- Avatar: The Way of Water – £11,187,562 – NE
Took £3.5m (31.3%) Friday (4th biggest Friday in 2022); £4.2m Saturday and £3.8m Sunday
3D took 45.3% (£5,060,733) from 557 cinemas (£9,085 average); IMAX/3D 12% (£1,346,849) from 54 screens (£25k average) and 2D took 42.7% (£4,773,500) £5,584 average.
7th biggest opening of 2022 between Jurassic World Dominion and Minions: The Rise of Gru and 9th biggest opening since cinemas reopened after lockdowns
82nd biggest opening between The Dark Knight and Despicable Me 3 (close to The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Star Wars: Attack of the Clones, LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring and I am Legend) and 138th biggest inflated opening between The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug and Bridget Jones’s Diary (The World Is Not Enough, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Batman Forever and Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol).
32nd biggest Fri-Sun opening (no previews) between Man of Steel and Despicable Me 3 and the 52nd Fri-Sun opening (with previews) between Top Gun: Maverick and Despicable Me 3).
The opening was 8.84% of the US opening compared to 11.04% for Avatar (4 day opening) but almost the same with its 3-day total (£6,670,591) 8.44% taking only £8,529 less than Top Gun Maverick Fri-Sun (£11,196,091)
The lack of advance booking data for the sequel to the biggest film ever was surprising as surely the industry would want to make it known if bookings were strong as was the case with films like Spider-Man No Way Home ( Odeon 400,000+ and Vue 150,000+), No Time To Die, Star Wars: The Force Awakens (sold 1+ million tickets in (700,000+ at Odeon and 332,000+ at Vue), Avengers Infinity War (Odeon sold a ticket every 10 seconds was their fifth highest selling advance ahead of Avengers: Age of Ultron and Spectre), Avengers Endgame (sold £22m advance (2,148,092 tickets) and Beauty and the Beast (was Odeon’s 4th biggest advance after The Force Awakens, Rogue One and Fifty Shades of Grey selling a ticket every 28 seconds). While Avatar had sold $1m tickets in advance at BFI IMAX days before opening in 2009. As Avatar: The Way of Water ahead of release was expected to take a similar BO of those films surely advance bookings should have been similar to all of them apart from Avengers Endgame.
Everyone is under the assumption that just because Avatar and Titanic had long legs that the sequel would perform similarly but the marketplace is very different when those films opened, the problem of course as the industry has put all its eggs in the Avatar basket it doesn’t have legs then January will be very quiet.
A week ago, many expected Avatar 2 to challenge Star Wars: The Force Awakens as the biggest film in the UK, this was similar to when Avengers Endgame opened with £43.4m. Instead, it looks like it will play similarly to Star Wars Rogue One. On Monday Avatar 2 took £2.2m compared to Rogue One £2.5m and went on to take £66m. (took £2.2m on Tuesday Vs Rogue One £2.6m) The next two weeks are very lucrative for cinema, normally there is a wide mix of films on release but this year cinemagoers have limited choices, it’s either Avatar 2 or Matilda and I Wanna Dance with Somebody.
The first teaser trailer was attached to Doctor Strange 2 in May and released online on May 9th viewed 148.5m times in its first 24 hours (23m in China). An edited version of the trailer was released with Lightyear (removing the gun sequences). It received a mixed reception, while it looked stunning it felt more like a computer game than a film, this was the issue with previous films released in HFR.
In 2009 Avatar had the third biggest opening of the year after Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and The Twilight Saga: New Moon and the 40th biggest opening between War of the Worlds and High School Musical 3 (close to Die Another Day, Transformers, Night at the Museum, Star Wars: The Phantom Menace) and opened less than I Am Legend £11,009,365 2 years earlier. Had the 9th biggest Fri-Sun opening between Transformers and High School Musical 3.
Took £1,838,459 from Thursday taking 21.61% of its opening and £6,670,591 Fri-Sun. (was heavy snow across the UK over the weekend) it took only 21% of its opening from 2D despite playing on many more 2D screens.
Now Avatar is the 128th biggest opening between Kingsman: The Golden Circle and Bad Neighbours and 46th without previews between Fast & Furious 6 and Star Trek: Into Darkness and is the 112th biggest inflation inflated (£12,638,442) between Night at the Museum and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2.
The big question is whether it will top Avatar BO and whether will it have similar legs, as the sequel will open about twice as much as the original it’s unlikely to play as long as the first film. That said with a lack of major releases in January if it doesn’t come closer to the first film January is going to be a soft start of the year. As I’ve said many times the fact that the sequel opens 13 years later with 50%+ ticket inflation and many exhibitors have increased prices for the film it should take more than Avatar.
The plot of Avatar 2 made me think of Star Wars The Phantom Menace with Naboo having to befriend the Gungans whom they hated to help defeat the sky people. but as with Batman Vs Superman and Captain America Civil War, there’s a long middle section of the film that sees the two fight each other before they go and fight their real enemy.
Avatar opened in 9 IMAX cinemas in 2009 (Birmingham IMAX Millennium Point, National Media Museum IMAX Bradford, Cardiff, Gateshead Metrocentre, Glasgow Science Centre, ODEON Greenwich, BFI London IMAX, Manchester The Printworks and ODEON Wimbledon). IMAX took 7% of the UK BO of Avatar (more than it took from 2D 300 screens) Avatar broke advance booking records at the BFI IMAX taking £607,000 selling 47,487 tickets with an average ticket price of £12.90 selling 99% capacity;(average price for Avatar 2 is £24). Avatar The Way of Water opened in 54.
In 2009 Avatar had much more competition as few expected Avatar to be the massive success it was so Alvin and the Chipmunks 2 and Sherlock Holmes opened the week after, both opening strongly with £5.34m and £3.1m. In its third weekend increased by 55% taking £5,940,479 but other holdovers Sherlock Holmes (£3,439,616 up 12%; Alvin And The Chipmunks II £2,457,029 up 83% (not including previews); Nine (£780,255), St. Trinian’s 2 £671,480 up 54% with new release Did You Hear About The Morgan’s opening with £1,155,060.
The original was #1 for 7 weeks in a row taking £4m+ for all those weeks after opening with £8.5m, the question is how many weeks Avatar will: The Way of Water stay at #1 as Empire of Light (January 9th 7-day opening) and Babylon (January 20th) are the only two films that could open #1 with Puss In Boots: The Last Wish (February 3rd).
But with Whitney Huston’s I Wanna Dance with Somebody biopic opening on Boxing Day giving it a 7-day opening weekend could see Avatar 2 lasting only two weeks #1 as British audiences love their music biopic and Whitney Huston has sold over 11m albums in the UK, while the film will target the female audience away from Avatar.
Comparison titles to Avatar 2 apart from the first film are going by its opening Rogue One and Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit trilogy also opened the same weekend in December with similar BO, but of course, its 21 years ago since the first Lord of the Rings film and they weren’t released originally in 3D or IMAX.
While daily BO is easy to find online for the US it’s much harder to get for the UK so have very few films that I have separate from Fri/Sat/Sun BO.
At the London premiere, James Cameron said “Theatres are full again and moviegoers of the world have declared resoundingly that we need this. We need this ability to gather together to sit in these great dark spaces and to dream together with our eyes wide open in a cinema. To me tonight is not about a new Avatar film. It’s about cinema, and here you are in your black-tie finery. It’s a celebration of this art form that we love so much. It’s back it’s alive and it’s as great as it’s ever been.”
The immediate social media reaction was what you would expect gushing about how visually stunning it is and never bet against James Cameron, but while his films are always visually stunning the issue is always the storyline. Highlighted Titanic winning 11 Oscars, winning Best Picture, Director, Actress, Supporting Actress, Cinematography, and many technical awards but not for the script.
James Cameron is passionate about cinema, but part of this passion is similar to Quentin Tarantino who takes elements from other films. While Avatar shared a similar plot to Dances with Wolves and Ferngully critics have said he took many elements from the original film. All the reviews for Avatar 2 have highlighted the technical aspects of the film the plot and dialogue and the rave premiere reactions became a three-star review. The problem when you have visionary technology lead directors like Cameron, Lucas, Jackson, Nolan is they struggle with expanding their plot ideas into a three-hour film that often has poorly written scripts.
In an interview, James Cameron described making Avatar sequels as “the worst business case in movie history.” As the industry gets caught up in the hype when seeing films like Black Panther Wakanda Forever opening with $181m in the US and taking $287m after 10 days in the US and $550m worldwide. As these films have massive budgets attached to Wakanda Forever $250m+ and then the same again on marketing it will need to take over $1bn globally.
James Cameron admitted Avatar: The Way of Water will need to be the 4th/5th film worldwide to break even (currently Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens $2.07bn and Avengers: Infinity War $2.05bn).
Of course, it’s a different story for cinemas as exhibitors will be desperate for Avatar: The Way of Water to match the BO of the original, but 12 years on with 50%+ ticket inflation and the huge increase in IMAX screens globally, the massive hype and little competition it should do?
James Cameron said in 2006 if Avatar was successful, he wanted to make two sequels (set for 2014 and 2015 releases), but he chooses to develop new technologies before making the sequels as he did develop the new technology to make the original film. Filming of Avatar 2 finally started in August 2017 with a budget of $1bn for 4 sequels.
At that time the sequels were vital to the studio, but everything changed a few months later when Disney announced they would acquire the studio (in December 2017). While Avatar might have been the biggest film globally Disney was far more interested in MCU and Star Wars, Avatar was only interested in Disney after Pandora: The World of Avatar opened at Disney World Florida in May 2017.
For Disney films are often just software for the hardware (theme park and merchandise) so as with Star Wars films the addition of more Avatar films would mean that Pandora would continue to attract people to its parks and sell merchandise for decades to come as Yogurt said in Spaceballs “Merchandising is where the real money from the movie is made.” Disney’s films took $2.9bn globally in 2021 but in comparison made $56.2bn on sales of licenced merchandise (up from $54bn in 2020) and is the world’s biggest licensor. In comparison, Warner Bros are 4th with $15bn, Hasbro 6th at $8.4bn (with Peppa Pig) Universal 7th at $8.3bn and Paramount 10th at $6bn.
The 7 James Cameron-directed films have taken £300m at the UK BO (don’t have data for Terminator) but the age of many of them sees the inflation inflated total of £500m+. The only film that failed to find an audience In the UK was 1989’s The Abyss opening for £204,075 (after an exclusive platform at Odeon Leicester Square taking £1,348,000 (£5,065,972 inflated) as all of his films it was visually stunning and looked stunning in 70mm at the Odeon Marble Arch.
2. Roald Dahl’s Matilda The Musical – £1,318,128 – £12,763,079
Dropped 37.3% in its fourth weekend
18th biggest 2022 film between The Bad Guys and Lyle Lyle Crocodile
134th biggest fourth weekend between Uncharted and Last Christmas (close to The Bodyguard, Moulin Rouge, The Lion King (1994) and Ghost) and inflation inflated similar to X-Men and Mission Impossible: Fallout (close to Three Men and A Baby, Pretty Woman, Die Hard 2 Die Harder and Dumbo).
Over the last 24 days, Matilda has taken over 80% of its BO from weekends, but as the school holidays started on Friday and as it’s the only film targeting younger audiences Matilda should perform well over the next two weeks. 2014’s Paddington opened the same weekend and took the same BO (£15.2m) in its first 17 days as it took during the Christmas holidays, so Matilda could take £20m+ by the new year.
Sony held charity screenings of the sing-along version on December 17th and releases it in cinemas in January
The stage musical had been hugely popular selling over 11m seats and British cinemagoers love their cinematic musicals Matilda the Musical is the perfect antidote for the cold wet weather and children who have been lacking good family entertainment in cinemas this year. While it’s the only major family film to open until Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (February 3rd).
Fourth weekends
1996’s Matilda dropped 2.9% £676,174 (£1,476,618 inflated) and £5,272,384 (£11,513,747) 51.5% of £10,227,163 (£22,333,913 inflated)
2005’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory dropped 41% £1,691,431 (£3,246,262) #1 and £30,091,611 (£57,753,021) 80.5% of £37,354,584 (£64,081,749 inflated)
2009’s Fantastic Mr Fox dropped 14% £675,753 (£1,003,692) and £7,714,879 (£11,458,864) 83.3% of £9,260,892 (£13,755,148)
2016’s The BFG dropped 35% £1,110,536 #4 and £23,510,073 76.6% of £30,694,086
507th biggest film between Ransom and The Impossible (close to Three Men and a Little Lady, Lilo & Stitch, Jungle Cruise and Ghostbusters (1984) and 893rd biggest inflated between Watchmen and The Grand Budapest Hotel (close to Superman IV, Groundhog Day, National Treasure and Small Soldiers).
54th biggest family/musical film between Hook and Lyle, Lyle Crocodile (close to Grease, Evita, Hairspray and Home Alone) and 92nd biggest inflated between Honey, I Blew Up the Kid and James And The Giant Peach (close to George and the Jungle, The Borrowers, Freaky Friday and Big).
- 3. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever – £377,824 – £31,580,193
Dropped 53% in its sixth weekend; taking 71.1% less than Black Panther (£1,308,281)
172nd biggest 6th weekend between Mission: Impossible II and Yesterday (close to Pretty Woman, Jurassic World Dominion, Batman Forever and Total Recall (1990).
18th biggest MCU sixth weekend between Doctor Strange 2 (£398,401) and Captain America: Winter Soldier (£357,448) close to Iron Man 2, Avengers: Endgame, Ant-Man and the Wasp and Captain America: Civil War).
14th biggest MCU film after 38 days between Spider-Man: Far from Home (£34,534,050) and Thor: Ragnarok (£30,194,221);
14th biggest MCU film between Thor: Love and Thunder (£34,562,340) and Thor: Ragnarök (£30,936,228) close to Iron Man 3, Captain America: Civil War, Spider-Man Homecoming and Guardians of the Galaxy.
128th biggest film between Slumdog Millionaire and Gladiator (close to Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Incredibles, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 and War of the Worlds) and 294th biggest inflation inflated between Star Trek: Into Darkness and X-Men: The Last Stand (close to Star Wars Special Edition, I, Robot, Fast & Furious 6 and Prometheus); the 137th film to take £30m+ at the BO since 1993’s Jurassic Park)
24th biggest comic-book movie between Deadpool 2 and Thor: Ragnarok (close to Men In Black, Spider-Man 3, Man of Steel and Spider-Man) and 39th biggest inflated between X-Men: Days of Future Past and X-Men: The Last Stand (close to The Amazing Spider-Man, X-Men: Days of Future Past, Batman and Robin and Batman Return.
8th biggest 2022 film between Sing 2 and Elvis
The 30 MCU films have taken £1.01bn at the UK BO since Iron Man was released in May 2008 (£1.26bn inflated).
2018’s Black Panther dropped 31% in its fifth weekend £1,308,281 taking £44,892,064 90.1% of £49,858,826 with holdover Peter Rabbit #1 £4,595,239; Tomb Raider #4 £1,186,436; The Greatest Showman #5 £753,420 13th weekend and new release Pacific Rim: Uprising £1,655,186 #2.
Wakanda Forever is the last film of Phase 4 it started with Black Widow which has been seen as disappointing, while there was a huge success last Christmas for Spider-Man No Way Home all the others haven’t lived up to their hype. As the star of the year, Black Panther 2 was surely a sure thing to take upwards of £50m.
There are big questions about Phase Five and the three films opening next year, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (the first two Ant-Man films struggled to match the success of other MCU films, but Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and The Marvels are likely to match the BO of this year’s MCU films.
- 4. Violent Night – £352,280 – £2,699,685
Down 38% in its third weekend.
47th biggest 2022 film between Fisherman’s Friends 2 and Avatar (re-release)
Third weekends
2004’s Bad Santa dropped 48% £251,024 #9 and £1,792,961 of £2,407,426
2016’s Bad Santa 2 dropped 44% £154,758 #9 and £1,726,290 of £1,961,362
Other Christmas action films include Die Hard (took £3,116,630); Lethal Weapon (£2,394,952); Ronin (£2,658,365) The Long Kiss Goodnight (£4,484,333); The Last Boy Scout (£1,678,135); Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (£1,443,650)
- 5. Strange World – £193,836 – £2,045,914
Down 37% in the fourth weekend
After 26 days it’s the third lowest-grossing Disney Animated classic (since 1989) between The Rescuers Down Under (£2,093,160) and Home on the Range (£1,435,295).
52nd biggest 2022 film between Halloween Ends and Moonfall
Originally Matilda was going to open December 2nd but when Sony brought forward its release by a week this meant Strange World was always likely to be DOA, and as they had already set a Disney+ release date couldn’t delay it locally as Disney used to do with their animated films.
Strange World as Black Panther 2 will hold in the top 10 for longer than they would normally be due to this time of the year as normally there are far more films opening in December.
The 33 Disney animated classics have taken £450m at the UK BO since 1989 and £720m inflation inflated. Disney would regularly re-release their classic animated films and they were always very popular in cinemas as they found new audiences each time the reimaginations Disney have made over the last decade is just a new way to show their classic films to new audiences.
Also released
The bottom half of the top 10 was made up mostly of re-releases of classic Christmas family films.
Elf (Re: 2021) #6 £122,124 down 18% from 426 screens taking £1,186,545
Home Alone (Re: 2018) #7 £105,887 down 11.4% from 320 screens taking £1,646,977
It’s A Wonderful Life #9 £93,832 and £501,951
The Muppet Christmas Carol (30th Anniversary) #10 £84,270 down 56% from 406 screens taking £3,265,934
Just missing the top 10
The Polar Express #12 £36,347 and £708,531
Die Hard (30th Anniversary) #13 £32,428 and £637,145
Home Alone 2: Lost In New York #14 £30,789 and £333,794
Film News
At the start of the year with the strongest film slate of all the major studios (Black Panther 2, Doctor Strange 2, Thor: Love and Thunder, Strange World and Avatar: The Way of Water Disney was expected to be the #1 UK studio in 2022. But as many of those films haven’t reached the high levels they were expected to, BO Universal Pictures is likely to retain the #1 studio for a second year. Disney released 16 films in 2022, three quarters of them from 20th Century Studios and Searchlight Pictures, they have currently taken £170m.
Universal Pictures released 26 films from Universal, Focus Features and MGM and they have made £210m. Avatar 2 is likely to take at the most £30m more this year, while Black Panther 2 and Strange World won’t likely take much more. Universal Pictures’ big three were Jurassic World Dominion, Minions: The Rise of Gru and Sing 2 but they also had strong performances from a wide mix of films Nope, Downtown Abbey 2, The Bad Guys, The Black Phone, Ticket to Paradise and Belfast.
Warner Bros and Paramount Pictures come third and fourth with Sony Pictures fifth with Spider-Man No Way Home 2022 B taking about a third of their 2022 BO. All 5 studios will have taken £100m+ which is a positive for cinema as over the last decade Disney has had a stranglehold on UK BO in 2019 took almost 45% of the BO (including Fox titles). Next Disney has their strongest slate since 2019, but the three MCU films aren’t home bankers.
UK box office in detail
This weekend’s top 10 box office took £13,929,358 up 205.6% from last weekend’s £4,557,646: 1,723,930 admissions up 209.8% from 556,449
284th biggest top 10 of the last 21 years (out of 1,079) between 20 May 2016 #1 X-Men: Apocalypse £7,354,293 (52.7% of top 10) and 25 January 2013 Les Miserables £4,016,611 (28.8% of top 10) and 558th biggest inflation inflated between 26 March 2010 Nanny McPhee & the Big Bang £2,586,760 (25.2% of top 10) and 10 April 2015 £5,407,918 (43% of top 10).
Top 3 took £12,883,514 92.5% of the top 10; Avatar: The Way of Water 80.4% (£11,187,562); Roald Dahl’s Matilda The Musical 9.5% (£1,318,128); Black Panther Wakanda Forever 2.7% (£377,824)
Taking 80.3% of the top 10 it’s the 22nd highest percentage #1 between 12 June 2015 Jurassic World £19,350,727 (80.6%) and 24 April 2015 Avengers: Age Of Ultron£18,015,774 (80.2%).
149th biggest admissions #1 (1,384,599) between 24 May 2002 Star Wars: Attack of the Clones £5,955,017 (1,388,116) and 11 October 2019 Joker £9,766,608 (1,373,644).
Down 59.6% from 2021; (£34,452,923); Spider-Man No Way Home (£31,899,232); The Nutcracker – Bolshoi Ballet 2021 (£85,417); #1 Spider-Man No Way Home £31,899,232 1st week 679 screens (92.6% of top 10)
Up 1,239.3% 2020 (£1,133,072); Wonder Woman 1984 (£846,435); Come Away (£42,834); The Nutcracker – Bolshoi Ballet 2020 (£13,821); #1 Wonder Woman 1984 1st week £846,435 214 screens (74.7% of top 10)
Down 54.9% 2019 (£30,884,264) Cats £3,207,471; #1 Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker 740 screens (£20,864,500) 1st week
Down 4.5% 2018:(£14,579,804); Aquaman (£5,230,285); Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (£2,279,995); Mortal Engines (£1,269,441); Free Solo (£387,402); La Traviata – Met Opera 2018 (£274,847); CBeebies Christmas Show: Thumbelina (£195,580); It’s a Wonderful Life (4K Restoration) (£114,865); #1 Aquaman £5,230,285 1st week 604 screens (35.8% of top 10)
Down 56.1% 2017: (£31,690,287); Star Wars: The Last Jedi (£28,010,841); It’s a Wonderful Life (Re: 2017) (£61,102); #1 Star Wars: The Last Jedi £28,010,841 1st week 723 screens (88.4% of top 10)
Up 36.5% from 2016: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (£17,305,011); The Nutcracker – Bolshoi 2016 (£135,026); The Eagle Huntress (£16,513); #1 Rogue One: A Star Wars Story £17,305,011 1st week 698 screens (78.9% of the top 10)
Down 63.9% from 2015; (£38,533,406); Star Wars: The Force Awakens (£34,011,849); Sisters (£1,215,368); #1 Star Wars: The Force Awakens £34,011,849 1st week 670 screens (88.3% of top 10)
Down 6% 2014: (£14,808,248); Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (£1,851,424); Dumb & Dumber To (£1,807,059); The Nutcracker – Bolshoi 2014 (£293,192); Guys and Dolls (Re: 2014) (£5,570); #1 The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies £5,409,312 2nd week 605 screens 45% drop (36.5% of top 10)
Down 16.8% from 2013: (£16,740,270); The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (£9,325,626); Cinema Paradiso (Re: 2013) (£12,374); #1 The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug £9,325,626 1st week 580 screens (55.7% of top 10)
Down 15.7% from 2012 (£16,530,942); The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (£11,601,538); Tinker Bell and the Secret of the Wings 3D (£528,820); Smashed (£1,991); Home Alone (Re: 2012) (£1,716); Neil Young Journeys (£423); Code Name: Geronimo (£388); #1 The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey £11,601,538 1st week 1st #1 598 screens (70.2% of top 10)
Up 27.4% from 2011 (£10,935,855); Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (£3,827,697); Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked (£2,361,867); It’s a Wonderful Life (Re) (£46,785); #1 Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows £3,827,697 1st week 540 screens (35% of top 10)
Up 111.1% from 2010: (£6,599,055); Tron Legacy (£1,970,692); Burlesque (£425,931); Animals United (£307,409); Fred: The Movie (£257,133); It’s a Wonderful Life (Re) (£44,422); Catfish (£28,056); #1 Tron Legacy £1,970,692 1st week 454 screens (29.9% of top 10)
Down 1.8% from 2009; (£13,679,336); Avatar (£8,509,050); St. Trinian’s 2 (£1,586,832); Nine (£44,443); #1 Avatar £8,509,050 1st week 503 screens (62.2% of top 10)
Up 65.7% from 2008; (£8,404,783); Twilight (£2,508,422); The Tale of Despereaux (£560,870); A Bunch of Amateurs (£91,156); It’s a Wonderful Life (RE) (£49,845); Bicycle Thieves (re) (£3,802); #1 Twilight £2,508,422 1st week 448 screens (29.8% of top 10)
Up 37.5% from 2007: (£10,130,524); Enchanted (£2,547,975); Bee Movie (£2,281,393); Mr Magorium’s Wonder Emporium (£459,734); We Own the Night (£441,416); It’s a Wonderful Life (RE) (£15,025); Youth Without Youth (£8,174); #1 The Golden Compass £3,002,951 2nd week 59% drop 509 screens (29.6% of top 10)
Up 44.9% from 2006; (£9,614,556); Eragon (£1,317,687); Déjà Vu (£1,098,295); Black Christmas (£367,743); Grounded (£240,378); The Wizard of Oz (re) (£22,973); #1 Happy Feet £2,034,916 2nd week 466 screens 45% drop (21.6% of top 10)
Up 1.3% from 2005 (£13,786,105); King Kong (£6,944,740); The Family Stone (£247,515); Lassie (£132,926); #1 King Kong £6,944,740 1st week 481 screens (50.4% of top 10)
Up 69.8% from 2004 (£8,205,320); Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events (£2,210,979); Ella Enchanted (£107,730); #1 Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events £2,210,979 1st week 452 screens (27% of top 10)
Down 32% from 2003 (£20,475,870); Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (£15,021,761); Freaky Friday (£1,214,559); Good Boy! (£146,354); #1 Lord of the Rings: Return of the King £15,021,761 1st week 494 screens 29% drop (73.4% of top 10)
Down 21.4% from 2002 (£17,727,804); Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (£13,063,560); Sweet Home Alabama (£758,267); Hey Arnold (£35,881); #1 Lord of the Rings: Two Towers £13,063,560 1st week 501 screens (73.7% of top 10)
Up 4.1% from 2001 (£14,532,108); The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings (£11,058,045); The Princess Diaries (£587,677); #1 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings £11,058,045 1st week 470 screens (76.1% of top 10);
Next weekend 2021 (£8,478,878); The Matrix: Resurrections (£2,686,785); #1 Spider-Man No Way Home £4,619,518 2nd week 84% (76% not previews) drop 656 screens (54.5% of top 10)
US Box Office
- Avatar: The Way of Water – Disney
Opened with $134.1m; received positive reviews (79% Rotten Tomatoes) and x CinemaScore (Avatar received 82% Rotten Tomatoes) and A CinemaScore
Took 76.4% from 3D ($81.5m) and 22.1% from IMAX ($16.5m)
Tracking had Avatar 2 opening between $150m-$170m a month ago with some believing after the rave social media reactions it had a chance to open close to $200m, but then estimates started dropping on Friday as estimates came in for midnights.
Took $17m from Thursday previews; #36 biggest between Jurassic World: Dominion and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 (#23 The Batman $21.6m; #29 Top Gun: Maverick $19.3m
29% from 3D; 15% Imax 3D; 14% PLF 3D; 3% 4DX
Opened in 404 IMAX 3D screens taking $2.63m taking 15.5% of the opening
2015’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens took 12% of its opening ($30m) from IMAX and Interstellar took 26% of its opening $13m (of $50m) from IMAX; 2009’s Avatar took 12.4% from IMAX screens in its opening weekend ($9.5m) playing in 179 screens
Took $53m from Saturday (including $17m previews) #44 biggest opening day between Finding Dory and Deadpool 2; Avatar was #134 $26.75m in 2009 it was #35 biggest between Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest and Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith.
Avatar 2 opening day is just slightly more than Top Gun Maverick, while shared similar IMAX BO fewer saw Avatar 2 as 30%+ came from 3D surcharges; before Avatar2 BO is compared to any other film need to remove 30% off surcharges for 3D
6th biggest opening of the year between The Batman ($134m) and Top Gun: Maverick ($126m)
37th biggest opening between Finding Dory and The Batman;69th $100m+ opening since 2002’s Spider-Man $114.8m (now #55 biggest opening. But it’s impossible to compare Avatar 2’s opening with any other due to a much higher level of 3D ticket sales inflating tickets by a third.
Audiences preferred to see the film in premium formats IMAX, Dolby and PLF with screenings across the weekend selling out, but then regular 2D and 3D were soft. Analysts believe this will mean it will have long legs as audiences are waiting to see it in those formats, but we won’t know until we see the holds over the next three weeks.
Avatar 2 opened in 4,100 cinemas (12K screens) including 404 IMAX; 950 PLFs (75% 3D), 3,000 3D cinemas; 280 4DX and 85 ScreenX.
The average ticket price for a 3D PLF is $18.28 compared to $12.53 2D while last week’s average was $12.04 according to EntTelligence research (NATO has other ideas of the average being $9.18).
Audience breakdown 89% mixed; 5% parents; 6% under 12; Men 59% to 41% women; 18-34 61%; 45+ 14% and under 25 41%; this compares to 57% male and 62% 25 years and older.
James Cameron said “The real success of the Disney-produced film won’t reveal itself on the first weekend… Titanic didn’t work that way. Avatar didn’t work that way”—but closer to the third weekend. Coupling the holiday season with rave reviews on social media eclipsing critics’ more lukewarm takes, the future looks promising for the film.” But the marketplace is very different 13 years later films are much more front-loaded as they open far bigger and don’t have legs as younger audiences are very quick to move on to the next big thing.
If Avatar 2 needs to take $2bn+ to break even, then Fast X with a budget of a third more will need to take even more. Early tracking for Avatar 2 was between $150m-$175m more than twice as much as Avatar ($77m) but the question for the sequel (as with all sequels) is not how big it opens but how big it drops the second weekend as Avatar only dropped 1.8% Christmas weekend while The Force Awakens dropped 40%; Rogue One 59%: Aquaman 23%; Rise of Skywalker 59%; No Way Home 57%.
Has taken $38m in advance bookings more than double Top Gun: Maverick and Jurassic World: Dominion but less than Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Doctor Strange 2 with 74% 3D while also strong IMAX but surprisingly not at the level of Marvel as must be targetting an older audience.
James Cameron’s first dollar gross deal for the original film made $350m+ and $97m from Titanic, according to Deadline, had a ‘significant gross percentage’ for those films.
If Avatar 2 is to match the BO of the first film it needs to have similar legs playing through to February but if The Force Awakens couldn’t do so it’s going to be much harder for Avatar 2 as the lengthy running time will impact multiple viewings, especially during weekdays (have seen this with Wakanda Forever).
Avatar 2 took $16m on Monday which is similar to what Avatar took in 2009 down 56.2% compared with Avatar’s 33.8% despite at least 50% ticket inflation. Rather than admitting Houston, we have a problem, the industry is always telling its twisted truth as they compared Monday’s BO to other Monday BO films “post-COVID” as the industry doesn’t make their comparisons with films that opened before cinemas reopened. Films need to be compared to similar films and the only film Avatar 2 can be compared to is Avatar. For Avatar 2 to take a lower Monday BO despite taking 32.4% more on Sunday ($36.6m Vs $24.74m) shows the sequel won’t have the legs of the original film as the interest is not there despite the industry putting all its eggs in one basket.
Gower Street Analytics last week reported 2023 global BO won’t return to 2019 levels when cinemas closed in 2020 believed BO would return to normal in 2023 taking longer than many who thought audiences would rush back to cinemas as soon as they reopened and would be a second golden age of cinema. Avatar 2 lower than expected opening and lower-than-expected final global BO goes back to the poor handling of COVID by the industry, while Spider-Man’s No Way Home and Top Gun Maverick might have taken more than they were expected most others have taken much less. As the industry has failed to realise the audience habits that had changed over the decade before COVID changed much more during COVID. Cinemagoers are now even more selective with the films they go to see in cinemas and those they wait to see at home, exhibitors of course blamed this on a shortened theatrical window. The problem is they have been in denial for the last 20 years that price inflation is the cause of the lack of growth, over the last 30+ years up to 2019 BO increased year on year but since 2003 admissions started dropping off.
To change you need to acknowledge there is a problem as ignoring issues only makes them worse longer term. This can be seen by the industry’s lack of action from 2003 when admissions started dropping (BO increased yearly but surely could see the BO growth was due to ticket inflation?). then in January 2020 when China closed cinemas, in March 2020 believed Christopher Nolan was the saviour of cinema and then since believing Avatar 2 would topple Avatar to become the biggest film globally. (Also believed Avengers Endgame would topple Avatar in 2019 after opening with $1.2bn worldwide). Big changes have been needed for the last two decades, COVID gave the industry a once-a-lifetime chance to relaunch itself in the streaming era, but they just believed all they had to do was reopen and people would come. Many millions came out for National Cinema Day in September, this should have been used to build momentum for Fall/Winter but but that never happened, and the following weeks were soft.
Do find it interesting NATO hasn’t updated their average ticket price since 2019, they still claim it’s $9.18 but Extelligence data has the average for Avatar 2 of double this, industry calls out on others with their Fake News but can’t be honest with their truths…as Obi-Wan says “Luke, you’re going to find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our point of view.”
In 2009 there were 18 different versions of Avatar created for the US and 92 internationally in 47 languages, which included 52 subtitled and 18 dubbed versions on film, 58 subtitled and 36 dubbed versions in digital 3D, 9 subtitled and 8 dubbed versions in digital 2D and 23 subtitled and 15 dubbed versions for IMAX. James Cameron made the film using three aspect ratios Scope (2:39:1), flat (1:85:1), and IMAX (1:43:1) and released on 17,000 35mm screens, 7,382 digital 3D screens, 553 digital 2D screens, and 272 IMAX 3D screens. (178 US IMAX screens and 83 internationally)
Avatar The Way of Water will be over 160 different versions globally including 3D, 4K, HFR48, ScreenX and 4DX and will play in 400+ IMAX cinemas in the US and 200+ internationally.
In the US Avatar opened with $77m in 7,000+ screens at 3,452 cinemas, it was then the highest-grossing opening ever for a film, not a sequel, a remake or a spinoff. It was also the second highest-grossing December opening weekend after I Am Legend ($77m).
It took $3.53m from midnight previews with 3D taking 85% of BO (in comparison I Am Legend took $1.7m. Avatar opened in 3,129 3D screens at 2,038 cinemas taking $55m (72% of opening) and IMAX took $9.5m (12.4%) from 178 cinemas.
In 2009 The Princess and the Frog took $12.2m #2; The Blind Side $10.02 #3 and Did You Hear About the Morgan? Opened $6.6m #4. Avatar The Way of Water holdovers will likely be closer to The Twilight Saga: New Moon #5 $4.4m and Invictus #6 $4.2m as rival studios have opted to hold back their other Christmas films to the following week (Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (Monday 21st) and I Wanna Dance with Somebody and Babylon (Wednesday 23rd). Both films target different audiences who don’t target audience for Avatar 2 children and women.
While Avatar 2 has received will the bubble burst very quickly with the first film as it was all hype and technology and just a remake of Dances With Wolves and Ferngully, while I couldn’t take the film seriously after South Park’s Dances With Smurfs.
The industry is far too quick to call a film a hit. and post-pandemic so many films are now getting stuck on $400m+ WW which would have taken $600m+ two years ago. if Black Adam loses up to $100m then surely Dune taking similar amount also lost money, but Warner greenlit the sequel to save face as surely Dune and Tenet were both expected to take upwards of $800m WW before COVID. but post COVID industry seems to lower expectations of what a film needs to take as they have gotten caught up in the hype of the opening weekend ignoring the fact that most of this film will drop much more heavily in their second weekends than they did before COVID.
After 45 days of release, Avatar overtook Titanic to become the biggest film globally $2.039bn and went on to take $749.76m in the US (held #1 for 7 weeks; Titanic was #1 for 15 weeks), $1.99bn internationally and $2.743bn worldwide. It remained the biggest film globally until Avengers Endgame overtook it after 91 days of release, but after Avengers Endgame opened globally with $1.2bn over its opening weekend many expected it to overtake Avatar many weeks earlier and take over $3bn. Avatar retained its #1 global status after it was re-released in China in March 2021. (Avatar took $262m in China).
Internationally opened in 17,222 screens in 106 territories (not Japan, China, Italy, Poland, Argentina, and Uruguay); 5,360 3D/3D Imax screens including 81 IMAX 3D (taking $4.1m) opening with $232.1m and $242.5m worldwide including $54.8m from 3D.
Internationally opened with $164.5m in five days from 106 territories (opening didn’t include Japan (opened a week later) and China and Italy (in January); Played in 14,505 screens, 26% 3D accounting for 56% of the opening ($54.8m). Taking $241.6m globally was the 9th highest grossing of all time and the biggest for a non-sequel.
Opened in more than 52,000 screens worldwide Disney’s widest ever, started its global opening on Wednesday in France, Korea, Germany and Italy.
Avatar The Way of Water is the first major US film opening in China since F9 in May 2019 (opened $136m taking $217m) Avatar was huge in China opening with $41m taking $203m and then another $57m in March 2021; Avatar 2 sold over 10m tickets within first 6 hours and 13.8m in its opening and is expected to take $500m+.
3D sales Europe 81%; Asia 70% and Latin America 65%.
Advance sales were also released within days of going on sale in India but for the US IMAX’s Richard Gelfond said on November 29 ‘pre-sale numbers for Avatar can’t be made public yet but “It’s one of the highest pre-sale levels we’ve ever seen.” The original film took $250m worldwide from IMAX from 250 screens.
Ahead of opening it was expected to open with $500m+ would have been 9th biggest global opening similar to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 ($483.2m); Captain Marvel ($456.7m); Doctor Strange 2 ($452m); Star Wars: The Last Jedi ($450.8m); Batman Vs Superman ($422.5m)
Opened with $307.6m from 52 territories and $441.6m worldwide; China $56.8m (27% from 735 IMAX screens); Korea $24.9m; Germany $20m; France $19.3m; India $18.2m; opened #1 in all territories apart from Japan which was surprising as Japan was one of the biggest territories for 2009’s Avatar.
Took $16.5m from IMAX internationally and $15.8m from China taking $48.8m worldwide (11.3%) from 1,543 screens in 80 territories
Opened with $57.1m in China and was expected to open with $120m) and take $450m (Avatar opened $40.93m taking $202.6m) but instead will likely take $280m
- Black Panther Wakanda Forever – Disney
Dropped 52% in the sixth weekend $5.34m and $418.93m; 67.6% less than Black Panther’s 6th weekend then 3rd biggest after Avatar and Titanic (Grand Torino had bigger but after platform openings)
270th biggest 6th weekend between Basic Instinct and The Santa Clause 2; Thor: Love and Thunder #268; The Batman #188; Deadpool #106; Thor: Ragnarok #203 while Black Panther #7
31st biggest film between The Lion King (1994) and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom; 90th biggest inflation inflated between Saving Private Ryan and Despicable Me 2; 2nd biggest 2022 between Top Gun: Maverick and Doctor Strange 2; 10th biggest comic-book movie between Captain Marvel and Wonder Woman; 19th biggest Disney between The Lion King (1994) and Toy Story 3.
Wakanda Forever has taken $410m in the US and almost $800m worldwide for almost any other film this would be seen as a massive success but after all the rave premiere reactions there were high expectations that it could match the BO of the original film.
With Black Panther 2 and Avatar 2 opening in Nov/Dec rival studios were nervous about opening anything against them fearing they would cannibalise any other films, but Sony successfully opened Jumanji: The Next Level with $59m the week before Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker opened $177.3m in December 2019, and 2018’s Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse opened $35.3m before Aquaman. Avatar 2 won’t play to all audiences as even those who raved about it are unlikely to attract new fans.
30 MCU films have taken $11bn in the US ($370m average) and $28.1bn worldwide ($938m average)
Took $3.8m (dropped 70%) from 51 territories and $356.7m total and $786.5m worldwide;7th biggest global film since cinemas reopened after the pandemic after Spider-Man No Way Home $1.92bn; Top Gun Maverick $1.49bn; Jurassic World Dominion $1bn; Doctor Strange 2 $955.8m; Minions: The Rise of Gru $939.2m has overtaken No Time To Die $774.2m; The Batman $770.8m; Thor Love And Thunder $761m
UK $36.5m; Mexico $34.1m; France $38.9m; Brazil $19.6m; Australia $18.1m; taken $47.76m globally from IMAX
In comparison, Black Panther took $700.06m in the US and $1.183 in WW
104th biggest worldwide between Deadpool and Star Wars: A New Hope; 5th biggest 2022 between Minions: The Rise of Gru and The Batman; 26th biggest comic-book movie between Deadpool and Guardians of the Galaxy; 36th biggest Disney between Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales and Guardians of the Galaxy.
- Violent Night – Universal Pictures
Dropped 41.8% in the third weekend taking $5.05m and $35.01m
2,543rd biggest film between Good Luck Chuck and The Skulls; 3,502nd biggest inflated between The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou and Bulletproof Monk; 36th biggest 2022 film between Barbarian and The Northman; 334th biggest Universal Pictures film between Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story and The Skulls.
Other Christmas action films include Die Hard (took $83m); Lethal Weapon ($65.2m); Ronin ($41.6m); RED ($90.3m); The Long Kiss Goodnight ($33.4m); 1989’s We’re No Angels ($10.5m); 1994’s Trapped in Paradise ($6.02m); 2005’s Kiss Kiss Bang Bang ($4.24m)
2003’s Bad Santa dropped 43.2% by $7.1m and $27.2m of $60.06m and $76.49m worldwide
2016’s Bad Santa 2 dropped 46.8% by $3.28m and $14.28m of $17.78m and $25.08m worldwide
2015’s Krampus dropped 48.3% by $8.42m and $28.56m of $42.72m and $61.34m worldwide
1991’s The Last Boy Scout dropped 29.1% by $5.61m and $16.33m of $59.5m
While it was also being compared to 2021’s Nobody dropped 56% $2.99m and $11.8m of $27.56m and $57.51m worldwide
Took $2.3m from 75 territories $20.1m total and $55.1m worldwide
- Empire of Light – Searchlight Pictures
Up 43.8% taking $223,456 #12 and $460,277 in its second weekend surprisingly expanding (adding 236 screens) after its disappointing $163,405k opening from 105 screens last weekend.
Surely after having two disappointing weeks It’s not going to expand any further.
It’s the 11th film released by Searchlight Pictures taking $92m in the US (an average of $9.2m and $254m worldwide (an average of $25.4m) the average per film is half that when it was Fox Searchlight Pictures.
It is also another adult drama from an award-winning director that struggled to find an audience this autumn after Armageddon Time and The Fabelmans.
Previous Sam Mendes films
1917 opened on platform $576,216 from 11 screens expanding wide after 2 weeks taking $159.2m
2009’s Away We Go opened on a platform at $130,411 from 4 screens taking 5 weeks to get to its widest 506 screens taking $9.45m
2008’s Revolutionary Road opened on platform $189,911 from 3 screens taking 5 weeks to get to its widest 1,058 screens taking $22.91m
1999’s American Beauty opened on platform $861,531 taking 4 weeks to go wide taking $130.09m
2005’s Jarheads opened wide at $27.72m taking $62.65m
2002’s Road to Perdition opened wide with $22.07m taking $104.45m
He also of course directed Bond films Skyfall and Spectre.
- The Fabelmans – Universal Pictures
Dropped 37% in the fifth weekend #7 taking $743,740 and $8.65m
Similar-themed Barry Levinson’s autobiographical 1990 film Avalon took $1.46m down 14.9% in its sixth weekend (after two weeks on platform release from 7 screens) in 615 screens and $10.79m of $15.74m. But of course, the average ticket price in 1990 was $4.22m now it’s $9.38 125% more so impossible to compare the two.
It will be released on VOD next week.
6 weeks before COVID closed cinemas, adult drama 1917 was a huge box office hit in the US and globally, but since cinemas reopened older audiences have been very slow to return. But despite many articles between March and July 2020 saying this would be an issue nothing was done about it as exhibitors focused on the under 35s. While over 35s did return for No Time To Die in Sept/Oct 2021 they have been very selective with the other films they see. A film like The Fabelmans shouldn’t need teenagers to make it a success.
Many say Universal weren’t at fault with the release and marketing for the film but as with Armageddon Time and Empire of Light, these films need to be much slower expanded, as The Fabelmans lost its momentum after the first week staying on 4 screens for two weeks and then expanding into 638 in the third weekend. It should have expanded much slower to avoid all the other adult drama films opening close to it and then expanded in early January. The problem is Universal had already locked in a VOD release for mid-December.
UK Box Office Top 10
UK Box Office Preview
As with Spider-Man No Way Home last year Avatar: The Way of Water’s second weekend will have a similar drop due to Sunday being Christmas Day and the majority of UK cinemas closed. Last year No Way Home dropped 84% but the drop for Avatar should be less as it didn’t have previews. Avatar The Way of Water will likely drop between 60-70% take.
20th Century Fox feared Avatar would underperform so they released Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel the following week. Avatar dropped 55% taking £3,828,123 in its second weekend behind Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel £5,347,191. Few would have imagined that Avatar would take £4m+ for the next 8 weeks returning to #1 for 8 of the next 9 weeks and go on to take £93,442,625 (£140m inflated).
Many have said Avatar: The Way of Water could be #1 for a similar number of weeks, but it faces a threat from next week with Whiney Huston’s biopic I Wanna Dance with Somebody as opening Boxing Day gives it a 7-day opening weekend. Early reviews have been positive and British audiences love their musician biopics, so could open with £4m+ against Avatar 2’s 3-day weekend. While in the US faces competition with horror M3rgen opening on January 6th.
Matilda will again hold well in its 5th weekend, but all other films will be soft, that said the performances of the Christmas re-releases have been strong showing again that despite all of these films being on TV over the last few weeks people want to see them in the cinema. If exhibitors will learn anything from 2022 it’s that shorter theatrical windows don’t mean audiences will go away as so many films have attracted audiences for weeks and months after their VOD release.
Opening in two weeks
- A Man Called Otto – Sony Pictures
Comedy-drama film remake of the 2015 Swedish film based on the 2012 novel A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman starring Tom Hanks, Mariana Treviño, Rachel Keller, and Manuel Garcia-Rulfo and directed by Marc Forster.
Sony Pictures acquired world rights in February 2022 for $60m
Tom Hanks has some massive hits, but he also has some films that struggle to find an audience like A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood and A Hologram for the King. Tom Hanks plays an angry neighbour which reminds me of 1994’s Grumpy Old Men.
- Till – Universal Pictures
It is a biographical drama starring Danielle Deadwyler, Jalyn Hall, Frankie Faison, Haley Bennett, and Whoopi Goldberg and directed by Chinonye Chukwu.
Received world premiere at the New York Film Festival in October receiving critical acclaim (98% Rotten Tomatoes) but was one of several films that opened during the autumn, as so many films had a strong platform release but so often struggle to find an audience when it expands.
It will also struggle to find an audience in the UK unless it receives award recognition.
- Andre Rieu In Dublin 2023 – Piece Of Magic
The last Andre Rieu concert 2022 Maastricht Summer Concert opened #1 in August for £798,706 was the first Event Cinema #1 post-pandemic and the first since Billy Elliot The Musical Live 2014 (£1,904,098).
André Rieu’s concerts grew in popularity since the first one,
Andre Rieu’s 2014 Maastricht Concert £830,586.
Andre Rieu’s 2015 Maastricht Concert £1,107,000.
Andre Rieu’s 2016 Maastricht Concert £1,414,075.
Andre Rieu: Christmas with Andre 2016 £1,180,208 #4 470 screens.
Andre Rieu’s 2017 Maastricht Concert £1,439,604.
2018’s André Rieu’s Maastricht Concert, ’Amore £1,783,222.
Andre Rieu’s 2019 New Year Concert from Sydney £1,745,941 #4 570 screens;
Andre Rieu 2019 Maastricht Concert – Shall We Dance? (July) £1,492,154 #4 587 screens;
2020’s Andre Rieu’s Magical Maastricht: Together In Music (September) £124,101 #4 403 screens;
2020’s Andre Rieu: 70 Years Young (January) £1,717,074 #6 579 screens;
Andre Rieu’s 2021 Summer Concert: Together Again (August) £420,056 #4 551 screens;
Event Cinema attracts an older audience who have been slow to return to cinemas since they reopened but would have expected by now 15 months later Andre Rieu’s Maastricht Summer Concert to open similar pre-lockdown especially as it opened on 677 screens with tickets £20+ and had encore screenings.
In 2019 Event Cinema took £45.3m in the UK about 3.3% of the year’s box office up from 2.4% in 2018, but it dropped to £6.7m in 2021 taking 1.1% of total BO
- Empire Of Light – Disney (Monday, January 9th)
Romantic drama starring Olivia Colman, Micheal Ward, Monica Dolan, Tom Brooke, Tanya Moodie, Hannah Onslow, Crystal Clarke, Toby Jones, and Colin Firth and written and directed by Sam Mendes.
Received world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival received mixed reviews (45% Rotten Tomatoes) but critics heralded Olivia Colman’s performance. (UK reviews were far more positive). The film had its UK premiere at the London Film Festival in October.
Disney took the strange approach of opening the film on 105 screens as normally a film like this would either platform on about 4 screens and then expand or open wide. But as it received poor reviews it was always going to be DOA in the US so opening in 105 screens meant it wouldn’t go wider. In the UK it will be very different, but it surprisingly opens on Monday.
Empire of Light is Sam Mendes’s 9th film and first since the 2020s 1917
1917 opened £7,446,302 taking £43,946,049
2009’s Away We Go opened £250,211
2009’s Revolutionary Road opened £1,013,548 taking £2,751,902
2000’s American Beauty opened £2,836,678 taking £21,385,440
2006’s Jarheads opened £1,927,987 taking £5,155,997
2002’s Road to Perdition opened £1,318,382 taking £6,471,752
He also of course directed Bond films Skyfall and Spectre.
1990’s Cinema Paradiso took £1,022,000; started on platform release opening at Curzon Mayfair £23,416