Top 5 Breakdown
- Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle – £3,895,450 – £26,272,798
Down only 25.2% in its third weekend; despite the negativity surrounding the making of the film and the mixed reviews received Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle as a generational thing while teens of the 90s original couldn’t see anyone replacing Robin Williams they weren’t the audience for the sequel as it was their children who are fans Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart.
As with the US Jumanji’s strong performance, it ate away at some of The Last Jedi box office as few would have expected Jumanji to take over £20m while The Greatest Showman was for women and Pitch Perfect 3 was for teenage girls Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle was the perfect film for teenage boys.
After Jumanji received mixed reviews would have thought holding previews 10 days before release would be a negative instead it built up strong word of mouth to the target audience before the Christmas holidays.
It has become Dwayne Johnson’s biggest film away from the Fast and Furious franchise and is Jack Black’s second biggest after 2005’s King Kong £30.1m which it will likely overtake by next weekend.
The original film opened in February 1996 with £2.1m taking £13.41m and was the eight biggest film of the year; it’s would be 3.62m admissions in 1996 would be £27.61m which is close to its current box office.
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle has become Sony Pictures UK 11th biggest film overtaking The Amazing Spider-Man by next weekend it will probably overtake Spider-Man 1 & 2, The Da Vinci Code and Spider-Man: Homecoming to be their seventh biggest film.
With Spider-Man 3 £33.45, Men in Black £35.8m, Quantum of Solace £51.05m, Casino Royale £55.6m, Spectre £95.2m and Skyfall £103.2m head of it;
As Sony is expected to lose Bond 25 next year to probably Warner Bros Sony need to find more franchise properties to be able to compete against Disney-Fox, Warner Bros and Universal Pictures to be able to stay competitive with their rivals.
Sony had a strong 2017 but have far fewer stand out titles for 2018 but have reboots of both Men in Black and Charlie’s Angels in 2019 as well as sequels to Spider-Man: Homecoming and The Angry Birds Movie along with the next Quentin Tarantino film so if they were to spring a surprise and keep Bond 25 could have a record year.
17 years ago, Dwayne Johnson made his film debut as The Rock in The Mummy Returns his first major film was 2003’s Welcome to the Jungle starring in many films over the following years as The Rock with Get Smart in 2008 his first film as Dwayne Johnson which showed he could do comedy.
2010’s The Other Guys was his breakthrough role which saw him cast in Fast & Furious 5. He has had some flops including Pain & Gain, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, Hercules and most recently Baywatch but also had hits with San Andreas and Central Intelligence in 2016 also starring Kevin Hart and stars next into action films Rampage and Skyscraper.
- Star Wars: The Last Jedi – £3,543,117 – £76,723,9300
Down 55.5% in its fourth weekend; dropping down to second after three weeks compared to four weeks The Force Awakens.
The Last Jedi is 30% down from The Force Awakens (£108,430,730) after 4 weeks but 28% up from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (£59,682,374).
The Last Jedi has overtaken Toy Story 3 to become the sixth biggest film in the UK by next weekend will overtake Titanic (celebrating its 20th anniversary this month). It is unlikely now to overtake Avatar with a final box office of £85m which is 31% less than The Force Awakens and 21% less than was expecting about £105m.
On Thursday, January 4th The Last Jedi overtook Beauty and the Beast to become the biggest film of 2017.
Ahead of The Last Jedi release many “experts” predicted would have much stronger legs than Rogue One but then over the four weeks has been on release dropping much heavier than The Force Awakens now the same people are saying was always going to perform as it did.
After The Force Awakens received critical acclaim in 2015 became the biggest film at the UK box office taking over £123m. A month before release predicted online would open 20% less than The Force Awakens taking 20% less $750 US, £100m UK and $1.6bn globally. While The Last Jedi was never likely to get close to its box office the sequel had received similarly huge hype, media coverage and critical acclaim opening 18% less than The Force Awakens £28.01m Vs £34.01m.
While critical reaction was very positive audience reaction was far more polarized highlighted by the differing scores on Rotten Tomatoes now 90% critics and only 49% audience score. When the audience score started dropping over the opening weekend many Star Wars fans blamed it on trolling but as its box office declined heavily over its following weekends that audience score was far more honest than the critical score.
Maybe the issue people have with The Last Jedi is they have seen the film before only a few months go with Wonder Woman so often with comic-book movies we see the same plot story repeated with Rey and Diana both about picking a side and finding their place in history and where they come from.
It will be interesting if Lucasfilm is listening to fan reaction to The Last Jedi as while fans accepted The Force Awakens as a remake of A New Hope. Then Rogue One wasn’t the film many were expecting and now the third film in three years The Last Jedi was very disappointing.
While The Last Jedi, of course, isn’t a flop it won’t take anywhere near what many expected it to take after The Force Awakens took $2.028bn. Will they be able to turn it around with Solo?
Mark Hamill sent a congratulatory tweet to The Last Jedi co-star Laura Dern after she won Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe for Big Little Lies saying that he hopes the scene they shared in the film will be included for the films DVD release expected March 27th.
Much had been written about the scenes from the film including the third lesson Luke was going to teach Rey during her Jedi training on Ahch-To was reportedly cut because it makes Luke out to be even meaner. But you must ask the question if Luke didn’t want to be found why did he create the map and if he can do his force Skype call had he been doing that to keep in touch with his sister?
The original cut was over 3 hours about 20 minutes of footage will be on the DVD release. But is much that was left in the film including the Canto Bight scene while it introduces younglings feels unnecessary. As some have said the reason why its still in the film is more because to give a subplot to Finn and to set up the younglings which will likely feature in Rian Johnson’s new StarWars trilogy the first part is expected in 2021.
Its rumoured the first trailer of Solo: A Star Wars Story will be released on Friday which will be released May 25th. Been much negativity surrounding the film since Lucasfilm replaced directors Chris Miller and Phil Lord with Ron Howard, but recent reports say he didn’t change much of the film. This week rumours started Solo need more reshoots but that is no different to the last three Star Wars films that all had similar reshoots but how much truth there is to these rumours is of course unknown.
- The Greatest Showman – £2,409,143 – £9,998,783
Down only 11.3% in its second weekend not including previews; despite mixed reviews, its become a crowd pleaser generating strong word of mouth. While it won’t last in the memory for long it is 105mins of razzle-dazzle and something different which is what audiences want. Critics called The Greatest Showman fake but then loved La La Land which I thought was far faker.
Last year many studios blamed Rotten Tomatoes algorithm for their films flopping but only have to see how Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and The Greatest Showman are holding (both receiving mixed reviews) while The Last Jedi received critical acclaim has dropped much heavier than expected.
The Greatest Showman does exactly what it says in its title (as the Ronseal’s 90s adverts “it does exactly what it says on the tin) no one expected it to be similar to either Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge or Bill Condon’s Chicago both were critical and award successes, but The Greatest Showman is what gong to the cinema is all about.
The Greatest Showman “This is Me” won Best Original Song at the Golden Globes, the film’s soundtrack is #1 on the album and iTunes chart in the US and is the first soundtrack to top the Billboard chart since Fifty Shades Darker last March. Only 10 soundtracks have been #1 in the past five years Disney’s Frozen was #1 on Billboard 200 for 13 weeks in 2014 and stayed in the top 10 for 39 weeks.
Chicago opened in the UK in January 2003 opening wide in its fourth weekend with £1,983,505 went on to take £16,111,718 and while Moulin Rouge opened in the UK in September 2001 with £2,403,378 taking £17,047,358; La La Land opened a year ago with months of hype with £6.59m and take £30.4m.
- Molly’s Game – £2,283,420 – NE
After taking £1.15m Mon -Thurs added £1.13m from Fri-Sun; openings with extended previews can’t compare with other regular Fri-Sun openings as the audience is split over the extended opening so both previews and weekend box office wouldn’t be compared to its opening if it was just a Fri- Sun opening.
So even though its opening was similar to The Big Short (which the film had been compared to) in January 2016 opening with £1.25m taking £5.49m total with the second weekend of £0.95m and Argo opening November 2012 with £1,287,770 taking £5,553,480 and Jessica Chastain’s 2013 Zero Dark Thirty opening with £1,052,845 taking £3,313,982.
Need to see how it holds in its second weekend to be able to make a direct comparison but as Molly’s Game has received positive reviews and strong word of mouth it should hold well against Three Billboards Outside Of Ebbing Missouri and Darkest Hour both winning Golden Globes on Sunday.
Jessica Chastain was nominated for Best Actress and Aaron Sorkin Best Screenplay failing to win either which will be similar for BAFTAs and Oscars. As there are always so many films like Molly’s Game that deserve award recognition but as there is only one winner many will miss out.
- Pitch Perfect 3 – £1,635,203 – £12,671,391
Down 29.5% in its third weekend dropping similar to the previous films buy £2m less than Pitch Perfect after three weeks but of course, Pitch Perfect 3 had the advantage of Christmas holidays for most of its release.
All five films I the top 5 playing to different audiences why they all are performing strongly as January is always very lucrative time for cinemagoing as with the Oscars and BAFTAs is always a strong slate of films alongside films for more mainstream audiences. The problem is they often cannibalize were seven films taking more than £1m last weekend.
The original film felt fresh but having watched some early episodes of Glee it feels like Pitch Perfect was just a clone of the TV series now 6 years later its no wonder it feels unexciting now.
Also released
All The Money in the World – Sony Pictures – £1,161,475 from 386 screens
After all the media coverage the film recieved with Kevin Spacey being deleted and then Christopher Plummer replacing him would have expected a stronger opening but there was very little interest in the film in the UK. Audiences would I’m sure to come out to see Kevin Spacey in the film but of course, we will never know.
After there was a lot of allegations flooding out after news of Harvey Weinstein it has gone very quiet with the actors that were accused while American Academy and BAFTA have only banned Harvey Weinstein’s membership some have argued recently they were far too quick to do so.
Hostiles – Entertainment Films – £380,718 from 280 screens – Was always going to be a hard sell in a very crowded marketplace.
UK box office in detail
This weekend’s top 10 box office took £17,391,171 down 29.1% from last weekend £24,534,387
The weekend admissions 2,282,306 down 29.1% from last weekend 3,219,736 (average price £7.62 by UK Cinema Association/BFI for 2017);
12 films opened at weekend taking £3,920,546; Molly’s Game 58.24% (£2,283,420); All the Money in the World 29.612% (£1,161,476); Hostiles 9.71% (£380,718); remaining 9 films shared 2.42% (£94,932);
The weekend was up 1.14% from last year (£17,194,216): Assassin’s Creed £5,285,064, A Monster Calls £1,920,744, Silence £1,542,926
Up 14.82% from 2016: (£15,145,367): The Hateful Eight £2,778,633
Next weekend in 2017: (£14,046,174) La La Land £6,596,256, Manchester by the Sea £729,478, Live by Night £698,218, The Bye Bye Man £535,492, Underworld: Blood Wars £349,301, Sherlock: The Final Problem £322,253
UK Box Office 2016
ComScore report UK box office as UK and Republic of Ireland 2017 up 3.6% from £1.33bn to £1.378bn (but ROI has seen much bigger growth in recent years than the UK up 3.3% in 2016 compared to only 0.5% in the UK) while UK Cinema Association report UK as only UK up 2.48% from £1.246bn in 2016 to £1.277bn in 2017.
In UK inflation rate was 1.8% in 2016 and average prices increased by 2.9% from £7.21/£7.42 while 2017 UK inflation rate was 2.8% so average price for 2017 must be at the very least £7.64. This would see UK admissions for 167.26m down 0.5% from 168.23m in 2016 the lowest since 2014 despite admissions being up 6.6% for the first 7 months of the year (March/April were the highest since 2002) should have seen admissions the highest since 1970 of over 179m.
Top 10 now take over 35% of the BO top 20 films over 50% and top 100 92% but were 774 other films also released taking £80m majority came from Event Cinema and Secret Cinema.
January – April 2017 admissions were higher than 2016 – May June down – July up – August-October down – November up were 153,451,891 for 11 months with final figures for December not available but likely 15.5m.
2017 must be seen for what it is disappointing year as there was so much hope that the start of the year that admissions would grow for the first time since 2002but instead is very limited box office growth but that didn’t stop Phil Clapp boasting about the “success” saying “It’s clear that the UK public still turns to cinema to get the ‘wow’ experience they can’t enjoy anywhere else.”
UK Box Office Top 10
US Box Office Top 10
US Box office
Sony Pictures – Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle down 26.1% in its third weekend taking $37.23m and $245.6m;
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle is already Sony Pictures 8th biggest film in the US overtaking Ghostbusters and will shortly overtake Men in Black, The Amazing Spider-Man and probably Skyfall to be their biggest film that is not Spider-Man.
Ahead of opening said Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and Pitch Perfect 3 would be tougher competition for The Last Jedi being far more accessible to audiences squeezing box office. The polarized audience reaction for The Last Jedi has hugely benefited Jumanji as many saw The Force Awakens because it was the film to see instead decided to see Jumanji itself receiving mixed reviews.
Few would have expected Jumanji to of taken close to $250m after three weeks as The Last Jedi not taking $650m+ after three weeks but Jumanji has taken over $100m from The Last Jedi.
Jumanji took $70m internationally $275m total and $514m worldwide; opens in China next weekend.
Universal Pictures – Insidious: The Last Key opened with $29.26m; received B- CinemaScore so will likely be front-loaded as so many horror films are.
A week ago, Insidious: The Last Key was tracking to open with $15-18m expected to in third but as The Last Jedi had seemed big drop-offs in its first three weeks was always likely to drop heavily in its fourth weekend.
It took $20.1m internationally from 33 territories expanding further this weekend.
Last week predicted Insidious: The Last Key could open upwards of $25m it could open #1; more likely Jumanji: Welcome to The Jungle will climb #1 with Insidious: The Last Key opening in third will be very front-loaded. As previous three films performed strongly, and millennials are fickle and already over The Last Jedi and ant something else.
Insidious opened April 2011 with $13.27m taking $54m
Insidious Chapter 2 opened September 2013 with $40.27m taking $83.58m
Insidious Chapter 3 opened June 2015 with $22.69m taking $52.21m
Disney – Star Wars: The Last Jedi – down 54.8% in its fourth weekend $23.72m taking $572.69m; in its fourth weekend Star Wars: The Force Awakens was still #1 taking $42,35m and $812.73m taking 87% of its final box office of $936.6m
If The Last Jedi had taken similar it will end with $658m but it is probably closer to 91% of its final box office after only three weeks and will take now $629m which is less than either Jurassic World’s $652.3m and Titanic’s $658.7m.
While The Last Jedi was never going to take anywhere near the $936.66m after opening with 20% less a final box office of $750m should have been expected which would have seen it just come short of Avatar.
The Last Jedi took $64.7m internationally taking total $632.7m; has now taken $1.02bn worldwide and is now the 13th biggest film globally overtaking Captain America: Civil War $1.153bn
But it had a disappointing opening in China opening with $28.7m less than $30m for Rogue One, which took $69.4m while The Force Awakens opened with $52.3m taking almost $125m The Last Jedi was expected to take about $100m.
Over the last few years Disney has been heavily promoting the Star Wars brand in China over the last few years after The Force Awakens only took $125m probably added Donnie Yen in Rogue One and Kelly Marie Tran in The Last Jedi to target Asian audience but instead they were seen as just token characters especially Kelly Marie Tran as her character Rose doesn’t add anything to the film apart from another 20 mins that weren’t needed going to Canto Bight and being side-kick for Finn as Rey is busy with Luke on Ahch-To.
20th Century Fox – The Greatest Showman dropped only 11.3% in its third weekend taking $13.77m and $76.87m;
The Greatest Showman took $24m internationally taking $75m and $150m worldwide
Universal Pictures – Pitch Perfect 3 dropped 38.7% in its third weekend taking $10.29m and $86.05m; after three weeks Pitch Perfect 2 took $147.52m will likely end with $108m+.
Pitch Perfect 3 added $18.1m internationally with the total of $55m worldwide is $141m; Perfect 2 took $103m in 2015 and the first film took $50.4m in 2012.
20th Century Fox – Ferdinand – down 32.4% in its fourth weekend taking $7.69m and $70.46m;
Two years ago, 20h Century Fox released Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip against Star Wars: The Force Awakens in its fourth weekend took $5.7m and $75.81m going on to take $85.88m;
Ferdinand took $23.3m internationally now up to $112.8m
STX – Molly’s Game – expanded into 1,608 screens up 197.9% with $6.85m and $14.07m total; with a crowded market for award contenders, Molly’s Game had a disappointing expansion after receiving positive reviews.
While receiving Golden Globe nominations it is one of the many films that will likely miss out on winning any major awards so have to ask why studios still feel the need to release these films during such a busy time of the year knowing that it will likely be cannibalized.
The same happened in September/October with many films premiering at Venice and Toronto Film Festivals that were previously seen as potential award contenders including Battle of the Sexes, Breathe, mother! and Goodbye Christopher Robin. As there are only 5 categories for every award but probably over 20 deserving films and then will only be one winner have a better chance winning the Powerball lottery than an Oscar.
Focus Features – Darkest Hour up 10.3% in its seventh weekend adding 690 screens (now playing in 1,733 screens) taking $6.05m and $28.06m; after Gary Oldman deservingly won Best Actor Golden Globe he is now favourite for Oscar and BAFTA success too over Daniel Day-Lewis who was likely more as Phantom Thread is his final acting role; Darkest Hour will expand further next weekend.
Disney – Coco – down 27.9% in its seventh weekend taking $5.38m and $191.92m; after seven weeks Moana took similar $6.38m and taken $225.38m.
Coco has taken $40.3m internationally and global box office of $541.5m.
Sony Pictures – All the Money in the World – drops 26.1% in its second weekend taking $3.57m and $20.15m total; despite Sony Pictures especially screening the film to the Golden Globes early and receiving three nominations it left empty-handed at the Golden Globes. As Molly’s Game,
Took $1.4m internationally with $1.7m total.
Fox Searchlight – The Shape of Water up 12.2% taking $3.1m from 804 screens and $21.69m total again just out of the top 10. After winning Best Director at the Golden Globes it will likely expand further this weekend and finally get into the top 10;
Many predict its bow between The Shape of Water and Three Billboards for Best Picture Oscar in what will probably be Fox Searchlight’s final year as it will surely be a very different entity part of Disney as its unlikely they would make the more riskier films they have made in the past.
On limited release
Focus Features – Phantom Thread – up 11% with $240,240 from 6 screens taking $947,190 a few months ago, after it was announced to be Daniel Day-Lewis final acting role expectations were high for the film.
But after having a disappointing opening last weekend it’s now unlikely to win any major awards and find a wide audience as so many of Paul Thomas Anderson films. Always surprised studios are so eager to acquire Paul Thomas Anderson films as There Will Be Blood 10 years ago was his bigger ever hit.
Neon – I, Tonya up 300.6% taking $2.44m from 242 screens (adding 193 screens) in its fifth weekend and $5.31m; will expand further this weekend after Allison Janney won Best Supporting Actress at the Golden Globes with Margot Robbie missing out on Best Actress to Saoirse Ronan for Lady Bird which has been award favourite ever since premiering at the Telluride Film Festival in September.
A24 – Lady Bird up 7.2% adding 170 screens to 562 screens taking $1.57m and $34.12m in its tenth weekend after Saoirse Ronan won Best Actress Golden Globe she is now favourite to win Best Actress Oscar so will return to many more screens over the coming weeks.
Fox – The Post – up 202.6% in its third weekend taking $1.69m from 36 screens and $3.84m; When the film was first announced early in 2017 was seen as a very important film and timely film after President Trump’s claims of Fake News from traditional media.
Directed by Steven Spielberg starring Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks it was seen as award favourite but as so often those early favourites get overshadowed as has seemly been the cast for The Post so far as nominated for six Golden Globes but not winning any.
Meryl Streep last won Best Actress in 2011 for The Iron Lady, Steve Spielberg last won Best Director for Saving Private Ryan in 1998 and Tom Hanks last won Best Actor for Forest Gump in 1994.
Opening UK
Opened January 12th
- Darkest Hour – Universal Pictures
Biographical war drama starring Gary Oldman, Ben Mendelsohn, Kristin Scott Thomas, Lily James and Stephen Dillane and directed by Joe Wright; had its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festival and UK premiere in December.
The film has received positive reviews from critics 84% on Rotten Tomatoes with Gary Oldman’s performance as Winston Churchill heralded as his best performance of his career and has become favourite to win Best Actor Oscar and BAFTA. Daniel Day-Lewis was the previous favourite to win Best Actor for Phantom Thread after announcing it as his final acting role having previously won Best Actor for Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood in 2007.
Darkest Hour opened n limited release in November in the US and has slowly expanded over the weeks since; Gary Oldman was nominated for the Best Actor Drama at the Globe Awards and SAGs Best Male Actor in a Leading Role.
Darkest Hour received 9 BAFTA nominations; Darkest Hour and Three Billboards join an already crowded marketplace but the BAFTA nominations along with the positive reviews will see them both open strongly with Darkest Hour likely to open with a £2m+ opening in second.
- Three Billboards Outside Of Ebbing Missouri – 20th Century Fox
Black comedy starring Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell, John Hawkes, and Peter Dinklage and written, produced, and directed by Martin McDonagh; world premiered at 74th Venice International Film Festival also screening at Toronto International Film Festival closing the London Film Festival in October.
Received critical acclaim 94% Rotten Tomatoes with its screenplay, directing and performances of McDormand, Harrelson, and Rockwell and was named as one of the top 10 films of the year by the American Film Institute and received six 2017 Golden Globes nominations: Best Picture Drama, Best Director, Best Actress Drama (McDormand), Best Supporting Actor (Rockwell), Best Screenplay, and Best Original Score.
Martin McDonagh previously directed 2012’s Seven Psychopaths opened with £1,121,679 in December 2012 taking £3,123,893 and 2008’s In Bruges after taking almost £2m from Ireland opened with £638,654 (opened with £343,760 from Ireland from 70 screens 6 weeks earlier) taking £4,765,329.
Three Billboards won four Golden Globes including Best Picture Drama and could be the most polarized Best Picture Oscar winner since 2005’s Crash as while it received critical acclaim 93% Rotten Tomatoes has received a backlash from many from the violence.
(20th Century Fox received 22 in total with another 12 for The Shape of Water which received the most nominations this year).
Three Billboards is likely to open similar to Fox Searchlight similarly long titled Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) opened January 2015 with £1.52m (including £369,157 from previews) so about £1.2m which will be similar to Martin McDonagh’s Seven Psychopaths
- Insidious: The Last Key – Sony Pictures
The fourth part of the Insidious franchise supernatural horror starring Lin Shaye, Angus Sampson, Leigh Whannell, Josh Stewart, and Caitlin Gerard and directed by Adam Robitel.
Insidious opened April 2011 with £2,877,742 taking £7,035,245
Insidious Chapter 2 opened September 2013 with £2,877,742 taking £6,996,519
Insidious Chapter 3 opened June 2015 with £1,440,299 taking £3,874,112
Last year’s horrors performed well at the box office, but it was more the new horrors Get Out, Split, It, Annabelle 2 with the older horrors Underworld: Blood Wars, Resident Evil: The Final Chapter and Rings underwhelmed.
Insidious: The Last Key is the latest film from Blumhouse Productions with Truth or Dare, The Purge: The Island and Halloween also released this year.
Opening in US
- The Commuter – Lionsgate
Action film starring Liam Neeson, Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Jonathan Banks, Elizabeth McGovern, and Sam Neill and directed by Jaume Collet-Serra; has received positive reviews
In the 90s after the success of Die Hard and Die Harder were many films that copied the plot from Die Hard on a Battleship aka Under Siege, Die Hard on a Plane aka Air Force One to Die Hard on a Train aka Under Siege 2.
Twenty years later after the success of Taken have seen Liam Neeson repeat his roles on an aeroplane Non-Stop and now on a train in The Commuter.
Non-Stop opened in February 2014 with $28.87m taking$92.16m
Taken opened January 2009 with $24.71m taking $145m
Taken 2 opened October 2012 with $49.51m taking $139.85m
Taken 3 opened January 2015 with $39.2m taking $89.25m
Its three years since Liam Neeson’s last action film Run All Night which disappointed opening with $12.01m taking $26.46m but opened only weeks after Taken 3; The Commuter id expected to open in low teens.
- Paddington 2 – Warner Bros
Family comedy sequel starring Ben Whishaw as the voice of Paddington, with Hugh Bonneville, Sally Hawkins, Brendan Gleeson, Julie Walters, Jim Broadbent, Peter Capaldi, and Hugh Grant and directed by Paul King
The sequel was originally due to be released in the US by Weinstein Company but after the sexual abuse allegations rights were sold on to Warner Bros for $32m. Heyday Films have a production deal with Warner Bros and developed the original film at the studio for many years until they put it into turnaround and Studiocanal acquired it.
Paddington 2 has taken $134 million worldwide; the first film took $268m worldwide and $76.27m in the US after opening with $18.96m; sequel has received 100% Rotten Tomatoes score and is expected to open with $20m+ which will likely see it opening second.
- Proud Mary – Sony Pictures
Action-thriller starring Taraji P. Henson, Billy Brown, Danny Glover, Neal McDonough, Xander Berkeley, and Margaret Avery and directed by Babak Najafi.
Bring compared to last years Atomic Blonde being the first of several female-led action films opening this year with more high profile Red Sparrow starring Jennifer Lawrence and Tomb Raider reboot starring Alicia Vikander both opening in March.
Proud Mary opens against The Commuter which looks like your typical Liam Neeson action movie, but Proud Mary offers audiences something different and being different is expected to open bigger than The Commuter in the high teens.