- A Quiet Place Part 2 – £1,314,938 – £6,422,005
Down 63.1% In its second weekend (41.5% without previews)
The hot weather probably didn’t have much impact on A Quiet Place Part 2 second weekend as 63% drop looks big, but its opening weekend was over 6 days taking £1,316,513 (36.9% of its opening) so it was always likely to drop more than the first film and the first film also had the advantage of being Easter holidays and of course, having normal conditions. After 9 days of release A Quiet Place Part 2 has taken 1.1% more than the first film £6,422,005 Vs £6,350,119).
667th biggest second weekend in the UK between Bride Wars and Focus (close to Blade 2, Ghostbusters (2016), The Expendables and Drag Me to Hell) in comparison A Quiet Place is the 423rd biggest second weekend between Cats and The Lion King 3D.
924th biggest inflation inflated the second weekend between Alien vs Predator and Star Trek X: Nemesis (close to Green Lantern, Edge of Tomorrow, 300: Rise of An Empire and Saw 3D)
61st biggest Paramount Pictures film in the UK between Rango and Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa (close to GI Joe: Retaliation, Super 8. Paranormal Activity 4 and 10 Cloverfield Lane).
40th biggest horror in the UK between Constantine and Drag Me to Hell (close to Saw, The Exorcist (RE), The First Purge and Paranormal Activity 4).
2018’s A Quiet Place dropped 29% in its second weekend (4% without previews) #3 taking £1,907,585 and £6,350,119 53.8% of £11,801,912; Rampage opened #1 £4,109,247 and Peter Rabbit #2 5th weekend £2,021,163; A Quiet Place dropped 46% in its third weekend #2 £1,024,722 taking £8,262,665.
The National Deaf Children’s Society reported that only 41% of UK cinemas offered subtitled screenings of A Quiet Place Part 2 during opening weekend, 50% of those screenings were before 6 pm were subtitled screenings with only a handful afterwards. National Deaf Children’s Society said, “Deaf people are just as entitled to enjoy the thrill of the cinema as hearing people, but they’re still not being provided for” …. “Half of the cinemas didn’t provide any subtitled showings and those that did were unwilling to offer them at convenient times. It’s a sad yet familiar story for millions of deaf people across the UK, where subtitles are now a holy grail instead of something they can rely on.”
This is an issue the cinema industry has failed to deal with for over a decade, there are now 11m+ with hearing loss across the UK, a decade ago Sony developed ‘smart caption’ glasses, these were launched at the National Theatre in 2018 for all performances since. A decade ago, a similar system was planned for cinemas but has yet been implemented instead there are subtitled screenings. Before COVID there were about 1,500 subtitled screenings per week across the UK and there will be 500 subtitled screenings of A Quiet Place Part 2 over its first two weeks of release.
A Quiet Place Part 2 might hold #1 this weekend against The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard on Fri-Sun at the box office but as it has a 7-day opening it will lose the top spot.
2. Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway – £798,985 – £13,944,643
Down 60.9% in its fourth weekend; dropping much more than expected due to the hot weather over the weekend.
In 2018 Peter Rabbit dropped 42.9% in its fourth weekend taking £3,152,269 and £32,223,317 78.6% of £40,999,583.
428th biggest film in the UK between 300 and Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (close to Kung Fu Panda 3, Puss in Boots, Shaun The Sheep Movie and Jumanji (1996) and 650th biggest inflation inflated film in the UK between Deep Blue Sea and Streetdance (close to Garfield, The Emoji Movie, Pokemon Detective Pikachu and The Addams Family (1991).
Peter Rabbit 2 will now come short to take £20m making it the biggest film since 1917, by next weekend it will be close to overtaking Tenet (£15.1m) and become the biggest film in the UK since Sonic the Hedgehog.
Peter Rabbit is the 67th biggest film in the UK taking £40,999,583 (Paddington 2 is just slightly ahead #63 taking £42,642,938) and is Sony Pictures UK’s 5th biggest film in the UK (behind Skyfall, Spectre, Casino Royale, and Quantum of Solace) as they have lost distribution rights to James Bond films Peter Rabbit is their MVP.
Other British sourced children’s fourth weekend drops
2017’s Paddington 2 – dropped 37% taking £2,883,617 and £26,903,226 (63.1%) of total £42,614,170
2016’s The BFG – dropped 35% taking £1,110,536 and £23,510,073 (77.042%) of total £30,514,629
2014’s Paddington – dropped 14% taking £2,513,675 and £18,120,879 (48.1%) of total £37,608,112
20005’s The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – up 5% taking £2,994,438 and £32,958,815 (75.5%) of its £43,641,024
2005’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – dropped 41% taking £1,691,431 and £30,091,611 (80.5%) of its £37,354,584
2005’s Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit – dropped 55% taking £1,624,310 and £28,753,635 (89.9%) of its £31,956,705
2005’s Nanny McPhee – dropped 21% taking £1,313,524 and £14,484,927 (88.1%) of its £16,428,714
Other animal based animated children’s films fourth weekends.
1999’s Stuart Little – dropped 26.2% taking £771,114 and £11,656,217 (67.029%) of its £17,392,023
2016’s Zootropolis – dropped 52% taking £1,129,311 and £20,701,132 (89.4%) of its £23,144,354
2016’s The Angry Birds Movie – dropped 4% taking £850,764 and £8,699,283 (87.6%) of its £9,929,464
2011’s Hop down 72.8 29% taking £214,364 and £7,147,746 (95.5%) of its £7,479,597
2007’s Charlotte’s Web – down 45.8% taking £706,633 and £9,856,840 (93.05%) of its £10,593,589.
While Peter Rabbit films might have more in common with The Emoji than with the classic books written by Beatrix Potter the book first published in the early 19th Century sold millions her first look at The Tale of Peter Rabbit has sold over 45 million copies. The books have been read by generations of parents to their children as Winnie the Pooh, Paddington, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The Gruffalo over the decades since which has made the books part of our childhood and the books parents turn to read to their children.
Their popularity is seen by their performances at the UK box office with their adaptions including Paddington, The BFG, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Borrowers, Matilda, The Jungle Book, and Nanny McPhee all performed far stronger in the UK than anywhere else in the world.
3. Cruella – £732,285 – £5,915,606
Down 42.9% in its third weekend; holding surprisingly well despite the hot weather and being on Disney+ showing that weather is just an excuse as if it’s a film people want to see they will still go to see it no matter the weather.
Comparisons were made with 2006’s The Devil Wears Pada #2 third weekend £1,358,015 drown 27% taking £9,395,649 of £13,681,185 (£20,282,989 inflation inflated); they had a cast reunion recently of The Devil Wears Prada to celebrate the films 15th anniversary; and had a similar third weekend to Birds of Prey dropping 56% taking £772,416 and £7,706,341 87.3% of £8,820,000.
Cruella is a similar Disney reimagination to 101 Dalmatians as Maleficent was to Sleeping Beauty switching the story to the villain’s side which is often the more interesting story that isn’t often developed in these films as they are normally told from the heroes perspective.
The 13 Disney reimaginations have taken over £415m at the UK box office, Mulan was due to be released in cinemas last March but was moved to Disney+ last year when cinemas closed, and Disney has also moved several other reimaginations originally planned as cinema releases to Disney+.
4. The Conjuring The Devil Made Me Do It – £664,829 – £6,780,373.
36th biggest horror in the UK between The Invisible Man and Shaun of the Dead (close to Annabelle: Creation, Annabelle, Annabelle Comes Home and 28 Days Later); 55th inflation inflated horror between The Invisible Man and Scream 4 (close to Halloween (2018), The Fly (1987), The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003) and The Omen (2006).
133rd biggest Warner Bros film between Forever Young and Godzilla: King Of The Monsters (close to Dark Shadows, Gremlins 2: The New Batch, Lethal Weapon 2 and Swordfish).
The eighth film in The Conjuring Universe franchise and the third Conjuring film, the first was released in 2013 and sequel in 2016, with spinoffs Annabelle (2014), Annabelle: Creation (2017), The Nun (2018), The Curse of La Llorona (2019) and Annabelle Comes Home (2019). There are two more films in development The Nun sequel and The Crooked Man.
The previous The Conjuring films have taken over £60m in the UK, the biggest 2018’s The Nun taking £11.3m; 2016’s The Conjuring 2 took £10,896,992; 2013’s The Conjuring £9,337,626.
The Conjuring 3 has overtaken The Curse Of La Llorona and Annabelle Comes Home and could overtake Annabelle: Creation and Annabelle over the next couple of weeks, will come short of the two previous Conjuring films but that’s due to A Quiet Place Part 2 opening the week after.
5. Nobody – £574,399 – NE
Took £198,332 (34.5%) from previews on Wed/Thurs. (440 screens) Fri-Sun took £376,067.
Opened similar to 2015’s John Wick (opened 6 months after the US a week after Fast & Furious 7) £539,602 taking £1.5m and became a huge hit on home entertainment which saw 2017’s John Wick: Chapter 2 open with £2,232,055 taking £5,766,633; 2019’s John Wick: Chapter 3: Parabellum opened with £3,562,524 taking £9,587,828; John Wick Part 4 opens May 27th, 2022, with a fifth film currently set for 2023.
While similarly themed 2016’s The Accountant opened with £1,623,866 taking £5,067,474
In March 2021 writer Derek Kolstad said there is potential for a crossover between the John Wick franchise and Nobody and director Ilya Naishuller also spoke of a possible crossover, saying that the same creative teams made the films, David Leitch produced both films.
Nobody will have a short run in the UK as The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard opened on Monday (was #2 on both Monday and Tuesday) and then F9 opens on June 24.
Also Opened
The Father – £397,418
Took £37,792 (9.5%) from 270 previews.
Opened sixth despite opening in 626 screens Lionsgate’s fourth widest release to date behind Military Wives, The Personal History Of David Copperfield and Knives Out. Never made any sense for any of these films to open so wide as they were films expected to have long legs, these films used to open on about 200+ screens and then slowly expand over weeks, as these are films audiences won’t rush out to see over the opening weekend but will see them over weeks, likewise a film like The Father would play better mid-week rather than the weekend.
The Father climbed to fourth on Monday, it was always likely to perform stronger Mon-Thurs than at weekends as older audiences prefer going to the cinema during the week, while also more likely to be mixing with other people of similar age who have been vaccinated.
There is of course the fear now if a film doesn’t open as wide as possible on opening weekend it won’t get a chance to expand, but a film like The Father had huge media attention surrounding it after receiving critical acclaim and Anthony Hopkins winning Best Actor BAFTA and Oscar and with limited competition over the next few weeks could have a long run-in cinema.
Had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in 2020 receiving critical acclaim (98% Rotten Tomatoes) lauding the performances by Hopkins and Colman and its portrayal of dementia.
Won Best Actor for Anthony Hopkins and Best Adapted Screenplay at Oscars and BAFTAs; Anthony Hopkins failed to attend both award ceremonies to receive the awards.
The Father opened in the US in February and has taken The Father has grossed $2.1m and $7.8m internationally taking $9.9m worldwide.
The UK posters for The Father sold the film as a sweet gentle film about the relationship between daughter and her dad instead of the darker film about dementia that it is. Many reviews have highlighted the darker elements of the film, The Sydney Morning Herald “far scarier than anything Freddy Krueger ever threw at us”. The Boston Herald “frightening dementia drama”. The New York Times “profoundly upsetting”. The Guardian’s said “it’ll haunt me for weeks”. Lionsgate shouldn’t have sold the film as a feel-good film like 2013’s Philomena opened with £1,509,726 taking £10,470,225, but just an award winning with strrong performances but that’s not a film that opens in over 600 screens.
As Nomadland, The Father is aimed at older audiences who have been much slower to return to cinemas, so it’s surprising Lionsgate aren’t releasing the film on VOD at the same time as cinema.
Normally the audience for award contenders would help each other as they often attract similar demographics, so those who went to see Nomadland, and Sound of Metal would then go to see The Father.
Similar films include.
2002’s Iris opened #6 with £378,749 from 84 screens taking £3,647,197
2003’s About Schmidt opened #7 with £757,325 from 2290 screens taking £3,201,355
2004’s The Notebook opened #5 with £309,507 from 256 screens taking £1,109,047
2008’s The Savages opened #17 with £72,823 from 34 screens
2012’s Amour opened #12 with £115,700 from 29 screens taking £287,839
2015’s Still Alice opened #8 with £401,565 from 86 screens taking £2,332,764
The Father is one of two films opening over the next few weeks about the fear and loss that comes with dementia with Supernova opening in July.
Excuses will be made about the hottest temperatures of the year and England playing their first European Championships game on Sunday that saw many staying at home with barbeques, but even if it were pouring with rain The Father would have still struggled as all the research leading up to the reopening of cinemas last July and May this year showed that older audiences will take much longer to return to cinemas.
It will be almost 30 years to the day his Oscar-winning The Silence of the Lambs opened in the UK (June 4th wide opened week earlier exclusive at Odeon Leicester Square) with £4,348,483 (£10,361,732 inflation inflated) taking £17,119,333 (£40,792,602 inflation inflated)
On Monday evening Boris Johnson announced all lockdown restrictions wouldn’t be lifted on June 21st but extended until July 19th due to a rise in Coronavirus cases since lockdown eased previously on May 17, this had been expected for weeks. But had there not been such hostility towards vaccine passports by the hospitality sector then this might have not had to happen.
With over 30 million people in the UK fully vaccinated the public see the benefits of vaccine passports as seen in surveys, they took the vaccine believing that it would mean they could get back to normal, while many say vaccine passports are discriminatory to those who haven’t had the vaccine, it is also discriminatory to those who have.
During Boris Johnson’s press conference on February 15th, he said rapid tests would help nightclubs and theatres which had been unable to open last year. “I think that will be the route that we go down and that businesses will go down.” The Daily Telegraph reported that cinemas could require vaccine passports to prove they have had a vaccination before being able to purchase cinema tickets.
The following day Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi on BBC Breakfast was asked if owners of the hospitality sector could demand a vaccine certificate “if you wanted to go to the cinema”, he replied: “Well, I just think it is obviously up to businesses what they do.”
But predictably UKCA could only see the negatives, despite the reason why many people aren’t comfortable going back to cinemas is more being amongst other cinemagoers, hygiene was poor before COVID and now there is the added threat, while exhibitors keep saying that no COVID cases have been tracked back to cinemas, this is probably more due to the poor track and trace system in place.
UK box office in detail
This weekend’s top 10 box office took £4,771,829 down 44.8% from last weekend £8,645,168 and down 71.7% from 2019 (£16,880,406)
The weekend admissions 671,143 down 44.8% 1,215,917 from last week; admissions in 2019 this week was 2,338,006 (down 71.3%)
Top 3 took £2,846,208 59.6% of the top 10; A Quiet Place Part 2 27.5% (£1,314,938); Peter Rabbit 2 16.7% (£798,985); Cruella 15.3% (£732,285).
2020 cinemas closed.
Down 71.7% from 2019 (£16,708,373) X-Men: Dark Phoenix (£3,771,153); Take That – Greatest Hits Live (Concert) (£1,834,379); Casino Royale (Secret Cinema 2019) (£493,243); #1 Aladdin £3,929,625 654 screens 20% drop 3rd week (23.5% of top 10)
Down 74.4% from 2018: (£18,642,162); Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (£14,334,894); McQueen (£131,278); Coppelia – Bolshoi 2018 (£96,840); The Boy Downstairs (£12,823); #1 Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom £14,334,894 663 screens 1st week (76.9% of top 10)
Down 61% from 2017: (£12,227,826); The Mummy (£3,343,650); Take That: Wonderland Live from the O2 2017 (£1,004,918); My Cousin Rachel (£637,704); Peter Pan – NT Live 2017 (£119,127); The Shack (£96,580); Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer (£18,017); Wilson (£5,347); From the Land of the Moon (£4,547); #1 Wonder Woman £3,480,956 2nd week 613 screens (28.4% of top 10)
Down 33.8% from 2016: (£7,206,704); The Boss (£594,672); Mother’s Day (£419,532); When Marnie Was There (£99,352); Miracles from Heaven (£20,420); #1 Me Before You £1,453,859 529 screens 1st week (2nd week on release) 19% drop.
Down 44.9% from 2015; (£8,657,357); Spy (£2,557,824); Insidious Chapter 3 (£1,440,299); The Empire Strikes Back (Secret Cinema) (£304,115); Survivor (£130,307); Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films (£4,442); #1 Spy £2,557,824 531 screens 1st week (29.5% of top 10)
Up 61.4% from 2014: (£12,366,516); 22 Jump Street (£4,854,991); D-Day 70 Years On (£287,767); Grace of Monaco (£238,862); Der Rosenkavalier – Glyndebourne 2014 (£75,428); Fruitvale Station (£30,162); #1 22 Jump Street £4,854,991 454 screens 1st week (39.2% of top 10)
Down 38.9% from 2013: (£7,805,920); After Earth (£2,249,532); Behind the Candelabra (£513,288); The Stone Roses: Made of Stone (£367,319); The Iceman (£201,789); The Last Exorcism: Part II (£115,811); #1 After Earth £2,249,532 470 screens 1st week (28.8% of top 10)
Down 58.2% from 2012 (£11,422,558); The Pact (£932,325); Ill Manors (£256,288); Red Tails (£193,420); A Fantastic Fear of Everything (£35,400); #1 Prometheus £3,135,504 2nd week 536 screens 50% drop (27.4% of top 10)
Down 67.3% from 2011 (£14,590,776); Kung Fu Panda 2 (£6,188,897); Honey 2 (£520,654); Mother’s Day (£94,385); #1 Kung Fu Panda 2 £6,188,897 1st week 514 screens (42.4% of top 10)
Down 37.2% from 2010: (£7,601,859); Death at a Funeral (£696,280); 4.3.2.1 (£433,218); She’s Out of my League (£400,554); The Killer Inside Me (£124,006); #1 Sex and the City 2 £2,473,043 2nd week 521 screens 60% drop (32.5% of top 10)
Down 66.2% from 2009; (£14,109,630); Terminator Salvation (£6,936,528); Last Chance Harvey (£640,390); Anything for Her (£89,467); #1 Terminator Salvation £6,936,528 1st week 489 screens (49.1% of top 10)
Down 44.1% from 2008; (£8,527,504); Superhero Movie (£851,353); Prom Night (£507,985); Gone, Baby, Gone (£351,127); Mongol: The Rise to Power of Genghis Khan (£185,364); The Waiting Room (£6,508); #1 Sex and the City £3,085,231 469 screens 2nd weeks 65% drop (36.2% of top 10)
Down 30.7% from 2007:(£6,890,280); Ocean’s Thirteen (£3,021,302); Are We Done Yet? (£419,247); Taking Liberties (£21,350); #1 Ocean’s Thirteen £3,021,302 1st week 475 screens (43.8% of top 10)
Down 10.8% from 2006; (£5,352,087); The Omen (£2,096,002); RV (£273,850); Secuestro Express (£18,784); #1 The Omen £2,096,002 1st week 347 screens (39.1% of top 10)
Down 46.7% from 2005 (£8,963,845); Sin City (£2,452,299); The League of Gentlemen’s Apocalypse (£555,996); #1 Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith £3,313,328 3rd week 490 screens 39% drop (36.9% of top 10)
Down 83.6% from 2004 (£29,089,953); Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (£23,882,688); Japanese Story (£37,580); #1 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban £23,882,688 1st week 535 screens (82.1% of top 10)
Down 26.6% from 2003 (£6,499,525); Anger Management (£1,768,335); The Hunted (£394,122); Dark Water (£34,978); #1 The Matrix Reloaded £2,485,938 3rd week 473 screens 34% drop (38.2% of top 10)
Down 17.3% from 2002 (£5,773,078); Unfaithful (£779,335); Monster’s Ball (£486,017); Dragonfly (£80,209); #1 Star Wars Ep II – Attack of the Clones £2,058,716 464 screens 4th week 16% drop (35.6% of top 10)
Next weekend in 2019 (£11,536,988); Top three took 63.6% (£7,337,779) of the top 10; Aladdin 24.9% (£2,881,535); Men in Black International 24.5% (£2,823,117); Rocketman 14.1% (£1,633,127); #1 Aladdin £2,881,535 26.6% drop fourth weekend (#1 for 4 weeks)
US Box Office
- A Quiet Place Part 2 – Paramount
Dropped 38% in its third weekend taking $12.01m and $108.35m.
Paramount Pictures had the last film to take $100m at the US box office before the pandemic, Sonic the Hedgehog in February 2020 and they also have had the first film to take over $100m since with A Quiet Place Part 2 taking over $100m over the weekend, with Warner’s Godzilla Vs. Kong expected to top $100m shortly. $100m US box office for decades used to be a sign of a film’s success at the box office, it’s the 766 films to do so since Mary Poppins in 1964 took $102,272,727 (768.37% inflation since would be $888,106,669 today).
In the 80s and 90s, Nielsen EDI would award films Gold Reel Award for taking more than $100m at the US box office. Over the last 20 years with $100m+ weekend openings becoming the norm for tentpoles and ticket prices quadrupling $100m at the box office isn’t a sign of success for most films.
2018’s A Quiet Place dropped 36.6% in its third weekend taking $20.91m and $131.27m 69.8% of $188.02m (3.7x opening) and $341m worldwide.
644th biggest film between The 40-Year-old Virgin and Crocodile Dundee 2; 1,216th biggest inflation inflated film between Mask and Starship Troopers and 86th biggest Paramount Pictures film between Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home and Crocodile Dundee 2.
The film will have a 45-day theatrical window so will be released on PVOD in early July.
Took $19.2m from 16 territories taking $50m currently 15% ahead of A Quiet Place; expands into a further 22 territories this weekend; including $29m from China; 1,060th biggest film worldwide between Midnight in Paris and The Magnificent Seven; 6th biggest film 2021 film worldwide between Xuan Ya Zhi Shang (Cliff Walkers) and Ci Sha Xiao Shuo Jia (A Writer’s Odyssey); 122nd biggest Paramount Pictures film worldwide between The Spiderwick Chronicles and Payback.
- In the Heights- Warner Bros
Opened with $11.4m+; received critical acclaim (97% Rotten Tomatoes) and A CinemaScore
Opened with $5m on Friday including Thursday previews.
On June 8th, a poll by Fandango found that the film would be the first seen in a theatre since the pandemic began for 96% of people pre-ordering tickets for it. The film was tracking to open with $20m+ but many expected it to over-perform as 2018’s Crazy Rich Asians opening with $26.51m; as Crazy Rich Asians In The Heights will perform far stronger in the US than internationally despite the film being available on HBO Max, Crazy Rich Asians took 73% of its $238.53m global box office in the US $74.53m Vs $64m.
Many blamed Warner’s decision to release the film on HBO Max the same day as a theatrical release but SambaTV reported it was only viewed 683k times over the week 60% less than The Conjuring 3 was watched over the opening weekend (1.6m) and opened with $23.1m.
In The Heights opened much lower than expected probably because the target demographic is older than the audiences for Godzilla Vs Kong, A Quiet Place Part 2, Cruella and The Conjuring 3 over the last few weeks and exhibitors ending the mask mandate has probably delayed older audiences returning to the cinema. The ending of the mask mandate is similar to DisneyWorld ending the indoor mask policy for vaccinated guests but then not needing visitors to show any proof of vaccination, instead, DisneyWorld will be relying on the honour system.
Why did In the Heights open so wide on 3,456 screens, it was the second widest film on release after A Quiet Place Part 2 (3,515) if a film is to have long legs it needs to have room to expand, this same question is also aimed at Lionsgate decision to open The Father in 637 screens, as again it’s not a film people will run out to see it’s a film people will see over weeks, not days?
20+ years ago a film like In the Heights would be a sleeper playing throughout the summer and possibly being available also on HBO Max could benefit it as some will watch it at home and then want to see it with a cinema audience.
There is still a chance as was the case with The Greatest Showman that word of mouth could give In The Heights legs as The Greatest Showman opened #4 with $8.8m ($14.41m) over Christmas 2018 and was immediately written off by most people, but then increased 76.3% in its second weekend taking $15.52m and dropped only 11.3% in its third weekend taking $13.77m.
It was when I saw the live TV spot for The Greatest Showman a week before opening I thought if audiences had a chance to see it, it could have legs, but as it was opening against Jumanji Welcome to the Jungle and Pitch Perfect 3. After Pitch Perfect 2 opened with $69.21m in 2015 (taking $184.29m and $287.14m worldwide) felt like The Greatest Showman would be DOA but then Pitch Perfect 3 only opened with $19.92m and due to poor word of mouth dropped 15.6% in its second weekend taking $104.89m and $185.4m worldwide.
The problem Warner have with In the Heights is it opened so wide (The Greatest Showman opened in 450+ fewer screens adding 310 in its second weekend) it will struggle to hold on to too many of its screens with F9, The Forever Purge and Black Widow opening over the next few weeks.
The film was originally due to be released last June but was delayed a year due to COVID and as Godzilla Vs Kong was the dumb silly film audiences needed in March/April In The Heights feels like it’s the feel-good summer film audiences need now, this would have been Pixar’s Luca, but Disney moved the film to Disney+, it has a one-week exclusive run at the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles next week.
When the first trailer was released in February it felt like it was trolling audiences “we can go anywhere, do anything…we just gotta stick together… this is gonna be the best summer ever… see the whole world together… it will be amazing”. As at that time, no one thought the vaccine rollout would have worked so fast and the uptake been so strong.
20 years ago, Moulin Rouge opened in the US on May 18th after two weeks of exclusive the film opened in the US on June 1st with $13.71m taking $57.38m performed far stronger internationally taking 68% ($121.82m) of $179.21m; musicals often perform much stronger internationally.
- Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway – Sony Pictures
Opened with $10.4m; received mixed reviews (69% Rotten Tomatoes) slightly better than 2018’s Peter Rabbit (63%)
In 2018 Peter Rabbit opened with $25.01m (58%+) taking $115.25m and $351.26m worldwide.
Could the reason be similar to why In The Heights had a softer opening than expected as many parents as possible of kindergarten children would be 30+ and if they aren’t comfortable going back to movie theatres on their own they wouldn’t take their children,
The sequel was originally due to be released in March 2020 but was delayed several times due to COVID, as the films marketing campaign was up and running Sony Pictures must have surely considered following Universal Pictures decision with Trolls World Tour to release Peter Rabbit straight to VOD. But after the hostility, Universal received from exhibitors and as Peter Rabbit is now one of Sony Pictures biggest IPs having lost James Bond rights and sharing Spider-Man with Disney releasing the film to VOD could mean the end of the film series.
As it is delaying the film for a year Peter Rabbit 2 will take less than half what Peter Rabbit took in 2018, but the goalposts have moved since movie theatres have reopened despite what accountants might say as the costs for making and releasing these films hasn’t lessened why so many of them were sold to streaming services.
Has had a staggered release first opening Australia in March and the UK on May 17 taking $10.7m from 21 territories this weekend with a total $57.9m; the UK is its top holdover territory taking $19.6m after 4 weeks; still has many key territories to open Japan (June 25), France (June 30), Germany (July 1), Italy (July 1), Spain (July 16), Brazil (August 26), and South Korea (Sept 29).
- The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It – Warner Bros
Dropped 58.4% in its second weekend taking $10.02m and $43.8m
SambaTV reported that 1.6m people watch the film on HBO Max which was almost double the amount who watched Cruella over the opening weekend on Disney+ in the US, paying $29.99.
The problem with the US BO over the last few weeks is there’s no stability, films are now opening well but then heavily dropping the second w/e, these films should be having much longer legs, but exhibitors recently ending the mask mandate is probably responsible for this not happening. This probably won’t improve dramatically until after July 4th with July 9th-11th will be the first weekend 2021 tops 2019 levels and will also August 6th-8th and then do multiple times in September and should then be steady with 2019 for the rest of the year.
The Conjuring Universe 8 films have taken over $716m in the US and over $2bn worldwide since 2013.
2019’s Annabelle Comes Home took $74.15m and $228.51m worldwide
2019’s The Curse of La Llorona took $54.73m and $121.66m worldwide
2018’s The Nun took $117.45m and $36.39m worldwide
2017’s Annabelle: Creation took $102.1m and $305.38m worldwide
2016’s The Conjuring 2 took $102.47m and $310.2m worldwide
2014’s Annabelle took $84.27m and $256.86m worldwide
2013’s The Conjuring took $137.4m and $317.78m worldwide
Took $23.45m internationally from 56 territories from over 11,500 screens $68m total and $111.8m worldwide; 1,502nd biggest film worldwide between Tooth Fairy and Doctor Zhivago and 230th biggest Warner Bros film worldwide between Body of Lies and A Nightmare on Elm Street.
- Cruella – Disney
Dropped 39% in its third weekend taking $6.73m and $55.99m.
1,539th biggest film in the US between ParaNorman and Dracula Untold; 2,442nd biggest inflation inflated between Random Hearts and The Dilemma; 3rd biggest 2021 film between Godzilla vs. Kong and Raya and the Last Dragon; 224th biggest Disney film between Tombstone and The Aristocrats.
Disney previously made a reimagination of 101 Dalmatians in 1996 dropped 35.9% taking $8.93m and $75.57m taking $136.2m and $320.7m worldwide and 2000’s 102 Dalmatians dropped 24.9% taking $6.23m and $44.27m taking $67m and $183.6m worldwide.
Took $17.6m from 39 territories and $73.3m total and $129.3m worldwide; China $10.7m; UK $8.4m; Korea $8.3m; Mexico $7.9m; Russia $5.8m; Saudi Arabia $3.9m; Australia $3.9m; Japan $2.9m; Spain $2.8m; UAE $2.4m; 1,313th biggest film worldwide between Atonement and The Fighter 10th biggest film of 2021 worldwide between Wo de jie jie (Sister) and Tom & Jerry; 178th biggest Disney film worldwide between A Wrinkle in Time and Onward.
International Box Office
F9 – Universal Pictures
Dropped 57% in its fourth weekend to $5.91m from 8 territories; taking $212.2m from China (79%) $268.9m total; 2017’s The Fate of the Furious took $392.8m total took 32% of its global $1.236bn in China.
F9 has taken About 45% less F8 took $466m (F8 didn’t open in Saudi Arabia) China $392.8m; Hong Kong $6.6m; Russia $28.8m; South Korea $26.6m; UAE $10.2m; Egypt $1.6m
F9 expands its global release on June 25th opening in both the US and the UK and then two weeks later F9 will receive its French premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in July, it opens on July 14 in France one of the last international territories. It was a strange choice to choose as the festival’s mystery blockbuster but is a limited choice of other films available to premiere in July, as Dune will premiere in Venice and No Time to Die in London.
UK Box Office Top 10
Opening next week
England plays Scotland in their first major competitive match since 2000 European Championship play-off in November 1999 on Friday, which means The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard could be dead on arrival after four days of previews after opening on Monday 14th June and other opens will also likely struggle.
- In the Heights – Warner Bros
Musical drama based on the stage musical by Hudes and Lin-Manuel Miranda, starring Anthony Ramos, Corey Hawkins, Leslie Grace, Melissa Barrera, Olga Merediz, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Gregory Diaz IV, and Jimmy Smits and directed by Jon M. Chu.
After playing successfully on Broadway from 2008 to 2011, had its UK premiere at Southwark Playhouse in 2014 before transferring to the King’s Cross Theatre, where it ran from 2015 to 2017 and winning three Olivier Awards.
Had its world premiere at the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival on June 4 receiving critical acclaim; Warner Bros released the first 8 minutes of the film watched over 500k times by June 9th.
In the Heights was originally developed by Universal Pictures in 2008 for release in 2011 with Kenny Ortega attached to direct but was cancelled due to the studio wanting bankable Latino stars like Shakira or Jennifer Lopez. In January 2012 Lin-Manuel Miranda said the adaption was in development but then Hamilton took over, in 2016 it was announced that he would produce the film with Harvey Weinstein and Jon M. Chu was attached to direct, but after the sexual allegations made against Weinstein he was removed from the film and Warner Bros acquired rights for $50m in 2018 with a budget of $55m.
Musicals are extremely popular in the UK with the massive success of films like The Greatest Showman, A Star Is Born, Bohemian Rhapsody, Mamma Mia!, La La Land, Rocketman, Les Misérables, Hairspray, Chicago, and Moulin Rouge (20th anniversary this year, opened in the US in May and in September in the UK have long legs).
But film versions of Cats, Annie, Jersey Boys, Rock of Ages, The Producers and Rent (after flopping in the US the film had an extremely limited release in the UK opening in only 61 screens with £40k).
Opening in October is the film version of Dear Evan Hanson while Everybody’s Talking About Jamie and Cinderella were originally due to be released in cinemas this year, but both were recently sold to Amazon.
Sony Pictures will release Matilda: The Musical on December 2nd, 2022, in the UK before being released in the rest of the world by Netflix, as Roald Dahl adaptions are hugely popular in the UK The BFG, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Fantastic Mr Fox and original Matilda so this reboot based on the hugely successful musical will likely be a BO hit in the UK.
Hamilton stage musical has been phenomenally successful globally, Disney paid $75m for global rights to the filmed version of the musical, it was originally set for October 15th, 2021, cinema release, but Disney brought it forward to July 3 for Disney+ release; the stage musical came to the UK in December 2017 and has been a box office hit ever since.
In The Heights was always going to struggle to find a wide audience in the UK especially after it opened softly in the US and will likely open similar to Jersey Boys (£415,608). The only chance it has is many of those people who have the 200,000 National Lottery Cinema Weekend tickets see it as those 200,000 tickets could add £1.5m+ to the box office this weekend.
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.
Likewise, 2017’s The Greatest Showman opened with £4,754,049 (including £2,575,147 previews) down 49% in its second weekend taking £2,409,143 and £9,998,783 (20.1% of total box office taking £49,523,728 and played wide in cinemas for over 16 weeks, was still in the top 10 when it was released on DVD.
Many other musicals performed far better in the UK than the US including Mamma Mia!. Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, Bohemian Rhapsody, Les Miserables, La La Land, A Star Is Born, Rocketman, High School Musical 3, Evita, Hairspray and even Cats.
- In the Earth – Universal Pictures
British horror starring Joel Fry, Reece Shearsmith, Hayley Squires, Ellora Torchia, John Hollingworth and Mark Monero and written and directed by Ben Wheatley; received its world premiere at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival receiving positive reviews (76% Rotten Tomatoes).
The horror was born out of the global pandemic, is set during a search for a cure to a devastating virus and was a return to directors Ben Wheatley roots before he directs Meg 2.
Ben Wheatley’s last theatrical release 2016’s High Rise opened with £534,339; his previous films include A Field in England released in the cinema, Film 4 TV, DVD, and VOD release in July 2013 taking £21,400 from 17 cinemas and 367,000 watching on Film 4, selling 11,000 DVDs and 1200 from Film4OD.
2012’s Sightseers opened with £213,000 from 92 screens and 2011’s Kill List opening with £88,000 from 47 screens; his last film was the 2020’s Rebecca remake for Netflix given a limited cinema release last October.
- Monster Hunter – Sony Pictures
Monster film based on the Capcom video game starring Milla Jovovich, Tony Jaa, Tip Harris, Meagan Good, Diego Boneta, Josh Helman, and Ron Perlman and written, directed by Paul W. S. Anderson
The film opened in China and the US in December 2020 taking $41.5m worldwide receiving mixed reviews, it was scheduled to be released in the UK in December before cinemas were forced to close, it’s surprising Sony have waited to give it a cinema release, but this is probably due to it being an acquisition it was required to have a cinema release.
The film was pulled from release in China after a couple of days due to a racist joke in the film, the scene was removed from the film but wasn’t re-released in China.
This weekend is the third National Lottery Cinema Weekend with 200,000 free cinema tickets being given away in cinemas across the UK on Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th June.
The first National Lottery Cinema Day was on September 30th, 2018, in 146 cinemas across the UK to celebrate National Lottery helping to fund over 500 British films since 1994 investing about £50m a year on film production in the UK.
It was repeated the following year on Sunday 25 August 2019 with over 500,000 free tickets available in over 250 cinemas across the UK.
The two previous National Lottery Cinema Days were damp squibs, poorly marketed and had no impact on cinema attendance on the weekend.
This year is being sold as the biggest one to date but while it might be over two days not one, but there is less than half the number of tickets available.
The cinema industry talks about the £1bn+ box office lost over the last year and exhibitors since April 2020 “We know there’s going to be a pent-up demand for cinemas like never before, and we want to hit the ground running when that happens.” But this failed to materialise either in July or last month, while numbers were much stronger in May that’s more to do with more choice being available targetting younger audiences.
So, the key for me was always to get people back into the cinemagoing habit, while exhibitors have talked much about their safety measures the problem is cinemas have long had hygiene issues and the biggest thing holding back many from going back to the cinema again is other cinemagoers. Why their short-sighted behaviour over rushing to reopen last July predictably backfired, as did their rejection to vaccine passports as there is a large demographic who have had their vaccines but don’t feel comfortable returning to cinemas anytime soon, why films like The Father predictably underperformed.
Exhibitors needed to be seen to be doing much more than the minimum required to get those older cinemagoers to go back to the cinema again, but exhibitors were only thinking about the cinephiles and subscription cinema customers whole would have kept going to the cinema if they stayed open. I’ve not been to the cinema since December 2019 and don’t plan to go back until at least September that’s not because I don’t want to go, and this will be the longest gap of not going to the cinema for me ever over my 48 years.
Ever since cinemas closed for the first time in March 2020 always believed cinemas should have to reopen with a “Global celebration of the cinema experience” campaign to get people back into the cinemagoing habit again, as part of the 125th anniversary of commercial cinema, (in December 1895 France, February 1896 in London, and May 1896 in New York).
Similar campaigns in 1985 for British Film Year started the renaissance of cinemagoing in the UK and that was boosted in 1996 with National Cinema Day when all cinemas were £1 on June 2nd to celebrate the 100th anniversary of cinema (1.2m+ people went to the cinema many for the first time in years). It was repeated the following year and was again successful, but in 1998 it was less successful as tickets were half price and it was during the World Cup. National Cinema Day didn’t become an annual event as exhibitors and distributors couldn’t agree on a revenue split, but National Cinema Day still happens in Ireland in August.
National Lottery Cinema Weekend is a nice idea, but the industry needed to think of something on a far bigger scale, in the US they have Cinema Week starting on June 22, but even that is too small it should be National Cinema Month or even year for the industry to work together exhibitors, studios and streaming companies, as Phil Clapp said, “It’s not a competition between us and the streaming sites,” he argues. “People with a voracious appetite for films use streaming and want to go to cinemas. We’re more worried about bars and restaurants. That, and the reinvention of golf and darts as shared communal experiences.” To get people back into the cinemagoing habit again as once to quote Pretty Woman “People’s reactions to opera the first time they see it is very dramatic, They either love it or they hate it, If they love it, they will always love it. If they don’t, they may learn to appreciate it, but it will never become part of their soul.”
The same could be said for the cinema experience, get people to love to get back into the cinema habit again they will keep coming back but with streaming services so cheap in comparison cinema needs to go back to what it used to be for more than a century a cheap night out. When the Point Milton Keynes opened in 1985 “Tickets are £1.95p and half price for children, but the key part of it is 95p twilight which has been particularly popular, a lot of people coming back to the movies who haven’t been for some time because it’s a cheap evening out.”
A million people went to the cinema the week cinemas reopened in May compared to 46.6m visits to indoor hospitality taking £1.17bn.
Dodona Research from 2004 said cinema was on track to have 200m+ admissions and £1bn+ box office by 2008, this was despite a drop of 8.5m admissions in 2003. In reality, it was 2011 until the box office topped £1bn but admissions only grew 1% between 2002 and 2017.
In 2004 UK box office was £769.6m, in 2008 increased to £854.4m despite admissions being flat, so the increase was ticket inflation as was its increase to £1bn+ in 2011. At the same time box office was flat streaming service in the UK grew with LoveFilm/Amazon and Netflix growing dramatically.