- Dune – £5,876,892 – NE
221st biggest opening in the UK between Inception and The Blair Witch Project (close to Blade Runner 2049 (+£194,733 more), Troy, Rise of the Planet of the Apes (£5,835,140 and Clash of the Titans) and 322nd biggest inflation inflated between How to Train Your Dragon and Marley & Me (close to Kong: Skull Island, Bram Stokers Dracula, The Matrix and Interstellar).
231st biggest Fri-Sun (£4,765,630) between Terminator Salvation and Mission: Impossible III (close to Murder on the Orient Express (£4,985,600), The Martian (£4,901,244), Titanic (£4,805,270), The Sixth Sense (£4,792,296), Rise of the Planet of the Apes (£4,730,560) and The Wolf of Wall Street (£4,655,984) while Once Upon a Time in Hollywood opened with £7,544,445 (£5,108,922 Fri-Sun).
Removing preview BO Dune would have opened with only £93,070 more than No Time To Die 4th weekend which had lost all of the IMAX/PLF screens to Dune.
39th biggest Warner Bros opening between Inception and Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves (close to Gravity, Wonder Woman, Tenet (+£541,238 more) and Interstellar (+£498,672 more) and 55th biggest Warner Bros opening inflation inflated between Wonder Woman and The Matrix).
With the exception of No Time To Die all the major tentpoles have opened with similar box office since Tenet opened in August 2020; Tenet £5,335,654; Black Widow £6,889,187; F9 £6,014,132; Shang-Chi £5,759,504; Venom 2 £6,167,833
Took £1,111,262 from previews on Monday and Thursday 18.9% of opening (similar to Godzilla,
The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Aladdin, No Time To Die, Terminator: Genisys, Dune
Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, Batman Begins and F9). (£128,714 from Monday and £982,548 Thursday similar to Blade Runner 2049 taking £858,095 from previews. Opened #2 on Thursday despite taking IMAX and PLF screens from No Time To Die
Took a similar amount on Friday £904k £2.4m from Thurs/Fri.
The 50 Imax screens took 21% of the opening day BO compared to 8% for No Time to Die and 9% Shang-Chi;
49 IMAX cinemas took £1.1m 19% of the UK opening compared to 8% for No Time To Die and 9% of Shang Chi; opened in 668 cinemas and 1,331 screens.
After 18 months of low or no BO, not including No Time To Die as James Bond films are a unique phenomenon in the UK Industry (but even it’s £25,916,476 opening in normal circumstances would have opened £30m+) £5m+ openings for films like Dune would be seen as disappointing.
Saying that they should be seen as disappointing now as Dune for months has been put in the same category as comic-book movies and F9. But Dune opened similar to Wonder Woman, Solo: A Star Wars Story, Gravity, Van Helsing and Tenet rather than Avatar (£8,509,050 (£11,293,261 inflation inflated), War of the Worlds (£8,644,787 (£13,251,669 inflation inflated), Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (£8,705,995), I am Legend £11,009,365 (£15,740,122 inflation inflated), showing the industry is celebrating mediocrity with openings like Dune as these films should be opening with a third more.
There has been such a lot of nonsense from exhibitors after the predictable performances of No Time To Die, Venom 2 and crowded scenes at the Cineworld IMAX on Saturday afternoon for Dune but this should be the normal senses in these cinemas every week not just occasionally. Over the weekend there were several screenings at the Cineworld IMAX Leicester Square and BFI IMAX sold out but this was nothing like in July 2012 two days before The Dark Knight Rises opened in the UK BFI IMAX announced they had sold 62,300 tickets taking £1,001,300 over 4 weeks of bookings. This beat the previous records by Avatar in December 2009 (£607,000 sales for 47,000 tickets) and The Dark Knight Rises also broke BFI IMAX records for highest first-day sales (24,754 tickets taking £409,838) and the highest first-week sales ever (38,658 tickets grossing £634,013) both records previously held by Prometheus.
There were 43 shows are sold out, including screenings for at 04.25 and 04.55 over its opening weekend. Over the years since many more fake, IMAX cinemas have opened which has probably made many not feel the need to travel to London but the BFI IMAX is one of only a couple of real IMAX cinemas in the UK where cinephiles will enjoy the film as it was meant to be seen.
It would be interesting to see how the box office of London cinemas compare now to 20 or 30 years ago when ticket prices were a quarter of the price they are now and cinemas had twice the capacity but they are still sold-out screenings across the opening weekend. Going back to the late 80s and early 90s when remember Empire and Odeon Leicester Square regularly breaking weekend box office records with films like Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and The Silence of the Lambs with Empire taking £140k+ and Odeon taking £180k when tickets were 80% less than they are today. So they should be taking £1m+ over opening weekends with films like No Time To Die. Screen International used to print weekend box office figures for London cinemas up to the early 90s.
Since The Dark Knight was released there have been many huge films including Avengers Infinity War, Avengers Endgame, the new Star Wars trilogy, Skyfall and Spectre along with more recently Tenet and No Time To Die but these records haven’t been broken despite ticket prices almost doubling since from £15 for The Dark Knight Rises to £27.50 for No Time To Die with only a couple of shows for No Time To Die sold out and going into the weekend only one Sunday afternoon screening for Dune sold out.
On Thursday Dune opened second behind No Time To Die and moved into second behind Bond on Monday so Dune could be front-loaded due to the crowded marketplace won’t find a wide audience beyond fans and cinephiles.
On Tuesday Warner Bros and Legendary Pictures greenlit Dune: Part 2 will be released October 20th, 2023, with Denis Villeneuve returning as the director. It will be given a theatrical only release. When the first film was greenlit in 2018 it was always going to have a theatrical only release and it was also originally conceived as a two-part film with Denis Villeneuve only agreeing to make it as two films.
But Denis Villeneuve has been highly critical of Warner Bros said in December after Warner Bros announced all their 2021 film would be released in cinemas and on HBO Max “There is absolutely no love for cinema, nor for the audience here,”… “It is all about the survival of a telecom mammoth, one that is currently bearing an astronomical debt of more than $150 billion. Therefore, even though ‘Dune’ is about cinema and audiences, AT&T is about its survival on Wall Street. With HBO Max’s launch a failure thus far, AT&T decided to sacrifice Warner Bros.’ entire 2021 slate in a desperate attempt to grab the audience’s attention.
These are similar comments Christopher Nolan made with Warner Bros decision but what both these creative directors ignored is the fact that Warner Bros spent $200m making their film and same again to market the film and they make these films to make money, but Tenet lost money after Christopher Nolan forced Warner Bros to release the film in the middle of the pandemic. Dune might have opened with £5.8m in the UK, $40m in the US and taken $220m worldwide but won’t take $600m+ it was expected to take pre-pandemic.
2. No Time To Die – £4,672, 560 – £78,027,818
Dropped 44.4% in its fourth weekend; taking only £93,070 than Dune Fri-Sun showing again how previews artificial inflate opening weekends
£4.72m from Mon-Thurs 3rd weekend down 37.1% taking £13.12m 3rd week (7 days)
£7.51m Mon-Thurs in its second weekend taking £22.74m from 2nd week (7 days)
down 35% from opening Mon-Thurs £11.54m taking £32.57m from 1st week (£37.45m including previews)
4th biggest weekend between Avatar (£4,770,980) and LOTR: The Fellowship of the Rings (£4,371,354); hype gets audiences into cinemas over films opening three weeks but it’s the word of mouth that gives films legs.
8th biggest film in the UK between Titanic and The Lion King (13th film to take over £70m since Titanic in 1998) and 20th biggest inflation inflated film in the UK between Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.
Biggest Universal Pictures film in the UK overtaking Mamma Mia! (£68,823,998) on Tuesday
Gower Street Analytics predicted No Time To Die will take 12.8% of the total box office for 2021 with one in eight cinema tickets in 2021 being for the film.
James Bond fourth weekend drops
2002’s Die Another Day dropped 35.2% £2,220,351 and £27,078,158 75.13% of £36,043,520 (£62,858,506 inflation inflated)
2006’s Casino Royale down 48.3% £2,741,362 and £41,960,147 75.61% of £55,495,547
2008’s Quantum of Solace down 44.1% £2,884,789 and £45,120,024 88.31% of £51,089,938
2012’s Skyfall down 46.7% £5,566,537 and £82,836,559 80.56% of £102,816,893
2015’s Spectre down 51.2% £3,821,156 and £84,313,251 88.58% of £95,183,468
2021’s No Time To Die down 48% £4,672,560 and £78,027,818 78% of £96m
Top 20 Biggest Fourth Weekends
Star Wars: The Force Awakens down 41.7% £6,001,948 and £108,430,730 88.16% of £123,000,894
Avatar up 55.2% £5,940,479 and £32,815,618 35.1% of £93,442,625 (£124,017,602 inflation inflated)
Skyfall down 46.7% £5,566,537 and £82,836,559 80.56% of £102,816,893
No Time To Die down 44.4% £4,672,560 and £78,027,818
LOTR: The Fellowship of the Rings: down 26.7% £4,371,354 and £41,931,919 66.81% of £62,759,288 (£109,449,773 inflation inflated)
The Lion King down 15.3% £4,366,824 and £59,913,197 78.90% of £76,013,812
Titanic down 9.9% £3,849,120 and £26,774,482 39.07% £68,532,746 (£122,780,751 inflation inflated)
Spectre down 51.2% £3,821,156 and £84,313,251 88.58% of £95,183,468
Toy Story 4 down 31.4% £3,801,247 and £42,598,992 64.51% of £62,536,622
LOTR: Two Towers down 35.4% £3,728,876 and £44,520,972 79.66% of £55,889,009 (£94,060,290 inflation inflated)
LOTR: Return of the King down 42.8% £3,713,999 and £48,099,432 79.29% of £60,666,284 (£98,651,029 inflation inflated)
The Kings Speech down 14% £3,634,265 and £24,905,378 54.94% of £45,333,908
Mamma Mia 2 down 13.4% £3,568,169 and £48,311,304 73.74% of £65,515,994
Star Wars: The Last Jedi down 55.5% £3,543,117 and £76,723,930 92.8% of £82,676,198
Frozen down 10.2% £3,518,099 and £23,583,531 54.88% of £42,976,318
Joker down 36.8% £3,464,682 and £46,738,367 79.89% of £57,800,000
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone down 42.4% £3,345,310 and £43,335,133 67.76% of £63,957,673
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story down 45.4% £3,253,346 and £59,682,374 90.41% of £66,013,076
Frozen 2 down 27.3% £3,196,708 and £38,295,369 71.51% of £53,549,035
Mamma Mia! up 11.9% £3,167,377 and £32,109,923 47.14% of £68,116,092 (£94,576,574 inflation inflated)
Had a similar fourth weekend drop as
-48.35% Casino Royale; -47.60% Captain Marvel; -46.72% Skyfall; -45.52% Downton Abbey; -45.41% Rogue One: A Star Wars Story; -44.14% Quantum of Solace; -44.12% Black Widow; -43.70% The Dark Knight; -43.03% Dunkirk; always find it a strange coincidence when films performances are similar to previous films with No Time To Die fourth-weekend drop almost identical to Quantum of Solace likewise No Time To Die US opening ending with $007.
After opening with £25.9m and holding well over its following weekends No Time To Die was expected to take a similar box office as Skyfall and Spectre but the difference between those two and No Time To Die was always they didn’t have any direct competition for over 4 weeks.
There were rumours in 2017 that Bond 25 would be a remake of 1969’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and No Time To Die has a lot of similarities ending with Louis Armstrong, We Have All the Time in the World. After all the positivity immediately after critics saw the film audiences have many questions over the plot and the surprise ending, but that was rumoured to be why Danny Boyle left the film.
While OHMSS was one of the biggest films of 1969 it took half of You Only Live Twice starring Sean Connery who quit Bond after the film after five James Bond films (similar to Daniel Craig) after being dissatisfied with the character development, failing out with Bond producers Cubby Broccoli and Harry Saltzman and his pay ($750,000 plus 25% of merchandising profits, in comparison Daniel Craig got $25m for No Time To Die). Producers refused to pay Sean Connery more and recast James Bond with George Lazenby but left after the one film and Sean Connery returned paid $1.25m for Diamonds Are Forever.
Despite OHMSS being the lowest-grossing James Bond film, it is the favourite for many including Christopher Nolan as it mixed action with romance with James Bond falling in love and getting married to Diana Rigg’s Tracy (spoiler) dying soon after they get married and we got to see that happen again in Casino Royale with Eva Green’s Vesper Lynd in Daniel Craig’s first James Bond film. Nolan compared Inception to OHMSS in an interview with Empire Magazine in 2010 saying “I think, ‘Her Majesty’ Secret Service’ would be my favourite Bond. It’s a hell of a movie, it holds up very well. What I liked about it that we’ve tried to emulate in this film is there’s a tremendous balance of action, scale, and romanticism and tragedy and emotion. Of all the Bond films, it’s by far the most emotional. There’s a love story and Inception is kind of a love story as well as anything else. I’m going soft in my old age.”
James Bond film stands above any other film franchise or series in the UK their success in the UK for almost 60 years is incomparable to any other with only Star Wars: The Force Awakens taking more than Skyfall and Spectre. There is no other film series that galvanizes the UK media as James Bond, while MCU, Star Wars and Harry Potter have been successful at the box office none of those films receives the media coverage a James Bond film does.
Showing how big James Bond is in the UK from the box office data I have available of 20 of the 25 films they have taken over £525m adding rough estimates of the missing box office that’s over £500m but as 19 of them were released over 20 years ago their inflation inflated totals would be over £1.5bn which is about twice as much as MCU films have taken at the UK box office since 2008.
Only need to see the inflation inflated box office of many of the earlier James Bond films to see how popular the James Bond film series was.
1964’s Goldfinger £98,956,471
1965’s Thunderball £101,423,810
1967’s You Only Live Twice £59,400,909
1973’s Live and Let Die £65,315,814
1977’s The Spy Who Loved Me £90,602,195
1979’s Moonraker £68,104,407
1981’s For Your Eyes Only £43,687,898
Goldfinger, Thunderball and The Spy Who Loved Me took as much as Skyfall and Spectre, probably a lot more as used industry average but Skyfall and Spectre had many IMAX and PLF screens with tickets more than three times the industry average.
The last 5 Bond films didn’t have any direct competition opening in the weeks leading up to release and the weeks afterwards as the films around them were targeting families and children. The biggest film that opened before any of them was Harry Potter Chamber Of Secrets the weekend before Die Another Day.
Die Another Day opened on 430 screens on November 20th, 2002
3rd weekend £3,426,623 down 36%; Harry Potter Chamber Of Secrets #2 £2,678,629 4th weekend
4th weekend £2,220,351 down 35% 463 screens; Harry Potter Chamber Of Secrets #2 £1,802,435 5th weekend
5th weekend £1,158,430 down 48% #3 467 screens; Lord of the Rings: Two Towers opened #1 £13,063,560; Harry Potter Chamber Of Secrets #2 £1,164,992
6th weekend £1,506,915 down 30% #3 457 screens; Lord of the Rings: Two Towers opened #1 £ 8,177,801; Harry Potter Chamber Of Secrets #2 £1,558,543
Stayed in the top 5 for 8 weeks and top 10 for 9 weeks
Casino Royale opened in 505 cinemas (988 screens) on 19th November 2006
3rd-weekend £5,307,969 dropped 36%; #2 Flushed Away opened with £3,106,874
4th weekend £2,741,362 dropped 48% #3 495 screens; Happy Feet opened #1 £3,689,166; #2 The Holiday £2,826,520
5th weekend £1,440,607 dropped 47% #3 447 screens; Happy Feet #1 £2,034,916; #2 The Holiday £1,597,633
6th weekend £1,011,491 dropped 30% #3 428 screens; Happy Feet #1 £2,048,266; #2 The Holiday £1,054,447
Stayed in the top 5 for 8 weeks and top 10 for 12 weeks
Quantum of Solace opened on 540 screens on 31st October 2008
3rd weekend £5,164,182 dropped 44%; #2 Max Payne opened £1,004,995
4th-weekend £2,884,789 dropped 44% 527 screens; #2 Body of Lies opened £991,979
5th weekend £1,453,184 dropped 49.6% #2 500 screens; Four Christmases #1 opened £2,275,585
6th weekend £720,390 dropped 50% #5 429 screens; #1 Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa £6,342,997; #2 Four Christmases £1,498,592; #3 Transporter 3 £958,615; #4 Changeling £721,221
Stayed in the top 5 for 6 weeks and top 10 for 8 weeks
Skyfall opened on 587 screens on 26th October 2012
3rd-weekend £10,447,385 dropped 35%; #2 Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted £1,357,193 4th weekend
4th weekend £5,566,537 #2 dropped 47% 545 screens; ; The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 opened #1 £15,850,825
5th weekend £3,809,893 #2 dropped 32% 550 screens; The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 #1 £5,344,508
6th weekend £2,275,469 #1 dropped 41% 532 screens; ; The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 #2 £2,180,909 3rd weekend
Dropped to #2 7th weekend taking £1,428,708 (513 screens); #1 Rise of the Guardians #1 £1,602,689
Dropped to 4th 8th weekend taking £809,406 (434 screens); #1 The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey £11,601,538.
Stayed in the top 5 for 8 weeks and top 10 for 11 weeks
Spectre opened in 651 cinemas and on over 2,500 screens on October 26th, 2015
3rd weekend £7,833,891 (617 screens) dropped 40%; #2 The Lady in the Van opened £2,256,121
4th weekend £3,821,156 #2 dropped 51% 607 screens; #1 The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2 £11,255,566
5th weekend £2,179,154 #3 dropped 44% 536 screens; #1 The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2 £4,534,464; #2 The Good Dinosaur £2,926,448
6th weekend £1,241,619 #3 dropped 43% 467 screens; #1 The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2 £2,240,723; #2 The Good Dinosaur £1,701,333
Stayed in the top 5 for 7 weeks and top 10 for 10 weeks
Have been so many articles saying No Time To Die will ‘save cinema’ which is complete nonsense but what it does show is predictable that cinemas reopened far too soon in July 2020 for Bond rip-off Tenet which was never going to be the ‘saviour of cinema’ either Christopher Nolan or exhibitors believed it was going to be. Not saying this in hindsight as all of Christopher Nolan’s biggest films have opened in the middle of other similar-sized films.
3. Venom: Let There Be Carnage £2,470,168 – £11,193,195
Down 60% in its second weekend; 2018’s Venom dropped 62.62% in its second weekend but dropped only 47% without previews its second weekend had five wide openers (First Man, Smallfoot, Cliff Richard Live: 60th Anniversary Tour, Kler and Bad Times at the El Royale) but A Star is Born switched places with Venom in #1.
Took 17.7% less than 2018’s Venom (£3,002,032) which opened with 23.2% (£8,031,342 including previews) but 10.1% less without (£5,600,000); Venom 2 has taken 34.9% more than Venom after 10 days £11,193,195 Vs £8,296,443.
293rd biggest second weekend in the UK between Mission Impossible: Fallout and I, Robot (close to Ant-Man, X-Men: Apocalypse, World War Z and X-Men: First Class) and 495th biggest inflation inflated between Paul and The Pursuit of Happyness (close to Fantastic Four (2005), Parasite, Legend and Bad Boys 2 ).
46th biggest comic-book second weekend between Ant-Man and X-Men: First Class (close to
Black Widow, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Shang-Chi and The Wolverine) and 54th biggest inflation inflated between Batman Returns and Wonder Woman (close to Thor, X-Men: First Class, The Hulk and Fantastic Four).
Venom went on to take £16,652,223 despite receiving poor reviews (30% Rotten Tomatoes) but the audience score was far more positive.
Spider-Man: Far From Home opening December is the next Spider-Man film but currently features in the Marvel Cinematic Universe but the end credit scene in Venom 2 (with Eddie and Venom in a hotel room, watching a Mexican soap opera and are transported to a different universe, with a news report Peter Parker is Spider-Man which was also seen at the end of Spider-Man: Far From Home) makes it look like the two universes could be combining in the future.
Morbius is the third film in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe opening in January 2022. Last week Sony Pictures announced two more Marvel films to be released in June and October 2023 with one of them expected to be Venom 3.
Audiences who see the sequel can see footage from Matrix 4 as the two films were being filmed in San Francisco in February 2020 at the same time using the same helicopters that feature in Matrix 4.
4. The Boss Baby 2 – £1,193,114 – NE
1,255th biggest opening weekend in the UK between Keith Lemon: The Film and Mona Lisa Smile (close to The Addams Family (1991), Freaky Friday, Arthur and the Invisibles and 102 Dalmatians) and 153rd biggest animated film opening between The Emperor’s New Groove and Arthur and the Invisibles.
But as with The Croods 2, it’s impossible to compare the opening of The Boss Baby with any other animated film and the two original Dreamworks Animation films as both opened several months after they were released in the US, The Boss Baby 2 opened in the US in July in cinemas and on Peacock opening with $16m taking $57.22m and $112.98m worldwide received average reviews (47% Rotten Tomatoes); 2017’s The Boss Baby opened $50.19m taking $175m in the US and $527.96m worldwide.
The Croods: A New Age opened in UK cinemas 8 months after its US release but despite opening far less than the original in July it has had very long legs taking almost £10m over 12 weeks despite opening with only £696,563 it has taken an incredible 13.8x opening; 2013’s The Croods opened £5,372,290 (including £1,850,943 previews) taking £26,328,511 4.9x opening.
2017’s The Boss Baby opened £8,025,886 (including £5,227,582 previews) taking £28,682,992 3.57x opening;
The Boss Baby 2 is the third family film opening ahead of half-term holidays after The Addams Family 2 and Ron’s Gone Wrong. But it won’t have the same legs The Croods: A New Age had as it opened ahead of the summer holidays but The Boss Baby 2 only has a half-term week.
5. The Addams Family 2 – £885,404 – £5,289,699
Down 35.9% in its third weekend; as In 2019 (The Addams Family and Abominable), Universal Pictures are competing against itself with The Addams Family 2 and The Boss Baby 2 with children’s films for half-term holidays.
1991’s The Addams Family opened £1.2m (£2.86m inflation inflated) taking £10m total (£23.82m inflation inflated) and 1993’s sequel Addams Family Values opened £853,923 (£1.92m inflation inflated) taking £6.5m (£14.61m inflation inflated)
2019’s The Addams Family increased 5% in its second weekend taking £2,234,172 (due to being half-term taking £4,744,561 over a half-term week) and £6,978,733 and £9,514,907 total.
Children’s films have been the one genre that has performed strongly since cinemas reopened the first time in July 2020 and children’s films have had very long legs The Croods 2: A New Age and Space Jam: A New Legacy opened the same weekend with £696,563 and £1,363,556 but took 13.38x and 9.12x opening BO with £9.8m and £12.8m.
Also Opened
• The French Dispatch – Disney/Searchlight
Opened #6 with £867,672 from 315 screens
Received world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in July a year after it was originally due to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in 2020; received positive reviews (85% Rotten Tomatoes) Wes Anderson described it as “love letter to journalists.”
Had UK premiere at the London Film Festival many of Wes Anderson’s films have received their UK premiere at the LFF including Fantastic Mr Fox,
Wes Anderson’s biggest opening in the UK is 2018’s Isle of Dogs £1,641,509 in 487 screens (£194,905 from previews) taking £6,009,438
2014’s The Grand Budapest Hotel opened £1,532,239 on 287 screens (dropped only 20% in its second weekend taking £1,309,103 and £4,115,618) taking £10,978,014
The Isle of Dogs opened wide in 472 screens compared with The Grand Budapest Hotel opening in 284 screens adding over 90 screens in its second weekend which saw it drop only 20%.
2009’s Fantastic Mr Fox opened in 481 screens £1,517,312 after receiving its premiere at the London Film Festival (increased 2% in its second weekend taking £1,545,325 (due to half-term) £5,589,484) taking £8,707,283.
Moonrise Kingdom opened in May 2012 with £251,760 taking £1,378,748
The Darjeeling Limited opened November 2007 with £435,198 taking £1,323,698
1998’s Rushmore took £424,055 and 2004’s The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou took £1.6m.
• Dear Evan Hanson – Universal Pictures
Opened #9 with £233,686 from 275 screens
The industry has been gunning for the failure of Dear Evan Hanson for the last few weeks but Universal have to take some responsibility for this as it was a predictable mistake to launch it at TIFF. As the film festival demographic was wrong for the film (as was also for Halloween Kills) and this generated a chain reaction of negativity and hostility from the demographic it was never aimed at. As those who did liked it, giving it A- CinemaScore.
There was a lot of double-standards with Ben Platt playing a teenager in Dear Evan Hanson when so many much older female actors have played teenagers before in film and TV shows; Olivia Newton-John was 29 when she played Sandy and Stockard Channing (Rizzo) was 33 in Grease. While filmmakers couldn’t win either way had they not cast the actor who did the role on Broadway. Why is Dear Evan Hanson being singled out for nepotism when the film industry has been built on who you know and not what you know for over the last century.
Had its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival which was the wrong launch platform for the film as this was the target demographic who were fans of the stage musical. Filmmakers were in a tricky situation with the casting of Ben Platt as Evan Hanson who played the role on Broadway but is now 27. Its surprising people took issue with the age of Ben Platt as often cast older women for younger roles.
Dear Evan Hanson, is probably similar to Bohemian Rhapsody and The Greatest Showman it’s a film that needs to be seen with an audience of cinemagoers, not critics, remember going to a media screening of Rock of Ages audience reaction was very positive but then critical was very poor.
While the industry celebrates the predictable performance of Shang-Chi and the UK are heralding No Time To Die as the saviour of cinema, both films are the 25th instalments of the two biggest film series in the world so how they perform is very predictable.
Critics will often give musicals poor reviews as they don’t connect with them as audiences do and need to be watched with an audience rather than just a bunch of snobbish film critics.
Musicals are far more popular in the UK than in the US even In The Height which opened a week after its US release had a decent opening held well as musicals are extremely popular in the UK including Mamma Mia!, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, Bohemian Rhapsody, The Greatest Showman, Les Miserables, La La Land, Moulin Rouge, Chicago, Evita and Hairspray.
2019’s Cats opened £3,207,471 taking £11,907,188 and $73.83m
2021’s In the Heights opened £1,073,687 taking £4,286,073 and $43.87m worldwide
2017’s The Greatest Showman opened £4,754,049 taking £49,523,728 and $436.75m worldwide
2016’s La Land opened £6,596,256 taking £29,816,588 and $447.4m worldwide
20 years ago, Moulin Rouge opened in the UK four months after the US in September performing far stronger than it did in the US opening with £2,403,378 down 22.6% in its second weekend taking £1,859,732 and £5,668,964 (31.21% of total box office) taking £18,166,288 (£31,681,304 inflation inflated) was in the top 15 for almost 3 months.
Despite musicals Cats and Dear Evan Hanson flopping Universal Pictures are still moving forward with their film version of Wicked which has been in development since 2004, it’s expected to be the first film to be made at Sky Studios in Elstree with Jon M. Chu attached to direct who recently directed In The Heights and produced by Marc Platt recently produced Dear Evan Hanson.
Other Film News
Since cinemas reopened in July 2020 the cinema industry has claimed that there haven’t been any COVID cases traced back to cinemas but two events last week show that was more likely due to poor track and tracing and customers not giving correct information as cinemas have long had hygiene issues.
Last Tuesday Eternals stars Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek, Gemma Chan and Lauren Ridloff and director Chloé Zhao didn’t attend Elle’s Women in Hollywood event after it was revealed that a cast member who attended the world premiere the day before had COVID.
Several COVID cases were traced back to the closing film of the London Film Festival (The Tragedy of Macbeth) on Sunday, October 17th. If COVID was traced back to these two very high profile events that had strict safety measures in place it’s illogically to believe there hasn’t been any COVID in cinemas over the last 16 months.
Last week UKCA didn’t have any of the COVID safety measures that were in place for CineEurope in Barcelona a few weeks ago that included proof of vaccine wristbands, social distancing in screenings and face masks worn despite cases in the UK 10 times more than in Spain.
Gower Street Analytics estimated the full-year box office for the UK will be £590m up from £560m after No Time To Die BO this would be a 77% increase in 2020.
On October 14th ComScore reported box office for 2021 had taken £323.7m more than £323m taken last year, while January and February were very strong March slowed down before cinemas closed at the end of March until reopening in July. The box office was soft over the next 6 weeks before the opening of Tenet which did not be the success the industry expected it to be and the rest of the box office for the year was soft so it’s impossible to make any comparisons.
While this year UK cinemas reopened in May with a far stronger line-up of films from then onwards but all the films apart from No Time To Die took about a third less than they would have done in normal circumstances.
Total BO for 2021 up until September 30 was £254m and since then-No Time To Die has taken £68,580,003 in 18 days. Cinemas need people to see other films than sure things like James Bond and comic-book movies, but the big question is what the next film will be all those millions of people who went to the cinema for the first time in almost two years see next, as of course those who went to see Venom 2 this weekend previously saw Black Widow and Shang-Chi and will see Eternals in two weeks and Spider-Man: No Way Home in December, this will likely be the next £30m+ BO
But what will be the next £50m? in 2019 there were 10 £30m+ films Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Jumanji: The Next Level, Frozen 2, Joker, The Lion King, Spider-Man: Far From Home, Toy Story 4, Aladdin, Avengers: Endgame and Captain Marvel but only No Time To Die and Spider-Man: No Way Home is likely to do so this year.
£30m+ films for 2022 include Sing 2, The Batman, Downtown Abbey 2, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them 3, Thor: Love and Thunder, Jurassic World 3, Minions: The Rise of Gru, Black Panther 2 and Avatar 2.
For months exhibitors have talked up this pent-up demand but No Time To Die can’t be just a one-hit-wonder this audience needs to come back many more times before the end of the year to see other films that aren’t sequels or remakes.
The UKCA conference was on Tuesday and Wednesday after the O2 two years after the last one which was early March 2020 when the elephant in the room was COVID that they didn’t even mention despite lockdown being imminent in the UK were in complete denial. At CineEurope attendees had to show proof of vaccination and masks were mandatory in all indoor areas while all screenings still had one seat gap between; Spain have 10% of COVID daily as in the UK but UKCA has no similar requirements due to believing after the success of No Time To Die they are now invincible.
But this is very short-sighted as with UK cases almost 50k on Monday there are expectations of face masks becoming mandatory again and some COVID restrictions returning as the government can’t delay taking action this time around after the report published last week highlighted their poor handling.
As the UKCA approach in March 2020 was waiting on government guidance rather than making a decision themselves they are to blame as much as the UK government probably more so as Hollywood has made films about every possible natural and unnatural disaster all anyone had to watch was Contagion to know exactly what was happened in early March when the UKCA approach was “nothing to see here”.
UKCA Conference had a lot of data about cinemagoers before lockdown and now showing demographic split is back to how it was before lockdown then the success of No Time To Die should breed further success. It’s interesting to look back on weekly box office over the last 20 years with ticket inflation of 75%+ since 2001 weekend box office should be about double it was then but look back on the same weekend in 2003- 2005 it’s only about 40% showing all the “growth” since has been ticket inflation.
The Battle at Lake Changjin took $760m (after 17 days), Hi, Mom $825m and Detective Chinatown 3 with $686m and the Chinese BO for their New Year week took $1.2bn puts the Western BO into perspective post-pandemic.
China kept their cinemas closed for more than 2 months longer than the West brought in far tougher restrictions and then opened several high-profile local films back-to-back including The Eight Hundred opening with $161m in August taking $460m. Had the West done similar confidence levels would have returned to normal far quicker and box office would be getting back to normal next year and not in 2023 as many expect.
Biggest Films of 2021
The top 10 biggest films of 2021 are currently
No Time To Die £78.02m; Shang-Chi (£21.12m); Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway (£20.4m); Black Widow (£18.83m); Free Guy (£16.78m); F9 (£16.44m); The Suicide Squad (£14.2m); Space Jam 2 (£12.85m); Jungle Cruise (£12.55m); A Quiet Place 2 (£11.54m);
No Time To Die is the only film that is performing as it would in normal circumstances all others opened about a third less than they would but many have had much longer legs than they would normally do; Free Guy 6.79x; Jungle Cruise 5.6x; Space Jam: A New Legacy 9.46x; 14.3x The Croods: A New Age.
The following 10 biggest films from 11-20
Venom 2 £11.19m; The Croods 2 (£9.8m); Cruella £9.45m; The Conjuring 3 £9.36m; PAW Patrol: The Movie £8.47m; The Addams Family 2 £5.28m; Candyman £4.73m; In The Heights £4.28m; The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard £3.84m v; The Forever Purge £3.6m; Spirit Untamed £3.41m;
Morning Consultant tracking to the normal has seen comfort going to the cinema in the US dropped 3% this week 48% after was the over 50% last week for the first time since July 4; 18% of adults said they would feel comfortable going to the movies within the next month, though a nearly equal share said it would be more than six months until they felt OK doing so; 16% say they are currently going to the movies.
This is a far better guide to cinema confidence rather than the surveys done by the industry as they survey a much wider demographic of people that are a mix of regular cinemagoers, cinema surveys are slanted to get the result they want, but you can see from the box office we are still far from normal. Until the industry realises this nothing will change, as after a strong October
After the mixed reception to Marvel’s Eternals, November looks much more mixed than October as while Ghostbuster: Afterlife received positive reviews still a big unknown as is the new Disney animation Encanto which is likely to perform similar to Coco. In December West Side Story, Spider-Man: No Way Home, The Matrix 4 and The King’s Man open within 12 days of each other which could be problematic as Spider-Man: No Way Home, The Matrix 4 and The King’s Man are targetting similar demographics.
UK box office in detail
This weekend’s top 10 box office took £17,614,553 down 8.1% from last weekend £19,158,548 and up 1,251% from 2020 (£1,303,830)
The weekend admissions 2,477,434 down 8.1% 2,694,592 from last week
Top 3 took £13,019,620 73.9% of the top 10; Dune 33.3% (£5,876,892); No Time To Die 26.5% (£4,672,560); Venom Let There Be Carnage 14% (£2,470,168);
Up 1,251% from 2020 (£1,303,830); Two By Two: Overboard! £329,265); Honest Thief (£254,267); The Secret Garden (£154,087); Pixie (£116,517); All My Life (£50,489); Cinema Paradiso (30th Anniversary 4K Restoration) (£28,320); #1 Two By Two: Overboard! £329,265 1st week 339 screens
Up 19.8% from 2019 (£14,701,611); Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil (£3,300,000); Shaun The Sheep Movie: Farmageddon (£1,305,511); Zombieland: Double Tap (£1,242,352); Official Secrets (£537,990); The Shining (Re: 2019) (£18,191); #1 Joker £5,489,716 44% drop 3rd weekend 682 screens
Up 22.5% from 2018: (£14,380,280); Halloween (£2,656,097); Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween (£2,119,165); Hunter Killer (£368,082); Samson Et Dalila – Met Opera 2018 (£176,889); Fahrenheit 11/9 (£56,814); #1 A Star is Born £2,883,000 2nd week 663 screens 7% drop (20.1% of top 10)
Up 80.1% from 2017: (£9,783,969); Geostorm (£1,625,895); Happy Death Day (£998,388); The Death of Stalin (£995,458); My Little Pony (£916,123); Paw Patrol: Big Screen Tails (£35,332); Marshall (£14,967); The Princess Bride (30th Anniversary) (£1,128); #1 Blade Runner 2049 £1,791,027 3rd week 2nd #1 (w1 and w3) 617 screens (18.3% of the top 10)
Up 14.1% from 2016: (£15,448,907); Trolls (£5,440,878); Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (£2,688,561); Ouija: Origin of Evil (£779,626); I, Daniel Blake (£444,800); Keeping Up with the Joneses (£271,306); Don Giovanni – Met Opera 2016 (£254,469); Queen of Katwe (£73,754); #1 Trolls £5,440,878 1st week 608 screens (35.2% of the top 10)
Up 62.2% from 2015; (£10,858,414); Paranormal Activity: Ghost Dimension 3D (£1,472,427); #1 Hotel Transylvania 2 £2,275,612 588 screens down 64% 2nd week
Up 62.7% from 2014: (£10,824,678); Fury (£2,692,786); The Book of Life (£981,432); Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (expansion) (£571,581); Love, Rosie (£482,535); The Babadook (£347,512); This Is Where I Leave You (£109,441); Serena (£95,109); #1 Fury £2,692,786 1st week 462 screens (24.8% of top 10)
Up 40.6% from 2013: (£12,528,593); Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 (£3,658,618); Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa (£1,940,476); Ender’s Game (£1,158,548); One Chance (£717,857); The Selfish Giant (£81,737); Reef 2: High Tide (£26,910); Closed Circuit (£19,998); #1 Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 £3,658,618 1st week 510 screens (29.2% of top 10)
Up 20.1% from 2012 (£14,670,714); Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted (£6,030,904); Paranormal Activity 4 (£2,544,701); Beasts of the Southern Wild (£181,801); #1 Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted £6,030,904 1st week 532 screens
Up 56.8% from 2011 (£11,227,673); Paranormal Activity 3 (£3,405,036); Contagion (£1,463,638); Monte Carlo (£237,469); Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer (£33,605); Restless (£11,270); #1 Paranormal Activity 3 £3,405,036 1st week 390 screens (30.3% of top 10)
Up 43.6% from 2010: (£12,266,017); Paranormal Activity 2 (£3,764,722); RED (£1,662,472); Legend of the Guardians (£737,444); Alpha and Omega (£643,425); Easy A (£277,975); Africa United (£177,827); Ramona and Beezus (£84,475); #1 Paranormal Activity 2 £3,764,722 1st week 389 screens (30.7% of top 10)
Up 68.5% from 2009; (£10,454,829); Saw VI (£1,736,287); Fantastic Mr. Fox (£1,517,312); Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant (£798,641); The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard (£35,362); #1 Up £3,807,003 3rd week 549 screens 26% drop (31.1% of top 10)
Up 11.3% from 2008; (£15,824,329); High School Musical 3 (£8,409,375); Saw V (£2,436,817); Ghost Town (£1,347,678); Incendiary (£18,964); #1 High School Musical 3 £8,409,375 1st week 493 screens (53.1% of top 10)
Up 129% from 2007: (£7,694,181); Stardust (£2,245,143); Rendition (£583,345); Dark is Rising (£214,058); Nancy Drew (£135,753); The Last Legion (£125,540); Daddy Day Camp (£65,989); Once (£65,256); Razzle Dazzle (£6,185); #1 Ratatouille £3,056,938 2nd week 535 screens 31% drop (39.7% of top 10)
Up 107.6% from 2006; (£8,486,228); Barnyard: The Original Party Animals (£1,022,890); The Guardian (£826,569); The Grudge 2 (£773,422); The Last Kiss (£431,071); Marie Antoinette (£283,883); #1 The Departed £1,456,564 3rd week 2nd #1 358 screens 14% drop (17.1% of top 10)
Up 56.5% from 2005 (£11,324,493); Nanny McPhee (£2,603,834); Corpse Bride (£1,150,464); Sky High (£646,569); Broken Flowers (£395,880); Dreamer (£149,058); #1 Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit £4,666,723 2nd week 499 screens 50% drop (41.2% of top 10)
Up 82.5% from 2004 (£9,648,812); Alien vs Predator (£2,003,663); Alfie (£1,314,156); The Princess Diaries 2 (expansion) (£807,008); #1 Shark Tale £3,199,963 2nd week 504 screens 58% drop (33.1% of top 10)
Up 71.6% from 2003 (£10,261,167); Intolerable Cruelty (£1,555,684); Second-hand Lions (£200,851); #1 Finding Nemo £3,887,996 4th week 3rd #1 501 screens 34% drop (37.9% of top 10)
Up 94.7% from 2002 (£9,046,691); XXX (£3,435,891); Slap Her, She’s French (£210,321); All Or Nothing (£164,291); The Powerpuff Girls (£92,007); #1 XXX £3,435,891 1st week 435 screens (37.9% of top 10)
Up 86.1% from 2001 (£9,463,581); America’s Sweethearts (£1,719,897); Jeepers Creepers (£1,533,151); Atlantis (expansion) (£1,282,458); Brotherhood of the Wolf (£123,245); #1 American Pie 2 £2,823,776 2nd week 420 screens 49% drop (29.8% of top 10);
Next weekend in 2019 (£14,176,042); Terminator: Dark Fate 19.5% (£2,864,941); The Addams Family (£2,117,740); Countdown (£390,873); Black And Blue (£25,840); #1 Joker £3,464,682 37% drop 4th weekend 657 screens
US Box Office
- Dune – Warner Bros
Opened with $40.1m; received positive reviews (83% Rotten Tomatoes) and A- CinemaScore
348th biggest opening in the US between Madea Goes to Jail and Casino Royale; 24th biggest 2021 film in the US between Mortal Kombat and Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway.
Took $5.1m from Thursday previews similar to last weekends Halloween Kills $4.85 while 2017’s Blade Runner 2049 took $3.5m; 30% ($1.5m) of the BO came from 402 IMAX cinemas more than Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk ($1.59m/28.9% of a total $5.5m in July 2017).
Similar to Thursday previews Dawn of the Planet of the Apes ($4.1m); Mad Max: Fury Road ($3.7m); Prometheus ($3.56m).
Took $17.5m on Friday including Thursday previews); took 24% from IMAX screens $4.13m (24%) of the opening day BO.
Ahead of Blade Runner 2049 opening, it was expected to open with upwards of $50m (similar to Mad Max Fury Road) but that dropped to $36m on Saturday and $32m on Sunday morning.
The industry has heralded that four films have taken over $40m over the last four weeks but while in normal circumstances it was expected that Dune would open with a similar amount due to IMAX/PLF surcharges Venom 2, No Time To Die and Halloween Kills would have opened with about a third more.
But Dune has been seen as a tentpole by Warner Bros and exhibitors so are $40m opening big enough for a film the size of Dune, as these tentpoles have a hefty budget attached to the Dune $165m+ with global marketing probably similar amount along with the costs to delay the film a year. So these films need to take $500m+ globally to turn a profit.
In 2012’s John Carter opened with $30.18m in the US taking $73.07m and $284.13m, the following year The Lone Ranger opened with $29.21m in the US and $89.3m and $260.5m worldwide and both were seen as massive flops (probably made Disney decide to stop making original films and go for properties.) Last year Tenet opened with $9.53m taking $58.45m in the US and $363.65m worldwide and lost Warner Bros $50m+. Dune has a similar budget to Tenet and will surely need to take at least $400m to turn a profit which is currently unlikely, so there are big questions over the sequel and that decision will likely be made by Legendary Pictures rather than Warner Bros.
Dune was always going to struggle to find an audience in the US long before the pandemic and perform far stronger internationally similar to Blade Runner with 30%/70% BO split, why it was always surprising exhibitors were seeing it as similar to comic-book movies, Bond and F9.
Exhibitors had their excuses ready for months blaming it on also available on HBO Max but as seen with Halloween Kills $50m opening and 1.2m seeing on Peacock if it’s a film people want to see in the cinema they will and for months Dune has been hyped on it being a film that needs to be seen on the biggest screen.
The other issue Dune had was the marketplace was very crowded Halloween Kills, Venom 2 and No Time To Die and Timothée Chalamet competing against himself in The French Dispatch, while in 2018 Blade Runner 2049 had no direct competition (with The Mountain Between Us and My Little Pony: The Movie also opening) but the all held well with all films in the top 1- taking over $2m.
Films receiving critical acclaim will normally benefit a film and help it find a much wider audience but that’s not the case with Dune as similar to Denis Villeneuve’s Blade Runner 2049 and Christopher Nolan’s Tenet they come off as pretentious alienating mainstream audiences. It’s fine if these films have low budgets but not when they have $200m budgets and then massive marketing costs. Tenet took $363m last year globally but Warner would have surely expected it to take double but after Christopher Nolan forced them to open in the middle of a pandemic it lost at least $50m.
Dune was always likely to suffer the same issues Blade Runner 2049 had as Dune is a remake of a flop while Blade Runner 2049 was a long-gap sequel of a flop. Frank Herbert’ Dune was first published in 1965 and was always seen to be unfilmable David Lynch 1982 film has been described as incomprehensible, grotesque and overly involved and Stephen King’s The Dark Tower was also seen as unfilmable and the result was unwatchable, while Guillermo del Toro had tried to make At the Mountains of Madness for many years, John Kennedy Toole’s A Confederacy of Dunces has been tried to be made into a film since 1982 with Harold Ramis directing starring John Belushi but died days before he was dying to sign on, both John Candy and Chris Farley were also considered all three actors dying made many believe the novel was cursed.
The audience breakdown for Dune is probably similar to Blade Runner 2049 as Dune means very little to anyone 40 with the novel first published in 1965; the audience breakdown for Blade Runner 2049 was according to CinemaScore, 14% under 25; with 50+ making up a third of the audience.
As with Blade Runner 2049 the visuals dazzled audiences with the fans this was highlighted by many critical responses to the film including Variety who said it was “Spectacular and Engrossing…Until It Isn’t” this is similar to the reaction to Christopher Nolan’s Tenet
Opened similar to 2018’s Blade Runner 2049 $32.75m taking $92.05m in the US (35.5%) and $167.18m internationally ($64.5%) and $249.23m worldwide
The seven films Denis Villeneuve directed have taken $330m in the US and $825m worldwide
SambaTV reported Dune was watched on HBO Max by 1.9 million U.S. households from Thursday to Sunday, more than Zack Snyder’s Justice League and In the Heights, which also were released on HBO Max on Thursdays.
Dune opened internationally in 36 territories 6 weeks ago taking $129.3m as the choice for Warner was to either open before or after No Time To Die, going before they would benefit from the media coverage generated from the world premiere two weeks earlier at Venice Film Festival. While opening in October could benefit from audiences seeing the trailers in cinemas with No Time To Die and the buzz generated from its earlier release.
Took $47.4m from 75 territories $182.2m total and $220.7m worldwide; taking $17.8m from IMAX 20.3% of Dune global weekend box office; 726th biggest film worldwide between Interview with the Vampire and Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief; 13th biggest 2021 film worldwide between Cruella and Jungle Cruise; 120th biggest Warner Bros film between Interview with the Vampire and Constantine.
50% of Dune global box office came from IMAX, PLF, 4DX and Dolby Cinema taking $29.1m globally from IMAX
In China, it took $21.9m only managed to open #2 behind The Battle at Lake Changjin taking $32.3m in its fourth weekend and $828.1m to date which puts the international box office into perspective since cinemas reopened.
In China due to an increase of COVID cases in 8 regions of cinema saw cinemas close after only 100 cases this compares to over 40,000 daily cases in the UK without any restrictions in place.
- Halloween Kills – Universal Pictures
Dropped 70.7% in its second weekend taking $14.45m and $73.05m
1,123rd biggest film in the US between John Carter and Dinner for Schmucks; 1,910th biggest inflation inflated between The Last Song and Judge Dredd; 146th biggest Universal Pictures film between Yesterday and The Interpreter.
2018’s Halloween dropped 58.8% taking $31.41m and $126.07m taking $159.34m in the US and $255.61m worldwide
Took $10.09m from 53 territories and $17.8m total and $90.91m worldwide; 1,829th biggest opening worldwide between White Men Can’t Jump and Autumn in New York; 32nd biggest 2021 film between PAW Patrol: The Movie and Old and 233rd biggest Universal Pictures film between The Purge and The Tale of Despereaux.
- No Time To Die – Universal Pictures
Dropped 49% in its third weekend taking $12.2m and $120.35m
558th biggest film in the US between Mulan and Seabiscuit; 1,060th biggest film inflation inflated between Spy! and End of Days; 7h biggest film of 2021 between Free Guy and Jungle Cruise.
Variety reported that No Time To Die needs to take over $900m worldwide to make a profit but that’s no different than any of these other films that need to take two thirds more than their budget. No Time To Die budget was reported $250m+, with marketing $200m+ including the marketing costs from the first postponed release in April 2020 along with interest of about $1m every month it was delayed. F9, Black Widow, Shang-Chi and Venom Let There Be Carnage all have similar high budgets of over $200m with similar marketing costs.
Third weekends
1995’s Goldeneye down 51.2% #2 $8.83m and $70m 65.7% of $106.42m in the US, $245.76m internationally, $352.19m worldwide
1997’s Tomorrow Never Dies down 32.6% #2 $13.79m and $92.4m 73.4% of $125.3m US, $207.7m internationally, $333.01m worldwide
1999’s The World Is Not Enough #2 down 54.2% taking $10.65m and $90.44m 71.2% of $126.94m in the US, $234.88m internationally $361.83m worldwide
2002’s Die Another Day down 58.6% #1 taking $12.84m and $120.2m 74.6% of $160.94m US, $271.02m internationally $431.97m worldwide
2006’s Casino Royale down 50.9% #2 $15.11m and $115.87m 69.2% of $167.44m US, $449.05m internationally $616.5m worldwide
2008’s Quantum of Solace dropped 29.5% #4 taking $18.83m and $141.41m 84% of $168.36m US, $421.21m internationally $589.58m worldwide
2012’s Skyfall dropped 13.6% #2 taking $35.5m and $221.14m 72.6% of $304.36m US, $804.2m internationally $1.1bn worldwide
2015’s Spectre dropped 55.3% taking $15.04m #2 taking $154.14m 77.04% of $200.07m; $680.6m internationally $880.68m worldwide
The 25 James Bond films have taken $2.253bn in the US and $7.56bn worldwide but inflation inflated this is almost $20bn
The five Daniel Craig James Bond films have taken $3.56bn worldwide to date while the last 6 Mission Impossible films have taken $1.15bn in the US and $3.57bn worldwide (Mission Impossible 1 and 2 were released in 1996 and 2000 taking $1bn worldwide but inflation inflated would be close to $2bn).
Since 2006 James Bond and Mission Impossible films have opened within a year of each other; in May Mission Impossible 3 opened in November Casino Royale; in December 2011 Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol opening and Skyfall opened October; in July 2015 Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation opened and in October Spectre opened. Since Spectre was released Mission Impossible: Fallout became the biggest film of the franchise in the US and worldwide.
In January 2011 Paramount were the favourites to buy distribution rights for Bond 23 and 24 (Skyfall and Spectre) and Eon approved Paramount as a distributor, but MGM was demanding a 6% distribution fee for James Bond lower than 8% got from DreamWorks Animation. MGM was also interested in partnering with some of Paramount’s films in development.
Took $33.1m from 72 territories internationally ($11.34m from IMAX) and $405.6m total and $525.4m worldwide; second film since 2019 to take over $500m worldwide (F9 the other)
207th biggest film worldwide between The Simpsons Movie and How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World; 5th biggest 2021 film worldwide between Detective Chinatown 3 and Godzilla vs. Kong.
- Venom: Let There Be Carnage – Sony Pictures
Dropped 44.9% in its fourth weekend taking $9.1m and $181.82m;
2018’s Venom dropped 41% in its fourth weekend taking $10.65m and $187.13m
256TH biggest film in the US between Lincoln and Grease; 574th biggest inflation inflated between Star Trek Beyond and California Suite; 54th biggest comic-book movie between Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Disclosure; 22nd biggest Sony Pictures film between Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse 3D and Men in Black 3.
Fourth weekends
Shang-Chi dropped 39.9% taking $13.03m and $196.2m and $218.13m total
Black Widow dropped 44.3% taking $6.47m and $167.11m of $183.63m
After opening similar to both Black Widow ($80.4m) and Shang-Chi ($75.38m), it was always expected that it would hold similar m its second weekend as despite Venom: Let There Be Carnage not being part of the MCU the fanbase is the same so those who saw Black Widow would go to see both Shang-Chi and Venom: Let There Be Carnage and then will also go to see Eternals and Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Of course, much was made that Venom: Let There Be Carnage was released exclusively in cinemas as Shang-Chi unlike Black Widow but all three opened similarly and will take similar box office.
Venom went on to take $213.51m in the US (the sequel is likely to take about $180m) and $856.1m worldwide.
398th biggest film worldwide between Basic Instinct and The Angry Birds Movie; 9th biggest 2021 film worldwide between Black Widow and Free Guy; 57th biggest comic-book movie worldwide between X-Men: First Class and The Mask; 34th biggest Sony Pictures film worldwide between Basic Instinct and The Angry Birds Movie
Took $38.3m from 53 international territories $170.55m total and $352.4m worldwide;
- Ron’s Gone Wrong – Disney
Opened with $7.3m; received positive reviews (81% Rotten Tomatoes) and A CinemaScore
As the UK last weekend despite receiving positive reviews the film was always likely to struggle to find an audience and would have gone straight to Disney+ in the US had it not been for the HBO Pay TV deal 20th Century Fox have in place until next year for all theatrical made releases.
Disney showed immediately after acquiring 20th Century Fox they had no interest in their animation labels closing Blue Sky Studios and ending the production deal with Locksmith Animation makers of Ron’s Gone Wrong ho moved their production deal to Warner Bros.
Took $10m from 40 territories and $17.3m worldwide
- The Addams Family 2 – MGM
Dropped 38.6% in its fourth weekend taking $4.33m and $48.31m
190th biggest animated film in the US between Planet 51 and The Angry Birds Movie 2; 2,093rd biggest film in the US between White Nights and Drag Me To Hell;
2019’s The Addams Family dropped 30.9% in its fourth weekend taking $8.29m and $85.09m of $100.72m (took $203.78m worldwide). 3,083rd biggest inflation inflated between The Fog and He Got Game; 23rd biggest 2021 film between Mortal Kombat and Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway.
Took $4.53m from 31 international territories and $22.98m total and $71.2m worldwide
- The French Dispatch – Searchlight Pictures
Opened with $1.3m from 52 screens
While the industry heralded it was the best platform opening it’s still a long way from the platform openings of previous Wes Anderson films as it opened with less than the Isle of Dogs opened in half as many screens in 2018 and opened with half of 2014’s The Grand Budapest Hotel opened with from 4 screens.
Wes Anderson’s biggest opening in the US is
2018’s Isle of Dogs opened #15 $1,620,294 from 27 screens slowly expanded into 1,939 screens after 4 weeks taking $32.01m and $64.24m worldwide
2014’s The Grand Budapest Hotel opened #17 $811,166 from 4 screens slowly expanding into 1,467 screens over 6 weeks taking $59.3m and $172.93m worldwide
2009’s Fantastic Mr Fox opened #24 $265,900 from 4 screens expanded into 2,033 screens after 3 weeks taking $21m taking $46.47m worldwide
2012’s Moonrise Kingdom opened #15 $522,996 from 4 screens slowly expanded into 924 screens after 8 weeks taking $45.51m taking $68.26m worldwide
2007’s The Darjeeling Limited opened #37 $134,938 from 2 screens slowly expanded into 698 screens after 5 weeks taking $11.9m taking $35.3m worldwide
Wes Anderson 10 directed films have taken $264m in the US and $500m worldwide; The French Dispatch is the 5th film he has directed for Fox Searchlight since The Darjeeling Limited previously directed four films for Disney.
After previous Wes Anderson films opened on four screens it was surprising started with 52 for The French Dispatch as Searchlight surprisingly also opened The Eyes of Tammy Faye on 450 screens after receiving mixed reviews opened with $652,358 added 902 screens the following weekend but box office only increased by 3.9% taking $626,798 and then dropped 60.4% and 81.5% in its third and fourth weekends losing 1,200+ screens taking $2,321,533 to date.
Searchlight will expand The French Dispatch into 600 screens this weekend it will be interesting to see how much its box office increases.
UK Box Office Top 10
UK Box Office Preview
Dune will hold on to #1 against Edgar Wright’s Last Night in Soho due to IMAX/PLF as it will drop about 55% (48% without previews) similar to Blade Runner 2049 dropping 49% (44% not including previews taking £3,098,872 as with Last Night In Soho has tougher competition than Blade Runner 2049 it lost #1 to The LEGO Ninjago Movie (£3,642,038) but the other new releases weren’t as strong The Snowman (£1,377,909) and The Ritual (£424,352).
Previous Edgar Wright films openings
2017’s Baby Driver opened £3,605,705 (including £1,219,345 previews 34%) taking £13,024,392
2013’s The World’s End opened £2,123,576 taking £8,731,367
2010’s Scott Pilgrim vs. The World opened £1,604,545 (including £531,796 33% previews) taking £5,081,181
2007’s Hot Fuzz opened £5,918,149 (including £1,563,067 26%) taking £20,792,585
2004’s Shaun of the Dead opened £1,603,410 (£2,578,312 inflation inflated) taking £6,737,460 (£10,833,956 inflation inflated).t least
No Time To Die will drop about 50% in its 5th weekend taking £2m+;
The Addams Family 2, The Boss Baby 2 and Ron’s Gone Wrong will all increase at least 30% as their Friday box office will be boosted due to it being half-term holidays.
Scott Cooper’s Antlers will struggle to find an audience, in normal circumstances horror could open similar to Hereditary £1,863,913 taking £5,498,016 after receiving positive reviews, but opening in a crowded marketplace
My Hero Academia: World Heroes’ Mission the previous two films were released by National Amusements in the UK; My Hero Academia: Two Heroes in December 2018 and My Hero Academia The Movie – Heroes: Rising in February 2020. World Heroes’ Mission is released by Sony Pictures who released Demon Slayer: Mugen Train in May opening with £693,081 #4 from 336 screens.
Also, Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone is re-released in cinemas for its 20th Anniversary
October half-term was previously the launch for Skyfall and Spectre, it has also been the launch weekend for several Marvel films and Bohemian Rhapsody so this weekend is likely to see a big drop off over the last decade (except last year).
Opening in two weeks
- Mothering Sunday – Lionsgate
Drama starring Odessa Young, Josh O’Connor, Olivia Colman, Colin Firth, Glenda Jackson and directed by Eva Husson based on the novel by Graham Swift; had a world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in July receiving positive reviews (83% Rotten Tomatoes).
Surprising a film called Mothering Sunday is released 6 months before Mother’s Day as normally these kinds of films open close to their days so 2010’s Valentine’s Day opened 10th February 2011’s New Year’s Eve on December 7th and 2021’s Boxing Day on December 3rd.
Unlike those two days that are the same date globally Mother Day in the UK is March 27th, 2022, and May 8th, 2022, in the US. Would have thought the distributors of the film would date it close to either of those two dates.
- Cry Macho – Warner Bros
Drama starring Clint Eastwood and Dwight Yoakam and directed and produced by Clint Eastwood. based on the 1975 novel by N. Richard Nash. The novel is based on a film script 20th Century Fox rejected in the 70s. In 1988 Clint Eastwood was approached to star in the film but choose to star in The Dead Pool, Arnold Schwarzenegger was approached in 2003 to star but was put on hold when he was elected the governor of California. In October 2020 it was announced Clint Eastwood star and direct.
The film was released in September in the US receiving mixed reviews (60% Rotten Tomatoes) and opened third taking $4.4m behind Shang-Chi and Free Guy. As with all of Warner Bros films, this year was released on HBO Max the same day with SambaTV reporting it was watched by 693k over opening weekend.
The film will have very limited interest in the UK and Warner Bros will give it a limited release.