Top 5 Breakdown
- Thor: Ragnarok – £12,375,804 – NE
After taking £5.14m from Tuesday to Thursday (£3.64m from Tuesday/Wednesday and £1.64m from Thursday) took (58.4%) £7.23m Fri-Sun was the opposite to the split of previews Vs Fri-Sun box office for last year’s Doctor Strange took 41% £3,796,170 from Tues-Thurs and £5,492,728 Fri-Sun of its £9,288,898 opening weekend.
Removing previews Thor: Ragnarok opened 136.7% more than Thor and 30.6% more than Thor: The Dark World.
Hard to compare Thor: Ragnarok box office with previous two Thor films as they were straight Thor films as the first Captain America film was while Thor: Ragnarok has the addition of Hulk and Doctor Strange and the humour that made Thor: Ragnarok more accessible to non-comic-book fans.
Thor: Ragnarok had the fourth biggest opening of the year after Beauty And The Beast, Fast & Furious 8 and Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 but Beauty And The Beast and Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 had three day weekends and Fast & Furious 8 had a five day opening weekend taking £5,380,621 from two days of previews taking £29.54m.
Showing that six-day opening weekends only share weekend box office over six days its opening was less than Captain America: Civil War last April took £14,466,681 without previews.
Thor: Ragnarok is the seventeenth Marvel Cinematic Universe film but the plots are interchangeable with an arrogant man who finds redemption but audiences are more accepting of Marvel but they are getting to feel very Groundhog Day how much longer can they keep repeating the same formula?
Disney has released five films in 2017 taking £156.75m last year it took £300.7m from 11 releases with Thor: Ragnarok likely to take £35m and Star Wars: The Last Jedi £110m will take about £290m with 63% from Beauty and the Beast and Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
- Jigsaw – £1,851,249 – NE
Jigsaw had the sixth biggest or third smallest opening in the UK while the first film was in the top 15 for over 6 weeks the other films were far more front-loaded.
With the addition of the £353,343 from Thursday previews, Jigsaw is expected to drop close to the previous film Saw 3D: The Final Chapter which opened with almost double but dropped over 70% in its second weekend and will end taking about £4m half of Saw 3D: The Final Chapter.
2017 has been a fantastic year for horror films but Split, Get Out and It are modern horrors for people that don’t normally see horrors, while the older style horrors Jigsaw, Rings, Flatliners, Underworld: Blood Wars and Resident Evil 6 all disappointed
- The Lego Ninjago Movie – £889,802 – £8,210,047
Down 33.9% in its third weekend it had a decent half-term week taking £1.76m Mon-Thurs; currently 34th biggest film of the year and sixth biggest Warner Bros film of 2017 and has become the sixth biggest animated film of the year behind Despicable Me 3, The Boss Baby, The Lego Batman Movie, The Emoji Movie and Cars 3.
The Lego Movie took £3,266,594 in its third weekend in February 2014 taking £26,671,764 (80.4%) £33,154,002
The Lego Batman Movie took £2,893,337 in its third weekend in February 2017 taking £23,076,742 (86.1%) £26,771,191
If The Lego Ninjago Movie holds similar to The Lego Batman Movie it will take £9.6m becoming the #29 biggest film of the year.
Warner Bros 20 films released in 2017 have taken £191.96m; Justice League opens in two weeks expected to take £30m+ opening with £10m+ and The Disaster Artist.
- The Death of Stalin – £812,288 – £2,469,700
Down 18.4% in its second weekend after adding 178 screens in its second weekend was surprising eOne opened last week in 138 screens and then expanded this weekend as had opened on wide release last weekend would have opened #1 as the film had already built up strong buzz after receiving positive reviews.
Has overtaken director Armando Iannucci’s 2009’s In The Loop which opened with £468,954 from 104 screens which took £2,123,530.
After 10 days on release, The Death of Stalin is already eOne’s fifth biggest film of 2017 behind Peppa Pig: My First Cinema Experience, Jackie, A Dog’s Purpose and A Monster Calls highlighting how disappointing their year has been compared to recent years. Remaining films Thank You for Your Service and Suburbicon both had a disappointing opening in the US over the weekend while Just Getting Started and Molly’s Game isn’t likely to set the box office alight.
Last year eOne took £109.9m but this year currently £24.09m while both Lionsgate and Studiocanal will both be up from last year thanks to La La Land and Paddington 2 both taking a large percentage of their total box office for the year.
eOne have gone down from fifth biggest distributor last year to eighth this year but after news today Annapurna Pictures announcing a distribution partnership with MGM will see them releasing their films through Annapurna Pictures as eOne have an output deal with Annapurna Pictures could this mean they will release Bond 25 in 2019?
- Blade Runner 2049 – £692,999 – £17,416,826
Down 61.3% in its fourth weekend; showing how front-loaded Blade Runner 2049 took £100,000 less than T2: Trainspotting in its fourth weekend which took £794,791 and £15,334,283; While Blade Runner 2049 has overtaken the total box office ofT2: Trainspotting £16.95m but as Blade Runner 2049 had 3D, IMAX, PLF and 4DX surcharges the performance of the two films will end very similar.
4th weekends
Gravity – £1,741,279 -27% – £22,522,241 68.9% of final BO (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire #1 second weekend £5,525,476)
Interstellar – £1,157,875 -39% – £18,001,495 – 89.7% of final BO (Paddington #1 £ £5,125,519)
The Martian – £1,732,329 -28% – £20,391,517 -87.43% of final BO (Hotel Transylvania 2 #1 second weekend £2,275,612)
Arrival – £398,364 -49% – £8,128,726 – 88.8% of final BO (Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them #2 £4,494,727 third weekend)
Mad Max: Fury Road £804,148 -54% – £15,573,726 -90.52% of final BO (Spy #1 £2,557,824)
Blade Runner 2049 fourth weekend box office is closest to Mad Max: Fury Road would see its current box office of £17.42m 90% of its final BO of £19.1m. Blade Runner 2049 has performed far stronger in the UK than the US taking 21.41% of its US box office as most films take between 5%=12% of their US box office.
Sony Pictures UK 15 film releases have taken £107.76m up 23.4% from last year have three remaining releases for the year Professor Marston & the Wonder Women, The Star, Brigsby Bear and Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle which is expected to take about £10m over the lucrative Christmas holidays.
Originally Denis Villeneuve had planned to make Blade Runner 2049 a four-hour version which he planned to release in two parts instead the 163min version was released which many felt was too long which included the producer of the original Blade Runner film. Any directors confuse epic with long but as seen with films like Dunkirk you can have an epic film with a 104min running time.
Also released
STX – Breathe – opened with £535,675 from 464 screens; after opening the London Film Festival would have expected it to generate strong media coverage to give it a much stronger opening especially as the leads Andrew Garfield and Claire Foy did many interviews and reviews were far stronger than the US. Instead, its opening was worse than last year’s London Film Festival opener A United Kingdom opening with £618,652 taking £2.18m and the closing film was Free Fire which also underperformed.
Cinemagoers are becoming far more selective in the films they pay to see and those they wait to see seen this weekend by the disappointing opening of Breathe despite the huge awareness the film has received over the past few weeks after opening the London Film Festival.
Breathe is the third film released by STX in the UK both Wind River and Home Again disappointed at the box office taking only £1.2m and £1.13m.
UK box office in detail
This weekend’s top 10 box office took £19,248,576 up 96.7% from last weekend £9,783,969
The weekend admissions 2,526,060 down 96.7% from last weekend 1,283,985 (average price £7.62 by UK Cinema Association/BFI for 2017).
Thor: Ragnarok took 64.29% of the top 10; 15 films opened at weekend taking £15,151,235; Thor: Ragnarok 81.68% (£12,375,804); Jigsaw 12.21% (£1,851,249); Breathe 3.53% (£535,675) remaining 12 films shared 3.56% (£388,507);
The weekend was up 3.1% from last year (£18,662,678): Doctor Strange £9,288,898.
Down 59.2% from 2015: (£47,258,977): Spectre £41,299,090
Next weekend in 2016: (£11,430,004) The Accountant £1,623,866, A Street Cat Named Bob £985,557, Nocturnal Animals £755,427, The Light Between Oceans £733,421
UK Distributor Market share
With only two months of 2017 to go Universal Pictures are slightly ahead of Warner Bros but with Justice League opening in two weeks’ time expected to take £35m+ more than £15m+ Pitch Perfect 3 is expected to take Warner Bros will become #1. Disney will, of course, end the year as #1 with Thor: Ragnarok expected to take £30m+ and Star Wars: The Last Jedi £110m+.
4th 20th Century Fox, 5th Sony Pictures 6th Lionsgate, 7th Paramount Pictures but will be replaced by Studiocanal with Paddington 2 expected to take over £30m.
UK Box Office Top 10
US Box Office Top 10
US Box office
Lionsgate – Jigsaw -opened with $16.64m; received B CinemaScore.
After taking $1.6m from Thursday previews Jigsaw was looking at taking low $20s on Friday it was high teens but then dropped down to about $15m Saturday morning showing that the seven-year gap was far too long as horror audiences have moved on close to recent sequels to Rings, Scream and Blair Witch.
Horror films have performed strongly this year but have been a divide between new horror that has performed strongly Get Out, Split, Happy Death Day, It and old horror Rings, Flatliners, Resident Evil: The Final Chapter and Underworld: Blood Wars that have underperformed.
Its seven years since the last Saw film was released Saw 3D opened with $22.53m taking $45.7m was planned to be the final part of the franchise but as all franchises they never stay dead as studios prefer to go back with existing franchises than trying to launch new franchises after so many have underperformed in recent years. Saw films have previously dropped heavily in their second weekend and with Thor: Ragnarok also opening this weekend Jigsaw will drop 60%+.
The second series of Stranger Things was released on Netflix on Friday many believe impacted on the weekend’s box office showing how in denial exhibitors are believing Netflix isn’t their competition.
Lionsgate – Tyler Perry’s Boo 2! A Madea Halloween – drops 52.6% taking $10.05m taking $35.74m
Last year Boo! A Madea Halloween dropped 39.6% in its second weekend taking $17.32m and $52.56m 72% of its final box office of $73m; if Boo 2! A Madea Halloween performs similarly it will take about $50m.
Warner Bros – Geostorm – drops 56.9% taking $5.9m in its second weekend taking $23.78m
Geostorm took $49.3m internationally with global box office of $136m.
Despite Geostorm flopping and Blade Runner 2049 poor performance thanks to It box office Warner Bros are now almost 4% ahead of Universal Pictures and Disney taking $1.74bn to date.
Even if Thor: Ragnarok takes the expected $300m in the US Disney are currently $340m behind Warner Bros and with early tracking predicting Justice League to open with $150m+ and take $400m Disney will only take over Warner Bros in December after Star Wars: The Last Jedi opens which is expected to open about 15% down from Star Wars: The Force Awakens $215m Vs $248m taking $795m.
Universal Pictures – Happy Death Day – drops 44.4% taking $5.07m in its third weekend taking $48.37m.
The low budget horror dropped far heavier than would have expected as it was a fun twist on the 90s teen horror with a nice Groundhog Day Easter egg at the end. Three years ago, Universal Pictures had similar success with low budget PG-13 horror Ouija which also took $50m sequel Ouija: Origin of Evil was released last year taking $25.1m so likely there will be a sequel released in 2019.
Warner Bros – Blade Runner 2049 – drops 44% taking $4.11m in its fourth weekend taking $81.53m;
Internationally Blade Runner 2049 had taken $142m and $223.3m total after disappointing in both China taking only $7.6m and $2.7m in Japan. Blade Runner 2049 will unlikely take more than $300m worldwide which will see it loose more than $100m as Geostorm and King Arthur: Legend of the Sword.
Despite Warner Bros releasing those flops and other disappointments including Live By Night, Unforgettable, ChiPs, The House and The LEGO Ninjago Movie Warner Bros are still over $300m ahead of Universal Pictures and even with Thor: Ragnarok expected to take $300m Warner Bros will likely still be #1 studio in the US until December 17th after Star Wars: The Last Jedi opens.
Universal Pictures – Thank You for Your Service – opens with $3.81m; received A- CinemaScore and positive reviews. The positive was it opened with more than last year’s similarly themed Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk last year with $901,062.
Thank You for Your Service is just one of many so many adult demographic films that cannibalized each other in September/October this year studios released far too many films targeting similar audience which saw October being the worst in a decade.
October box office will be less than $560m up to Sunday was $539.1 million down 13.4% from last year, the last time October box office didn’t take over $600m was in 2007. Of course, this weekend Thor: Ragnarok opens with expected $100m+ opening and then in two weeks’ time Justice League Justice League is expected to open with $120m but the box office now has huge highs and then big lows as these films open big and drop big.
Paramount Pictures – Suburbicon opens with $2.84m; received D- CinemaScore after poor reviews
Disappointing opening for the George Clooney directed film his worst wide release opener. Suburbicon premiered at Venice Film Festival and screened at the Toronto Film Festival receiving mixed reviews only 40% score on Rotten Tomatoes. As so many films that have premiered at Venice and Toronto Film Festival that were potential award contenders
Paramount Pictures has taken almost $300m less than Lionsgate taking $408.8m at the box office this year they will need Daddy’s Home 2 and Downsizing to take over $200m at the box office if they aren’t to have their worst year at the box office for 17 years and the worst since 2004.
The first Daddy’s Home was a surprise opening with $38.7m in December 2015 taking $150m at the box office so as with Bad Moms a speedy sequel was always likely but casting Mel Gibson in the sequel will hopefully alienate audiences from the family comedy after being a convicted wife beater racist and anti-Semitic Hollywood welcomed him back from exile after Hacksaw Ridge received several Oscar nominations this year. It was also rumored last week that Warner Bros are planning to make Lethal Weapon 5 almost 20 years after the fourth film that will also star Danny Glover and be directed by Richard Donner (would be the first film since 2006’s 16 Blocks).
Warner Bros – It drops 27.5% taking $2.5m in its eighth weekend taking $323.68m; It is currently the fifth biggest film of the year but should in the next couple of weeks overtake Spider-Man: Homecoming which had taken $318.9m after eight weeks. Despite Thor: Ragnarok expected to open with over $100m this weekend it’s still expected only to take $300m+ but Justice League is currently tracking to open with $120m will likely take similar with the only remaining film of 2017 to take over $300m will be Star Wars: The Last Jedi which is expected to open with less than Star Wars: The Force Awakens with about $215m taking about $800m.
It became #53 biggest film in the US overtaking Shrek the Third and Suicide Squad and will shortly overtake Forrest Gump, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Guardians of the Galaxy and Spider-Man: Homecoming.
It has become the seventh biggest Warner Bros film ever in the US behind The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises, Wonder Woman, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, American Sniper and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
It took $323.6m US and $332.8m internationally and $654.1m globally #109 biggest overtaking The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 and Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and will shortly overtake Big Hero 6.
On limited release
A24 – The Florida Project – took $522,598 down 13.2% adding 79 screens taking $2.13m;
Weinstein – Amityville: The Awakening took $742 from 10 screens; much was made from the poor opening of the film being Weinstein Company’s first film released since the Harvey Weinstein scandal started.
The film was originally due for release in January 2015 and delayed many times before being released for free on Google Play on October 12th and then getting DVD release in two weeks’ time releasing the film in only 10 screens with no publicity by taking only $742 at the box office the film received a lot of media coverage ahead of its DVD.
Open Road Films – All I See Is You – opened $144,076 from 283 screens; after receiving positive reviews deserved a wider release.
Opened November 3rd
Opening UK
- Murder on The Orient Express – 20th Century Fox
Thriller starring Kenneth Branagh, Penélope Cruz, Willem Dafoe, Judi Dench, Johnny Depp, Josh Gad, Derek Jacobi, Leslie Odom Jr, Michelle Pfeiffer and Daisy Ridley and directed by Kenneth Branagh; it’s the fourth adaptation of Agatha Christie’s novel; world premiere November 2nd at the Royal Albert Hall;
Adaptations of Agatha Christie’s books very been very popular over the decades with Miss Marple and Poirot regularly on TV. In the 1980s Joan Hickson as Miss Marple in the many BBC adaptations and in the 00s was played by Geraldine McEwan and Julia McKenzie. David Suchet will for most people be Poirot playing the character on ITV between 1989 and 2013.
Director Kenneth Branagh shot the film with the last 65mm cameras in the world filmed his previous films on 35mm Cinderella, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit and Thor and previously filmed his 1996 Hamlet adaptation also on 65mm (was just over 4 hours long Rank Film Distributors released it in the UK in 1997 screened it many times in 35mm d was about 24 reels (regular film was only 6 reels) but remember the reels for Hamlet were very small).
While Christopher Nolan could demand Warner Bros to release Interstellar and Dunkirk in 70mm as did Quentin Tarantino’s with The Hateful Eight, Murder on The Orient Express will be screened in 70mm in only a handful of cinemas in the world.
As with disaster, teen horror, serial killer films whodunit films used to be regular film genre in the cinema over the decades Rear Window, Psycho, Vertigo, Strangers on a Train, 12 Angry Men, The Third Man, Witness for the Prosecution (currently being developed by 20th Century Fox for Ben Affleck), The Big Sleep, The Maltese Falcom, 39 Steps, Dial M for Murder, North by Northwest and Rebecca
In the 70s were films including Murder on The Orient Express, Death on the Nile, Chinatown in the 80s and 90s The Silence of the Lambs, The Usual Suspects, Memento, LA Confidential, Mystic River, Primal Fear, The Game, A Few Good Men, Presumed Innocent, No Way Out, Insomnia, Gosford Park, Mullholland Drive, Basic Instinct, The Big Lebowski, Manhunter, A Perfect Murder. While more recently Minority Report, Shutter Island, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Zodiac, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Gone Girl, Gone Baby Gone, The Lincoln Lawyer, Murder by Numbers, A Time to Kill and Michael Clayton.
L.A Confidential opened 31st October 1997 – £112,543 (68 screens) taking £6,934,891
A Perfect Murder – opened 16th October 1998 – £632,292 taking £2,254,955
Gosford Park – opened 1st February 2002 – £837,169 (156 screens) taking £11,828,088
The Grand Budapest Hotel opened 7th March 2014 – £1,532,239 taking £10,577,014
Shutter Island – opened 12th March 2010 – £2,250,178 taking £10,599,763
In the 30s to 70s murder mysteries were simply told but more recently they have needed something extra but Murder on The Orient Express looks like it’s an old-fashioned murder mystery film that could play strongly to the older audience that has come out strongly this year.
Showing the popularity of Agatha Christie adaptations still over 80 years after many were written (Murder on The Orient Express first published in 1934) last Christmas BBC adaptation of Witness for the Prosecution watched by over 5 million and in 2015 And Then There Were None watched by over 8 million on BBC1.
Over the last twenty years, Agatha Christie adaptations have been for the small screen the last film was based on her 1944 book Towards Zero which lost the support from Agatha Christie’s estate after having issues with incest in the script which saw Polygram change the title to Innocent Lies and underwhelmed at the box office. In the 1980’s Cannon films made several films based on her books including Ten Little Indians and Appointment with Death both flopped and have to go back to 1970s with Murder on The Orient Express and Death on the Nile for the last adaptions that were a success at the box office.
As recent adaptations have been for the small screen probably is the reason why Kenneth Branagh shot the film in 70mm and had an ensemble cast as he wanted to up the scale of the film to be more than a murder the confined space of a train which makes it more suited for TV.
Kenneth Branagh made his directorial debut in 1989 with Bafta-winning Henry V followed it up two years later with his Hollywood debut Dead Again which took £3,189,172 at the box office; Peter’s Friends, Much Ado About Nothing followed (taking £4,139,294 in 1993) and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein taking £5,723,059 in 1994) before he returned to Shakespeare with In the Bleak Midwinter, Hamlet, Love’s Labour’s Lost, As You Like It and The Magic Flute. Ten years ago, directed flop Sleuth £165,788 and then surprised everyone directing Thor in 2011. 2014’s Jack Ryan reboot Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit was a massive disappointment but then had huge success with Disney’s Cinderella reimagination and is currently in pre-production in long in development Artemis Fowl set for release in August 2019 for Disney.
Murder on The Orient Express is one of those films that is hard to compare against as the trailers have been very good the cast plays to a wide audience while the videos of Josh Gad asking Daisy Ridley for plot details on The Last Jedi as they were making the film in February generated much coverage online and social media.
The additional of Johnny Depp in the cast surprised many as in recent years he has been box office poison but when the trailers were released pleased many finding out that he is the one who gets murdered.
After so many of the adult dramas released this autumn have underwhelmed at the box office Murder on The Orient Express with its ensemble cast and continued popularity of Agatha Christie adaptions and with Thor: Ragnarok expected to drop over 70% from its 6-day opening weekend is room in the marketplace before Paddington 2 opens next week for young children and families and Justice League opens in two weeks’ time for all those who saw Thor: Ragnarok.
A few years ago, Murder on The Orient Express would have been either the opening or closing film at the London Film Festival but this year and last year had low profile films A United Kingdom and Free Fire and Breathe and Three Billboards Outside Of Ebbing Missouri. In 2015 the opening film was Suffragette which performed strongly but the closing film Steve Jobs disappointed and in 2014 The Imitation Game opened and Fury closed both performed very well year before was a Tom Hanks double Captain Phillips and Saving Mr. Banks
Early November in recent years has seen strong performances for films targeting older demographic with films including Philomena £1,509,726, The Imitation Game £2,742,725, Brooklyn £1,041,278 and The Lady in the Van opened with £2,256,121
- A Bad Moms Christmas – Entertainment Films
Comedy starring Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell, Kathryn Hahn, Christine Baranski, Cheryl Hines and Susan Sarandon and directed and written by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore.
Bad Moms was a bigger success in the US than UK taking $113m compared to £7.97m in the UK after opening with £1.47m as it opened two weeks before Bridget Jones’s Baby squeezing its box office showing up the difference between the UK and US humor.
Last year Bad Santa opened in 2003 with £474,450 taking £2,407,426; 13 years later the sequel last year opened with £799,156 taking £1,961,362
The sequel opens three weeks before Daddy’s Home 2 targeting similar audience but while Bad Moms and Daddy’s Home were box office surprises Christmas 2015 and summer 2016 they were one hit wonders that didn’t need the second part. But as was STX Entertainment biggest hit to date and Paramount Pictures biggest original success many years was no surprise that we have these unwanted sequels.
Both films extend the plots to include the parents for A Bad Moms Christine Baranski, Cheryl Hines and Susan Sarandon but for Daddy’s Home 2 John Lithgow and Mel Gibson a shocking decision by Paramount to include Mel Gibson in a family comedy after being a convicted wife beater, misogynistic, racist, homophobic and anti-Semitic.
Only weeks after news about Harvey Weinstein sexually abusing actresses and his staff for decades which the industry knew about but did nothing about. The American Academy expelled Harvey Weinstein two weeks after the news broke but didn’t expel Mel Gibson after what he did while they distanced themselves from him 10 years ago were happy to welcome him this year with Oscar nominations for Hacksaw Ridge. In the 80s and 90s, he was a huge box office star but many will find it hard to watch a family comedy knowing what we now know about him.
A successful Christmas film will be an annual treat as National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, The Muppet Christmas Carol, Love Actually, Scrooged, Elf, Serendipity and many more.
A Bad Moms Christmas will open similar to Bad Moms as it has a five day opening weekend.
- The Son of Bigfoot – Studiocanal
An animated comedy film directed by Ben Stassen and Jeremy Degruson; was originally set to open in August but instead given a one-week outing before Paddington 2 opens.
Robinson Crusoe opened in May 2016 with £575,321
The Song of the Sea opened in July 2015 with £72,172
Opening in the US
- Thor: Ragnarok – Disney
Two weeks before its US opening Thor: Ragnarok was tracking to open with over $100m and become the sixth film to do so this year after Beauty and the Beast, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2, Wonder Woman, Spider-Man: Homecoming and It with Justice League and Star Wars: The Last Jedi to also take over $100m this year.
If Thor: Ragnarok opens with $100m+ would be the eighth biggest Marvel Cinematic Universe film in the US but as Thor: The Dark World opened with $85.1m four years ago with the addition of Hulk and Doctor Strange would of expected a far bigger opening while not as big as Captain America: Civil War which has Iron Man and Spider-Man but should be in that neighbourhood.
- A Bad Moms Christmas – STX
The first Bad Moms released last July opened with $23.81m taking $113.25m (taking $170.8m worldwide) was the 25th biggest film of the year and STX’s biggest film to date. In October 2016 STX announced plans for a spinoff Bad Dads set for July 14th, 2017 was soon after postponed and a Bad Moms sequel was dated November 2017.
The first Bad Moms held strongly in the weeks after release as there wasn’t any direct competition the problem for Abad Moms Christmas is Daddy’s Home 2 opens the week after and the big question is how those two films will perform against each other as separately the two original films were very successful. Both are very different to the Christmas family films studios used to make only a few years ago most of which are watched on an annual basis but from early reviews A Bad Moms Christmas sounds like once will be far too much for most of the plot taken from National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and Jingle All the Way,
Last week Jigsaw disappointed as it was released too long after the first film but with A Bad Moms Christmas and Daddy’s Home 2 opening next weekend have opposite of unnecessary sequels opening far too close to the original films while the first films were fun just watching the trailers for the sequels they feel tiresome with the same jokes redone but this time with grandparents. Both films are expected to open similarly in the US with about $25m but if A Bad Moms Christmas holds as well as Bad Moms it could impact on Daddy’s Home targeting a similar audience. With Paramount’s lack of films this year, it was surprising that they choose to date Daddy’s Home 2 against its closest competition for the year.
A Bad Moms Christmas is expected to open with $20-25m early reviews say it’s very similar to the previous film but doesn’t repeat the originally completely as they did with The Hangover II.
- Last Flag Flying – Lionsgate
Comedy-drama starring Steve Carell, Bryan Cranston, and Laurence Fishburne and directed by Richard Linklater and is a sequel to the 1973 Hal Ashby film The Last Detail; world premiere at the New York Film Festival in September receiving average reviews.
- Lady Bird – Focus
Comedy-drama starring Saoirse Ronan, Laurie Metcalf, Tracy Letts, Lucas Hedges, Timothée Chalamet, Beanie Feldstein, Stephen Henderson and Lois Smith and written and directed by Greta Gerwig; had its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival receiving a standing ovation the Toronto Film Festival receiving critical acclaim.
cigarette burns and missed changeovers 