Top 5 Breakdown

1. King Arthur: Legend of the Sword – £ 2,501,993 – NE

Despite receiving very poor reviews and flopping last week in the US King Arthur had a surprisingly decent opening which was boosted with two days of previews taking £577,955 without which would have taken £1.92m.

While King Arthur might have topped the chart, did it by having the lowest grossing #1 film of the year and the lowest since Sausage Party opened last September with £2.67m (£370,000 from previews). King Arthur poor opening along with Snatched poor opening helped along with biggish drops for the holdovers brought in the lowest weekend of the year. Could possibly excuse part of this on the sunny weather on Sunday which will be an excuse used when Pirates of The Caribbean: Salazar’s Revenge disappoints as well.

King Arthur generated much media coverage over the last week mostly negative after its disappointing opening in the US last weekend along with receiving mixed reviews. After all the negativity surrounding the film, Warner Bros couldn’t open it day and date with the UK because 20^th Century Fox had brought forward it’s opening of Alien: Covenant a week ahead of the US.

The switching of dates for both films with their US openings likely affected the performances of both films questioning with Alien: Covenant opening lower than expected in the US this weekend. Had both films opened day and date its likely both films would have performed stronger.

King Arthur: Legend of the Sword Guy Ritchie’s fourth biggest opening in the UK and ahead of his previous film 2015’s The Man From UNCLE’s £1.45m which held far stronger. His biggest openings in the UK were 2011’s Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows opened with £3.82m taking £26.28m, 2000’s Snatched opening with £3.18m taking £12.13m, 2009’s Sherlock Holmes £3,081m taking £25.71m; next year will be the 20^th anniversary of his first film Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels which took £11.39m.

Guy Ritchie’s next is the Disney re-imagination of Aladdin expected to be released next August and then possibly if rumours are correct Sherlock Holmes 2 or The Man From UNCLE 2.

While opening without previews was close to 2004’s King Arthur with £1.9m which took £7.05m its unlikely 2017’s King Arthur will match it as its likely to drop heavily this week with Pirates of The Caribbean: Salazar’s Revenge opening Thursday.

While their opening box office might be similar average ticket prices have increased over 70% since so need to compare the two by their admissions 2017’s King Arthur are 41% less 249,672 Vs 423,163.

2. Alien: Covenant – £ 2,127,347 – £ 10,003,742

Dropping 59% in its second weekend which compares to a 50% second-weekend drop for Prometheus in June 2012 which took £3.13m (32% more) and £15.47m (35% more).

Prometheus stayed at #1 for three weeks Alien: Covenant would have stayed #1 without King Arthur previews. In 2012, due to Euro 2012, Prometheus had little competition to deal with (Rock of Ages, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter) while Alien: Covenant had immediate competition with both King Arthur and Pirates of the Caribbean 5.

With the arrival, of and Pirates of the Caribbean 5 this weekend Alien: Covenant will likely drop 50% again seeing a final box office of £12.5m 47% less than Prometheus £23.91m which would be similar admissions to 1998’s Alien Resurrection but with about half of its box office as ticket prices have increased according to the industry 88%.

20^th Century Fox has had a mixed 2017 to date while Logan and The Boss Baby performed strongly and Hidden Figures performed steadily (was always going to be a tough sell without award wins and being overshadowed by the likes of La La Land and Moonlight but was a far better and more enjoyable film). But their remaining films have disappointed which were all expected to do so Assassin’s Creed, A Cure for Wellness, Table 19, Rules Don’t Apply and Snatched. Upcoming Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul will do ok over half-term but as with Warner Bros with Wonder Woman and Dunkirk have two films for the rest of the summer War for the Planet of the Apes (and Captain Underpants). Previous two Planet of the Apes films 2011’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes opened with £5.83m taking £20.54m and 2014’s Dawn of the Planet of the Apes opened with £8.7m taking £32.5m

Are also releasing several films from Fox Searchlight Wilson, Gifted, My Cousin Rachel and Patti Cakes$ but none are likely to cross over to wider audiences. Fox originally had Kingsman: The Golden Circle for summer before pushing it to September.

Unlike most films, today when the trailers give away their plot the trailers for Alien: Covenant were close to the Star Wars Go Rogue Lego clips that built up to the events in Rogue One the marketing releasing a prolog video. Similar to Rogue One extra footage was filmed just to be used in its marketing but with Alien: Covenant 20th Century Fox were honest that the material was only for its marketing and didn’t include scenes in the trailers that wouldn’t be part of the film as was. 

Many have said Alien: Covenant feels similar to Aliens having a similar structure to Star Wars The Force Awakens but while Star Wars are more accepting of seeing a remake of what came before Alien fans aren’t so accepting. 

After there was disappointment from fans when Alien: Covenant In Utero was released it was a 360-degree video rather than full VR produced by FoxNext ( the company created by 20th Century Fox to make immersive entertainment from their film content) released a multiplayer VR experience set in the alien universe.

3. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 -£ 1,942,687 – 

£ 36,309,702  

Down 40.4% in its fourth weekend will shortly overtake Iron Man 3 and Captain America: Civil War to become the biggest non-Avengers Marvel Cinematic Universe film in the UK.

After four weeks, the first Guardians of the Galaxy film had taken only £21.89m but neither Alien: Covenant or King Arthur had much impact on its box office but Pirates of The Caribbean: Salazar’s Revenge will do and depending on how it holds against Pirates will see if it will take £40m.

The 15 Marvel Cinematic Universe films have now taken over £385m at the UK box office but while their box office continues to grow over the last 9 years their admissions haven’t grown nearly as much showing the audience for Marvel is similar.

After four weekends:

Iron Man 2 had taken 32.5% more than Iron Man £19.10 Vs £14.41m and Iron Man 3 had taken 134.4% (£33.79m) more than Iron Man and 76.9% more than Iron Man 2. But ticket prices increased by 26%+ between Iron Man 1 and Iron Man 3 2008 – 2013

Captain American: Winter Soldier had taken 78.8% more than Captain America: The First Avenger £16.47m Vs £9.21m and Captain America: Civil War had taken 109% more than Captain American: Winter Soldier £34.46m Vs £16.47m. But Captain America: Civil War can’t be directly compared to previous Captain America films as featured many other Avengers characters so played more like an Avengers film; while ticket prices increased 22.2% between Captain America: The First Avenger £9.21m and Captain America: Civil War.

Thor: The Dark World had taken 43.4% more than Thor £18.45m Vs £12.86m Thor: Ragnarok opens in October as Captain America: Civil War; the third sequel features Avengers characters so cannot be compared but of course will be.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 took 65.8% more than Guardians of the Galaxy £36.31m Vs £21.89m; holding close to Iron Man 3 will see it ending with around £39.5m which will be the third biggest Marvel Cinematic Universe film and biggest non-Avengers film but its admissions will still be less than Iron Man 3 5.26 Vs 5.62m showing that while box office might have grown 7.7% ticket prices have increased by more than double 16.5% since 2013.

 

4. Snatched – £ 842,489 – NE

After receiving mixed reviews and disappointing in the US last week was always expected to do similar in the UK; in recent years, mid-range budget actor focussed comedies and dramas have been squeezed the most at the box office.in recent years including last year’s The Boss £0.59m, Money Monster £0.82m, 2014’s Sex Tape £1.42m (took £985k Fri-Sun), 2015’s The Intern £0.75m, Trainwrecked £0.92m and Sisters £1.21m (took £734k Fri-Sun).

Glamour Magazine held an early preview screening last month which Amy Schumer and Goldie Hawn both attended and the reaction was positive but since then the film received very mixed reception. While Amy Schumer and Goldie Hawn generated media coverage with their promotion tour when they came to the UK it was three weeks ago and the coverage generated was long forgotten which often happens.

As many have said Snatched is a comedy 20 years too late had it been released in the late 80s/90s around the time of Goldie Hawn’s Overboard, Bird on a Wire, Housesitter and Death Becomes Her it could of likely been far more successful.

5. The Boss Baby – £ 414,954 – £ 26,819,979

Down 28.6% in its seventh weekend will shortly overtake The Lego Batman Movie to become the sixth biggest film of the year but will see a possible boost with half-term next week will probably come slightly short to overtaking Sing £28.56m with Diary of A Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul opening for half-term holidays which took a decent £774,587 from previews over the weekend.

Dreamworks Animation films have been underrated in recent years since Penguins of Madagascar disappointed in 2014 three out of the four films have been original Home, Trolls and The Boss Baby. This compares to just two of Pixar’s last four films Inside Out and The Good Dinosaur while upcoming three out of the four are sequels Cars 3, The Incredibles 2 and Toy Story 4.

While similarly two of Illumination Entertainment films were sequels Despicable Me 2 and Minions while their two “original” films are rip-offs of other animated films The Secret Life of Pets is Toy Story with pets and Sing could easily be a Zootropolis sequel. While upcoming its four sequels and one remake Despicable Me 3, The Secret Life of Pets 2, Minions 2 and Sing 2. The future for Dreamworks Animation under new owners looks to be churning out far more sequels than original animated films including How to Train Your Dragon 3 and Trolls 2 and Shrek 5 is also expected to be dated soon.

Captain Underpants is 20^th Century Fox’s final Dreamworks Animation film which they release July 26^th at the start of the summer holidays several weeks after Despicable Me 3 and Cars 3 and a week before The Emoji Movie (the film most feared by adults after the trailer was released last week).

The nine Dreamworks Animation films 20^th Century Fox have released since 2013 have taken almost £175m;

20^th Century Fox look to the future with original animated films Ferdinand, Anubis and Pigeon Impossible opening over the next three years. After the disappointing performance of Ice Age: Collision Course they don’t have the franchise properties for sequel animations their rivals have but are in a better position than Paramount Pictures were when they lost Dreamworks Animation in 2012.

Also, released

Colossal – Entertainment – £150,642 from 145 screens (with King Arthur disappointing and Snatched always likely to underwhelm there was room in the marketplace for Colossal to play in more screens but even when exhibitors have a chance to show original films they don’t give them a chance.)

French exhibitors are angered with Netflix screening several films at the Cannes Film Festival that won’t get a theatrical release but then when exhibitors have a chance to show original films like Colossal they prefer to book the likes of King Arthur or Snatched.

Bong Joon-ho’s last film Snowpiercer received critical acclaim had very limited US but wasn’t released in the UK and several other European countries due to creative differences between the director and The Weinstein Company. But at Netflix Bong Joon-ho was given full creative control for Okja and access to a much wider potential audience.

Other box office news

This weekend’s top 10 box office took £10,337,266 down 7.5% from last weekend £11,133,770;

The weekend had the lowest box office of the year the previous low was four weeks ago week 18 (April 21^st-23^rd); it was also the third lowest week for the past year; while Pirates 5 will open far bigger than last year’s Alice Through the Looking Glass it has received similar negative reaction from critics and will face tougher competition with expected hot sunny Bank holiday weekend.

The weekend admissions 1,180,552 down 20.3% from last weekend 1,481,115

11 films opened at weekend taking £3,727,289; King Arthur took 67.1%, Snatched 22.6% and Half Girlfriend 4% with the remaining 8 films sharing £232,165 (6.2%)

The weekend was down 25.9% from last year (£13,948,411): X-Men Apocalypse £7,331,848, A Hologram For The King £378,221, Sing Street £122,605 and The Silent Storm £3,600.

Down 0.9% from 2015: (£10,432,951): Tomorrowland: A World Beyond £1,481,336 and Poltergeist £1,461,668

Next weekend in 2016 (£8,739,604): Alice Through the Looking Glass £2,217,253, Money Monster £816,552, Love and Friendship £260,215, Bobby £1,061.

 

UK Box Office Top 10

 

US Box Office Top 10

 

US Box officee

20^th Century Fox – Alien: Covenant opened with $36.16m; receiving B CinemaScore after taking $4.2m from Thursday midnights which was more than Mad Max: Fury Road $3.7m which went on to open with $45.4m; their Friday box office was similar to 42% share of the weekend box office but then dropped off more heavily than Prometheus on Saturday and Sunday.

While less than 2012’s Prometheus but Alien: Covenant was not released in 3D while Prometheus in 2012 a large proportion of its $50.05m opening came from 3D and IMAX.  Which took $3.6m from Thursday midnights but those started at midnight while Alien: Covenant shows started at 7pm.

Prometheus went on to take $126.47m taking 2.52x opening if Alien: Covenant was to hold similar would take about $90m.

Marvel – Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 dropping 46.7% in its third weekend raking $34.65m and $301.39m total 39.3% more than the first film released in 2014.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 box office is the eighth biggest Marvel Cinematic Universe film in the US after 17 days. Despite opening 54% bigger than the original the sequel will likely only take 8% more showing how front-loaded comic-book movies have become.

Globally Guardians of the Galaxy has taken $736.5m (shortly overtaking the first films global box office of $773.3m) with $431m internationally and $301m from US.

Warner Bros – Everything, Everything opened with $11.72m; received mixed reviews but a strong A- CinemaScore opening stronger than expected

20^th Century Fox – Snatched dropped 59.9% in its second weekend taking $7.83m and $33.01m total;

20th Century Fox –  Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul opened with $7.12m; after receiving mixed reviews got a B CinemaScore. While the previous three films opened over consecutive years the reboot as always going to find it hard targeting a new audience was predicted to open with around $10m instead opened with a third less which will mean another potential series reboot will be no more.

20th Century Fox released three films over two weeks none doing as the studio would have hoped. But will be looking to their remaining summer releases will perform better; original animation Captain Underpants likely to be third to animated sequels Cars 3 and Despicable Me 3 and War for the Planet of the Apes the third part of the series the first two 2011’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes took $176.7m and the sequel 2014’s Dawn of the Planet of the Apes took $208.5m. Opens week after Spider-Man: Homecoming and week before Dunkirk which will likely see it open big $80m+ and then drop heavy like all the other reboots, remakes, sequels and comic-book movies in this Groundhog Day summer.

Warner Bros – King Arthur: Legend of the Sword dropped 53.5% in its second weekend taking $7.15m and $27.5m;

After a disappointing start to 2017 with The Lego Batman Movie and Kong: Skull Island their biggest hits of the year so far will be looking to Wonder Woman to save their summer after the early buzz has been positive it could be the DC Extended Universe film that fans have been wanting. Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk is a massive unknown hoping Harry Styles fan-base will boost interest opening in a summer of sequels. Trailers for The House have been very funny while Conjuring spinoff sequel Annabelle: Creation is likely to do similar to first.

Universal Pictures – The Fate of the Furious dropped 40.1% in its sixth weekend taking $3.32m and $219.94m; in comparison, Furious 7 took more than double in its sixth weekend $5.4m and the total of $338.5m 95.9% of its final box office of $353m.

Universal Pictures have announced a July 11^th Home Entertainment release date in the US but despite opening two days before the US in the UK is released on DVD a month later in the UK. With the film, already on illegal streaming sites and the film taking over 95% of its final box office it’s crazy that the film won’t be released on home entertainment in the UK for another 11 weeks.

The Fate of the Furious is holding close to Fast & Furious 6 which took $2.44m in its sixth weekend with total of $233.35m 97.8% of its final box office of $238.6m; while Fast Five took $3.16m in sixth week $201.97m 96.2% of final box office of $209.83m; The Fate of the Furious will end with $225m holding closer to both 2011’s Fast Five and 2013’s Fast & Furious 6.

20th Century Fox – The Boss Baby down 36.7% in its eighth weekend taking $2.84m and a total of $166.2m; it is currently 20^th Century Fox’s #8 biggest animated film and fourth biggest Dreamworks Animation film.

After eight weeks 2015’s Home took $2.55m and similar $165.5m 93.3% of its final box office of $177.3m if The Boss Baby performs similar ($178.6m) should overtake Ice Age, How to Train Your Dragon 2 and Home to become 20^th Century Fox’s fourth biggest animated film and second biggest Dreamworks Animation film behind The Croods.

Has become the #54 biggest animated film in the US and has overtaken Kung Fu Panda 2 will shortly overtake Hotel Transylvania 2, Tarzan and The Lego Batman Movie to become the biggest animated film in the US for 2017 that is until Despicable Me 3 next month.

Disney – Beauty and the Beast drops 47.1% in its tenth weekend (probably final week in the top 10) taking $2.54m and $497.92m; after ten weeks, The Jungle Book took $1.48m taking $355.9m 97.8% of its final box office of $364m if Beauty and the Beast was to do similar will end with $518m.

Beauty and the Beast has now taken $1.22bn #10 worldwide overtaking Iron Man 3 and Frozen to be #9 biggest.

Opened May 26^th

Opening UK

• Pirates of The Caribbean: Salazar’s Revenge – Disney

The fifth installment of the Pirates of The Caribbean film series produced by Jerry Bruckheimer based on the Walt Disney theme park ride of the same name. While the first film was a very enjoyable the sequels were, long and bloated which often happens with sequels.

Pirates of The Caribbean: Salazar’s Revenge known as Dead Men Tell No Tales has been described as a soft-reboot of the franchise sees the return of Geoffrey Rush, Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley and is directed by Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg their first major film previously directed the 2014 TV mini-series Marco Polo.

Originally Walt Disney Pictures had plans to shoot the fifth and sixth film back to back shortly after the release of the fourth film.

Disney screened Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales at CinemCon in March receiving positive reaction with many called it the second best since the first film. But then embargo ended on Monday and reviews have been poor which shows exhibitors get caught up in the hype at events like CinemaCon.

Will the mixed reviews affect its box office performance? Add Johnny Depp is box office poison (why it is very strange Universal Pictures have signed him up to star their third Monsters Extended Universe film now called Dark Universe in Bride of Frankenstein after the first film Dracula Untold flopped and Tom Cruise’s The Mummy is expected to disappoint). Add the expected hot sunny bank holiday weekend as Men in Black 3 in 2012 opening with only £2.93m. After the poor performance of Alice Through the Looking Glass last May Pirates of The Caribbean: Salazar’s Revenge has been called another unnecessary sequel.

The trailers and TV spots for Pirates of The Caribbean: Salazar’s Revenge made it seem like it was the final part of the franchise but the directors said it was the beginning of the final adventure.

The previous four films have taken over £150m at the UK box office. It is six years since Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides opened and since then Johnny Depp films have disappointed at the box office while having cameos in Into the Woods and 21 Jump Street which were successes his last non-Pirates of the Caribbean hit was 2010’s Alice in Wonderland while last year’s sequel Alice Through the Looking Glass was taken less than the first film took in its opening weekend.

Before Disney got into the comic-book business they were making films based on their theme park rides 2000’s Mission to Mars, 2002’s The Country Bears, 2003’s The Haunted Mansion and most recently 2015’s Tomorrowland but except for Pirates of The Caribbean, they all flopped at the box office. Disney recently announced plans turn Jungle Cruise into a film starring Dwayne Johnson while there have been plans for many years to turn It’s a Small World ride into a film.

Pirates of The Caribbean film series is the eleventh highest grossing film series globally taking $3.729bn. Pirates of The Caribbean: Salazar’s Revenge is expected to take around $900m globally which will push it up to ninth before further chapters of Spider-Man and Transformers this summer will put it back to eleventh.

• Diary of A Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul – 20^th Century Fox

The original films were steady performers but the fourth opening five years later with a new cast will be targeting a new audience but with limited choices for younger children (teens have Pirates of The Caribbean: Salazar’s Revenge and Baywatch) during half-term holidays with Beauty and the Beast, The Boss baby and A Dog’s Purpose played out. The trailers played with those films and Peppa Pig which could help introduce the new film to a next generation.

2010’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid opened 27th August 2010 £671,161 taking £2.52m  

2011’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules opened 27^th May 2011 £1.76m taking £5.22m

2012’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days opened 3^rd August 2012 £1.53m taking £7.35m.

As with most family films held previews weekend before opening but rather than advertising them as previews TV spot advertised it in cinemas May 20^th.

Diary of A Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul had a positive start taking £774,587 from previews last weekend so should take abut £1.2-1.5m for the sunshine effected weekend.

• Baywatch – Paramount (Monday)

Action-comedy starring stars Dwayne Johnson, Zac Efron, Priyanka Chopra, Alexandra Daddario and Kelly Rohrbach and cameos from David Hasselhoff and Pamela Anderson directed by Seth Gordon.

In 2001 Tom Cruise was Forbes world’s highest-paid actor when Dwayne Johnson made his movie debut in The Mummy Returns in earlier films called The Rock but in more recent films after becoming an actor he became Dwayne Johnson when he crossed over into comedies including the underrated film remake of Get Smart in 2008 and The Other Guys in 2010.

As The Rock no one would have possibly imagined that 15 years later he would become Forbes world’s highest-paid actor in 2016 after earning $64.5m for Central Intelligence, Fast 8 and Baywatch (Tom Cruise is now fourth). Dwayne Johnson is currently filming Rampage and soon to start Skyscraper both set for release in 2018. In recent years, a big-name actor no longer guarantees a film will open big with Baywatch and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle we will see if he can as both carry much baggage as can he possibly fill David Hasselhoff or Robin Williams shoes as his feet must be far too big for their shoes?

While film to TV has often been successful TV to film is similar to computer game to movie much harder to transform a 25-minute TV show into a 90-minute film for every good adaption 21 Jump Street, The Brady Bunch Movie, Charlie’s Angels (first film), Dragnet, Get Smart, The Man From U.N.C.L.E and Naked Gun there are many more bad ones including Bewitched, The A-Team, Dukes of Hazard, Entourage, I Spy, Life on the Road, St Bilko, Thunderbirds, Chips, Wild Wild West and now Baywatch joins that list. 

Baywatch marketing was self-aware as 21 Jump Street but reviews have called it silly and dump more Chip 2 than 22 Jump Street.

Baywatch opens Monday, May 29^th the start of the half-term holidays to give it a 7-day opening weekend and a head start on Wonder Woman opening on June 1^st.

While Baywatch has generated a lot of social media coverage will it be able to open close to 2014’s 22 Jump Street which opened with £4.83m from its 3-day opening weekend. 

Last year Paramount Pictures also opened on Monday Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle: Out of the Shadows taking £720,000 from Bank Holiday Monday but a disappointing £3.5m for its 7-day opening weekend which was 27% less than the first film but with two days more.

When a film opens on Monday giving it a 7-day opening weekend instead of the more regular3 or 4-day weekend you would expect its box office to dramatically increase but the audience is just more evenly shared across the whole week rather than just three days. So, while would assume with 7 days Baywatch should easily beat the opening of Wonder Woman 4 day it will likely open close to 22 Jump Street 3 day opening weekend. Wonder Woman has received positive reviews and strong buzz and is Fandango’s Most Anticipated Summer Movie.

Opening in the US

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales Vs Baywatch Memorial weekend battle was expected to be close to 2011 with The Hangover Part II opening with $85.94m VS Kung Fu Panda 2 $47.65m and 2013’s Fast & Furious 6 $97.37m Vs The Hangover Part III $41.67m. But after both films have recieved poor reviews many expect a repeat of last year when both X-Men: Apocalypse and Alice Through the Looking Glass both disappointed. 

While in 2011 the two releases played to different audiences in 2013 as this year with Pirates of the Caribbean Vs Baywatch are targeting similar audiences which could cannibalize their box office.

• Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales – Disney

Last week Disney’s Bob Iger revealed hackers had stolen a copy of the film and were threatening to leak it unless they were paid a ransom for it. 

Early box office tracking in April was predicting a $115m opening over the 4-day Memorial weekend but in recent weeks this has dropped to $80m 11% lower than 2011’s Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides $90.1m and down 41% from 2006’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest and 30% from 2007’s Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End. The first film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl opened with only $46.63m in 2003 but went on to take $305.41m.

The first four films have taken $1.279bn at the US box office; the first film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl released in 2003 was a surprise hit in a summer full of pointless unnecessary sequels Legally Blonde 2: Red, White and Blonde, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, Bad Boys 2, Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd, Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle and The Matrix Reloaded. 14 years later now Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales has become one of those pointless unnecessary sequels.

In a recent article in the Hollywood Reporter was reportedly Johnny Depp’s erratic behavior on set caused many issues with the film’s production including being constantly late due to excessive drinking and fights with his then wife Amber Heard causing production to be briefly shut down in March 2015. The fights between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard came to a head when she got a restraining order against her husband the week before Alice Through the Looking Glass opened last May which saw the film flop.

The big question is now a year later after allegations were found to be true will fans and Hollywood continue to support Johnny Depp as have done previously with Chris Brown, Woody Allen and Charlie Sheen whose careers have been largely unharmed which will probably see Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales be a massive success making us all hypocrites as most have such short memories.

Amber Heard has since divorced Johnny Depp and is currently shooting Aquaman (released December 2018) as Mera she will also appear as Mera in Justice League directed by Zach Snyder released in November.

• Baywatch – Paramount

In January 2016 Paramount dated Baywatch for May 19^th previously having Terminator Genisys sequel set for that date pushing its release back a week in December 2016 to avoid Alien: Covenant.

Tracking in early May was predicting the opening of $37-40m over the five-day opening which would be close to the 2012’s 21 Jump Street.

As with many films, the marketing for Baywatch has been far better than the film and this is definitely the case with Baywatch as its marketing and trailers have sucked out the fun from the film which leaves little for the film itself. 

The film had generated more than 500,000 social media conversations up to May 15^th which was days after its premiere and the release of the final trailer.  

Despite receiving poor reviews Baywatch is still expected to open with upwards of $40m (close to last year’s Central Intelligence $35.5m from 3 days) over the five-day Memorial weekend due to Dwayne Johnson but like all other summer films so far will drop heavily when word of mouth makes people realise even he can’t save this film.

Baywatch will probably be Dwayne Johnson’s first film since 2014’s Hercules not to take over $100m at the US box office. Since G.I. Joe: Retaliation in 2013 and including Baywatch he has starred in 10 films 7 of which have taken over $100m at the US box office the three that haven’t Pain and Gain, Hercules and now Baywatch all made by Paramount.

Up next is the Jumanji remake at Christmas which could easily go either way while it might star Dwayne Johnson as with so many remakes and reboots won’t have the charm the original film Robin Williams gave to it. Then back to action with Rampage and Skyscraper released next year.