago A. Segura and Matthew Modine and directed by Johannes Roberts.

Was originally planned as a directed to video film to be released by Dimension Films set for August 2016 release with the title In the Deep; Dimension Films had already sent out screeners before they sold the film to Entertainment Studios who released the film theatrically in the US in June opening with $4.5m and has taken $39.3m to date; the film received mixed reviews.

• Girls Trip – Universal Pictures

Comedy starring Regina Hall, Queen Latifah, Tiffany Haddish, Jada Pinkett Smith, Larenz Tate and Mike Colter and directed by Malcolm D. Lee.

After recent comedies including Snatched and Rough Night have disappointed both critically and at the box office Girls Trip has received positive reviews and opened very strongly in the US but unlikely to find an audience in the UK.

• The Big Sick – Studiocanal

Romantic comedy starring Nanjiani, Zoe Kazan, Holly Hunter, Ray Romano, Adeel Akhtar and Anupam Kher and directed by Michael Showalter and written by Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon.

The film had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January and world rights were acquired by Amazon Studios receiving rave reviews and seen as a potential summer sleeper. The Big Sick opened on a limited release the same weekend as The Beguiled in the US expanding over several weeks to take $18.75m to date holding in the top ten for several more weeks than The Beguiled.

But similar to The Beguiled The Big Sick has received some backlash as Hadley Freeman wrote in the Guardian recently The Big Sick is funny, sweet. original so why did it make me furious. The reason being while it might be an original premise with an Indian character played by Kumail Nanjiani you can swap it for Irish, Greek, Jewish or many different cultures where the man or woman tries to marry out of their culture. 

Most interesting thing about The Big Sick is that as TV has become the film of old it might be new to see a man resisting arranged marriage within a film these issues are far more common with TV. Kumail Nanjiani has had bit parts in many films over recent years but is far better known for the past four years on HBO comedy Silicon Valley on Sky Atlantic where this doesn’t seem to be such an issue as it seems in films. Do think it’s interesting was Amazon who acquired world rights for $12m at Sundance rather than a film studio (the filmmakers turning down bids from Sony Pictures and Fox Searchlight). While Netflix has limited interest in theatrical Amazon are happy for their films to have a theatrical release and are released in the US via Lionsgate.

Studiocanal has had a disappointing first 6 month of 2017 apart from the Oscar winning Manchester by the Sea which was also a film Amazon acquired world rights for. Other films have underperformed including Silence, The Founder, Gold, Lost City of Z and Free Fire. Upcoming Steven Soderbergh’s Logan Lucky (reviews published this week have been very positive with many calling it Ocean’s 14) and then Paddington 2 which they hope will be as successful as the first film released in 2014.

Opening in US

• The Emoji Movie – Sony Pictures

Animated comedy featuring voices of T.J. Miller, Anna Faris, James Corden, Patrick Stewart, Maya Rudolph, Jennifer Coolidge,Sofia Vergara, and Christina Aguilera and directed by Tony Leondis.

Sony Pictures released the first three minutes of the film a couple of weeks ago and it looks as bad a most adults feared. The director Tony Leondis said he was inspired by Toy Story which were probably the inspiration of Illumination Entertainment’s The Secret Life of Pets and Sing but whereas they were bearable for 90 minutes 3 minutes is far too long for most adults.

Part of the films marketing campaign Sony Pictures teamed up with non-profit organization The Ad Council to create antibullying campaign.

As often with films like Emoji Movie the marketing will incorporate film spoofing other films and TV shows as Disney and Warner Bros did previously successfully with Zootropolis and The Lego Batman Movie but Sony deciding to Emoji The Handmaiden’s Tale. The official Twitter account tweeted it on Friday but took until Monday for people to find it (showing how “excited” people are about the film) Sony Pictures have since deleted the Tweet but like everything that goes online there is a record of it unlike newspapers news today chip paper tomorrow.

Despite parents dreading the film young children will probably drag their parents kicking and screaming to it and open close to last years The Angry Birds Movie $38.15m which will probably be enough to replace Dunkirk as #1.

• Atomic Blonde – Focus Features

Action spy thriller starring Charlize Theron, James McAvoy, John Goodman, Til Schweiger, Eddie Marsan, Sofia Boutella, and Toby Jones and directed by David Leitch based on Antony Johnston and Sam Hart’s 2012 graphic novel The Coldest City. The film stars This will be Leitch’s first solo credit as director, after co-directing John Wick with Chad Stahelski; had its world premiere at South by Southwest in March.

Atomic Blonde came out of nowhere as the film was shot under its graphic novel title The Coldest City which most hadn’t heard of which made the film sound spy thriller like Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy but changing the film to Atomic Blonde it immediately sounds cooler. Director David Leitch previously co-directed John Wick and is currently directing Deadpool 2.

Opening the same weekend as Luc Besson’s Lucy three years ago opened with $43.89m went on to take $126.6m; Charlize Theron most recently seen in The Fate of the Furious helped open Mad Max: Fury Road to $45.42m in 2015. Co-star James McAvoy previously starred in similar Wanted which opened with $50.93m in 2008 starring Angelina Jolie who had previously recent starred in Mr & Mrs Smith.

While Scarlett Johansson had previously starred as the Black Widow in Iron Man 2, Marvel’s The Avengers and Captain America: Winter Soldier many expected Marvel to announce Black Widow film after Avengers: Age of Ultron and Captain America: Civil War but never happened and now after Ghost in the Shell flopped its unlikely to happen for some time despite the three biggest films of the year in the US having female leads Wonder Woman, Beauty and the Beasty and later in the year Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

• An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power – Paramount Pictures

The documentary sequel about Al Gore’s mission to battle climate change directed by Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk. It is the sequel to the 2006 film An Inconvenient Truth. The follow-up documentary addresses the progress made to tackle the problem and Gore’s global efforts to persuade government leaders to invest in renewable energy, culminating in the landmark signing of 2016’s Paris Agreement.

11 years ago, An Inconvenient Truth generated much media coverage the film opened with $281,330 from 4 screens expanding over 6 weeks to 587 screens going on to take $23.8m. The sequel has again generated much interest online after Donald Trump pulled out of the Paris Agreement in June despite many experts saying it was a very good deal for the US.