Top 5 Breakdown

1. Wonder Woman – £6,179,616 – NE

Includes £1.2m from previews Thursday taking 43% of the market and then taking £1.44m Friday Wonder Woman was looking like it could open with close to £9m.

But then as like many comic-book adventures disaster strikes facing several enemies that even she couldn’t beat… but have gone slightly ahead of myself…

Wonder Woman had everything going against it in the build up to its release as it followed the poorly critical received previous three DC Extended Universe Man of Steel Batman Vs Superman and Suicide Squad. All through the film’s production were the similar misogynistic comments from men that surrounded the making of Ghostbusters but after Gal Gadot appearance as Wonder Woman in Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice some of this disappeared but it still was there from some.

Then 6 weeks ago many articles were written about the film’s lack of marketing (which was untrue but Wonder Woman had the weight of the DC Extended Universe films on her shoulders as while everything is awesomely for Marvel Cinematic Universe while DC films might be successful at the box office haven’t been critically successful since Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight trilogy.

Wonder Woman had four baddies that ever she couldn’t defeat even after doing something that no DC film has done since The Dark Knight Rises.

Saturday hot weather, Champions League final, London Attacks and then Manchester One Love concert on Sunday which over 14m watched the majority of would have been the target female audience for Wonder Woman.

In 2012 Prometheus took 72% of its box office from 3D in 2012 (Alien: Covenant opened a few weeks ago lower than Prometheus mostly due to the lack of 3D and the 30% surcharges added to its box office. In the years since 3D box office has dropped but most blockbusters attract about 50% of their box office from 3D but Wonder Woman was only 23% losing out on over £1m from 3D surcharges. After having a strong opening on Thursday taking 43% of the market and then good Friday but nowhere near the likes of other comic-book movies, Twilight films or Fifty Shades of Grey.

Do wonder how much not having a premiere also affected its box office as while most films nowadays don’t get much media coverage a film like Wonder Woman would have received a lot of media coverage. Will be a similar question for The Mummy opening this weekend as both premieres were cancelled after the terrorist attack at the end of the Ariana Grande concert.

Wonder Woman opened bigger than Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger, Captain America: Winter Soldier, Batman Begins, Superman Returns and Green Lantern.

Disappointingly couldn’t get close to previous DC Extended Universe openers Man of Steel, Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad. I do believe had Wonder Woman not been cursed with so many unforeseen enemies to cinema would it have done only need to look at its $103m 3 day opening in the US to see a £11m+ opening could have been. Which would have taken the bitter taste in DC fans mouths with Suicide Squad despite all the negativity surrounding it opened with £11.25m.

Wonder Woman had the 11^th biggest opening of the year behind Beauty and the Beast, Furious 8, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2, Sing, Logan, The Boss Baby, The Lego Batman Movie, Fifty Shades Darker, La La Land, and Kong: Skull Island.

Its 12 years since the last major female superhero film Elektra opened with £791,914 in January 2005 taking only £1.46m

While Catwoman opened a year earlier in August 2004 with £557,583 taking a similar £1.41m.

Warner Bros recently have had several films while their openings were lower than expected they held strongly in the weeks after opening which could be similarly the case for Wonder Woman.

Three years ago, despite getting very positive reviews Tom Cruise’s Edge of Tomorrow had one of his lowest openings in the UK taking £1.85m but held strongly over the weeks that followed taking £7.75m its opening was only 23.8% of its final box office. If Wonder Woman was to do similar could take upwards of £25m. But more realistic is £18.5m with it dropping 52% next weekend which will be in line with Marvel films and then 40% week 3 as there aren’t any major films opening with a three-week total of £15m 80% of final box office.

Wonder Woman also only had 23% of its box office from 3D which was close to 29% in the US but a long way from 100% from China in recent years 3D box office has shrunk as audiences aren’t willing to pay surcharges to watch films in 3D. Will be interesting to see if Transformers: The Last Knight changings this as it is being advertised as being shot in 3D IMAX cameras.

But did open bigger than both Pirates of The Caribbean: Salazar’s Revenge and Alien: Covenant.

Wonder Woman is currently the second most tweeted film over the last two months with 1.9m tweets with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 ahead with 2m tweets but of course, has been released for a month. Spider-Man: Homecoming 790,000), Alien: Covenant 754,000), and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales 486,000.

Wonder Woman has previously been named Fandango’s most anticipated summer blockbuster and the film has received the highest score on Rotten Tomatoes for a comic-book movie.   

A dozen cinemas in Manchester held fundraising screenings yesterday of Wonder Woman to help raise funds for the victims of May 22^nd terror attack at the end of Ariana Grande concert. All ticket proceeds will go towards the We Love Manchester Emergency Fund, set up by the Red Cross Warner Bros said they would donate their share of the box office to the charity.

After the Alamo Drafthouse announced plans for women-only screenings there was the obvious outrage on Twitter. One man was so angry about the screening he wrote a letter to Austin Mayor Steve Adler. The mayor office said It’s legal,” “It’s a private business. Furthermore, 99% of all the screenings in Austin are dude-friendly. It’s almost like the whole world is set up for us. I think the real shocking thing is it took this long to get a lady superhero movie.”

Joss Whedon also responded to the women-only screenings tweeting “I got to see Wonder Woman by myself weeks ago so shut up there’s already been a man-only screening. Oh and it’s a godddamn delight.”

Joss Whedon also congratulated director Patty Jenkins on Twitter for its $100m US opening while stars from Marvel Cinematic Universe and DC Extended Universe films also celebrated its success. Gal Gadot asked Thor actor Chris Hemsworth: which of their characters would win in a fight? Hemsworth responded it was a no-brainer: “I think she’d kick Thor’s a**.”

Lupita Nyong’o who appears in upcoming Black Panther took to Instagram raving about the film saying it was a superhero movie like none I have ever seen. Epic. FUN. Engaging. Stylistically Captivating. Funny in an honest, not-trying-too-hard way. Witty. Smart. Perfect length. Fierce. Sensual. Just amazing.

Six weeks ago, many wrote about the lack of marketing for Wonder Woman which was being overshadowed by films like Baywatch, Pirates of The Caribbean 5 and Guardians of the Galaxy Vo 2. But Warner Bros knew something those people who questioned the lack of marketing they had a good film and wasn’t the need for the heavy spending as they had to do with previous DC Extended Universe films.

Wonder Woman will be next seen in Justice League opening in November early buzz says she (as did in Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice) and Aquaman steal the film.

2. Baywatch £4,631,244 – NE

Baywatch 7 day opening Vs Wonder Woman 4 day opening you would have thought would be only one winner as a film that has a third more days should open bigger. But as with the majority of Monday openers including The Huntsman, Warcraft: The Beginning and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows all it does is share out its potential weekend box office over 7 days and with those films also build negative buzz before their official Friday opening. 

Baywatch took £2.72m Mon-Thurs and £1.91m Fri-Sun; as with most 7 day openers will suffer a second-weekend drop of about 80% close to Assassin’s Creed 82% and last year’s 7-day openers 75.9% Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows and 79.9% for Warcraft: The Beginning.

Spider-Man: Homecoming producer Matt Tolmach recently spoke to THR talking about the challenges of giving audiences something different but the same as seen with many films released today are either sequels, reboots, remakes or franchises. Audiences often say they are bored of so much-repeated content but then when they are given original films they aren’t interested.

He talked about the challenges they have in telling the same story again differently as with Spider-Man Homecoming and the upcoming reboot of Jumanji. This the memberries culture with films like Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Jurassic World audiences are seemingly happy to pay to see even if they are fan remakes of previous films.

From 1989 and through the 90s until 2002 when it was cancelled Baywatch received strong ratings when was broadcast early evenings (5.30pm) on Saturday night on ITV replacing The A-Team which had been in that slot several years early. As with The A –=Team the producers made Baywatch into something very different to the TV show alienating the fans of the show and turning it into a gross-out comedy with dick jokes.

From its self-aware marketing which was similar to 21 Jump Street, many assumed they would learn from the mistakes of many TV to films including The A-Team TV series which no one actually dies (when it was broadcast on ITV in the 80s many complained about its violence).

Baywatch performed similarly to 2010’s The A-Team £3.57m (1.07m from previews); while opening bigger than 2005’s The Dukes of Hazzard £1.72m (£554,000 in previews), 2004’s Starsky & Hutch £4.15m (previews of £1.41m). and 2012’s 21 Jump Street began with £1.56m and a whole lot better than Chips early this year which managed to open with only £0.2m but probably received similarly poor reviews and Baywatch was probably a far worse film as expectations were far higher from the trailers and the cast.

All of Paramount Pictures films released in the UK apart from Fences have dropped heavily in their second weekend 73.7% Monster Trucks, 59.88% XxX3: The Return of Xander Cage, 66.7% Rings, 68.7% Ghost in the Shell and their next Transformers: The Last Knight is likely to join that list after the previous film Transformers Age of Extinction dropped 85% in 2014.

Tom Cruise might have announced Top Gun 2 will finally start production next year for a release probably in 2019 33 years after the first film but their remaining films aren’t likely to spark much interest at the box office An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power will generate much media coverage as it has done in the last week after Donald Trump pulled out of the Paris Climate Agreement but is unlikely to attract a wide audience.

Little is known about Darren Aronofsky’s psychological thriller Mother starring Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem, Michelle Pfeiffer, Domhnall Gleeson, Ed Harris and Kristen Wiig but it sounds like it could be close to 2000’s What Lies Beneath. Remaining two films are sequels Daddy’s Home 2 which was a surprise hit 2 years ago but rarely these films work second time around and Cloverfield 3 aka God Particle which again as 10 Cloverfield Lane isn’t released day and date with the US which is strange for a film that will have an ending which social media will likely spoil.

3. Pirates of The Caribbean: Salazar’s Revenge – £ 2,737,320 – £13,033,272

Down only 47.7% in its second weekend, thanks to half term holidays held far better than 56% Dead Man’s Chest, 60% At World’s End and 59% On Stranger Tides.

But Salazar’s Revenge second-weekend box office was about half of the previous sequels but more than The Curse of the Black Pearl released 14 years ago when ticket prices were over 70% cheaper.

Currently Salazar’s Revenge is holding close to At World’s End but as it’s likely to drop heavily this weekend with the arrival of The Mummy targeting similar audience it will likely end with about £17.5m which is 62% of The Curse of the Black Pearl, 34% of Dead Man’s Chest, 43% of At World’s End and 53% of On Stranger Tides.

Critics were raving about Pirates of The Caribbean: Salazar’s Revenge but not in a god way.

While Salazar’s Revenge has underperformed in the UK as the US has taken $143.6m of the global box office of $507.7m from China which is close to the recent The Fate of the Furious and will probably be for the upcoming Transformers: The Last Knights.

Had it not been for the $320m taken in China for Transformers: Age of Extinction which inflated its global box office to $1.1 billion it’s unlikely Paramount would have made a fifth film will it be a similar case for Disney with Pirates of The Caribbean that they could still make a sixth film even though the fifth film disappointed in the US. As Legendary Pictures are still developing a sequel to Warcraft even after the first film only took $47m in the US due to it taking 50% of its global box office from China.

4. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul -£851,207 – £3,932,838   

Down 41.01% in its second weekend but removing its weekend previews increased its box office by 29% from last weekend due to half-term holidays.

While Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul disappointed in the US opening for half term holidays in the UK without any competition with trailers played with The Boss Baby (has taken almost £28m at the UK box office recently overtaken The Lego Batman Movie to become the sixth biggest film of the year but will likely come short from overtaking Sing £28.84m) it has taken more than the first film at the box office but will unlikely overtake the sequels.

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 27th May 2011 £1.76m taking £5.22m

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

5. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 -£ 642,223 –             £ 39,646,990

Down 27.96% in its sixth weekend will shortly become the fifth comic-book movie to take £40m at the UK box office behind The Dark Knight, The Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises and Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Other box office news

This weekend’s top 10 box office took £16,108,698 up 66.4% from last weekend £9,680,476

The weekend admissions 2,157,745 up 65.1% from last weekend 1,306,407  

12 films opened at weekend taking £10,948,895; Wonder Woman took 56.4%, Baywatch 42.3% with the remaining 10 films sharing £138,035 (1.2%)

Wonder Woman took 38.3% and Baywatch 28.7% of the top 10 box office with the two films combined taking 67.1% of the top 10.

Weekend was up 10.5% from last year (£14,572,147): Warcraft: The Beginning £3,623,725 (7-day opening), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows £3,495,445 (7-day opening), Me Before You £1,790,657, The Nice Guys £1,004,622, Race £39,990,

Up 86.1% from 2015: (£8,657,357): Spy £2,557,824, Insidious Chapter 3 £1,440,299, SC: The Empire Strikes Back £304,115, Survivor £130,307

Next weekend in 2016 (£7,187,384): The Boss £589,768, Mother’s Day £416,000 and Miracles from Heaven £20,000

 

UK Box Office Top 10

 

US Box Office Top 10

US Box Office

Warner Bros – Wonder Woman opens with $103.25m tracking for Wonder Woman was all over the place a month ago it was $65m similar first parts of Thor and Captain America but this was before the film’s marketing kicked through the gears. Going into the weekend many were predicting $85m while Warner Bros were still lowering their expectations at $70m+. But after taking $11m from Thursday night previews (27% more than 50 Shades of Grey) experts were raising their estimates towards $100m on Friday.

Wonder Woman took $11m from Thursday Midnights and then $38m from Friday while this is lower than Man of Steel $56m, Batman Vs Superman $81m and Suicide Squad $65m opening days it is close to solo Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Iron Man, Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy and Doctor Strange opening day box offices.

Wonder Woman had the third-biggest opening of the year behind Beauty and the Beast and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2. It was, of course, the biggest opening for a female director and female led comic-book adaption; the 16^th biggest opening for a comic-book adaption and had the 40^th biggest opening in the US. With positive reviews and strong word of mouth, Wonder Woman should take $300m+ which will see it overtake Man of Steel. Depending on how it holds it the coming weeks possibly Suicide Squad too?

It took $225m worldwide with $122.5m internationally with $38m from China.

CinemaScore audience report had audience split close female to male 52% to 48% guys tonight with 14% under 18 (A) and 14% between the ages of 18-24 (A+), as well as 53% under the age of 35. While PostTrak shows older females over 25 leading the charge to Wonder Woman (37%), followed by guys over 25 (34%), females under 25 (17%) and men under 25 (12%).

As seen with Star Wars: The Force Awakens the female audience grew over the week and across its release while already much higher than other comic-book movies will grow a lot more as women aren’t so desperate to see the film on opening night.

Wonder Woman was the first female comic-book movie since 2005 when Elektra opened with $12.8m taking $24.4m and the year before Catwoman were massive flops opening with $16.72m taking $40.2m.

Some people questioned the fact that its director Patty Jenkins had previously only directed an $8 indie film ignoring the fact that Gareth Edwards, Matteeves, James Gunn, Josh Trank, Colin Trevorrow, Marc Webb, Marc Forster, Michel Gondry, Paul Greengrass, Gavin Hood, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Doug Liman, Bryan Singer, David O Russell and Rupert Wyatt and many others had done the same.

The first weekend in June has seen the strong openings for many female-focused films in recent years 2016’s Me Before You $27.6m, Spy in 2015 $40.93m, The Fault in Our Stars in 2014 $65.97m and next year will see the release of Ocean’s Eight starring Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway, Rihanna, Sarah Paulson and Mindy Kaling opening 11  years  after Oceans 13 and in 2019 Charlie’s Angels reboot directed by Elizabeth Banks 19 years after the last reboot that starred Drew Barrymore and Cameron Diaz

The weekend after Memorial Day weekend used to disappoint but in recent years with Memorial Day weekend disappointing the weeks around it has performed far stronger.  13 out of the last 14 years. 2010 was the only year since 2002 with Shrek Forever After holding top with the new arrivals underperforming.

The Purge in 2013 opening with $43.64m, Prometheus in 2012 $84.95m, Super 8 in 2011 with $50.53m, The Hangover in 2009 with $71.97m, Kung Fu Panda in 2008 with $83.67m, Ocean’s Thirteen in 2007 with $50.7m, Cars in 2006 with $83.32m, Mr & Mrs Smith in 2005 with $70.66m, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban in 2004 with $123.1m, 2 Fast 2 Furious in 2003 $64.9m,

Fox News were outraged that Wonder Woman wasn’t American enough as her costume was red, gold, and blue instead of red, white, and blue ignoring the fact that she is a fictional Amazonian warrior princess. Saying the film was a massive box office disappointment and to go and see Baywatch.

As often with major films studios sneak a surprise trailer before it and in selected US cinemas and origin trailer to Wonder Woman Beginnings Professor Marston & The Wonder Women.

20th Century Fox – Captain Underpants opened with $23.5m which was slightly lower than was expected to have the 25^th biggest opening (of 35) for Dreamworks Animation film in the US; the film received B+ CinemaScore and with Cars 3 released in two weeks unlikely to last long in the charts.

The film is the final Dreamworks Animation film to be released by 20^th Century Fox as from net year they will be released by Universal Pictures who acquired the studio last year; The 10 Dreamworks Animation films 20^th Century Fox released over the last four years have taken $1.3 billion.

20^th Century Fox will be hoping Blue Sky Studios can fill the loss of Dreamworks Animation with Ferdinand, Anubis and Pigeon Impossible opening over the next three years.

Disney – Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales dropped 65.7% in its second weekend taking $21.61m and $114.02m total.

Alter 10 days Dead Men Tell No Tales is down from all other installments of the franchise 25.2% from On Stranger Tides, 47.3% from At World’s End, 55.6% from Dead Man’s Chest and down 13.8% from The Curse of the Black Pearl.

Marvel – Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 dropping 55% in its fifth weekend taking $9.5m and $334.23m overtaking the total of the original film $355.2m. But while Guardians of the Galaxy had only taken 82.6% after 5 weeks its sequel has taken about 94% of its final box office of $370m.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 box office is the fifth biggest Marvel Cinematic Universe film in the US. Despite opening 54% bigger than the original the sequel will likely only take 10% more showing how front-loaded comic-book movies have become.

Globally Guardians of the Galaxy has taken $816.6m overtaking the first film’s global box office of $773.3m with $461.9m internationally and $334.2m from the US.

Paramount – Baywatch

Dropped 52.7% in its second weekend taking $8.74m and $41.96m total; a few weeks ago Paramount Pictures were talking about sequels to Baywatch but like so many of their films in recent years Baywatch will unlikely get a sequel.    

Paramount Pictures blamed Baywatch poor opening on how Rotten Tomatoes calculate their scorings but this is just an excuse as both should have been critic-proof. In a couple of weeks Transformers: The Last Knight will likely receive similarly poor reviews but it will be opening with $80m+

The problem was more that the film was marketed as a 22 Jump Street clone but had an R-Rating alienating the audience the film was aimed at. While the 22 Jump Street trailers were, funny Baywatch had that cringe embarrassing humour rather than laugh out loud. While Baywatch marketing has been strong it was targeting the wrong audience for this kind of film.

20^th Century Fox’s Alien: Covenant dropped 61.1% in its third weekend taking $4.12m and $67.34m total; in comparison Prometheus dropped 52.2% in its third weekend taking $9.9m taking $108.45m 85.7% of its final box office of $126.47m if Alien: Covenant was to hold similar would take about $83m 34% less than Prometheus.

Alien: Covenant has taken $106.6m internationally and $173.94m worldwide won’t match the global box office of Prometheus which took $403.35m.  

Opened June 9^th

Opening UK

• The Mummy – Universal Pictures

Action-adventure horror starring Tom Cruise, Annabelle Wallis, Sofia Boutella, Jake Johnson, Courtney B. Vance, Marwan Kenzari and Russell Crowe and directed by Alex Kurtzman; had its premiere in Australia in May early buzz is positive. 

It is a reboot of the 90s The Mummy franchise and planned to be the first installment in the Dark Universe film series. (2014’s Dracula Untold was planned to be the first part of the then called Universal Shared Monsters Universe Dracula Untold was originally planned as the first part of the Monsters Universe opened October 2014 with £1.71m taking £4.5m).

Universal Pictures original planned to reboot The Mummy in 2012 but directors Len Wiseman left the project in 2013 and Andrés Muschietti in 2014.

In December IMAX accidentally released the trailer without dialogue they issued takedown notices to get it removed but they had uploaded it so it wasn’t leaked

After the tragic events on May 22^nd at the Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, Universal Pictures cancelled the June 1^st premiere a few days later but Tom Cruise still came to London to promote the film but will miss

Universal previously rebooting The Mummy films in 1999 starring Brenden Fraser and Rachel Weisz; first film opened in June 1999; The Mummy Returns opened May 2001 (the film that launched Dwayne Johnson then The Rock acting career) and The Scorpion King a spinoff opened in April 2002 three directed to video sequels were released over the following 13 years.

The Mummy	25th June 1999	£3.77m	4.60x	£17.36m
The Mummy Returns	18th May 2001	£5.92m	3.43x	£20.32m
The Scorpion King	19th April 2002	£1.61m	3.06x	£4.94m
Van Helsing	7th May 2004	£5.42m	2.76x	£15.01m

 

The previous Mummy films were 12 certificates while the reboot is a 15 targeting a similar audience to 2013’s World War Z which opened with £4.53m in June 2013 (went on to take £14.43m; sequel directed by David Fincher is expected to be released in 2018). opening second to Man of Steel’s second weekend of £5.1m dropping 55% from opening weekend.

While Wonder Woman had a disappointing opening despite positive reviews due to unforeseen non-film issues it could hold stronger due to strong word of mouth which could cannibalize into The Mummy potential opening of £4m+ which would be similar opening to 1999’s The Mummy but won’t beat Tom Cruise’s last non-sequel opening 2013’s Oblivion £4.91m.

Despite early positive buzz recent Tom Cruise films except for Mission Impossible sequels have disappointed in recent years. Last year’s Jack Reacher Never Go Back underwhelmed and despite very positive reviews, 2014’s Edge of Tomorrow suffered opening against Maleficent and a week after X-Men: Days of Future Past. 2013’s Oblivion was his last original film to take £10m but have to go back to 2005 since his last massive hit War of the Worlds.

The release of a Tom Cruise film used to be an event while he still puts a great deal of effort in the marketing of his movies spending time entertaining his fans on the red carpet at premieres which didn’t happen for The Mummy after its premiere was cancelled after the horrific events at the Ariana Grande concert on May 22 in Manchester. His films are no longer the event films they were being replaced by comic-book movies.

This is highlighted by except for Oblivion and Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation most of his recent films have had other major films opening against it. Edge of Tomorrow highlights this despite getting strong reviews and Tom Cruise getting huge publicity doing three premieres in 24 hours it had one of his worst openings in the UK opening third behind Maleficent £6.58m and the second weekend of X-Men: Days of Future Past £3.51m. Edge of Tomorrow did hold well over its following weeks but the damage was done. While Jack Reacher: Never Go Back opened with half of Trolls opening in second.

Tom Cruise’s last 32 films have taken over £290m at the UK box office (2017 box office would be almost £510m) 67m admissions (missing box office for films between 1986-1992)

• My Cousin Rachel – 20^th Century Fox

Drama based on the 1951 novel by Daphne du Maurier (previously turned into a film in 1952) starring Rachel Weisz, Sam Claflin, Iain Glen and Holliday Grainger and directed by Roger Michell; received its world premiere on June 7^th as part of Sundance London.

The film has received positive reviews with another strong performance from Rachel Weisz. If exhibitors give My Cousin Rachel a chance to find its audience she should attract interest with the art-house audience who have been lacking content in recent weeks.  

• Take That Wonderland Live – CinemaLive

Live broadcast of Take That Wonderland concert from O2 Arena

Two years ago, Take That previously live broadcast their concert in 421 screens on June 19^th taking £965,000

Event Cinema is a great addition to the choice of content available for audiences but distributors have used it in a similar way did previously with 3D increasing tickets by over 60%.

Did a random price survey at the major exhibitors in the UK and tickets are 64% more at Cineworld, Odeon, and Everyman than regular prices (between £9.99 and £13.70) and 90% at Vue cinemas with prices between £18.99 and £22.50.

+64% Cineworld £20.70 reg £12.60

+63% Odeon £20 reg £12.25

+90% Vue £18,99 reg £9.99

+64% Everyman £22.50 reg £13.70

• Wilson – 20^th Century Fox

Comedy-drama starring Woody Harrelson, Laura Dern, Isabella Amara, Judy Greer, and Cheryl Hines and directed by Craig Johnson based on the graphic novel of the same name by Daniel Clowes; had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January receiving mixed reviews opened in the US on limited release in March and will have a very limited release in the UK.  

• The Shack – eOne

Psychological drama starring Sam Worthington, Octavia Spencer, Graham Greene, Radha Mitchell, Alice Braga and Tim McGraw and directed by Stuart Hazeldine based novel by William P. Young.

The film opened in March reviewing poor reviews but faith film market is very lucrative in the US not so in the UK when these films fail to find audiences. This weekend last year Sony Pictures released Miracles from Heaven taking only £20,000.        =

• Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer – Sony Pictures

Political drama starring Richard Gere, Martin Sheen, Dan Stevens and Lior Ashkenazi and directed; screened at Telluride Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festival receiving positive reviews. 

Opening in the US

• The Mummy – Universal Pictures

2014’s Dracula Untold was meant to launch the then called Universal Monsters Universe (recently renamed as Dark Universe) in which Universal plan to create a similarly extended universe of films based on their horror icons The Wolfman, The Mummy, and The Invisible Man all connected by Dr Jeckyll. But after Dracula Untold underperformed opening with $23.51m taking $56.28m.

Universal have already dated Bride of Frankenstein rumoured to star Angelina Jolie with Johnny Depp as Invisible Man & Javier Bardem as Frankenstein for February 15^th, 2019  (a perfect replacement for their 50 Shades trilogy which they have released over 3 of the last 4 years).  

The Mummy reboot from the trailers is more Mission Impossible Meets World War Z than the previous 90s reboots of The Mummy (the four-film franchise took over $500m at the US box office also launched The Rock acting career and three DVD sequels of The Scorpion King).

Tom Cruise’s films since 1986 have taken almost $3.6 billion at the US box office but in recent years he has been reliant on the Mission Impossible films for his box office hits.

While 2014’s Edge of Tomorrow received, positive reviews opened third to The Fault in Our Stars and second weekend of Maleficent while holding strongly after opening with $28.7m to take $100m at the box office. Tom Cruise used to switch between blockbuster to riskier projects but upcoming are sequels Mission Impossible 6, Top Gun: Maverick (33 years after the first film) and rumoured Edge of Tomorrow 2.

Last month tracking was predicting $40m opening for The Mummy which would be Tom Cruise’s biggest opening in the US not including Mission Impossible sequel since 2013’s Oblivion. While Tom Cruise is still one of the world’s biggest stars but majority of his box office hits are from over 10 years ago with the Mission Impossible sequels the films he has had regular success with over the last 10 years. Which is probably the reason why he is making Mission Impossible 6 and then Top Gun 2.

It is expected that Wonder Woman will drop 50%+ but still hold #1 with The Mummy opening second with $35m+ will be his second film in a row not to open #1 after last year’s Jack Reacher: Never Go Back. Next up he stars in thriller American Made directed by Doug Liman the first trailer was released this week.

Early buzz was positive for The Mummy but embargo doesn’t break until tomorrow.

• My Cousin Rachel – Fox Searchlight

Opening on 500 screens My Cousin Rachel has received positive reviews and could be an alternative to the summer blockbusters.

Always strange when a studio decides to open a film on 400-500 screens as it gives the film no chance for expansion if it fails to find an audience in its first weekend often showing studio has little faith in the film so think its best just to open as wide as possible.

Fox Searchlight most recently gave a week platform release for Gifted which was successful expanding over next three weeks taking $24.1m but previous three A United Kingdom, Table 19 and Wilson failed to find audiences after their platform release.

After a disappointing start to 2017 Fox Searchlight have a very strong line-up for the remainder of the year including several potential Oscar contenders. First up are two films acquired at Sundance after previously acquiring films including Me and Earl and the Dying Girl and The Birth of a Nation that disappointed at the box office. Always a concern that a film that plays well at Sundance won’t at the box office how will Step and Patti Cake$ do?

Then for the fall have four potential Oscar contenders Battle of the Sexes, Emma Stone’s first film since winning Best Actress for La La Land. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri from In Bruges director Martin McDonagh, Goodbye Christopher Robin tells the story of the life author A.A. Milne and the creation of Winnie the Pooh starring Domhnall Gleeson and Margot Robbie. Finally, The Shape of Water from director Guillermo del Toro starring Sally Hawkins, Michael Shannon and Octavia Spencer.

• It Comes At Night – A24

Psychological horror starring Joel Edgerton, Christopher Abbott, Carmen Ejogo, Kelvin Harrison Jr. and Riley Keough and directed by Trey Edward Shults; had its world premiere at The Overlook Film Festival on April 29, 2017, receiving critical acclaim.