- Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings – £3,583,848 – £11,893,429
Down 37.8% in its second weekend; having the second-lowest MCU second weekend between Ant-Man and The Incredible Hulk
Had the biggest second weekend of 2021 ahead of F9 (£2.68m); The Suicide Squad (£2.26m); Free Guy (£2.26m) and Peter Rabbit 2 (£2.04m); the 12th biggest second weekend since the start of 2019 between Sonic the Hedgehog
The 2nd biggest week BO after Black Widow (£9.4m included 2 days of previews) taking £8.31m ahead of F9 (£8.18m also with 2 days of previews) and The Suicide Squad (£5.72m)
157th biggest second weekend in the UK between Spider-Man 2 and Inside Out (close to Spider-Man Homecoming, Hancock, X-Men: Days of Future Past and Wonder Woman);
253rd biggest inflation inflated the second weekend between Spider-Man Homecoming and Guardians of the Galaxy (close to The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Logan, Superman Returns and X-Men: The Last Stand).
13th biggest MCU second weekend in the UK between Spider-Man Homecoming and Doctor Strange and Dumbo while ahead of it Spider-Man Far From Home took £4.39m and Captain Marvel £6.64m.
Had a similar second-weekend percentage drop to Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, Unhinged, The Lion King In The Heights, Birds of Prey, The Suicide Squad, Candyman, Us and Escape Room 2
28th biggest comic-book second weekend in the UK between Spider-Man 2 and X-Men: Days of Future Past (close to The Amazing Spider-Man, Deadpool 2, Doctor Strange and The Amazing Spider-Man 2) and 35th biggest inflation inflated between Spider-Man Homecoming and Guardians of the Galaxy.
After 10 days on release it’s taken similar BO as Blade Widow (+2 extra days); Captain America: Winter Soldier (+2 days previews) and Ant-Man and the Wasp (+1-day previews)
42nd biggest comic-book movie after 10 days between X-Men: Apocalypse and Black Widow (close to X-Men Origins: Wolverine, X-Men 2, Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Aquaman)
508th biggest film in the UK between Pretty Woman and Indecent Proposal (close to The Wolverine, Parasite, A Quiet Place and Fantastic Four); 627th film to take over £10m at the UK BO and 771st biggest inflation inflated film in the UK between The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Kingdom of Heaven (close to The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, The A-Team, A Good Day to Die Hard and Wild Wild West).
The 25 MCU films have taken almost £790m at the UK BO since May 2008 (almost £825m inflation inflated); 19 of the 25 have opened with more than £6m and all MCU films except for Ant-Man and Ant-Man and the Wasp have opened with over £6m since Captain America: The First Avenger in 2011.
With Eternals and Spider-Man: No Way Home still to open this year and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Thor: Love and Thunder, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and The Marvels the film series will have taken over £1bn at the UK BO by the end of next year.
While films like Shang-Chi are being called hits you only need to see the films that performed similarly to it in the past that were seen as disappointments. People seem to see film box office very differently over the last few months maybe they have lowered expectations,. But the fanbase of these films and the target demographic are those who have been most comfortable going to the cinema before cinemas closed for the first time in March 2020 and while cinemas have reopened. I’ve not been to the cinema since January 2020 to see 1917 and have no plans to return anytime soon.
The industry seems to forget it’s the 25th part of the biggest franchise in the world and the majority of its audience would have still gone to see it if it opened last year. It does again show had the industry worked together last year with the reopening plan and not left it to Warner Bros to singlehandedly do it with Tenet it would be in a far stronger position now.
After releasing Cruella, Black Widow and Jungle Cruise with hybrid cinema and Disney+ release Shang-Chi is Disney’s first film since cinemas reopened to have Disney’s new 45-day window, Free Guy was also released with the similar release but that was a former Fox film which couldn’t go directly to Disney+ due to HBO Pay TV deal that ends in 2022.
Marvel President Kevin Feige went on a charm offensive to try to address China’s biggest concerns over the film at the US premiere talking to a Chinese film critic but it felt like it was being cynically done to make sure they can release the film in China as without it’s unlikely to be anywhere nearly as successful as other MCU films. Shang-Chi is unlikely to be released in China due to social media posts by Simu Liu,
While Shang-Chi and Eternals are part of the MCU and the fanbase would be similar to see all of them the question is how it will play beyond the fans and as Shang-Chi and Eternals are unknown to many non -comic-book fans. Previously Marvel would soft launch new characters in other MCU films but with both of them are completely new, that said the basic plots are still very similar in all of the MCU films.
Marvel are often praised for their diversity but they cynically waited until they felt the fanbase was ready for a non-white male superhero as originally Black Panther and Shang-Chi was going to be part of the first 10 films announced by Marvel in 2005.
Instead, Warner lead the way with Wonder Woman in 2017, before Marvel made Captain Marvel, while Marvel still felt they needed to soft launch Black Panther in Captain America Civil War and also took until 2019 to make Black Widow, why it failed to match expectations in the summer.
Unsanctioned social media posts from talent are getting very costly for Disney if both Shang–Chi and The Eternals get blocked in China and after social media posts from Liu Yifei, Gina Carano and James Gunn
2. Free Guy – £690,408 – £14,328,446
Down 27.8% in its fifth weekend; took 50.2 of its box office to date in its opening 10 days and has already taken 5.78x opening better than Toy Story 2, Peter Rabbit, Dunkirk, Unbreakable, Johnny English, Hotel Transylvania 3.
While similar to Fantastic Mr Fox, 1917, Green Book, Antz, Batman, Christopher Robin, Bohemian Rhapsody, The BFG, Incredibles 2 and Pride and Prejudice shows how strong the film has held and in normal circumstances would have performed similarly to Night at the Museum and The Lego Movie taking upwards of £30m.
418th biggest film in the UK (626th film to take over £10m at the UK BO) between World War Z and Daddy’s Home 2 (close to The Emoji Movie, Stardust, Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues and Forrest Gump) and 643rd biggest inflation inflated film in the UK between Phantom of the Opera and Scary Movie 3 (close to Sweeney Todd, Wayne’s World, Garfield and Yesterday.
Free Guy had a similar fifth as Rocketman (£783,785); Tenet (£648,517); Nanny McPhee (£637,277); Yesterday (£613,000); Interstellar (£610,289); The Martian (£590,743).
Free Guy is holding better than both Black Widow and Tenet showing that both of them didn’t play beyond their fanbase, which was always expected despite exhibitors believing they would play far stronger and have much longer legs
The film has been compared to The Truman Show, (but was adult comedy/drama and played to an older audience) but instead of being set inside a TV show, it’s set inside a computer game like Wreck-It-Ralph or The Lego Movie and was a family film similar to those two films playing to a much wide demographic. The Truman Show has become more than it was due to the TV shows that have launched over the years since similar to 1995’s To Die For and Josie and the Pussycats they were movies ahead of their time so weren’t the successes they deserved to be or would be today.
Fifth weekends
1998’s The Truman Show dropped 41.6% taking £428,076 taking £8,899,439 89.6% of £9,929,680 (£17,789,650)
2006’s Night at the Museum dropped 27% taking £1,162,754 (£1,723,837 inflation inflated) taking £20,019,417 (£29,679,711 inflation inflated)
2013’s Wreck-It Ralph dropped 47% taking £744,683 and £21,459,657 of £23,607,542
2014’s The Lego Movie dropped 39% taking £998,176 and £30,063,416 of £32,887,286.
2017’s The Lego Batman Movie dropped 47% taking £820,264 and £25,986,076 of £26,771,191
2018’s Ready Player One dropped 60% taking £203,129 and £15,884,060 of £16,114,011
Free Guy would have been the 69th biggest 20th Century Fox film in the UK between Ice Age and X-Men (close to There’s Something About Mary, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, The Devil Wears Prada and The Beach. Disney has recently removed several untitled previously dated 20th Century Fox films off their release schedule.
3. Respect – £424,514 – NE
Opened similar to the 2005 biopic about Ray Charles Ray opening #7 with £485,005 from 225 screens taking £1,592,017.
After receiving mixed reviews and having a disappointing opening in the US the film was always likely to struggle to find an audience in the UK as older audiences aren’t coming out to the cinemas to see these films.
Recent biopics performing well in the UK including 2018’s Bohemian Rhapsody opened £9.5m taking £55.4m; 2019’s Rocketman £5.3m, taking £23.5m and 2019’s Judy £2.1m taking £8.3m, but they were far more commercial films.
In May 2019 Aretha Franklin documentary Amazing Grace opened with £166,593 from 69 screens
Jennifer Hudson’s Dreamgirls opened February 2007 with £1,329,817 taking £3,475,271 far less than it did in the US taking $103.36m and it was also nominated for 8 Oscars with Jennifer Hudson won Best Supporting Actress.
4. Candyman – £418,414 – £3,755,982
Down 44.5% in its third weekend;
83rd biggest horror film in the UK between Paranormal Activity: Ghost Dimension 3D and Don’t Breathe (close to Poltergeist, The Omen, The Hills Have Eyes and Evil Dead).
Interesting to see Candyman is performing similar to many of the rebooted horrors (Poltergeist, The Omen, The Hills Have Eyes and Evil Dead) in the UK and many Blumhouse horrors haven’t been anywhere nearly as successful in the UK as the US. Maybe that’s because many of them aren’t regular horrors but have a political message attached that doesn’t connect as well to international audiences as in the US. What this does do is means they also play beyond the horror fanbase.
14th biggest Blumhouse Production film in the UK between Insidious Chapter 3 and Ouija.
The original Candyman in 1993 took £1.8m (£4m inflation inflated); 1995’s Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh took £598,063 but the third film Candyman: Day of the Dead went straight to video.
Candyman took a 5.14x opening similar to Skyfall and Paddington 2 showing how front-loaded films have become over the last decade. In the 90s films would play in cinemas for months but now most films take 90% of their total box office in their first 4 weeks.
Upcoming Blumhouse Productions includes Halloween Kills opening in October, in the US (will be released same daily on Peacock) with the third film Halloween Kills set for release October 2022. Also, release The Black Phone in January with the Exorcist sequel set for release in October 2023.
5. Malignant – £409,298 – NE
Horrors along with children’s films have been the two best-performing genres since cinemas reopened in May the problem for Malignant was it opened far too close to Candyman which held better than most horrors as being Blumhouse it wasn’t a normal horror film so played to a wider demographic than just horror fans.
It was surprising that Malignant held its September release date when Universal moved Candyman to open three weeks earlier that said The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It and A Quiet Place Part II opened a week apart from each other in May/June and both opened strongly, that said they both took less than they could have done if separated.
The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It opening with £2,708,455, A Quiet Place Part II £3,567,048, Old £866,860, The Forever Purge £696,563, Spiral £779,107 and Candyman with x, the only horror that didn’t find audiences in cinemas were Don’t Breathe 2 £349,702 opening #7 and Escape Room: Tournament Of Champions #6 £278,097.
Was surprising that horrors were the genre of choice by many with the horror of COVID still prevalent across the UK but these horrors could be seen as escapism from the human horrors that the world has suffered over the last 19 months.
James Wan previously directed horrors
2016’s The Conjuring 2 opened £4,637,862 taking £10,896,992
2013’s Insidious: Chapter 2 opened £2,877,742 taking £6,996,519
2013’s The Conjuring opened £2,156,124 taking £9,337,626
2011’s Insidious opened £1,441,292 taking £7,035,245
2004’s Saw opened £1,239,813 (£1,993,641 inflation inflated) taking £6,645,485 (£10,686,058 inflation inflated)
He also directed 2018’s Aquaman and 2015’s Furious 7
Also Opened
• Copshop- STX
Opened with £198,225 from 490 screens
Disappointing opening from the enjoyable action film which again highlights the massive issues facing the industry that the bigger films are finding an audience but everything else is opening much less than normal.
Copshop was directed by Joe Carnahan who was a col up and coming action director, directing Narc and Smokin’ Aces but then the awful film reboot of The A-Team having done mostly TV work since. For many years he was attached to direct Bad Boys 3 leaving the film due to creative differences with Will Smith. He was also attached to direct Beverly Hills Cop before being replaced by Bad Boys For Life directors.
Over the last four years since STX opened their UK distribution the one genre, they have had success with is an action thriller and films starring Gerald Butler with 2018’s Den of Thieves and Mile 22 and 2019’s 21 Bridges. STX also acquired Greenland starring Gerald Butler which they sold to Amazon and acquired world rights to the sequel Greenland: Migration at the Cannes virtual market in July.
Its STX’s first UK release since being acquired by Eros last year, their last film My Spy opened in the UK the week before cinemas closed for the first time in March 2020, since then they have sold several of their films to streamers including I Care A Lot, The Mauritanian, Songbird and Horizon Line.
Den of Thieves opened with £1,082,560 in February 2018 taking £2,790,151; Mile 22 opened September 2018 with £795,888 taking £1,420,868; 21 Bridges opened November 2019 with £655,213 taking £1,508,195
Warner Bros re-released The Dark Knight Trilogy
Batman Begins took £6,832 from 63 screens and £16,665,365
The Dark Knight took £11,013 from 62 screens and £49,263,805
The Dark Knight Rises took £3,718 from 61 screens and £56,374,370
Other Film News
On September 8th AMC launched an advertising campaign to get people back to the cinema, but this was over 18 months late.
The problem with the AMC advert starring Nicole Kidman is that it makes you just think about the spoof Saturday Night Live AMC advert from May. This was a spoof of Vin Diesel’s F9 advert when he says, “there’s nothing like it when the lights go down and the projector ignites, and we believe” (the only time I’ve seen a projector ignite was in Inglourious Basterds)
I said back in March 2020 industry should have put squabbles aside and NATO and MPA (UKCA and FDA in the UK) go on a war footing to work together in relaunching cinema. Each studio put up at least one of their biggest movies to be part of a summer of cinema with all seats $5/£5.
When cinemas reopened for the first time in July 2020 the FDA made available a library of over 450 films with a mix of recent releases and classic films. The problem was when most cinemas reopened their schedules looks like they were frozen in time from the day cinemas closed in March.
This was an opportunity to bring the big classic movies back to the big screen. Used to love Odeon Marble Arch having a 70mm film season every few years in the 80s and 90s when they showed classic films on their massive screen. Saw many films that I had bever seen on the big screen including Spartacus and Lawrence of Arabia along with Return of the Jedi. Exhibitor bookers should have been far more creative in their bookings and pricing structure as it was all about getting people back into a cinema again and for them to get back into the cinemagoing habit.
This year was the 125th anniversary of cinema for the 100th anniversary the UK had National Cinema Day all cinemas were £1, 1.1million people came to the cinema on one day 2.5x the then average of 400k. There was a National Lottery Cinema Weekend in June with 200k free cinema tickets but that failed to make an impact as a previous event in 2019 that had over 500k tickets as needed to be something on a far bigger scale.
The problem was with no central planning studios and exhibitors behaved like headless chickens making it up as they went along making the situation far worse.
China centred its reopening around several high-profile local releases and built up to their New Year taking a world breaking $1.2bn over a week.
This advertising campaign by AMC is 15+ months too late and similar to the LoveCinema campaign in the UK last summer targeting cinephiles who have already returned and isn’t targeting the many who haven’t been since January 2020.
The most important film of the year is not, No Time To Die but The Paw Patrol Movie as similar to Peppa Pig: My First Cinema Experience in 2017 millions of children were getting their first experience of going to the cinema. To quote Pretty Woman ‘People’s reaction the first time they see it is very dramatic. They either love it or hate it. If they love it, they will always love it. If they don’t, they may learn to appreciate it, but it will never become part of their soul.’
On Sunday Health Secretary Sajid Javid said vaccine passports won’t go ahead his reasoning was “We shouldn’t be doing things for the sake of it,” that is the motto of the UK government summing up their incompetence dealing with COVID since January 2020, as of course should be doing things if make the majority (80% vaccinated) feel more confident and comfortable going back to normal.
With COVID deaths up 30% over the last week daily cases still over 30k and likely to increase with schools and universities returning feels like it’s a return to their nothing to see here policy which was similar to how UK cinemas responded to COVID back in February.
The problem is, without vaccine passports, you don’t know if the person next to you has been vaccinated in work or play. I really don’t understand why there is an issue. You drive a car, have a licence, and have to wear a seat belt, all those believing ‘its big brother’ have given away much more personal information to technology companies without thinking about the terms of conditions they signed.
Why should the majority not feel comfortable doing what they want or need to do because of a vocal selfish minority? Ever since I got vaccinated I have happily carried the card in my wallet and is my Twitter profile picture.
The Morning Consult weekly Tracking the Return to Normal survey reports the public’s comfort going to the movies is flat for the second week with 46% of adults, the 8th consecutive week comfort with moviegoing has been below 50%, after a July 4 high of 55%.
Only 19% said they would feel OK going to a cinema in the next month, down from 24% in late July, when the CDC recommended that the vaccinated still wear masks indoors.
This is similar to research in the UK by The Drum and Opinium last week that reported 57% of event-goers unhappy sharing venues with unvaccinated and 51% are anxious attending events because of the risk of catching COVID with 13% willing to pay more to go to an event with fewer people (this is one of the reasons why Everyman Cinemas have done so well since cinemas reopened as they are smaller cinemas with seats more spread out.
Over two-thirds over 55 express dislikes at the prospect of going to an event with others who haven’t been vaccinated and 50% of those aged 18-34 say they wouldn’t want to put themselves in this situation. This is highlighted by surveys by YouGov who have been in favour of vaccine passports and were against the decision made by the government who abandoned plans last week.
Dune received the predictable critical acclaim at Venice and Toronto Film Festivals similar to 2017’s Blade Runner 2049 but this will be a negative rather than a positive for Dune as made it cinephiles wet dream but likely to be far too pretentious for others (opening up as Dune Part 1 highlight this from the start) while it’s release is being split opens in France and 14 other territories Sept 17 and them the rest of the world from mid-October. So the damage might be don’t long before it’s released in the US in cinemas and on HBO Max.
Dune is expected to open this weekend with about $20m from 24 territories including France, Germany, Russia, Italy and Spain, playing heavily in IMAX and PLF screens. Opening October 22nd in the UK and US with No Time To Die and Venom 2 performing well will exhibitors be willing to book Dune into them instead?
After 19 years at Warner Bros, Christopher Nolan latest film about Robert Oppenheimer has been acquired by Universal Pictures, this acquisition has similarities with them acquiring Steve Jobs film from Sony in 2014. Christopher Nolan as Denis Villeneuve has been very vocal about the way Warner Bros are releasing their films on HBO Max same day as cinema release. So Christopher Nolan decided to seek out another studio for his next film, Warner Bros believed that a film about Robert Oppenheimer wasn’t commercial, which is correct after the previous film about him in 1989 Fat Man and Little Boy starring Paul Newman and John Cusack at Paramount flopped.
In Variety article it said it was Christopher Nolan who forced Warner Bros to open Tenet last September and the studio was hesitant to release it at that time. Since writing an op-ed in Washington Post in March 2020 had delusions of grandeur he would be the saviour of cinema from COVID, but predictably did more long-term damage to the industry costing studios and exhibitors billions and instead of the ‘saviour of cinema’ was Peter Rabbit 2 in the UK.
Rather than being ‘the saviour of cinema’ Christopher Nolan forcing Warner to open Tenet last September was probably the catalyst behind the decision to release all of this year’s films on HBO Max same day as cinemas.”
The Imax boss told Paramount not to delay Top Gun; Maverick saying “whatever conditions there are, people would flock to see it. But I think they just want perfect conditions around it”. Exhibitors are obtuse, not realising while is about 40% who will rush out to see the latest film whatever conditions, but 60% won’t and they are older demographic who saw Top Gun when it first came out in cinemas and needed if Top Gun: Maverick, No Time To Die and Dune are to be a massive hit.
It’s easy for IMAX to talk the talk as haven’t spent $150m+ making Top Gun: Maverick maybe if they put up the global marketing costs then maybe Paramount would have kept it opening in November, but delay probably had more to do with the US pulling out of Afghanistan rather than COVID.
After the news Jim Gianopulos was being replaced at Paramount by Brian Robbins with the studio likely to return to brands Nick Movies and MTV Films its even more important for their big films Top Gun: Maverick and Mission Impossible 7 and 8 to be massive hits or they will just make smaller streaming friendly films. A decade ago Paramount were the #1 studio in the world releasing Marvel and Dreamworks Animation films but everything changed the following year as they lost both to their rivals. This saw the studio go from #1 to #6 where it has stayed for most of the years since.
Jim Gianopulos joined the studio in 2017 and immediately had success the following year with A Quiet Place and was building a strong slate of films, but the delay of Top Gun: Maverick from 2019 and COVID saw the studio delay many of their films (won’t release their next until January 2022) and sold many to streaming services including Without Remorse, The Trial of the Chicago, The Tomorrow War and Coming 2 America, (despite launching their own streaming service). With delays, Paramount on paper has one of their strongest slates probably for a decade next year which was put together by Jim Gianopulos.
The problem with a change in leadership at a studio is it takes about 18 months for the studio to find its legs as projects the former boss are being released.
Biggest Films of 2021
Peter Rabbit: The Runaway became the first film since 1917 to take over £20m, the sequel was always likely to be the saviour of the cinema after the original film took £41.1m rather than Christopher Nolan’s Tenet that the industry believed it would be.
The top 10 biggest films of 2021 are currently
Peter Rabbit 2 £20.1m; Black Widow £18.7m; Fast & Furious 9 £16.4m; Free Guy £14.32m; The Suicide Squad £14.02m;; Space Jam 2 £12.44m; Jungle Cruise £12m; Shang-Chi £11.89m; A Quiet Place Part 2 £11.54m; Cruella £9.41m;.
While most films have opened about a third less than they would in normal circumstances many have had much longer legs than they would normally do; Free Guy 5.8x; Jungle Cruise 5.36x; Space Jam: A New Legacy 9.15x; 13.49x The Croods: A New Age; 5x The Forever Purge and 6.49x Cruella. As Jungle Cruise, Space Jam: A New Legacy, The Croods: A New Age and Cruella were widely available legally and illegally online piracy is just an excuse.
These strongholds compare to Tenet only taking 3.27x opening last year which was meant to have very long legs; while Black Widow was 2.68x and F9 2.72x showing again piracy had nothing to do with the fast drop off of Black Widow it was just that the fanbase rushed out to see both over their opening weekends.
The following 10 biggest films from 11-20
The Conjuring 3 £9.36m; The Croods 2 £9.31m; PAW Patrol: The Movie £7.29m; In The Heights £4.28m; The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard £3.84m; Candyman £3.75m; The Forever Purge £3.6m; Old £3.36m; Spirit Untamed £3.22m; Godzilla Vs Kong £2.5m;
UK box office in detail
This weekend’s top 10 box office took £6,488,142 down 28.2% from last weekend £9,037,233 and up 152.2% from 2020 (£2,572,068)
The weekend admissions 912,538 down 28.2% 1,271,059 from last week; (351,617 admissions in 2020 this week was (up 159.5%);
Top 3 took £4,698,770 72.4% of the top 10; Shang-Chi 55.2% (£3,583,848); Free Guy 10.6% (£690,408); Respect 6.5% (£424,514);
Up 152.2% from 2020 (£2,572,068); 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); #1 Tenet £1,233,090 3rd week
Down 45.8% from 2019 (£11,975,243): Top three took 76.4% (£9,148,510) of the top 10; It Chapter 2 80.5% (£7,368,586); Once Upon A Time In Hollywood 11.8% (£1,084,302); Angel Has Fallen 7.6% (£695,622); #1 It Chapter 2 80.5% £7,368,586 1st week 652 screens
Down 30.9% from 2018: (£9,386,760); The Nun (£4,098,198); American Animals (£347,486); The Miseducation of Cameron Post (£142,996); Puzzle (£23,565); Final Score (£9,945); #1 The Nun £4,098,198 1st week 548 screens (43.6% of top 10)
Down 53.6% from 2017: (£13,995,695); It (£10,002,443); Wind River (£437,899); Poster Boys (£24,964); #1 It £10,002,443 1st week 606 screens (71.4% of the top 10)
Down 12.6% 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 43.8% 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 8.8% 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 38.5% 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)
Up 4.7% from 2012 (£6,196,846); Dredd (£1,049,345); Lawless (£973,234); Anna Karenina (£875,702); That’s My Boy (£254,621); #1 Dredd £1,049,345 1st week 415 screens (16.9% of top 10)
Down 24.7% from 2011 (£8,618,765); Friends with Benefits (£1,947,272); Jane Eyre (£1,012,111); Colombiana (£424,049); Troll Hunter (£200,607); #1 The Inbetweeners Movie £3,679,555 3rd week 475 screens 42% drop (24.9% of top 10)
Down 1.8% 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)
Up 8.6% 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 13.9% 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 7.5% from 2007: (£7,003,476); Run, Fat Boy, Run (£2,010,250); Atonement (£1,634,065); Rise of the Footsoldier (£85,903); #1 Run, Fat Boy, Run £2,010,250 1st week 413 screens (28.7% of top 10)
Up 69.4% from 2006; (£3,829,476); Right at your Door (£441,548); Little Miss Sunshine (£349,810); Pulse (£210,409); Beerfest (£208,782); Snow Cake (£23,944); #1 You, Me and Depree £746,602 3rd week 410 screens 36% drop (19.5% of top 10)
Up 10.3% 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 7.3% 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)
Up 21.5% 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 10.5% 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 1.5% 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 (£12,155,175); Top three took £9,695,506 of the top 10; Downtown Abbey 42.6% (£5,180,865); It Chapter Two 26% (£3,161,317; Hustlers (£1,353,324) 11.1%; #1 Downtown Abbey £5,180,865 1ar week 728 screens
US Box Office
- Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings – Disney
Down 54% in its second weekend taking $34.7m and $144.51m;
Had the 8th smallest second weekend drop for MCU after Black Panther, Doctor Strange, Thor, Iron Man, Avengers Assemble and Spider-Man: Far From Home.
Had the 20th biggest MCU second weekend and is the 19th biggest MCU film between Thor (taking exactly the same BO, 10 years apart) and Ant-Man and the Wasp after 10 days on release between Thor: The Dark World and Ant-Man and the Wasp.
Shang-Chi took $8.83m more than Black Widow in its second weekend and taken $13m more than Black Widow showing piracy wasn’t the reason why it dropped so heavily in its second weekend.
Had the third biggest 2nd weekend in September after IT’s $60.1m and IT Chapter Two’s $39.6m
405th biggest film in the US between Lethal Weapon 3 and The Fast and the Furious;
832nd biggest inflation inflated between The Fox and the Hound and The Nightmare Before Christmas; 4th biggest 2021 film between A Quiet Place: Part II and Jungle Cruise;
89th biggest Disney film between The Santa Clause and The Jungle Book; 58th biggest comic-book movie between X-Men: First Class and Shazam!
Disney pulled off a masterstroke when they dated Shang-Chi over Labor Day as they turned the worlds biggest franchise into an underdog and as immediately lowered expectations making its opening look far more impressive than it was, but as Marvel has said before they could open a film any time of the year and people will come in large numbers.
EntTelligence reported average ticket price for Shang-Chi was $13.72 (37% of BO from IMAX and PLF) while it was $12.63 for Black Widow and $12.70 for F9 (both of those films had a large percentage of IMAX and PLF BO).
Took $5.3m from IMAX worldwide and $21m total; including $2.6m from 399 IMAX screens in the US $12.4m total; international took $2.7m from 391 screens in 66 territories and $8.6m total.
The advantage Shang-Chi has over the summer releases is only had horror Malignant this weekend and then Copshop, Cry Macho next weekend with Dear Evan Hanson on September 24th so has the market to itself until October 1st with Venom: Let There Be Carnage, The Addams Family 2 and The Many Saints of Newark opens.
While Shang-Chi is the 25th part of the world’s biggest film franchise, the only surprise was its opening was so underestimated or was that done on purpose as Disney often seem to do. Disney believe that a Marvel film can open any time of the year so surely not a surprise it found its normal audience over Labor Day?
The 25 MCU films have now taken $8.87bn in the US since May 2008 and $23.18bn worldwide; the average opening of an MCU film in the US is $130.6m and 13 of the 25 opened with over $100m. From Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 in 2017 only Ant-Man and the Wasp opened with less than $90m before Black Widow showing that the Shang-Chi BO was always likely to happen.
Disney announced all their remaining films for this year will have an exclusive theatrical release with Encanto, opening November 24 having a 30-day exclusive theatrical window before being released Disney+ on December 24. While The Last Duel, Ron’s Gone Wrong, Eternals, West Side Story & The King’s Man will 45-day exclusive theatrical window. This was always expected for the 20th Century Studio releases as the studio has an output deal with HBO until next year so couldn’t go to Disney+ after a month.
Took $35.2m from 42 territories $145.8m total and $257.6m worldwide; UK $16.4m; Korea $10.7m; France $7.5m; Russia $6.1m; Japan $5.5m; Hong Kong $5.1m; Germany $5m; Brazil $4.6m; Mexico $4.4m; Spain $4m; Italy $3.2m; Singapore $3.2m.
606th biggest film worldwide between Bean and Us; 8th biggest 2021 film worldwide between A Quiet Place: Part II and Cruella; 64th biggest comic-book worldwide between The Incredible Hulk and Unbreakable; 107th biggest Disney film worldwide between The Village and Wild Hogs
- Malignant – Warner Bros
Opened with $5.43m; received positive reviews (74% Rotten Tomatoes) and C CinemaScore
While horrors have been the best-performing genre since cinemas reopened in May many will blame the disappointing opening because it was released on HBO Max but the issue was more opening so close to Candyman as Spiral, Don’t Breathe 2 and Escape Room: Tournament Of Champions also had disappointing openings but none of them was released on streaming same day. The other issue was opening so close to Shang-Chi which helped Shang-Chi hold better.
Horror openings since May
A Quiet Place Part II $47.54m taking $160.07m; The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It $24.1m taking $65.56m
Old $16.85m taking $47.45m; The Forever Purge $12.55m taking $44.46m
Candyman $22m taking $42.55m; Spiral $8.75m taking $23.21m
Don’t Breathe 2 $10.62m taking $28.92m; Escape Room: Tournament Of Champions $8.8m taking $25.18m
Malignant director James Wan previously directed horrors
2016’s The Conjuring 2 opened $40.4m taking $102.47m
2013’s Insidious: Chapter 2 opened $40.27m taking $83.58m
2013’s The Conjuring opened $41.85m taking $137.4m
2011’s Insidious opened $13.27m taking $45.54m
2004’s Saw opened $18.27m taking $47.91m
He also directed 2018’s Aquaman and 2015’s Furious 7
SambaTV reported 753k households watched Malignant on HBO Max,
Took $6.3m from 69 territories $9.5m international and $15.1m worldwide; still, 8 territories to open including Korea, Australia and Japan.
- Free Guy – 20th Century Studios/Disney
Dropped 37% in its fifth weekend taking $5.79m and $101.59m holding very similar to 1998’s The Truman Show dropping 29% taking $6.01m and $109.79m after 5 weeks of $125.46m (ticket inflation of 80%+ since).
730th biggest film in the US between Maverick and Sleeping with the Enemy; 1,344th biggest inflation inflated between Disney Planes and Rampage; and 6th biggest film of 2021 in the US between Jungle Cruise and Godzilla vs. Kong.
A Quiet Place Part II and F9 have taken $160.07m and $172.73m with 45-day windows, Cruella $86.02m, Jungle Cruise $100.09m; Space Jam: A New Legacy $69.45m and Black Widow $181.46m were released in the movie theatres and streaming.
Free Guy has become Disney’s biggest original film since 2009’s The Proposal starring Ryan Reynolds ($317.3m WW).
Fifth weekends
1998’s The Truman Show dropped 29.4% taking $6m and $109.79m taking $125,61m and $264.11m WW
2012’s Wreck-It Ralph dropped 58.1% taking $6.94m and $158.1m taking $189.42m in the US and $471.2m WW.
2018’s Ralph Breaks the Internet dropped 49.3% taking $4.7m and $162.19m taking $201.09m in the US and $529.32m WW
2014’s The Lego Movie dropped 47.6% and $10.91m and $224.87m taking $257.76m in the US and $468.06m WW
2017’s The Lego Batman Movie dropped 34.9% taking $7.61m and $158.81m taking $175.75m in the US and $311.95m WW
2019’s The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part dropped 41.4% and $3.86m and $97.15m taking $105.8m and $192.3m WW
2010’s Tron Legacy dropped 43.7% taking $5.67m and $156.91m taking $172.06m and $400.1m WW
2018’s Ready Player One dropped 65.4% taking $2.56m and $130.81m taking $137.69m taking $482.89m WW
2018’s The Emoji Movie dropped 43.5% taking $2.5m and $76.59m taking $86.08m in the US and $217.77m WW
2015’s Pixels dropped 36.3% taking $2.14m and $68.55m and $78.74m in the US and $244.87m WW
2006’s Night at the Museum dropped 30% taking $12.01m and $204.85m taking $250.86m in the US and $574.48m WW
Took $17.3m from 47 territories and $174.7m internationally and $276.5m worldwide; China $76.3m (3rd biggest US film since Chinese cinemas reopened); UK $19.7m; Russia $10.4m; France $5.1m; Saudi Arabia $4.4m; Germany $4.4m; Japan $4.3m; Australia $3.8m; Spain $3.1m; Mexico $3.1m.
549th biggest film worldwide between Beverly Hills Cop II and Scooby-Doo and 7th biggest 2021 film worldwide between Black Widow and A Quiet Place: Part II.
- The Card Counter – Focus Features
Opened with $1.03m from 580 screens; received positive reviews (86% Rotten Tomatoes)
Box Office Top 10
UK Box Office Preview
With no major new releases for a second weekend will be little change in the charts with Shang-Chi dropping 40% in its third weekend taking £2m-2.5m staying top for the third weekend. With No Time To Die opening at the end of the month rival studios are nervous to open anything aimed at a similar audience to close to it. That said The Many Saints Of Newark opens on September 22nd and Oasis Knebworth 1996 plays in about 200 cinemas on September 23rd and 24th with Event Cinema surcharges could open stop it from making it four weeks at #1.
There are two new releases but they won’t get the screens they deserve Sky Cinema’s Gunpowder Milkshake will only be playing on independent cinemas as major exhibitors refuse to book it and Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, Curzon is screening in their cinemas ahead of being released on Amazon after they acquired it from 20th Century Studios in May
Musicals have been hugely popular in the UK and a feel-good musical like Everybody’s Talking About Jamie would have performed well in cinemas as musicals are far more enjoyable to be seen with an audience and are crowd-pleasers.
As seen with films like Mamma Mia! and The Greatest Showman audiences respond far more positively to them than critics, this was seen recently with Dear Evan Hanson getting mixed reviews at the Toronto Film Festival.
Dear Evan Hanson is probably similar to Bohemian Rhapsody and The Greatest Showman it’s a film that needs to be seen with an audience of cinemagoers, not critics, remember going to a media screening of Rock of Ages audience reaction was very positive but then critical was very poor. It’s all about audience reactions Universal had an exhibitor screening of Kick-Ass they hated it, which surprised the studio so invited them a second time to see it but with 500+ comic-book fans and the response was excellent from exhibitors and the film was a hit in the UK cinemas.
This is why it was disappointing to see films like Everybody’s Talking About Jamie and Cinderella being sold to streaming services as they work best with an audience, even In The Heights managed to find an audience in the UK holding much stronger than in the US.
Tim Minchin’s Matilda musical will have a cinema release In the UK next Christmas despite being released on Netflix elsewhere and the same should have been done with Everybody’s Talking About Jamie having a proper cinema release in the UK; the theatre show was screened as Event Cinema in July 2018 taking £543,629, while Billy Elliot it was inspired by took £16,972,531 in 2000 (£29m inflation inflated). In times of doom and gloom musicals are what people turn to, with colder wetter weather, inflation going up, COVID cases on the increase and the days getting shorter.
It was surprising Disney sold Everybody’s Talking About Jamie as release Kinky Boots in 2005 opening with £623,163 #5 from 292 screens taking £3,025,544 (£5.5m inflation inflated) along with other feel-good British films including Calendar Girls, but it’s a very different Disney it was then releasing a much wider range of genres.
While with last week’s openers Respect, Malignant and Copshop are all likely to have big drops there are screens for these films to play on.
During a quiet weekend of new release had Sky Cinema’s Gunpowder Milkshake opened wider it could have opened #3 as the female lead British action-comedy is something different than what is currently in cinemas, instead, it will open in the lower half of the top 10 and 2-10 probably won’t take as much combined as Shang-Chi #1.
Sky Cinema released the trailer for the British family film A Boy Called Christmas based on the bestselling novel by Matt Haig, the film will be shown in o Sky Cinema in November but again major exhibitors will refuse to book it.
A few weeks ago Vue Cinemas talked about bringing Netflix shows to their cinemas. While major exhibitors were happy to screen Event Cinema screenings of Katherine Jenkins and Little Minx concerts in their cinemas despite being broadcast on terrestrial a few weeks later, so really don’t understand the logic over their refusal to book Sky Cinema films.
Sky Cinema last week announced they acquired Doug Liman’s Everest starring Ewan McGregor, Sam Heughan and Mark Strong.
Never makes any sense why major exhibitors refuse to book Sky Cinema films as only a quarter of the country subscribe to Sky Cinema, so they are just biting off their nose to smite their face refusing to book it especially over a quiet weekend.
Sky Cinema released The Secret Garden last October opening 3rd with £154,087 from 196 screens (Two By Two: Overboard! Opened #1 with £329,265 from 339 screens) and took £1m despite very soft box office due to the impending lockdown.
Opens in next week
- Oasis Knebworth 1996 -Trafalgar Releasing
Documentary about Oasis’s Knebworth House concerts on Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 August 1996.
It’s released in about 300 cinemas on Thursday, September 23rd, with additional screenings on Friday and Saturday with Event Cinema surcharges if all the three-day box office is included it could be enough for it to topple Shang-Chi in its fourth weekend.
- The Green Knight – Entertainment
The film was due for release in August but the distributor pulled its release late due to COVID, there were rumours at the time they were selling it to a streaming service which they have done (Amazon).
Despite receiving critical acclaim (88% Rotten Tomatoes) the film struggled to find an audience in the US as it was going to do in the UK as older audiences aren’t going to the cinema at the moment. While the big studios can swallow the losses of films opening during COVID for an independent like Entertainment Films it can be very costly seen by the poor opening of films like The Father and last week Copshop as non-blockbusters just aren’t finding wide audiences anymore.
Opening in two weeks
- No Time To Die – Universal Pictures
25th James Bond film starring Daniel Craig, Léa Seydoux, Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris, Jeffrey Wright, Christoph Waltz, Rory Kinnear, Ralph Fiennes, Rami Malek, Lashana Lynch and Ana de Armas and directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga.
It is Daniel Craig’s fifth James Bond film, and he has said it will be his final Bond film, but he said similar after Spectre in 2015 he would rather “slash his wrists” than play Bond again. It was hoped that Bond 25 would be a much-needed reboot of James Bond after Quantum of Solace, Skyfall and Spectre failed to match Casino Royale. That said Skyfall received critical acclaim with 92% and both Skyfall and Spectre were the biggest ever Bond films in the UK (not including inflation).
Sony Pictures contract with Eon Productions ended with Spectre which saw Sony, Warner Bros. 20th Century Fox, Universal Pictures, and Annapurna Pictures bid for distribution rights to Bond 25, Annapurna Pictures and MGM acquired US rights and Universal Pictures International in May 2018.
After releasing Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace MGM renegotiated Sony Pictures distribution fee for the next two films (Skyfall and Spectre) with MGM paying Sony only 8% Paramount came close to acquiring rights, but Sony Pictures offered MGM a chance to partner on several of their films including The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and Total Recall. Had Spectre taken $1.1bn worldwide Sony would have had a $35m distribution fee but it took $881m.
Bond 25 was originally due to start production in December 2018 with Danny Boyle directing and on October 25th, 2019, release date in the UK similar to both Skyfall and Spectre. But three months after announcing the release date Danny Boyle left the film due to script issues and then a month later Cary Joji Fukunaga replaced him and production was delayed several months as its release date first to February 14th, 2020, and then to 8th April 2020 to give the director more time.
This was similar to the first delays Top Gun: Maverick had as it was originally due to open in July 2019 with Bond 25 in October. This has made both films feel very old especially as it was over two years ago last month the title was revealed. The budget for No Tie To Die was reported to be $250m similar to Spectre but the 18-month delays have been reported to cost the studio more than $1m a month in interest fees.
It is now 6 years since Spectre was released and then need to get Bond 26 up and running which will have a new 007. In the trailers, they have teased Lashana Lynch as the new 007 but this is likely as there can only be one 007.
Top Gun: Maverick and No Time To Die have similar histories both were delayed due to production issues from their original release dates in July and November 2019. Both films are vital to the long-term success of the studios as Tom Cruise in Paramount’s MVP with Top Gun Maverick, Mission Impossible 7 and 8 upcoming and James Bond is MGM, while they might have 4,000+ title library James Bond film is the cornerstone of their library and film slates.
No Time To Die was first delayed on 4th March 2020 less than a month before it was due to open so had already spent over $66m on marketing, which they have had to double up on again this time.
On March 4th its released date was delated to 12 November 2020 in the UK and 25 November in the US, but then in October it was delayed to April 2, 2021, but then in January 2021 was delayed again to October 8th in the US and September 30th.
After its Australian release was delayed from 20th August to November due to an increase in COVID were rumours that it might be delayed again but instead, MGM announced its world premiere on September 28th at the Royal Albert Hall. But after Paramount Pictures delayed Top Gun: Maverick from Thanksgiving to May 2022. But then Sony brought forward Venom: Let There Be Carnage US release date to October 1st opening week before No Time To Die in the US could MGM made a massive error in not delaying No Time To Die to Thanksgiving.
James Bond normally cannibalises everything after for a month after and as No Time To Die doesn’t have the same extended previews as Spectre and Skyfall it’s likely to hold similar to Casino Royale (after opening similar) taking £5.3m in 3rd w/e.
But unlike Skyfall and Spectre, Quantum of Solace and Casino Royale that didn’t have any direct competition opening against them for a month, No Time To Die has Venom: Let There Be Carnage, The Last Duel and Halloween Kills opening two weeks after and Dune three weeks after. While also has to contend with The Addams Family 2, Ron’s Gone Wrong, Dear Evan Hansen, The French Dispatch, The Boss Baby 2, Last Night In Soho and Antlers wanting screens within its first four weeks.
That said in 2018 Venom with £8,031,342 (including £2,431,342 previews) despite poor reviews taking £16,652,223, the same weekend A Star Is Born opening with £4,100,196 taking £29,299,129 and Johnny English Strikes Back opening with £4,117,692 taking £17,685,442, but it’s unlike that the same could happen now as box office is cannibalizing much more.
Several trailers have been released since the first was in December 2019 which has made No Time To Die feel old before it opens, while the first Free Guy trailer was released at the same time the trailers that have been released since feeling much fresher. What’s also making the film feel old is that Billie Eilish’s theme song was #1 in February 2020 in the UK.
In May it was announced Amazon was going to buy MGM, but Eon’s Barbara Broccoli said at the time “We are committed to continuing to make James Bond films for the worldwide theatrical audience.” Eon turned down Apple from acquiring No Time To Die in 2018. While during the lockdown many rumours streaming services offered MGM large amounts of money to acquire it, but it was never their film to sell.
Amazon said at the time “Amazon will help preserve MGM’s heritage and catalogue of films and provide customers with greater access to these existing works. Through this acquisition, Amazon would empower MGM to continue to do what they do best: great storytelling”.
With No Time To Die sticking to its September release, the studios have given up any hope for the film to match the box office of either Skyfall or Spectre in the UK.
After Sony lost Bond rights bringing Venom 2 forward in the US could be seen as being vindictive opening it so close to No Time To Die? As the problem with Shang Chi opening is highlighted by the trailers shown with it Venom 2, Spider-Man: No Way Home and Eternals as the next films for the majority of the 7m+ who saw it will be those films, it used to be success breeds success over many films but now it’s comic-book to comic-book movies.
Only need to see an audience breakdown of Shang-Chi to see why Venom 2 could make a massive dent on No Time To Die opening with 77%+ under 35 and 49% saw it as was an MCU film, so it’s like that a large percentage of the audience who saw Shang-Chi will also see Venom 2.
There were reported No Time To Die needs to take over $900m worldwide to breakeven but only Skyfall has managed to take over that globally taking $1.11bn in 2012.
Spectre took $880m; Quantum of Solace $592m and Casino Royale $495m.
But this is where success is seen differently as Shang-Chi opens with $90m and is seen as a hit but it has a similar budget and marketing costs as No Time To die so surely needs to take a similar box office globally to turn a profit.
For the last 18 months, exhibitors heralded No Time to Die as their saviour from COVID, but despite films like Shang Chi opening well James Bond films targets a demographic many of whom haven’t been to the cinema since January 2020 for 1917 and exhibitors have done little to get them back since.
Exhibitors seem to believe with a James Bond film “if you show it they will come” but many 40+ are still very hesitant to return to crowded venues without social distancing or masks being worn and will be uncomfortable sitting in a crowded cinema with strangers for 2.5+ hours.
UK exhibitors were very quick to reject vaccine passports in February when they were first announced despite Bond producer Barbara Broccoli being one of many high-profile figures of the arts and entertainment sector being in favour of them in April. Over recent months many countries and cities including New York, San Francisco and New Orleans and Los Angeles have made it mandatory for arts and entertainment venues. Despite those cities realising it was the best bad idea they had by far to get the majority back into entertainment venues 6 months after announcing vaccine passports, the UK government were not going to be brought in.
The way the UK government handled vaccine passports is the same way they have to handle COVID since January 2020 by dither, but to paraphrase the line from Gladiator and change Rome for Twitter “Twitter is the mob. Conjure magic for them and they’ll be distracted. Take away their freedom and still, they’ll roar. The beating heart of the UK is not the marble of the senate, it’s the sand of the coliseum.”
Brian Mendelssohn, owner of Row House Cinema in Pittsburgh recently reopened after being closed for 18 months said, “When we announced our requirement, I could tell it put a lot of people at ease, ”.. “Ticket sales jumped after the theatre asked for proof of vaccination or a recent negative COVID-19 test.” It’s just short-sighted for UK exhibitors to reject it as cinema should be for the many, not the few and for the last 14 months it has been for the few as older demographics that haven’t been cinephiles have been very slow to return to cinemas.
This is something exhibitors failed to understand since cinemas reopened by going after Generation Z and Millennials. They have made the older demographic feel uncomfortable returning to cinemas anytime soon. (This was evident from all of the industry research since April 2020).
Ending social distancing and seat separation has made this issue much worse. While this hasn’t been noticeable during the summer with opening weekends, it has been by many films dropping heavily in their second weekends as younger audiences are far fickler and will rush to the next new release. Films like Dune are likely to perform much stronger in cities and countries that demand proof of vaccination than those without, like the UK.
The problem is UK exhibitors won’t implement checks without government guidance which was also the reason why cinemas were so slow to deal with COVID in March 2020, on March 6th UKCA said they were waiting on guidance from the government despite seeing what had happened in China two months earlier and what was happening across Europe.
Tickets went on sale in the UK for No Time To Die on Monday 13th December with exhibitors predictably overbooking their cinemas, in Leicester Sq. out of 25 screens in four cinemas playing in 15; Odeon 4 screens Odeon West End 2 screens Cineworld 4 screens including IMAX and 4DX and Vue 5 screens.
James Bond films used to open exclusively in Leicester Square at the Odeon and the cinema would sell out most of its shows during opening weekend and week, this was when the cinema had 1,000 more seats and tickets were a quarter of the price they are now.
2019’s Avengers Endgame broke advance bookings records, tickets went on sale three weeks before opening with Odeon Cinemas reporting they were selling 30 tickets every 10 seconds and it had taken £22m in advance sales (2,148,092 tickets) including £12.1m (1,177,613 tickets) for its opening weekend and £10m for other times; Vue sold 1m seats over its opening weekend with 500,000 on the opening Saturday from 91 cinemas.
Despite opening with £43.4m Avengers Endgame sold less than 50% of its capacity in a normal week it’s about 10% but since cinemas reopened in July 2020 it’s been closer to half of that even with 50% capacity for most of the time.
In October 2015 Spectre opened with £41,299,090 over 7 days (£21,321,626 from four days of previews); 2D took £18,449,043 total £38,331,160 and IMAX (40 screens) £1,445,564 total £2,882,474.
It broke records on Tuesday £6.3m and Wednesday £5.71m and taking 60% off Mondays box office with the first shows at 7.30pm with £4.18m; but many of those records were broken after by Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Avengers Endgame.
Avengers Endgame took £11.9m from Thursday previews the highest single day in UK history; £9.08m on Friday 4% less than 2011’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (£9.48m); had biggest ever Saturday £12.1m (overtaking Star Wars: The Force Awakens £8.7m and Skyfall £8.5m) and biggest Sunday £10.2m.
Spectre opened in only 651 cinemas but was playing in up to half a dozen of screens in each of the similar to Avengers: Endgame and No Time To Die is likely to open in even more. I do always question the need to open these films so wide as distributors open these films far too wide and showing in many multiplexes every 30 minutes which means that very few screenings even over the opening weekend are sold out.
Tickets went on sale on Monday and there was an immediate rush for tickets to screenings at the BFI IMAX, Odeon Leicester Square and Cineworld IMAX Leicester Square that normally happens, with exhibitors saying, “got off to a really promising start”, but will they release any numbers to back it up as they did with when Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Avengers Endgame tickets went on sale.
Do find it interesting that for the last 19 months exhibitors have continuously said No Time To Die will be the saviour of cinema as they did ahead of the release of Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, but “While it would be wrong to place too many expectations on the shoulders of one title, and there is a strong film slate across the weeks up to the end of the year, the hope is that the release of No Time to Die will encourage many of the more infrequent cinema-goers to return to the big screen, perhaps for the first time since cinemas were allowed to re-open in May.”
But as we have seen since cinemas reopened in July 2020 success only brings success to films targetting a similar demographic, why all except for Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway, Space Jam 2 and The Croods 2 have all performed similarly (Black Widow, F9, Free Guy, The Suicide Squad, Jungle Cruise, Shang Chi, and A Quiet Place 2) as they all play to the same demographic with most not playing beyond it.
It would be interesting to see what Universal and exhibitors estimated No Time To Die would do in April 2020 and what they think it will do in September/October, as in normal condition would expect about £7m from Thursday previews and up to £30m opening weekend, but this is likely to be closer to half having a similar opening as Quantum of Solace.
The first weekend in October over the last decade has seen many films targetting older audiences open strongly
2019’s Joker opened £12,555,328 (no previews) taking £57,800,000; Judy opened the same weekend with £2,086,969 taking £8,283,978
2018’s Venom opened £8,031,342 (£2,431,342 previews) taking £16,652,223; A Star Is Born opened same weekend £4,100,196 (£952,000 previews) taking £29,299,129
2017’s Blade Runner 2049 opened £6,071,625 (£858,095 previews) taking £18,820,009
2016’s The Girl on the Train opened £6,957,945 (£1,783,789 previews) taking £23,372,415
2015’s The Martian opened £6,531,734 (£1,630,490 previews) taking £23,578,878
2014’s Gone Girl opened £4,109,628 (£516,870 previews) taking £22,370,392
2012’s Taken 2 opened £7,378,048 (£1,191,773 previews) taking £23,458,794
While No Time To Die will open bigger than all of them and probably take more in previews than all bar Joker and Venom but will it have the legs as many of these films had and other Bond films in the past?
The last 10 films to take over £50m at the UK box office where Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Frozen 2, Joker, The Lion King, Toy Story 4, Avengers: Endgame, Bohemian Rhapsody, Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again!, Avengers: Infinity War and Black Panther.
All except for Joker, Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again! and Bohemian Rhapsody target the same demographic.
But we are in a very different place now six years on from the release of the last James Bond film, said it will, of course, become the 41st member of the £50m club within a few weeks.