- No Time To Die – £25,916,476 – NE
Includes £4.88m from Thursday previews (18.8% of opening weekend) 30,000+ attending midnight shows at 12.01am on Thursday
Had the biggest opening in the UK since Avengers Endgame in April 2019 (£43,400,000)
Within 4 days overtook Peter Rabbit 2 (£20.4m) to become the biggest film of 2021 and since 1917 (£43.94m) in January 2020 and the 11th biggest film in the UK between Downtown Abbey and Dumbo since January 2019.
162nd biggest film in the UK (264th film taking £20m+ at the UK BO since 1991’s Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves) between Sex and the City and The Lost World: Jurassic Park (close to Spider-Man 2, X-Men: Days of Future Past, The Golden Compass and I am Legend) and 306th biggest inflation inflated between Look Who’s Talking and Ice Age (close to Batman and Robin, Taken 2, Ghostbusters 2 and Batman Begins).
The 6th biggest opening in the UK between Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and 12th biggest inflation inflated between Shrek 2 and Toy Story 3 (Spectre #2; Skyfall #17; Quantum of Solace #21; Casino Royale #25; Die Another Day #49.
5th biggest Fri-Sun opening between Avengers: Infinity War and Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
Had Universal Pictures biggest opening in the UK ahead of Jurassic World (£19,350,727)
Took £1.73m from 50 IMAX screens (£34k screen average; tickets about £20+) opened in 772 cinemas in the UK (92% of all UK cinemas) and over 3,600 screens (80%+) it had over 9,000 shows a day with many multiplexes showing it in over 5 screens with performances every 30 minutes and about 25 shows a day. It must have had at least 9 million seats available and sold about a third.
Took £4.89m from Thursday and £5.61m on Friday (third biggest Friday in October ) £10.48m over two days; £8.38m on Saturday (4th biggest Saturday ever and biggest Bond Saturday taking 87% of the BO) and was the highest single day since Avengers: Endgame in April 2019; taking £7.03m on Sunday;
Impossible to make direct comparisons with other James Bond openings as while the opening was 327%+ Die Another Day (£1.1m) 75% ticket inflation taking £2,237,249 from 2 days of previews Wednesday and Thursday; this didn’t stop people saying it was the biggest James Bond opening in the UK.
141%+ Casino Royale (£1,949,270) 14.6% of opening 48% ticket inflation from Thursday
-4% Quantum of Solace (£4.9m) from Friday no previews 31.8% of the opening weekend
-24% Skyfall (£6.2m) from Friday no previews 30.7% of the opening weekend
+12% Spectre (£4.2m) but the first show was 7.30pm 19.5 hours after NTTD first show 21% of the opening weekend
Had the 3rd highest ever Friday in October and the third-highest Friday in the Bond franchise after Skyfall and Spectre. The highest-grossing single day of the pandemic, the highest since Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker in December 2019 and the 12th highest-grossing Friday of all time. All of this was expected as there is nothing bigger than James Bond in the UK.
The headlines since Friday were predictable from exhibitors gloating over the opening of No Time To Die as a sign that cinema wasn’t dead, but it’s just one film and despite the headlines over the earlier few weeks saying James Bond to “save cinema” one film can’t save cinema as one genre of film (comic-book movies) or one studio Disney.
It used to be success breeds success in 2015 with Universal Pictures having success from a mix of different genres Fifty Shades of Grey, Furious 7, Pitch Perfect 2, Jurassic World, Minions and Straight Outta Compton. But over the years since they have been much more limited to comic-book movies and reimaginations of hits of the past. But since reopening success breeds success from similar genres so it was predictable that Shang-Chi would open similar to Black Widow and that same audience will see Venom Let There Be Carnage in two weeks’ time and then Eternals and Spider-Man: No Way Home. The question is what the next films will be those who saw No Time To Die over the weekend who haven’t been to the cinema since January 2020 with 1917.
Avengers Endgame opened with £43.4m from a 4-day weekend in April 2019 taking £11.9m from Thursday previews and £9.1m from Friday. As James Bond plays to a much wider demographic from tweens to centenarian believe that No Time To Die could have opened much bigger and closer to Avengers Endgame in normal circumstances, but older audiences do prefer to go to the cinema during weekdays especially now as they might not want to go to crowded cinemas.
Thursday was the last day of VAT reduction for hospitality to 5% while the majority of hospitality passed reduction to customers most exhibitors didn’t as they said it would be only a few pennies but for BFI IMAX ticket that’s £4.80 more. Over £2.5m of the, No Time To Die opening weekend was from customers overpaying VAT
No Time To Die’s opening shows what could have been a year ago having the industry had a plan beyond if we reopen people will come and Tenet will the saviour of cinema, as neither was going to happen. No saying this in hindsight I said the same in March 2020. The failure of the industry to even discuss COVID at the UKCA highlighted their failure.
The UKCA conference happened 42 days after China closed all their cinemas. On March 6th days after Onward had the lowest opening for Pixar in the UK, UKCA said “It’s definitely a developing picture, but we’re not seeing any discernible impact in terms of cinema admissions across the piece,”… and that they were waiting on government guidance before doing anything, at that time the UK government were running around like headline chickens being in complete denial of COVID.
With panic in supermarkets with empty shelves and people fighting over packets of pasta and toilet paper. But UKCA didn’t want to do anything because Jan/Feb started so strongly and they only think short-term don’t think of the long-term damage their lack of action caused (as did their rush to reopen months too soon). Two weeks later government ordered the lockdown and then a week later Matt Hancock and many others saw Contagion on ITV2 and realised for the first time the impact COVID was going to have and that it wasn’t going to be a short lockdown as many assumed.
The last 19 months have lowered expectations for No Time To Die while opening with £25.91m might be the biggest opening for almost 2.5 years. Need to remember this is a James Bond film there isn’t anything bigger than Bond in the UK despite what many believe with Marvel, James Bond has been hugely successful in the UK for almost 60 years, it might have had a few stumbles along the way but its popularity is unlike any other film series.
James Bond film stands above any other film franchise or series in the UK their success in the UK for almost 60 years is incomparable to any other with only Star Wars: The Force Awakens taking more than Skyfall and Spectre. There is no other film series that galvanizes the UK media as James Bond, while MCU, Star Wars and Harry Potter have been successful at the box office none of those films receives the media coverage a James Bond film does. Pictures of the premiere are in every newspaper today, there are discussions on the radio and TV about it, BBC Radio 5 spent an hour from 12am giving the first reviews, was a question about James Bond on Question Time and featured in the intro of Match of the Day amongst many other free advertising spots on all media platforms.
Showing how big James Bond is in the UK from the box office data I have available of 20 of the 25 films they have taken almost £475m adding rough estimates of the missing box office that’s over £500m but as 19 of them were released over 20 years ago their inflation inflated totals would be over £1.5bn which is about twice as much as MCU films have taken at the UK box office since 2008.
The Times last week had a front-page story “No Time To Die premiere: Hopes of cinema ‘rests on Bond shoulders’ while UK exhibitors share prices increased strongly over recent weeks. This is why even with COVID No Time To Die should be breaking box office records selling out screenings throughout the country.
Only need to see the inflation inflated box office of many of the earlier James Bond films to see how popular the James Bond film series was.
1964’s Goldfinger £98,956,471
1965’s Thunderball £101,423,810
1967’s You Only Live Twice £59,400,909
1973’s Live and Let Die £65,315,814
1977’s The Spy Who Loved Me £90,602,195
1979’s Moonraker £68,104,407
1981’s For Your Eyes Only £43,687,898
Goldfinger, Thunderball and The Spy Who Loved Me took as much as Skyfall and Spectre, probably a lot more as used industry average but Skyfall and Spectre had many IMAX and PLF screens with tickets more than three times the industry average.
I originally expecting No Time To Die to open with about £25m-30m but over the last few weeks have lowered my estimates to £22m and after reading one exhibitor said its performing similar to summer 2019 releases and the biggest two that summer after Avengers Endgame were The Lion King with £16,671,764 (£5.2m first day 31% of opening) and Toy Story 4 £13,300,000 (£3.1m Friday 23% of opening). While a Hollywood Reporter “insider” was predicting up to $20m. Was the cinema industry purposely lowballing estimates for No Time To Die after Disney did similar with Shang-Chi also the 25th instalment of the current biggest film series in the world.
The scene in Harry Stamper in Armageddon when he asks NASA what their backup plan was, was also about the failure of the Western film industry not to have planned for the worst-case scenario at once after China closed their cinemas.
Opened in 772 screens 91.6% (843 screens of all cinemas in the UK) but as many cinemas were playing it in multiple screens was playing in over 3,600 screens almost 80% of all UK screens (4,596), it was then no surprise analysts were predicting No Time To Die would open with over 90% of the weekend box office as the only other films that are holding on to screens in large numbers are children’s having limited matinee screenings over the weekend.
It had Everyman Cinemas best-ever week since the chain was founded in 2000 but that was expected as they now have 35 cinemas more than they have ever had and their pricing structure has their average price of £11.18m more than the industry claimed average, but as their cinemas are smaller venues with seats separated they are cinemas people have wanted to go to since they reopened and these cinemas target older cinemagoers.
When Digital Cinema first arrived it was sold as giving all cinemagoers the same high-quality cinema experience but there is now a great divide between the majority of cinemas that are still 2K and won’t upgrade and the few are 4K, Dolby Cinema and Laser similar to how it was with film with Leicester Square cinemas Vs UK. The only difference now is there is a handful of cinemas across the UK with this technology.
No Time To Die opened should be comparable to Avengers: Endgame both were final instalments of story arcs, which started around the same time Casino Royale in 2006 and Iron Man in 2008, while both will continue to tell many more stories over the years to come. While James Bond films play to a much wider audience demographic from teens onwards, while comic-book movies are more tweens to 40s.
While all the industry comparisons were that No Time To Die was the biggest since Avengers: Endgame, could have easier said it was the biggest since Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker which would have stopped the comparisons with a film it was never going to open anywhere close to. As it was always more likely to open similar to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker £20,864,500 (including £6,479,868 previews while Avengers Endgame took £11.9m from Thursday previews,
1.62m tickets were sold in advance for its opening weekend worth anything between £11m going by UKCA average of £6.75 to £20m+ using the average of £12.50 closer to what most are paying, with many paying almost double for IMAX.
Many have compared advance bookings for No Time Die as close to Avengers Endgame which had sold over 600k tickets (£6.2m) three weeks before opening, with Odeon Cinemas reporting they were selling 30 tickets every 10 seconds while Vue sold 1m seats over its opening weekend with 500,000 on the opening Saturday from 91 cinemas.
The day before opening Avengers Endgame had sold out almost 2,000 screenings across the UK and sold 1,177,613 tickets for its opening weekend and 2,148,092 total sold, taking £12.1m in advance for opening weekend and another £10m for other dates (using average ticket price of £10.28).
Odeon said it sold 200,000 tickets (more than Spectre) a day before opening saying “People booking online has increased versus 2019, and they are being a bit more planful and more organised in their cinema behaviours. So that might mean that advance sales are a little bit more inflated in the mix than they used to be, and we are cautious to take that into account when we do our predictions of the box office.” So would be interesting to see the percentage of walk-ins compared to advance and how that compared with other films.
No Time To Die received the predictable 5 Star reviews from The Times, Guardian and Telegraph but what was interesting is female critics have given a mixed opinion as you would have expected with Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s involvement in the film’s script a better response from female critics?
Critics get caught up with the hype with Bond it was predictable The Times, Telegraph and Guardian were always going to give it 5 stars as also gave Skyfall and Spectre, this is the problem when the embargo ends at once after screening as critics want to be the first review.
Monitored social media and internet reaction for Skyfall, Sony screened it to the media two weeks before opening and the embargo ended at once afterwards as they knew they had a strong film and received rave reviews. It was a three-day film surrounded by two stars of hype; you have to take these reviews with a pinch of salt similar to premiere reactions.
The cinema reaction to the opening of both No Time To Die and Venom Let There Be Carnage was predictable with Tweets from UKCA saying “look cinema not dead” but the $235m opening of The Battle at Lake Changjin in China puts it into perspective in what could have been in the industry had a plan beyond last year believing Christopher Nolan’s delusions of grandeur that Tenet could be the saviour of cinema on its own.
While all they had to do was reopen cinemas and people will rush back to the cinema despite their own research saying that older audiences would take a long time to feel comfortable to return to cinemas as many people who went to see No Time To Die haven’t been to the cinema since January 2020. Had confidence returned sooner No Time To Die could have opened with £35m+ with Venom Let There Be Carnage opening in the US with $130m as Black Widow, Shang-Chi and F9 should have done while Jungle Cruise and Free Guy opening with $60m+. There will be a lot of backslapping in CineEurope this week after the openings of both films but had the industry produce a plan and strategy for reopening cinemas then this could have happened many months ago. We will only see if “cinema is back” if the 2m who came back to see No Time To Die see other films this year.
Selective James Bond opening box office
Casino Royale opened with £1.7m on Thursday 19th November 2006 which was twice as much as Die Another Day opened in 2002 (£1.1m)
Skyfall opened Friday, October 26th taking £6.2m and had at the time the largest ever Saturday box office
Quantum of Solace opened with £4.9m
Skyfall opened with £6.2m on Friday and took £8.5m Saturday and Sunday £10.2m (at the time biggest ever)
Spectre opened with Tuesday £6.3m and Wednesday £5.71m and taking 60% off Mondays box office with the first shows at 7.30pm with £4.18m;
The last 5 Bond films didn’t have any direct competition opening in the weeks leading up to release and the weeks afterwards as the films around them were targeting families and children. The biggest film that opened before any of them was Harry Potter Chamber Of Secrets the weekend before Die Another Day. The difference for No Time To Die is it has Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Halloween Kills and The Long Duel opening two weeks after and Dune three weeks after.
The big question is how will they affect No Time To Die’s legs as it’s unlikely to open similar to either Skyfall or Spectre, so will No Timer To Die open lower than recent Bond’s and not hold as strongly?
Die Another Day opened on 430 screens on November 20th, 2002
£9,122,344 (including £2,237,249 from 2 days of previews); Harry Potter Chamber Of Secrets #2 £7,313,056 2nd weekend
2nd weekend £5,364,433 down 41% (down 22% without previews) with Harry Potter Chamber Of Secrets #2 £4,654,618 3rd weekend
3rd weekend £3,426,623 down 36%; Harry Potter Chamber Of Secrets #2 £2,678,629 4th weekend
4th weekend £2,220,351 down 35%; Harry Potter Chamber Of Secrets #2 £1,802,435 5th weekend
Dropped down to third in its 5th weekend with Lord of the Rings: Two Towers opened #1 £13,063,560; Harry Potter Chamber Of Secrets #2 £1,164,992 6th weekend (weekend before Christmas)
Stayed in the top 5 for 8 weeks and top 10 for 9 weeks
Casino Royale opened in 505 cinemas (988 screens) on 19th November 2006
£13,370,969 including £1,949,270 from previews; Borat #2 with £2,531,264 3rd weekend
At the time it was the third biggest opening in the UK after Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
2nd weekend £8,546,238 dropped 36% (25% without previews); Borat #2 £1,470,923 4th weekend
3rd-weekend £5,307,969 dropped 36%; #2 Flushed Away opened with £3,106,874
Dropped down to #3 in its fourth weekend taking £2,741,362; Happy Feet opened #1 £3,689,166; #2 The Holiday £2,826,520
Stayed in the top 5 for 8 weeks and top 10 for 12 weeks
Quantum of Solace opened on 540 screens on 31st October 2008
£15,384,217 (no previews); #2 High School Musical 3 £2,742,682 2nd weekend
2nd-weekend £9,221,744 dropped 40%; #2 High School Musical 3 £1,518,469 3rd weekend
3rd weekend £5,164,182 dropped 44%; #2 Max Payne opened £1,004,995
4th-weekend £2,884,789 dropped 44%; #2 Body of Lies opened £991,979
Dropped down to #2 in its fifth weekend taking £1,453,184; Four Christmases opened £2,275,585
Stayed in the top 5 for 6 weeks and top 10 for 8 weeks
Skyfall opened on 587 screens on 26th October 2012
£20,180,369 (no previews) #2 Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted £2,803,874 2nd weekend
2nd-weekend £16,107,687 dropped 20% 593 screens; #2 Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted £2,863,112 3rd weekend
3rd-weekend £10,447,385 dropped 35%; #2 Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted £1,357,193 4th weekend
Dropped to #2 in its 4th weekend taking £5,566,537; The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 opened #1 £15,850,825
Held #2 5th weekend taking £3,809,893; The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 #1 £5,344,508
Returned #1 6th weekend taking £2,275,469; The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 #2 £2,180,909 3rd weekend
Dropped to #2 7th weekend taking £1,428,708 (513 screens); #1 Rise of the Guardians #1 £1,602,689
Dropped to 4th 8th weekend taking £809,406 (434 screens); #1 The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey £11,601,538.
Stayed in the top 5 for 8 weeks and top 10 for 11 weeks
Spectre opened in 651 cinemas and on over 2,500 screens on October 26th, 2015
£41,299,090 (£21,321,626 from 4 days of previews); #2 Hotel Transylvania 2 £2,417,940 3rd weekend
2nd weekend £13,145,138 (660 screens) dropped 68% (34% not including previews); #2 Hotel Transylvania 2 £1,105,023 4th weekend
3rd weekend £7,833,891 (617 screens) dropped 40%; #2 The Lady in the Van opened £2,256,121
Dropped to #2 in its 4th weekend taking £3,821,156 (607 screens); #1 The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2 £11,255,566
Stayed in the top 5 for 7 weeks and top 10 for 10 weeks
UK exhibitors have noticeably increased their prices for No Time To Die as they also did with Spectre in 2015 when Odeon Cinemas doubled their blockbuster tax from £1 to £2; in 2015 BFI IMAX increased ticket prices by 19% from £19.50 to £22 and have increased prices by 10% from £25 to £27.50 for No Time To Die.
Odeon Leicester Square stays the same price for both Shang-Chi and No Time to Die £27.50 but the positive is they have at least dropped the price down from £40.75 when Mary Poppins Returns was showing there in 2018.
Odeon has also dropped the prices of many of their cinemas Spectre in 2015 would have cost over £50 for a family of four but now £42 this is still 30% more than the industry average of £7.11 it would be interesting to know how many cinemas apart from PeckhamPlex can see it for that price over
If No Time To Die was to hold like earlier James Bond’s except for Spectre (due to extended previews) its opening weekend would be about 25% of its total box office taking £105m, but while it’s likely to drop about 40% in its second weekend. The big question is how Venom 2, Halloween Kills and The Last Duel will affect its box office in its third weekend and then Due in its fourth. Will No Time To Die to lose its lucrative IMAX and PLF screens to either film or will exhibitors want No Time To Die to hold on to them.
James Bond films normally hold very strongly but that’s partly to do with rival studios not opening anything targetting a similar demographic for over a month after. One of the terms of Christopher Nolan’s contract with Universal Pictures for his next film is that the studio can’t release a major film for several weeks after. What Christopher Nolan did not understand with this request is his films perform best when they are released close to other similar-sized films.
Daniel Craig has talked a lot about pleased producers held their nerve and didn’t ‘release the film on streaming but this was a non-story it was never going to go to streaming, as Eon has been always committed that James Bond films are for cinema first and Eon have the final say on everything from marketing and distribution to complete creative control while MGM finances and distributes all of the films. Amazon has said that James Bond films will stay on the big screen after they buy the studio.
BBFC rating info for No Time To Die getting a 12A and know two things 1) only a film like Bond would get away with all of that in a 12A and 2) will be the most complained film of the year to BBFC as Spectre was in 2015. This is why there should also be a 12 certificate alongside the 12A, the 12 is now only for home entertainment.
Before the 12 certificate was launched in the UK in 1989 with Batman these films would be 15s limited their audience and box office and the 12A has made these films far more successful at the box office. But the problem with films like No Time to Die getting 12A are two-fold as children underage can still see it if with someone over 18 and as the film is unsuitable for them this will often ruin the cinema experience for others and is why now many prefer watching films at home
But we are in a very different place now six years on from the release of the last James Bond film, said it will, of course, become the 41st member of the £50m club within 10 days.
The day No Time To Die opened in the UK was also the 17th anniversary of a film starring Daniel Craig many who saw it realised he could be the next James Bond Matthew Vaughn’s Layer Cake, the film also starred Ben Whishaw and many people’s favourite next James Bond, Tom Hardy. Director Matthew Vaughan made Kingsman: The Secret Service after missing out directing Casino Royale having just directed Layer Cake would have been a perfect choice, which said Martin Campbell did an amazing job directing Daniel Craig’s best James Bond film.
The trailers playing with No Time To Die are more important than the film as it was always expected James Bond would have a big audience. The only question was… Skyfall or Avengers Endgame big.
If trailers exhibitors choose to play before NTTD are Venom 2, Ghostbusters, Sing 2, Eternal, Spider-Man 3, The Matrix then nothing changes.. but if they were mixed with The French Dispatch, West Side Story, Downton Abbey 2, 355 and Death on the Nile then the older demographic (35+) vital for James Bond success will see other films they will want to see coming soon.
The last 10 films to take over £50m at the UK box office were Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Frozen 2, Joker, The Lion King, Toy Story 4, Avengers: Endgame, Bohemian Rhapsody, Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again!, Avengers: Infinity War and Black Panther.
All except for Joker, Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again! and Bohemian Rhapsody target the same demographic.
Top 10 biggest week BO (including previews)
Star Wars: The Force Awakens £55,746,739
Avengers: Endgame £54,693,955
Spectre £50,828,129
Star Wars: The Last Jedi £40,495,157
Avengers: Infinity War £38,976,710
Skyfall £37,332,998
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 £35,748,580
Toy Story 3 £31,676,030
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker £30,124,115
Star Wars: Rogue One £28,290,752
2. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings – £779,077 – £19,659,645
Down 50% in its fifth weekend; having the 11th biggest MCU fourth weekend between Spider-Man: Far From Home (£862,507) and Captain America: Civil War (£668,009) and 16th biggest MCU after 31 days between Iron Man 2 and Thor: The Dark World.
Shang-Chi will just squeeze past Peter Rabbit 2 next week a week after No Time To Die overtook both of them to be the biggest film of the year within 4 days and the biggest in the UK since Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
40th biggest comic-book movie in the UK between Thor: The Dark World and Captain America: The Winter Soldier (close to Batman Forever, Wonder Woman, X-Men: The Last Stand and Justice League).
269th biggest film in the UK between Night at the Museum 2 and Kung Fu Panda (close to Despicable Me, Batman Forever, Tomorrow Never Dies and Solo: A Star Wars Story); 627th film to take over £10m at the UK BO and 450th biggest inflation inflated film in the UK between 22 Jump Street and Kindergarten Cop (close to Starsky & Hutch, Beverly Hills Cop II, Die Hard 4.0 and Rush Hour 2).
17th Biggest MCU film in the UK between Thor: The Dark World and Captain America: Winter Soldier; Shang-Chi has taken £825,061 more than Black Widow (£18,834,584).
The 25 MCU films have taken almost £800m at the UK BO since May 2008 (almost £835m inflation inflated); 15 of the 25 have taken over £20m at the UK BO with only Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: Winter Soldier, Blade Widow, Ant-Man and the Wasp and Ant-Man the only MCU films released by Disney that haven’t.
With Eternals and Spider-Man: No Way Home still to open this year and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Thor: Love and Thunder, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and The Marvels the film series will have taken over £1bn at the UK BO by the end of next year.
While films like Shang-Chi are being called hits you only need to see the films that performed similarly to it in the past that were seen as disappointments. People seem to see film box office very differently over the last few months maybe they have lowered expectations,. But the fanbase of these films and the target demographic are those who have been most comfortable going to the cinema before cinemas closed for the first time in March 2020 and while cinemas have reopened.
The industry seems to forget it’s the 25th part of the biggest franchise in the world and the majority of its audience would have still gone to see it if it opened last year. It does again show had the industry worked together last year with the reopening plan and not left it to Warner Bros to singlehandedly do it with Tenet it would be in a far stronger position now.
3. Free Guy – £270,266 – £16,595,947
Down 51% in its 8th weekend; took 43.3% of its box office to date in its opening 10 days and has already taken 6.7x opening better than Last Christmas, Meet the Parents, American Pie, Saving Private Ryan, Stardust, St. Trinian’s, Enchanted, Bridesmaids, Fisherman’s Friends, Jumanji, 21 Jump Street, Nanny McPhee, Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, Yesterday, Shrek and The Muppets.
While similar to Mrs Doubtfire, Philomena, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Rugrats Movie, The Hangover, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again and The Woman in Black showing how strong the film has held and in normal circumstances would have performed similarly to Night at the Museum and The Lego Movie taking upwards of £30m.
346th biggest film in the UK (626th film to take over £10m at the UK BO) between Venom and The Pirates! In an Adventure With Scientists (close to Enchanted, Mad Max: Fury Road, F9 and Kingsman: The Secret Service) and 556th biggest inflation inflated film in the UK between Venom and Red Dragon (close to Sister Act, Justice League, The Wedding Singer and School of Rock).
Free Guy had a similar eighth weekend as Bridget Jones’s Baby (£330,017); Arthur Christmas (£302,006); Spectre (£297,803); Alice in Wonderland (£278,855); My Big Fat Greek Wedding (£277,997); Mary Poppins Returns (£275,315);
7th weekend was more than The Lego Movie (£264,574); Quantum of Solace (£204,142); Tenet (£187,275); Avengers: Endgame (£180,458); Dumbo (£170,126); Yesterday (£156,354); Little Women (£155,706); Star Wars: The Last Jedi (£134,030); Downton Abbey (£130,029); The Martian (£102,322); Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (£89,803); Nanny McPhee (£70,579).
Similar films
1998’s The Truman Show took £9,929,680 (£17,789,650)
2013’s Wreck-It Ralph took £23,607,542
2014’s The Lego Movie took £32,887,286.
2017’s The Lego Batman Movie took £26,771,191
2006’s Night at the Museum took £20,019,417 (£29,679,711 inflation inflated)
Free Guy would have been the 53rd biggest 20th Century Fox film in the UK between The Favourite and Kingsman: The Secret Service (close to Moulin Rouge, Night at the Museum 2, X-Men Origins: Wolverine and There’s Something About Mary).
4. The Paw Patrol Movie – £251,511 – £8,158,766
Up 18.2% in its 8th weekend
129th biggest animation film between Pixels and Rugrats in Paris: The Movie (close to Bee Movie, Abominable, Captain Underpants and SpongeBob Movie: Sponge out of Water).
779th biggest film in the UK between The Living Daylights and Bad Moms (close to Kindergarten Cop, Grown Ups 2, A View to A Kill and The Haunted Mansion) and 1,074th biggest inflation inflated film in the UK between Halloween and Dad’s Army (close to Rango, The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, Clueless and The Secret Garden).
Hard to make direct comparisons with other Paw Patrol films as it took more than the others did in their complete release; 2020’s Paw Patrol: Ready, Race, Rescue took £1,772,296; 2019’s Paw Patrol: Mighty Pups took £1,265,526; 2017’s Paw Patrol: Mission Big Screen £42,460. The Paw Patrol Movie plays mostly to pre-schoolers similar to Rugrats in Paris: The Movie, SpongeBob Movie: Sponge out of Water and Shaun the Sheep 2. While 2017’s Peppa Pig: My First Cinema Experience took £3,615,538
Likewise, as it’s all about getting the next generation excited about the cinema experience tickets should be cheaper, in November 2017 Disney played Olaf’s Frozen Adventure with Frozen and all cinemas were £1 took £1,115,689 from 611 screens.
While exhibitors have for the last 19 months looked No To Time To Die to be their saviour as they did a year ago this week with Christopher Nolan’s Tenet but films like The Paw Patrol Movie and Peppa Pig: My First Cinema Experience is far more important. As these films bring a new generation to the cinema experience as for many children it’s their first time going to the cinema,, If they enjoy their first experience and their parents don’t think it’s too expensive then they will be going for years to come despite also have Netflix, Amazon, Disney+ and Sky TV at home.
5. The Many Saints Of Newark – £237,150 – £1,580,642
Down 74.9%% in its second weekend (62% without previews) always expected to drop heavily against the opening of No Time To Die along with losing a third of screens from opening last week, so surprising Warner opted to open it a week early in the UK.
Despite very positive reviews The Sopranos prequel struggled to find a wide audience as all films have done targetting older audiences. The Sopranos ended in 2007 but became very popular last year during the first lockdown with GQ calling it “the hottest show of 2020”. In the US on HBO Now viewings increased by 179% only beaten by Westworld and Game of Thrones. In the UK Now TV had a 122% increase and Google searches were far higher than other classic TV shows in June and August.
11.9m watched the final episode of The Sopranos in the US in 2007, the abrupt ending where the scene fades to black had millions of TV viewers thinking HBO signal had cut out with black screen for 10 seconds before the end credits.
As it’s very different to recent modern-day gangster films, there were a lot of gangster films made including star lead 2007’s American Gangster opening with £2,564,853 taking £9,336,495 and 2006’s The Departed opening with £2,298,313 taking £12,442,332; while one of James Gandolfini’s final films 2012’s Killing Them Softly opened with £955,506 taking £2,493,858l it’s also the 31st anniversary next month of the UK opening of Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas.
Warner Bros announced plans for a 45-day theatrical to the streaming window for all films in Europe from next year which is similar to the same length for the US.
Other Film News
After the opening of No Time To Die Vue Cinema’s Tim Richards spoke again that the 20s could be the second golden age of cinema. The problem is these bosses make these statements but have no evidence to back them up, while I go on facts.
The first golden age was between 1940 and 1956 with over a billion trips to the cinema a year and 20m a week.
The second golden age of cinema was between 1985 and 2002 when annual admissions grew from 54m to 175.9m 3m a week. Over the years since admissions have increased by 1%.
If we are to have this second golden age of cinema then UK admissions should finally top 200m in 2023 over 20 years after analysts predicted.
In 1994 analysts in Screen International predicted admissions would top 200m by 2000, they didn’t get to 200m but did increase 28m+ (helped by National Cinema Days in 1996-98) and did similar research in 2004 by Dodona Research for 200m admissions by 2008 and £1 billion BO. UK BO topped £1bn in 2011 increasing 72% between 2003 and 2018 while admissions increased 1%.
UK admissions should be the biggest in Europe but France had 213m admissions in 2019 and except for last year and 2013 have been over 200m since 2009. Why did UK admissions stop growing in 2002 as the films were no different in the following years? Something change between 2002 and 2003 and that was ticket prices starting to creep up and this saw box office increase but admissions stay flat. I believe had ticket prices stayed the same then UK admissions would have topped 250m in 2018.
Tim Richard’s also said he would love to show Netflix films in their cinemas, streamers have wanted the same thing for years the problem has been as seen with Gunpowder Milkshake and Everybody’s Talking About Jamie the streamers have to stick to exhibitor rules, but then the exhibitors can still pull underperforming films out of their cinemas within a week and these films are stuck in no man’s land unavailable in cinemas or streaming.
He also said in his podcast “There’s a pattern developing there,” … “We’ve been through an extraordinarily difficult time the last few years… but I think that it’s a business that has survived for hundreds of years and we have proved that we are going to be around quite a while.” Much of this was self-inflicted rushing to reopen before the majority of their customers felt ready to return to the cinemas and studios were willing to take the gamble to open these massive films.
While cinemas excuse is always that we have done it for much longer than all the upstarts that followed them, but the best businesses learn from their competitors and disruptors as they see how the old companies run and take it to the next level as was the case with subscription services.
Exhibitors and studios talked about working together in a post-pandemic world at CineEurope, but the problem is that it’s all talk no action with lots of backslapping and self-congratulation but nothing ever changes, exhibitors talk of it being a partnership now in the good times with studios but were quick to ban Universal Pictures films in April 2020.
This is all talk needs to be active as had studios and exhibitors put squabbles aside back in March 2020 going on war footing working together then wouldn’t have taken this long and could be even better than now only need to see Battle at Lake Changjin $235m opening in China. The failure of the West to do their homework and watch Contagion in January 2020 after China closed their cinemas and realise COVID was going to be a global issue within weeks caused this to last for 19 months as had there been a plan beyond Tenet could be very different now.
Also at CineEurope exhibitors talked about premium holding the key to recovery from pandemic, this of course makes sense to exhibitors as prices are more expensive, but this does make cinemagoers much more selective in the films they pay to see in cinemas and those they wait to see at home. Everyman and Picturehouse cinemas had their best weeks with the opening of No Time To Die as all their cinemas are premium and it took £1.73m from 50 IMAX screens (£34k screen average with ; tickets about £20+), this pricing needs to be factored into the industry claimed average
The Morning Consult weekly Tracking the Return to Normal survey reports the public’s comfort going to the movies increased 2% to 47%. This is the 11th consecutive week US comfort with going to the movies has been below 50% after a July 4 high of 55%.
1 in 5 consumers said they currently feel comfortable going to movie theatres and 17% say they are currently going to the movies and a similar amount say they will be ready to return next month.
Worldwide 2021 is expected to be $20.2bn 52% less than recording breaking 2019 $42.5bn and 68% more than last year. As of August 31st, global box office topped $12bn the same as all of 2020, with F9 the current biggest film worldwide taking $714.4m, 76% BO international with half from Asia territories.
International BO up to September 11th was $5.22bn not including China, with US $2.31bn and China $5.13bn, China is on track to take $6.6bn which has been soft in recent weeks despite taking $1.2bn over the Chinese New Year week in February. Since cinemas reopened in China the majority of the success has come from locally made films with US films underperforming, F9 took a third less than The Fate of the Furious, recently Free Guy has performed well taking $80m+ but it doesn’t look like Shang-Chi will get released.
International BO not including China is expected to take $9.1bn with $4.3bn Europe, Middle East and Africa; $3.85bn from the Asia Pacific; $900m from Latin America and $4.5bn from the US, this depends a lot on how Dune; No Time To Die, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Eternals (possibly without China), Spider-Man: No Way Home and The Matrix Resurrections perform over the next few months. There is a big question over Spider-Man: No Way Home and The Matrix Resurrections opening 5 days apart.
Biggest Films of 2021
While the industry has praised the hold of Shang-Chi it’s likely only to squeeze past Peter Rabbit 2 (currently taken £0.7m less), highlighting that in normal condition would have expected Tenet, Peter Rabbit 2, Black Widow, F9, Free Guy, The Suicide Squad, Jungle Cruise and Shang-Chi all to take over £30m but the majority have taken about half.
The top 10 biggest films of 2021 are currently
No Time To Die £25.91m; Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway (£20.4m); Black Widow (£18.83m); Shang Chi (£19.65m); Free Guy (£16.59m); F9 (£16.44m); The Suicide Squad (£14.2m); Space Jam 2 (£12.8m); Jungle Cruise (£12.38m); A Quiet Place 2 (£11.54m);
While most films have opened about a third less than they would in normal circumstances many have had much longer legs than they would normally do; Free Guy 6.7x; Jungle Cruise 5.53x; Space Jam: A New Legacy 9.34x; 13.97x The Croods: A New Age.
These strongholds compare to Tenet only taking 3.27x opening last year which was meant to have very long legs; while Black Widow was 2.68x, F9 2.74x compared to Shang-Chi 2.75x shows again piracy had nothing to do with the fast drop off of Black Widow it was just that the fanbase rushed out to see both over their opening weekends.
The following 10 biggest films from 11-20
The Croods 2 (£9.8m); Cruella £9.45m; The Conjuring 3 £9.36m; PAW Patrol: The Movie £7.86m; Candyman £4.73m; In The Heights £4.28m; The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard £3.84m v; The Forever Purge £3.6m; Spirit Untamed £3.38m; Old £3.36m;
Major UK Distributor 2021 BO over 139 days between May 17 to October 2nd £257m
Universal Pictures 28.7% £73.8m x12 films
Disney 26.8% £69m x 6 films
Warner 18.5% £47.56m x10 films
Sony Pictures 9.3% £23.9m x 10 films
Paramount 8% £20.6m x 3 films
Lionsgate 3.4% £8.85m x 3 films
Studiocanal 0.5% £1.42m x3 films
eOne £0.5% £1.2m x1 film
UK box office in detail
This weekend’s top 10 box office took £28,089,047 up 479.3% from last weekend £4,848,648 and up 1,399% from 2020 (£1,873,279)
The weekend admissions 3,950,640 up 513.9% 643,481 from last week; (263,471 admissions in 2020 this week was (up 1,399%);
DCM said No Time To Die is predicted to get 2.8m admissions in its first full week more than the expectation for a pre-pandemic full week at 2.5 million admissions, but using UKCA average ticket price it had 3.8m+ admissions in its opening 4 days? While using the UKCA average ticket price it was always likely to attract an audience of over 3m admissions over its opening weekend.
Top 3 took £26,965,819 96% of the top 10; No Time To Die 92.3% (£25,916,476); Shang-Chi 2.8% (£779,077); Free Guy 1% (£270,266);
Up 1,399% from 2020 (£1,873,279); Top 3 took £1,379,327 73.6x% of £1,873,279; Tenet (£648,517); After We Collided (£514,020); Bill And Ted Face The Music (£216,790); #1 Tenet 34.6% £648,517 5th week
Up 208% from 2019 (£9,120,747); Ready Or Not (£947,958); The Goldfinch (£320,849); #1 Downton Abbey £2,682,080 3rd week 18% drop 722 screens (29.4% of top 10);
Up 74.4% from 2019 (£16,103,371) of the top 10; Joker (£12,555,328); Judy (£2,086,969); Downtown Abbey (£1,461,074); #1 Joker £12,555,328 1st week 666 screens (66.8%)
Up 43.6% from 2018: (£19,552,430); Venom (£8,031,342); Johnny English Strikes Again (£4,117,692); A Star is Born (£4,100,196); Aida – Met Opera 2018 (£302,179); Blindspotting (£28,231); #1 Venom £8,031,342 1st week 556 screens (41.1%)
Up 147.1% from 2017: (£11,370,381); Blade Runner 2049 (£6,071,625); The Mountain Between Us (£777,646); Norma – Met Opera 2017 (£224,794); The Glass Castle (£49,425); #1 Blade Runner 2049 £6,071,625 1st week 634 screens (54.4% of the top 10)
Up 114.8% from 2016: (£13,075,476); Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children (£3,473,781); Deepwater Horizon (£1,984,340); Supersonic (£542,263); Free State of Jones (£118,635); Swiss Army Man (£80,403); #1 Bridget Jones’s Baby £4,807,165 3rd week 646 screens 26% drop (36.7% of the top 10)
Up 147.4% from 2015; (£11,352,036); The Martian (£6,531,734); The Intern (£758,713); Macbeth (£746,642); Il Trovatore – Met Opera 2015 (£234,387); Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F’ (£151,087); #1 The Martian £6,531,734 1st week 582 screens (57.5% of top 10)
Up 162.1% from 2014: (£10,716,576); Gone Girl (£4,109,628); Dracula Untold (£1,713,283); Bang Bang (£602,193); Dolphin Tale 2 (£536,766); Life After Beth (£53,427); #1 Gone Girl £4,109,628 1st week 549 screens (33% drop (38.3% of top 10)
Up 374.2% from 2013: (£5,923,584); Sunshine on Leith (£770,239); How I Live Now (£232,400); Thanks for Sharing (£188,906); The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology (£38,432); The to do List (£13,512); #1 Prisoners £1,107,641 2nd week 437 screens 19% drop (18.7% of top 10)
Up 110% from 2012 (£13,375,585); Taken 2 (£7,378,048); Sinister (£1,435,722); The Perks of Being a Wallflower (£827,983); Everything or Nothing: The Untold Story of 007 (£13,391); Sparkle (£15,911); #1 Taken 2 £7,378,048 1st week 506 screens (55.1% of top 10)
Up 440.3% from 2011 (£5,198,264); Abduction (£900,782); The Phantom of the Opera (25th Anniversary Concert) (£550,955); The Debt (£417,977); Shark Night 3D (£416,770); What’s Your Number? (£320,331); Melancholia (£132,437); Red State (£105,753); #1 Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy £1,064,901 3rd week 465 screens 49% drop (20.4% of top 10)
Up 340.7% from 2010: (£6,372,852); Buried (£820,631); Made in Dagenham (£674,059); Back to the Future (Re) (£461,194); Takers (£208,390); The Secret of Kells (£6,151); #1 The Other Guys £976,459 3rd week 427 screens 4% drop (15.3% of top 10)
Up 252.1% from 2009; (£7,977,997); The Invention of Lying (£1,735,326); Toy Story 3D (£1,395,209); Pandorum (£346,097); #1 Fame £1,786,358 2nd week 460 screens (22.4% of top 10)
Up 348% from 2008; (£6,269,596); How to Lose Friends and Alienate People (£1,154,607); Brideshead Revisited (£375,270); Fly Me to the Moon 3-D (£311,791); 88 Minutes (£92,761); #1 How to Lose Friends and Alienate People £1,154,607 1st week 451 screens (18.4% of top 10)
Up 352.8% from 2007: (£6,203,477); Halloween (£620,844); Michael Clayton (£601,196); The Brave One (£497,838); Mr Woodcock (£483,017); War (£207,091); Mrs Ratcliffe’s Revolution (£15,600); Hot Rod (£44,241); Across the Universe (£27,471); #1 Run, Fat Boy, Run £988,788 4th week 398 screens 18% drop (15.9% of top 10)
Up 244.2% from 2006; (£8,159,980); Click (£1,797,073); Hoodwinked (£1,764,419); World Trade Centre (£1,667,589); Life and Lyrics (£95,724); #1 Click £1,797,073 1st week 402 screens (22.1% of top 10)
Up 340.4% from 2005 (£6,378,025); A History of Violence (£1,135,345); Goal! (£857,253); Four Brothers (£789,718); Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo (£280,414); #1 Pride and Prejudice £1,473,0623rd week 412 screens 24% drop (23.1% of top 10)
Up 291.7% from 2004 (£7,170,652); Saw (£1,239,813); Layer Cake (£1,090,561); Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (£628,808); Man About Dog (£134,924); The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (£125,748); De-Lovely (£117,789); Dead Man’s Shoes (£44,361); #1 Wimbledon £1,499,011 2nd week 446 screens 12% drop (20.9% of top 10)
Up 229% from 2003 (£8,536,497); Bad Boys 2 (£3,175,258); Down With Love (£599,047); Bright Young Things (£327,293); Finding Nemo (platform) (£152,793); #1 Bad Boys 2 £3,175,258 1st week 383 screens (37.2% of top 10)
Up 255.2% from 2002 (£7,906,650); Lilo & Stitch (£1,516,249); My Little Eye (£893,633); Boat Trip (£425,325); One Hour Photo (£420,500); Sweet Sixteen (£144,388); #1 Lilo & Stitch £1,516,249 1sr week 280 screens (19.1% of top 10)
Up 413.9% from 2001 (£5,465,628); Amelie (£559,747); Driven (£144,591); Original Sin (£96,622); #1 Moulin Rouge £1,072,657 5th week #1 3rd week 397 screens 20% drop (19.6% of top 10);
Next weekend in 2019 (£16,790,890); Abominable (£2,141,256); Gemini Man (£1,718,511); #1 Joker £9,766,608 2nd week 22% drop 673 screens
International Box Office
- No Time To Die – Universal Pictures
Opened with $121.3m from 54 territories
Ahead of opening it was expected to open with about $90m but as with all film opening over the last few months tracking has lowballed openings
Thursday was the biggest IMAX opening day of the pandemic in 14 territories including the UK, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, and Hong Kong and the biggest IMAX opening day of the James Bond UK, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Denmark, and Hong Kong.
Taking $6.8m from 284 IMAX cinemas from 50 territories
Biggest James Bond opening in 21 territories including Japan, Hong Kong, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Italy, Denmark, Spain and South Africa
In comparison 2015’s Spectre opened internationally with $123.5m and 2012’s Skyfall opened with $109.2m while Universal’s latest F9 $69.5m but that was split between two Asia and then the rest of the world.
The 25 James Bond films have taken $2.13bn in the US and $7.24bn worldwide but inflation inflated this is almost $20bn
The five Daniel Craig James Bond films have taken $3.29bn worldwide to date
But The Battle At Lake Changjin opening in China with $230m shows what could have been now in the West if the industry did more to make people feel confident going back to the cinema sooner. The problem was the industry was far too quick to reopen cinemas believing that all they had to do was reopen and people would return.
While believed the delusions of grandeur from Christopher Nolan that he could be the saviour of cinema with Tenet but he wasn’t the messiah he was just a naughty boy that caused long term damage to the cinema. Christopher Nolan’s biggest successes have come from opening in the middle of several other tentpoles Tenet was never going to do it on his own.
US Box Office
- Venom: Let There Be Carnage – Sony Pictures
Opened with $90.03m; received mixed reviews (59% Rotten Tomatoes much better than the original 30% (Venom received B+)
80th biggest opening in the US between Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and Logan
65% of its Friday BO came from IMAX and PLF which it will lose this weekend with No Time To Die opening. Since cinemas reopened films have performed strongly in IMAX with customers willing to pay more for the big screen experience.
Opening similar to both Black Widow ($80.4m) and Shang-Chi ($75.38m), this was always expected as despite Venom: Let There Be Carnage not being part of the MCU the fanbase is the same so those who saw Black Widow would go to see both Shang-Chi and Venom: Let There Be Carnage and then will also go to see Eternals and Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Of course, much was made that Venom: Let There Be Carnage was released exclusively in cinemas as Shang-Chi unlike Black Widow but all three opened similarly and will take similar box office as Venom: Let There Be Carnage will likely be very front-loaded as Venom was in 2018 dropping 56% in its second weekend as with No Time To Die opening has far tougher competition than Venom did with First Man, Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween and Bad Times at the El Royale opening.
Venom went on to take $213.51m in the US (the sequel is likely to take about $180m) and $856.1m worldwide.
Took $11.6m from Thursday previews up 11% from 2018’s Venom helped by having many more screenings as the sequel is almost an hour shorter than the original 97mins Vs 140mins.
Taking $37.3m on Friday (including $11.6m previews)
- The Addams Family 2 – MGM
Opened with $17.32m; received poor reviews (22% Rotten Tomatoes) and B CinemaScore
Opened about half of the original film 2019’s The Addams Family with $30.3m taking $100.72m in the US and $203.78m worldwide. But over the last few months, children’s films have struggled to find an audience in the US (unlike the UK) why The Addams Family 2 was released in cinemas and on VOD and Hotel Transylvania: Transformania which was due to open against it was sold to streaming despite the popularity of the earlier three films in cinemas.
- The Many Saints of Newark – Warner Bros
Opened with $4.61m; received positive reviews (74% Rotten Tomatoes) and C+ CinemaScore
The film is available on HBO Max as all other Warner Bros films this year which will again be used as the excuse why it did not find an audience, but despite positive reviews, it also struggled in the UK a week ago before being released on HBO Max.
SambaTV reported over 1m watched the film on HBO Max over its opening weekend compared to Reminiscence (842K and $1.95m US opening); Malignant (753K and $5.4m opening); Cry Macho (693K and $4.4m opening); In the Heights (693K and the US $11.5m opening); Judas and the Black Messiah (653K and the US $2m opening); The Little Things (1.4m and the US $4.7m opening).
The problem is unless exhibitors change their pricing policies and not price The Many Saints of Newark at the same level as Venom: Let There Be Carnage people won’t go to the cinema anymore to see these films as they have become far more selective over the last decade in what they see in the cinema and what they will wait to see at home.
David Chase signed a new 5-year production deal with HBO to develop content for HBO, HBO Max and Warner Bros as there was a possibility that there could have been a sequel to The Many Saints of Newark to tie into The Sopranos as there is still more story to tell. After soft box office if this will happen it will be for HBO only.
Took $419k from 9 territories taking $2.3m and $7.3m worldwide.
- Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings – Disney
Down 53% in its fifth weekend taking $6.1m and $206.18m
Had the 15th biggest MCU third weekend between Doctor Strange and Spider-Man: Homecoming and is the 20th biggest MCU film between Thor: The Dark World and Thor; has taken $12.85m more than Black Widow ($183.35m).
203rd biggest film in the US between Beauty and the Beast (1991) and Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me
466th biggest inflation inflated between The Client and Men in Black 3
42nd biggest comic-book movie between Thor: The Dark World and Batman Begins
60th biggest Disney film in the US between Beauty and the Beast (1991) and Armageddon
EntTelligence reported average ticket price for Shang-Chi was $13.72 (37% of BO from IMAX and PLF) while it was $12.63 for Black Widow and $12.70 for F9 (both of those films had a sizeable percentage of IMAX and PLF BO).
The 25 MCU films have now taken $8.935bn in the US since May 2008 and $23.32bn worldwide; the average BO of an MCU film in the US is $357.02m.
Took $8.3m from 42 territories $180.8m total and $386.9m worldwide; UK $27.1m; Korea $14.9m; France $11.5m; Russia $8.6m; Japan $8.4m; Germany $8.3m; Hong Kong $8.1m; Mexico $7.3m; Brazil $7.1m; Spain $6.6m
323rd biggest film worldwide between Grease and Star Trek; 5th 2021 film worldwide between Godzilla vs. Kong and Black Widow; 74th biggest Disney film worldwide between Solo: A Star Wars Story and Cars 3.
- Dear Evan Hanson – Universal Pictures
Dropped 67% in its second weekend taking $2.47m and $11.82m
After the negative critical reaction, it was always expected Dear Evan Hanson would drop heavily in its second weekend but thanks to Universal Pictures shortened theatrical window it will be released on VOD next week.
The film had a similar second weekend drop as In The Heights which dropped 63.5% in June taking $4.2m and $19.65m of $29.87m and $43.87m worldwide.
The film subject matter of suicide and social anxiety was always going to be a hard sell in cinemas despite the popularity of the stage show.
It has had a limited international opening and with the film expanding in a few weeks but as the studio has several films opening over the next few weeks its release won’t be as wide as it was planned. As with other musicals, it is likely to find a limited audience in the UK opening ahead of half-term.
- Free Guy – 20th Century Studios/Disney
Dropped 45% in its eighth weekend taking $2.26m and $117.61m holding similar to 1998’s The Truman Show dropping 53.2% taking $1.01m and $122.02m after 8 weeks of $125.46m (ticket inflation of 80%+ since).
580th biggest film in the US between Ford v. Ferrari and Big Momma’s House; 1,100th biggest inflation inflated between Ford v. Ferrari and Girls Trip; the 5th biggest film of 2021 in the US between A Quiet Place: Part II and Jungle Cruise.
A Quiet Place Part II and F9 have taken $160.07m and $172.73m with 45-day windows, Cruella $86.02m, Jungle Cruise $114.89m; Space Jam: A New Legacy $70.45m and Black Widow $183.56m were released in the movie theatres and streaming.
Free Guy overtaken has become Disney’s biggest original film since 2009’s Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time ($336.36m WW).
2012’s Wreck-It Ralph took $189.42m in the US and $471.2m WW.
2018’s Ralph Breaks the Internet took $190.49m taking $201.09m in the US and $529.32m WW
2014’s The Lego Movie took $243.38m taking $257.76m in the US and $468.06m WW
2017’s The Lego Batman Movie took $175.75m in the US and $311.95m WW
2019’s The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part took $103.36m taking $105.8m and $192.3m WW
2010’s Tron Legacy took $166.73m taking $172.06m and $400.1m WW
2006’s Night at the Museum took $250.86m in the US and $574.48m WW
Took $206.38m internationally and $323.99m worldwide; China $94.8m; UK $22.2m; Russia $11m; France $5.3m; Saudi Arabia $5m; Germany $4.8m; Australia $4.7m; Japan $4.6m; Spain $3.4m; Mexico $3.4m.
453rd biggest film worldwide between Megamind and Fatal Attraction and 7th biggest 2021 film worldwide between Black Widow and A Quiet Place: Part II.
UK Box Office Top 10
UK Box Office Preview
Over the last 20 years, James Bond films hold very strongly helping them is the strong word of mouth and that rival studio keep their distance not normally opening targetting same demographic for at least a month.
This should see No Time To Die dropping about 40%+ (25%+ without previews) taking about £15m between Skyfall and Avengers: Endgame.
By Friday, No Time To Die will have become the 128th film to take over £30m at the UK box office since 1993 (Jurassic Park) and over its second weekend will become the 73rd film to take over £40m since 1993 (Jurassic Park) and early next week will become the 41st film to take over £50m since 1997 (The Full Monty).
James Bond second weekend drops
2002’s Die Another Day dropped 41% (down 22% without previews) taking £8,546,238
2006’s Casino Royale dropped 36% (25% without previews) taking £8,546,238
2008’s Quantum of Solace dropped 40%; (no previews) taking £9,221,744
2012’s Skyfall dropped 20% (no previews) taking £16,107,687
2015’s Spectre dropped 68% (34% not including previews) taking £13,145,138
Top 10 Biggest Second Weekends
Skyfall £16,107,687 taking 51.98% of £102,816,893
Avengers: Endgame £14,331,192 taking 77.82% of £88,692,771
Spectre £13,145,138 taking 67.21% of £95,183,468
Beauty and the Beast £12,334,338 taking 55.07% of £72,430,579
Jurassic World £11,133,912 taking 60.50% of £63,674,773
The Lion King £10,660,287 taking 48.53% of £76,013,812
Star Wars: The Force Awakens £10,164,805 taking 53.59% of £123,000,894
Star Wars: The Last Jedi £10,158,640 taking 61.27% of £82,676,198
Avengers: Infinity War £10,143,580 taking 69.37% of £70,804,892
Joker £9,766,608 taking 51.96% of £57,800,000
In 2019 (The Addams Family and Abominable) Universal Pictures will be competing against itself with The Addams Family 2 and The Boss Baby 2 with children’s films.
Often children’s films have previews the weekend before to inflate their openings but with No Time To Die opening the weekend before The Addams Family 2 didn’t which was similar to 2019’s The Addams Family as it was the third children’s film to open.
The Addams Family opened with £2,117,740 taking £4,744,561 over a half-term week taking £9,514,907.
Opened similar to Abominable opening two weeks earlier with £2,141,256 taking £8,341,976; while A Shaun The Sheep Movie: Farmageddon opened the week after with £1,305,511 playing to a younger audience taking £7,081,393 half the original film took in 2015 (£13,675,389).
Children’s films have been the one genre that has performed strongly since cinemas reopened the first time in July 2020 and children’s films have had very long legs The Croods 2: A New Age and Space Jam: A New Legacy opened the same weekend with £696,563 and £1,363,556 but took 13.38x and 9.12x opening BO with £9.8m and £12.8m.
Celebrating Scream 25th Anniversary 8 months early and three months before a fifth part is released in January by Paramount (starring the original cast) the original is re-released in cinemas for one day on October 12th
1997’s Scream opened £1,872,660 taking £8,247,094
1998’s Scream 2 opened £2,493,950 taking £8,280,725
2000’s Scream 3 opened £2,449,937 taking £5,585,267
2011’s Scream 4 opened £2,061,885 taking £5,581,902
Opening in two weeks
October is normally one of the most lucrative months of the year with a mix of genres successful, the first weekend of October has seen many films targetting older audiences being successful from Gone Girl to The Girl on the Train.
While with half-term at the end of the month children’s films have performed strongly and with Halloween also at the end of the month so have horrors. Over recent years half-term weekend has seen many MCU films having extended opening weekends along with Spectre and Skyfall (3-day opening) and Bohemian Rhapsody. As the films targeted many different demographics box office was more evenly shared out with many weekends in October having more than 5 films taking over £1m.
This year has Bond opening at the beginning of the month rather than the end and as Bond films normal hold strongly over weeks will it cannibalize the box office of the films that open over the following weekends as normal James Bond film doesn’t have any direct competition for at least a month.
- Dune – Warner Bros
Epic sci-fi starring ensemble cast Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgård, Dave Bautista, Zendaya, Chang Chen, Charlotte Rampling, Jason Momoa, and Javier Bardem and directed by Denis Villeneuve. It is the first of a planned two-part adaptation of the 1965 novel by Frank Herbert.
Paramount tried to reboot Dune about a decade ago with Peter Berg attached to direct but they were nervous of making it with a budget of over $100m and allowed rights to expire and Legendary Entertainment acquired rights in 2016 and Denis Villeneuve signed on as director in director in January 2017.
Had its world premiere at the 78th Venice International Film Festival in September receiving critical acclaim (91% Rotten Tomatoes); it was released in 32 territories on September 15 taking $100.3m taking $13.7m last weekend down 49% holding strongly in France three weeks #1 taking $18.6m; Russia $18.1m; Germany $13.4m; Spain $6.9m and Italy $6.7m
Dune received predictable critical acclaim at Venice and Toronto Film Festivals similar to 2017’s Blade Runner 2049 and it was always likely to perform far stronger in Europe than the US because it opened in most of Europe ahead of No Time to Die, but in the UK and the US opens October 22nd. While cinephiles rushed out to see it over the opening weekend its likely to be too pretentious for others (opening up as Dune Part 1 highlight this from the start)
2017’s Blade Runner 2049 took 65% of its $269.33m global box office international taking $92.1m in the US and $167.28m internationally. The UK was the highest-grossing European territory for Blade Runner 2049 but with No Time To Die opening September 30th it was better to delay Dune until three weeks after so it can have two full weeks playing on IMAX screens.
Denis Villeneuve knows how to lose friends and alienate people after his comments about Warner’s decision to release all of their 2021 films including Dune in cinemas and on HBO Max same day compared watching Dune at home to driving “a speedboat in your bathtub.” While still believing Warner will be eager to make the second part of Dune next year.
2017’s Blade Runner 2049 opened with £6,071,625 (including £858,095 previews) taking £18,820,009
- The Boss Baby 2 – Universal Pictures
Sequel to the 2017 Dreamwork Animation comedy featuring voices of Alec Baldwin, James Marsden, Amy Sedaris, Ariana Greenblatt, Jeff Goldblum, Eva Longoria, Jimmy Kimmel, and Lisa Kudrow and directed by Tom McGrath.
Opened in the US in July in cinemas and on Peacock opening with $16m taking $57.22m and $112.98m worldwide received average reviews (47% Rotten Tomatoes); 2017’s The Boss Baby opened $50.19m taking $175m in the US and $527.96m worldwide.
As with Croods: A New Age The Boss Baby opens in UK cinemas several months after its US release but despite that, while The Croods: A New Age took far less than the original it has had very long legs taking almost £10m over 12 weeks despite opening with only £696,563 it has taken an incredible 13.8x opening; 2013’s The Croods opened £5,372,290 (including £1,850,943 previews) taking £26,328,511 4.9x opening.
2017’s The Boss Baby opened £8,025,886 (including £5,227,582 previews) taking £28,682,992 3.57x opening;
The Boss Baby 2 is the third family film opening ahead of half-term holidays after The Addams Family 2 and Ron’s Gone Wrong.
- The French Dispatch – Disney/Searchlight
Comedy-drama anthology starring Benicio del Toro, Adrien Brody, Tilda Swinton, Léa Seydoux, Frances McDormand, Timothée Chalamet, Lyna Khoudri, Jeffrey Wright, Bill Murray,, Owen Wilson, Liev Schreiber, Edward Norton, Willem Dafoe, Saoirse Ronan, Elisabeth Moss, Jason Schwartzman, and Anjelica Huston written, directed, and produced by Wes Anderson.
Received world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in July a year after it was originally due to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in 2020; received positive reviews (85% Rotten Tomatoes) Wes Anderson described it as “love letter to journalists.”
It Will have its UK premiere at the London Film Festival many of Wes Anderson’s films have received their UK premiere at the LFF including Fantastic Mr Fox,
Wes Anderson’s biggest opening in the UK is 2018’s Isle of Dogs £1,641,509 (£194,905 from previews) taking £6,009,438
2014’s The Grand Budapest Hotel opened £1,532,239 (dropped only 20% in its second weekend taking £1,309,103 and £4,115,618) taking £10,978,014
The Isle of Dogs opened wide in 472 screens compared with The Grand Budapest Hotel opening in 284 screens adding over 90 screens in its second weekend which saw it drop only 20%.
2009’s Fantastic Mr Fox opened in 481 screens £1,517,312 after receiving its premiere at the London Film Festival (increased 2% in its second weekend taking £1,545,325 (due to half-term) £5,589,484) taking £8,707,283.
Moonrise Kingdom opened in May 2012 with £251,760 taking £1,378,748
The Darjeeling Limited opened November 2007 with £435,198 taking £1,323,698
- Dear Evan Hanson – Universal Pictures
A coming-of-age musical teen drama based on the 2015 stage musical starring Ben Platt, Kaitlyn Dever, Amandla Stenberg, Nik Dodani, Colton Ryan, Danny Pino, Julianne Moore, and Amy Adams and directed by Stephen Chbosky; had a world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 9.
2019’s Cats opened £3,207,471 taking £11,907,188 and $73.83m
2021’s In the Heights opened £1,073,687 taking £4,286,073 and $43.87m worldwide
2017’s The Greatest Showman opened £4,754,049 taking £49,523,728 and $436.75m worldwide
2016’s La Land opened £6,596,256 taking £29,816,588 and $447.4m worldwide
Musicals are far more popular in the UK than in the US even In The Height which opened a week after its US release had a decent opening held well as musicals are extremely popular in the UK including Mamma Mia!, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, Bohemian Rhapsody, The Greatest Showman, Les Miserables, La La Land, Moulin Rouge, Chicago, Evita and Hairspray.
28th biggest musical in the UK between Dreamgirls and The Producers
20 years ago, Moulin Rouge opened in the UK four months after the US in September performing far stronger than it did in the US opening with £2,403,378 down 22.6% in its second weekend taking £1,859,732 and £5,668,964 (31.21% of total box office) taking £18,166,288 (£31,681,304 inflation inflated) was in the top 15 for almost 3 months.
Likewise, 2017’s The Greatest Showman opened with £4,754,049 (including £2,575,147 previews) down 49% in its second weekend taking £2,409,143 and £9,998,783 (20.1% of total box office taking £49,523,728 and played wide in cinemas for over 16 weeks, was still in the top 10 when it was released on DVD.
Upcoming musicals include West Side Story, Cyrano, The Little Mermaid, Matilda (the UK release in cinemas Netflix rest of the world opening December 2022) and The Colour Purple. Tick, Tick… Boom and 13 for Netflix and Everybody’s Talking About Jamie and Cinderella were due to have cinema releases but were sold to Amazon due to studios concerns over opening riskier films during COVID. Everybody’s Talking About Jamie should have a similar cinema only release in the UK but as it was a 20th Century Fox film Disney have little interest in it why they sold it.
Had its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival which was the wrong launch platform for the film as this was the target demographic who were fans of the stage musical. Filmmakers were in a tricky situation with the casting of Ben Platt as Evan Hanson who played the role on Broadway but is now 27. It’s surprising people took issue with the age of Ben Platt as often cast older women for younger roles.
Dear Evan Hanson, is probably similar to Bohemian Rhapsody and The Greatest Showman it’s a film that needs to be seen with an audience of cinemagoers, not critics, remember going to a media screening of Rock of Ages audience reaction was very positive but then critical was very poor.
The industry has been gunning for the failure of Dear Evan Hanson for the last few weeks but Universal have to take some responsibility for this as it was a predictable mistake to launch it at TIFF. As the film festival demographic was wrong for the film (as was also for Halloween Kills) and this generated a chain reaction of negativity and hostility from the demographic it was never aimed at. As those who did liked it, giving it A- CinemaScore.
There was a lot of double-standards with Ben Platt playing a teenager in Dear Evan Hanson when so many much older female actors have played teenagers before in film and TV shows; Olivia Newton-John was 29 when she played Sandy and Stockard Channing (Rizzo) was 33 in Grease. While filmmakers couldn’t win either way had they not cast the actor who did the role on Broadway. Why is Dear Evan Hanson being singled out for nepotism when the film industry has been built on who you know and not what you know for over the last century.
While the industry celebrates the predictable performance of Shang-Chi and the UK are heralding No Time To Die as the saviour of cinema, both films are the 25th instalments of the two biggest film series in the world so how they perform is very predictable.
Critics will often give musicals poor reviews as they don’t connect with them as audiences do and need to be watched with an audience rather than just a bunch of snobbish film critics. As these same critics watched No Time To Die surrounded by James Bond fans and 18 months of hype and predictably got many 5-star reviews. (UK far more positive than the US) While paying public reaction will be far more mixed as the last three Bond films have been average being all hype no sustenance.
Universal held an exhibitor screening for Kick-Ass and they hated the film which surprised the studio as they loved it. Universal decided to invite exhibitors back to see it again but this time with an audience of 500+ comic-book fans and exhibitors loved it and it was a considerable success at the UK BO.