Top 5 Breakdown
- Sing – £3,800,408 – £15,292,036
Down 63.77% in its second weekend was more than last year’s The Secret Life of Pets 50.3% taking £4.72m, 2015’s Minions dropped 46.1% taking £3.7m and 2013’s Despicable Me 2 dropped 73% taking £3.9m in their second weekends.
After 10 days on release (plus two days of previews Sing is 8% down from 2016’s The Secret Life of Pets, 27% down from Minions taking £20.96m (without previews) and 33% down from Despicable Me 2 £22.9m (with previews).
Sing has the advantage over those three films as will benefit next week with a very lucrative half-term but of course, faces the competition of the far better reviewed The Lego Batman Movie that opens on Friday after taking £2.44m from two days of previews over the weekend. But first release family film always has an advantage over the second family film to be released and normally takes more but both will likely take £30m+.
Next up for Illumination is Despicable Me 3 out June 30th will probably be the biggest animated film of the year.
- T2 Trainspotting £2,935,145 – £10,638,197
Down 43.07% in its second weekend by the end of the week will have overtaken the box office of the original 1996 film which took £12.43m but of course, it’s impossible to compare as average ticket prices have increased by over 100% since Trainspotting’s release would be over £26m today.
Hard to compare the box office of T2 Trainspotting with other films only with other recent 18’s but their audience were very different to T2 Trainspotting.
| OWE | 2nd D | 2nd w/e | 2nd Total | ||
| The Wolf of Wall Street | 17th January 2014 | £4.51m | -23% | £3.59m | £10.88m |
| Gone Girl | 2nd October 2014 | £4.10m | -16% | £3.05m | £9.82m |
| Fifty Shades of Grey | 13th February 2015 | £13.27m | -66% | £4.56m | £25.20m |
T2 Trainspotting will soon overtake other 18s 2009’s Inglourious Basterds £10.9m, 1998’s Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels £11.8m and 2000’s Snatch £12.3m; but while they are all 18s the audience for them is very different and they didn’t have the massive hype and huge marketing campaigns surrounding them.
- La La Land – £1,807,593 – £24,517,773
Down 41.72% in its fourth weekend as with the US, it’s on far too many screens with a screen average of less than half Sing and T2 Trainspotting.
After four weeks, has become Lionsgate’s fourth biggest film in the UK behind three Hunger Games sequels, Catching Fire £32.2m, Mockingjay Part 1 £30.84m, Mockingjay Part 2 £28.86m having overtaken the total of the first Hunger Games film £23.9m over the weekend. Over the coming weeks even with the arrival of The Lego Batman Movie and Fifty Shades Darker which will see it drop down the charts will see a boost at the box office next weekend after winning Best Film and many other awards at the BAFTAs and then in two weeks’ time when it does the same at the Oscars.
La La Land has also overtaken total box office of last year’s best picture Oscar nominees The Martian £23.5m, and The Revenant £23.4m but neither had the hype surrounding La La Land which has seen it being the favourite to win BAFTAs and Oscars since premiering at the Venice Film Festival in September.
After months of hype and critical acclaim there have been some murmurings La La Land doesn’t live up to the hype something I have been saying since saw it in December it is a lovely film but there are so many more films that deserve award recognition over La La Land but as it plays to Hollywood nostalgia ever since it premiered at Venice Film Festival in September it was odds on to win Best Film at the BAFTAs and Oscars. I believe as with so many nostalgic memberries movies in recent years that after a few months when the pixey dust wears off La La Land will be seen similar to Crash in 2005 when Brokeback Mountain was the film that deserved to win Best Film but Crash won.
The Guardian wrote an article “Why we need to stop saying ‘this is the movie we need right now” but it’s film critics who have been using that line in their reviews for months as it is one studio like to use as part of the films marketing campaign.
Cinema has always been where people go to escape modern day life this was highlighted with the high cinema attendance during Second World War when the war started cinemas were immediately closed for safety but they reopened within a week as the government realised people needed the entertainment to keep up morale while many cinemas were hit by bombs it didn’t stop millions going to the cinema. More recently after Princess Diana’s death in August 1997 audiences came to see the feel-good comedy The Full Monty in their millions becoming the biggest film ever while in 2001 after tragic events on September 11th audiences came to see Moulin Rouge which took £17.93m which would be over £34m today.
Recent January openings Oscar winners
| O w/e | 2nd w/e | 2 w/e T | 3rd w/e | 3rd w/e T | 4th w/e | 4th T | ||
| La La Land | 13 Jan 2017 | £6.59m | £4.37m | £14.90m | £3.10m | £20.95 | £1.80m | £24.51 |
| Spotlight | 29 Jan 2016 | £1.06m | £864,199 | £2.64m | £451,302 | £3.65 | £326,776 | £4.38 |
| The Revenant | 15 Jan 2016 | £5.23m | £3.85m | £12.01m | £2.27m | £16.09 | £1.21 | £18.35 |
| Birdman | 1 Jan 2015 | £1.52m | £826,316 | £2.99m | £551,250 | £4.01 | £380,113 | £4.66 |
| 12 Years A Slave | 10 Jan 2014 | £2.51m | £3.05m | £7.12m | £2.23m | £11.03 | £1.42m | £13.69 |
| Les Misérables | 11 Jan 2013 | £8.12m | £4.40m | £17.36m | £4.01m | £24.61 | £2.78m | £30.13 |
| The Kings Speech | 7 Jan 2011 | £3.52m | £4.40m | £10.75m | £4.22m | £18.31 | £3.63m | £24.90 |
| Slumdog Millionaire | 9 Jan 2009 | £1.82m | £2.63m | £5.95m | £2.80m | £10.23 | £2.35m | £14.21 |
| No Country For Old Men | 18 Jan 2008 | £1.25m | £828,196 | £2.75m | £712,346 | £3.93 | E411,113 | £4.75 |
After four weeks on release, La La Land took more than all other recent Oscar-winning films except Les Misérables The Kings Speech and Slumdog Millionaire while its total is slightly behind The Kings Speech (had the similar amount of hype but held far stronger and with 22% lower ticket prices).
The hype around La La Land has been immense heralded as the film of the moment but as many have shown with comparisons videos it’s a montage of scenes from classic scenes from Hollywood’s glories past which is why critics and Academy members love it and have described it as the film we need now. But is it? Why watch a remake when you can as easily see the original which will show that films like La La Land are like the Emperor’s New Clothes all hype no substance. Ever since La La Land premiered at Toronto Film Festival in September critics and awards have clambered over it in awe but is it as special and deserving of all that praise.
- Split £1,246,171 – £8,261,329
Down 38.1% in its third weekend holding strong despite the arrival of two new horrors Rings and Resident Evil: The Last Chapter which cannibalized each other.
As with M. Night Shyamalan’s earlier films world of mouth has been strong normally these types of films are front-loaded. The new releases Fifty Shades Darker and The Lego Batman Movie aren’t likely to affect the audience of Split but while it will drop down the charts this week screen share with Sing it should still overtake 2004’s The Village £9.98m but unlikely 2000’s Unbreakable £11.22m.
Night Shyamalan has announced plans for his next film which is expected to be Unbreakable 2 sharing the same universe of Split ending with a surprise cameo. M. Night Shyamalan said Kevin was a character from Unbreakable cutting room floor.
- Lion – £872,699 – £5,002,078
Down only 20.95% in its third weekend holding well thanks to strong word of mouth and a quiet week for award contenders allowed cinemagoers to discover Lion now. Over the past week, Mon-Thurs added about £800,000.
Lion received five BAFTA nominations and six Oscar nominations but is unlikely to win and with Fences and 20th Century Women along with the other higher profile releases Lion is unlikely to hold on to many of its screens this weekend and drop down the charts.
Also, released
Loving – Universal – £234,183 from 189 screens
Toni Erdmann – Soda Pictures – £157,688 from 41 screens; Toni Erdmann has been nominated for Best Foreign Film at Oscars
Was announced on Tuesday Jack Nicholson and Kristen Wiig would star in the remake which Paramount Pictures will produce; will be Jack Nicholson first film since starring in James L. Brooks dramedy 2020’s How Do You Know which was one of the biggest flops ever and starred in 2007’s The Bucket List with Morgan Freeman. Only a couple of weeks ago, were rumours Jack Nicholson would be announcing his retirement from acting.
Other box office news
This weekend’s top 10 box office took £13,871,522 down 46% from last weekend £25,816,418;
Weekend admissions 1,835,095 down 47% from last week 3,483,997
Weekend was up 2.5% from last year (£13,532,704) Goosebumps – £2,683,690, Dad’s Army £2,067,827 and Trumbo £144,308.
In 2015: (£10,690,982) Shaun the Sheep £2,083,049, Jupiter Ascending £1,345,097, Selma £709,381 and The Interview £281,916 opened.
Next weekend in 2016: (£24,988,211) Deadpool – £13,719,726, Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip – £4,286,955, Zoolander 2 – £2,085,512 Pride and Prejudice and Zombies £358,142, A Bigger Splash £348,000 and Concussion £115,000 opened.
Cinema Exhibitors Association average ticket price of £7.41 for 2016 up only 2.77% from 2015 despite a 7.3% increase from 2014. If the same percentage was used 2016 average ticket price would be £7.74.
UK Box Office Top 10
US Box Office Top 10
Night Shyamalan’s Split stays #1 for a third weekend as the new release Rings and The Space Between Us as expected have disappointing openings.
Taking $14.6m in its third weekend Split has taken $98.7m it is M. Night Shyamalan’s first film since 1999’s The Sixth Sense to stay #1 for three weeks becoming his fifth biggest film in the US and likely to overtake both 2004’s The Village and 2010’s The Last Airbender. M. Night Shyamalan spoke more this week about his sequel plans for Split which is expected to be Unbreakable 2 as both films are part of the same universe.
After being delayed from November 2015 Rings opened with $13m which might be similar to the first film The Ring opening of $15.01m taking $129.1m but this was 15 years ago, Rings will be lucky if it took half. This is despite over 200 million watching the fake TV viral video. Last April at CinemaCon Paramount were planning to make a series of Rings films similar to their annual Paranormal Activity films; Rings recieved an C- CinemaScore so will drop heavily this weekend.
After Rings, disappointing performance Paramount also canceled the long in development Friday the 13th film which was due for release October 13th, 2017. In 2013 as part of the deal for Christopher Nolan to direct Interstellar Warner Bros gave Paramount full ownership of Friday the 13th and South Park for five years which will likely end next year with neither film made for a studio that has been lacking with films released since 2011 is very strange as these are both lucrative properties. Paramount also undated World War Z sequel from June 2017 with an untitled Event movie dated for 2nd November 2018 it’s likely to move to this date.
Dropping down one A Dog’s Purpose with $10.8m taking $32.9m; was revealed this week that the abuse video leaked days before its release was falsified. Shows fake news is not just about politics it’s of course not known if the video affected its box office but before the video was released the buzz for the film was very low but the video was released generated much media coverage must have sparked interest for the film which wasn’t there before?
Hidden Figures drops only 27.9% in its fifth week on wide release with $10.1m and $119.4m; 13% less than 2011’s The Help after five weeks; Hidden Figures should end with around $150m. The film has been a massive surprise success for Kevin Costner as his role in the film is fictional compared with the female cast. Hidden Figures is Kevin Costner’s first film to take $100m at the US box office since 1992’s The Bodyguard and within days will overtake it to be incredibly his third biggest film behind Robin Hood: prince of Thieves and Dances with Wolves (not including his cameos in Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice and Man of Steel).
La La Land continues to hold #5 but with one of the lowest screen averages in the top ten is now playing in far too many screens
Lion climbed into the top 10 #8 adding 830 screens taking $4m.
After being the delay from July to December and then February The Space Between Us has a very disappointing opening with $3.82m in ninth had a similar opening to The Edge of Seventeen which opened with $4.75m last November. Over the last the ten years the marketplace has made it very hard for these types of films to find an audience while they might generate strong social media coverage they rarely transfer into box office; received A- CinemaScore.
As expected Rogue One drops out of the top 10 after 8 weeks on release several weeks earlier than Star Wars: The Force Awakes last year has taken $524.6m. After eight weeks on release The Force Awakens had taken $906.6m 97% of its final box office of $936.66m which would see Rogue One ending with $539.6m which would see it squeeze past 2008’s The Dark Knight’s $534.85m but ticket prices have increased over 20% since and Rogue One had the extra 3D surcharges.
Opened February 10th
Opening UK
- The Lego Batman Movie – Warner Bros
Six years ago, when was announced Warner Bros were making a Lego Movie everyone was WTF how can you turn a children’s brick toy into a film but remember waking up very early on 18th June 2013 and watched the first teaser for The Lego Movie and knew everything would be awesome.
The Lego Movie opened February 14th with £8.03m including £1.9m from previews taking £21.87m after 10 days including almost £8m Mon-Thurs over half-term holidays but Sing will be much tougher competition from The Lego Batman Movie than Mr Peabody and Sherman and TinkerBell and the Pirate Fairy.
The Lego Batman Movie took £2.2m from previews over last weekend compared with £4.2m for Sing (two weeks ago, but it didn’t have any family film competition) which was 40% of its opening weekend of £10.48m. But The Lego Movie previews of £1.9m were only 24% of its opening if The Lego Batman Movie was to open similar it would have a £9.2m opening going into half term week which could see its box office be over £20m after 10 days on release.
So many films these days have incredible marketing campaign but the film doesn’t live up to the hype but reviews have been comparable to The Lego Movie for The Lego Batman Movie while not as original it is as funny and will play to children as much as adults who will be eager to take their children to see it unlike with films like Sing as it is the DC movie adults have been wanting since The Dark Knight Rises. Instead of continuing the live action DC Extended Universe films they should just make all the films in Lego
From Friday ,February 3rd to Sunday 5th Lego Batman took over Channel 4 ad breaks with 18 animated intros shown across four days in more than 40 ad breaks; the first-time Channel 4 has done this. In 2014 Warner Bros took over and break during Dancing on Ice with adverts recreated in Lego watched by over 5 million.
In the US Warner Bros are doing a similar campaign turning many of their TV shows into Lego as well as next week with The Big Bang Theory having a Lego version.
- Fifty Shades Darker – Universal Pictures
Sequel to 2015’s Fifty Shades of Grey starring Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan and directed by James Foley.
Despite the original booking selling over 100 million copies (45m in US and 27m in the UK) a year before the original film was released Universal Pictures had no plans to make a sequel which put E.L James in a far stronger position to demand script approval and has reportedly final cut approval. Those who have read the books say they are badly written but the two sequels are far worse than the original. It was originally reported E.L James would write the screenplay (with crayons) but in April 2015 announced her husband Niall Leonard would instead while writing scripts for TV series including Ballykissangel and Monarch of the Glen hadn’t written a film screenplay before.
In August, was announced James Foley would direct both sequels Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed best known for directing 1992’s Glengarry Glen Ross; has directed 11 films over the last 30 years but with 2007’s Perfect Stranger and underrated thriller 1996’s Fear (starring Mark Wahlberg and Reese Witherspoon in their first major roles in a studio film) taking over $20m at the box office.
The first trailer as released on September 15th receiving 114 million views in its first 24 hours (compared with 36.4m in the first week for Fifty Shades of Grey’s first trailer in July 2014 which was the most viewed trailer until Avengers Age of Ultron in October but by December received 93 million views being the most watched trailer of the year) breaking the record previously held by Star Wars: The Force Awakens with 112 million in October 2015, its record was beaten in November 2016 by the second trailer for Beauty and the Beast.
Trailer views aren’t any barometer to how a film may perform at the box office as xXx: The Return of Xander Cage was viewed over 100m titles in November but failed to light up at the box office opening last month likewise Rings fake TV viral was watched over 200m times on YouTube but failed to attract few of them to see it in cinemas.
Repeating the success of the first film which had Ellie Goulding’s Love Me Like You Do (viewed 1.37 billion times on YouTube) as its theme song Zayn and Taylor Swift released I Don’t Wanna Live Forever in December.
Fifty Shades of Grey was fan fiction of Twilight books so it wasn’t much of a surprise given the massive hype surrounding its opening opened with £13.27m (taking £4.61m on its opening day) while 2009’s New Moon £11.68m, Eclipse £13.76m and Breaking Dawn Part 1 £13.91m.
But expectations are much lower for Fifty Shades Darker while Fifty Shades of Grey had a high-profile premiere at the Berlin Film Festival the sequel is much smaller scale with its UK premiere the day before opens which will probably see the embargo end on Thursday too.
While rival studios kept their distance from Fifty Shade of Grey Warner Bros are releasing The Lego Batman Movie its opening will be inflated by a weekend of previews which will likely see a similar weekend as January 27th-29th with the two films possibly taking upwards of £20m between them which could see them cannibalize the box office.
While Twilight and The Hunger Games sequels opened far bigger than original films the opposite will be likely for Fifty Shades Darker. Adult drama sequels are a rarity but Basic Instinct in 1992 took £15.48m (£35.73m today average ticket price in 1992 was £3.21comparedd with £7.41 today 130% more). While its sequel release 14 years later took only £937,653. While Sex and the City opened in 2008 with £8.76m taking £26.4m its sequel in 2010 opened with £6.14m taking £21.6m; the sequel opening with 30% less than the original which is probably similar to how Fifty Shades Darker will open compared with Fifty Shades of Grey opening with about £9.2m which will be similar to The Lego Batman Movie but while that will have strong word of mouth Fifty Shades Darker will drop heavier than original which dropped 66% in its second weekend.
- The Space Between Us – Entertainment
Romantic sci-fi starring stars Gary Oldman, Asa Butterfield, Britt Robertson and Carla Gugino and directed by Peter Chelsom (directed massive Warren Beatty flop Town & Country in 2001 and Hannah Montana The Movie in 2009); received poor reviews being compared to films based on Nicholas Sparks and John Green novels. Variety called it “The Fault in Our Planet and an expensive spin on The Boy in the Plastic Bubble.
Nicholas Sparks and John Green films in recent years have had mixed success at the box office but always generate much coverage on social media fans like talking about the films but don’t go to the cinema to see them. When teens do go to see them in cinemas are normally front-loaded majority of them out of the top 10 after a week in recent years The Fault In Our Stars the only exception.
| Message in a Bottle | 23rd April 1999 | £579,997 | £1.92 |
| A Walk to Remember | 13th September 2002 | £246,860 | £433,546 |
| The Notebook | 25th June 2004 | £309,507 | £1.10m |
| Nights in Rodanthe | 10th October 2008 | £193,318 | n/a |
| Dear John | 14th April 2010 | £1.99m | £5.44m |
| The Last Song | 30th April 2010 | £679,698 | £1.93m |
| The Lucky One | 2nd May 2012 | £1.15m | £2.92m |
| Safe Haven | 1st March 2013 | £812,460 | £2.07m |
| The Best of Me | 15th October 2014 | £636,842 | n/a |
| The Longest Ride | 19th June 2015 | £419,047 | £989,255 |
| The Choice | 4th March 2016 | £139,669 | n/a |
| The Fault In Our Stars | 19th June 2014 | £3.43m | £11.06m |
| Paper Towns | 17th August 2015 | £2.07m | £3.40m |
- Fences – Paramount
Drama starring Denzel Washington, Viola Davis, Stephen Henderson, Jovan Adepo, Russell Hornsby, Mykelti Williamson, and Saniyya Sidney and directed by Denzel Washington his third film as a director.
The film adaption of the play has been in development for over 10 years delayed due to August Wilson’s insistence of having an African American director until 2013 when Denzel Washington expressed an interest in directing and starring in a film adaption.
Denzel Washington ever since his film debut in 1987’s Richard Attenborough’s Cry Freedom had continued success at the UK box office as an actor but his previous two films as a director his first Antwone Fisher had a limited opening in the UK opening with £59,976 from 46 screens on 18th May 2003 but his second The Great Debaters in 2007 didn’t have a theatrical release in the UK.
In 2013 Fences was performed on stage in London’s West End starring Lenny Henry as Troy Maxson.
Fences received four Oscar nominations including Best Supporting Actress for Viola Davis which is expected to win she also has a BAFTA nomination for Best Supporting Actress but even with the Oscar/BAFTA win Fences will find it hard to find an audience in the UK.
- 20th Century Women – eOne
Comedy drama starring Annette Bening, Elle Fanning, Greta Gerwig, Lucas Jade Zumann and Billy Crudup and directed by Mike Mills; received the world premiere at New York Film Festival receiving critical acclaim receiving two Golden Globe nominations and one Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay.
Similar to Fences despite both films receiving strong reviews they will both find it hard to find an audience in a very crowded marketplace with the more higher profile Oscar nominees with these films not receiving the audiences they both deserve. This is always the case when distributors date these films around award ceremonies despite so many others films targeting same demographic.
- Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk – Sony Pictures
War drama starring Joe Alwyn, Kristen Stewart, Garrett Hedlund, Vin Diesel, Steve Martin and Chris Tucker and directed by Ang Lee; had the world premiere at the New York Film Festival in October receiving mixed reviews. The release was overshadowed by the film being made in 120 FPS and 3D 4K but was only released in that format in only six cinemas in the US.
Months before release was a potential award contender being Ang Lee’s first film he had directed since winning Best Picture and Director in 2013 for Life of Pi. He also won Best Director in 2006 for Brokeback Mountain but missed out on Best Picture won by Crash which was one of the biggest surprise wins at the Oscars in recent years.
Originally Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk was given a prime January slot but opening February 10th against so many other releases it looks very much as its being dumped.
Opening in US
- The Lego Batman Movie – Warner Bros
Superhero spin-off to 2014’s The Lego Movie featuring the voices of voices of Will Arnett, Zach Galifianakis, Michael Cera, Rosario Dawson and Ralph Fiennes and directed by Chris McKay (his directorial debut).
Reviews have been very positive similar to The Lego Movie playing as well to children and adults with many calling it the best Batman movie since The Dark Knight. Maybe the real reason Ben Affleck dropped out of directing The Batman was he saw The Lego Batman Movie and realised that it wold be very hard to compete with it.
In February 2014, The Lego Movie opened with $69.05m taking $257.76m.
The big question will be if The Lego Batman Movie will attract comic-book fans breaking another barrier to the one Deadpool broke so successfully last February.
Warner Bros plan to create a similar cinematic universe to DC/Marvel with Lego Ninjago opening September 22nd, 2017 and The Lego Movie 2 8th February 2019.
Tracking is estimating it will open with $60m but with very positive reviews and strong buzz with a fantastic marketing campaign, it should open ahead of The Lego Movie.
- Fifty Shades Darker – Universal Pictures
When the original film opened, the books were at their height of popularity two years later has the bubble burst as the sequel is tracking to open with less than half of what Fifty Shades of Grey opened the same weekend in February 2015 with $85.1m, 51% of its final box office of $166.1m.
While the Twilight films increased their box office over the series the opposite is likely for Fifty Shades of Grey. Two years ago, Kingsman: The Secret Service opened strongly in second taking $36.2m but the sequel is likely to open in the shadows of The Lego Batman Movie.
Fifty Shade Darker is expected to open with half of its original about $41m and likely to be even more front-loaded taking about $85m which is half of what the original film took.
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- John Wick: Chapter Two – Lionsgate
Sequel to the 2014 action thriller film starring Keanu Reeves, Common, Laurence Fishburne, Ruby Rose, John Leguizamo and Ian McShane and directed by Chad Stahelski.
The original film in 2014 opened with $14.41m taking $43.05m which was a decent performance but not one that you would normally expect would merit a sequel but the film became a cult success since on home entertainment but Lionsgate saw John Wick as a multiple title action franchise.
But many recent sequels have underwhelmed at the box office but should still have a similar opening to the recent xXx: The Return of Xander Cage of around $20m.
Honest trailers released their unique look at the original John Wick film this week