Top 5 Breakdown
- Kong: Skull Island – £6,230,997
Sandwiched between Logan and Beauty and the Beast both receiving far stronger reviews expectations were low for Kong: Skull Island opening far bigger than expected.
Kong: Skull Island took £615,000 from Thursday previews and £5.61m Fri-Sun; compared to 2014’s Godzilla taking £1.18m from Thursday previews and £5.20m Fri-Sun £6.38m for its four-day weekend 2.24% more than Kong: Skull Island had bigger competition of Logan. Godzilla opening weekend suffered from hot weather suffering big drops in its second (57%) £2.73m and third weekends (64%) £982,401 with X-Men: Days of Future Past, Maleficent and Edge of Tomorrow opening over its following weekends.
With Beauty and the Beast opening this weekend Kong: Skull Island is likely to drop 60%+ taking £2.49m and £11.03m after 11 days 34.5% less than Logan after 11 days which would be close to Godzilla’s 11-day total of £11.28m and likely to end with a similar box office of both 2014 and 1998’s Godzilla films which took £17.2m and £16m. Peter Jackson’s 2005 King Kong opened with £6.94m went on to take £30.1m; but as always with films released over 12 years ago admissions show how price has impacted on admissions with 1998’s Godzilla 3.97m, 2005’s King Kong 6.39m, 2014’s Godzilla 2.56m
Warner Bros spent millions on Kong: Skull Island marketing campaign but hugely benefited from much free publicity generated from three stories unrelated to the film which went viral;
- Brie Larson not clapping Casey Affleck at the Oscars. After winning Best Actress last year for Room portraying a victim of sexual abuse she presented Best Actor at this year’s Oscars Casey Affleck was sued by two women for sexual harassment in 2010.
- Brie Larson appearance on The One Show wearing a dress that showed off her cleavage many were outraged on social media generating much coverage on websites; This was days after Emma Watson Vanity Fair ‘outrage’.
- Samuel L Jackson criticises the casting of British black actors playing Americans in films with British actors Daniel Kaluuya and David Oyelowo cast in Get Out and Selma instead of American. John Boyega said “Black Brits vs African American. A stupid ass conflict we don’t have time for.”
These stories create a life of themselves online and social media and are far better marketing tool that billboard advertising and TV spots and for the studio are stories they can only dream about being free publicity.
Kong: Skull Island has an end credits scene which sees James Conrad (Tom Hiddleston) and Mason Weaver (Brie Larson) held captive by Monarch the secret government agency which also featured in Godzilla. The Monarch employees interrogate James and Mason and tell them there are more giant monsters showing them some images of Godzilla’s biggest enemies and allies and then you hear Godzilla roar. This sets up Godzilla sequel Godzilla: King of Monsters set for 2019 and Godzilla Vs Kong in 2020.
- Logan – £3,858,463 – £16,855,344
Despite receiving rave reviews Logan suffered a similar drop to previous X-Men films including previews 59.1%; many expected Logan’s strong reviews and the strong buzz to squeeze Kong: Skull Island opening weekend.
After 12 days on release has taken more than the previous two Wolverine standalone films 2009’s X-Men: Origins Wolverine £16.16m and 2013’s The Wolverine £13.45m and 2000’s X-Men and 2011’s X-Men: First Class. Logan will over the next week also overtake 2016’s X-Men: Apocalypse £18.27m, 2006’s X- Men Last Stand £19.06m and 2003’s X2 £20.50m over the next week which will see it become 20th Century Fox’s third biggest Marvel film in the UK behind 2014’s X-Men: Days of Future Past £27.01m and 2016’s Deadpool £37.9m. But as half of these films are more than five years old they cannot be compared by their box office.
On Sunday, the 10 20th Century Fox Marvel films had taken £200,970,000 at the UK box office with almost 34 million admissions.
| OWE | 2nd w/e | Total | |||||
| X-Men | 18 Aug 2000 | £4.74m | 3.14x | 31.85% | £2.02m | -57% | £14.89m |
| X2 | 1 May 2003 | £7.03m | 2.91x | 34.29% | £3.07m | -56% | £20.50m |
| X- Men Last Stand | 25 May 2006 | £7.09m | 2.68x | 37.19% | £2.31m | -67% | £19.06m |
| X-Men: Origins Wolverine | 29 Apr 2009 | £6.66m | 2.43x | 41.15% | £2.22m | -66% | £16.16m |
| X-Men First Class | 1 June 2011 | £4.75m | 3.13x | 31.94% | £2.40m | -49% | £14.87m |
| The Wolverine | 25 July 2013 | £4.69m | 2.86x | 34.86% | £1.80m | -61% | £13.45m |
| X-Men: Days of Future Past | 22 May 2014 | £9.14m | 2.95x | 33.89% | £3.51m | -62% | £27.01m |
| Deadpool | 10 Feb 2016 | £13.73m | 2.76x | 36.22% | £5.69m | -59% | £37.9m |
| X-Men: Apocalypse | 18 May 2016 | £7.33m | 2.49x | 40.12% | £2.54m | -65% | £18.27m |
| Logan | 1 Mar 2017 | £9.43m | 2.76* | 38%* | £3.8m* | -60%* | £26.1m* |
- The Lego Batman Movie – £820,264 – £25,986,076
Down 46.2% in its fifth weekend 17.8% less than The Lego Movie’s fifth weekend box office of £998,176 which had taken £30.63m 13.5% more.
The Lego Batman Movie faced much tougher half term competition with Sing taking £28m which also benefited from opening first. In 2014 The Lego Movie took £30.06m after five weeks with Mr. Peabody and Sherman taking £12.36m and Tinker Bell and the Pirate Fairy £5.28m.
The Lego Ninjago opens 13th October and The Lego Movie 2 is set for release February 8th 2019
Next January Aardman’s Early Man is the first family film to open for half term with Sherlock Gnomes two weeks later Larrikins was also expected to open in February 2018 but its release was recently cancelled.
- Viceroy’s House – £573,109 – £2,340,217
Down 37.8% in its second weekend despite mixed reviews performed strongly over its opening week taking £850,000 Mon-Thurs. But as with Moonlight both films are far too wide as seen by their low screen average.
- Moonlight – £476,419 – £3,353,492
Dropping 34.8% in its fourth weekend added another 68 screens Moonlight is now playing on almost the same number of screens as Viceroy’s House with both now on far too many screens with almost half the screen average of last weekend.
As with Viceroy’s House, Moonlight is taking almost the same Mon-Thurs as its weekend which is normal with films targeting the older moviegoer.
Will shortly overtake the box office of last years A United Kingdom which took £3.54m.
Altitude Film Distributions acquired UK rights for Moonlight last November despite receiving critical acclaim at Telluride, Toronto and London Film Festivals the coming age drama wasn’t seen as a potential award contender. But the day after Moonlight was acquired everything changed with the news Trump had won the US election, La La Land and Moonlight were seen in a different light becoming films audiences needed to see.
Was Trump the reason why La La Land and Moonlight were Oscar successes and had Trump not become president would Get Out been the hit has become in the US? Moonlight won Best Film and Best Film Drama at the Oscars and Golden Globes but nominated for four BAFTAs but didn’t win any.
Also, released
Elle – Trafalgar Releasing – £253,619 from 62 screens
Icon Films – The Love Witch – £14,385 – from 11 screens
Other box office news
This weekend’s top 10 box office took £13,776,935 down 14.7% from last weekend £16,157,614;
Kong: Skull Island took 45.2% and Logan 28% with the two films taking £10,089,460 73.2% of the top 10. Remaining 8 films shared £3,687,475.
Weekend admissions 1,958,817 down 10.1% from last week 2,180,515
Weekend was up 14.9% from last year (£11,981,704) Kung Fu Panda 3 £4.76m, Divergent: Allegiant £1.83m, The Witch £446,151, Anomalisa £222,282, 50 Shades of Black £82,614 opened
2015: Cinderella opened with £3,791,276, The SpongeBob Movie £2,251,009, Get Hard £1,433,967 and The Seventh Son £410,608 opened
Next weekend in 2016: (£7,732,052) 10 Cloverfield Lane £1.6m, The Boy £726,176, High Rise £534,339, Risen £58,000 and Rock the Kasbah £3,800 opened.
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Cinema Exhibitors Association average ticket price of £7.41 for 2016 up only 2.77% from 2015 despite a 7.3% increase from 2014. If same percentage was used 2017 average ticket price is £7.61
UK Box Office Top 10
US Box office
Going into its opening weekend Kong: Skull Island was tracking to opening with about $45m after receiving mixed reviews and with the very positive reviews and strong buzz for Logan many expected to hold stronger far stronger.
After taking $3.7m from Thursday midnights this seemed likely but then opened far stronger than expected taking $20.1m on Friday and an estimated $23.8m on Saturday taking $61m for the weekend; after receiving a B+ CinemaScore and with Beauty and the Beast opening this weekend Kong: Skull Island is likely to have a second weekend drop close to 2014’s Godzilla of 66.8% taking about $20.7m.
Kong: Skull Island took $81.6m internationally and $142.6m worldwide in comparison Godzilla opened with $103.4m internationally going onto take $328.4 million internationally and $529 million worldwide. Two more films are already planned for this franchise Godzilla 2 in 2019 and Godzilla Vs Kong in 2020.
2014’s Godzilla opened with $93.1m was very front-loaded taking only $200.6m only 2.15x opening.
After being heralded as the best comic-book movie in years and receiving strong buzz many expected Logan to hold far stronger than previous X-Men films but dropped close to X-Men and X-Men: First Class taking $37.8m and $152.91m over 10 days. Has already overtaken total box office of The Wolverine and X-Men First Class and will shortly overtake X-Men: Apocalypse and X-Men with a final box office of about $215m would be the third biggest X-Men film behind X-Men: Days of Future Past, X- Men Last Stand and Deadpool.
Logan is currently the #1 biggest film of 2017 but with Beauty and the Beast out this week it won’t be #1 for long; weekend added $70.3m internationally to take total of $285.6 million and $438.3m worldwide the highest grossing standalone Wolverine film worldwide.
| OWE | % O | 2nd w/e | drop | Total BO | ||
| X-Men | 14 July 2000 | $54.47m | 34.63% | $23.46m | -56.9% | $157.29m |
| X2 | 01 May 2003 | $85.55m | 34.29% | $40.03m | -53.2% | $214.92m |
| X- Men Last Stand | 25 May 2006 | $102.75m | 37.19% | $34.01m | -66.9% | $234.36m |
| X-Men Origins: Wolverine | 29 Apr 2009 | $85.05m | 47.29% | $26.40m | -69.0% | $179.83m |
| X-Men First Class | 1 June 2011 | $55.10m | 37.63% | $24.12m | -56.2% | $146.40m |
| The Wolverine | 25 July 2013 | $53.11m | 40.06% | $21.32m | -59.9% | $132.55m |
| X-Men: Days of Future Past | 22 May 2014 | $90.82m | 38.82% | $32.55m | -64.2% | $233.92m |
| Deadpool | 12 Feb 2016 | $132.43m | 36.47% | $56.47m | -57.4% | $363.07m |
| X-Men: Apocalypse | 18 May 2016 | $65.76m | 42.30% | $22.82m | -65.3% | $155.44m |
| Logan | 03 Mar 2017 | $88.41m | 41.66% | $38.11m | -56.9% | $212.1m* |
Universal’s Get Out continued to hold strongly down only 25.4% in its third weekend taking $21m and $111m total with a budget of only $4.5m. So many films get labelled ‘the film of the moment’ but Get Out is true to its tag Kareem Abdul-Jabbar called it ‘Invasion of the Black Body Snatchers’ for the Trump Era.
Despite losing out on Oscars Hidden Figures continued success at the US box office shows it is the peoples favourite; has taken $162.86m after 12 weeks on release 10 of which in the top 10 will shortly overtake the total box office for 2011’s The Help $169.7m and become Kevin Costner’s third biggest film in the US overtaking 1991’s Robin Hood: prince of Thieves (of course being 26 years old its inflation increased box office would be more than double)
On limited release IFC’s Personal Shopper opened with $79.175 from 4 screens and CBS Films The Sense of Ending took $39,692 from 4 screens and Focus World Raw took $24,825 from 2 screens.
US Box Office Top 10
Opened March 17th
Opening UK
- Beauty and the Beast – Disney
Disney had huge success in 2016 with their Jungle Book re-imagination and expected to do even better with their re-imagining of Beauty and the Beauty of their 1991 classic animated film.
Starring Emma Watson, Dan Stevens, Luke Evans, Kevin Kline and Josh Gad and the voices of Ewan McGregor, Stanley Tucci, Ian McKellen and Emma Thompson and directed by Bill Condon.
The teaser released in May was viewed 91.8 million times which was more than Star Wars: The Force Awakens and the second released in November was viewed 127.6 million in 24 hours.
Beauty and the Beast started its global press tour in Paris on February (Emma Watson created a dedicated Instagram account “The Press Tour” which has 413k followers while the film has 439k and she has 23.8m followers). Emma Watson’s Vanity Fair cover shoot generated huge media coverage due to the picture below.
She was accused of being a hypocrite but feminism is about giving women choices. In an interview for BBC news Emma Watson was confused what her tits should have do with it.
A similar news story a couple of weeks ago, after Brie Larson promoting Kong: Skull Island wore a dress on The One Show revealing her cleavage. Shock horror Emma Watson and Brie Larson are women and have boobs.
Ariana Grande and John Legend remade the theme song which was originally sung by Celine Dion and Peabo Bryson for the 1991 animated film. Ariana Grande dwarfs Emma Watson’s 23.8 Instagram followers having over 100 million now second to Selena Gomez with 112m followers. Both Ariana and Emma regular post on Instagram and many posts over recent weeks have been about Beauty and the Beast creating massive anticipation for the film amongst their followers who are Beauty and the Beast’s key demographic but of course just because you follow or Tweet doesn’t mean that they will watch but if only 15% of their followers do go to see Beauty and the Beast will be over $160m.
Sales of two items of merchandise for Beauty and the Beast on either side of the Atlantic highlight the phenomenon the film will be at the box office. In the US, Enchanted Rose Souvenir cup sold at Red Rose Taverne Disneyland for $15 is being sold on eBay for hundreds of dollars. In the UK was a Beauty and the Beast Chip purse selling at Primark for £4 sold out within hours is now being sold for almost 13x more on eBay. A £5 Chip tea cup went on sale at the weekend also at Primark also expected to be a sell-out.
Since receiving its UK premiere on February 23rd the film has received huge media coverage generating huge hype and excitement that built up to March 3rd when the embargo was lifted receiving very positive reviews.
Disney’s 1991 Beauty and the Beast was beloved by audiences, critics and Oscars becoming the first full length animated film in cinema history to be nominated for Best Picture losing out to The Silence of the Lambs (one of only three films to win the top five Oscars 1934’s It Happened One Night and 1975’s One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s the others). It became one of the biggest selling VHS video releases in the US; was a crazy story last year the Black Diamond Edition of Beauty and the Beast VHS was being sold for $10,000.
Last April the re-imagination of The Jungle Book opened strongly with £9.86m dropping only 18% (one of the lowest drops of a major release in 2016) in its second weekend taking £8.09m (second biggest second weekend box office of last year behind Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them). Taking £13.57m in its opening 7 days the ninth biggest and £21.66m after 10 days.
The original 1991 animated film took £10.4m doesn’t sound much in 2017 when 29 films in 2016 took over £10m but in 1992 and the early 90’s it was a rarity with only about five films a year taking over £10m (a year later in 1993 was only 6 films took over £10m) Jurassic Park £46.43m (2017 equivalent box office £110.1m), The Bodyguard £17m (£40.3m), Home Alone 2: Lost in New York £13.92m (£33m) , The Fugitive £13.61m (£32.27m), Indecent Proposal £11.88m (£28.16m) and Bram Stoker’s Dracula £11.54m (£27.36m).
In 1992 average ticket price was £3.21 (was no extra surcharges 2017’s Beauty and the Beast will have 3D, IMAX, 4DX, premium) had 3.246m admissions which would be the equivalent of £79.28m today with average ticket price of £7.61 up over 137% but of course most tickets for Beauty and the Beast will be more than a third more.
At Odeon Cinemas Beauty and the Beast is the fourth biggest advance booking film behind Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Fifty Shades of Grey selling a ticket every 28 seconds. (those three films opened with £24.2m, £13.21m and £13.27m). UK opening is likely to be similar to last years Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them £15m+
As with most of the Disney re-imaginations Beauty and the Beast has normal three-day weekend without any previews but will still be one of the biggest opening weekends of the year showing that previews often doesn’t increase weekend box office for a film only divides it across more days.
| OWE | 2WE | 2/D | 2WE T | Final BO | |||
| Though the Looking Glass | 27 May 2016 | £2.22m | 4.01x | £1.35m | -41% | £7.01m | £9.91m |
| The Jungle Book | 15 Apr 2016 | £9.86m | 4.68x | £8.09m | -18% | £21.66m | £46.19m |
| Cinderella | 27 Mar 2015 | £3.79m | 5.54x | £2.96m | -22% | £10.38m | £21.02m |
| Into the Woods | 9 Jan 2015 | £2.48m | 3.96x | £1.99m | -19% | £5.36m | £9.83m |
| Maleficent | 28 May 2014 | £6.59m | 2.81x | £2.60m | -60% | £11.05m | £18.52m |
| Oz the Great and Powerful | 8 Mar 2013 | £3.71m | 4.03x | £2.60m | -30% | £7.68m | £14.98m |
| Alice in Wonderland | 5 Mar 2010 | £10.56m | 3.99x | £7.34m | -30% | £22.74m | £42.16m |
With so many teasers showing so much footage it was refreshing so little was seen in the teaser.
The second trailer was very similar to the trailer of the 1991 animated classic; it’s incredible to think with their rivalry today Warner Bros released Beauty and the Beast in October 1992 one of their last films they released before Disney set up their own distribution in 1993. The re-imagination of Beauty and the Beasts opens day and date globally but the 1991 animated film took 11 months to be released in the UK after opening November 1991 in the US then opened October 1992 in the UK.
With the release of Beauty and the Beast this week Honest Trailers did they unique look at the 1991 classic animated film.
Upcoming live action re-imagining’s of Disney animated classics included The Lion King directed by Jon Favreau, Aladdin directed by Guy Ritchie, Dumbo directed by Tim Burton, Cruella starring Emma Stone, Mulan directed by Niki Caro, Winnie the Pooh directed by Marc Forster (also a biopic Goodbye Christopher Robin due for release by Fox Searchlight). Pinocchio (Warner Bros also been developing a film directed by Ron Howard starring Robert Downey Jr), The Little Mermaid with additional songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Peter Pan directed by David Lowery, Tinkerbell starring Reese Witherspoon and Jungle Book and Maleficent sequels.
- Get Out – Universal Pictures
Horror starring Daniel Kaluuya, Catherine Keener, Allison Williams, Bradley Whitford and Caleb Landry Jones, written and directed by Jordan Peele; premiered in Sundance Film Festival in January receiving positive reviews.
While most of 2017’s horror films disappointed at the box office Underworld: Blood Wars, The Bye Bye Man, Rings, Resident Evil: The Final Chapter and A Cure for Wellness, Get Out was trailered with Split which opened in January with £2.54m going on to take £11.2m.
Get Out has generated much media coverage described by many as the film we need now as it’s a social horror film channelling the political unease that a Trump presidency has brought the country.
With Logan suffering an X-Men sized drop in its second weekend and Kong: Skull Island expected to have a Godzilla sized second weekend even with the arrival of Beauty and the Beast there will be a big audience who want to be scared.
Opening in US
- Beauty and the Beast – Disney
Early tracking had Beauty and the Beast opening with $120m tracking has been out in recent weeks with Logan and Kong: Skull Island) but that was before the positive reviews and advance sales via Fandango are outpacing Captain America Civil War. Current biggest March openings Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice $166m, The Hunger Games $152m and Alice in Wonderland $116.1m.
After the huge media coverage, strong buzz, anticipation (for many Beauty and the Beauty is their most anticipated film of the year), awareness and very positive reviews Beauty and the Beast could open bigger than Batman Vs Superman an opening of $150m+ likely taking upwards of $250m+ worldwide over its opening weekend hard to compare with The Jungle Book as opened in several countries before its US opening. Beauty and the Beast is expected to be the first film of the year to take $1 billion worldwide with $400m+in the US and £40m+ in the UK expected and will likely have similar strong legs as The Jungle Book had last year.
Fandango said Tuesday Beauty and the Beast had sold more advance tickets than any family movie in the Los Angeles company’s 17-year history.
| OWE | 2WE | 2WE D | 2WE T | Total BO | |||
| Through the Looking Glass | 27 May 2016 | $26.85m | x2.86 | $11.31m | -57.9% | $51.39m | $77.04m |
| The Jungle Book | 15 Apr 2016 | $103.26m | x3.52 | $61.53m | -40.4% | $192.21m | $364.01m |
| Cinderella | 13 Mar 2015 | $67.87m | x2.96 | $34.96m | -48.5% | $122.51m | $201.15m |
| Into the Woods | 25 Dec 2014 | $31.05m | x4.12 | $18.72m | -39.7% | $90.87m | $128.01m |
| Maleficent | 30 May 2014 | $69.41m | x3.47 | $34.32m | -50.6% | $128.17m | $241.41m |
| Oz the Great and Powerful | 8 Mar 2013 | $79.11m | x2.96 | $41.25m | -47.9% | $144.05m | $234.91m |
| Alice in Wonderland | 5 Mar 2010 | $116.10m | x2.87 | $62.71m | -46.0% | $209.33m | $334.19m |
After was revealed Beauty and the Beast featured Disney’s first gay character (been many bromances hinted about in Disney films before including Captain America and Bucky in Captain America: Civil War) was “outrage” with Russia threatening to ban the film after it was called gay propaganda instead it has been given 16+ adults only certificate. Ewan McGregor was asked about the gay character on The Late Show on Monday saying “It’s just like, he’s a gay character and it’s 2017 for f— sake,”
- The Belko Experiment – BH Tilt/Orion Pictures
Horror thriller starring John Gallagher, Jr., Tony Goldwyn, Adria Arjona, and Melonie Diaz directed by Greg McLean and written by James Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy); premiered at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival. It has been described as Battle Royale in office. Expected to open with about $4m.
MGM relaunched Orion Pictures for TV in 2013 and film a year later; Orion Pictures was formed in 1978 to try to compete head on with the Hollywood studios while had successes including Dances With Wolves, Platoon, The Silence of the Lambs, Back to School and Robocop and released nine Woody Allen films between 1984 and 1992. But its very tough to go head to head with the big six studios so many companies have tried and like Orion failed. Despite massive box office and Oscars successes for Dances with Wolves and The Silence of the Lambs in 1990 and 1992 Orion filed for bankruptcy. In 1997 Orion Pictures was acquired by MGM
At the Oscars in 1991 and 1992 Billy Crystal refereed to studio’s debt in his opening monologue, saying Reversal of Fortune about a woman in a coma, Awakenings about a man in a coma; and Dances with Wolves released by Orion, a studio in a coma.”
A year later he made similar comments “Take a great studio like Orion: a few years ago Orion released Platoon, it wins Best Picture. Amadeus, Best Picture. Last year, they released Dances with Wolves wins Best Picture. This year The Silence of the Lambs is nominated for Best Picture. And they can’t afford to have another hit! But there is good news and bad news. The good news is that Orion was just purchased, and the bad news is it was bought by the House of Representatives”
- T2: Trainspotting – Sony Pictures
While the Danny Boyle’s 1996 original film was a massive hit in the UK only had a limited release in the US taking $16.49m; 21 years later while the sequel performed well in UK opening in February £5.14m taking £16.5m sequel will have limited appeal to US audiences opening on only 5 screens.