- Taylor Swift / The Official Release Party Of A Showgirl £3,471,544 – NE
Took £1.27m 36.59% Friday; £1.17m 33.71% Saturday; £1.031m 29.70% Sunday.
507th biggest opening between One Direction: This Is Us and American Hustle (close to The A-Team, Fantastic Four (2005), The Fault in Our Stars and What Women Want) and 746th biggest inflated opening between Open Water and Everest (close to Chicago, Cats, Four Weddings and a Funeral and Back to the Future).
18th biggest 2025 between Snow White and Dog Man (close to Final Destination: Bloodlines, Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale, We Live In Time and A Complete Unknown).
The biggest Event Cinema opening in the UK ahead of Six The Musical (£2,139,373) and the second biggest after Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour.
Exhibitors said day one presales for Taylor Swift / The Official Release Party Of A Showgirl were 40% more than Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour. This was expected, as Swifties who spend hundreds of pounds buying tickets to her concerts for summer 2024 had mixed emotions seeing it in cinemas months before seeing her live.
2023’s Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour opened £5,729,998; £2.25m (38.8%) Fri; £1.89m Sat (33%); £1.46m (25.5%) Sun
Party Of A Showgirl was for all of the 237.6m Swifties worldwide, including 6.4m fans in the UK, as it was the first chance fans could see the videos to her songs. It does put the £3.47m opening (250k+ admissions) into perspective. About 3m watched Taylor Swift on The Graham Norton Show on Friday on BBC1, and many millions more listened to her interviews on Captain FM, Heart, Hits Radio and Radio 1. The Life of a Showgirl album sold 304,000 copies, more than first-week sales of 2024’s The Tortured Poets Departent (270,000 copies) and 2022’s Midnights (204,000).
It’s interesting Party Of A Showgirl opened just below 2013’s One Direction: This Is Us, which had regular ticket prices when it was released and similar massive hype. What it does highlight is that while these numbers are huge for cinema, they are tiny compared to their fanbase and the social media coverage they receive.
Exhibitors went crazy over Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, opening £5,729,998, taking £12,164,375 and $261,656,269 worldwide, but it attracted a tiny percentage of her fanbase. Taylor Swift has 561m followers across all social media, including 283m on Instagram, Spotify 144m, YouTube 61.6m, Facebook:79m, and TikTok 32m. If just 10% of Taylor Swift’s fanbase came out, it would have had one of the biggest ever openings. It just highlights that the problem with the cinema industry today is still looking at success in box office numbers from 20+ years ago, rather than current data.
30 years ago, films taking £20m at the BO was the sign of huge success. Now these same films should be taking £50m+, but there has only been one film so far this year taking £50m+, A Minecraft Movie with only two more Wicked: For Good and Avatar: Fire and Ash.
12 years ago, One Direction: This Is Us had a huge premiere in Leicester Square. Within 24 hours of the premiere, 3.6 million tweets were sent about One Direction, and the hashtag #1DMoviePremiere received 1.9 million tweets. While Taylor Swift generated more than double over the last week, which saw the album selling 2.7m copies worldwide and surpassing all other artists for 2025 on Apple Music, iTunes and Spotify.
Comparisons are with
2013’s One Direction: This Is Us opened £3,471,872 (included £1,267,189 from Thursday previews) #1 from 476 screens (£4,699,895) taking £8,005,391; was front-loaded dropping 67% in the second weekend £1,122,137 and £5,822,032.
2009’s Michael Jackson’s This Is It opened £4,877,255 (£7,145,537 inflated) took £1,355,855 second weekend down 72.2% and £8,114,380 of £9,732,593 (£14,258,964 inflated)
While 2011’s Justin Bieber: Never Say Never opened £820,592 #9 from 388 screens, taking £1,993,888.
Other music concert films include.
2012’s Katy Perry: Part of Me opening £449,491 #4 from 326 screens taking £1,029,451
2009’s Jonas Brothers 3d Concert Experience opened £117,060 #10 169 screens taking £223,027
2011’s Glee: The 3D Concert Movie opened £356,271 #9 from 303 screens
2008’s Hannah Montana 3D opened £241,119 #9 from 65 screens taking £443,308
They all have one thing in common: they failed to attract the fans of their music, as was also the case with older films like 1991’s Madonna: Truth or Dare, 1987’s Sign O’ the Times and 1988’s U2 Rattle and Hum.
Other popular Event Cinema pop concerts have been Take That with 2019’s Take That – Greatest Hits Live opened £1,834,379 #5 from 606 screens; 2017’s Take That: Wonderland Live From The O2 #5 £1,004,918 from 481 screens, and 2015’s Take That Live #2 £965,000 from 421 screens.
BTS Permission To Dance On Stage – Seoul in March 2022 opening with £899,126; other BTS Event Cinema concerts took 2018’s Burn the Stage: Movie #6 £644,308 from 212 screens; 2019’s Love Yourself In Seoul – BTS World Tour 2019 #10 £518,810 from 519 screens; 2020’s Break the Silence: The Movie #3 £374,060 from 363 screens. The difference between all of those to Party Of A Showgirl and Eras Tour was that they were all limited to one evening show and an afternoon encore, whilst Party Of A Showgirl and Eras Tour had shows a day across three days in many more cinemas.
- 2. One Battle After Another £1,974,027 – £6,033,199
Took £553k 26.95% (-29.63% £756k) Friday; £851k 43.11% (-11.9% £966k) Saturday; £591k 29.94% (-45.68% £749k) Sunday.
492nd biggest second weekend between Iron Man and The Great Gatsby (close to The Last Samurai, The Silence of the Lambs, The Departed and American Hustle) and 826th biggest inflated second weekend between The Pink Panther and Michael Jackson’s This Is It (close to Michael Collins, Road to Perdition, Master and Commander and Black Hawk Down).
18th biggest 2025 second weekend between Nosferatu and Dog Man (close to 28 Years Later, Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale, A Complete Unknown and Weapons).
It’s hoped that One Battle After Another could provoke conversations as happened with films like Anora, The Brutalist and Materialists, asking the question what’s happening in America, there are films like 1987’s Wall Street that opened weeks after the stock market crash or All the President’s Men released two years after Richard Nixon resigned the presidency, that felt part of the moment. This was the case with 2010’s The Social Network and will be the case with next year’s sequel, The Social Reckoning. The problem, of course, is that it takes 6 months and released, so hard to be the film of the moment, as TV shows can be like late-night Jimmy Kimmel and Last Week Tonight that can respond immediately to events.
Impossible to compare One Battle After Another with other Paul Thomas Anderson films, as it’s a vastly different release.
1998’s Boogie Nights dropped 24.4% £608,880/£1,196,608 and £1,893,411 of £4,325,540/£8,500,813
2000’s Magnolia dropped 46.9% £196,780/£354,204 and £803,327 of £997,977/£1,796,358
2002’s Punch-Drunk Love took £322,921
2008’s There Will Be Blood expanded into 181 screens £540,472 and £888,968, taking £4,392,471/£6,690,071
2012’s The Master took £1.21m
2014’s Inherent Vice dropped 61% £147,087 #13 from 175 screens taking £739,232
2017’s Phantom Thread dropped 40% £434,351 #11 from 192 screens £1,658,992 taking £2,708,717
2022’s Licorice Pizza dropped 55.2% £393,988 and £1,527,797 of £2,294,561
Since Leonardo DiCaprio won the Best Actor Oscar for 2016’s The Revenant dropped 26.3% £3,856,489/£4,147,938 and £12,008,304, 52.53% of £23,257,319
2019’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood dropped 72.1% £2,109,591/£2,328,731 and £12,736,799 61.1% of £20,851,025); 2021’s Don’t Look Up (watched by 171.4m on Netflix)
2023’s Killers Of The Flower Moon dropped 40.4% £1,507,697 and £5,599,165, 57.9% of £9,886,049
After Christopher Nolan opted to make Oppenheimer at Universal Pictures, Warner Bros have been trying to make the studio the home of “home of auteurs” acquiring original projects from Paul Thomas Anderson, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Bong Joon Ho, Ryan Coogler, signing Tom Cruise to make original and franchise (Edge of Tomorrow 2 is expected to start filming next year) and JJ Abrams.
One Battle After Another is now seen as favoruite for Oscar success in 6 months time, previous Best Pucture Oscar winners since 1987 are…
- 3. Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale £867,281 – £15,581,565
Down 33% in its fourth weekend
434th biggest fourth weekend between Lost in Translation and The Croods 2: A New Age (close to The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Five-Year Engagement, Atonement and Sliding Doors) and 718th biggest inflated fourth weekend between Closer and Robin Hood (close to Something’s Gotta Give, The Firm, LA Confidential and The Interpreter).
Fourth weekends
2002’s Gosford Park dropped 5.3% £703,649/£1,307,245 and £5,404,193 43.9% of £12,311,330/£22,872,098
2019’s Downton Abbey dropped 42.5% £1,461,074 #3 and £23,109,145 81.8% of £28,248,361; took 5.45x opening
2022’s Downton Abbey: A New Era dropped 22.1% £757,303 and £12,256,158 of £15,092,058
Other fourth weekend grey pound films include.
2021’s Death on the Nile dropped 63% taking £283,550 and £7,150,696 of £8,012,201
2017’s Murder on the Orient Express #4 dropped 40% to £1,373,756 (from 599 screens) taking £20,442,641 84.3% of £24,224,914; stayed in the top 10 for 7 weeks (taking £196,186 in its 7th)
2021’s House of Gucci #5 £289,041 dropped 63% 440 screens and £8,074,049 81% of £9,964,144
2012’s The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel #3 £1,530,112 down 14% 479 screens and £13,855,438 68.2% of £20,308,480.
2015’s The Lady in the Van #7 £470,763 down 51% 504 screens and £10,450,946 82.5% of £12,660,028.
2015’s The Second-Best Marigold Hotel #3 £671,088 down 53% 518 screens and £13,413,705 86.1% of £15,575,797.
2013’s Philomena dropped 46% taking £541,068 and £8,866,771 84.6% of £10,470,225
Other Fourth weekend dramas
The Girl on the Train took £1,215,472 £20,427,279 of £23,372,415
2014’s Gone Girl took £1,597,962 and £17,064,765 of £21,945,199.
450th biggest between Belfast and Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (close to Django Unchained, Black Swan, The Great Gatsby and Fatal Attraction) and 755th biggest inflated between Die Hard 2 Die Harder and Four Christmases (close to Dick Tracy, Little Voice, The Impossible and Good Will Hunting).
- 4. The Smashing Machine £863,078 – NE
Took £227k 30.82% Friday; £346k 40.09% Saturday; £251k 29.08% Sunday.
1,966th biggest opening between Syriana and Fly Me To The Moon (close to Failure to Launch, The French Dispatch, Crazy, Stupid, Love and Goal) and 2,585th biggest inflated opening between The Purge: Election Year and Darkness Falls (close to The Ides Of March, All Of Us Strangers, Frost/Nixon and Emma (1996).
44th biggest 2025 opening between The Accountant 2 and Flight Risk (close to A Real Pain, Black Bag, Warfare and Companion).
It was released via Entertainment Films but was A24’s biggest UK opening ahead of Warfare (£752,942) and Everything Everywhere All At Once (£681,351)
Opened similar to 2024’s The Iron Claw £754,152 taking £2,380,926 and 2009’s The Wrestler £802,046/£1,167,685 taking £1,592,098/£2,317,907.
Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt were both in the UK to promote the film a few weeks ago, but a film like The Smashing Machine needs award recognition for audiences to go to the cinema to see it as by 2024’s Unstoppable starring Jennifer Lopez who also was on the Graham Norton Show ahead of its release but opened with only £3,112 #55 from 56 screens despite also receiving positive reviews after premiering at the Toronto Film Festival.
Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt previous started together in 2021’s Jungle Cruise opened £2,241,651 taking £12,487,739, but The Smashing Machine is a very different and while the film received positive reviews since premiering at the Venice Film Festival MMA fighter Mark Kerr isn’t well known in the UK and wrestling isn’t as popular in the UK as it used to be in the 80s with Big Daddy and Giant Haystacks and World of Sport on ITV on Saturday afternoons.
What didn’t help was that Dwayne Johnson’s performance is so strong, he doesn’t look like himself in the film, and fans of his other films want to see him; that shouldn’t be an issue normally with character actors, but I guess his fans want to see him as The Rock?
Dwayne Johnson previously starred in 2019’s Fighting with My Family opened £2,022,174 #1 (£398,275 previews), taking £5,837,684.
2013’s Pain & Gain opened £1,016,136/£1,232,434 taking £1,923,892/£2,333,419
While the fictional British wrestling film 2018’s Walk Like A Panther opened with £91,333 from 222 screens and 2006’s Nacho Libre opened £993,948/£1,616,441, taking £3,297,259/£5,362,277.
- 5. The Conjuring: Last Rites £511,055 – £17,295,398
Down 38.7% in its fifth weekend
496th biggest fifth weekend between Hairspray and The Bad Guys 2 (close to Baby Driver, Angels and Demons, Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn 2 and Venom) and 722nd biggest inflated fifth weekend between The Princess And The Frog and The Bad Guys 2 (close to A Knight’s Tale, The Fisher King, Mannequin and Malice).
5th biggest horror fifth weekend between Smile and Sleepy Hollow (close to Sinners, The Others, Get Out and 28 Years Later) and 11th biggest inflated horror fifth weekend between Van Helsing and Get Out (close to The Ring, My Bloody Valentine, A Quiet Place and The Grudge).
The biggest horror film this year in the UK, ahead of Nosferatu (£13.0m) and 28 Years Later (£15.5m); 11th biggest 2025 between Captain America: Brave New World and Sinners (close to 28 Years Later, The Bad Guys 2, Downton Abbey 3 and Dog Man); 4th biggest Warner Bros film in 2025.
Fifth weekends
2023’s The Nun 2 dropped 61.6% £160,587 and £6,228,862 91.6% of £6.8m
2018’s The Nun dropped 63.1% £243,153 and £11,099,719 98.2% of £11,302,155
2017’s Annabelle: Creation dropped 71.3% £164,158 and £8,079,017
2021’s The Conjuring 3 dropped 39.7% £298,174 and £8,382,304 89.5% of £9,367,720
2013’s The Conjuring took £10,471,087
2014’s Annabelle dropped 73.5% £121,179 and £7,402,588
2016’s The Conjuring 2 dropped 67.1% £69,398 and £10,896,992
2019’s Annabelle Comes Home dropped 20.4% £223,917 and £6,176,801
43% £281,471 #8 and £5,690,476 and £6,176,801
The Conjuring film series has £90m at the UK BO since 2013 and £95m+ inflated
387th biggest between Ralph Breaks The Internet and Mission: Impossible II (close to Taken 3, Justice League, The Matrix and The Silence of the Lambs) and 673rd biggest inflated between JFK and Santa Claus The Movie (close to The Village, World War Z, Platoon and Rocky IV).
5th biggest horror between It Chapter 2 and Sinners (close to 28 Years Later, The Blair Witch Project, What Lies Beneath and The Final Destination) and 14th biggest inflated horror between Red Dragon and The Ring (close to Sleepy Hollow, Sinners, Final Destination 3 and Paranormal Activity).
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Also Opened
• Avatar: The Way of Water (re-release) – Disney
Opened £254,393 #10 from 428 screens.
Friday £46k 18.1%; Saturday £123k 48.2%; Sunday £86k 33.7%
2022’s Avatar re-release opened £1,218,692; Friday £276k; including 19% from 51 IMAX screens (£231,551) with 86% from 3D and 3D IMAX.
Other wide re-releases include.
2012’s Titanic 3D opened £2,856,540 taking £10,964,978; 3.85x opening
2011’s The Lion King 3D opened £2,746,763 taking £12,154,600; 4.45x opening
1998’s The Exorcist opened £2,186,977 (£4,384,807 inflation inflated) #1 249 screens taking £7,143,595 (£14,322,642 inflation inflated) 3.3x opening.
2000’s A Clockwork Orange opened £618,615 (£1,207,345 inflation inflated) taking £1,694,263 (£3,306,678 inflation inflated) 2.75x opening
Avatar re-release can only really be compared with the Star Wars trilogy 1997 re-release; Star Wars; A New Hope Special Edition opened £3,770,206 (£7,484,832 inflation inflated); The Empire Strikes Back £2,023,379 (£3,949,010 inflation inflated); Return of the Jedi £1,695,114 (£3,308,338) as Disney have heavily promoted Avatar: The Way of Water re-release far more than the other recent re-releases.
Ahead of the re-release of Avatar, James Cameron said that “Young film fans never had the opportunity to see the film in a movie theatre,” and “Even though they think they may have seen the film, they really haven’t seen it.” Sounding like he was quoting from the 1996 Star Wars re-release trailer, ‘for an entire generation people have experienced Avatar the only way it’s been possible on the TV screen, but if you’ve only seen it this way you haven’t seen it at all.”
Avatar opened in December 2009 £8,509,050/£12,466,384, taking £93,442,625/£136,900,316.
Avatar: The Way of Water opened in December 2022 £11,187,562, taking £75,746,774 with almost half of Avatar’s admissions, 9,977,249 vs 17,176,953.
—–
Year-to-date, 2025 is 10% ahead of 2024.
The weekend’s top 10 box office took £9,102,060, up 8.4% from last weekend’s £8,395,089: 1,013,888 admissions, up 4.1% from 973,966 admissions.
The 35th biggest weekend of the last 52 weeks between 25 October 2024 #1 Venom: The Last Dance £4,299,477 (46.85%) and 18 October 2024 #1 The Wild Robot £3,256,572 (37.15%)
133rd biggest since cinemas reopened out of 255 weeks between 01 December 2023 #1 Napoleon £1,908,971 (20.96%) and 01 September 2023 #1 The Equaliser 3 £2,783,302 (30.67%)
759th biggest top 10 of the last 24 years (out of 1,226) between 01 December 2023 #1 Napoleon £1,908,971 (20.96%) and 29 August 2014 #1 Lucy £1,972,039 (21.69%) and 1,027th biggest inflated between 09 November 2001 #1 The Others £1,687,041 (35.45%) and 11 December 2009 #1 A Christmas Carol £1,544,226 (22.62%)
The top 3 took £6,312,852 (69.4%) of the top 10; Taylor Swift / The Official Release Party Of A Showgirl 38.1% (£3,471,544); One Battle After Another 21.69% (£1,974,027); Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale 9.53% (£867,281)
508th biggest percentage share #1 (38.14%) between 05 November 2004 #1 The Grudge £2,261,710 (38.20%) and 21 April 2017 #1 Fast & Furious 8 £3,593,733 (38.12%)
776th biggest admissions (448,520) between 17 February 2006 #1 Chicken Little £2,184,760 (448,616) and 06 April 2012 #1 Titanic 3D £2,856,540 (448,436)
Up 3.87% from 2024; (£8,762,914); Joker: Folie A Deux (£5,674,029); A Different Man (£88,9470; Disney Junior Cinema Club 2024 (£53,690); Young Frankenstein (50th Anniversary) (£21,622); #1 Joker: Folie A Deux £5,674,029 1st week 72 screens (64.75% of top 10).
Up 64.90% from 2023; (£5,519,804); The Exorcist: Believer (£1,677,878); The Great Escaper (£598,135); Blackberry (£117,263); #1 The Exorcist: Believer £1,677,878 1st week 554 screens (30.4% of top 10).
Up 32.14% 2022 (£6,887,976); The Woman King (£1,308,685); Amsterdam (£632,722); The Lost King (£368,753); Nothing Compares (£31,628); Vengeance (£29,052); Bram Stoker’s Dracula (30th Anniversary 4K Restoration) (£13,991); #1 Smile £1,715,678 2nd week 521 screens down 8% (24.91% of top 10)
Down 50.53% 2021 (£18,399,057); The Addams Family 2 (£2,009,785); #1 No Time To Die £15,235,947 2nd week (82.8% of top 10)
Up 245.63% 2020; (£2,633,473); Cats & Dogs: Paws Unite! (£456,532); The Elfkins (£131,374); On the Rocks (£93,821); David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet (£92,052); #1 Tenet £628,247 6th week down 3% 542 screens (23.4% of top 10)
Down 51.56% 2019; (£18,790,335); Joker (£12,555,328); Judy (£2,086,969); Vampirina: Fang-Tastic Party (£74,628); #1 Joker £12,555,328 1st week 666 screens (66.8% of top 10).
Down 53.45% 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%)
Down 19.95% 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)
Down 37.60% 2016: (£14,587,631); The Girl on the Train (£6,957,945); War on Everyone (£187,564); Tristan und Isolde – Met Opera 2016 (£178,283); My Scientology Movie (£106,720); Blood Father (£68,808); #1 The Girl on the Train £6,957,945 1st week 612 screens (47.7% of the top 10)
Down 19.44% 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)
Down 15.07% 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 53.66% 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)
Down 31.95% 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)
Down 20.97% 2011; (£11,517,788); Johnny English Reborn (£4,965,000); The Lion King 3D (£2,746,763); Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark (£495,734); Midnight in Paris (£495,709); Tyrannosaur (£81,790); #1 Johnny English Reborn £4,965,000 1st week 524 screens (43.1% of top 10)
Up 37.08% 2010: (£6,639,950); Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (£1,784,309); Life As We Know It (£985,558); The Death and Life of Charlie St Cloud (£643,368); Mr Nice (£239,844); #1 Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps £1,784,309 1st week 444 screens (26.8% of top 10)
Up 14.09% 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 45.18% 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 60.04% 2007: (£5,687,298); The Heartbreak Kid (£1,236,288); The Kingdom (£919,537); Control (£252,426); And When Did You Last See Your Father (£133,347); Daywatch (£95,574); #1 The Heartbreak Kid £1,236,288 1st week 409 screens (21.7% of top 10)
Down 10.90% 2006; (£10,215,688); The Devil Wears Prada (£3,267,580); The Departed (£2,298,313); Accepted (£349,897); #1 The Devil Wears Prada £3,267,580 1st week 447 screens (31.9% of top 10)
Up 70.70% 2005: (£5,332,334); Serenity (£958,816); Oliver Twist (£692,494); Kinky Boots (£623,163); Night Watch (£271,857); Tara Road (£73,150); #1 Serenity £958,816 1st week 355 screens (18% of top 10)
Up 26.93% 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 6.63% 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 15.12% 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 1st week 280 screens (19.1% of top 10)
Up 66.53% 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%
2024 Next week: (£6,892,905); Transformers One ( £1,691,928); Terrifier 3 (£1,049,416); Vettaiyan (£485,910); Salem’s Lot (£359,911); Buffalo Kids (£345,411); Gladiator (Re: 2024) (£96,349); In Restless Dreams: The Music Of Paul Simon (£35,702); #1 Transformers One £1,691,928 1st week 577 screens (24.55% of top 10)
US Box Office
US BO is currently 4% ahead of 2024. In June, it was 25%.
- Taylor Swift / The Official Release Party Of A Showgirl – AMC Theatres
Opened $34.06m and A+ CinemaScore.
551st biggest opening between Puss in Boots and The Purge (close to Enchanted, The Blind Side, What Women Want and A Wrinkle in Time).
Took 28% from PLF/Dolby screens; regular tickets were $12.12, but for PLF/Dolby, they were more than a third more.
Party Of A Showgirl took $15m from presales; 58% bought tickets over a week ago; 26% over the last week, but only 16% on the same day. Eras Tour took $37m in presales within 24 hours and $65m after 14 days and a week before opening, sold over $100m in presales worldwide.
Ahead of opening, estimates were between $25m-$40m.
90% of the audience was female.
2023’s Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour opened $93.22m, taking $180.75m and $261.65m worldwide; IMAX and PLF took 26%; 12% IMAX $11.1m from 377 screens; worldwide $13.1m; international $2m from 236 screens; price $28.89 +taxes
Analysts compared it to films like Prince’s Purple Rain in 1984 and Whitney Houston’s The Bodyguard in 1992, but impossible to compare them with Party Of A Showgirl as they were films, while Party Of A Showgirl was a 90-minute promo video to sell albums.
That said, as the album was available to listen to from 12 am Friday morning meant that Party Of A Showgirl didn’t open as big as it could have done, as it was surely just for ultra-Swifties, whereas The Eras Tour was for all Swifties who saw her concerts and those who couldn’t get tickets.
Party Of A Showgirl sold 2.7m copies after one day, the record for the most album sales in one week is Adele’s 25, 3.4m in its first seven days in 2015. Party Of A Showgirl sold 1.2m vinyl copies.
It would be impossible for rival studios to attempt to emulate it with any other film, as there isn’t any film that could be released similarly. The closest was 2008’s Cloverfield, an unknown film that no one knew even existed before its trailer was attached to Transformers.
Taylor Swift’s social media across TikTok, YouTube, X, Facebook, and Instagram was 714.5m ahead of opening; 18% more than Eras Tour movie’s 604.9m, but these numbers surely show Party Of A Showgirl should have opened many times more than it did.
So why was industry reaction so positive, as only a fraction of Swifties came out to see it over the opening weekend? In March 2023, a Morning Consult survey found that 53% of US adults identified as fans of Taylor Swift; 16% were Swifties. And Fortune report from October 2025 stated that 36% of US workers identified as Swifties. The Life of a Showgirl broke Spotify’s 2025 record for most-streamed album in a single day within 11 hours. As ahead of Eras Tour opening did suggest it should have opened to Barbie numbers and surely Party Of A Showgirl should have opened with $100m+? But with $20+ tickets, many fans decided just to listen to the stream instead.
2009’s Michael Jackson: This Is It opened $23.23m, taking $72.09m and $261.18m worldwide
2011’s Justin Bieber: Never Say Never opened $29.51m $73.01m, and $99.03m worldwide
2012’s Katy Perry’s Part of Me opened $7.13m $25.32m, and $32.72m worldwide
2013’s One Direction: This Is Us opened $15.81m $28.87m, and $68.56m worldwide
Opened $13m internationally from 54 territories and $46m worldwide compared to Eras Tour opening internationally with $30.7m from 94 territories; opened 8,500+ screens worldwide and $123.5m worldwide.
- One Battle After Another – Warner Bros
Dropped 50% in its second weekend $11m and $42.62m
52% from IMAX/PLF; 21% IMAX from 412 screens, including 9 cinemas showing it in IMAX 70mm and 4 VistaVision cinemas.
Took $1.1m from VistaVision and 70MM IMAX over the weekend US; $7.5m worldwide from IMAX; US $4.6m and $2.9m international.
Paul Thomas Anderson’s 10 films have taken $220m in the US and $470m worldwide.
Impossible to compare with other Paul Thomas Anderson second weekends as they expanded over several weeks, and it’s become his biggest film in the US within 10 days.
1997’s Boogie Nights took $26.4m; 1999’s Magnolia took $22.45m and $48.45m worldwide
2002’s Punch-Drunk Love took $17.84m and $24.66m WW
2007’s There Will Be Blood took $40.22m and $76.18m WW
2012’s The Master took $16.37m and $28.25m worldwide
2014’s Inherent Vice took $8.11m and $14.81m worldwide
2017’s Phantom Thread took $21.19m and $47.75m WW
2022’s Licorice Pizza took $17.31m and $33.27m WW
RelishMix social media universe across TikTok, Instagram, X, Facebook and YouTube is 250m for One Battle After Another, more than A24’s Civil War (101m); Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (241.7m) and Killers of the Flower Moon (168.8m).
2024’s Civil War dropped 56.1% $11.22m and $44.97m of $68.75m and $127.26m worldwide
The two recent Warner Bros Best Picture winners
2006’s The Departed dropped 29.2% $19.03m and $56.98m of $132.39m and $292.08m worldwide
2012’s Argo dropped 15.5% $16.44m and $43.01m of $136.02m and $232.32m worldwide
Leonardo DiCaprio’s recent films
2023’s Killers of the Flower Moon dropped 59.9% $9.31m and $40.99m of $68.03m and $158.77m worldwide
2019’s Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood dropped 51.3% $20.01m and $78.82m of $142.5m and $392.1m worldwide
2015’s The Revenant dropped 20.2% $31.79m and $89.97m of $183.63m and $532.95m WW
Warner Bros was the first studio to take $4bn worldwide in 2025 with 11 releases compared to 20 in 2019; $1.795bn US and $2.2bn internationally.
One Battle After Another will lose most IMAX/Dolby screens to Tron: Ares on Friday, but will hold on to some VistaVision, 70MM IMAX and PLFs.
Took $21.7m from 77 territories $58.9m total, and $101.7m worldwide; France $3.4m; UK $3.4m; Germany $2m; Italy $1.4m; Saudi Arabia $1.3m; IMAX took $2.9m from 378 international screens.
Took $12.8m worldwide from IMAX- US $7.4m and international $5.4m
It was expected to open with $50m+ worldwide, so the US and international were lower than expected, despite the fact that industry reaction was positive, and despite the box office being artificially inflated with 50%+ from IMAX/PLF. One Battle After Another had a budget of $130m and marketing of $70m, so it needs to take at least $300m worldwide, so it will need strong legs over the coming weeks.
- The Smashing Machine – A24
Opened $6m; received positive reviews (73% Rotten Tomatoes) and B- CinemaScore
Took $850k from Thursday previews.
It was tracking to open between $12m-$14m.
Had Dwayne Johnson’s lowest opening, which was previously 2010’s Faster opened $8.52m, taking $23.24m and $35.72m worldwide.
2019’s Fighting with My Family opened $7.81m (wide), taking $22.95m and $41.5m worldwide
2013’s Pain & Gain opened $20.24m, taking $49.87m and $87.3m worldwide
As Taylor Swift (548m), Dwayne Johnson has a huge social media following 562m The problem was that The Smashing Machine was a vastly different film from what his fans enjoy, so even the positive reviews couldn’t help the film.
The problem for The Smashing Machine was similar to A Big Bold Beautiful Journey; it was an arthouse film sold as a mainstream film, as it starred Dwayne Johnson, and his fans aren’t interested in him playing anyone but The Rock. So, the 15-minute standing ovation and Dwayne Johnson crying at the premiere turned off his fans from seeing it.
As the $50m film was financed by foreign sales, it shouldn’t be a huge financial loss for A24, but it highlights the risk for A24’s attempt to make higher budget indie films after having huge success with lower budget films.
Dwayne Johnson responded to the disappointing box office performance of The Smashing Machine saying on Instagram “From deep in my grateful bones, thank you to everyone who has watched The Smashing Machine, “In our storytelling world, you can’t control box office results — but what I realized you can control is your performance, and your commitment to completely disappear and go elsewhere,”
- Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie – Universal Pictures
Dropped 61% in its second weekend $5.32m and $21.73m
Gabby’s Dollhouse was always going to be the film that suffered the most from Party Of A Showgirl
It’s the second live-action DreamWorks Animation film after this year’s How to Train Your Dragon reimagination and DreamWorks Animation’s first live-action film, not a remake.
Gabby’s Dollhouse is a hugely popular show on Netflix with average weekly minutes viewed in the US (170m in 2021 and 180m in 2022) and in the Netflix Top 10 in many countries, and its YouTube channel has over 700m views, and the trailer was viewed over 105m times. The 12th series starts in November on Netflix, and it’s sold 3m dollhouses since 2021.
Took $3.8m from 44 territories $10.9m total, and $32.5m worldwide.
- Avatar: The Way of Water – 20th Century Studios
Opened $3.19m; received positive reviews (x% Rotten Tomatoes)
Took $350k Thursday previews.
Presales for Avatar: Way of Water were $600k+
It played in 90% of IMAX screens and 3D screens were expected to open with $5m.
Took $2.2m worldwide from IMAX and $257.8m (11.1%) total from IMAX of $2.33bn worldwide.
Took $6.8m internationally and $10m worldwide; France $800k; Germany $500k; China $400k; Mexico $400k; UK $400k.
- The Conjuring: Last Rites – Warner Bros
Dropped 39% in its fifth weekend $4.13m and $167.88m
838th biggest fifth weekend between Due Date and Game Night (close to Ghost Rider, Us, Payback and Eternals).
364th biggest between Kong: Skull Island and 3 Men and a Baby; 961st biggest inflated between Atlantis: The Lost Empire and Ghostbusters (2016); 12th biggest 2025 between F1: The Movie and Weapons; 9th biggest horror between Us and Hannibal; 66th biggest Warner Bros film between Kong: Skull Island and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.
The Conjuring Universe 8 films have taken $1bn in the US and $2.83bn since 2013.
Fifth weekends
2023’s The Nun 2 dropped 46% $2.6m and $81.08m of $86.26m and $269.66m worldwide
2021’s The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It dropped 57.9% $1.26m and $62.19m #8 and $59.2m of $65.63m and $206.43m WW
2019’s Annabelle Comes Home dropped 40.3% $1.55m #9 and $69.73m of $74.15m and $228.51m worldwide
2019’s The Curse of La Llorona dropped 51.9% $890,020 #12 and $53m of $54.73m and $121.66m worldwide
2018’s The Nun dropped 50.2% $2.7m #7 and $113.46m of $117.45m and $36.39m worldwide
2017’s Annabelle: Creation dropped 46.7% $4m #4 and $96.27m of $102.1m and $305.38m worldwide
2016’s The Conjuring 2 dropped 55.4% $1.71m #11 and $99.34m of $102.47m and $310.2m worldwide
2014’s Annabelle dropped 41.5% $1.95m #14 and $82.45m of $84.27m and $256.86m worldwide
2013’s The Conjuring dropped 41.4% $3.88m #12 and $127.83m of $137.4m and $317.78m worldwide
Took $9.3m internationally from 76 territories $290.4m total, and $458.2m worldwide; Mexico $28.5m; UK $22.1m; France $18m; Brazil $16.4m; Germany $14.4m.
303rd biggest worldwide between Gladiator II and X-Men: The Last Stand; 11th biggest worldwide between The Fantastic Four: First Steps and Captain America: Brave New World; 3rd biggest horror worldwide between It: Chapter Two and The Exorcist; 56th biggest Warner Bros between The Hangover and The Last Samurai.
UK Box Office Top 10
Box Office Preview
Tron: Ares, opening 15 years after 2010’s Tron Legacy, has been mixed to poor, and buzz has been soft. Disney would have surely hoped would come out to see the re-release of Avatar: The Way of Water last week to build up awareness, but trailers with Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Infinity Castle should have helped awareness.
2010’s Tron Legacy opened £1,970,692/£2,623,173, taking £10,069,754/£13,403,773
Tron: Ares will open between £2.5m-£3.5m with 50% from IMAX/PLF.
As with so many opening this year it’s interesting how so many of these would be blockbusters have opened similar to 2005’s Fantastic Four £3,541,391 and 2022’s Morbius £3,254,830. Also opening similar to 2019’s Alita: Battle Angel £3,198,180; 2019’s Terminator: Dark Fate £2,864,941.
Reviews have said the Nine Inch Nails soundtrack is great, looks stunning, but the film is average; this was similar to Tron: Legacy, with Daft Punk’s soundtrack being superior to the film.
As with Joachim Rønning Disney films Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales and Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (opened £3,300,000), Tron: Ares has a lot of plots. The problem, according to reviews it’s dull.
Losing most IMAX/PLF screens, One Battle After Another will drop 30%-40% in its third weekend, taking £1.2m-£1.5m
I Swear has received critical acclaim and has had a strong talker screening program across the UK over the last few weeks, and will open similar to 2016’s I, Daniel Blake, about £450k, depending on how wide it opens.
I Swear is directed by Kirk Jones, previously directed 1999’s Walking Ned (opened £911,901/£1,715,500, taking £6,709,513/£12,622,172
Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale will drop similarly in its fifth weekend, £500k-560k.
Coming Soon
- Bugonia – Universal Pictures
Sci-fi black comedy starring Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Aidan Delbis, Stavros Halkias, and Alicia Silverstone and directed by Yorgos Lanthimos from a screenplay by Will Tracy. English-language remake of the 2003 South Korean film Save the Green Planet! by Jang Joon-hwan; it was shot with 35mm film and VistaVision cameras.
Focus Features acquired world rights in 2024; had world premiere at the Venice Film Festival, receiving positive reviews (90% Rotten Tomatoes); UK premiere at the London Film Festival
2024’s Kinds Of Kindness opened £322,142 from 474 screens; £113k 35.09% Friday; £107k 33.23% Saturday; £102k 31.68% Sunday taking £1,069,086
2024’s Poor Things £1,819,563 (Includes £254,972 previews) taking £7,566,251
2019’s The Favourite opened £3,973,975 including £1,775,372 previews) £2,198,603 (Fri-Sun) #2 538 screens taking £16,972,417.
2017’s The Killing of a Sacred Deer opened £286,448 #10 from 100 screens taking £862,085
2015’s The Lobster opened £229,619 #9 from 75 screens taking £1,521,066
2009’s Dogtooth opened £26,149 from 16 screens taking £189,815
- Relay – Black Bear
Thriller starring Riz Ahmed, Lily James, and Sam Worthington and directed by David Mackenzie; the script was on the 2019 Blacklist.
Had world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival, receiving positive reviews (78% Rotten Tomatoes), opened $1.91m, taking $3.16m and $4.41m worldwide.
David Mackenzie previously directed 2003’s Young Adam, 2007’s Hallam Foe, 2011’s Perfect Sense, 2013’s Starred Up, 2016’s Hell or High Water and most recently 2018’s Outlaw King for Netflix. David Mackenzie has since directed 2025’s Fuze also premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and will be released on Sky Cinema soon.
- Back To The Future (40th Anniversary Re-Issue) – Universal Pictures
The classic film back in cinemas for a limited run in IMAX/4DX/Dolby. The cinema re-release is 10 days after Back to the Future Day (October 21st) and 17 days after the home video release of the Back to the Future Trilogy – 40th Anniversary Limited Edition Gift Set.
The film was originally released in December 1985 £739,670/£3,445,992 231 screens taking £12,170,000/£56,697,882; took $214,077,472/ $694,093,437 in the US and $385,053,307/$1,248,440,440 worldwide.
Back to the Future Part II and Back To The Future Part III followed in 1989 and 1990 taking £10,650,295/£36,201,861 and £7,996,334/ £22,537,710
Back to the Future was re-released in 2010for its 25th anniversary but the opposite way round with the cinema re-release (opened £461,194 #7 273 screens) before the homed video release.
It was also re-released in 2015 and 2024 on Back to the Future Day (October 21st)