- Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny – £7,144,441 – NE
Took £1.05m Wednesday (14.7%) and £733k Thursday (10.3%) previews £1,786,994 (25%)
Took £1.4m Friday (19.6%); £2.2m Saturday (30.8%); £1.76m Sunday (24.6%)
173rd biggest opening between War for the Planet of the Apes and Men In Black (close to Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, Mission Impossible: Fallout, Independence Day and Avatar) and 273rd inflated between Michael Jackson’s This Is It and The Mummy (close to Star Wars Special Edition, Rambo: First Blood Part II, Batman and Twister).
5th biggest 2023 opening between Ant-Man 3 and Fast X
Had the widest opening of the year in 743 cinemas, the second-widest opening ever after No Time To Die (773 cinemas), but as always, the number of cinemas film opens doesn’t tell the whole story as in many of them it was playing in 3 or more screens so likely played in almost 2,000 screens.
As it took 35% of opening from IMAX/PLF in the US probably took similar percentage in those formats in the UK
UK 5-day opening was 11.83% of the US opening (similar to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Mission Impossible: Fallout, Fatal Attraction and Hook) and 8.87% of 3-day opening (similar to Groundhog Day, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Star Trek: Generations and Top Gun: Maverick)
Films often underperform as William Goldman famously said ‘Nobody knows anything…… Not one person in the entire motion picture field knows for a certainty what’s going to work. Every time out it’s a guess and, if you’re lucky, an educated one.’
When a film series like Indiana Jones adds time travel to the plot they have ‘jumped the shark’ as was the case with Infinity War when Black Panther ‘dies’ even though Disney had already dated Black Panther 2. 2008’s Crystal Skull has similar issues as haven’t felt as disappointed walking out of the multi-media screening for a film since probably Beverly Hills Cop 3, but at least it had some moments, the problem with Dial of Destiny was it was trying too hard to recreate what made the original films so special. This was similar to Disney’s Star Wars and many of their reimaginations and remakes, you can remake a film but it’s not the same film even though it looks almost identical and just makes you crave the original film again.
The difference was Indy 5 as The Flash and Elemental were fait-accompli, self-inflicted by poor studio decisions months before they opened.
Dial of Destiny was April 3rd being announced it would premiere at Cannes, as studios must have learnt by now only premiere at Cannes if the film opens immediately afterwards or they are sure it would get rave reviews (Deadline reported on Sunday it received high test scores but since said it was never tested via friends and family) so have to ask why they decided to premiere at Cannes knowing critics are far harsher on blockbusters than local critics. (This was seen by its Rotten Tomatoes score increasing last week).
If Disney wanted to premiere Indiana Jones 5 at Cannes it should have opened Memorial weekend as The Last Crusade and Crystal Skull and should have moved The Little Mermaid to July. Disney repeated the mistake by bringing Elemental also to Cannes rather than premiering it Annecy. Premiering both films at Cannes has probably cost Disney about $500m in BO.
2008’s Kingdom of the Crystal Skull also premiered at Cannes, but the difference was it opened days after. Temple of Doom and Last Crusade also opened in the US over Memorial Day weekend, having a staggered international release, with The Last Crusade opening June 28th the same day as Dial of Destiny in 1989.
Other long-gap sequels added new younger characters (Jurassic World, The Force Awakens, Ghostbusters Afterlife and Top Gun: Maverick) as they did with Kingdom of the Crystal Skull with Shia LaBeouf playing Indiana Jones’s son to attract younger audiences who hadn’t grown up watching the original films.
Do wonder if 16-year-olds are as excited to see Dial Of Destiny as I was 34 years ago to see The Last Crusade, rushing to see it on opening day at the Empire Leicester Square?
Despite the huge popularity of the original trilogy; Raiders of the Lost Ark was the #6 biggest film in the UK taking opening with £983,710 (£4,993,738 inflated) taking £3.31m (£17.1m inflated) and #1 in the US; #1 Superman II; #2 For Your Eyes Only; #3 Flash Gordon; #4 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs; #5 Any Which Way You Can; #6 Clash of the Titans; #7 Private Benjamin; #8 Raiders of the Lost Ark; #9 The Elephant Man; #10 Tess.
Temple of Doom was #1 biggest film in the UK taking £9.25m (£41.3m inflated) and #2 in the US (behind Ghostbusters); #2 Never Say Never; #3 The Jungle Book; #4 Police Academy; #5 Sudden Impact; #6 Terms of Endearment; #7 Educating Rita; #8 Trading Places; #9 Greystoke: The Legend of the Apes; #10 Jaws III.
The Last Crusade was #1 biggest film in the UK (£15.92m) and #2 in the US (behind Batman); #2 Who Framed Roger Rabbit (£15.61m); #3 Batman (£12.03m); #4 Rain Man (£9.66m); #5 The Naked Gun (£7.74m); #6 Licence To Kill (£7.55m); #7 Lethal Weapon 2 (£6.74m); #8 Twins (£6.55m); #9 Dead Poets Society (£5.87m); #10 Cocktail (£5.76m).
At the time of opening in 1989 The Last Crusade had the biggest-ever opening weekend in the UK (£1.73m/£6.1m inflated) the third biggest opening of 1989 after Batman (£2.058m/£7.2m inflated) and Back to the Future Part II (£2.51m/£7.1m inflated) ahead of Ghostbusters 2 (£1.41m) and Lethal Weapon 2 (£1.33m).
Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was #4 biggest film in the UK (£40.28m) and #3 in the US ($317.1m); #1 Mamma Mia! (£68.9m); #2 Quantum of Solace (£51.1m); #3 The Dark Knight (£49.31m); #4 The Crystal Skull; #5 Sex and the City (£26.23m); #6 Hancock (£24.41m); #7 Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (£23.3m); #8 High School Musical 3 (£22.63m); #9 Wall·E (£22.2m); #10 Kung Fu Panda (£19.63m).
Had the second biggest opening (£12.22m) in 2018 after Quantum of Solace (£15.38m) and ahead of The Dark Knight (£11.19m).
Other major legacy sequels openings include Top Gun: Maverick (£15,924,629), Jurassic World (£19,350,727 including £2,514,284 previews), Star Wars The Force Awakens (£34,011,849 including £9,679,746 previews), Spider-Man No Way Home (£31,899,232 including £12,388,380 previews), Independence Day Resurgence (£5,067,855 including £944,356 previews), Ghostbusters Afterlife (£4,314,263 including £549,710 previews), Mad Max: Fury Road (£4,538,933 including £638,690 previews) and Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle (£8,154,548 including £4,114,058 previews).
Kingdom of the Crystal Skull has the 68th-biggest opening between Thor: Love and Thunder and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (close to Deadpool 2, Fast & Furious 7, Jurassic World Dominion and Star Wars: Attack of the Clones) and 39th biggest inflated between Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness and Spider-Man 3.
In 2008 it was the 15th biggest opening in the UK between LOTR: The Two Towers and The Matrix Reloaded and the 18th biggest inflated between Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End and Spider-Man 3.
Would surely then 15 years on from Crystal Skull expected Dial of Destiny to have opened with twice as much over its 5-day opening, especially as it opened in 50+ IMAX cinemas and other premium formats that weren’t around for Crystal Skull, (The Last Crusade opened at the Empire Leicester Square and tickets were £6-£7 while Dial Of Destiny opens at the Cineworld and Odeon Leicester Square and tickets are £25-£32.50.
Instead, the opening was close to 2018’s Solo: A Star Wars Story (£6,061,231), Blade Runner 2049 (£6,071,625) and Avatar (£6,670,591).
In 1989 Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade broke many UK box office records, it opened at 316 screens taking £1,648,850 overtaking the previous biggest openings in 1988 of Who Framed Roger Rabbit £1,506,863 from 285 screens and Crocodile Dundee II £1,333,508 from 302 screens. It took £214,825 at the Empire Leicester Square having the all-time biggest single cinema opening week overtaking the previous records of Roger Rabbit, Star Wars and Crocodile Dundee. It took £307,755 from its 6 West End screens breaking records in all 6 cinemas; took £177,518 from 3 days at the Empire Leicester Square from 49 shows with tickets between £6-£7.
This is despite transport strikes, hot temperatures, Wimbledon and competition from Licence to Kill which was holding strong down only 5.5% in West End cinemas. It was believed that the two films helped each other. Many people often use hot weather as an excuse for films opening lower but if it’s a film people want to see they will see it no matter the weather. While the weather this weekend will be much cooler and wetter than it has been over recent weeks.
In 1989 The Last Crusade opened only at the Empire Leicester Square and Plaza Lower Regent Street selling out most of its screenings over its opening 5 days while Dial of Destiny opens on three screens at Odeon Leicester Square, one screen at Odeon West End, two screens at Cineworld Leicester Square (IMAX and Super Screen), five screens at Vue West End, three screens at Vue Piccadilly and two screens at Picturehouse Central and none will likely sellout. While the problem with this is that it will be similar with Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning Part 1 and Oppenheimer if films opened in fewer cinemas they would perform stronger, and it would allow audiences to see these films on their biggest screens for longer.
But as I’ve said before while much will be written about the opening of Indy 5 it doesn’t need to take $1bn+ worldwide it just needs to exist as Star Wars as Yogurt said in Spaceballs “Merchandising, merchandising, where the real money from the movie is made.” And while Disney will likely take about $6bn+ globally in box office they will take ten times this with merchandise and theme park sales, the cinema release is just the start of the journey for these films.
While Disney brought Lucasfilm in 2012 for $4.05bn the deal didn’t include Indiana Jones rights which were still owned by Paramount Pictures who released the four films. Disney made a deal with Paramount in 2013 to end their production deal with Jerry Bruckheimer in exchange for future Indiana Jones rights. Paramount still owns distribution rights for the first four films and their logo appears on the front of Dial of Destiny, but unlike the other films has the Lucasfilm logo afterwards so the film doesn’t start with the Paramount mountain. It also gets a distribution fee similar to what it received for Iron Man and The Avengers after Disney acquired distribution rights from them in 2010. Paramount received either $115m or 8% and 9% of global BO for Avengers and Iron Man 3 (about $150m).
Disney first announced plans for Indiana Jones 5 in March 2016 with July 19, 2019, release date (The Lion King opened instead) with Steven Spielberg attached to direct, but the film suffered several delays to production with script rewrites and release date delayed to July 10, 2020, and July 9, 2021, which saw Steven Spielberg direct West Side Story before dropped out from directing in February 2020 replaced by James Mangold. While James Mangold directed Logan and Walk the Line he also directed the clunky Knight & Day action film starring Tom Cruise so was a strange choice to replace films like Indiana Jones.
The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was #1 for only 1 week toppled by Sex and the City (£8,767,265); The Last Crusade was #1 for 6 weeks toppled by Batman also had a bigger opening £2,058,159; but it still took a huge £83,260 at the Empire 1 Leicester Square in its 7th weekend taking £978,995; played at the Empire for 21 weeks taking £1,452,298 taking £15,794 in its 21st weekend Empire 2.
Dial of Destiny could lose #1 this weekend against Elemental despite it having a soft opening last month in the US, if not will be knocked off the top on Monday with Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part 1.
- 2. Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse – £1,531,476 – £25,937,583
Down 23.3% in the fifth weekend
70th biggest fifth weekend (170th £1m+ 5th weekend) between Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl and Finding Dory (close to Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, Moana, The Dark Knight Rises and Indiana Jones and The Crystal Skull) and the 166th biggest inflated between Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (close to True Lies, Crocodile Dundee II, Ghostbusters 2 and Despicable Me).
5th biggest comic-book fifth weekend between Men In Black and The Dark Knight Rises (close to Black Panther, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Aquaman and Avengers Infinity War) and 9th biggest inflated between Batman and Men In Black 2 (close to The Dark Knight, The Mask, Batman Forever and Spider-Man: The Movie).
e2018’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse dropped 31% £600,876 #10 and £8,627,740 487 screens 85.9% of £10,040,340.
181st biggest between The Golden Compass and The Lost World: Jurassic Park (close to The LEGO Batman Movie, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, I Am Legend and The Sixth Sense and 391st biggest inflated between Rocketman and My Big Fat Greek Wedding (close to The Naked Gun, Speed, Licence to Kill and The Rugrats Movie).
33rd biggest comic-book film between Spider-Man 2 and The Amazing Spider-Man (close to Spider-Man Homecoming, Spider-Man, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and X-Men 2) and 51st inflated between Iron Man and Logan (close to Superman III, Batman and Robin, X-Men and Superman Returns).
The BO of Across The Spider-Verse wasn’t a surprise seen by it taking similar to most of the non-MCU Spider-Man films it attracted the same fans who went to see other Spider-Man films. The only surprise was it held strongly against The Flash and Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts targetting the same demographic.
- 3. Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken – £885,056 – NE
1,734th biggest opening between The X-Files: I Want to Believe and White Chicks (close to Last Action Hero, Turner & Hooch, Inspector Gadget and Beverly Hills Cop III) and 2,189th biggest inflated between Multiplicity and mother! (close to
35th biggest Dreamworks Animation opening between The Boss Baby 2 and Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas (close to Antz, Penguins of Madagascar, The Prince of Egypt and Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron).
184th biggest animated opening between Treasure Planet and Ron’s Gone Wrong (close to The Hunchback Of Notre Dame, Meet the Robinsons, Strange World and Anastasia) and 198th biggest inflated between Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1992 re-release) and Ron’s Gone Wrong (close to The Nightmare Before Christmas, Oliver & Company, The Fox and the Hound (1988 re-release) and The Rescuers Down Under).
While tentpole animation is attracting audiences (Super Mario Bros (£53,662,430) and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (£25,633,299) original animation recently has struggled to find an audience and will be interesting to see if Elemental can find an audience in the UK sandwiched between Dial of Destiny and with Mission Impossible; Dead Reckoning Part 1 opening Monday, but of course neither film targets the same demographic.
Surprising Universal Pictures dated Ruby Gillman June 30th after Disney moved Elemental to July 7th as they would have expected The Little Mermaid to be holding well and as they have often delayed the release of their animated films and August could have been a better time to open as Barbie is targetting an older audience being 12A.
- 4. The Little Mermaid – £837,859 – £25,006,224
Dropped 23% in the sixth weekend.
108th biggest sixth weekend between Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug and Trolls (close to Moulin Rouge, Crocodile Dundee, Peter Rabbit 2 and Mrs Doubtfire) and 249th inflated between Coco and Signs (close to Space Jam, My Girl, Beauty and the Beast (1992) and Liar Liar).
Over the last few weeks, it has taken a similar weekend BO to Peter Rabbit 2 and inflation-inflated Beauty and the Beast (1992).
4th biggest Disney reimagination sixth weekend between The Lion King (£1,093,891) and Aladdin (£694,716) close to Alice in Wonderland (£676,516) and Cinderella (£675,425).
Ahead of opening wouldn’t have expected a remake of the beloved 1989 The Little Mermaid would have performed similarly to Dumbo rather than The Jungle Book (£46,235,032), Alice in Wonderland (£42,169,542) and Aladdin (£36,710,978) as the original animated film was the 9th biggest film of 1990 taking (15.46x opening) £6,266,749 (£21,731,902 inflated).
The biggest Disney re-imaginations on sixth weekends:
2019’s The Lion King dropped 56% £1,093,891 #3 686 screens £69,064,201 90.9% of £76,023,435
2019’s Aladdin dropped 42% £694,716 #3 580 screens £33,882,953 92.3% of £36,710,978
2017’s Beauty and the Beast dropped 49% £1,312,335 #3 591 screens £68,772,576 94.9% of £72,507,458
2010’s Alice in Wonderland dropped 47% £676,516 #5 45 screens £40,083,901 95.1% of £42,169,542
2016’s The Jungle Book dropped 11% £1,445,165 #3 568 screens £41,324,953 89.4% of £46,238,425
2019’s Dumbo down 53% £477,257 #5 570 screens £24,018,147 95.5% of £25,142,945
193rd biggest film between The Day After Tomorrow and Kingsman: The Golden Circle (close to Dumbo, Home, Ratatouille and How to Train Your Dragon 2) and 411th inflated between What Lies Beneath and Uncharted (close to Beauty and the Beast (1992), Gremlins 2: The New Batch, Sliding Doors and Pocahontas).
The Little Mermaid climbed up one place from fifth last week due to the heavy drops of The Flash (down 53.7%) in the third weekend and No Hard Feeling (46.5%) second weekend along with the soft opening of Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken.
Next reimaginations to be released are Snow White in March 2024, The Lion King sequel Mufasa opening in July 2024 with Moana in June 2025 and Lilo & Stitch, Hercules and Bambi undated.
- 5. Asteroid City – £799,449 – £2,427,705
Down 31.2% in the second weekend
1,291st biggest second weekend between Eat Pray Love and Trainspotting (close to The Death of Stalin, Jackie Brown, The Men Who Stare at Goats and Man Called Otto) and 1,819th biggest inflated between The Three Musketeers (1994) and Candyman (2021) (close to The Secret of My Success, Thelma & Louise, The Rocketeer and Carry on Columbus).
Curiously opening weekend (£1,176,972/£1,165,234) and the second weekend (£799,449/£800,533) were similar to 2010’s Eat Pray Love of course their inflated BO make the films very different (£1,560,826/£1,072,311 and it went on to take £4,291,302 (£5,748,181 inflated) Asteroid City unlikely to match.
2,034th biggest film between A Little Princess and No Hard Feelings (close to Ruthless People, Cyrano de Bergerac, The Iron Giant and The Shawshank Redemption) and 2,369th biggest inflated between Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang and No Hard Feelings (close to Hudson Hawk, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Almost Famous and A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream).
Similar to Paul Thomas Anderson’s films Wes Anderson always receives critical acclaim, but they often struggle to break out into wider audiences, 2014’s The Grand Budapest Hotel and 2009’s Fantastic Mr Fox were the only two films that have done so.
Asteroid City was the third Wes Anderson film to receive its world premiere in competition at the Cannes Film Festival after The French Despatch and Moonrise Kingdom and the first film directed by Wes Anderson to be released by Universal Pictures since 2012 Moonrise Kingdom.
Wes Anderson Second Weekends
2021’s The French Dispatch dropped 38% £531,526 #10 331 screens and £2,068,519 of £4,167,060
2018’s Isle of Dogs dropped 48% £849,934 #10 485 screens and £3,939,214 of £6,009,438
2014’s The Grand Budapest Hotel dropped 20% £1,309,103 #2 adding 90 screens (458 screens) and £4,115,618) taking £10,978,014
2009’s Fantastic Mr Fox increased 2% £1,545,325 #3 483 screens (due to half-term) and £5,589,484 taking £8,707,283.
2012’s Moonrise Kingdom dropped 16% £210,804 #10 132 screens and £724,870 of £1,378,748
2007’s The Darjeeling Limited dropped 36% £275,582 #7 186 screens and £957,194 of £1,323,698
2004’s The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou dropped 39% £275,646 #14 175 screens and £1,057,864 of £1,323,544
2002’s The Royal Tenenbaums dropped 28% £503,444 #5 159 screens £1,595,173 of £2,674,161
1998’s Rushmore took £424,055
UK box office in detail
This weekend’s top 10 box office took £13,307,283 up 62.3% from last weekend’s £8,200,506: 1,669,672 admissions up 62.3% from 1,028,922.
326th biggest top 10 of the last 21 years (out of 1,109) between 18 January 2019 #1 Glass £3,423,380 (25.7% of the top 10) and 06 April 2018 #1 Peter Rabbit £3,152,269 (23.7% of the top 10) and 613th biggest inflation inflated between 29 September 2006 #1 Click £1,797,073 (22% of top 10) and 22 August 2014 #1 Lucy £3,076,997 (27.4% of top 10).
The top 3 took £9,560,973 71.8% of the top 10; Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny 53.69% (£7,144,441); Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse 11.51% (£1,531,476); Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken 6.65% (£885,056);
216th highest percentage (53.69%) #1 between 18 July 2014 Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (53.73%) and 29 July 2005 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (53.69%).
311th biggest admissions #1 (896,417) between 02 August 2019 Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw (896,988) and 08 July 2005 War of the Worlds (895,779).
Down 31.9% from 2022 (£19,545,957); Minions: The Rise of Gru (£10,424,758); The Railway Children (Re: 2022) (£14,471); #1 Minions: The Rise of Gru £10,424,758 1st week 631 screens (53.3% of top 10)
Up 34% from 2021; (£9,931,625); Fast & Furious 9 (£6,014,132); Supernova (£245,715); Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds (£212,334); #1 Fast & Furious 9 £6,014,132 1st week 594 screens (60.6% of top 10)
2020; Lockdown
Down 1.8% from 2019; (£13,549,874); Yesterday (£2,212,380); Apollo 11 (£324,732); #1 Toy Story 4 £8,284,437 2nd week 37% drop 691 screens (61.1% of top 10)
Up 105.3% from 2018: (£6,480,095); Sicario 2: Soldado (£698,466); Tag (£475,373); Adrift (£405,240); Patrick (£299,862); The Bookshop (£65,558); Leave No Trace (£50,445); Zoo (£12,516); #1 Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom £2,001,876 3rd week 4th week on release 633 screens 38% drop (30.9% of top 10)
Down 32.2% from 2017: (£19,630,337); Despicable Me 3 (£11,154,904); Baby Driver (£3,605,705); All Eyez on Me (£912,662); The House (£487,542); Alone in Berlin (£108,047); #1 Despicable Me 3 £11,154,904 1st week 608 screens (56.8% of top 10)
Down 13.4% from 2016: (£15,368,987); Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie (£4,042,959); Central Intelligence (£3,050,261); Notes on Blindness (£20,049); #1 The Secret Life Of Pets £4,739,295 2nd week 601 screens 51% drop (30.8% of the top 10)
Down 14.9% from 2015; (£15,633,889); Terminator: Genisys (£3,793,617); Magic Mike XXL (£1,575,092); Amy (£523,192); Guillaume Tell – Royal Opera, London 2015 (£114,673); #1 Minions £6,238,498 2nd week 586 screens (39.9% of top 10)
Up 129.6% from 2014: (£5,795,536); Tammy (£471,429); The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed out the Window and Disappeared (£102,570); Don Giovanni – Glyndebourne 2010 (£32,205); A Hard Day’s Night (Re: 2014) (£9,935); Vampire Academy (£111); #1 Mrs Brown’s Boys d’Movie £2,188,761 2nd week 529 screens 49% drop (37.7% of top 10)
Down 39.4% from 2013: (£21,973,402); Despicable Me 2 (£14,822,427); This is the End (£1,390,323); Hummingbird (£206,731); The East (£65,523); Stand Up Guys (£44,845); #1 Despicable Me 2 £14,822,427 1st week 534 screens (67.4% of top 10)
Up 157.8% from 2012 (£5,161,480); Ice Age: Continental Drift – Scotland only (£853,226); Friends with Kids (£357,520); Killer Joe (£208,553); Storage 24 (£131,342); Your Sister’s Sister (£81,098); Joyful Noise (£32,205); #1 Ice Age: Continental Drift (Scotland only) £853,226 1st week 134 screens (16.5% of top 10)
Down 13.7% from 2011; (£15,422,378); Transformers: Dark of the Moon (£10,728,503); Larry Crowne (£346,486); A Separation (£55,511); The Conspirator (£39,217); #1 Transformers: Dark of the Moon £10,728,503 1st week 521 screens (69.5% of top 10)
Up 20% from 2010: (£11,090,024); Shrek Forever After (£8,955,554); Heartbreaker (£119,742);; #1 Shrek Forever After £8,955,554 1st week 539 screens (80.7% of top 10)
Down 14.2% from 2009; (£15,513,026); Ice Age III (£7,639,884); Public Enemies (£2,228,291); #1 Ice Age III £7,639,884 1st week 526 screens (49.2% of top 10)
Up 19.1% from 2008; (£11,174,084); Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (£4,060,532); Wanted (£3,814,055); Female Agents (£68,412); A Complete History of My Sexual Failures (£12,772); #1 Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian £4,060,532 1st week 546 screens (36.3% of top 10)
Down 37.1% from 2007: (£21,135,733); Shrek the Third (£16,671,727); Hostel 2 (£681,426); The Flying Scotsman (£60,754);#1 Shrek the Third £16,671,727 1st week 536 screens (78.8% of top 10)
Up 109.1% from 2006; (£6,362,835); Over the Hedge (£3,589,038); Just My Luck (£579,306); Cave of the Yellow Dog (£12,623); #1 Over the Hedge £3,589,038 1st week 504 screens (56.4% of top 10)
Up 11.7% from 2005: (£11,909,005); War of the Worlds (£8,644,787); #1 War of the Worlds £8,644,787 1st week 507 screens (72.6% of top 10)
Down 33.1% from 2004 (£19,891,077); Shrek 2 (£16,220,752); Godsend (£491,506); Highwaymen (£44,388); Club Dread (£32,265); #1 Shrek 2 £16,220,752 1st week 512 screens (81.5% of top 10)
Down 28.8% from 2003 (£10,329,409); Bruce Almighty (£7,260,467); Wrong Turn (£370,562); Nicholas Nickleby (£222,376); Biker Boyz (£65,412); Feardotcom (£23,025); #1 Bruce Almighty £7,260,467 1st week 446 screens (70.3% of top 10)
Up 142.8% from 2002 (£5,480,099); Murder By Numbers (£729,164); Big Fat Liar (£406,105); Birthday Girl (£237,165); Rollerball (£136,243); What’s The Worst That Could Happen? (£69,194); #1 Spider-Man: The Movie £2,605,993 3rd week 507 screens 39% drop (47.5% of top 10)
Next Week 2022 (£20,163,540); Thor: Love and Thunder (£12,283,719); Brian & Charles (£71,890); Dr. Who: Classic Movie Double Bill (£64,730); #1 Thor: Love and Thunder £12,283,719 1st week 692 screens (60.9% of top 10)
US Box Office
- Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny – Disney
Opened with $60.36m; received mixed reviews (68% Rotten Tomatoes) and B+ CinemaScore.i
Took $7.2m from Thursday midnights.
193rd biggest opening between Kong: Skull Island and Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted (close to Inception #180 $62.78m; Mission: Impossible – Fallout #189 $61.23m; Jumanji: The Next Level #202 $59.25m and Gravity #223 $55.78m)/
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull #72 $100.13m; Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade #630 $29.35m; Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom #760 $25.33m and Raiders of the Lost Ark $8.3m.
42% of its audience was 45+ showing that the film was playing to those who grew up with the original films, that said it was lower than the opening audience split for Top Gun: Maverick which was 45% over 45, 21% over 55 with male to female 57% and 43%.
PLF, Imax, Screen Box, and 4DX took 35%; 21% PLF; 11% IMAX; 3% 4D/D-box/ScreenX; El Capitan was the top-grossing cinema; opened in 400 IMAX; 900 PLF; 280 D-Box and 85 Screen X; average ticket price was $12.96 and IMAX/PLF $16.41.
Dial Of Destiny was the most anticipated film of the summer in the US according to recent research by Morning Consult, but the question as with all of the legacy sequels was will younger audiences be as excited to see the film as their parents who grew up with the original trilogy.
Deadline was expecting Dial of Destiny to open with $140m worldwide including $60m in the US, which is about a third of what it should be opening with if the film is as anticipated as claimed, this could just be Disney doing their lowball estimates as their estimates are always low, so it looks like the films have opened far stronger than they did.
2008’s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull opened $100.13m ($150m inflated) taking $317.1m ($470m) and $790.65m worldwide ($1.2bn)
1989’s Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade opened $29.35m ($80m) taking $197.17m ($520m) and $474.17m worldwide ($1.25bn)
1984’s Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom opened $25.33m ($80m) taking $179.87m ($565m) and $333.1m worldwide ($1.1bn)
1981’s Raiders of the Lost Ark opened $8.3m ($32m) taking $248.15m ($940m) and $389.92m worldwide ($1.5bn)
In 1981 after Raiders of the Lost Ark Variety said it would have to be one of the biggest films of all time to register a profit for Paramount, showing nothing has changed over the past 41 years. The budget for Dial of Destiny is about $300m so would need to take over $1bn worldwide to turn a profit.
Kingdom of the Crystal Skull opened with $269m worldwide from 12,000 screens in 56 territories; UK $21.5m from 536 screens; France $14.1m; Germany $12.6m; Spain $11.7m; Korea $10m; Australia $9m; Russia $8.4m; Italy $6.5m; Brazil $5.7m; Mexico $4.5m.
1989’s Last Crusade took $277m internationally; 1984’s Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom in$153.5m; 1981’s Raiders of the Lost Ark $141.8m.
Opened with $70m from 52 territories; UK $8.9m; France $5.9m; Japan $4.7m; Korea $4.1m; Germany $4.1m; Spain $4m; Australia $3.8m; Italy $2.7m; China $2.3m; Mexico $2.3m.
$11m from IMAX worldwide including $5m internationally.
- Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse – Sony Pictures
Dropped 36.9% in the fifth weekend taking $12m and $340.37m
67th biggest fourth weekend between Frozen II and The Dark Knight Rises (close to Iron Man #53 $20.44m; Joker #65 $19.24m; Black Panther: Wakanda Forever #82 $17.54m; Thor: Ragnarok #91 $16.83m).
Across The Spider-Verse has already overtaken the lifetime total of Into the Spider-Verse, the reason is that it plays like a Spider-Man film as the audience seeing it is likely the same that saw No Way Home and other recent MCU films.
15th biggest animated film between Inside Out and Zootopia; 67th biggest between American Sniper and Thor: Love and Thunder; 187th inflated between Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I and Thor: Love and Thunder; 3rd biggest 2023 between Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 and The Little Mermaid; 22nd biggest comic-book film between Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 and Thor: Love and Thunder; 6th biggest Sony Pictures between Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man 3; overtaken The Amazing Spider-Man $262.03m; The Amazing Spider-Man 2 $202.85m; Spider-Man 3 $336.53m; Spider-Man: Homecoming $334.2m.
2018’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse dropped 30.2% taking $13.12m and $133.97m of $190.24m and $384.25m WW, unlike live-action Marvel films the BO was almost 50/50 US and international.
Took $13.8m (down 35%) from 63 territories $267.4m total and $607.3m worldwide; China $48.6m; UK $32.6m; Mexico $27m; Australia $18.5m; France $12.1m.
36th biggest animated film worldwide between How to Train Your Dragon 2 and Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa; 176th biggest worldwide between Logan and War of the Worlds; 4th biggest 2023 between Fast X and The Little Mermaid; 45th biggest comic-book film worldwide between Logan and Iron Man; 18th biggest Sony Pictures worldwide between Hancock and Casino Royale.
- Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken – Universal Pictures
Opened with $5.5m; received mixed reviews (65% Rotten Tomatoes) and A- CinemaScore
Took $725,000 from Thursday previews.
It had the lowest opening for Dreamworks Animation; the previous low’s 2003’s Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas $6.87m taking $20.48m and 2021’s Spirit Untamed $6.1m taking $17.71m.
This was also less than last year’s Strange World $12.15m taking $38m and $73.62m worldwide.
The 44 Dreamworks Animation films have taken almost $6.1bn in the US and $16.4bn worldwide; the next Dreamworks Animation film is Trolls Band Together in November the third film of the series, the previous film Trolls World Tour was due to open in April 2020 but was released on VOD after cinemas closed in March 2020 after COVID.
Opened with $7.6m internationally from 67 territories; Mexico $1.3m; UK $1.1m; Spain $643k; France $466k; Germany $417k.
- The Flash – Warner Bros
Dropped 65.5% in the fourth weekend taking $5.23m and $99.48m
2011’s Green Lantern dropped 63.6% taking $6.55m and $102.44m of $116.6m and $219.85m worldwide while 2013’s Man of Steel dropped 49.8% taking $20.73m and $248.57m and $291.04m and $668.04m worldwide.
784th biggest between The Pelican Brief and Vanilla Sky; 1,447th biggest inflated between The Lone Ranger and Short Circuit; 11th biggest 2023 between Scream VI and M3GAN; 84th biggest comic-book film between Daredevil and The Green Hornet; 133rd biggest Warner Bros film between The Pelican Brief and Due Date.
Warner Bros release two more DC films this year Blue Beetle in August and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom in December with Joker: Folie à Deux in October 2024 and then Superman: Legacy and The Batman Part II in July and October 2025.
Had The Flash opened on June 23rd it would have been the 34th anniversary of the opening of Tim Burton’s Batman starring Michael Keaton, the film that started the comic-book renaissance; Batman opened with $40.89m taking $251.4m in the US and $411.56m worldwide.
Took $11.4m from 78 territories $146.2m total and $246.85m worldwide; China $25.4m; Mexico $16.9m; UK $10.1m; Brazil $6.6m; Australia $5.4m.
680th biggest worldwide between Glass and Love Actually; 13th biggest 2023 between Creed III and Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves; 77th biggest comic-book between Unbreakable and Dark Phoenix; 111th biggest Warner Bros film between Space Jam and Dark Shadows.
- No Hard Feelings – Sony Pictures
Dropped 48% in the second weekend taking $7.85m and $29.66m
Gene Stupnitsky previously directed 2019’s Good Boys dropped 45.6% in the second weekend taking $11.65m and $41.94m of $83.14m and $111.17m worldwide.
While similar second weekends include
2011’s Bad Teacher dropped 54.1% $14.5m and $59.95m of $100.29m and $216.19m worldwide
2014’s Sex Tape dropped 58.6% $6.05m and $26.95m of $38.54m and $126.06m worldwide
2006’s Failure to Launch dropped 36.1% $15.6m and $48.27m of $88.71m and $130.22m worldwide
2010’s Easy A dropped 40.6% $10.6m and $32.71m of $58.4m and $75.02m worldwide
Took $6.5m (26% drop) from 54 territories internationally $20m and $49.3m worldwide
- Elemental – Disney
Dropped 34% in the third weekend taking $12.12m and $89.6m
509th biggest second weekend between Elvis and Sleepy Hollow (close to Toy Story $20.16m; Lightyear $18.15m; Puss in Boots: The Last Wish $16.81m).
127th biggest animated film between The Emperor’s New Groove and Peter Pan; 910th biggest film between The Emperor’s New Groove and Father of the Bride; 1,654th biggest inflated between The Adventures of Tintin and Bridge of Spies; 14th biggest 2023 between Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves and Evil Dead Rise; 159th biggest Disney between The Emperor’s New Groove and Father of the Bride.
23 Pixar films have taken $6.29bn since 1995 ($8.5bn inflation inflated) and $15.1bn worldwide.
Took $29.8m (down 7%) from 40 territories $98m total and $187m worldwide; Korea $17.3m; China $14m; Mexico $9.9m; France $6.1m; Australia $4.4m.
145th biggest animated film worldwide between Abominable and Atlantis: The Lost Empire; 954th biggest worldwide between Walk the Line and Octopussy; 16th biggest worldwide between Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves and Scream VI; 148th biggest Disney worldwide between The Waterboy and The Horse Whisperer.
- Transformers: Rise of the Beasts – Paramount Pictures
Dropped 37% in the fourth weekend taking $7.35m and $146.46m
586th biggest fourth weekend between Sleepless in Seattle and Dead Poets Society (close Jurassic Park III $7.52m; Ready Player One $7.41m; Arrival $7.26m and Minority Report $7.21m.
477th biggest film between The Godfather and Godzilla (1998); 952nd biggest inflated between Trainwreck and Journey 2: The Mysterious Island; 9th biggest 2023 film between Fast X and Scream VI; 61st biggest Paramount Pictures film between The Godfather and Mission: Impossible III.
The box office of the Transformers film series highlights the impact China has had on the global box office over the last 16 years and how the Transformers series wouldn’t have survived as long had it not been for the huge growth of China as has also been the case with Fast & Furious franchise.
Fourth weekends
2007’s Transformers dropped 43.2% taking $11.64m and $284.67m out of $319.24m and $709.7m WW (55% international $37.2m China)
2009’s Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen dropped 43.5% taking $13.69m and $363.8m of $402.1m and $836.3m WW (51.9% international including $66m China)
2011’s Transformers: Dark of the Moon dropped 43.5% taking $12.05m and $325.84m of $352.39m and $1.12bn WW (68.6% international including $165.1m China)
2014’s Transformers: Age of Extinction dropped 39.6% taking $9.84m and $227m of $245.43m and $1.1bn WW (77.8% international including $301m China)
2017’s Transformers: The Last Knight dropped 55.4% taking $2.84m and $124.95m of $130.16m and $605.42m WW (78.5% international including $229m China)
2018’s Bumblebee dropped 45.4% taking $7.2m and $108.9m of $127.19m and $467.98m WW (72.8% international including $171m China)
The 7 Transformer films have taken over $1.72bn in the US and $5.22bn worldwide.
While Bumblebee received far better reviews than all of the other Transformer films it was also the lowest-grossing film of the series.
Took $14.9m (down 43%) from 65 territories $242.95m total and $379.41m worldwide.
371st biggest worldwide between Black Widow and Hotel Transylvania; 10th biggest 2023 worldwide between John Wick: Chapter 4 and Creed III; 41st biggest Paramount Pictures worldwide between Monsters vs. Aliens and G.I. Joe: Retaliation.
- The Little Mermaid – Disney
Dropped 37% in the sixth weekend taking $5.39m and $281.24m
271st biggest sixth weekend between We’re the Millers and Thor: Love and Thunder
118th biggest between The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1 and Meet the Fockers; Sing and Monsters University; 277th inflated between Stripes and Dr Seuss’ The Lorax; 4th 2023 film between Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and Ant-Man and the Wasp; 42nd biggest Disney film between Monsters, Inc. and Monsters University.
The biggest Disney re-imaginations on sixth weekends:
2017’s Beauty and the Beast dropped 29.5% $8.65m #3 $470.78m 93.4% of $504.01m
2019’s The Lion King dropped by 34.6% $12.33m #5 $510.55m by 93.9% of $543.63m
2010’s Alice in Wonderland dropped 35.4% $5.3m #7 $319m 95.5% of $334.19m
2016’s The Jungle Book dropped 36.1% $10.94m #5 $327.24m 89.9% of $364m
2019’s Aladdin dropped 23.6% $10.11m #4 $306.63m 86.2% of $355.55m
Took $7.2m (dropped 31%) from 52 territories $242.71m total and $523.96m worldwide; the UK $31.2m; Mexico $20.6m; Japan $17.1m; Brazil $16m; Australia $13.7m.
223rd biggest worldwide between The Simpsons Movie and How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World; 6th biggest 2023 between Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania; 62nd biggest Disney film between Ralph Breaks The Internet and Ant-Man (close to Cinderella, Aladdin, Oz the Great and Powerful and Maleficent: Mistress of Evil).
- Asteroid City – Focus Features
Dropped 53% in the third weekend taking $4.27m and $18.62m
Wes Anderson’s previous openings
2021’s The French Despatch dropped 0.7% $2.58m and $8.45m of $16.12m and $46.33m worldwide
2018’s Isle of Dogs up 55% taking $4.56m and $12.01m; slowly expanded into 1,939 screens after 4 weeks taking $32.01m and $64.24m worldwide
2014’s The Grand Budapest Hotel up 86.6% taking $6.78m and $12.99m; expanded into 1,467 screens over 6 weeks taking $59.3m and $172.93m worldwide
2009’s Fantastic Mr Fox up 3,322.5% taking $6.96m and $10.02m of $21m taking $46.47m worldwide
2012’s Moonrise Kingdom was up 77.9% taking $1.55m and $3.73m; expanded into 924 screens after 8 weeks taking $45.51m taking $68.26m worldwide
2007’s The Darjeeling Limited up 93.2% taking $1.08m and $2.15m; expanded into 698 screens after 5 weeks taking $11.9m taking $35.3m worldwide
Wes Anderson’s 10 directed films have taken $298m in the US and $573m worldwide; Asteroid City is Wes Anderson’s first film having previously directed 5 films for Fox Searchlight and four films for Disney.
Took $2.8m from 38 territories $11.4m total and $29.5m worldwide.
UK Box Office Top 10
UK Box Office Preview
Despite Elemental having a disappointing opening in the US last month the three-week delay could help it open ahead of Dial of Destiny’s second weekend as it will likely drop 60%+ taking £2.6m-£3m. Elemental could have a similar opening as Onward (£3,419,500) and Lightyear (£3,718,002) also similar to Monsters University, The Good Dinosaur and Cars 3.
Elemental is the only major children’s film released for the next 6 weeks as Barbie will be targeting a slightly older audience, that said with 12A it will likely attract a similar family audience. So, despite the arrival of Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One on Monday it’s unlikely to affect its BO. The only issue it will have alongside Dial of Destiny is holding on to its screens as it will be booked onto smaller screens of cinemas.
Insidious: The Red Door is the first horror to be released since The Boogeyman a month ago and the previous four Insidious films have all had strong openings, 2018’s Insidious: The Last Key opened £1.84m taking £5.04m and is an alternative to anything else playing could open similar to Evil Dead Rise £1.47m but will be very front-loaded with screens a premium over the next two weeks with everything bar Dead Reckoning Part One, Barbie and Oppenheimer being squeezed until the end of the month.
The arrival of Elemental will likely see Ruby Gillman drop heavily and down the charts leaving Across The Spider-Verse in fourth.
Dead Reckoning Part One opens on Monday giving it a 7-day opening as it will lose all IMAX/PLF screens to Oppenheimer which could see it having £15m+ opening similar to Top Gun: Maverick (£15,931,497) taking £4,735,406 from 2 days of previews while Dead Reckoning has four.
Opening in two weeks
- The Meg 2: The Trench – Warner Bros
Science fiction action-horror sequel to 2018’s The Meg starring Jason Statham, Wu Jing, Sophia Cai, Page Kennedy, Sergio Peris-Mencheta, Skyler Samuels, and Cliff Curtis and directed by Ben Wheatley.
2018’s The Meg opened with £3,651,111 (including £1.17m Friday) taking £15,075,792
Other shark disaster films include.
2017’s 47 Meters Down opened £637,964 taking £1,326,136
2016’s The Shallows opened with £800,963 taking £1,723,386
2004’s Open Water opened with £1,970,176 taking £4,818,915
1999’s Deep Blue Sea opened with £1,946,454 taking £8,087,585
While many like to mock Jason Statham, his films are crowd pleasers (Fast & Furious, The Transporter, The Mechanic, The Expendables and Crank) often performed strongly in August ever since he starred in Guy Ritchie’s Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels 20 years ago (opened August 1998 with £941,638 taking £11,399,953).
- Joy Ride – Lionsgate
Comedy starring Ashley Park, Sherry Cola, Stephanie Hsu, and Sabrina Wu and directed by Adele Lim.
Had the world premiere at SXSW in March 2023, received positive reviews (97% Rotten Tomatoes) has been compared to The Hangover and Bridesmaids