1. Onward – £1,272,748 – £5,291,686

Dropped 62.8% in its second weekend;

Had the 696^th biggest second weekend between Inglourious Basterds and A Bad Moms Christmas (close to Puss in Boots, The Hannah Montana Movie, Flubber and G-Force) and 949^th biggest inflation inflated between Get Him to the Greek and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (close to Planes, The LEGO Ninjago Movie, The Smurfs 2 and Racing Stripes).

Had Pixar’s worst second weekend taking similar box office to The Good Dinosaur and Cars 3, both received mixed reaction from critics and see as average Pixar films.

112^th biggest animation second weekend between A Peanuts Movie and Pokemon: The First Movie (close to Turbo, Coraline, Flushed Away and The Emoji Movie)

Always harder to compare animation/family films second weekends as many as with Onward had weekend previews so second weekends will always drop bigger than those that don’t have previews. Likewise those films that open term-time and those that are playing during school holidays and also the time of the year has an impact.

150^th biggest animated film between Hoodwinked and The Angry Birds Movie 2 (close to Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, ParaNorman, Corpse Bride and Team America: World Police).

While many analysts have said the weekends box office was utter disaster but most films probably performed as they were expected to do, after Onward under-performed last weekend having an opening inflated with previews during school term saw an expected 60%+ drop, while The Hunt and Bloodshot failed to find an audience (neither were likely to in normal circumstances) while The Invisible Man held strongly while the others dropped heavily. Probably the only two films that were affected by Coronavirus were Military Wives and Misbehaviour, but these films struggle to find an audience in cinemas.

While Monsters University had a disappointing opening in 2013, this was due to opening over a very hot weekend and close to Despicable Me 2, but due to opening at the start of the summer holidays playing strongly over the weeks after taking £29,768,407.  In comparison Onward opened over a month before the Easter holidays and by the time the holidays start it was expected to be joined by Peter Rabbit 2 and Trolls World Tour.

22 Pixar films have taken over £690m at the box office since Toy Story in 1996 and over £890m inflation inflated.

As with 2015 and 2018 Disney are releasing two Pixar films this year with Soul opening in June but it faces tough competition from Minions: The Rise of Gru opening three weeks afterwards.

Pixar have one untitled film for release in 2021, two untitled in 2022 and one untitled In 2023 all expected to be original films as after the release of Toy Story 4 last year Pixar said it would be their last sequel for some time, but after Onward under performing this could change?

2. The Invisible Man – £827,746 – £6,555,330

Down 46.2% in its third weekend; The Invisible Man had the best held strongly in its second weekend despite Coronavirus fears (while new releases opened lower than expected and other films on release dropped heavily) due to strong word of mouth and strong buzz.

36^th biggest horror between Saw and Shaun of the Dead (close to Annabelle, Halloween, White Noise and Jeepers Creepers) and 56^th biggest inflation inflated horror between Paranormal Activity 4 and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (close to 28 Weeks Later, Us, The Omen and The Wolfman).

100^th biggest Universal Pictures between Last Vegas and Bad Neighbours 2 (close to Hellboy 2: The Golden Army, Straight Outta Compton, BlacKkKlansman and Warcraft: The Beginning)

Third weekends

2017’s Get Out dropped 20% taking £1,095,500 and £6,794,001 67.6% of £10,053,463

2017’s Split dropped 38% taking £1,246,171 and £8,261,329 75% of £11,018,069

2018’s A Quiet Place dropped 46% taking £1,024,722 and £8,262,665 70% of £11,801,912

2019’s Us dropped 45% taking £931,089 and £8,012,264 88.3% of £9,071,603

Comparisons have been made with 1991’s Sleeping With The Enemy taking £9,230,825 (£21,995,563 inflation inflated).

While  

2014’s Dracula Untold dropped 48% taking £438,037 and £4,454,648 (was originally the start of the Dark Universe)

2017’s The Mummy dropped 35% taking £761,554 and £7,554,607 (second attempt to reboot Dark Universe) 86.4% of £8,744,766 (in comparison the 1999 reboot of The Mummy after opening with £3,771,429 (£6,467,866 inflation inflated) took £17,362,781 (£29,776,551 inflation inflated).

The highest grossing Blumhouse Pictures films are 2017’s Split taking £11.4m; 2010’s Paranormal Activity 2 £11.01m; 2019’s Glass £10.98m; Paranormal Activity 3 £10.7m; 2017’s Get Out £10.4m.

After the success of the invisible Man Blumhouse Productions are developing a reboot of Dracula film with director Karyn Kusama attached (previously directed Destroyer and Jennifer’s Body), a horror/thriller from director James Wan and also The Invisible Woman in development with Elizabeth Banks attached to direct.

One of the many films that has seen its production suspended due to Coronavirus is a secret project made by Blumhouse Productions Vengeance directed by B.J. Novak. Other upcoming Blumhouse Productions films Run Sweetheart Run in May, Purge in July, Halloween Kills in October and then Paranormal Activity 7 and Halloween Ends in 2021.

3. The Hunt –  £542,475   – NE

Took £143,000 from previews on Wednesday and Thursday

Was originally set for release on September 27, 2019 but after Dayton and El Paso mass shootings in early August 2019, Universal Pictures pulled the release after the film received criticism from President Donald Trump.

Ahead of release expected The Hunt to open similar to The Purge films as the film had generated much media coverage and having a five-day opening. While Coronavirus will be blamed for the poor opening of The Hunt and Bloodshot and the big drops of holdovers I would expect none of the films would have been much more successful without the Coronavirus.

Mid-March has often been a quiet time at the box office, with the children’s  half-term films slowing down as distributors wait to open their Easter films. With Mulan, Peter Rabbit 2 and No Time to Die originally due to open at the end of the month rival distributors wouldn’t open anything big before that especially with Pixar’s Onward opening at the start of the month that was expected to perform much stronger.

The Purge opened May 31st, 2013 with £1,019,877 taking £3.36m

The Purge: Anarchy opened 25th July 2014 with £1,165,143 taking £4.43m

The Purge: Election Year opened 26th August 2016 with £807,803 taking £1.91m (was due for release on 15th July in the UK but was delayed 6 weeks only weeks before its release date).

The First Purge opened 6th July 2018 with £1,778,157 taking £6,085,402

4. Bloodshot –  £444,917   – NE  

Opening was inflated as The Hunt with two days of previews on Wednesday and Thursday.

While Vin Diesel has had huge success with the Fast and Furious franchise with the ninth film opening in April 2021 and as Groot in Guardians of the Galaxy (with Guardians Vol 3 expected in 2022) hasn’t had similar success with other films over the last decade; 2015’s The Last Witch Hunter opened with £1,241,292 taking £2,711,109 and 2005’s The Pacifier opened with £729,070 taking £4,180,002.

Valiant Comics aren’t well known as Marvel or DC but as both are now owned by Disney and Warner their rivals have to look at other comic-book series to adapt but none have been anywhere nearly as successful.

Neither Bloodshot or The Hunt were likely to find a wide audience even if it was a regular weekend and both would have dropped out of the charts within a week.

5. Military Wives – £407,409   – £2,366,794

Down 57.9% in its second weekend; after opening in third place last weekend climbed to #1 Mon-Thurs which often happens with films targeting older audiences who prefer to see films during the week rather than the weekend.

Had a second weekend similar to Blinded By The Light (£422,799); Kinky Boots (£506,599); Made in Dagenham (£507,161) and One Chance (£339,722) and wasn’t helped having Misbehaviour opening the week after opening as would have been the case with all three this weekend had Radioactive opened.

Director Peter Cattaneo also directed The Fully Monty but since hasn’t had much success with Lucky Break (taking £1.3m) and The Rocker (2008’s The Rocker opened £217,745 taking £401,231) having more success on the screens with Rev and Flack.

While 23 years ago The Full Monty was able to find its audience, after opening the end of August with £1.6m held #1 for 6 weeks before Hercules moved it into second for a week but then returned back to #1 for another 3 weeks until Face/Off, The Full Monty stayed in the top 10 for 21 weeks. It went on to take £52.2m in the UK playing in cinemas for over 6 months, taking $258m worldwide and nominated for four Oscars.

The difference today is Military Wives will needed to find its audience in its opening weekend and as it didn’t lose screens in its second weekend and many performances in cinemas were shared with other films. 20+ years ago about 300 films were released each year and industry complained that as too much, but still let films play for months, last year over 900 films were released and films get pulled very quickly from cinemas, if The Full Monty opened today it’s unlikely it would be anywhere near the success it was 23 years ago.

The only film to come close over the last decade was The Greatest Showman, stayed in the top 10 for 18 weeks only Mamma Mia! in recent years has stayed in cinemas for longer. It became this generations Titanic as fans came back to see it again and again while the soundtrack was #1 for 21 non-consecutive weeks in the UK. Critics were quite snotty about the film but as Barnum is asked in the film “does it bother you that everything your selling is fake” his reply “do the smiles seem fake” The Greatest Showman does to quote the famous Ronseal advert What it says on the tin.

In its 18th weekend took £300,947 and £45,974,245 which was comparable with Titanic released 20 years earlier took £199,618 in its 18th weekend its inflation inflated box office would be a similar £374,000.While The Full Monty took £394,620 in its 18th weekend in the top 10 and £228,368 in its last weekend (21st week).

Ever since The Full Monty was released in 1997 there have been many feelgood British film that were seen to be the next, but none have managed to come close to its success with Calendar Girls and Bend It Like Beckham being the most successful.

Over the years since many other feel-good British films have tried to repeat the same formula including 2000’s Billy Elliot, 2001’s Blow Dry, 2002’s Bend It Like Beckham, 2003’s Calendar Girls, 2005’s Kinky Boots and Mrs. Henderson Presents, 2007’s Once, 2009’s Slumdog Millionaire, 2010’s Made in Dagenham, 2011’s Chalet Girl, 2014’s Pride and Once Chance, 2016’s Eddie the Eagle but not come anywhere near the success of The Full Monty.

UK box office in detail

This weekend’s top 10 box office took £5,045,549 down 45.5% from last weekend £9,259,950

The weekend admissions 712,648 down 44.5% from last weekend 1,284,560

17 films opened at weekend taking (£1,954,461); The Hunt 27.7% (£542,475); Bloodshot 22.7% (£444,917); Misbehaviour 17.8% (£347,643); My Spy 17.6% (£345,575); remaining 13 films shared 14% (£273,851);

Top three took 52.4% (£2,642,969) of the top 10; Onward 25.2% (£1,272,748); The Invisible Man 16.4% (£827,746); The Hunt 10.7% (£542,475); 

Down 56.3% from 2019; (£11,537,481); Fisherman’s Friends (£1,154,865); What Men Want (£836,612); The Prodigy (£96,905); Ben Is Back (£82,204); #1 Captain Marvel £6,643,217 2nd week 652 screens 48% drop (57.6% of top 10)

Down 67.6% from 2018: (£15,554,372); Peter Rabbit (£7,273,207); Tomb Raider (£3,081,916); My Generation (£259,990); Mary Magdalene (£238,924); The Square (£221,256); #1 Peter Rabbit £7,273,207 1^st week 599 screens (46.8% of top 10)

Down 81.9% from 2017: (£27,866,587); Beauty and the Beast (£19,700,000); Get Out (£2,160,099); Personal Shopper (£116,265); The Salesman (£89,348); Wolves at the Door (£3,542); #1 Beauty and the Beast £19,700,000 1^st week 567 screens (70.7% of top 10)

Down 35% from 2016: (£7,752,500); 10 Cloverfield Lane (£1,601,161); The Boy (£726,003); High-Rise (£542,788); Sing Street (£166,226); Michael Collins (Re: 2016) (£11,650); Risen (£69,909); Rock the Kasbah (£3,804); #1 Kung Fu Panda 3 £1,740,695 2^nd  week 590 screens 64% drop (22.4% of top 10)

Down 13.6% from 2015; (£5,840,701); Run All Night (£823,833); Suite Francaise (£503,928); X+Y (£154,374); The Sound Of Music 50th Anniversary (Re 2015) (£25,089); #1 The Second-Best Exotic Marigold Hotel £1,409,311 3^rd week 592 screens 29% drop (24.1% of top 10)

Down 36.1% from 2014: (£7,889,493); Need for Speed (£2,011,249); Under the Skin (£238,694); The Zero Theorem (£50,860); Veronica Mars (£33,769); Ironclad 2: Battle for Blood (£887); #1 Need for Speed £2,011,249 1^st week 469 screens (25.5% of top 10)

Down 12.5% from 2013 (£5,770,139); Welcome to the Punch (£460,250); Red Dawn (£255,448); The Paperboy (£141,881); The Spirit of ’45 (£75,146); #1 Oz: The Great and Powerful £2,609,475 2^nd week 530 screens 30% drop (45.2% of top 10)

Down 45.3% from 2012 (£9,214,984); The Devil Inside (£1,988,461); 21 Jump Street (£1,556,039); We Bought A Zoo (£850,651); Contraband (£683,654); In Darkness (£90,558); #1 The Devil Inside £1,988,461 1^st week 377 screens (21.6% of top 10)

Down 40.9% from 2011 (£8,539,922); Battle: Los Angeles (£1,792,913); Hall Pass (£900,936); Fair Game (£304,297); The Resident (£139,088); The Company Men (£36,785); #1 Battle: Los Angeles £1,792,913 1^st week 420 screens (21% of top 10)

Down 64.3% from 2010: (£14,154,973); Shutter Island (£2,250,178); Green Zone (£2,087,368); Hachi: A Dog’s Tale (£442,753); The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (£378,434); #1 Alice in Wonderland £7,343,506 2^nd week 533 screens (51.9% of top 10)  

Down 48.8% from 2009; (£9,854,831); Marley & Me (£4,414,169); Bronson (£258,360); The Burning Plain (£4,038); #1 Marley & Me £4,414,169 £4,414,169 1^st week 467 screens (44.8% of top 10)

Down 16.7% from 2008; (£6,060,351); 10,000B.C. (£1,932,539); The Cottage (£303,072); Hannah Montana 3-D (£241,119); #1 10,000B.C. £1,932,539 1^st week 431 screens (31.9% of top 10)

Up 1.5% from 2007: (£4,975,450); Premonition (£1,021,882); Stomp the Yard (£191,716); Factory Girl (£156,779); #1 Norbit £1,069,030 2^nd week 371 screens 46% drop (21.5% of top 10)

Up 20.4% from 2006; (£6,339,940); The Pink Panther (£1,944,581); V for Vendetta (£1,188,058); Tsotsi (£200,359); #1 The Pink Panther £1,944,581 1^st week 403 screens (30.7% of top 10)

Down 26.2% from 2005 (£6,835,834); Hitch (expansion) (£4,230,857); Hostage (£807,171); The Chorus (£132,636); #1 Hitch £4,230,857 2^nd week 1^st #1 7,894% increase 448 screens (61.9% of top 10)

Down 9.1% from 2004 (£5,547,158); Mona Lisa Smile (£1,190,923); Honey (£1,064,398); Starsky & Hutch (limited) (£412,326); The Passion of the Christ (limited) (£229,426); #1 Mona Lisa Smile £1,190,923 1^st week 414 screens (21.5% of top 10)

Down 1.2% from 2003 (£5,105,380); The Life of David Gale (£725,698); Equilibrium (£548,043); Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (£356,623); Barbershop (£145,741); #1 Maid In Manhattan £1,281,755 2^nd week 422 screens 47% drop (25.1% of top 10)

Down 18.3% from 2002 (£6,175,130); 13 Ghosts (£738,210); The Royal Tenenbaums (£700,025); #1 Ocean’s Eleven £1,357,063 4-week #1 split 5^th week 439 screens 27% drop (22% of top 10)

Next weekend in 2019: (£9,597,711); Us (£2,766,839); The White Crow (£326,997); Five Feet Apart (£253,341); The Great Escape With Dan Snow: A Gala Screening On The 75th Anniversary (£172,550); #1 Captain Marvel £3,378,583 3^rd week 632 screens 49% drop (35.2% of top 10)

Also Opened

• My Spy – STX

Opened with £345,575 from 444 screens

Was originally set for release in August and then was moved to March 2020 in July 2019, the film opened in Australia in January and has received mixed reviews

My Spy US release was likely delayed after Dave Bautista’s Stuber flopped in July (opening with £211,274).

Dave Bautista is trying to find similar success Vin Diesel had with The Pacifier and John Cena with Playing With Fire and they all were trying to repeat what Arnold Schwarzenegger did 30 years ago with films like Kindergarten Cop. 

2005’s The Pacifier opened with £729,070 taking £4,075,641

2019’s Playing With Fire opened with £762,850 taking £2,597,261

Director Peter Segal has had a long career making comedies since 1994’s Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult and mostly recently directed STX’s Second Act (opening with £403,211).

• Misbehaviour – Fox/Pathe/Disney

Opened with £347,643 from 511 screens

Comedy-drama starring Keira Knightley, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Jessie Buckley, Keeley Hawes, Phyllis Logan, Lesley Manville, Rhys Ifans and Greg Kinnear and directed by Philippa Lowthorpe about the story of the 1970 Miss World competition, and how the Women’s Liberation Movement targeted the pageant; UK Premiere was on March 9th

Philippa Lowthorpe previously directed 2016’s Swallows and Amazons (opened with £676,175 taking £3,014,105) but is best known for directing TV dramas including The Crown and Three Girls.

2015’s Suffragette opened with £2,938,446 (including £1,394,771 previews) £1,543,675 (Fri-Sun) taking £10,600,616; the film had a much higher profile opening the London Film Festival.

2010’s Made in Dagenham opened with £674,059 taking £3,674,543

Other Box Office News

For the first time since September 3^rd, 1939 after World War 2 was declared most of UK cinemas will be closed, but within a week most reopened as the government realised that the nation needed entertainment to keep up its spirits. This time cinemas will be dark for much longer, many expect till May. The only other time cinemas closed was in 1918 after the Spanish Flu pandemic.

Over the last few weeks distributors have delayed many films that were set for release between March and May and UEFA have also cancelled the Euro 2020 Championships till 2021 which does likely mean there will be even more date shifting over the months ahead.

The closure of cinemas comes less than a week before Disney+ launches in the UK on March 24^th.

Universal Pictures and Warner Bros have brought forward the VOD release of The Invisible Man, Emma and Birds of Prey to next week about 2 months earlier than they would have been released. Surely all of films currently in cinemas should be voided their 17-week theatrical window and also be allowed to be released on VOD within weeks too

UK Box Office Top 10

US Box office

• Onward – Disney

Dropped 68% in its second weekend taking $10.6m and $60.36m

Had the lowest Pixar weekend below 2015’s The Good Dinosaur ($15,323,958)

While many are blaming Onward poor performance on Coronavirus Onward probably would gave had a 60%+ drop in normal conditions as the film was seen as an average Pixar film as Cars 2 and The Good Dinosaur. While Onward is better than many rival animated films its far from the high standard expected from Pixar wit similar daddy issues plot seen in many other animated films pulling at the heartstrings.

1,400^th biggest film in the US between The Wedding Planner and Burn After Reading; 2,273^rd biggest inflation inflated between Poetic Justice and Corvette Summer; 209^th biggest Disney film between Shanghai Knights and Jungle 2 Jungle; 151^st biggest animated film between Abominable and The Lego Ninjago Movie

US cinemas brought in seat separation policies on Friday, but this is all too little too late, why has it taken US exhibitors so long to react (while UK cinemas still hasn’t still waiting on government advice as Premier League were until they were forced to do something on Friday after several players were infected with Coronavirus).

The US had 2 months to prepare for Coronavirus and must have known what was happened in China and South Korea was going to happen throughout the world? But instead it’s been ‘business as normal’ as box office has been so strong over the last two months and exhibitors didn’t want to spook their customers (their customers had been spooked for several weeks with their panic buying of toilet paper on their way to the cinema) but by now doing anything will seriously impact March-May BO).

As normal practises with Pixar films Onward had the trailer for Pixar’s second original film this year Soul opening in June, the question is will cinemas be open in June as some US cinemas closed on Monday and they are unlikely to be open again until May at the earliest.

22 Pixar films have taken $6bn in the US ($7.5bn inflation inflated) and almost $14.5bn worldwide;

Took $6.8m from 47 territories and $41.4m and $101.7m worldwide; UK $6.8m; Mexico $5m; Russia $4.8m; France $4.3m; Germany $2.2m.

180^th biggest Disney animated film worldwide between Shaun the Sheep and The Wild; 1,599^th biggest film worldwide between Railroad Tigers and The Devil Inside; 201^st biggest Disney film worldwide between Mary Poppins and Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.

• I Still Believe – Lionsgate

Opened with $9.1m; received mixed reviews (40% Rotten Tomatoes) and A CinemaScore

Another religious drama from the producers of 2018’s Can Only Imagine opening with $17.1m taking $83.48m in the US

Ahead of release tracking was very wide for I Still Believe as religious films often over-perform with some thinking it could open ahead of Onward, but ended up taking $1.5m less but from over 1,000 screens less, while the film had a far smaller marketing campaign and a far smaller budget, but religious films don’t travel internationally.

• The Hunt – Universal Pictures

Opened with $5.3m; received 55% Rotten Tomatoes) and C+ CinemaScore

Originally set for release September 27th became the most talked about film nobody saw last year and 6 months later Universal Pictures used that as part of the films marketing generating media overage because of that.  

2013’s The Purge opened $34.09m taking $64.47m

2014’s The Purge: Anarchy opened $29.81m taking $71.96m

2016’s The Purge: Election Year opened $31.51m taking $79.21m

2018’s The First Purge opened $17.37m taking $69.48m

(the fifth and possibly final Purge film will be released in July)

Blumhouse Productions have taken $2.389bn in the US and $4.51bn worldwide

Took $700k from 4 territories and $6m worldwide; it will be released on premium VOD on Friday along with The Invisible Man for $19.99

• Bloodshot – Sony Pictures

Opened with $9.3m; received poor reviews (34% Rotten Tomatoes) and B CinemaScore

Was expected to open similar to Hellboy which opened with $12.04m taking $21.9m and $44.66m worldwide.

Opened with $13m from 50 territories $15.1m total and $25.6m worldwide; performed best in Asian suffering from not opening in China.

• The Invisible Man – Universal Pictures

Dropped 61% in its third weekend taking $5.89m and $64.31m

Third weekends

2017’s Get Out dropped 26.5% taking $20.74m and $110.72m 62.9% of $176.04m ($255.4m WW)

2017’s The Mummy dropped 58.2% taking $6.06m and $68.74m 85.7% of $80.22m ($409.23m WW)

2018’s A Quiet Place dropped 36.6% taking $20.91m and $131.27m 69.8% of $188.02m ($340.93m WW)

2019’s Us dropped 58.5% taking $13.79m and $152.38m 87.1% of $175.08m ($255.18m WW)

Comparisons have been made with Julia Roberts 1991’s Sleeping With The Enemy taking $9.21m and $53.51m taking $101.59m ($243m inflation inflated) and $175m worldwide ($470m inflation inflated).

2000’s The Hollow Man dropped 53.9% taking $6.01m and $61.57m 84.1% of $73.2m and $190,21m worldwide.

1,305^th biggest film between A Dog’s Purpose and Jackass: The Movie; 2,138^th biggest inflation inflated between The Octagon and Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole; 174^th biggest Universal Pictures film between A Dog’s Purpose and Life; 351^st biggest R-rated film between The Wedding Ringer and Jackass: The Movie; 60^th biggest horror between Friday the 13^th and Saw IV.

Universal Pictures first attempt to reboot their Monsters Universe was 2014’s Dracula Untold ($70m budget) took $56.28m and $217.12m; their second attempt was 2017’s The Mummy took $80.22m and $409.23m and The invisible Man was expected to be a spin-off starring Johnny Depp (teased during the film), but it wasn’t big enough a success for Universal Pictures to continue the Dark Universe.

Took $6.2m from 56 territories $58.3m total internationally and $122.7m worldwide; UK $8.38m;  Mexico $4.97m; France and Australia $4.8m; South Korea $3.1m; 1,356^th biggest film worldwide between The Lego Ninjago Movie and Deepwater Horizon; 180^th biggest Universal Pictures worldwide between The Family Man and Last Christmas.

• Sonic The Hedgehog – Paramount Pictures

Dropped 67.3% in its fifth weekend taking $2.52m and $145.75m; biggest film based on computer game ahead of Pokémon Detective Pikachu and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider.

2019’s Detective Pikachu dropped 54.2% in its fifth weekend taking $3.18m and $137.6m 95.5% of $144.1m and $431.7m worldwide.

394^th biggest film in the US between Lilo & Stitch and The Meg; 812^th inflation inflated film between Nine Months and Red Dragon and 54^th biggest Paramount Pictures film between Megamind and Deep Impact.

Took $2.9m from 58 territories and $160.7m total internationally and $306.5m worldwide; UK $23.9m; Mexico $17.4m; France $14.7m; Russia $10.1m; Brazil $9.6m; Germany $8.7m; Australia $7.2m; (still to open in Japan and China)

476^th biggest film worldwide between Knives Out and The Blind Side; 8^th biggest computer game worldwide between Battleship and Resident Evil: Afterlife; 90^th biggest family film worldwide between Rise of the Guardians and 101 Dalmatians and 61^st biggest Paramount film worldwide between Rise of the Guardians and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.

Box Office News

With Odeon, Cineworld, Picturehouse, Vue and Everyman Cinemas closed for at least two weeks there will likely be no major releases until the end of May, currently Disney still have Black Widow dated for May 1^st but that is almost likely to be moved to November.

Seems much longer than just two weeks ago when Eon Productions announced they were delaying the release of No Time To Die from April 3^rd to November 12^th. This started a chain-reaction that saw Peter Rabbit from March 27th to August 7th, F9 from May 22nd to April 2nd, 2021, The Secret Garden from April 17th (was brought forward from May after No Time To Die was delayed) to August 14th while Mulan, The New Mutants, Antlers, Dream Horse, Our Ladies, A Quiet Place Part II and The Lovebirds delayed without any new release date announced.

After China shut their cinemas in January due to Coronavirus it was always likely Disney would be delaying the release of Mulan in China which they announced on February 28^th and Disney surely should have announced the delay of the film in the rest of the world. Instead  Disney waited to delay the release of Mulan after holding its world premiere in the US and hours before its European premiere in London and allow cinemas to open advance bookings.

The original animated film wasn’t a huge success in 1998 in the US or globally and wasn’t able to be released in China at the time due to Disney being banned in China after releasing Martin Scorsese’s Kundun in 1996. The film was released in China in February 1999, 8 months after its US release which saw China flooded with pirate videos, similar would have happened had Mulan’s re-imagination kept March 27^th release and opening in China several months later.

Mulan is likely to move to August 14th as Disney currently have The One and Only Ivan dated, it first trailer was expected to be attached to Mulan.

Ever since January there have been stories about how China and other Asian countries were dealing  with Coronavirus, but despite having 6 weeks warning the rest of the world cinema industry didn’t seem to be prepared and they have been reactive rather than proactive in how they dealt with it, as surely they must of realised like the Spanish Flu a century ago it would go global?

This is the time when industry surely turns to trade bodies for guidance but seemed to be very little from either NATO and UK Cinema Association apart from a few days ago saying ‘“In line with the advice given following the meeting of the government’s [Cobra] committee this week, all sites will remain open and operate on a ‘business as usual’ basis.” still nothing on either’s website or Twitter.

While some might see the comments I make as negative it’s out of frustration that industry always reacts to problems is never proactive.

Maybe UK Cinema Associations reason behind their lack of action was  due the first two months took £238.53m up 19% from last year thanks to 1917 and Little Women, The Gentlemen, Bad Boys For Life, Dolittle, Parasite and Sonic The Hedgehog.

China is hoping to open their cinemas in late April in time for the release of Black Widow. There are many rumours it will be delayed until November with The Eternals delayed until 2021, with many 2021 releases productions being forced shift this could impact on their release next year as they often have very tight production schedules and only a couple of weeks delay could mean the film won’t be competed in time.

Universal Pictures announced on Monday that Trolls World Tour will be available for VOD rental for $19.99 the same day it is in cinemas, as many cinemas have closed and the safety risk of big audiences in cinemas during Coronavirus. It was of course met by outrage by exhibitor as previous attempts to cut the theatrical window have done,

in 2011 Universal Pictures wanted to release Tower Heist on PVOD for $59.99 three weeks after release, but after exhibitors outcry cancelled plans While in 2015 Paramount Pictures announced plans which made sense to release films on VOD the week after the film dropped below 1,000 screens, so it was a motivation for exhibitors to keep successful films playing in cinemas for longer.

The current 16-week theatrical window is antiquated as most films take over 90% of their box office within the first 4 weeks on release, even Disney who were the one studio holding back a few tears ago when other studios had plans to try again.

Only need to look at Parasite to see if it’s a film audiences want to see in the cinema they will pay to see it in the cinema, as the film has taken almost $30m since it was released on digital in the US (it had also been available on pirate streaming sites for many moths more). (Parasite also took almost £12m in the UK)

Many expect Black Widow to be delayed to May 29^th (does then question if Warner will delay Wonder Woman 1984 opening the week after as both female comic-book action films surely wouldn’t open a week apart) Disney currently have Artemis Fowl o May 29^th, which they had already delayed 9 months from August 2019.

The only other possible date for Black Widow would be November 1^st moving The Eternals to 2021. As the Coronavirus won’t only affect films that were set for release this year, it’s also shutting down production of many films set for release at the end of the year and next, with many films having very tight production windows a delay for a few months couple see them miss their current release dates.