- Spider-Man No Way Home – £4,619,518 – £51,107,711
Dropped 86% in its second weekend (2-day weekend as most cinemas were closed on Saturday (Christmas Day) and Christmas Eve is normally soft; took £31.89 over opening 5 days, £39m over 7 days (December 15th-21st) £47.8m 9 days, £51.5m 12 days and £56.7m after 14 days (£17m)
The downside of opening a film so close to Christmas in the UK as most cinemas are closed is it the second weekend includes Christmas Day as was the case with Spider-Man No Way Home along with Rogue One and Star Wars The Force Awakens the film will drop much heavier than normal. The Force Awakens dropped 70.1% and Rogue One 67.3% but the positive is that these films will have a minimal drop or slight increase in their third weekend.
Had the 95th biggest second weekend between Jurassic Park (£4,655,000) and Thor: Ragnarok (£4,617,180) (close to Batman Vs Superman, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Fifty Shades of Grey and Man of Steel) and 157th biggest inflation inflated between The Inbetweeners Movie 2 and The Secret Life of Pets (close to X-Men 2, 2012, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 and Batman Begins); 4th biggest second-weekend drop in the UK between Sisters and The Watch (both films had extensive previews in an opening weekend)
10th biggest MCU second weekend between Captain America: Civil War (£4,806,575) and Thor: Ragnorok (£4,617,180) close to both Spider-Man: Far From Home (£4,396,516) and Spider-Man Homecoming (£3,718,078) but can’t make direct comparisons as they were 3-day weekends compare with 2 for Spider-Man No Way Home (but Friday Christmas Eve was a holiday compared to second weekends for most other MCUs being non-holiday Friday).
Spider-Man No Way Home is the 8th Spider-Man film made by Sony Pictures since 2002; original trilogy directed by Sam Raimi starring Tobey Maguire between 2002 and 2007 (Spider-Man £9.4m; Spider-Man 2 £8.7m; Spider-Man 3 £11.8m); The Amazing Spider-Man in 2012 with a sequel in 2014 directed by Marc Webb starring Andrew Garfield (The Amazing Spider-Man £11m; The Amazing Spider-Man 2 £9m); then Spider-Man part of the MCU directed by Jon Watts and starring Tom Holland between 2017 and 2021 (Spider-Man: Homecoming £9.3m; Spider-Man: Far From Home £14.1m) and then Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse £2.2m (sequel in 2022)
39th biggest film in the UK (41st film taking over £50m since The Full Monty in 1997) between Marvel’s Avengers Assemble and Quantum of Solace); 4th biggest Sony Pictures film in the UK between Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace (close to The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey).
The Full Monty, Black Panther and The Dark Knight) and 71st the biggest film in the UK inflation inflated between The Incredibles and Gladiator (close to The Matrix Reloaded, Despicable Me 2, Avengers Age of Ultron and Spider-Man 3)
66th biggest historical in the UK by admissions between The Empire Strikes Back (£57,375,854) and Who Framed Roger Rabbit (£50,160,222) close to Independence Day, Men In Black, Superman II and Back to the Future.
The 27 MCU films have taken almost £865m in the UK since 2008 (almost £900m inflation inflated) with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Thor: Love and Thunder and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever the film series will top £1bn at the UK BO next year.
As No Time To Die was heralded as the saviour of UK cinema, Spider-Man No Way Home is similarly be heralded as the saviour of US and global cinema but this is all made from pixel dust that will fade quickly over the next month while the Oscar contenders Belfast, King Richard, Licorice Pizza and West Side Story will last much longer in the memories of most cinemagoers. As with the hype over Black Panther receiving Best Picture nomination but then the far superior The Dark Knight wasn’t nominated, many believe Spider-Man No Way Home could receive a Best Picture nomination for “saving cinema”.
Tom Holland’s explanation over why Martin Scorsese is wrong about his comments on comic-book movies “I’ve made Marvel movies and I’ve also made movies that have been in the conversation in the world of the Oscars, and the only difference, really, is one is much more expensive than the other. But the way I break down the character, the way the director etches out the arc of the story and characters — it’s all the same, just done on a different scale. So I do think they’re real art.” That is exactly the reason why he’s right as Doctor Ian Malcolm said about his objections to Jurassic Park before seeing it.
“it didn’t require any discipline to attain it. You read what others had done and you took the next step. You didn’t earn the knowledge for yourselves, so you don’t take any responsibility for it, You stood on the shoulders of geniuses to accomplish something as fast as you could, and before you even knew what you had, you patented it, and packaged it, and slapped it on a plastic lunchbox.”
In the mid-90s Marvel Entertainment was heavily in debt and sold film rights to many of their properties including Iron Man to Universal Pictures in 1990, X-Men to 20th Century Fox in 1994,
Blade to New Line in 1998, Spider-Man to Sony Pictures in 1999, Black Widow to Lionsgate in 2004. (Captain America was also sold to Universal Pictures in the 80s and then on to Cannon Films in 1984 making the 1990 film).
After the huge success of Batman in 1989 in the 90s comic-book movies struggled at the box office from The Mask to Barb Wire so it was a massive gamble for 20th Century Fox to make X-Men in 1999 with the studio setting a $75m budget. It was originally due to be released in December 2000 but was brought forward to July when Steven Spielberg delayed Minority Report to make A.I. The film was a critical and box office success opening with $54.5m, the biggest opening for a comic-book movie and the sixth-biggest opening of all time (now 220th showing how BO has changed over the last 21 years). Spider-Man followed two years later opening with double $114.84m taking $407.02m ($418m international) and $825.02m worldwide. With Spider-Man 2 opening with $88.15m in 2004 taking $373.58m ($414.39m international) $788.97m worldwide and Spider-Man 3 in 2007 opening with $151.11m taking $336.53m ($558.45m international) $894.98m worldwide.
After the success of X-Men 2 and Spider-Man 2 in September 2005, Marvel Entertainment announced plans to make 10 films with budgets of $165m, they were to be Captain America, Nick Fury, Black Panther, Ant-Man, Cloak & Dagger, Dr Strange, Hawkeye, Power Pack, Shang-Chi and Avengers. With Paramount attached to release the films worldwide. Iron Man opens with $98.61m taking $319.03m ($266.76m international) and $585.79m worldwide and the year later Disney acquire Marvel. Spider-Man films and Marvel were a multibillion-dollar brand due to 20th Century Fox and Sony Pictures taking the gamble what Marvel did next as Disney owning Marvel (as they did with Star Wars after buying Lucasfilm) they took the next step without learning the knowledge themselves.
Tom Rothman and Kevin Feige compared the Spider-Man trilogy to The Lord of the Rings. Feige said, “In the way, The Return of the King (the third and final part won 11 Oscars) was sort of a celebration and culmination of all of that amazing work that had been done on that trilogy, this is a celebration both of our Homecoming trilogy [the three most recent instalments] and of the five other incarnations of Spider-Man that had happened before.” Rothman adds, “As the third Lord of the Rings, this is the conclusion of an epic series, and is quality commercial cinema. Black Panther was a quality commercial cinema. The Academy mustn’t lose its connection with quality commercial cinema.” Only once has the Best Picture Oscar also been the biggest film of the year Titanic in 1998 so for Spider-Man No Way Home to be nominated will surely be just Academy voters trying to look cool and Oscars trying to play to a younger demographic which they have struggled to do since The Return of the King won Best Picture in 2004.
The reason why Spider-Man opened so big was simple if Spider-Man No Way Home looks like an Avengers film, swims like an Avengers film, and quacks like an Avengers film, then it probably is an Avengers film. As the previous comic-book movies released this year Black Widow, Shang-Chi, Venom Let There Be Carnage and Eternals were always going to be aperitifs for Spider-Man No Way Home, all playing to comic-book fans, not the extended fanbase Avengers films attract.
Over the last few weeks the hospitality sector live entertainment sector has suffered due to the increase in COVID/Omicron but while exhibitors will use that as an excuse for soft box office in November and early December after Spider-Man No Way Home opening this of course is just an excuse. Cinemas have benefited from VAT reduced from 20% to 5% from July 2020 to September 30th, 2021, and from October 1st to March 31st, 2022, at 12.5% but while most of the hospitality sector passed on the reduction to its customer’s exhibitors haven’t done so as their excuse was it was only a few pennies. While that would be the case if ticket prices were the average price industry claims but for many, this would be over £1 a ticket.
As with No Time To Die the industry reaction was predictable from exhibitors gloating over the opening of Spider-Man No Way Home seeing it as a sign that cinema wasn’t dead and Omicron has no effect on cinema. But this is very short-sighted as exhibitors have always said there haven’t been any outbreaks in cinemas since the pandemic started but it’s farcical to believe that among the 2m who saw the film over its opening five days at least 10% didn’t have COVID or were asymptomatic. With COVID cases dramatically increasing over the last few weeks there have been rumours of a short lockdown after Christmas.
Watching Spider-Man Homecoming and Far From Home again the issue I have with them is Peter Parker’s childish behaviour continuously putting other people in danger this was similar to the arrogant behaviour of Tony Stark and Steven Strange. Surely even he could have realised the side effects of casting a spell making the rest of the world forget that Peter Parker is Spider-Man as whenever that happens in other films and TV shows it always ends badly. Having all the enemies from previous Spider-Man films and the two other Spider-Man (Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield) it’s no surprise fans have swarmed to it but as Aunt May says halfway through the film just before she is killed by the Green Goblin “With great power there must also come great responsibility.” This has been lacking from Tom Holland Spiderman from the start never thinking out the consequences of his actions.
I’m the first one to say that I don’t understand the complexities of the MCU but surely Doctor Strange knows much more about the multiverse after the events in Avengers Endgame which saw them time travel with alternative timelines and alternative universes. While the reason why Eddie Brock only appeared in the post-credit scene as he had never met Spider-Man or Peter Parker but that is also used to explain why there isn’t more crossover in Avengers in other films as surely they must have a WhatsApp group that keeps them informed with what the others are up to. Why did Avengers take the call for Avengers film but not with induvial films as surely they all have a phone or picked up a newspaper to see what the others are up to, or is it the same reason why Eternals didn’t help out against Thanos. While anyone who has seen films like It’s A Wonderful Life always knows that if you wish you never existed it will always end up badly, so as with Spider-Man’s childish actions that are the catalyst of future events the same is true with Spider-Man No Way Home.
The problem with MCU now is they aren’t accessible to newbies need to have seen all of the other 26 MCUs and Spider-Man films, why for all the positivity surrounding Spider-Man No Way Home it’s a comic-book movie for the fans, not the extended fanbase many other MCU films have been?
The MCU films have become similar to the problem with Star Wars Anthology with lots of in-jokes only the fans who have watched and dissected all previous films will understand but won’t play wider, why ‘record presales’ doesn’t mean Avengers sized opening for Spider-Man No Way Home.
This is why Jumanji and The Greatest Showman performed so strongly against The Last Jedi, Spider-Man, Matrix and The King’s Man are all similar fan service films why Sing 2 will likely be the big winner this Christmas being the Ronseal movie doing exactly what it says on the can.
Just reading the review for Spider-Man No Way Home was exhausting, as most MCU films have been since Captain America Civil War (previously could just enjoy them separately) but now need to do your homework watching all 52+ hours again to properly understand the films?
Why it’s going to be almost impossible for any MCU to beat Avengers Endgame global BO apart from ticket inflation as the thought of having to watch 50+ hours to understand the latest MCU will put off many newbies from starting the journey.
While Spider-Man No Way Home ends Tom Holland’s contract with Spider-Man after the huge opening Sony will be wanting a fourth film to be made but as the film ends with Spider-Man not being part of the Avengers this could be a way for Sony to go alone with Spider-Man separate from the MCU, but as I’ve said before the reason for Spider-Man No Way Home’s huge opening is that it is an Avengers film in all but name.
2. The Matrix: Resurrections – £2,686,785 – NE
The Matrix Resurrections took £1,781,627m from previews on Wednesday and Thursday £1m Wednesday and £800k on Thursday taking £905,158 Fri-Sat
564th biggest opening in the UK between Judge Dredd and Fantastic Four (2015) (close to Armageddon, Kill Bill Volume One, Halloween and Bram Stokers Dracula) and 808th biggest opening inflation inflated between The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift and 10,000 B.C. (close to A Quiet Place, The Hateful Eight, Predators and Chronicle).
92nd biggest Warner Bros opening between The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It and Magic Mike (close to The Last Samurai, Birds of Prey, Lethal Weapon 3 and Green Lantern) The Matrix Reloaded #14; The Matrix Revolutions #25 and The Matrix #78
128th biggest inflation inflated between The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It and 10,000 B.C. (close to Dark Shadows, Executive Decision, Wrath of the Titans and Pacific Rim)
The Matrix: Resurrections opening only a week after Spider-Man No Way Home targetting the same demographic was always likely to struggle as it’s 18 years since the last films were released and after all the excitement of the original film in 1999 the back-to-back sequels were disappointing.
As with other long-gap sequels, there was always the question of who its was target audience those teenagers who grew up with the original films 20+ years ago or their children who are more interested in comic-book movies. As seen recently with Ghostbusters Afterlife opening with £4,314,263 similar to the 2016 reboot taking £10,712,666. Keanu Reeves is best known for playing John Wick, and The Matrix: Resurrections opened similar to sequels 2017’s John Wick: Chapter Two £2,232,055 taking £5,766,633 and John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum £3,562,524 taking £9,587,828; John Wick 4 has recently been delayed from May 2022 due to open against Top Gun Maverick to March 2023. While Wachowski’s previous film was 2015’s Jupiter Ascending opening with £1,349,938 taking £4,241,234.
The problem is studios are now desperately looking to make sequels to films that were successful 20+ years ago as they try to find films that can compete with comic-book movies but these films aren’t as popular with younger audiences as they were with their parents and the only way to get younger audiences interested is rebooting them with a younger generation as was the case with Star Wars The Force Awakens and Jurassic World.
The films themselves were remakes of previous films they had new characters alongside the actors from the original films so they played cross-generational as surely will be the plan with Indiana Jones 5. Warner recently announced plans for Lethal Weapon 5, apart from it being 23+ years after the fourth film (36 years after the original film) and Richard Donner’s death having Mel Gibson returning leaves a very bad taste for many after only a decade ago many saying that he would never work in Hollywood again.
The first film opened in UK cinemas in June 1999 (two months after the US) receiving rave reviews (a month before Star Wars: The Phantom Menace) with £3,384,948 (£5,805,065 inflation inflated) taking £17,279,897.
Two sequels opened back-to-back in 2003 6 months apart with receiving mixed reviews; The Matrix Reloaded opened May with a massive £12,165,276 (including £3,267,952 previews) £19,782,273 inflation inflated taking £33,423,117 (£54,350,204 inflation inflated)
The Matrix Revolutions opened with £8,712,350 (including £3,002,097 previews) £14,167,380 inflation inflated taking £17,754,338 (£28,870,793 inflation inflated) it was the first live-action film to be released in regular and IMAX cinemas at the same time; there are now 50 IMAX cinemas in the UK over half opened in the last 8 years mostly retrofitted in conventional cinemas and they take about 10% of the BO of the opening weekend BO of films including Eternals last weekend.
In 1999 The Matrix gave audiences something they hadn’t seen on the big screen, remember doing many preview screenings of the first film and the audience reaction was always so good afterwards. So the hype and expectation for the sequels in 2003 were almost as high as Star Wars: The Phantom Menace and of course when that happens the films can never live up to that hype.
Over the years since there have been many film series that have taken up the mantle of The Matrix from John Wick to MCU and The Matrix Resurrections opens the week after Spider-Man No Way Home with both films targetting similar demographic males under 40. As will The King’s Man opening on Boxing Day.
In 2003 when The Matrix Reloaded opened in May X-Men 2 was #2 £903,221 in its fourth weekend taking £18,303,458 having comedies opening the weeks after Bringing Down the House, Anger Management, Dumb and Dumberer allowing it to stay #1 for 4 weeks until 2 Fast 2 Furious.
While in November The Matrix Revolutions opened against the 6th weekend of Finding Nemo £1,659,861 and dropped 70% in its second weekend despite no films opening against it (taking £ 2,575,595) with Love Actually opening in its third-weekend #1 with £6,657,479 as The Matrix Revolutions dropped 55% (£1,158,971).
The problem for The Matrix: Resurrections is it opens days after Spider-Man No Way Home and days before The King’s Man and all three are targetting males under 35. The last two Spider-Man films dropped 50%+ in their second weekends Spider-Man Far From Home didn’t have any major competition in its second weekend while Spider-Man: Homecoming dropped 62% against War for the Planet of the Apes. Both previous Spider-Man films opened in July but December is a very different marketplace.
While The Matrix: Resurrections opened on Wednesday similar to Spider-Man No Way Home the week before with Christmas Day on Saturday and Christmas Eve, not a big day for cinemagoing its opening will be preview loaded. While after Spider-Man No Way Home huge opening last weekend it had to share IMAX screens and also share the main auditoriums.
Ahead of the release of The Matrix Resurrections on December 22nd, the first film was re-released in cinemas on December 4th for the first time in IMAX. The Matrix was last re-released in July 2019 (4K Restoration) for its 20th anniversary with £163,812 #11 from 286 screens with The Matrix Reloaded (4K Restoration) #61 £876 12 screens; The Matrix Revolutions (4K Restoration) #66 £583 10 screens.
It was always going to be a massive gamble for Warner Bros opening The Matrix: Resurrections so soon after Spider-Man No Way Home even if Spider-Man only opened similar to Homecoming and Far From Home so it was a surprise that Warner didn’t bring the release forward to Thanksgiving after Paramount delayed Top Gun Maverick or switch the release with King Richard.
3. Clifford The Big Red Dog – £349,836 – £3,823,936
Down 54.3% in its third weekend; with Christmas holidays now started Clifford the Big Red Dog is the only major children’s film exclusive to cinemas as Encanto was released on Disney+ on Christmas Day,
93rd biggest family film between Cats & Dogs: Revenge of Kitty Galore and The Secret Garden (close to Happy Feet 2, Power Rangers, The Secret Garden and Monster Trucks), 52nd biggest eOne film between Lawless and Molly’s Game (between The Divergent Series: Allegiant, Amelie, Furry Vengeance and A Dog’s Purpose).
Films about pets have been popular over the years in cinemas with films including in 2009’s Marley And Me £15.4m; 1992’s Beethoven £6.8m; 1993’s Beethoven’s 2nd £5.8m; 2017’s A Dog’s Purpose £3.2m also the two The Secret Life of Pets films, the first took £35,825,195 and the second £18,638,365.
2001’s Cats and Dog took £23,013,391 (£40,134,464 inflation inflated); despite poor reviews, the film performed strongly and played for 14 weeks in the top 15 and was one of the biggest films of 200; 2010’s Cats & Dogs: Revenge of Kitty Galore took £3,972,149 (£4,819,986 inflation inflated); In October 2020 Cats & Dogs: Paws Unite! Took £1.36m.
4. West Side Story £212,271 – £3,853,71
Down 64% in its third weekend; will be Steven Spielberg’s lowest-grossing film in the UK since 1998’s Amistad; a Steven Spielberg film is a massive event for cinephiles and West Side Story should have performed far better than it did but its failure was sadly expected for many months due to industry’s failure to deal with the issue that older audiences would take much longer to return to cinemas. Much was made by the industry after No Time To Die in October that brought back millions of older cinemagoers to the cinema for the first time since January 2020 but hasn’t returned since.
28th biggest musical in the UK between In The Heights (£4,286,073) and Dreamgirls (£3,475,271) (close to The Commitments, Step Up 3, Muppets Most Wanted and The Producers)
Two things were very predictable from West Side Story months ago that Ansel Elgort was always going to be the weakest element in the film, while Rachel Zegler was always going to be the best element after Disney cast her as Snow White in June in the live-action reimagination of their most iconic animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs). While the second was it was always going to struggle to find an audience if it didn’t play to younger under 35 audiences.
Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story has received acclaim with many calling it his best film in 20 years but it was always going to struggle to find a wide audience unlike Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet 25 years ago bring West Side Story to GenZ along with the Millennials and GenX who grew up watching the original on TV never getting to experience it in the cinema. Unlike what Baz Luhrmann managed to do 25 years ago with William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet (West Side Story is based on) taking £7,438,055 in the UK (£13,194,781 inflation inflated).
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!, Rocketman, Les Misérables, Hairspray Chicago, Into The Woods and Moulin Rouge.
As with many films recently do have to question why if 20th Century Fox had enormous success with The Greatest Showman opening two weeks later why Disney didn’t release West Side Story on December 22nd as an alternative to The Matrix Resurrections didn’t instead The King’s Man opens Boxing Day which targets the same demographic as The Matrix and Spider-Man. Boxing Day used to be a lucrative date to open films with musicals Evita and Chicago opening limited before expanding in the New Year.
Many believed West Side Story would have longer legs (play through Christmas and beyond) as musicals normally have long legs as musicals normally do so as despite underperforming in the US In The Heights played in the top 10 in the UK for 5 weeks taking £4,286,073, while the poorly received Cats still managed to take £11,907,188 in December…
Steven Spielberg said in 2004 “I’ve always wanted to make a musical. Not like Moulin Rouge though – an old-fashioned, conservative musical. … Like West Side Story or Singin’ in the Rain. I’ve been looking for one for 20 years. I just need something that excites me.”
20 years ago, Moulin Rouge #2 down 18% in third weekend £1,533,223 taking £1,859,732 and £8,366,042 (46.1% 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 #4 dropped 11% in its third weekend taking £2,142,337 and £13,537,211 27.3% 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.
Steven Spielberg’s next is The Fabelmans due for release Thanksgiving 2022 in the US, it’s loosely based on Steven Spielberg’s childhood and his relationship with his family.
- 83 – £182,518 – NE
Opened on December 23rd with screenings on Christmas Day in many cinemas 83 Indian sporting dramas about the 1983 Cricket World Cup received positive reviews.
The film opened similar to Pushpa: The Rise – Part 1 opened #7 with £121,892 last weekend from only 45 screens having the second-best screen average after Spider-Man No Way Home.
Also Released Christmas Films
Elf – Park Circus #7 £80,750 taking £630,021
It’s A Wonderful Life (75th Anniversary) – Park Circus #8 £66,413 taking £335,416
Home Alone – Park Circus #9 £65,247 taking £1,222,987
The Polar Express – Warner Bros #14 £18,689 taking £553,940
The Grinch – Universal Pictures #15 £14,834 taking £72,550
Box Office News
Despite Spider-Man No Way Home having the biggest opening in the UK since Avengers Endgame in April 2019 the UK box office is overshadowed by the expectations of further measures to be brought in sooner rather than later to deal with the dramatic rise of Omicron cases over the last few weeks. With Vue Cinemas’ Tim Richards recently said “There will absolutely be further restrictions. We would not want a lockdown and I don’t believe a lockdown is coming. The arsenal right now is Covid passes, social distancing and reducing operating hours.”… “Inevitably I think we’re going to have to. And probably sooner rather than later.”
So if exhibitors believe there will be a need for further restrictions why not learn from March 2020 and be proactive rather than reactive as most of Jan/Feb films play to older audiences who won’t be going to the cinema if levels of Omicron stay as high as they are currently. Waiting on guidance from our incompetent government is Déjà vu to March when UK cinemas failed to implement any of the similar safety measures brought in across Europe weeks earlier until they were forced to close.
UKCA said the UK the demand showed “high levels of confidence in the safety of the cinema experience, particularly amongst those audience segments – teens and young families – which in many ways led the return to the big screen and so have seen for themselves the efforts that all cinemas have made to ensure that the experience is an enjoyable and reassuring one”. But the problem is cinema should be for the many, not the few but since they reopened for the first time in July 2020 only younger audiences have been going regularly to the cinema and despite older audiences returning for No Time To Die in October they haven’t returned since, why West Side Story predictably underperformed last weekend but then also predictable Spider-Man No Way Home opened so strongly.
US BO for 2021 is expected to be about $4.4bn with over a third ($1.5bn) coming from five comic-book movies (Spider-Man No Way Home, Shang-Chi, Venom Let There Be Carnage, Black Widow and Eternals) up from 19% $2.15bn in 2019 (Avengers Endgame, Captain Marvel, Spider-Man Far From Home, Joker and Shazam). The top 10 films of 2021 will take over 50% of the year’s BO compared to 38% ($4.4bn). In 2019 the top 10 films that took $4.4bn will be about the same as the 2021 total US BO with a third ($1.5bn) from the top 5 comic-book movies compared to 19% ($2.25bn) in 2019.
in 2019 showing the divide has gotten bigger as audiences are much more selective with the films they pay to see and those they wait to see. With Free Guy the only original film in the top 10 and No Time To Die the only film playing to older audiences that featured in the top 10 with Dune #12. While there were no original films in the top 10 in 2019 they played the other films The Lion King, Toy Story 4, Star Wars The Rise of Skywalker, Aladdin and It Chapter Two played to a wide range of demographics young and old which this year predictably failed to achieve as industries focus was always on under 35s.
In focusing all efforts on under 35s this alienated older audiences as despite exhibitors always saying that there haven’t been any COVID cases traced back to cinemas older cinemagoers don’t believe that and far more should have been done to make older demographics feel comfortable returning to cinemas over 20 months ago when industry’s research said while younger audiences would return quickly to cinemas older audiences will take far longer.
While older audiences did return for No Tine To Die in the UK they haven’t returned since the problem with the industry focusing on under 35s is this audience is fickle they will rush out to see the Spider-Man No Way Home over opening weekend and then they will quickly move off to the next film. Older audiences won’t rush to see a film over opening weekend and see it over the following weeks so these films would hold better after opening, the reason why The Lion King and Toy Story 4 held strongly after opening was they both played to young and old audiences, those adults who were children when the original Lion King animated film opened and have grown up watching the Toy Story films.
This was similar to why the first Disney Star Wars The Force Awakens was far bigger than the sequel as it reminded them of the past, the problem with the sequels The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker they were trying too hard to play to the fans they forget what made Star Wars special and MCU special at first was they were accessible for all, but now with the MCU as Star Wars you need to do your homework before and after to understand them.
Biggest Films of 2021
The top 10 biggest films of 2021 are currently
No Time To Die £96.43m; Spider-Man No Way Home £51.1m; Dune £21.7m; Shang-Chi (£21.29m); Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway (£20.47m); Black Widow (£18.83m); Venom 2 £18m; Free Guy (£16.78m); F9 (£16.44m); Eternals £14.76m; The Suicide Squad (£14.2m);
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 and taken a third less.
The following 10 biggest films from 11-20 )
Space Jam 2 (£12.85m); Jungle Cruise (£12.55m); A Quiet Place 2 (£11.54m); Ghostbusters Afterlife £10.71m; The Addams Family 2 £10.2m; The Croods 2 (£9.8m); Cruella £9.45m; The Conjuring 3 £9.36m.
UK box office in detail
This weekend’s top 10 box office took £8,477,200 down 75.4% from last weekend £34,452,921;
The weekend admissions 1,192,293 down 75.4% 4,839,380 from last week;
Top 3 took £7,655,303 90.3% of the top 10; Spider-Man No Way Home 54.5% (£4,619,518); The Matrix Resurrections 31.7% (£2,686,785) Clifford the Big Red Dog 4.1% (£349,836);
Up 9,209.6% from 2020 (£91,059); Wonder Woman 1984 £72,674; Home Alone £3,840; Come Away £3,245; #1 Wonder Woman 1984 £72,674 214 screens 2nd weekend (79.8% of top 10)
Down 64.4% from 2019 (£23,799,781); Little Women (£3,578,877); Spies In Disguise (£1,487,638); Playing With Fire (£762,850); #1 Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker £9,311,240 2nd week 741 screens 55% drop (39.1% of top 10)
Down 59.8% from 2018: (£21,066,980); Bumblebee (£5,103,382); Holmes & Watson (£1,418,030); #1 Mary Poppins Returns £7,441,687 2nd week 740 screens 10% drop (35.3% of the top 10)
Down 65.4% from 2017: (£24,534,387); The Greatest Showman (£4,754,049); #1 Star Wars: The Last Jedi £7,975,174 3rd week 691 screens 22% drop (32.5% of top 10)
Down 32.1% from 2016: (£12,473,395); Passengers (£2,418,976); Ballerina (£1,094,317); It’s a Wonderful Life (Re-release) (£130,016); #1 Rogue One: A Star Wars Story £5,652,730 2nd week 680 screens 67% drop(45.3% of the top 10)
Down 51.6% from 2015; (£17,525,083); Snoopy and Charlie Brown: A Peanuts Movie (£3,639,383); Daddy’s Home (£1,628,219); In the Heart of the Sea (£570,543); #1 Star Wars: The Force Awakens £10,164,805 2nd week 665 screens (58% of top 10)
Up 45.3% from 2014: (£16,382,437); Exodus: Gods and Kings (£2,607,453); Annie (£2,310,453); Unbroken (£656,991); Big Eyes (£135,582); #1 The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies £4,249,226 3rd 601 screens 21% drop (25.9% of top 10)
Down 48.3% from 2013: (£18,132,029); The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (£2,235,612); 47 Ronin (£1,415,252); All Is Lost (£231,595); #1 The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug £5,450,824 3rd week 589 screens 43% drop (30.1% of top 10)
Down 58.4% from 2012 (£20,367,014); Jack Reacher (£3,575,066); Parental Guidance (£1,293,400); Midnight’s Children (£101,725); Safety Not Guaranteed (£33,028); #1 The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey £6,850,728 3rd week 596 screens up 15% (33.6% of top 10)
Up 17.6% from 2011 (£7,210,571); no new releases; #1 Arthur Christmas £2,047,463 7th weekend up 52% 549 screens (28.4% of top 10)
Up 41.7% from 2010: (£5,980,170); Little Fockers (£3,035,717); Arthur and the Great Adventure (£83,875); #1 Little Fockers £3,035,717 1st week 488 screens (50.7% of top 10)
n/a from 2009;
n/a from 2008;
down 60.1% from 2007: (£21,258,964); I am Legend (£11,009,365); Balls of Fury (£638,761); The Kite Runner (£468,592); Closing the Ring (£23,339); #1 I am Legend £11,009,365 1st week 440 screens (51.8% of top 10)
Up 5.7% from 2006; (£8,021,487); Flags of Our Fathers (£97,765); #1 Happy Feet £2,048,266 3rd week 475 screens 1% up (25.5% of top 10)
Up 42.2% from 2005 (£5,961,400); No new releases; #1 The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe £2,843,353 3rd week 2nd 1 over 3 weeks 525 screens 41% drop (47.7% of top 10)
Up 166.5% from 2004 (£3,180,924); National Treasure (£312,784); House of Flying Daggers (£251,498); The Aviator (platform) (£23,835); #1 The Polar Express 4th week 1st #1 41% drop 452 screens (21.6% of top 10)
n/a from 2003;
Down 36.1% from 2002 (£13,253,300); Chicago (platform) (£113,386); Blood Work (£61,053); #1 Lord of the Rings: Two Towers £8,177,801 2nd week 499 screens 37% (61.7% of top 10)
Down 40.7% from 2001 (£14,285,925); The Mean Machine (£1,573,594); Serendipity (£635,042); #1 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings £7,825,995 2nd week 470 screens 29% drop (54.8% of top 10);
Next weekend in 2019 (17,185,874); The Favourite (£3,973,975); Andre Rieu’s 2019 New Year Concert from Sydney (£1,745,941); Welcome to Marwen (£242,156); Life Itself (£54,131); #1 Mary Poppins Returns £4,444,023 3rd week #1 718 screens 40% drop (25.8% of top 10)
US Box Office
- Spider-Man No Way Home – Sony Pictures
Dropped 68.7% in its second weekend taking $84.52m and $470.35m
Took $5.5m (6.5%) from IMAX in the US $38m total and $9.6m worldwide and $61.5m worldwide becoming the highest-grossing IMAX release of 2021.
14th biggest film in the US between Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Star Wars The Rise of Skywalker (16th film to take over $500m since Titanic in 1997) and the 6th biggest comic-book movie after Avenger Endgame, Black Panther, Avengers Infinity War, The Avengers and The Dark Knight; 45th biggest inflation inflated between Smokey and the Bandit and The Dark Knight Rises
The problem with films like Spider-Man No Way Home is they cannibalize the box office with it taking 92% of the box office in its first weekend this was more than 88% for Avengers: Endgame and 70% for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, it’s more so now as older audiences aren’t going to the cinema and it’s all or nothing at the box office which is far from positive despite what exhibitors believe as box office should be more steady throughout the year rather than having very high highs and then lows.
As it used to be success breeds success over multiple genres now success for one comic-book movie means success for the next as audiences have become much more selective with the films they see in the cinema and those they wait to see. This has been known for more than a decade and becoming more so but the industry seems to be in complete denial as the bigger films are bigger than ever but then there is a massive gap now with the rest.
Christmas used to be a time when the box office could handle multiple films opening close together like 2017 with Star Wars The Last Jedi, Jumanji Welcome to the Jungle and then also Pitch Perfect 3 and The Greatest Showman and 2019 with Star Wars The Rise of Skywalker and Jumanji The Next Level. What didn’t help this year was Spider-Man No Way Home, The Matrix Resurrections and The King’s Man opened within a week of each other targetting the same demographic, this is why Sing 2 opened well.
The problem over recent years has been poor dating of films with all the data available studios are making strange costly decisions over dating. As surely December 22nd was crying out for a film not targetting young males why it was always a surprise West Side Story didn’t open with The King’s Man opening two weeks earlier.
Spider-Man No Way Home took 12 days to take over $1bn worldwide the third fastest after 11 days for Avengers: Infinity War‘s 11 days and 5 days for Avengers: Endgame; both Avengers films opened the same day in China with Avengers Infinity War opening with $191m taking $359.5m and Avengers Endgame opened with $176m taking $629.1m while Spider-Man Homecoming opened with $69.2m taking $116.3m and Spider-Man Far From Home opened with $95m taking $199m, so Spider-Man No Way Home will likely take $200m+ in China when it eventually opens. But it will likely be hurt by piracy as many other films that had a delayed China opening have done.
All of these numbers show that Spider-Man No Way Home needs to be compared to Avengers film as that is the same audience as 2012’s Avengers dropped 50.3% second weekend taking $103.1m; 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron dropped 59.4% taking $77.74m; Avengers Infinity War 55.5% taking $114.77m and Avengers Endgame dropped 58.7% taking $147.38m while Spider-Man Homecoming dropped 62.2% taking $44.2m and Spider-Man: Far From Home dropped 51% taking $45.35m so it opened like Avengers film but holding like a Spider-Man film being front-loaded.
After opening with $600m worldwide last weekend and taking $1bn in 12 days with Christmas holidays limited competition you would expect $2bn could be likely but as with Avengers Endgame opening weekend of $1.2bn worldwide many believed it would canter past Avatar’s global BO of $2.84bn but only managed to squeeze past its total after a re-release, Avatar recently overtook Avengers Endgame after being re-released in China.
Has become Sony Pictures biggest film in the US overtaking 2017’s Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle in 2017 ($404.5m)
Had the biggest second-weekend drop of all 27 MCU films
After having the second-biggest opening in the US between Avengers: Endgame and Avengers: Infinity War it was always likely to be the next member of the $100m loser club as the problem with these big openings they will also drop big in their second weekends.
while it might have Spider-Man in its title the film is playing like an Avengers film but the big question is how it will hold against The Matrix Resurrections, The King’s Man and Sing 2 this weekend as it will likely become the next film to join the $100m loser club as the problem with these films opening $200m+ they will normally drop 60%+ in their second weekend. But normally these films have at least one week gap before the next big film opening and previous Spider-Man films have dropped heavily in their second weekends as they are normally front-loaded, but December is very different than opening a film in the summer.
Spider-Man No Way Home is the 8th Spider-Man film made by Sony Pictures since 2002;
Original trilogy directed by Sam Raimi starring Tobey Maguire between 2002 and 2007
Spider-Man dropped 37.8% taking $71.41m and $223.04m of $407.02m; $418m international and $825.02m);
Spider-Man 2 dropped 48.7% taking $45.18m and $256.43m of $373.58m; $415.39m international and $788.97m WW);
Spider-Man 3 dropped 61.5% taking $58.16m and $240.23m of $336.53m and $558.45m and $894.98m WW);
The Amazing Spider-Man in 2012 with a sequel in 2014 directed by Marc Webb starring Andrew Garfield
The Amazing Spider-Man dropped 44.2% taking $34.62m and $200.5m of $262.02m and $495.9m and $757.93m WW;
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 dropped 61.2% taking $35.5m and $146.2m of $202.85m and $506.12m and $708.98m WW);
Spider-Man then became part of the MCU directed by Jon Watts and starring Tom Holland between 2017 and 2021
Spider-Man: Homecoming dropped 62.2% taking $44.2m and $207.27m of $334.2m and $545.96m and $880.16m WW);
Spider-Man: Far From Home dropped 51% taking $45.35m and $274.58m of $390.53m and $747.39m and $1.13bn WW)
Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse dropped 53.4% taking $16.46m and $64.56m of $190.24m and $185.29m and $375.54m WW with Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse Part 1 and Morbius set for 2022 release.
Spider-Man also appeared in Captain America Civil War, Avengers Infinity War, Avengers Endgame MCU films and also in the end credit scene in Venom Let There Be Carnage with Spider-Man 4 currently in a development likely to be released in November 2023 with The Marvels in February, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 in May, Ant-Man 3 in July. (Ant-Man featured the first mention of Spider-Man in the MCU during the end credit scene).
Took $121.4m (64.4% drop) from 61 territories (32,600+ screens) $587.1m total and $1.05bn worldwide; UK took $68.9m; Mexico $52.8m; South Korea $41.1m; France $35.8m; Brazil $31.7m; Australia $31.4m; India $29.7m; Russia $28.5m; Italy $21.2m; Germany $20m; Spain $16.5m; 21st biggest film worldwide between Iron Man 3 and Minions (46th film to take over $1bn worldwide since Jurassic Park in 1993).
- The Matrix Resurrections – Warner Bros
Opened with $12m and $22.5m over 5 days; received mixed reviews (66% Rotten Tomatoes) and B- CinemaScore similar to the Matrix Reloaded B+ and Matrix Revolutions B- while Matrix received A-
EntTelligence reported 1.76m bought tickets to see Matrix Resurrections over the last five days compared to Spider-Man: No Way Home‘s 12.6m and Sing 2 4.1m.
Took $3.7m in IMAX US (22%) and $1.5m internationally and $6.6m worldwide from IMAX.
SambaTV reported 2.8m US households saw the film on HBO Max over its first 5 days on release (the same amount of people who saw Black Widow on Disney+ over its first month) and the film was predictably the most pirated film of the week with 32.6% share compared to 16.6% for Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City and 12% for in theatre pirates of Spider-Man: No Way Home.
When a massive film opens like Spider-Man No Way Home which is playing like an Avengers film it often cannibalizes the box office for future releases targetting similar demographics for several weeks to come. It was always a massive gamble for Warner Bros to open The Matrix Resurrections only a week after targeting a similar demographic, so wasn’t a surprise the Matrix sequel and The king’s Man struggled to find an audience but Sing 2 open second.
Will Warner take notice and move Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom from opening against Avatar 2 next December. Do wonder why Warner Bros didn’t bring The Matrix Resurrections forward a month to Thanksgiving when Paramount delayed Top Gun Maverick switching it with King Richard
1999’s The Matrix opened $27.78m taking $171.47m and $466.62m WW
2003’s The Matric Reloaded opened $91.77m taking $281.57m and $741.84m WW
2003’s The Matrix Revolutions opened $48.47m taking $139.31m and $427.34m WW
Opened $47.3m from 75 territories 17,749 screens over 5 days (14% $6.6m from IMAX) and $69.8m worldwide
- Sing 2 – Universal Pictures
Opened with $22.32m and $37.95m; received positive reviews (67% Rotten Tomatoes) and A+ CinemaScore
2016’s Sing opened $35.28m taking $270.44m and $634.2m WW
Took $19.2m from 22 territories $24.8m total and $65.8m worldwide
- The King’s Man – 20th Century Studios
Opened with $5.91m and $9.58m; received poor reviews (43% Rotten Tomatoes) and B+ CinemaScore
In 2018 Matthew Vaughn announced a Kingsman film was in development at that time The Kingsman film series was a valuable film series for 20th Century Fox and there were plans for Kingsman shared universe with prequels, sequels and spinoffs. The King’s Man started production in January 2019 but two months later the studio was acquired by Disney and they had no interest in the film series as it didn’t fit in Disney’s plans. So as with X-Men: Dark Phoenix and The New Mutants which 20th Century Fox had planned to be the start of a new series of X-Men films it’s unlikely there will be anymore theatrically made King’s Man films.
It was originally set for release in November 2019 by Fox and then to 14th February 2020, in November 2018 was delayed by Disney to 18th September, then to February 2021 due to COVID and then to August 2021 and delayed again in March 2021 to December 2021.
The teaser trailer was released in July 2019, the second trailer in September 2019, the third in June 2020 and a red band trailer was released in August 2021. In September Disney announced it would have a 45-day theatrical window.
After directing Daniel Craig in Layer Cake Matthew Vaughn was briefly attached to direct Casino Royale before Martin Campbell was signed and Matthew Vaughn instead moved on to develop Kingsman: The Secret Service.
2015’s Kingsman: The Secret Service opened $36.2m taking $128.26m and $414.35m WW
2017’s Kingsman: The Golden Circle opened $39.02m taking $100.23m and $410.9m WW
Opened with $6.9m from 7 territories and $16.9m worldwide
- West Side Story – 20th Century Studios
Dropped 22% in its third weekend taking $2.84m and $23.94m
The film will be released on Disney+ on January 24th 45 days after opening
40th biggest 2021 film in the US between Nobody and Escape Room: Tournament of Champions; 3.148th biggest in the US between Dance Flick and From Dusk Till Dawn
Normally Steven Spielberg films have long legs making a sizeable percentage of their box office after their opening weekend War Horse (91%); Lincoln (88%); Bridge of Spies (79%); The Post (76%) normally would be expected West Side Story would also have long legs but not in these current conditions.
Never understand if a studio has had success opening a film over one date as 20th Century Fox and Disney both had with The Greatest Showman and Mary Poppins Returns that they didn’t open West Side Story on December 22as it was originally due to be released on December 18th, 2020. What is also interesting is that almost all of the films Disney announced months before opening would have a 45-day theatrical window have disappointed at the box office all except for Free Guy. This is why the theatrical window needs to be flexible depending on how a film opens.
Recent musicals third weekends
2021’s In The Heights #7 dropped 46.9% $2.23m taking $24.16m and $29.87m and $43.87m worldwide
2019’s Rocketman #4 dropped 31.8% $9.42m taking $66.76m and $96.36m and $195.32m worldwide
2018’s Mary Poppins Returns #3 down 44.1% $15.86m and $138.81m of $171.95m and $349.54m worldwide
2018’s Bohemian Rhapsody #3 down 48.6% $16.04m and $128.22m taking $216.42m and $911.1m worldwide
2018’s A Star Is Born #2 dropped 33% $19.05m and $126.12m of $215.28m and $436.18m worldwide
2017’s The Greatest Showman #4 down 11.3% $13.77m and $76.87m of $174.34m and $436.94m worldwide
2014’s Into the Woods #3 dropped 49% $9.55m and $105.07m of $128m and $212.9m worldwide
2001’s Moulin Rouge #8 dropped 34.2% $5.03m (after two weeks on platform) and $36.62m of $57.38m and $179.21m worldwide
While 1996’s Romeo & Juliet #5 down 39.9% $5.42m and $31.43m of $46.35m and $147.55m worldwide
Many have said could West Side Story have similar legs as 2017’s The Greatest Showman but these are two very different films, West Side Story had critical acclaim while The Greatest Showman was belittled by critics but became the peoples champion as younger audiences created a huge amount of user-generated content, this won’t happen with West Side Story.
Took $1.7m from 46 territories and $36.6m worldwide; UK $5.1m; France $2.8m; Germany $0.7m; Spain $0.4m; Holland $0.4m; Australia $0.4m; Israel $0.3m; Russia $0.3m; Sweden $0.3m; Mexico $0.3m
- Licorice Pizza – MGM
Up 2,126% taking $1.91m after expanding into 786 screens after playing on platform release for the last 4 weeks in 4 screens; opened with $345,157 from 4 screens taking 5 weeks ago, it was originally due to expanding on Christmas Day into 2,000 screens but that dropped to 800 as the studio knew that expanding into so many screens that quickly would kill the film’s momentum ahead of award season.
That said expanding into 800 screens will likely do similar as his previous films have done as Paul Thomas Anderson films perform strongly on platform but then struggle to find a wide audience as they struggle to find a mainstream audience despite receiving widespread critical acclaim.
1996’s Hard Eight took $222,559
1997’s Boogie Nights opened with $50,168 in 2 screens taking 6 weeks to expand to its widest point 1,003 screens taking $2.57m but then dropped 50% of its screens over the following two weeks taking $26.4m
1999’s Magnolia opened with $193,604 from 7 screens taking 7 weeks to expand to its widest point 1,086 screens taking $1.58m but then dropped 50% of its screens over the following two weeks taking $22.45m
2002’s Punch-Drunk Love opened with $367,203 from 5 screens taking 5 weeks to expand to its widest point 1,293 screens taking $2.5m but then dropped 50% of its screens over the following two weeks taking $17.84m
2007’s There Will Be Blood opened with $190,739 from 2 screens taking 7 weeks to expand to its widest point 1,620 screens taking $3.97m but then dropped 50% of its screens over the following four taking $40.22m
2012’s The Master opened with $736,311 from 5 screens expanded into 788 screens in its 2nd weekend taking $4.39m losing screens from its 5th weekend taking $16.37m
2014’s Inherent Vice opened with $328,184 from 5 screens taking 6 weeks to expand into 653 screens its widest point taking $1.13m but then lost 50% of screens the following weekend taking $8.11m
2017’s Phantom Thread opened $127,272 from 4 screens taking 6 weeks to expand to 1,186 screens taking $2.12m but then lost 50% of screens the following weekend taking $21.19m
- Encanto – Disney
Dropped 72% in its fifth weekend taking $1.81m and $88.12m
The film was released on Disney+ on Christmas Day after having a 30-day theatrical window; SambaTV reported 2m US households saw the film over its first week of streaming
Comparable to 2015’s fifth weekend of The Good Dinosaur down 13% taking $3.78m and $105.35m of $123.08m; Disney’s last animated film Frozen 2 dropped 31.9% taking $12.98m and $387.21m of $477.37m
118th biggest animated film between The Emperor’s New Groove and Peter Pan; 874th biggest film in the US between The Lone Ranger and Taken 3; 1,578th biggest inflation inflated between Spaceballs and Sense and Sensibility; 153rd biggest Disney film in the US between The Lone Ranger and The Muppets.
Took $4.6m (down 42%) from 45 territories $104.9m total and $194.28m worldwide; France $14.7m; Colombia $9.7m; the UK $7.2m; Spain $6.6m; Japan $5.8m; Russia $5.4m; Italy $5.1m; Mexico $5m; Korea $4.9m; Australia $3.8m; 127th biggest animated film worldwide between Beowulf and Gnomeo and Juliet; 876th biggest worldwide between Downton Abbey and Paranormal Activity; 21st biggest 2021 film worldwide between The Conjuring 3 and Ghostbusters: Afterlife; 136th biggest Disney film worldwide between Christopher Robin and Need for Speed.
- Nightmare Alley – Searchlight Pictures
Dropped 58% in its second weekend taking $1.17m and $5.28m
While the industry uses Spider-Man No Way Home box office performance as a sign that cinema isn’t dead Nightmare Alley soft opening a week after West Side Story and heavy second-weekend drop highlight the issues the industry has been in denial about that audiences have become much more selective in the films they see in cinemas and those they wait to see at home.
It always surprises me when a distributor changes a successful release strategy and the last two weeks have to question both West Side Story opening December 10th as it was originally due to open the week later last year before being delayed a year due to COVID. As 20th Century Fox had huge success opening The Greatest Showman as an alternative to Star Wars The Last Jedi in 2017 so you would have thought they would repeat the same strategy with West Side Story as despite the stature of Steven Spielberg the film had little relevance to younger audiences despite West Side Story being bast on Romeo & Juliet.
While with Nightmare Alley it was surprising given the current nature of older audiences being very slow to return to cinemas why they didn’t opt for a similar slow platform release for the Guillermo del Toro film as they did with The Shape of Water also released in December 2017, started on 2 screens on December 2 with $166,564, slowly expanding until week 10 (Feb 2nd with $4.44m) taking $63.85m, before it was playing in as many screens as Nightmare Alley opened. Of course, the difference with both is that now the studio is owned by Disney and they have struggled to open original films over the last decade despite Disney being the most creative studio in Hollywood for decades.
The long term consequences of West Side Story and Nightmare Alley underperforming along with The French Despatch, The Eyes of Tammy Faye, The Night House and Nomadland could have a major impact on the future of Searchlight Pictures and is probably the final nail in the coffin for original films for 20th Century Studios after The Last Duel also underperforming a few weeks ago and after receiving mixed reviews and opening so close to both Spider-Man No Way Home and The Matrix Resurrections The King’s Man is unlikely to be anywhere nearly as successful as the previous two films.
- A Journal for Jordan – Sony Pictures
Opened with $2.2m; received mixed reviews (48% Rotten Tomatoes) and A- CinemaScore
Another film targetting older audiences has struggled to find an audience in cinemas it’s the fourth film directed by Denzel Washington. As Tom Bernard said in an article in Variety, “The older audience they will come back when they feel safe”.. “but theatres have not done enough” despite exhibitors own research from 22 months ago saying older audiences would take much longer to return, as they focused on the under 35s who returned quickly.
The problem is there was no plan to get older audiences returning, while they returned briefly in the UK to see No Time To Die they haven’t returned since and won’t for some time as exhibitors concentrated on fickle under 35s with sure things comic-book movies and F9. Everything that happened from Tenet to Spider-Man was very predictable billions of BO was lost due to the industry not having any strategy behind the reopening of cinemas instead it was like a bull in a China shop rushing to reopen ignoring the predictable long-term consequences.
2002’s Antwone Fisher opened $210,013 taking $21.07m
2007’s The Great Debaters opened $6m taking $30.22m
2016’s Fences opened $129,462 taking $57.68m
UK Box Office Top 10
UK Box Office Preview
Even having an 8-day opening weekend The King’s Man will struggle to open anywhere close to the openings of the previous two films 2015’s Kingsman: The Secret Service opened £4,241,292 (including £679,498 previews) taking £16,418,247 and 2017’s Kingsman: The Golden Circle opened £8,525,664 (including £2,327,105 previews) taking £24,883,225.
The King’s Man was second on Tuesday behind Spider-Man so having an 8-day opening could still see it open with £2.5m-£3m as the week between Christmas and New Year is very lucrative with every day a Saturday at the cinema when even films like Monster Tracks still managed to open with £1.72m.
While the new releases opening New Year’s Day The Electrical Life Of Louis Wain and Licorice Pizza have limited appeal and targetting older audiences as many other films have done over the last few months will struggle to find a wide audience despite both receiving strong media coverage. Benedict Cumberbatch promoted The Electrical Life Of Louis Wain before Christmas and Claire Foy has just starred in BBC1’s A Very British Scandal.
While Paul Thomas Anderson’s Licorice Pizza has received critical acclaim but his films struggle to play beyond cinephiles. With The Matrix: Resurrections expected to drop 70%+ in its second weekend 20% not including previews and with all films apart from Spider-Man No Way Home performing softly at the box office these two new releases should be in the top 5 with The King’s Man preview inflated opening possibly getting close to Spider-Man No Way Home if it has a 40%+ third-weekend drop, as after a 2 day weekend it might not drop as heavily, that said as every day between Christmas and New year is like a Saturday at the BO people won’t be waiting to see films over the weekend and as last weekend with New Year’s Eve on Friday it will soften the normal BO.
With Titane also having an 8-day weekend, the film received polarised reviews being compared to David Cronenberg’s Crash and Julia Ducournau’s Raw, the shock factor will attract cinephiles and its extended opening should see it feature in the top 10 for a week.
The Tragedy Of Macbeth also opened Boxing Day in Everyman and Curzon cinemas ahead of its release on Apple TV in January. The Joel Coen directed film that closed the London Film Festival in October received critical acclaim (94% Rotten Tomatoes). But as with Netflix films, its BO might not be reported.
Also opening January 1st is Cinderella – Met Opera 2022 which is likely to perform similar to The Nutcracker – Bolshoi Ballet 2021 that opened with £85,417 before Christmas from 161 screens.
The question will the film’s opening on January 1st be included in this weekends box office or will they have 8 day opening for next week’s box office.
2010 was the last year Christmas Day was on Saturday Little Fockers opened with £3,035,717 with BO split almost 50/50 with previews £1,592,643/£1,443,074
As with this year, all other films in the top 10 dropped heavily apart from Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader #2 down 24% in its third weekend £929,958; all films saw big increases in the following weekend with Gulliver’s Travels opening with £7,028,747 including £4,728,938 from 5 days of previews and Little Fockers increased 80% in its second weekend.
While 2016 was the last time Christmas Day was on a Sunday which didn’t have a similar impact on BO with Rogue One: A Star Wars Story down 67% (57% without previews which would be the normal drop for this fan led film as The Matrix: Resurrections is too); in the second weekend taking £5,652,730 with Passengers opening with £2,418,976 including £1,217,430 from previews with Rogue One increasing by 4% and Passengers increased by 58%.
But Spider-Man No Way Home will probably drop 20-30%
Opening next week
- The Electrical Life Of Louis Wain – Studiocanal (January 1st)
Biographical comedy-drama starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Claire Foy, Andrea Riseborough and Toby Jones and directed by Will Sharpe; had its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival receiving positive reviews (70% Rotten Tomatoes) opened on limited release in the US in October before being released on Prime Video in November in the US.
- Licorice Pizza– Universal Pictures (January 1st)
Comedy-drama starring Alana Haim, Cooper Hoffman, Sean Penn, Tom Waits, Bradley Cooper, and Benny Safdie and written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson.
The film has received critical acclaim (92% Rotten Tomatoes) was named one of the best films of 2021 by the American Film Institute and received four Golden Globe nominations including Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy.
Paul Thomas Andersons previous films receive widespread critical acclaim, award recognition and often perform strongly on platform release but struggle to find a wider audience. It Will be similar to the case with Licorice Pizza is then surprising studios are still eager to acquire his films. Focus Features acquired global rights to the then untitled film in December 2019
1996’s Hard Eight n/a
1998’s Boogie Nights opened #4 £792,712 taking £4,350,853
20000’s Magnolia opened #5 £428,435 taking £1,021,833
2002’s Punch-Drunk Love opened #13 £151,494 from 82 screens taking £322,921
2007’s There Will Be Blood opened #11 £215,490 from 24 screens; expanded into 181 screens 2nd-weekend #7 £540,472 and £888,968 taking £4,392,471
2012’s The Master opened #14 £65,701 from 1 screen; expanded in 3rd weekend into 153 screens taking £372,360 #6 and £553,521 taking £1,213,977
2014’s Inherent Vice opened #9 £363,133 from 187 screens; dropped 61% in 2nd weekend £147,087 #13 from 175 screens taking £739,232
2017’s Phantom Thread opened #10 £727,104 from 196 screens; down 40% in 2nd weekend £434,351 #11 from 192 screens £1,658,992 taking £2,611,458
- The 355 – Universal Pictures (January 7th)
Female spy action thriller starring Jessica Chastain, Lupita Nyong’o, Penélope Cruz, Diane Kruger, Fan Bingbing, Sebastian Stan and Édgar Ramírez and directed by Simon Kinberg. The idea from Jessica Chastain was to make a female Bourne Identity franchise.
Universal Pictures acquired US and UK rights at the Cannes Film Festival in 2018
It was originally due for release in January 2021 but was delayed a year due to COVID holding that early January release date which has been lucrative for action films over recent years including 2016’s Ride Along 2 (opened £2,141,341 taking £5,512,631) 2017’s xXx: The Return of Xander Cage (opened £1,620,811 taking £3,339,562) 2018’s The Commuter (opened £1,602,680 taking £3,643,253) and 2020’s Bad Boys For Life (opened £3,781,233 taking £15,953,076).
In early January time the pre-Christmas releases are normally slowing down and audiences are ready for something new and they are an alternative to the Oscar contenders.
Other female action films include
2018’s Red Sparrow – £1,843,124 (including £167,013 previews taking £6,395,074
2017’s Atomic Blonde – £1,686,430 (£555,569 previews) taking £3,063,918
2014’s Lucy opened £3,076,997 taking £14,129,734
2010’s Salt opened £2,166,715 taking £6,737,499
2002’s The Bourne Identity – opened £2,150,511 (£171,062 previews) taking £7,717,876 (£13,459,677 inflation inflated)
2004’s The Bourne Supremacy – opened £2,720,016 (£360,288 previews) taking £11,396,052
2007’s The Bourne Ultimatum – opened £6,553,704 taking £23,586,781
2012’s The Bourne Legacy -opened £4,620,289 (£2,524,042 previews) taking £10,869,199
2016’s Jason Bourne – opened £7,600,420 taking £22,938,616
Also having similarities with 1990’s Nikita; 2018’s Peppermint; 2015’s The Assassin and 2011’s Hanna and Haywire.
The film will have a 45-day theatrical window as most Universal Pictures 2022 releases and will be available on VOD 21st February.