1. Tenet – £1,233,090 – £12,446,578

Down 42.7% in its third weekend; Tenet took £1.2m Mon-Weds with a total of £11.2m after 15 days.
Tenet had the 5th biggest third weekend of 2020 after 1917 (taking 65.3% less), Sonic the Hedgehog, Bad Boys For Life, Parasite and just ahead of Dolittle; in normal circumstances would expect Tenet to hold much closer to 1917 as other Christopher Nolan films.
Took -79.2% Avatar; -77.5% Joker; -72.7% 1917; -57.23% A Star Is Born; -49.04% The Martian; -48.39% Gravity; -31.15% Blade Runner 2049; -28.40% Parasite;
The one positive for Warner Bros is that with no competition now until October 9^th (if Connected opens) Tenet will be #1 for 6 weeks one week longer than Joker did last year but Joker took £2,446,199 in its 5^th weekend Tenet will likely take about 10% of that.
Had the 8^th biggest 3^rd weekend of 2020 after 1917 (£4,518,270); Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker (£4,396,258); Dolittle (£2,032,270); Sonic The Hedgehog (£1,937,939); Parasite (£1,722,236); Little Women (£2,018,280); Bad Boys For Life (£1,844,179) and ahead of The Gentlemen (£1,092,084)

472^nd biggest film in the UK between The Final Destination and The Departed (close to American Hustle, Ocean’s Thirteen, Trainspotting and Ocean’s Twelve) and 704^th biggest inflation inflated between Alien: Covenant and East Is East (close to The Social Network, Inglourious Basterds, Tron Legacy and Parasite).
74^th biggest Warner Bros opening between The Final Destination and Batman (close to The Fugitive, American Sniper, Lethal Weapon 3, and Batman Returns) 103^rd the biggest inflation inflated between Lethal Weapon 4 and Valentine’s Day (close to Deep Blue Sea, Demolition Man, Swordfish and Beetlejuice).
31^st biggest sci-fi film in the UK between Alien: Covenant and Passengers (close to World War Z, The Matrix, Independence Day: Resurgence and Oblivion) and 46^th biggest inflation inflated between Alien: Covenant and Tron Legacy (close to Cloverfield, A.I., Starship Troopers and Looper).
Tenet third weekend took +1670.50% Memento; +1128.47%; The Prestige; +275.96%; +10% Insomnia
But less than -53.18% Batman Begins; -34.94% Interstellar; -61.82% Inception; -69.85% The Dark Knight; -71.26% The Dark Knight Rises; -73.34% Dunkirk
Tenet is holding similar to Batman Begins which took £12,198,526 after 18 days compared with Tenet taking £12,446,578 after 19 days went on to take £16,179,376, which would be over 50% less than Inception (£34,976,999) which is what most people expected from Tenet at the start of the year.

Tenet is already the 7th biggest film of the year after 1917, Sonic the Hedgehog, Bad Boys For Life, Dolittle, Parasite and The Gentlemen becoming Warner Bros biggest film of the year; at the start of the year most people would have expected Tenet to take £40m+ and be one of the biggest films of the year but now it’s unlikely to take over £20m.
Of the remaining films for the year only Wonder Woman 1984, No Time To Die, Black Widow (TBC) and Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway are likely to open bigger than Tenet, but many will suggest their success is thanks to Christopher Nolan being allowing Tenet to be the canary in the coalmine to be the saviour of cinema ads statues will also be built outside exhibitors offices.
When you choose an action, you choose the consequences of that action. When you desire a consequence you had damned well better take the action that would create it. Christopher Nolan will go down in history books as the man who singlehandedly reopened and closed cinema within a couple of months.
Warner choose to live by the sword so they need to die by the sword and put themselves into this position despite most believing was far too soon Tenet is performing exactly as most expected taking about a third of what it could have taken had it been delayed.
The same people who celebrated Warner Bros decision to releaser Tenet in August are now saying the experiment failed, but this was always likely to happen and Christopher Nolan needs to take responsibility. As he would have bee happy to take the credit to be the saviour of cinema so he should have to be the one that also closed cinema again.
Had it not been for Christopher Nolan, Warner and Disney wouldn’t have played out $2bn+ game of chicken during summer all films would have been delayed till November and exhibitors wouldn’t have rushed open cinemas far too soon as doing so did long-term damage and won’t return to normal till 2022.
Exhibitors behaved like a bull in a china shop only thinking short-term not the long-term consequences of their action, not being Captain Hindsight as this is what I was saying in March that the reopening shouldn’t be rushed and Tenet and Mulan should have joined all of the other films that were delayed, as keeping them dated for summer exhibitors were always going to rush cinema reopening.
In March exhibitors and studios should have been locked in a room and planned to reopen of cinemas and dealt with theatrical windows and not come out until they had come up with a plan to properly relaunch cinema in a world after Coronavirus instead it’s just been business as normal with a few extra safety measures most of which should have been standard practices as cinemas have long had hygiene issues.
I thought NATO and MPAA in the US and UK Cinema Association and Film Distributions Association are for to get exhibitors and studios working together for the common goal to get people into cinemas globally safely? Surely that was what they should have been doing over the last 6 months but just feels like it’s the blind leading the blind? What have these organisations been doing the last 6+ months?
As even before lock-down they should have been preparing for the worst-case scenario seeing how China shut all their cinemas days before their most lucrative time of the year. The problem was at the time box office was strong and as always the industry was in denial despite over the following week’s Coronavirus spreading fast across Asia and then Europe they were left reacting to the situation rather than being proactive.
These organisations have failed the industry and take responsibility for their lack of action as they were always playing catch-up and in denial of the situation and this was the case up to a week before cinemas closed when the UKCA said “we’re not seeing any discernible impact in terms of cinema admissions across the piece,”… and they were waiting on guidance from U.K. government, the same government who has been so incompetent in dealing with Coronavirus, “Who’s the more foolish, the fool or the fool who follows him?” As this was days after the soft opening of Onward which had the lowest ever opening in the UK for a Pixar film.
In March when MGM started ball running delayed the release of No Time To Die from April to November with many more films that were due to be released between March and August delated to later in the year and next always felt October 2^nd should have been the date Warner moved Tenet. Over the years Warner and other studios have had strong success launching adult drama the first weekend in October including Gravity, Gone Girl, The Martian, The Girl on the Train and A Star Is Born.
This would have meant cinemas wouldn’t have reopened until August/September which would have been a similar length of time China cinemas had been closed and maybe they would have implemented stricter safety measures that they had originally planned.
To control the narrative Warner Bros haven’t revealed daily box office data to the media in the US for Tenet while this is a normal occurrence in the UK the box office transparency allows rival studios to give an almost hourly analysis that would help them see how the market is doing. In the past, there have been box office illegalities with studios and cinemas over-reporting box office sometimes by studios buying out screenings to boost the performance of failing films.
Warner knew this when they doggedly determined Tenet had to open now when most expected it to suffer badly. The problem was Tenet was never a strong enough to be the saviour of cinema despite Nolan’s delusions of grandeur making it’s opening political after his op-ed in March forcing the studio’s hands. Tenet was front and centre a Christopher Nolan film while his biggest films The Dark Knight, Inception and Dunkirk were much more than that and why they attracted a much wider audience.
Tenet had the same issue Blade Runner 2049 had and what many fear for Dune that it was a film made solely for Nolanites and would be much too pretentious for the mainstream. As with Blade Runner 2049 reviews hurt Tenet more than benefited it as many called it a film Nolan fans would love, which alienated non-fans. As Blade Runner 2049 Tenet opened stronger internationally but won’t have the legs industry hope it will as it will struggle to play beyond its fanbase.
Warner said it’s a marathon, not a sprint but Tenet needed support and would have hugely benefited from the crowded marketplace that it would have opened into against Minions: The Rise of Gru, Ghostbusters and a week later Jungle Cruise and even in the UK opening against Top Gun: Maverick.
Know this will get the normal Captain Hindsight comments but I said this weeks ago as I said back in March cinemas shouldn’t reopen before October as will do long-term damage.
Global cinema should have followed in Chinese footsteps reopening cinemas 7 months later and could have seen a similar bounce back as they have, instead it’s going to be much slower to get back to pre-lockdown levels putting even more pressure on No Time To Die to be the saviour of cinema that Tenet couldn’t be.
Cinemas reopened far too soon and should have had much tougher safety measures that were discussed by exhibitors months earlier in a Deadline article, there was talk of checkboard seating, booking online only and temperature scanners before entry and limited concessions being sold. H
All of those and more were implemented in China after reopening cinemas months after UK and UK despite closed two months before. Had international exhibitors followed China with their reopening policies with stricter safety measures at the start they would have returned to pre-lockdown levels much sooner than they will as many don’t believe the US or UK will return to pre-lockdown levels until 2022.
Exhibitors excuse for opening in July as they were close to bankruptcy and needed to reopen to survive but AMC and Cineworld were in trouble long before lockdown as both companies overstretched themselves trying to outdo each other to be the world’s #1 aggressively buying into markets having little growth over the last decade.
Using poor management decisions as a reason to reopen cinemas months too early is not a reason to put millions of customers at risk (as surely it’s only a matter of the time when an infection is traced back to a cinema as it has often to pubs and restaurants) and demand studios lose hundreds of millions too, opening films that could take three times as much if they were delayed a year.
In December France celebrates the 125th anniversary of commercial cinema with Coronavirus cases the highest ever yesterday in France cinemas might not be reopened in December to celebrate the anniversary as all the research shows Coronavirus cases could be higher than they were at their peak in March/April in Nov/Dec. Cinema will celebrate it’s 125^th anniversary in the UK in February and May in the US, this should be a year to remember for cinema but instead, it will be for all the wrong reasons.
To quote the great Ian Malcolm Warner were so preoccupied with whether they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should release Tenet now. If Warner had any sense they would announce Tenet going PVOD in the next few weeks alongside theatrical to avoid many watching it illegally online over the next few months, given that 80% not willing to return to the cinema anytime soon a chance to see it legally.
As many expected when Nolan forced Warner’s hands to keep Tenet opening this summer it will be a third of the size could have been if delayed to October or next summer, and as expected Nolan is not the Messiah, he’s a very naughty boy!
Christopher Nolan said he’s “very pleased” with the release of Tenet and that it’s “completely understandable and completely fine” if some audiences don’t feel ready to rush back to theatres, but surely he would want as many people as possible to see the film as he intended people any more will be waiting to see it on their phones and tablets to see in the cinema, but by releasing it now m
Nolan also said, “The world we’re in right now, the concept of releasing the film absolutely everywhere for everyone to go and see on the same weekend, clearly that’s absolutely not an option for the foreseeable future,”…“So if that pushes the industry into different ways of thinking and some of them being older distribution models, that hopefully can work.”
The problem is that he has a nostalgic opinion of cinema, it would be lovely to live in that world but the way people watch content has changed, the roadshow released of the 60s and 70s with films going from city to city will never return, if people can’t watch something legally or if it’s not available to them legally they will seek it out illegally.
While cinephiles and Nolanites will think differently the aim of the filmmaker is for cinemagoers to understand the plot the first time they see a film, but Tenet is just too clever for its own good and will end up confusing many with polarised reactions from regular cinemagoers? Just think that cinemagoers should be able to watch an original film and be able to understand it without having to do research before or after watching it or have to watch it multiple times as most people will only see a film one in the cinema.
How Tenet holds over the next few weeks will show if it is the success the industry has already said it is and if Christopher Nolan is really the Messiah or if he is just a naughty boy. As after The King’s Man has been delated until 2021 the next major release isn’t until Wonder Woman 1984 in four weeks, but as the original film wasn’t as huge as success as the US, the majority of cinemagoers who will see Tenet won’t return to the cinema again until No Time To Die in November.
So if cinemas have been losing £5.7m a day over the last 24 weeks and over the opening weekend Tenet barely topped that amount over three days, the UK is unlikely to get back to that daily level until Black Widow opens on October 28^th and with No Time To Die opening two weeks later. That said all the research show Coronavirus will be peaking at probably a higher level than March/April in November/December so are big questions over if either film will be released this year.
Have been rumours for months No Time To Die would be delayed to Jun, the first James Bond film to open in the summer since Licence to Kill in 1989 and Marvel pushing back the start of Phase 4 to 2021 with Black Widow opening February. As with Coronavirus, it has meant film productions have been delayed so many of the planned 2022 MCU films are unlikely to meet their release dates so makes sense to delay Black Widow into 2021 which allows more time to complete their 2021 releases.
As the first weekend, BFI IMAX is probably still the highest-grossing cinema in the UK for Tenet as it has been the spiritual home of Christopher Nolan films for the last decade, it would be interesting to see how sales compare with previous films in 2012 The Dark Knight Rises took over £1 million in advance bookings at BFI IMAX in 5 weeks before opening selling 62,300 sales (£16 average today tickets for Tenet are £24.75). This beat the previous advance sales record at the BFI IMAX by James Cameron’s Avatar in December 2009 sold 47,000 tickets, grossing £607,000 (£12.90 average).
Forty-three shows ahead of opening were sold out for The Dark Knight Rises including early morning screenings at 04.25 and 04.55; the film broke BFI IMAX records for highest first-day sales (24,754 tickets taking £409,838) and the highest first-week sales (38,658 tickets, taking £634,013) breaking the records previously set earlier in 2012 by Ridley Scott’s Prometheus.
The 9 Christopher Nolan films have taken over £250m at the UK box office (almost £300m inflation inflated).
Hugh Jackman who starred in 2006’s Christopher Nolan film The Prestige tweeted on Monday “If you’re able to see Tenet on the big screen – you’re one of the lucky ones. It’s mind-blowing.”
Having seen what Christopher Nolan did with the spy genre it’s probably good that he didn’t direct James Bond film, but saying that it would be style over substance as all of the recent James Bond films have been since Casino Royale reboot.
The problem with Christopher Nolan films is they are often styled over substance and while previous Nolan films this was possible as they were based on comic-books, historical events or had big star name actors Leonardo DiCaprio or strong ensemble casts, Tenet is all about Christopher Nolan. While Nolanites and cinephiles will love that it is, any many comments have been that Tenet is for Nolan fans the question will be how it plays to a wider audience and if that wider audience is willing to go to the cinema.
One film can’t save cinema, and similar to Disney’s dominance of BO last year calling Christopher Nolan out as the Messiah does more damage as the majority of cinemagoers for Tenet won’t be returning again until No Time To Die in November.
The problem was ever since Christopher Nolan’s op-ed in the Washington Post in March he made the release of Tenet political propaganda and in so forcing their hand to release the film as the canary in the coalmine, the film that saves cinema. Instead, as everyone expected became the third of the film it could have been if delayed to October or next year.
Nolan was asked in an interview if he was the “saviour of cinema” and wanted Tenet to be that film that brings people back to the cinema again after lockdown, but of course, he wasn’t willing to take that responsibility even though his op-ed in March is why Tenet is opening now rather than in a few months, he just said he was happy Warner was releasing the film now. “All I can really take responsibility for is making the best film that I can,”…
“I think cinema is bigger than anyone film one way or another, and I think people tend to simplify things a bit, particularly in a time like this. I’m just very pleased that the studio feels they can let the film play in places where theatres have been able to open.”… “Obviously, that’s not the release we imagined when we were making the film.
But then, the world is not as we had imagined it would be when we made the film, and we had to adapt like everybody else. I’m just very, very pleased that audiences around the world are beginning to be able to respond to the film because, for me as a filmmaker, the film is not finished until the audience gets to see it and tell me what it is that I’ve done.”
Christopher Nolan always had a problem with female characters with most being killed off to give the male character angst to defeat the baddies, for once in Tenet the leading female character Kat (Elizabeth Debick) survives despite receiving much physical abuse from her husband Sator (Kenneth Branagh). A few seconds of Tenet was cut by the BBFC to get a 12A certificate, but the film still feels tonally a 15 so it’s surprising there hasn’t been any media pushback as often happens with blockbusters getting a 12A. Maybe it’s because even though Tenet is a 12A majority of the audience has been over 15?

2. After We Collided – £442,661 – £763,664

Up 73.5% in its second weekend adding 318 screens from last weekend taking £175,000 from 42 cinemas and £255,000 including previews.
After opening in few cinemas last weekend as major exhibitors preferred the Tenet and The New Mutant double rather than take a chance with the sequel of a film that didn’t have a cinema release last year.
After We Collided is the sequel to 2019’s After based on the Young Adult novel by Anna Todd (One Direction fan fiction about Harry Styles, Liam Payne and Zayn Malik being students at Washington State University.
In 2014 Paramount Pictures acquired rights but similar to what they did over a decade earlier with Twilight they put the film into turnaround in 2017 and the film was independently financed. After was released in the US in April 2019 (receiving poor reviews) opening with $6m taking $12.13m but was far more successful internationally taking $57.59m and $69.73m worldwide but the film was never released theatrically in the UK instead was released on Netflix in July 2019.
Films based on young adult novels will often generate strong social media coverage, but this won’t turn into box office, it’s interesting that After We Collided opened the same weekend as The New Mutants in the UK as he previously directed one of the biggest films based on the young adult novel in recent years 2014’s The Fault In Our Stars opened with £3,434,334 taking £11,006,752. Films based on young adult novels are normally very front-loaded but then after often much more successful when they are on streaming platforms.
The performance of After We Collided is even more surprising as it received a 15 certificate which meant many of its target demographic couldn’t legally see it despite talking about it a lot on social media.
The sequel After We Collided was directed by Roger Kumble best known for directing 1999’s Cruel Intentions and The Sweetest Thing but in the years since is best known for directed many TV series including Pretty Little Liars and Suits.
After We Collided will be released in cinemas and on VOD in the US in October
While the US struggles to get back to pre-lockdown levels it has allowed smaller films and local releases to have wider releases and be more successful than they might have done in normal circumstances. While international exhibitors were calling out US studios to release their films internationally early it gave some local distributors to take the gamble and open films much wider than they would normally and receive far more media coverage than they would have normally.
With Coronavirus cases on the increase again in the UK with almost 3,000 infected on Sunday and Monday and young people now being more affected than older people do fear a potential outbreak at a cinema, the question is are cinemas keeping records of customers for track and trace as there have been reports that many pubs and restaurants aren’t, over the last weeks there have been outbreaks in pubs, restaurants and other places so surely a cinema will be likely with people eating and drinking for several hours.
After We Collided took $4.2m internationally this weekend from 21 territories and $21m worldwide to date.

3. Break The Silence – £249,996 – £374,060

Taking £124,063 from screenings on Thursday taking £249,997 Fri-Sun and £
As with all Event Cinema screenings, regular tickets had surcharges of up to 100% with Vue Cinemas charging almost 70% more than their new £5.99 reduced price to £9.99.
Two weeks ago Trafalgar re-released Break The Silence: The Movie taking £39,085 from 214 screens with total £682,541 opened in 8th
A fourth musical documentary about South Korean boy band BTS, tickets went on sale on August 13th the same day the trailer was released.
Love Yourself In Seoul – BTS World Tour 2019 #10 opened on January 26th taking £518,810 from 291 screens
Burn the Stage: The Movie #6 opened 17th November 2018 taking £644,308 from 212 screens
With many films being delayed exhibitors will be hoping Event Cinema screenings will help boost their box office over the coming weeks with Andre Rieu’s Magical Maastricht: Together In Music and VE Day 75 Live both released this weekend and likely to chart behind Tenet.
Andre Rieu concerts have been strong Event Cinema performers since 2014 but the target demographic would be older audiences and those that are unlikely to want to go to the cinema at the current time.
In January Andre Rieu: 70 Years Young opened with £1,717,073 from screenings on Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon.
2019’s Andre Rieu’s New Year Concert from Sydney opened £1,745,941
2019’s Andre Rieu 2019 Maastricht Concert – Shall We Dance? Opened £1,492,154
2018’s André Rieu’s Maastricht Concert, ’Amore opened £1,783,222
2017’s Andre Rieu’s 2017 Maastricht Concert opened £1,439,604;
2016’s Andre Rieu’s 2016 Maastricht Concert opened £1,414,075;
2015’s Andre Rieu’s 2015 Maastricht Concert opened £1,107,000;
2014’s Andre Rieu’s 2014 Maastricht Concert opened £830,586

4. The New Mutants – £200,660 – £1,101,989

Down 71% In its second weekend (44.2% not including previews)
The 17 X-Men films have taken almost £270m at the UK box office over the last 20 years (over £320m inflation inflated); the biggest opening of an X-Men film was 2016’s Deadpool (£13,729,803) and its lowest previously was 2005’s Elektra (£791,914) but The New Mutants could open lower.

The 17th and last 20th Century Fox Marvel film based in the X-Men Universe. The release of The New Mutants feels like the end of the era of 20th Century Films as the film was meant to be the start of a new generation of X-Men films and the first of a trilogy but instead it will be the final film before they are rebooted into the Marvel Universe in the coming years.
The writing was on the wall for The New Mutants for months, but Disney could have given the film a decent opening had they not held previews last weekend as that made the film DOA. Disney should have either opened The New Mutants against Tenet last weekend or held its release till September 4th as having previews killed it off before it’s the official release date.

Do believe had X-Men: Dark Phoenix and The New Mutants opened when they were originally dated they would have performed much stronger but as the case with many films that are delayed that becomes the story and the film can’t get past the negativity surrounding it. X-Men: Dark Phoenix and The New Mutants aren’t great films but they aren’t terrible as there have been many far worse comic-book films that have been far more successful; 2006’s X-Men: Last Stand is far worse but that still opened with £7.09m taking £19.06m.

Disney has had little interest in any of the films they inherited when they acquired 20th Century Fox last year and was, even more, the case with the final two X-Men Marvel films, X-Men: Dark Phoenix was dumped last June, and The New Mutants was dumped last week as Disney has also had very little interest in the unreleased films on 20th Century Fox slate as none of them were Disney films Le Man’s 66 was the only film Disney had any real interest in as they hoped it would give them Oscar success something Disney has had little success with over the years compared to 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight.
Disney will be incorporating X-Men within the MCU in the years to come and will likely be as they previously did launching other new characters feature them within their existing MCU films as they did with Spider-Man and Black Panther in Captain America; Civil War in 2016 but the biggest question will be ho they will incorporate Deadpool within the MCU universe.

5. Onward £97,253 – £7,068,168

Down 28.3% in the 13th week of its cinema release 26 weeks after opening in cinemas in March is still managing to attract cinemagoers; it took 74.8% of its total box office after 2 weeks on release due to lockdown; (Toy Story 4 was 41%)
Onward has taken £1,791,815 25.4% of its total box office over the last 11 weeks since cinemas reopened on July 4th despite being available on digital download since May and on video since June; showing again that exhibitors shouldn’t care about VOD if people want to go to the cinema to see a film even if they can watch it at home cheaper.
Onward is the 886^th biggest film in the UK between How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days and The Duchess (close to Shaun The Sheep Movie 2, Coraline, Muppets Most Wanted and Dr Seuss’ The Lorax) and 1,117th biggest inflation inflated film between Shaun The Sheep Movie 2 and Mona Lisa Smile (close to ParaNorman, Corpse Bride, Spies In Disguise and Paul Blart: Mall Cop).
Onward is currently the 11th biggest film of 2020 between The Invisible Man and The Personal History Of David Copperfield and will likely be Disney’s third-biggest film of 2020 with their next film (not including 20th Century Studios) with Black Widow and Soul both still set to be released in November.
Disney has been the #1 biggest studio in the UK since 2016 but will likely lose it’s crown this year and next to Universal Pictures (who were also #1 in 2015) as even if Black Widow and Soul took £80m+ combined Disney it will be less than No Time To Die will take in November (Skyfall and Spectre both took £90m+).
While Universal Pictures and other studios delayed many of this year summer films to next year Disney only delayed Jungle Cruise, while Universal Pictures delayed Minions: The Rise of Gru and F9 and already had Jurassic World: Dominion dated for next year. Disney’s slate for next year is also softer than rivals.
After Disney’s record-breaking £464.50m 37% (plus £75.10m 6% share from Fox) they could take less than £100m this year probably double next year but will probably be back to #1 in 2022 with a small film called Avatar 2 finally due to be released amongst their slate for the year.
136th biggest animation film in the UK between Shaun The Sheep Movie 2 and Dr Seuss’ The Lorax (close to Coraline, Penguins of Madagascar, Spies In Disguise and Rango).
Onward is Disney’s second-lowest grossing animated film just ahead of 2001’s Atlantis: The Lost Empire £5.9m and £9.83m inflation inflated).
23 Pixar films have taken almost £692m at the box office since Toy Story in 1996 and almost £892m inflation inflated; Soul is Pixar’s 24h release opening in November and Luca is due for release next June.

After Wonder Woman 1984 and Candyman were delayed last week it is expected that Soul could now go to Disney+ and Black Widow will be released to 2021 pushing back MCU film schedule again after they previously delayed from November to February. This will leave No Time To Die as the next major film due for release on November 12^th, were previous rumours MGM would delay the film to next summer as it’s unlikely MGM would want it to be the second canary in the coalmine with Coronavirus cases expected to increase across Europe over the next few months.
Also released

• The Broken Hearts Gallery – Sony Pictures

With £87,568 from 472 screens with a terrible £178 screen average
Netflix has had strong success over the years with teen romcoms including To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, The Kissing Booth and Set It Up, but have struggled to find an audience in cinemas over recent years so it was surprising Sony opened it so wide as it was unlikely to find an audience.
In normal circumstances, a film like The Broken Hearts Gallery would probably go straight to streaming but as Sony Pictures has delayed all their key releases this year they choose to make this their first cinema release since before lockdown.

• The Roads Not Taken – Universal Pictures

Opened with £27,742 from 232 screens
Had world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival in February and was released in the US in March days before lockdown taking only $3,518 from 3 screens; received mixed reviews (39% Rotten Tomatoes).
Sally Potter is most well-known for directing Oscar nomination Orlando in 1993 opened with £97,523 taking £181,801 and more recently 2012’s Ginger & Rosa opened with £62,689 from 38 screens taking £172,453.
UK box office in detail
This weekend’s top 10 box office took £2,572,068 down 29.1% from last weekend (£3,625,642)
The weekend admissions 351,617 down 31.1% from last week (509,936)
The latest estimate for 2020 box office is £605m less than half of last year’s £1.227bn
Gower Street Analytics predicted next year’s box office could be down up to 30% on last year levels but I believe had UK exhibitors done what Chinese exhibitor has done bringing in far stricter safety measures at the start and delayed the reopening of cinemas till early August with the right product admission levels could be up from last year.
Top 3 took £1,925,747 74.9% of £2,572,068; Tenet 47.9% (£1,233,090); After We Collided 17.2% (£442,661); Break The Silence 9.7% (£249,996)
Down 78.8% from 2019: (£12,155,175): top three took 79.7% (£9,695,506) of the top 10; Downtown Abbey 42.6% (£5,180,865); It Chapter 2 26% (£3,161,317); Hustlers 11.1% (£1,353,324);
Down 73.3% from 2018: (£9,647,148); The Predator (£2,394,163); Crazy Rich Asians (£1,599,858); King of Thieves (£1,535,876); #1 The Predator £2,394,163 1st week 553 screens (24.8% of top 10)
Down 77.6% from 2017: (£11,473,084); Victoria and Abdul (£1,846,970); mother! (£831,676); American Assassin (£768,951); Aces of the Jungle (£374,982); #1 It £6,070,542 2nd week 608 down 39% screens (52.9% of the top 10)
Down 65.3x% from 2016: (£7,420,952); Ben-Hur (£1,047,800); Don’t Breathe (£1,028,938); Kubo and the Two Strings (£844,027); Hell or High Water (£552,230); Captain Fantastic (£280,614); Anthropoid (£227,591); #1 Sausage Party £1,219,972 2nd week 55% drop 533 screens (16.4% of the top 10)
Down 77.7% from 2015; (£11,539,308); Legend (£5,189,074); The Maze Runner: Scorch Trials (£2,799,428); The Visit (£1,031,292); Irrational Man (£197,188); #1 Legend £5,189,074 1st week 522 screens (44.9% of top 10)
Down 63.8% from 2014: (£7,115,583); The Boxtrolls (£2,000,597); Pride (£718,778); A Most Wanted Man (£610,312); The Wizard of Oz (Re: 2014) (£42,478); #1 The Boxtrolls £2,000,597 1st week 510 screens (28.1% of top 10)
Down 75.6% from 2013: (£10,548,613); Insidious 2 (£2,877,742); Rush (£2,099,308); White House Down (£1,184,338); Justin and the Knights of Valour (£831,011); In a World… (£35,178); 42 (£3,797); #1 Insidious 2 £2,877,742 1st week 414 screens (27.2% of top 10)
Down 66.8% from 2012 (£7,760,490); The Sweeney (£1,545,294); ParaNorman (£1,393,123); Hope Springs (£728,689); To Rome with Love (£141,008); Premium Rush (£115,358); #1 The Sweeney £1,545,294 1st week 406 screens (19.9% of top 10)
Down 70.1% from 2011 (£8,582,687); Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (£2,814,860); The Change-Up (£727,497); I Don’t Know How She Does It (£562,609); 30 Minutes or Less (£260,337); You Instead (£6,770); #1 Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy £2,814,860 1st 382 screens 42% drop (32.8% of top 10)
Down 61.1% from 2010: (£6,609,071); Resident Evil: Afterlife (£1,690,655); Tamara Drewe (£615,553); Going the Distance (£436,361); Cyrus (£429,687); The Runaways (£59,443); #1 Resident Evil: Afterlife £1,690,655 1st week 361 screens (25.6% of top 10)
Down 56.9% from 2009; (£5,969,293); Dorian Gray (£883,148); Sorority Row (£782,693); Julie & Julia (£540,441); Adventureland (£210,671); Whiteout (£150,995); Fish Tank (£103,180); The September Issue (£81,892); Miss March (£24,434); #1 District 9 £2,288,378 2nd week 446 screens 48% drop (19.8% of top 10)
Down 65.9% from 2008; (£7,542,608); Pineapple Express (£1,372,911); The Women (£865,310); The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (£513,653); Eden Lake (£192,027); Sydney White (£1,157); #1 Pineapple Express £1,372,911 1st week 389 screens (18.2% of top 10)
Down 65.2% from 2007: (£7,504,924); Superbad (£1,484,456); Disturbia (£728,145); Shoot ‘Em Up (£374,770); 3:10 To Yuma (£368,510); December Boys (£23,145); #1 Run, Fat Boy, Run £1,543,836 2nd week 411 screens 23% drop (20.5% of top 10)
Down 47.5% from 2006; (£4,892,872); Talledega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (£1,033,759); The Queen (£856,273); The Night Listener (£314,078); DOA (£224,786); #1 Talledega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby £1,033,759 1st week 403 screens (21.2% of top 10)
Down 56.3% from 2005 (£5,883,345); The Longest Yard (£1,255,334); Cinderella Man (£614,346); Green Street (£446,369); The Man (£329,233); #1 The Longest Yard £1,255,334 1st week 379 screens (21.3% of top 10)
Down 63.2% from 2004 (£6,998,915); Open Water (£1,970,176); Anchor Man (£555,864); Wicker Park (£316,722); Super-Size Me (£264,843); #1 Open Water £1,970,176 1st week 378 screens (28.1% of top 10)
Down 51.8% from 2003 (£5,338,138); Calendar Girls (expansion) (£1,762,505); Tears of the Sun (£406,324); Sin Eater (£161,779); Spirited Away (£152,504); #1 Calendar Girls £1,762,505 2nd week (1st #1) 462 screens (33.1% of top 10)
Down 64.5% from 2002 (£7,251,582); Signs (£3,767,713); A Walk To Remember (£246,860); #1 Signs £3,767,713 1st week 443 screens (51.9% of top 10)
Down 61% from 2001 (£6,587,094); The Fast and the Furious (£1,763,020); The Martins (£310,600); #1 Moulin Rouge £1,859,732 2nd week 314 screens 23% drop (28.2% of top 10);
Next weekend in 2019: Top three took 65.4% (£6,933,258) of the top 10 (£10,591,748); Downtown Abbey 30.9% (£3,280,442); Ad Astra 21.4% (£2,265,387); It Chapter Two 13.1% (£1,387,429);
UK Box Office since restart
848 cinemas were reopen before lockdown last weekend 659 cinemas had reopened 78% of cinemas have now reopened with most cinemas now from all of the major cinema chains with 164 independent cinemas still haven’t reopened. The reopening of cinema on July 4^th was geared to major exhibitors leaving independent cinemas struggling until grants from the BFI before they were able to reopen with reduced capacity to follow the new safety measures.
UK cinemas have now been open for 11 weeks with box office up 3193.2% from £189,000 to £6,224,288 but with 1,426% more screens open than the first weekend (from 42 cinemas+ drive-ins (460 screens) to 641 cinemas+ drive-ins (3,856 screens up 738.3%) last weekend) (Tenet took 85.7% of the weekend’s box office, last year #1 Once Upon A Time In Hollywood 24.5%)…
Week 1 £189,000 from 460 screens (73 cinemas) 141 films on release
Week 2; Up 76.2% £333,002 (182 films) from 1,059 screens (123 cinemas 85 from the UK the rest from Ireland and drive-ins) up 130.2%; The Empire Strikes Back (40th Anniversary opening with £50,406 from 1012 screens)
Week 3: Down 7.5% £308,154 (191 films) from 151 cinemas and 1,286 screens up 21.4%
Week 4: Up 30.7% £402,752 (214 films) from 185 cinemas and 1,734 screens Up 34.8%
Week 5: Up 61.8% £651,914 (218 films) from 3,016 screens (326 cinemas reopened) up 74%; Unhinged opened with £175,263 from 243 screens)
Week 6: Down 17.4% £538,716 (236 films) from 338 cinemas and 3,393 screens up 12.5%: American Pickle opened with £27,732 from 162 screens
Week 7: Up 85.2% £997,837 (269 films) from 366 cinemas; Inception: 10th Anniversary opened £207,675 from 313 screens
Week 8: Up 10.9% £1,107,153 (264 films) from 3,889 screens (491 cinemas) up 21.5%
Week 9: Up 462.2% £6,224,288 (204 films) from 3, 856 (629 cinemas); Tenet opened with 85.7% (£5,335,654)
Week 10: Down 39.8% £3,746,637 (198 films) 658 cinemas (198 films on release; 487 England
Week 11: Down 25% £2,812,496 from 5,522 screens
This time last year UK box office was 78.4% more taking £13,007,872: top three took 79.7% (£9,695,506) of the top 10; Downtown Abbey 42.6% (£5,180,865); It Chapter 2 26% (£3,161,317); Hustlers 11.1% (£1,353,324);
In Tenet’s opening week UK box office was £7.85m 50% down from what it took the same weekend last year (£17m) and the last weekend of August is normally a soft weekend being the last weekend of the summer holidays and a weekend distributors would dump films out. So with the release of Tenet, the biggest film to be released the last weekend of August for 20 years should have been much closer to last years box office levels especially as the opening included £2m from previews.
However, the industry tries to twist Tenet box office it underperformed but it was always likely to do so and industry needs to take responsibility for behaving like a bull in a china shop still going forward with the reopening on July 4^th when all the research said people weren’t going to be returning for months. This failure goes to the highest levels of management with the industry who would have been heralded as heroes if Tenet were a success but should take the blame that it’s not.
A month ago UK cinemas launched their Love Cinema campaign

This week BIFA launched a campaign for independent cinema

While they both generated much coverage online do either really make people go back to the cinema sooner than they might have done, but the industry should have still started these campaigns much sooner to keep people int the cinema habit and showing them that it can’t be replicated at home who I always think the best trailer to show off the power of the cinema experience is the 1997 Star Wars re-release trailer… “for an entire generation, people have experienced Star Wars the only way it’s been possible on the TV screen, but if you have only seen it this way, you haven’t seen it at all”.. “See it again for the first time”…

After 35 weeks 2020 box office had taken 282m about 30% of the UK box office at the same time in 2018 and 2019 if rumours are true and Black Widow is delayed to 2021, Soul is moved to Disney+ which will likely see Connected and Death on the Nile being delayed could see No Time To Die as the new saviour of cinema.

The last four Daniel Craig James Bond films have taken over £300m at the UK, after Spectre took £95,183,468 and Skyfall took £102,816,893 in normal circumstances No Time To Die would be expected to take upwards of £90m, both Spectre and Skyfall openings were inflated with several days of previews but No Time To Die’s April and current November date would see it only having one day of previews.
US Box Office

• Tenet – Warner Bros

Down 67% in its second weekend (30% fewer previews) taking $6.7m and $29.1m total (14% of total worldwide box office) Tenet is expected to take about $86m.
Warner hasn’t released actual daily box office for Tenet; it opened last week with $20.2m but 55% of it’s opening came from previews with $11.2m from Fri-Sun.
Tenet PostTrak scores 79% overall positive; 49% definite recommend in comparison Dunkirk had a 63% definite recommend, but the percentage of US consumers comfortable to return to the cinema anytime soon hasn’t changed since lockdown so was madness by exhibitors to think if they reopened cinemas people would change their minds and return as seen by the performance of Tenet and the delay of more films since.
Often studios will overestimate the opening of a film and then over the weekend bring the figures close to final figures, Warner Bros estimates used to be awfully close to finals while companies like Disney would often underestimate so final figure would see a bump when they are announced on Monday. Over the decades there were many cases of box office fraud and irregularities which have been phased out having independent box office agencies like ComScore and Exhibitor Relations.
A few years ago China was punished for box office fraud fudging box office figures which were a regular occurrence in the US and the UK a few decades ago, with exhibitors under-reporting box office and studios over-reporting box office. Even now when box office numbers are remarkably close in estimates with a couple of films do wonder if studios will move box office from one film to the other to boost box office.
9^th biggest film of 2019 between The Gentlemen and Fantasy Island; 2,850^th biggest film in the US between Twilight Zone: The Movie and A Walk in the Woods; 459^th biggest Warner Bros film between Twilight Zone: The Movie and Nuts; 3,757 biggest inflation inflated between Red Planet and Prince of the City
Took $725k from 290 IMAX screens in the US 34% drop and $3.6 total; 13% of total box office
The top 5 locations: 1. AMC Orange, 2. Regal Irvine Spectrum, 3. AMC Tysons Corner McLean Va, 4. Paramount Drive-In Los Angeles and 5. AMC Pembroke Lakes, Ft Lauderdale
The top 10 markets: Los Angeles (Orange County), Dallas, Chicago, Salt Lake City, Phoenix, Toronto, Greater New York (New Jersey and Connecticut), Houston, Atlanta, and San Diego.
On Friday Warner Bros announced they were delaying Wonder Woman 1984 from October 2^nd to December 25^th opening week after Dune, this will probably see Tenet stay #1 for 9 weeks (if Black Widow keeps it’s November 6^th date) the longest since Home Alone in 1990 (held #1 for 12 weeks third-longest); the two longest ever #1 1982’s Tootsie and 1984’s Beverly Hills Cop 13 weeks and 1997’s Titanic 15 weeks.
Soon after Wonder Woman 1984 was delayed Universal Pictures delayed Candyman into 2021 and surely Connected and Death On the Nile will now be delayed as they needed Wonder Woman 1984 which was part of the problem with Tenet as it was never had similar sized films to support it.
Candyman director Nia DaCosta said “We made Candyman be seen in theatres. Not just for the spectacle but because the film is about community and stories–how they shape each other, how they shape us. It’s about the collective experience of trauma and joy, suffering and triumph, and the stories we tell around it.”
Warner originally refused to allow drive-in cinemas to play Tenet in states conventional were still closed but with New York City and Los Angeles movie theatres unlikely to reopen for several more weeks and drive-in theatres have been the most successful non-IMAX movie theatres since reopening.

Warner moving Wonder Woman 1984 a week after Dune makes me think of when Fox opened Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel a week after Avatar fearing it might flop as despite reaction to Dune trailer this week it does feel like potentially another Blade Runner 2049 as Tenet has become. As before Avatar opened in December 2009 critics and websites predicted the film would be a huge flop, this was similar to the predictions before Titanic was released in 1997 as both films went over budget and were delayed over 6 months from the original release date.
Studios have in the past opened two major films close to each other, but they are normally targeting different demographics but Wonder Woman 1984 opening a week after Dune are likely to cannibalize each other.
Often a studio will delay a film to open the film either a week before or after another and then would delay the other film, but feel that Warner has seen Tenet perform similar to Denis Villeneuve‘s Blade Runner 2049, a film that received positive reviews and was compared to the original which alienated non-fans and are concerned Dune might perform similarly.
The original Wonder Woman had long legs, but sequels are normally much more front-loaded, but Dune could have longer legs with Dune ensemble cast including Timothee Chalamet, Zendaya, Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Jason Momoa and Rebecca Ferguson attracting audience who might not normally see a film like Dune.

Sony Pictures announced they won’t release any major films until more cinemas reopen saying “What we won’t do is make the mistake of putting a very, very expensive $200 million movie out in the market unless we’re sure that theatres are open and operating at significant capacity,”
Dr Anthony Fauci said last week we likely will not be able to go to the theatre to see movies and performances for at least another year or more as a vaccine will need to be out for almost a year before it is safe, “If we get a really good vaccine and just about everybody gets vaccinated, you’ll have a degree of immunity in the general community that I think you can walk into a theatre without a mask,”
So after Tenet underperforms even with the huge media coverage surrounding it for months taking a third of what could have taken if delayed, the solution is to open more similar-sized films that will likely perform even worse as Coronavirus cases are dramatically increasing across Europe.
The problem was cinemas reopened far too soon and Tenet should have never opened in Aug/Sept as the majority of people aren’t ready to go back to the cinema anytime soon.
Opening Tenet has done long-term damage and will see Connected, Death on the Nile and Black Widow likely to be delayed this week with the massive decision for MGM with No Time To Die opening in less than two months and are massive questions on all remaining films now this year as box office won’t likely get back to pre-lockdown levels before 2022.
While Warner and Disney played out a $1bn game of chicken with Tenet and Mulan since the start of lockdown in March. At the start of the year, these two films could have taken $2bn+ between then, but now they will likely take a quarter as much. Universal, Paramount and Sony Pictures went for different approach delaying many of their films a year to 2021.
This is all on Christopher Nolan, movie theatres shouldn’t have reopened before October his delusion of grandeur in wanting to be the saviour of cinema will be a very costly decision for the industry and many of its employees causing long-term damage that will affect all of 2021.
Directors of sci-fi thriller Synchronic due for release next month have recommended viewers not to see the film in regular cinemas and watch it instead om VOD saying “We want to be very clear: at the time of writing this, we personally wouldn’t go to an indoor theatre, so we can’t encourage you to,” …. “To us, this isn’t only about feeling safe in a theatre, this is also about the scientific community indicating that enclosed spaces like movie theatres are still a hazard for spreading Covid-19 to others.”… “We are infinitely grateful for anyone checking out our movies, as well as everyone who has worked on them, and want all of you to remain as healthy as possible during these unprecedented times,”
Understandably, reopening movie theatres is far down on the list of priorities for Cuomo as while cinema seems huge to those that work within in and go to the cinema it is still only a small cog in the US economy, last year Movie Theatres added about 10% ($11.3bn BO and similar amount concessions) to the $21.44 trillion US economy and while the risk might be similar to hospitality but is worth over 3000% more ($660bn) than cinema employing far more people.
China will raise cinema capacity limits to 75% able to do this as implemented far stricter safety measures when reopened giving cinemagoers confidence to return on mass far quicker, going to take much longer for US and UK to do similar as their policy was concessions over safety.
Chinese cinemas reopened a month ago after being closed since January two months longer than the US and the UK and China reopened their cinemas with a massive megamovie The Eight Hundred opening with $116m taking $391m to date. The Eight Hundred was able to be the saviour of cinema in China that Tenet was never going to be in the rest of the world despite all the media coverage surrounding it.

With $200m+ budget Tenet will need to take $500m+ worldwide to turn a profit; Dunkirk took $520m WW; Interstellar $654m WW: The Dark Knight Rises $1.08bn WW; Inception $834m WW; The Dark Knight $1bn WW: Batman Begins $359m WW; Insomnia $114m WW.
Interstellar took $63.2m in its third weekend and $328.9m internationally (67% of total and in China took $82.5m after 12 days 70% of $122m total) and $120.7m in the US taking almost $450m worldwide 120% more than Tenet. Interstellar took $677.89m worldwide with $489.76m internationally. Tenet took $37.3m Internationally in its third weekend 41% less if Tenet follows a similar trajectory of Interstellar as both received similar polarised audience reaction and will have similar legs.
Took $37.3m from 50 territories (down 53% from last weekend) $177.5m total and $207m worldwide; China $50.8m (25%); UK $16.4m (8%); France $10.7m; Germany $8.7m; Korea $8.2m
Tenet took $4.2m worldwide from 1,033 IMAX screens taking $23m total; internationally took $3.5m from 743 screens (52% of IMAX screens from China 387 taking $1m) taking $19.2m total international 11% of total box office
took $11.1m in IMAX from 1,168 screens in 43 markets, 14.2% of the total box office, the vast proportion of IMAX screens from China taking $5.3m from 649 screens taking $16.3m globally worldwide from IMAX 11% of the total global box office (IMAX tickets are up to three times the average ticket price).
Tenet is the 5^th biggest film of the year in the world; 1) Bad Boys For Life $424.61m; 2) The Eight Hundred $336.35m; 3) Sonic the Hedgehog $306.76m; 4) Dolittle $245.91m and now might struggle to overtake Bad Boys For Life, at the start of the year most would have expected it to take double $800m+.
510^th biggest international film between Real Steel and Disney’s A Christmas Carol; 3^rd biggest film internationally in 2020 between Bad Boys For Life and Dolittle; 82^nd biggest Warner Bros film internationally between The Conjuring and Lethal Weapon 3
788^th biggest film worldwide between Clear and Present Danger and S.W.A.T and 132^nd biggest Warner Bros film worldwide between Me Before You and JFK. (Batman Begins #71; Dunkirk #26; Inception #21; The Dark Knight #6; The Dark Knight Rises #3

• The New Mutants – Disney/Fox

Dropped 31% in its third weekend taking $2.089m and $15.32m total
Dropping 70% in its second weekend if there was a 17-day window it could be released on PVOD on September 14th rather than 26th November, if exhibitors will pull the film within a few weeks and it is already widely available illegally online it doesn’t benefit anyone for it not to be legally available anywhere for 2+ months?
Rival exhibitors to AMC are concerned about the 17-day window they announced with Universal Pictures a few months ago but nothing will change it just means that films like The Turning and The Rhythm Section would be released on PVOD the same time exhibitors have dropped them after three weeks. As Universal won’t be pushing Minions 2, F9, Jurassic World 3 or No Time To Die on PVOD after 17 days this was just panic-inducing propaganda from rival exhibitors.

The 15 20^th Century Fox X-Men films have taken over $2.56bn in the US; $2.8bn international and $6.05bn worldwide; X-Men films were the 7^th biggest franchise series worldwide after MCU, Star Wars, Harry Potter, Spider-Man, James Bond, and Batman.
The 17-day window is the minimum time a film could be released on PVOD so films that are performing strongly will continue playing wide in cinemas, but then The New Mutants which will drop upwards of 70% in its second weekend could be released on PVOD on September 14th rather than 26th November?
The film will be out of cinema within a few weeks and piracy is circulating strongly online it doesn’t benefit either exhibitors or studio for films not to be legally available anywhere for over 2 months?
Always go back to Paramount’s 2015 idea films would be available on PVOD after 17 days if they drop below 1,000 screens so in exhibitors interest to keep successful films playing wide as long as possible but then flops can go PVOD within 17 days?
Took 52.1m from 36 territories $14m total and $29.3m worldwide; France $2.3m; UK $1.5m; Mexico $1.1m; Spain

• Unhinged – Solstice Studios

Down 16% it’s fifth weekend taking $1.51m and $13.84m
Solstice Studios were hoping Unhinged would take over $30m in the US but it’s unlikely it will now do that, but foreign sales probably will see the film turn a profit.
Unhinged was originally due to be released in September before it was brought forward to July 1^st to be the first film to open when movie theatres reopened, but then Warner and Disney delayed Tenet and Mulan and Solstice Studios delayed the US release to August 24^th, but the film still opened internationally in mid-July and the UK on July 24^th.
Solstice Studios gave social media badges to anyone brave enough to see Unhinged in cinemas first “I Saw Unhinged In A F*!#king Theater!”

• The Broken Hearts Gallery – Sony Pictures

Opened with $1.125m from 2,204 screens only $510m average; received positive reviews 74% Rotten Tomatoes but didn’t receive a CinemaScore
Sony Pictures didn’t report daily box office for The Broken Hearts Gallery over its opening weekend and didn’t report box office on Monday this is similar to Warner Bros who haven’t reported daily box office figures since opening.
Neither studio had to open either The Broken Hearts Gallery or Tenet when they did so if they live by the sword, they should also die by the sword and report box office and not be in denial.
Normally hourly box office figures are reported to ComScore and rival studios can analysis the data to help them decide their release plans, this information is vital now and if these studios choose to make these films the canary in the coalmine to help the industry go forward all studios need to be open to each other as this could help all studios with their plans to get audiences back.
There should be more openness with figures rather than less as any data being hidden will just make people be concerned that the box office is being manipulated as Tenet was with its opening weekend doing as often happens in the UK extending the opening weekend box office with previews. Normally unlike the UK, any box office not taken Fri-Sun isn’t included in a films opening weekend but with Tenet it’s opening included 11 days of box office from Canada and two days of previews.
UK Box Office Top 10

The UK this weekend
Opening on Wednesday, September 16^th Bill And Ted Face The Music second sequel to the cult classic 1989’s Bill & Teds Excellent Adventure and 1991 sequel both films became very popular on video but didn’t find audiences in cinemas.
While the third film has much of the energy and charm of the original film it will struggle to find a wide audience especially as it’s been widely available online illegally as it was released on VOD day and date with it’s US release Warner should have done similar with it’s the UK release, as all distributors should be doing with all releases for the next few months.
Andre Rieu’s Magical Maastricht: Together In Music Event Cinema screenings over the last 6 years have been hugely popular and over the last 5 years have seen £1m+ opening weekends and in normal circumstances Together In Music would be also expected to open with £1m+ which would have seen it replacing Tenet #1 but as it’s key demographic is older audiences who aren’t currently comfortable to go back to the cinema.

Also released Rocks from director Sarah Gavron which will likely open much wider than in normal circumstances as Sally Potter’s The Roads Not Taken opened last week in 232 screens but took only £27,742; Last month Babyteeth opened #8 in 139 screening taking £38,977 and there have been many other films that played in hundreds of more cinemas than they might have normally done. This would be great if they were then attracting a much wider audience, but they are still opening at box office numbers expected to open in less than 50 screens.
Two weeks ago BFI Chief Executive was on Newsnight and said “there will be multiplex films for some audiences and some great independent films over the next few weeks including Rocks in September which we expected to be a big hit in the independent cinemas. So we think audiences will get back, but it’s going to take more than one film and one weekend to get audiences comfortable and back to where we were in March”.
UK Coming Soon
Another soft week of new releases as will be likely the case now till October, Connected and Death on the Nile are still currently dated to open next month but are likely to be delayed as has been little marketing for both apart from trailers and would expect Death on the Nile marketing to be similar to Murder on the Orient Express but that is impossible in the current situation.

So are left with David Attenborough: A Life On Our Planet on Sunday and the re-release of the Rocky films. In July Sylvester Stallone said he was working on a director’s cut of Rocky IV for the films 35^th anniversary which he described as amazing.