- Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness – £19,765,718 –NE
Took £4.8m (24.7% of opening) from Thursday previews (83% of BO share) slightly less than No Time To Die
Taking £4.8m from Friday (32.8% of opening); (similar to Beauty and the Beast, Quantum of Solace, The Batman and Captain America: Civil War) and £5.9m Saturday and £4.2m Sunday (harder to make comparisons as daily BO is rarely released in the UK).
Had the 14th biggest opening between Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and Beauty and the Beast (close to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Skyfall, Jurassic World and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets) and the 34th biggest opening inflation inflated between Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End and Avengers Age of Ultron (close to The Simpsons, Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Twilight: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 and Marvel Avengers Assemble).
4th biggest MCU opening between Avenger Infinity War and Avengers: Age of Ultron
20th biggest Fri-Sun opening (9th including previews) between Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Batman Vs Superman (close to Quantum of Solace, Fantastic Beasts, The Dark Knight Rises and Twilight: Breaking Dawn – Part 1); interesting to see that Doctor Strange opening has been heralded as successful but removing previews opened similar to Batman Vs Superman which didn’t have previews.
Took 17.5% from IMAX/PLF/4DX/ScreenX and 3D screens as IMAX normally takes about 10% of opening for these films in 46 IMAX cinemas the other formats especially 3D don’t seem to be connecting to UK audiences as strongly as other countries as in France it was almost 25% while in Germany almost 50%.
Ahead of opening Doctor Strange 2 was always going to have the third-biggest opening in the UK since cinemas reopened after Spider-Man No Way Home (£31,899,232 including £12,388,380 previews) and No Time To Die (£25,916,476 including £4,887,004 previews) and have an opening close to Avengers Age of Ultron (£18,015,774 including £3,599,937 previews) and Black Panther (£17,700,000 including £7,190,000 previews).
Despite this Doctor Strange 2 opening was still “astonishing” to the industry, but one needs to remember that this is the 28th MCU film and the majority who rushed out to see the other would do similar for Doctor Strange and then add in the increase in prices and the substantial proportion of BO from IMAX/PLF/3D/4DX/ScreenX (due to ticket surcharges not by admissions) then it was always going to open as it did.
Especially as it immediately follows on from the events of Spider-Man No Way Home with a teaser trailer attached to the end of the film, so it will be impossible to compare the film with the first Doctor Strange film that opened in October 2016 with £9,288,898 (including £3,796,170 previews) taking £23,158,549 as the sequel will likely open closer to double and take almost double becoming the 8th MCU film to take £40m+.
It was originally set for release in May 2021 (to open before Spider-Man No Way Home) but was delayed to November 5th, 2021, and then March 25th, 2022, before being moved to May 6th to open after Spider-Man No Way Home and allowing time for reshoots needed after opening after Spider-Man rather than before.
The 28 MCU films have taken over £930m and over £990m inflation inflated; Doctor Strange in the Multiverse, Thor: Love and Thunder and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever will see the 30 MCU films taking over £1bn at the UK BO since 2008.
While Disney released three MCU films last year (Blade Widow, Shang-Chi and Eternals) they were always likely to perform similar to Ant-Man and the Wasp (£4,988,747) rather than other MCU films opened before lockdown (Thor: Ragnorok, Black Panther and Captain Marvel).
The film opened in 685 cinemas (54 cinemas less than Downtown Abbey: A New Era opened last week) but over 3,000 screens with Vue Westfield had almost 200 screenings over its opening weekend; 51 on Thursday and 53 on Friday, 45 on Saturday and 44 on Sunday (It would be interesting to see the sales for each of them as surely many only had a couple in them, there is no need for films to play in so many screens having a screening every 15 minutes.
There must have been over 10m seats available over the 4 days and using an industry average of £7.52 that would be about 27% of capacity showing while there were some sold-out screenings most of them were at least half empty so during the week many will surely be running empty. Just believe there is no reason to open these films so wide as 20 years ago go into Leicester Square over opening weekends and you would see many sold-out screenings and that was when these cinemas were up to three times the capacity they are now. Seeing a massive film in a sold-out screening makes the movie better that’s partly why audience reaction to premieres is so positive as the buzz of the audience makes the film feel better than it.
Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness follows on from the events of Spider-Man No Way Home with a teaser trailer attached to the end of the film (could see the film return into the top 10 in its 21st week on release with fans wanting to see it again before Doctor Strange 2), so it will be impossible to compare the film with the first Doctor Strange film (opened in October 2016 with £9,288,898 (including £3,796,170 previews) taking £23,158,549 as the sequel will likely open closer to double and take almost double becoming the 8th MCU film to take £40m+.
Fans rush out on Thursday to avoid spoilers and being part of the Multiverse there are many spoilers of Marvel characters having different personalities similar to Spider-Man No Way Home which featured three different Spider-Men from three different universes. While this is great for fans it can be exhausting for others to have to do homework before seeing it to understand it which was the issue many had with the Star Wars films so it’s likely to be front-loaded as the previous Doctor Strange was and the Thor films.
Thursday BO would be heavily skewed from IMAX/PLF formats as fans would want to see it on the biggest screen possible (BFI IMAX has sold out a couple of shows with prices of £27.50 IMAX and £29 for 3D IMAX, they have increased from £22 for Morbius).
AMC Theatres revealed in March that tickets for The Batman had a $1.50 surcharge, this had been an open secret for many years as in the UK Odeon Cinemas brought in £1 blockbuster tax with Interstellar in 2014 which was doubled to £2 for Spectre. Dynamic pricing has been a regular occurrence with films ever since, so no surprise tickets have a similar surcharge for Doctor Strange 2 but the industry still claims the average is $9.18/£7.52 despite most people paying closer to double especially when they see films in IMAX/PLF.
While Disney released three MCU films last year (Blade Widow, Shang-Chi and Eternals) they were always likely to perform similar to Ant-Man and the Wasp (£4,988,747) rather than other MCU films opened before lockdown (Thor: Ragnorok, Black Panther and Captain Marvel).
Doctor Strange opens in 751 IMAX cinemas in 69 territories including 46 in the UK, the film will be shown in IMAX and 3D IMAX with a £1.50 surcharge for 3D, screening with it is the first trailer for Avatar: The Way of Water in 3D. It’s 13 years since Avatar wowed audiences, can the possibly be anywhere nearly as successful. The first film will be re-released in cinemas in September before the first sequel opens in December. In 2009 audiences hadn’t seen anything like it before and the film helped revitalise the 3D format, but exhibitors and studios killed the format by adding surcharges for it, charging for glasses and retrofitting films into 3D that almost looked the same without the glasses.
Doctor Strange 2 opened with £19.8m despite the warmest temperatures of the year showing again that hot weather is just an excuse for soft BO as if it’s a film people want to see they will see it no matter the weather. If as expected the film does drop upwards of 70% the expected warm sunny weather will be used as an excuse for it having a heavy drop, but this was always likely given the reaction (beyond comic-book fans) has been mixed.
What all the reviews did pick up upon was that it was the film includes some scary moments and is more violent than most other MCU films with the BBFC rating information saying it featured “moderate horror, violence, threat, injury detail” asking the question how the film still got a 12A and PG-13, as other films would get higher certificates that feature similar scenes. BBFC and MPA’s excuse would be Doctor Strange 2 is a fantasy film not set in reality. This was also the reason 2012’s The Woman In Black was given a 12A scaring the pants off Harry Potter fans who came to see it as it was the first Daniel Radcliffe film released after the last Harry Potter film.
The problem is that when a comic book does get a deserved higher rating (Suicide Squad) it’s met by ‘outrage’ from parents whose underage children weren’t allowed to see the film as they have seen all of the other comic-book movies (despite being underage for those too).
Doctor Strange 2 was directed by Sam Raimi who also directed Spider-Man that was released 20 years ago this week, but why does Spider-Man get the credit for revitalising comic-book movies when it should be either Blade in 1998 (the first Black Marvel comic-book movie 20 years before Black Panther) or X-Men in 2000 (especially after the spoiler in Doctor Strange 2 from X-Men). It was originally due to open in December 2000 but Fox pushed release forward 5 months to July 2000 after Steven Spielberg delayed Minority Report to 2002 and in its place in December Dude Where’s My Car was released. Sony didn’t start production on Spider-Man until January 2001, (three months after it was due to start in November 2000) if X-Men flopped would Sony have still made Spider-Man?
- 2. Downton Abbey: The New Era – £1,553,503 – £7,671,735
Down 49.4% in its second weekend; 52.6% less than Downtown Abbey 2nd weekend (£3,280,442) has taken 42% less than Downton Abbey (£13,162,925) and 41% less than Murder on the Orient Express (£12,989,387).
6th biggest opening week of 2022 taking £6,118,232 (between Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Morbius) taking Fri-Sun £3,072,762 (50%) and £3,045,470 Mon-Thurs (50%); 15th biggest opening week since cinemas reopened between Eternals and The Suicide Squad).
557th biggest second weekend between Gulliver’s Travels and Fatal Attraction (close to The Holiday, Closer, The Invisible Man and The Social Network) and 842nd biggest inflation inflated between Wild Wild West and The Santa Clause 3 (close to Mary, Queen of Scots, Eyes Wide Shut, Rush and Up In The Air).
7th biggest 2nd weekend in 2022 between Belfast and The Lost City and 21st biggest second weekend since cinemas reopened between Black Widow and House of Gucci
Had Downton Abbey: A New Era been an original drama it would be performing stronger than recent dramas House of Gucci and Belfast but it wasn’t as instead it was the latest instalment of the 21-year-old Gosford Park Cinematic Universe, similar to the other cinematic universe has a massive fanbase in the UK with almost 11m watching the final episode in 2015 on ITV and repeats still popular on ITV3.
But would have expected films like Belfast, Death on the Nile, The Duke and Operation Mincemeat should have helped Downton Abbey attract the audience of the original film as other cinematic universe films do on Thursday many of those who saw Spider-Man No Way Home will be seeing Doctor Strange 2, so why if they rushed out to see the first Downton Abbey film wasn’t there a similar rush for the sequel as it received similar reviews to the first film?
The first film opened in September 2019 taking £9,882,483 in its opening week taking 52.4% (£5,180,865) Fri-Sun and £4,701,618 Mon-Thurs; dropped 36.6% in the second weekend taking £3,280,442 and £13,162,925 46.60% of £28,248,361 taking 5.45x opening; stayed #1 for 3 weeks.
While younger audiences are fickle going quickly from one new megamovie to the next the grey pound is much more loyal and lucrative, and they also go to the cinema as much during the week as the weekend; 2017’s Murder on the Orient Express took £8,612,958 in its opening 7 days taking 42% of its box office (£3,627,358) Mon- Thurs and dropped only 12% in its second weekend from £4,985,600 to £4,376,429 going on to take £23,900,453.
Downtown Abbey was originally conceived as a spinoff of 2001’s Gosford Park also written by Julian Fellowes opened with £837,169 taking £12,259,248 and £22,268,006 inflation inflated.
7.6m watched the first episode of the first series in 2010 on ITV, 9m watched the first episodes of season two and season three, 9.2m watched the first episode of series 4 and 8.4m watched the first episode of series 5. The final episode of Downtown Abbey was broadcast on ITV1 on Christmas Day 2015 with an audience of 6.9m with another 4m watching on catchup with a total of 10.9m. Was the most-watched TV programme on Christmas Day, the first time ITV had managed to do so in 15 years.
Since the final episode was broadcast on ITV on Christmas Day 2015 had been rumours of a spinoff film, in July 2018 it was announced a film would be made and Universal Pictures would release the film worldwide.
Research at the UKCA Conference at the start of the month said 60%+ of cinemagoers who saw No Time To Die six months ago have yet to return to the cinema, this is despite films including Dune, House of Gucci, West Side Story, Belfast, Death on the Nile, The Duke and Operation Mincemeat all opening since. So how Downton Abbey: A New Era opens and holds over the coming few weeks is far more important than Doctor Strange 2 opening next week as its opening is far more predictable.
Julian Fellowes’s latest TV drama The Gilded Age first series was released on HBO and Sky Atlantic in January which has been seen as a prequel to Downton Abbey and a second will be shown next year.
Other second weekend grey pound films include
2015’s The Second-Best Exotic Marigold Hotel increased 5.4% second weekend taking £2,342,095 and £7,014,101 34.5% of £20,308,480 total
2017’s Murder on the Orient Express took £8,612,958 in its opening 7 days taking 42% of its box office (£3,627,358) Mon- Thurs; dropped second weekend 12.2% taking £4,376,429 and £12,989,387 54.3% of £23,900,453;
2013’s Philomena dropped 6.7% second weekend taking £1,407,318 and £4,762,182 45.4% of £10,470,225
2011 Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy took £4,819,507 in its opening 7 days 32% from Mon-Thurs (£2,004,647) and 58% Fri-Sun (£2,814,860) dropped 25% second weekend taking £2,104,762 #1 and £6,924,269 of £14,133,500
2006 The Queen increased 6.1% second weekend £908,295 taking £2,658,523 28.3% of £9,381,693
2003 Calendar Girls increased 5.3% second weekend £1,855,986 taking £5,679,683 28.1% of £20,174,133
- 3. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 £630,391 – £23,521,600
Down 53.3% in its sixth weekend;
4th biggest film of 2022 was Uncharted and Doctor Strange 2; 6th biggest film since cinemas reopened between Uncharted and Dune and Paramount’s biggest film since Mission Impossible: Fallout (£24.32m).
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 overtook the BO of the first film last weekend but it’s impossible to compare the two films as the first film opened at the start of COVID with cinema attendance slowing down in the weeks before the first lockdown and films in late February early March before lockdown weren’t attracting the audiences they would in normal conditions (despite industry saying at the time that everything was normal);
In 2020’s Sonic The Hedgehog was pulled from cinemas at its sixth weekend after the first lockdown taking £19,280,822 but had cinemas not closed as often with half-term films Sonic The Hedgehog would have played through to Easter and taking £22m+.
Uncharted dropped 43% in its sixth weekend taking £605,723 #3 from 558 screens and £22,704,081 96% of £23,641,476
195th biggest film in the UK between The Martian and Alvin And The Chipmunks II (close to Uncharted, Wreck-It Ralph, Cats and Dogs and Transformers) (274th film to take £20m+) and 387th biggest inflation inflated between Ransom and Doctor Strange (close to The Rugrats Movie, Zootropolis, Lilo & Stitch and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider).
8th biggest Paramount Pictures film between Mission Impossible: Fallout and Rocketman (close to Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Star Trek: Into Darkness, Transformers and Star Trek) and 15th biggest inflation inflated between Iron Man and Rocketman.
Paramount have yet to confirm a release date for a third film but that would be likely in April 2024 release with the spinoff series Knuckles set to be released on Paramount+ in 2023.
Dropped 61.1% in its fourth weekend
9th biggest 2022 film between The Bad Guys and Death on the Nile and 31st biggest film since cinemas reopened between The Conjuring 3 and PAW Patrol: The Movie.
55th biggest Paramount Pictures film between Bee Movie and Watchmen (close to Jack Reacher, Cloverfield, Tropic Thunder and True Grit)
739th biggest film in the UK between The Maze Runner: Scorch Trials and Traffic (close to The Mummy, Rampage, National Treasure 2 and Goosebumps) and 1,100th biggest inflation inflated between The Jackal and RoboCop (close to Super 8, Edge of Tomorrow, Wall Street and Nuns on the Run).
The Lost City has been compared to action-adventure films like Romancing of the Stone and Tropic Thunder, which received positive reviews but some felt while there is great chemistry between Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum with a fun cameo from Brad Pitt they seem to be having more fun than the audience as it’s let down by the script.
It’s Sandra Bullock’s first action-comedy since 2013’s The Heat took £6,825,860 and £7,860,715 inflation inflated; and first rom-comedy since 2009’s The Proposal dropped 41% £445,689 and £10,367,556 #9 from 380 screens taking £11,740,551 (£16,229,585 inflation inflated).
While Channing Tatum recently starred in Dog taking £3,228,094 and action-comedies 21 Jump Street in 2012 dropped 12% £845,869 #6 from 359 screens and £7,331,740 of £9,863,555 and 22 Jump Street dropped 21% #3 £1,203,390 from 431 screens and £15,096,724 of £18,322,998
Other similar films include
2008’s Tropic Thunder dropped 44% £550,361 #5 from 370 screens and £7,759,726 of £8,387,745 (£12,129,970 inflation inflated)
2021’s Jungle Cruise dropped 23% taking £653,217 #5 from 584 screens and £10,025,794 of £12,487,739
2021’s Free Guy dropped 41% taking £956,248 #2 from 621 screens and £13,230,937 of £16,866,112
While 1998’s Six Days Seven Nights took £4,535,477 (£8,463,223 inflation inflated); 2005’s Sahara £4,726,275 (£7,545,985 inflation inflated) and 2012’s Journey 2: The Mysterious Island £6,467,920.
Paramount Pictures has had a strong start to 2021 with Scream, Jackass Forever, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, The Lost City and Top Gun: Maverick opening at the end of the month. While the film received a very positive reaction at CinemaCon last week there is still a massive question on long gap sequels at who the target audience is has been the case with films like Ghostbusters Afterlife. The difference between The Force Awakens and Top Gun: Maverick is while it might feature the children of those that featured in the original film Top Gun: Maverick is very much a Tom Cruise film whereas The Force Awakens and Ghostbusters Afterlife were very much films about the next generation.
The problem is they lose all of the momenta they gained this year having only two more films set for release this year Secret Headquarters and Tadeo Jones 3. The positive is in 2023 they had their strongest slate for more than a decade including Babylon directed by Damien Chazelle already generating strong buzz, Scream sequel, Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts, Mission Impossible 7 and a new Star Trek film.
- 5. Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore – £401,448 – £19,562,660
Down 66.5% its fifth weekend;
The 6th biggest film of 2022 between Doctor Strange 2 and Belfast and the 11th biggest film since cinemas reopening between Doctor Strange 2 and Black Widow.
284th biggest film in the UK between Tomorrow Never Dies and Pirates of the Caribbean 5 (close to Night at the Museum, Thor: The Dark World, Solo: A Star Wars Story and Captain America: The Winter Soldier) (will be 275th film to take £20m+ next week) and 493rd biggest inflation inflated between Pirates of the Caribbean 5 and Pulp Fiction (close to Gremlins 2: The New Batch, Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn, Terminator Salvation and Sonic The Hedgehog).
46th biggest Warner Bros film between Batman Forever and The Hangover Part III (close to Interstellar, Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves, The Lego Movie: The Second Part and Happy Feet) and 75th biggest inflation inflated Warner Bros film between Gremlins 2: The New Batch and Ocean’s Thirteen (close to Wonder Woman, Space Jam, The Last Samurai and It Chapter 2).
Fifth weekends
2016’s Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them dropped to #3 down 48% taking £1,416,433 from 480 screens and £44,963,803 56.5% more; Rogue One: A Star Wars Story opened #1 £17,305,011 and Moana #2 £1,424,527
Stayed in top 5 for 6 weeks and In top 10 for 9 weeks taking £568,432 in 9th weekend and £54,000,202 98.9% of £54,593,487
2018’s Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald dropped 52% #7 taking £700,808 from 545 screens and £30,541,674 36% more; with Aquaman #1; Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse #2; The Grinch #3
Stayed in the top 5 for 4 weeks and in the top 10 for 8 weeks taking £365,814 at the 9th weekend and £33,501,931 98.5% of £33,995,565
The Fantastic Beast films were never going to perform like Harry Potter films as they targeted an older audience and a major part of the attraction of the Harry Potter films was children had read the books and grown up with Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter. It was similar to how The Hobbit films were less successful than the original Lord of the Rings trilogy.
While it’s impossible to compare Fantastic Beasts BO with Harry Potter films it’s still interesting to see just how big Harry Potter films were and how they held so much stronger, and also have to note that ticket inflation for the first film is over 80% since.
The 11 Harry Potter films have taken over £550m at the UK BO and over £785m inflation inflated
UK box office in detail
This weekend’s top 10 box office took £23,689,265 up 158.2% from last weekend’s £9,173,308
30th biggest top 10 of the last 20 years close to 27 December 2019 #1 Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker £9,311,240 (39.12% of top 10) and 29 July 2016 #1 Finding Dory £8,122,075 (34.63% of top 10) and 77th biggest inflation inflated over last 20 years close to 29 July 2005 #1 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory £7,972,168 (53.69% of top 10) and 16 November 2018 #1 Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald £12,318,966 (54.33% of top 10)
The weekend admissions were 3,144,330 up 157.7% from last week 1,219,855
Top 3 took £21,949,612 92.6% of the top 10; Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness 83.4% (£19,765,71); Downton Abbey: A New Era 6.5% (£1,553,503); Sonic the Hedgehog 2 2.6% (£630,391);
2021 n/a cinemas closed
2020 n/a cinemas closed
Up 34.5% from 2019; (£17,607,835); Long Shot (£856,333); The Curse of La Llorona (£609,745); Tolkien (£554,835); #1 Avengers: Endgame £14,331,192 67% drop 2nd week 677 screens (81.4% of top 10)
Up 78.9% from 2018: (£13,239,297); I Feel Pretty (£1,272,154); The Strangers: Prey At Night (£205,325); Tully (£138,674); Mary And The Witch’s Flower (£119,129); Lean on Pete (£85,597); 102 Not Out (£68,302); #1 Avengers: Infinity War £10,143,580 66% drop 652 screens 2nd week (76.6% of top 10)
Up 121.1% from 2017: (£10,714,932); A Dog’s Purpose (£1,300,097); Sleepless (£369,004); Mindhorn (£280,483); Unlocked (£258,452); Whisky Galore (£49,205); Lost in London (£25,248); #1 Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 £6,097,082 2nd week 54% drop 634 screens (56.9% of top 10)
Up 123.4% from 2016: (£10,605,061): Bad Neighbours 2 (£1,691,699); Florence Foster Jenkins (£712,899); Robinson Crusoe (£575,321); I Saw the Light (£17,248); Knight of Cups (£10,323); #1 Captain America: Civil War £4,806,575 605 screens 2nd week (45.3% of top 10)
Up 172.4% from 2015; (£8,695,042); Spooks: The Greater Good (£1,010,363); The Age Of Adaline (£570,386); Big Game (£535,905); Girlhood (£66,574); A Royal Night Out (£9,241); Top Five (£64,612); Rosewater (£11,838); #1 Avengers: The Age Of Ultron £3,509,620 565 screens 3rd week 59% drop (40.3% of top 10)
Up 79.4% from 2014: (£13,200,641); Bad Neighbours (£8,446,240); Sabotage (£300,521); La Cenerentola – Met Opera 2014 (£285,597); Frank (£202,747); The Wind Rises (£199,598); Next Goal Wins (£17,145); #1 Bad Neighbours £8,446,240 506 screens 1st week (63.9% of top 10)
Up 131,3% from 2013: (£10,240,223); 21 and Over (£772,235); All Stars (£563,563); I’m So Excited (£310,908); Dead Man Down (£294,125); Chimpanzee (£54,780); #1 Iron Man 3 £6,307,191 2nd week 558 screens 54% drop (61.6% of top 10)
Up 26.6% from 2012 (£18,708,577); American Pie: Reunion (£6,334,539); The Lucky One (£1,159,435); Beauty and the Beast 3D (£685,024); Safe (£679,716); Silent House (£214,731); #1 Avengers Assemble £8,121,916 2nd week 523 screens 49% drop (43.4% of top 10)
Up 146.6% from 2011 (£9,607,222); Water for Elephants (£1,270,483); Hanna (£1,135,782); Something Borrowed (£707,863); 13 Assassins (£124,377); #1 Thor £1,946,695 64% drop 2nd week 503 screens (44.4% of top 10)
Up 135.9% from 2010: (£10,040,063); Furry Vengeance (£1,778,050); Nightmare on Elm Street (£1,342,837); Hot Tub Time Machine (£904,959); The Back-Up Plan (£710,201); Four Lions (£608,608); #1 Iron Man 2 £3,214,776 58% drop 2nd week 522 screens (32% of top 10)
Up 66.2% from 2009; (£14,256,881); Star Trek (£5,950,203); Coraline (£2,427,244); Cheri (£120,234); #1 Star Trek £5,950,203 499 screens 1st week (41.7% of top 10)
Up 345.6% from 2008; (£5,315,678); What Happens in Vegas…(£1,263,093); Speed Racer (£362,102); Doomsday (£311,383); Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden? (£26,550); #1 Iron Man £1,976,721 2nd week 499 screens 64% drop (37.2% of top 10)
Up 57.5% from 2007: (£15,039,874); Spider-Man 3 (£11,827,013); Bridge to Terabitha (£1,045,444); Goya’s Ghosts (£49,660); #1 Spider-Man 3 £11,827,013 1st week 522 screens (78.6% of top 10)
Up 194.9% from 2006; (£8,032,130); Mission: Impossible III (£5,378,013); Confetti (£635,072); #1 Mission: Impossible III £5,378,013 1st week 512 screens (66.9% of top 10)
Up 238.9% from 2005 (£6,989,592); Kingdom of Heaven (£2,530,445); Machuca (£15,148); #1 Kingdom of Heaven £2,530,445 1st week 447 screens (36.2% of top 10)
Up 161.7% from 2004 (£9,050,154); Van Helsing (£5,429,632); Laws of Attraction (£433,962); Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen (£177,036); Van Helsing £5,429,632 1st week 458 screens (59.9% of top 10)
Up 245.7% from 2003 (£6,850,974); Old School (£742,478); Darkness Falls (£483,739); Hope Springs (£366,352); I Capture the Castle (£138,142); #1 X-Men 2 £7,037,861 2nd week 454 screens 56% drop (44.9% of top 10)
Up 227.3% from 2002 (£7,236,442); The Panic Room (£2,022,582); Showtime (£486,753); #1 About A Boy £2,239,288 4468 screens 2nd week (30.9% of top 10)
Next weekend 2020 and 2021 – Cinemas Closed First Lockdown
Next weekend in 2019 (£12,057,386); Pokemon Detective Pikachu (£4,951,838); The Hustle (£1,037,478); Amazing Grace (£166,593); Dialogues Des Carmelites – Met Opera 2019 (£141,630); The Corrupted (£52,988); #1 Pokemon Detective Pikachu £4,951,838 1st week 579 screens (41.1% of top 10)
US Box Office
- Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness – Disney
Opened with $187.42m; received positive reviews (75% Rotten Tomatoes) and B+ CinemaScore
11th biggest opening in the US between Avengers: Age of Ultron and Incredibles 2 (close to The Avengers, Black Panther, Captain America: Civil War and Iron Man 3);
Disney now has 8 of the 10 biggest openings in the US and 14 of the top 20 with the biggest original film opening 2017’s It Chapter 1 #41 $123.4m and Disney’s biggest original 2010’s Alice in Wonderland #48 $116.1m (both reimaginations) 2002’s Spider-Man #50 $114.84m the biggest original film and Inside Out #80 $90.4m Disney’s biggest original film opening highlighting how comic-book movies, properties and reimaginations have taken over the box office over the last decade.
13th MCU to open with $100m+; 10th to open with $150m+ and 7th to open with $180m+ with Thor: Love and Thunder and Black Panther Wakanda Forever also going to open with $180m+ later in the year.
Took $36m from Thursday previews; 8th biggest Thursday previews between Avengers: Infinity War and The Dark Knight Rises; Spider-Man No Way Home #3 $50m; The Batman #23 $17.6m; others include Batman Vs Superman #14 $27.7m; Avengers: Age of Ultron #15 $27.6m; Black Panther #17 $25.2m and Captain America: Civil War #18 $25m (Thursday previews take about 20% of the opening weekend).
Took $90m from Friday (including $36m previews) 7th biggest Friday (Avengers: Infinity War #4 $106.33m; Star Wars: The Last Jedi #5 $104.68m; Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 #6 $91.01m; Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker #8 $89.61m; Avengers: Age of Ultron #9 $84.42m and Jurassic World #10 $81.91m.
The average opening for MCU over 28 films is $134.9m but more recently average is $191.76m showing Doctor Strange 2 opening isn’t as astonishing or impressive as the industry media declared on Sunday but it was the expected opening for these films since Captain America: Civil War. (they can’t be compared to the openings of last year’s films Black Widow, Shang-Chi and Eternals).
Doctor Strange 2 had the second-lowest CinemaScore of the MCU after Thor probably as many of those who see MCU films expect similar films but the addition of the horror aspects and its connection to the TV series does make the film far less accessible. But similar to the recent Disney Star Wars films after The Force Awakens they opted to make them for the fans over trying to expand its the audience as they did with The Force Awakens which played to both new and old fans.
While comic-book fans move that the films are now interconnected to the TV shows it means audiences need to do their homework before and afterwards to understand the films. The original Star Wars films were never released legally in China so never got the fanbase the films have elsewhere so it was a strange decision by Disney to open The Force Awakens in China as their first official Star Wars film. Chinese audiences predictably struggled with it and The Force Awakens and the later films struggled to find an audience in China.
MCU fanbase grew strongly from 2008 to 2012 since then except for Black Panther and Spider-Man No Way Home all the films have performed as they expected to with the fanbase the series has. Both Black Panther and Spider-Man No Way Home played to a wider audience that doesn’t normally see comic-book fans.
Ahead of opening Doctor Strange 2 was looking at a $160m-$180m opening but Disney often lowballs their estimates with films opening about $20m more and Sunday estimated were $185m so was always likely to increase to nearer $190m when final figures were released.
Opened in 400 Imax cinemas; 890+ PLF, 2,600 3D screens, 250 D-Box/4DX and 60 ScreenX
How the film performs in 3D will be interesting as the first trailer for Avatar: The Way of Water is being screened exclusively in cinemas for a week in 3D and it will be an indicator of if audiences are receptive to watching films in 3D again as 3D BO has dramatically dropped off over the last 5 years as audiences as 3D became a way for exhibitors to inflate ticket prices while 3D didn’t add much to the cinema experience.
2016’s Doctor Strange opened with $85m taking $232.6m and $445.1m; Doctor Strange 2 is likely to be front-loaded and likely to become the latest member of the $100m loser club in its second weekend despite not having any major competition until Top Gun: Maverick and Bob’s Burgers opens in three weeks and then there will be an 8-week gap before the next MCU Thor: Love and Thunder opening in July.
After the 2hr trailer for Doctor Strange opened with $260m in December, taking $804m, a $180m+ opening for Doctor Strange 2 was always expected. As is a similar-sized opening for Thor 4
The problem is that the usual suspects that are expected to open big this summer are Jurassic World 3 ($180m+), Thor 4 ($180m+), Minions 2 ($100m+) and Toy Story Anthology: Lightyear ($120m+).
Doctor Strange 2 predictably topped Fandango’s 2nd annual Moviegoing Trends & Insights Study with Thor: Love and Thunder #2, Jurassic World Dominion #3, Top Gun: Maverick #4, Minions: The Rise of Gru #5, Lightyear 6, Elvis #7, Nope #8, Bullet Train #9 and Downton Abbey: A New Era #10. While they said 83% would see three or more films this summer, so they will be Doctor Strange 2, Thor 3 and one other.
It also said that 93% select films based on their trailers and 90% pick the latest instalment of a favourite franchise which is why success for one comic-book movie leads to success for the next, which saw the audience of Spider-Man see The Batman who will also go to see Doctor Strange 2 and Thor 3 and then Black Panther 2. The question is what films they see in-between.
The first Doctor Strange was front-loaded as the two Thor films were but Doctor Strange 2 had a two-hour trailer that took $1.8bn worldwide a few months ago and has a three-week gap before Top Gun Maverick.
What would show a new phase of the pandemic is that after all the massive hype and media coverage Top Gun: Maverick has received so far and that will explode over the next 17 days will see a similar-sized opening. But despite all the media attention, it’s currently looking at about a $100m opening as there are still massive questions if under 45s are as excited to see it as over 45s who saw the original in cinemas in 1986. Despite all the raving comments about how incredible it looks the plot is the same as so many other legacy sequels.
While audiences also coming out in similar big numbers for original films Elvis, Where the Crawdads Sing, and Bullet Train, don’t include Nope with that list as it will play similar to Jordan Peele’s Get Out and Us. While also big questions over how soft the films are from August 5th to September 23rd. Will the same exhibitors who are heralding the strong summer be complaining in September about how poor the end of the summer was? This is especially so after the two previous pandemics hit summers had big Labor Day weekends with Tenet and Shang-Chi while this summer ends with a more typical offering Hook for Jesus, Save Your Soul.
After the success of the previous 27 MCU films, Doctor Strange 2 opening with anything less than $180m isn’t astonishing it’s now expected especially after the 2hr trailer Spider-Man No Way Home opened with $260.13m in December taking $804m as the film follows immediately on from those events. But that doesn’t stop the industry from reacting like these opening are a surprise, but what is now far more important than an opening weekend is its second weekend as despite not having any competition next weekend Doctor Strange 2 will join the $100m loser club as Avengers: Endgame, Spider-Man: No Way Home, Avengers Infinity War, Avengers Assemble, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: Civil War and Iron Man 3.
Within 3 days Doctor Strange 2 is Disney’s 69th biggest film between Wreck-It Ralph and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (close to Pearl Harbor, Toy Story, Black Widow and Pretty Woman). Showing again what impact MCU films have had on Disney’s BO success over the last decade. It’s also the 52nd biggest comic-book movie in the US between Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse 3D and Batman Forever.
243rd biggest film in the US between Gladiator and The Croods (close to A Quiet Place, Interstellar, The Day After Tomorrow and Mr and Mrs Smith) and 546th biggest inflation inflated between Presumed Innocent and The War of the Roses.
Spider-Man No Way Home opened globally with $582m and The Batman‘s $251m
Opened with $261.43m from 54 territories and $448.85m worldwide (4th biggest MCU film after Avengers: Endgame; Avengers: Infinity War and Spider-Man: No Way Home) and 6th biggest global opening and took $33m from 751 IMAX cinemas worldwide (5th biggest IMAX opening); Korea $30m; UK $24.7m; Mexico $21.5m; Brazil $16.3m; India $12.7m; Australia $12.6m; Germany $12m; France $11m; Japan $9.4m and Italy $9m.
Took $15m from 350 IMAX cinemas internationally in 64 territories; 11% of BO from the Asia-Pacific region from 3D; 17% in the UK came from 3D and IMAX/PLF; France was 24%; Germany 50%; In Latin America, 25% came from 3D with 46% in Brazil.
271st biggest film worldwide between Pretty Woman and Terminator: Genisys
- The Bad Guys – Universal Pictures
Dropped 41% in the third weekend taking $9.57m and $57.37m
160th biggest animated film between Anastasia and The Boss Baby: Family Business (had overtaken last year’s The Addams Family 2
36th biggest Dreamworks Animation film between The Croods: A New Age and The Boss Baby: Family Business and likely to take about $75m+ similar to Penguins of Madagascar, Turbo and Captain Underpants, all at the time of their releases were seen as disappointments. Showing again that since cinemas reopened industry has lowered expectations of BO despite these films having higher production and marketing costs than those older releases.
This was the similar to the case with Scream, Jackass Forever, Uncharted, The Lost City and Sonic the Hedgehog 2, industry seems to believe it’s a sign of audiences returning and they open far stronger than expected but the industry has lowered expectations on what these films should open with, as they all open similar to previous instalments, or for The Lost City similar to 38-year-old Romancing the Stone.
Similar DWA second weekends include
2014’s Penguins of Madagascar dropped 33.9% $7.2m and $58.74m taking $83.35m and $366.94m worldwide which saw seen as disappointing, similar to 2013’s Turbo dropped 54.7% $6.22m and $69.3m taking $83.02m and 2012’s Rise of the Guardians 22.3% $10.4m and $61.77m taking $108.41m; 2017’s Captain Underpants dropped 41 $7.18m and $57.79m taking $73.92m
The Bad Guys are Dreamworks Animation’s 42nd film since 1998 and the first original animated film since 2019’s Abominable taking $61.27m and $180.73m worldwide)
The 42 Dreamworks Animation films have taken over $5.85bn in the US and over $15.8bn worldwide
Took $7.2m internationally from 64 territories and $89.93m and $147.3m worldwide; 152nd biggest animated film worldwide between Arthur Christmas and The Boss Baby: Family Business; 1,220th biggest film worldwide between Romeo & Juliet and Swordfish and 158th biggest Universal Pictures film worldwide between Mama and The Boss Baby: Family Business.
- Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore – Warner Bros
Dropped 49% in the fourth weekend taking $4.26m and $86.23m
907th biggest film between The Amityville Horror and Presumed Innocent; 1,634th biggest inflation inflated Out for Justice and The Hurricane; 155th biggest Warner Bros film between The Campaign and Presumed Innocent.
Fourth weekends
2018’s Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald dropped #4 38.8% $6.95m and $145.35m of $159.55m; $495.3m internationally 75.6% and $645.85m worldwide;
2016’s Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them dropped #3 42.5% $10.42m and $198.94m of $234.03m; $580m internationally 71.3% and $814.04m worldwide;
Took $10.8m from 74 territories $278.3m total and $364.6m worldwide; Japan $32.3m; Germany $27.4m; UK $25.5m; China (24.6m and France $20.5m. .
376th biggest film worldwide between Toy Story and Notting Hill; 80th biggest Warner Bros film worldwide between Terminator Salvation and Shazam!
- Sonic The Hedgehog 2 – Paramount Pictures
Dropped 48% in its fifth weekend taking $6.01m and $169.72m
308th biggest film between Chicago and The Help; 657th inflation inflated between Hotel Transylvania and Congo; 41st biggest Paramount Pictures film between True Grit and Kung Fu Panda 2 (close to Captain America: The First Avenger, Crocodile Dundee, A Quiet Place: Part II and The Firm).
5th weekend
2020’s Sonic The Hedgehog #6 dropped 67.3% taking $2.52m and $145.75m of $148.97m (COVID affected) taking $319.71m worldwide (its 5th weekend was the weekend before cinemas closed).
So Uncharted fifth weekend is a better comparison #3 dropped 15.4% to $7.82m and $125.72m of $248.6m
Or 2019’s Pokémon Detective Pikachu #9 dropped 54.2% to $3.18m and $137.6m of $144.1m
Paramount has had a strong start of the year with Scream, Jackass Forever, The Lost City and Sonic The Hedgehog 2 with Top Gun Maverick opening at the end of the month. Top Gun sequel received a very positive reaction when it was screened at CinemaCon last week but they are the teens who saw the original in the cinema 36 years ago it needs to play as well to their children
Took $8.2m from 61 territories $179.5m and $349.4m worldwide; 446th biggest worldwide between Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Back to the Future Part II; 54th biggest Paramount Pictures film worldwide between Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; the UK $26.3m; Mexico $15.7m; France $14.3m; Australia $13.1m; Brazil $8.9m.
UK Box Office Top 10
UK Box Office Preview
Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness will drop up to 70% in its 2nd weekend taking £6-7m, as 13 MCU films have had a second-weekend drop of over 60%; Spider-Man: No Way Home in December had the biggest ever second-weekend drop -85.5% but that was partly due to its second weekend only being two days due to Christmas. Blade Widow and Spider-Man: Far From Home had the next biggest drops of -73.9% and -68.9% due to having more than one day of previews.
With Avengers: Endgame dropping 67%; Captain America: Civil War -66.8%; Thor: The Dark World`-65.6%; Avenger Infinity War -65.5% and Thor -64.3%.
While those MCU films had positive reviews Doctor Strange in the Multiverse reviews were far more mixed away from the initial post-premiere reaction so it was always likely to be as front0-loaded as previous Doctor Strange films and the three Thor films and likely be the same for Thor: Love and Thunder in July.
Doctor Strange 2 opening received plaudits from the industry but being the 28th MCU and immediately following events of Spider-Man No Way Home it was always going to have the third biggest post-pandemic opening.
If Doctor Strange 2 was to take £6.5m in its second weekend it would have the 7th biggest MCU second weekend similar to Black Panther, Captain Marvel, Iron Man 3 and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2.
As often the week after the MCU film opens few major wide releases have the latest Blumhouse teen horror Firestarter remake of the 1984 film starring Drew Barrymore based on Stephen King’s novel. Stephen King film adaptions have had mixed success at the BO from recent enormous success with the two It films but then mixed success with Doctor Sleep, The Mist, Carrie and Pet Sematary. His next film adaptation Salem’s Lot opens in September the same weekend as It opened.
Blumhouse films often struggle to match their US success in the UK as they get 15 certificates meaning their target audience can’t legally see them as they are often given PG-13s in the US. Firestarter is different it’s R rated in the US and 15 in the Previous Blumhouse Productions teen horrors.
Blumhouse teen horrors repeat the same formula of 90s horrors including Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer featuring popular TV actors, the difference was they were R rated/18 in the UK, while Blumhouse horrors are targetting a younger audience.
2021’s Freaky opened with £344,918 taking £685,870
2017’s Happy Death Day opened with £998,388 taking £2,678,427
2018’s Truth or Dare opened with £931,250 taking £2,400,490
2019’s Happy Death Day 2U opened with £735,454 including £266,079 from previews) taking £1,318,935
2014’s Ouija opened with £1,373,907 taking £3,207,638
2016’s Ouija: Origin of Evil opened with £779,626 taking £2,524,013
2015’s Krampus opened with £412,713 taking £1,184,159 UK.
Everything Everywhere All At Once has wowed audiences on limited release in the US over the last month due to strong word of mouth starting on 10 screens with $501,305 and then in its fourth weekend $6.18m from 2,220 screens taking $41.77m to date. Opening the week after Doctor Strange 2 the multiverse could help the comedy find a wider audience, but it’s surprisingly opened immediately wide, did have IMAX preview screenings last Wednesday and will likely play strongest in boutique cinemas, the hard part will be getting audiences to see the film. This is surely where exhibitors need to be part of the distribution process and not pull the film quickly as a film like this needs to be discovered by audiences which films rarely get the chance to do.
Also released on Saturday is Little Mix Live: The Last Show (For Now) which is being broadcast live from the O2. But with tickets, £19.99 that could put off many fans from going saying that that price didn’t stop many BTS fans from getting up early on Saturday morning to see BTS Permission To Dance Live at 8.45 am on March 12th opened #3 taking £899,127 from 351 cinemas with the similar ticket price.
Little Minx’s previous Event Cinema concert Little Mix: LM5 – The Tour Film was released in December 2020 #3 taking £83,519 from 129 cinemas but was just before the second lockdown with many cinemas closed and #1 Elf taking £98,157; this concert was shown on TV a few weeks after playing in cinemas.
Also released is Father Stu which is unlikely to find an audience as it struggled to do so a month ago in the US.
Downton Abbey: A New Era will remain in second down 30-40% in its third weekend taking £1m+ as it continues to take about half of the original film.
Opening next week
No Major releases opening May 20th
But the marketing campaign for Top Gun: Maverick kicks into fifth gear with Tom Cruise starting his European tour with Tom Cruise in the UK on May 15th for The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Celebrations on ITV. Will Tom Cruise do a Maverick style flypast over Buckingham Palace or will Ethan Hunt get a Mission Impossible from the Queen as James Bond had at the opening of the London Olympics (watched by almost 27m in July 2012). Before going to Cannes for the European premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on May 18th and the UK premiere on May 19th.
The film received an excellent response at CinemaCon last month but that response was predictable as they were mostly 45+ and probably saw the original in cinemas when they were children, but the film needs to play to their children which has been the big question with all legacy sequels, While audiences raved about how incredible it looked they did say the plot was predictable as its probably similar to all other legacy sequels as it features the children of those that featured in the original film. As was the case with Jurassic World, Star Wars The Force Awakens, Independence Day Resurgence and Ghostbusters Afterlife, the difference with Top Gun Maverick are that it is very much a Tom Cruise film and while legacy characters died in the other legacy sequels Maverick won’t die in Top Gun 2.
I might seem to be negative but am a huge Tom Cruise fan growing up in the 80s have seen most of his films in the cinema from Top Gun to Mission Impossible Fallout and Tom Cruise goes fall throttle on promotion, as he will be everywhere over the 10 days before the film opens so do hope younger audiences do go to see it far more than they go to the latest comic-book movie. and it is the big summer success it deserves to be as it’s an old fashioned summer movie you don’t need to do homework before and after to understand.
