Top 5 Breakdown

1. Doctor Strange – £3,445,203 – £15,730,195

2D took £2,394,947 -290,648 admissions (70%) – total £10,714,569 – 1,303,588 admissions (68.2%)

3D took £611,096 – admissions 55,554 (17.9%) – total £3,201,850 – admissions 291,077 (20.3%)

IMAX/3D took £413,997 – admissions 37,636 (12.1%)– total £1,784,276 – admissions 162,207 (11.3%)

Down 63.2% in its second weekend (37% not including Tues-Thurs box office).

14 Marvel Film Performance weeks 1-3

		OWE	2WE	Drop	total	3WE	drop	total
Iron Man	2 May 2008	£5.46	£1.9m	64%	£10.1m	£1.9m	3%	£12.99
Incredible Hulk	13 Jun 2008	£3.25	£1.8m	43%	£6.3m	£654k	65%	£7.65
Iron Man 2	30 Apr 2010	£7.68	£3.2m	58%	£15.1m	£1.6m	50%	£17.9
Thor	27 Apr 2011	£5.44	£1.9m	64%	£9.52m	£1.36m	30%	£11.82
CA: First Avenger	29 July 2011	£2.98	£1.4m	51%	£6.9m	£597k	59%	£8.62
Avengers Assemble	26 Apr 2012	£15.78	£8.1m	49%	£29.8m	£4.16m	49%	£40.27
Iron Man 3	25 Apr 2013	£11.39	£6.3m	54%	£24.5m	£3.18m	50%	£31.12
Thor: TDW	30 Oct 2013	£8.65	£2.9m	66%	£13.9m	£1.78m	40%	£17.1
CA: Winter Soldier	26 Mar 2014	£6.03	£2.7m	67%	£10.9m	£1.78m	36%	£14.61
GOTG	31 Jul 2014	£6.35	£3.3m	48%	£13.8m	£2.11m	37%	£18.79
Avengers: AOU	23 Apr 2015	£17.99	£8.6m	51%	£40.3m	£1.66m	53%	£43.25
Ant-Man	17 Jul 2015	£4.01	£2.5m	37%	£9.61m	£1.12m	55%	£12.76
CA: Civil War	29 Apr 2016	£14.46	£4.8m	67%	£27.3m	£2.78m	42%	£32.16
Doctor Strange	25 Oct 2016	£9.28	£3.4m	63%	£15.7m

2016’s comic book movies

Deadpool	10 Feb 2016	£13.79	£5.68	48%	£25.8m	£2.97m	47%	£31.14
BvS	25 Mar 2016	£14.62	£4.66	68%	£27.8m	£2.27m	51%	£33.30
CA: Civil War	29 Apr 2016	£14.46	£4.8m	67%	£27.3m	£2.78m	42%	£32.16
X-Men Apocalypse	20 May 2016	£7.35	£2.5m	65%	£12.11m	£1.25m	50%	£15.85
Suicide Squad	5 Aug 2016	£11.21	£4.2m	39%	£22.18m	£2.55m	39%	£27.66
Doctor Strange	25 Oct 2016	£9.28	£3.4m	63%	£15.7m

Deadpool – 2^nd w/e total £25.8m – 68.3% of final box office £37.73m

Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice – 2^nd w/e total £27.8m – 76.8% of final BO £36.17m

Captain America: Civil War – 2^nd w/e total £ 27.3m – 73.9% of final BO £36.94m

X-Men: Apocalypse – 2^nd w/e total £12.11m – 66.1% of final BO £18.34m

Suicide Squad – 2^nd w/e total £22.18m – 66.3% of final BO £33.41m

Doctor Strange 2nd w/e total £15.7m –

—

Deadpool – final box office 2.73x opening w/e

Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice – final box office 2.47x opening w/e

Captain America: Civil War -final box office 2.55x opening w/e

X-Men: Apocalypse – final box office 2.49x opening w/e

Suicide Squad – final box office 2.98x opening w/e

As Doctor Strange had a 6-day opening weekend impossible to compare with the other comic book openings this year; probably best to compare to last year’s Spectre opening the same weekend is the best comparison after opening with £42.21m over 6 days took £95.17m 2.3x opening. If Doctor Strange was to do similar £21.43m which could see it squeeze past Iron Man 2 to become Marvel’s sixth biggest film in the UK;

Currently 18th biggest film of 2016 and will overtake X-Men: Apocalypse £18.34m next week to become the fifth biggest comic-book movie of 2016 but unlikely to get close to the other four comic-book movies this year Deadpool, Captain America: Civil War, Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad.

Avengers Assemble	26th April 2012	£15.78m	30.3%	3.28x	£51.91m
Avengers: Age of Ultron	23 April 2015	£17.99m	37.2%	2.68x	£48.32m
CA: Civil War	29th April 2016	£14.46m	39.1%	2.55x	£36.94m
Iron Man 3	25th April 2013	£11.39m	31.1%	3.22x	£36.68m
Guardians of the Galaxy	31st July 2014	£6.35m	22.3%	4.49x	£28.53m
Doctor Strange*	25th October 2016	£9.28m		2.30x*	£21.43m**
Iron Man 2	30th April 2010	£7.68m	36.7%	2.72x	£20.92m
CA: Winter Soldier	26th March 2014	£6.03m	31.2%	3.20x	£19.31m
Thor: The Dark World	30th October 2013	£8.65m	43.8%	2.27x	£19.71m
Iron Man	2nd May 2008	£5.46m	31.8%	3.13x	£17.13m
Ant-Man	17th July 2015	£4.01m	24.6%	4.06x	£16.29m
Thor	27th April 2011	£5.44m	39.3%	2.54x	£13.84m
CA: The First Avenger	29th July 2011	£2.98m	32.3%	3.09x	£9.21m
The incredible Hulk	13th June 2008	£3.25m	36.7%	2.48x	£8.06m

Even though Doctor Strange might be an unknown comic-book character to most non-fans it is the fourteenth film of the Marvel Cinematic Universe Doctor Strange needs to be similarly as the audience for Doctor Strange would be like all the other thirteen films. This is especially the case when the plots for the Marvel Cinematic Universe are very similar and interchangeable you could easily swap Dr. Stephen Strange for Tony Stark.

There is also the regular issue with comic-book movies seen most noticeably with Disney’s Marvel films with the female characters given the girlfriend role which is surprising given that many of these actresses are as Rachel McAdams Christine Palmer in Doctor Strange and Gwyneth Paltrow’s Pepper Potts Oscar nominees. Or is it that like many Oscar winning actors they feel they want to follow it with a nonsense role most famously with Halle Berry winning Best Actress for Monster’s Ball following it up with Catwoman and Eddie Redmayne won his Oscar for The Theory of Everything followed up with Jupiter Ascending.

Comic book adaptions have become acting ensembles probably started with 2000’s X-Men with comic-book movies having the strong acting foundations of Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen.

Comic-book movies going back to the days of Superman in the 1970s which had heavyweight actors Marlon Brando and Gene Hackman acting the socks off unknown actor Christopher Reeve in Superman was similar in 2006 Superman Returns unknown actor Brandon Routh was acted off-screen by Kevin Spacey.

There was similar issue with Henry Cavill in Man of Steel with Michael Shannon’s General Zod overshadowing his role but maybe this is because the baddies in comic-book movies are often much more interesting stories and developed characters seen in the Batman Vs The Joker battles in 1989’s Batman and 2008’s The Dark Knight; the Lego Batman Movie will surprisingly have the best understanding of the Batman character as we seen him for what he is away from wearing his bat suit confronting his greatest fear how to become a better father figure.

In Doctor Strange starring alongside Benedict Cumberbatch and Rachel McAdams is a strong cast including Tilda Swinton, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Mads Mikkelsen as in Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice with Amy Adams, Jesse Eisenberg, Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne, Jeremy Irons and Holly Hunter

2. Trolls – £1,990,129 – £17,192,724

2D took £1,915,440 – admissions 232,456(96.6%)– total £15,655,044 – admissions 1,899,884 (91.1%)

3D took £67,229 – admissions 6,112 (3.4%) – total £1,530,264 – admissions 139,115 (8.9%)

Holding well down 39.1% in its third weekend being limited to weekend screenings with half-term ending last weekend.

Of the seven Dreamworks Animation films 20^th Century Fox have released since 2013 after two weeks has already become their third biggest behind The Croods, Home and How to Train Your Dragon 2.

Kung Fu Panda 3	18 March 2016	£4.76m	x2.93	£13.99m	45%	£1.74m
Home	20 March 2015	£6.02m	x4.15	£24.97m	22%	£2.59m
Penguins of Madagascar	5 Dec 2014	£1.61m	x4.94	£7.96m	34%	£1.05m
How to Train Your Dragon 2	11 July 2014	£7.81m	x3.15	£24.25m	76%	£1.87m
Mr Peaboy & Sherman	7 Feb 2014	£3.91m	x3.46	£13.55m	+21%	£1.69m
Turbo	17 Oct 2013	£3.89m	x2.91	£11.32m	66%	£1.32m
The Croods	22 March 2013	£5.37m	x4.87	£26.15m	38%	£3.3m

Trolls is currently ahead of last year’s Hotel Transylvania 2 in its third weekend which had taken £16.01m but took 20% more than Trolls in its third weekend which was a week earlier and should beat Hotel Transylvania’s total box office £19.72m over the coming weeks. 

After Storks underwhelmed at the box office Trolls is the only family movie until Fantastic Beast and Where to Find Them (which will target older family audience being a 12A) and the only animated film until Moana opening in December.

As with Doctor Strange, Trolls will be a middle earner of box office hits not in the mega movie animation Pixar and Illumination Entertainment finding Dory £42.6m and The Secret Life of Pets £35.82m which has been the case with all Dreamworks Animation films.

Trolls is in a group of films that are becoming a rarity in recent years a £20-25m box office earner this year currently only Zootropolis, Jason Bourne, The Revenant and The Girl on the Train. Last year only Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, Cinderella, The Theory of Everything, The Martian and Home took similar box office. 

Currently, 20^th Century Fox’s fourth biggest film of 2016 will overtake X-Men: Apocalypse £18.34m by next weekend and could possibly get close to The Revenant in the coming weeks depending on how it holds.

3. The Accountant – £1,623,866 – NE

Opening similar to many of Ben Affleck’s previous films not including Gone Girl; The Accountant generated mixed reviews and media coverage with Ben Affleck and Anna Kendrick coming to the UK for the premiere last month.

Ben Affleck films over the last 10+ years have had mixed success his highs Gone Girl in 2014 but also many lows including Gigli in 2003.

Away from Gone Girl and Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice The Accountant was Ben Affleck’s second biggest opening since Daredevil in 2003 opened with £1.95m. His Oscar-winning Argo opened the same weekend 4 years ago with £1.28m.

While reviews have been mixed audience word of mouth has been positive Depending on how it holds over the coming weeks against Arrival could have a chance to become one of his biggest films in the UK. As his biggest success not including Gone Girl and Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice was 2009’s State of Play £5.41m, 2003’s Daredevil with £5.35m, 2012’s Argo £4.92, 2010’s The Town £4.77m and 2002’s The Sum of All Fears £4.48m.

Next up for Ben Affleck is his directorial follow-up to Oscar-winning Argo gangster drama Live By Night released January 13th 2017.

4. A Street Cat Named Bob – £985,557 – NE

Decent opening for this feel-good comedy which had generated much media coverage over recent weeks building up it its UK premiere last Thursday at Curzon Mayfair which The Duchess of Cambridge attended to supporting her charity Action On Addiction.

The opening was more than 2013’s One Chance a similar biographical comedy about Britain’s Got Talent winner Paul Potts receiving positive reviews opened with £700,000 in October 2013.

5. Nocturnal Animals – £755,427 – NE

After receiving its world premiere at the Venice Film festival in September Nocturnal Animals generating strong buzz after receiving strong reviews with much praise from the acting performances. Followed up with screenings at Toronto Film Festival and London Film Festival.

It’s opening was more than Tom Ford’s debut film his 2010 A Single Man opened with £502,009 on 67% fewer screens 79 compared with 242 for Nocturnal Animals going on to take £3.2m.

The limited wide release was similar to Hell or High Water opened in 265 screens in September opening with £555,771 which had similar critical acclaim and was expected to hold well but dropped 53% in its second weekend. Nocturnal Animals must cope with Amy Adams other Oscar contender Arrival.

 Other box office news

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This weekend’s top 10 box office took £11,430,004 down 38.7% from last weekend £18,662,677; weekend admissions 1,389,319 down 25.9% from last weekend 1,874,869.  

The weekend was down 35.7% from same weekend last year (£17,777,621) when Brooklyn £1,038,779, Burnt £445,777, He Named Me Malala £97,238, Kill Your Friends £102,221 opened.

Same weekend opening in 2014: The Imitation Game opened with £2,683,498, Nativity 3 £1,786,952, The Drop £616,103.

Next weekend in 2015: The Lady in the Van – £2,241,679, Prem Ratan Dham Payo £911,777, Steve Jobs £895,160, The Hallow £51,709 and Fathers and Daughters £25,000 opened.

A recent survey said average ticket price was £8.24 (the same cost as 13 pints of cider) up from Cinema Exhibitors Association average ticket price of £7.21 for 2015 a 7.3% increase from 2014. For 3D and IMAX average price is £11 as most cinemas add a third to regular ticket prices.

Complete UK Box office top 10 – November 4^th – 6^th 2016 US Box Office

1. Disney – Doctor Strange – opens $85.1m; received A CinemaScore; was the 10^th biggest Marvel Cinematic Universe opening and the third biggest original Marvel film.

 If Doctor Strange holds as previous Marvel films will likely take about $323m which would see it becoming the ninth biggest Marvel Cinematic Universe film and ninth biggest film of 2016. It would see Doctor Strange become the 23^rd biggest comic-book movie in the US ahead of X2, 300, Batman Begins but below X-Men: Days of Future Past, Men in Black and Batman.

While box office experts heralded Doctor Strange opening as a success as it was the third biggest original Marvel Cinematic Universe film as the audience for the films would be similar with Marvel adding characters from other Marvel Cinematic Universe films as they did earlier this year with Captain America: Civil War which made the film more Avengers 2.1 than Captain America film.

Marvel’s The Avengers	Disney	4th May 2012	$207.4m	$623.3m
Avengers: Age of Ultron	Disney	1st May 2015	$191.2m	$459.1m
Captain America: Civil War	Disney	6th May 2016	$179.1m	$408.1m
Iron Man 3	Disney	3rd May 2013	$175.1m	$209.1m
Iron Man 2	Paramount	7th May 2010	$128.1m	$321.4m
Iron Man	Paramount	2nd May 2008	$98.6m	$318.4m
Captain America: The Winter Soldier	Disney	4th April 2014	$95.1m	$259.7m
Guardians of the Galaxy	Disney	1st Aug 2014	$94.3m	$333.1m
Thor: The Dark World	Disney	8th Nov 2013	$85.7m	$206.3m
Doctor Strange	Disney	4th Nov 2016	$85.1m	$232m*
Thor	Paramount	6th May 2011	$65.7m	$181.1m
Captain America: The First Avenger	Paramount	22nd July 2011	$65.1m	$176.6m
Ant-Man	Disney	17th July 2015	$57.2m	$180.2m
The Incredible Hulk	Universal	13th June 2008	$55.4m	$123.8m

2. 20^th Century Fox – Trolls – opens $46.5m; received A CinemaScore; having the fourth biggest opening for an animation film in 2016 behind Finding Dory, The Secret Life of Pets and Zootopia. Its opening was also 20^th Century Fox biggest opening for Dreamworks Animation film since Home $52.1m last year.

If Trolls holds similar to The Peanuts Movie last year should take close to $136m but has to cope with the arrival of both Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Moana released over the next three weeks while The Peanuts Movie only had The Good Dinosaur to deal with which disappointed.

3. Lionsgate – Hacksaw Ridge – opens $15.1m; received A CinemaScore;

4. Lionsgate – Boo! A Madea Halloween – drops 51.1% – $7.7m – $64.9m;  

5. Sony Pictures – Inferno – drops 58.5% – $6.1m – $25.9m; The Da Vinci Code dropped 55.8% in its second weekend taking $34.1m total $136.5m; Angels & Demons dropped 53% taking $21.7m total $81.8m;

6. Warner Bros – The Accountant – drops 30.8% – $5.8m – $70.8m;

7. Paramount – Jack Reacher: Never Go Back – drops 43.4% – $5.4m – $49.1m; after 3 weeks Jack Reacher took $9.1m taking $64.7m; Jack Reacher: Never Go Back after three weeks has taken $49.2m as 2010’s Knight & Day which went on to take $76.3m Jack Reacher: Never Go Back is likely to add another $20m

8. Universal – Ouija: Origin of Evil – drops 45.6% – $3.9m – $31.3m;

9. Universal – The Girl on the Train – drops 38.7% – $2.7m – $70.6m;

10. 20^th Century Fox – Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children – drops 49.7% – $2.1m $83.3m;

On limited release expansion

A24 – Moonlight –  up 45.3% – $1.23m – adding 47 screens – total $3.0m

Opening on limited release

Focus – Loving – $159,615 from 4 screens

Sony Pictures Classics – The Eagle Huntress – $52,574 from 4 screens

Main opening Friday weekend predictions:

Opening UK

• Arrival -eOne

Science fiction drama starring Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner and Forest Whitaker and directed by Denis Villeneuve based on the short story “Story of Your Life” by author Ted Chiang; received its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival achieving positive reviews also screened at Toronto International Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, and London Film Festival.

Arrival has been compared to Robert Zemeckis’s 1997 Contact and Steven Spielberg’s 1997 Close Encounters of the Third Kind and The Day the Earth Stood Still the 2009 remake was poorly received opened with £2.75m taking £6.9m.

Adult sci-fi dramas over the last three years had been very successful in the autumn with Gravity, Interstellar in 2014 and The Martian in 2015 and many have said Arrival will be 2016’s.

Gravity opened with £6.23m and Interstellar opened with £5.36m the same weekend in November 2013 and 2014 and The Martian opened last October with £6.52m.

Arrival is probably the biggest unknown of the year while receiving critical acclaim similar to Gravity and The Martian they were helped by far bigger named stars and directors than Arrival had got.

Last year the same weekend Spectre was holding strong in its third weekend taking £7.8m and The Lady in the Van opened with £2.41m and Steve jobs disappointed with £895,160. If Doctor Strange drops similar to other Marvel films have done in their third weekend will probably take £1.8m+ which should see Arrival open top with £2.5-£3m but the question is will Arrival cross over as a mainstream sci-fi film as they have in recent years or will the cast, make it not as accessible. As despite its critical acclaim and buzz it might need cinemagoers world of mouth to build buzz why it has been Odeon and Cineworld special screening of the month.

		O WE	2WE	Drop	Total	3WE	Drop	Total
Gravity	8 Nov 2013	£6.23	£4.83	14%	£14.7m	£2.38	45%	£19.44
Interstellar	7 Nov 2014	£5.36	£3.76	30%	£12.1m	£1.91	50%	£15.82
The Martian	30 Sept 2015	£6.52	£3.84	19%	£13.2m	£2.41	37%	£17.48

As often with films, a teaser of the trailer was released in August with the full trailer released the following week posters featuring international locations the poster for Hong Kong generated controversy as it featured skyline which included Shanghai’s Oriental Pearl Tower.

Denis Villeneuve previous films Sicario opened last October £1.37m taking £4.62m and Prisoners opened September 2013 with £1.32m taking £6.9m; next he directs the long-awaited Blade Runner 2049 released in October 2017.

• American Pastoral – Entertainment

 Crime drama starring Ewan McGregor, Dakota Fanning, Jennifer Connelly, Rupert Evans and Valorie Curry and directed by Ewan McGregor (his directorial debut) based on the 1997 novel of the same name by Philip Roth; premiered on September 9, 2016, at Toronto Film Festival receiving average reviews.

The film had a long development history 13 years ago called Pastoral was to be directed by Philip Noyce for Lakeshore Entertainment. In 2015 was announced Ewan McGregor would direct after Philip Noyce left the film.

Ewan McGregor has had many ups and downs over his 22-year acting career starring Shallow Grave in 1994 and Trainspotting in 1996 and A Life Less Ordinary in 1997 directed by Danny Boyle. With roles in Emma and Brassed Off in 1996. Before starring in the Star Wars prequels in 1999,2002 and 2005. Starring in the incredible Moulin Rouge and Black Hawk Down both in 2001.  But then many films disappointed like Velvet Goldmine, Down With Love, Stay, Big Fish, Jack the Giant Slayer and Mortdecai.

 2017 looks like an incredible year for Ewan Macgregor with T2- Trainspotting and Beauty and the Beast and stars in the third series of Fargo. 

Opening US Friday

• Arrival – Paramount Pictures

Adult sci-fi ensemble based on the novel Story of Your Life by Ted Chiang was originally called this before getting its generic title. It’s always surprising when filmmakers decide to change a title especially when it’s a book, my only thought was thought people might confuse it to One Direction’s Story of My Life but as the video has been seen 512 million times that would be a confusion worth having. Instead, by calling it Arrival could be confused with similar themed Charlie Sheen 1996 sci-fi film The Arrival?

Starring Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, and Forest Whitaker all three have starred in high-grossing films but not as the lead unlike Gravity, Interstellar, and The Martian Arrival has been compared to. But since receiving its world premiere at Venice Film Festival in September has been generating strong buzz along with critical acclaim like those three films and is also likely to be an awards contender as those three films.

The film it is most similar to is Robert Zemeckis’s 1997 ensemble Contact opened with $20.5m and 19 years later Arrival will probably open a little more $37-30m which will be a lot less than Gravity, Interstellar, and The Martian. 

		OWE	2 WE	Drop	Total	3 WE	Drop	total
Gravity	4th Oct 2013	$55.7m	$43.1m	22.6%	$122.3m	$30.1m	30.5%	$169.5m
Interstellar	5th Nov 2014	$47.5m	$28.3m	40.4%	$96.9m	$15.3m	45.8%	$120.9m
The Martian	2nd Oct 2015	$54.3m	$37.0m	31.9%	$108.7m	$21.3m	26.1%	$143.5m
Contact	7th July 1997	$20.58m	$16.1m	21.7%	$47.4m	$9.7m	39.8%	$64.9m

Forest Whitaker has been on the edge of glory for his 34-year acting career started with small roles in classic films including The Color of Money, Platoon, Stakeout and Good Morning Vietnam before his breakout role in Clint Eastwood’s Bird in 1988 received critical acclaim but disappointed at the box office.

The Crying Game in 1992 was the film audiences started noticing him. But then followed with many underperforming films and was another 10 years till his next standout role in Panic Room, followed it with Phone Booth and the excellent The Last King of Scotland in 2006 which again was a critical not box office success. Over the last 10 years his standout roles ensemble The Butler and Taken 3.

Jeremy Renner – had small roles in many films until his breakthrough role in 2009’s The Hurt Locker followed it with The Town. Then he got cast in Mission Impossible- Ghost Protocol and The Avengers which he can’t take much credit for their box office success. The films away from it The Bourne Legacy, Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters and Kill the Messenger all disappointed at the box office.

Amy Adams – had small roles until her breakthrough role in Enchanted followed up with a memorable role in forgettable Charlie Wilson’s War. Giving a strong performance in Doubt receiving her second Best Supporting Actress nomination, The Fighter and The Muppets. Then starred in Man of Steel ensemble American Hustle (winning Golden Globes Best Actress in 2014 also winning for Big Eyes in 2015) and most recently Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice.

While its director Denis Villeneuve has received similar critical acclaim for his last three films Prisoners, Enemy and Sicario with Prisoners his biggest opening $20.8m in 2013 taking $61m total. Next up for him is Bladerunner 2049 sequel to the cult 1982 original which was a critical but not box office success.

Arrival currently had 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes being described as a must see thinking man’s sci-fi film with a terrific performance from Amy Adams.

• Almost Christmas – Universal Pictures

Dysfunctional Christmas ensemble comedy starring Kimberly Elise, Mo’Nique, Nicole Ari Parker, Gabrielle Union, Jessie Usher, Danny Glover, Omar Epps, and Romany Malco and directed by David E. Talbert.

African American films have been a steady box office earner in recent years only last month Tyler Perry’s Boo! A Madea Halloween surprised everyone being the two Tom’s topping the chart with $28.5m ahead of Jack Reacher: Never Go Back and holding top spot against the arrival of Inferno.

Opening ahead of other Christmas, themed comedies Bad Santa 2, Office Christmas Party and Why Him? But opening a Christmas film before Thanksgiving always feels far too early and means it will be played out before Christmas. But saying that some of the biggest Christmas films The Polar Express, Elf, The Santa Clause, A Christmas Carol and Fred Claus all opened before Thanksgiving but it’s unlikely Almost Christmas will join them; Likely to open in the mid -teens

• Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk – Sony Pictures (limited)

War drama based on the novel by Ben Fountain starring Joe Alwyn, Kristen Stewart, Garrett Hedlund, Vin Diesel, Steve Martin and Chris Tucker and directed by Ang Lee; opens on a limited release this weekend before opening wide next weekend.

It’s Ang Lee’s first film since 2012’s Life of Pi opened with $22.4m taking $124.9m; was nominated for 11 Oscars winning 4, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Score and Best Visual Effects. While Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk was originally seen as a potential award contender it could open with similar box office as Life of Pi or could suffer a similar fate as Sony Pictures The Walk last year which had a limited opening but was dead before expanding the following weekend.

Received its world premiere at the New York Film Festival in October screened in 4K 3D 120 FPS the format the film was shot in but will only be screened in two cinemas in the US in this format.

Received mixed reviews when it was screened in 4K 3D 120 FPS while critics praised the film and performances had issues with the format but as the film will only be seen in two cinemas in this format it should be seen how mainstream audiences will watch it. As the film incorporates America’s two favorite themes American football and the military which you would think would mean should play to a wide demographic and a strong alternative to other films released  

Many had similar issues with The Hobbit trilogy which was shot at 48 FPS which looked too real almost like watching a computer game but audiences are seemly more accepting watching fantasy in non-standard formats as they will probably be with the Avatar sequels which James Cameron has said want to shoot in this format.