Top 5 Breakdown
- Blade Runner 2049 – £6,071,625 – NE
2D took 73.64% £3,837,577 (average £6,101) from 630 screens including previews £4,451,836
3D took 12.44% £648,605 (average £1,787) from 375 screens including previews £752,104.
IMAX/3D took 9.94% £498,215 (average £13,839) from 37 screens including previews £601,195.
IMAX took 3.97% £202,531 (average £10,660) from 20 screens including previews £240,081.
Blade Runner 2049 took £900,000 from Thursday previews which made its opening look more impressive than it seemed going into its release many expected it would have strong legs but as it has only played to its fanbase this weekend will be key to see what its final gross would be as I’m predicting similar final total of T2: Trainspotting £17m+.
Unlike the US there are no records seemingly for Blade Runners original September 1982 release but the 1992 Directors Cut along with other re-released versions have taken £1.93m; I saw the Directors Cut in 70mm at the London Film Festival in November 1992 at the Empire Leicester Square which was my first time I had seen it.
While underwhelming in the US Blade Runner 2049 had a strong opening comparable to adult sci-fi films that have opened over recent years in the autumn Gravity, Interstellar, The Martian, and Arrival. But remove Thursday previews Gravity and Interstellar didn’t have along with the 3D and ticket inflation Blade Runner 2049 benefited from its opening isn’t strong as many might have expected after the critical response and huge media coverage it has received. Showing how 3D sales have crashed over the last 4 years almost 90% of Gravity box office came from 3D compared to only 22% for Blade Runner 2049 of course much was made of Gravity being shot in 3D but Blade Runner 2049 like so many other films including upcoming Justice League and Star Wars: The Last Jedi was retro-fitted into 3D.
While many might compare Blade Runner 2049 with films like Gone Girl and adult Sci-Fi Mad Max: Fury Road, Gravity, Interstellar, The Martian and Arrival it has much more similarity with Sony Pictures UK other legacysequel released this year 21 years after the original T2: Trainspotting as its main audience was the teenagers who saw the film in the 90s who are now in their 40s as those few teens who saw Blade Runner in 80s are now in their 50s. But while other legacysequels like Jurassic World and Star Wars: The Force Awakens was accessible new audiences as they were basically remakes of the previous films you needed to be a fan of the first Trainspotting film as Blade Runner to appreciate their sequels; T2 Trainspotting opened with £5.1m having a three day opening weekend which is very similar to the 3 day weekend opening of Blade Runner 2049 which had an extra day also had IMAX PLF and 3D surcharges that T2: Trainspotting didn’t have.
Tron Legacy opened December 17th, 2010 £1,970,692
Prometheus opened 1st June 2012 £6,236,580
Gravity opened 8th November 2013 £6,238,375 (Gravity £619,086 from 478 previews)
Interstellar opened 7th November 2014 £5,378,220 (£59,467 from 178 previews
Mad Max: Fury Road opened May 15th, 2015 £4,538,933 (£638,690 from 498 previews)
The Martian opened October 2nd, 2015 £6,531,734 (£1,630,490 from 552 previews)
Arrival opened 11th November 2016 £2,924,059 (£1,354,250 from 461 previews
This year T2: Trainspotting opened 27th January £5,146,791 21 years after the original
Logan opened 3rd March £9,443,363 (£2,497,845 from 551 previews)
Alien: Covenant opened 12th May £5,178,531 (£348,270 from 332 previews) 38-year-old 8 film title franchise)
War for the Planet of the Apes 14th July £7,195,773 (£1,974,695 from 471 previews) 49-year 9 film title franchise)
Earlier in the year studios blamed Rotten Tomatoes algorithm for their badly reviewed films failing at the box office this was proven to be not correct but similar could be said for the reason why Blade Runner 2049 failed to find a wider audience than its fanbase. Normally when a film gets compared with its original studios would be delighted but as the original Blade Runner flopped in 1982 these reviews would likely make the film unlikely to play to a wider audience than its fanbase as a regular would likely see it as pretentious and long.
In recent years Hollywood has been making many legacysequels 38 years between A New Hope and The Force Awakens 27 years between Raiders of the Lost Ark and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, 35 years between Blade Runner films and 54 years between Mary Poppins and Mary Poppins Returns next year. But the difference between Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Mary Poppins and Blade Runner is their sequels were made attract the generations old and young Blade Runner 2049 was targeting only its fanbase. This morning the final Star Wars: The Last Jedi trailer was released but this was targeting more new fans rather than old fans who had already booked their tickets while they were waiting to see the trailer. Despite over the 30 years after the original film was released being heralded as a masterpiece it wasn’t a big success at the box office and wasn’t your typical Star Wars or Star Trek accessible sci-fi film
- Kingsman: The Golden Circle – £2,112,966 – £19,458,871
Down 39% in its fourth weekend has overtaken The Lego Batman Movie to become Warner Bros second biggest film of the year in the UK behind Dunkirk;
Has become director Mathew Vaughn’s biggest film in the UK and the 17th biggest film of the year and will shortly overtake Pirates of the Caribbean: Salazar’s Revenge and will overtake War for the Planet of the Apes, Wonder Woman and Fifty Shades Darker by the end of next weekend to get it close to overtaking Logan to become 20th Century Fox’s biggest live-action film of 2017.
Depending on how Kingsman: The Golden Circle holds over the next couple of weeks it could overtake Jason Bourne £23.4m, The Bourne Ultimatum £23.42m and Mission: Impossible: Rogue Nation took £21.05m to become James Bond’s number #2 while it hasn’t performed as strong as might have expected in the US but all films that have opened in the shadows of It over the last five weeks have underwhelmed.
- It – £807,500 – £30,961,497
Down 53.6% in its fifth weekend becoming the seventh film this year to take over £30m overtaking The Fate of the Furious, Spider-Man: Homecoming and La La Land to become the fifth biggest film of 2017 and second biggest Warner Bros film of the year after Dunkirk.
Warner Bros has released 18 films in 2017 to date taking £179.42m have had a very mixed year to date with Dunkirk, It, Annabelle: Creation and John Wick 2 performing very strongly while The Lego Batman Movie and Kong: Skull Island as expected while after being such a massive hit in the US wonder Woman failed to match similar box office success in the UK compared with previous DC films. Warner Bros had many disappointments including Live By Night and King Arthur. Remaining films for 2018 The Lego Ninjago Movie previewed over the weekend, the long-delayed action film Geostorm and Justice League the last trailer was released on Sunday receiving positive reaction on social media.
Burger King in Germany created a marketing campaign for It against its biggest rival McDonalds with adverts playing showing the film with the line ‘Never trust a clown’
- The Mountain Between Us – £777,646 – NE
Reviews have been mixed calling it The Grey meets The English Patient or Alive meets Before Sunrise or Six Days, Seven Nights stranded after a plane crash on a snow-covered mountain; Six Days, Seven Nights opened with £908,713 in July 1998 taking £4,535,4775.
20th Century Fox assumed nervous cinemagoers before the film opened they wouldn’t kill off the dog releasing a spoiler video; animal death effect cinemagoers much harder than human death in films like I Am Legend, John Wick or Marley & Me.
The Mountain Between Us twitter encouraged fans to photoshop their face replacing Kate Winslet under the tag InThisWithIdris was also an app called The Voice Between Us featuring Idris Elba’s voice saying aspirational quotes for you to fall asleep with
Will be 20 years in January when Titanic opened in cinemas but away from the massive success of Titanic Kate Winslet has had mixed success at the box office with her most recent films Collateral Beauty, Triple 9, The Dressmaker, Steve Jobs all disappointing. Her biggest openings in recent years 2008’s Revolutionary Road £1,013,548 taking £2.75m and 2011’s Contagion opening £1,463,638 taking £5.33m;
Kate Winslet was one of many actresses who starred in many films produced by Harvey Weinstein at Miramax and Weinstein Co and told Variety on Monday.
“The fact that these women are starting to speak out about the gross misconduct of one of our most important and well-regarded film producers, is incredibly brave and has been deeply shocking to hear. The way Harvey Weinstein has treated these vulnerable, talented young women is NOT the way women should ever EVER deem to be acceptable or commonplace in ANY workplace.
“I have no doubt that for these women this time has been, and continues to be extremely traumatic. I fully embrace and salute their profound courage, and I unequivocally support this level of very necessary exposure of someone who has behaved in reprehensible and disgusting ways. His behavior is without question disgraceful and appalling and very, very wrong. I had hoped that these kinds of stories were just made up rumors, maybe we have all been naïve. And it makes me so angry. There must be ‘no tolerance’ of this degrading, vile treatment of women in ANY workplace anywhere in the world.”
20 years after working with director James Cameron on Titanic it was announced last week that she would star in the sequels the first to be released in December 2020 11 years after the first film opened four sequels are planned with the fifth set for release in December 2025. Many asking why five the simple answer is Star Wars and Disney announcing infinite films every year forevermore the first Avatar film is still the highest grossing film globally and 20th Century Fox need to have an Avatar on their slate to be able to compete after of course losing Star Wars franchise when Disney bought Lucasfilm. With four Avatar sequels and a new Terminator trilogy also produced by James Cameron, the first released in July 2019 sci-fi will be a key part of their line-up over the next decade.
While last year Idris Elba featured in three of the biggest films of the year The Jungle Book, Finding Dory and Zootropolis and has starred in Prometheus, Pacific Rim, Thor: The Dark World, Avengers: Age of Ultron and upcoming Thor: Ragnarok but despite this as fellow British actor and Prometheus co-star Michael Fassbender was originally attached to star in the film with Margot Robbie has yet to be able to open a film (Michael Fassbender latest The Snowman opens this weekend). Idris Elba the last film was The Dark Tower opening with only £0.91m.
Next, for Idris Elba is starring in Jessica Chastain’s drama directed by Aaron Sorkin Molly’s Game opening next month in the US as with all of Jessica Chastain’s films it’s generating Oscar buzz and after starring in many flops it also stars Kevin Costner in his first film since the Oscar nomination Hidden Figures.
Many were hoping that Idris Elba would replace Daniel Craig as the next James Bond but sadly this won’t happen as in August he signed up to star in Bond 25.
- Victoria and Abdul £467,042 – £8,233,307
Down 51.1% in its fourth weekend will shortly overtake The Mummy and Girl Trip to squeeze into the top 30 for few days.
Victoria and Abdul should overtake Stephen Frears 2006’s The Queen £9,009,127 by next weekend and despite dropping down the charts over the next few weeks with so many films targeting similar demographic could still overtake 2013’s Philomena £10,792,731 to become his biggest film ever in the UK.
In recent years these adult dramas have been squeezed at the box office but Victoria and Abdul received far stronger media coverage than most along with it seen as a Mrs. Brown sequel as next year’s Mary Queen of Scots is the third part of the Elizabeth Extended Universe gave it a huge advantage over all the other similar films targeting the same audience Elizabeth opened 23rd October 1998 on limited release £166,174 went on to take £5,382,846 and Elizabeth: The Golden age opened 2nd November 2007 £1,348,440 taking £4,856,733.
Despite huge love for Winnie the Pooh Goodbye Christopher Robin has failed to make much impact at the UK box office dropping almost 50% in its second weekend followed the performances of similar films that opened earlier this year Jackie (£0.66m) Viceroy’s House (£0.92m), Their Finest £0.85m), My Cousin Rachel (£0.63m)
Also released
Lionsgate – The Glass Castle – £49,214 from 82 screens
UK box office in detail
This weekend’s top 10 box office took £11,370,380 up 16.7% from last weekend £9,737,687
The weekend admissions 1,477,662 up 15.6% from last weekend 1,277,912 (average price £7.62 by UK Cinema Association/BFI for 2017).
Blade Runner 2049 took 53.3% of the top 10; 14 films opened at weekend taking £7,191,414; Blade Runner 2049 84.42% (£6,071,625); The Mountain Between Us 10.81% (£777,646); remaining 12 films shared £342,143 (4.75%);
The weekend was down 22.1% from last year (£14,587,631): The Girl on the Train £6,957,945, War on Everyone £187,564, My Scientology Movie £106,720, Blood Father £68,808
Up 24.2% from 2015: (£9,148,818): Sicario £1,596,734, The Walk £795,115, Regression £214,742
Next weekend in 2016: (£14,897,205) Inferno £2,970,027, Storks £2,247,038, Miss Saigon: 25th Anniversary Performance £2,033,031, American Honey £175,383
2017 year to date
On October 1st 14 days earlier than 2016 UK box office took £1.01bn up 6% from last year which is the same rate as ticket
Last quarter films have Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Paddington 2, Justice League, Thor: Ragnarok all of which will likely beat last year’s Star Wars: Rogue One, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Trolls, The Girl on the Train and Doctor Strange and will likely be very close to its final box office which would be very disappointing especially after a record breaking March/April and with films like Dunkirk and It took far more than most could have predicted. 2017 should be now be way ahead of last year with admissions the highest for 15 years.
UK Box Office Top 10
US Box Office Top 10
US Box office
Warner Bros – Blade Runner 2049 – opens with $32.75m; received A- CinemaScore while it did become Ryan Gosling’s biggest opening in the US previous was Crazy, Stupid, Love with $19.1m.
Biggest question had with Blade Runner 2049 was who was its audience this was highlighted by ComScore/Screen Engine’s PostTrak showing only 24% of its audience was under 25 while CinemaScore it was only 14% under 25. While CinemaScore scored A- from 71% males 50+ was a third of its audience. The 25-34 crowd 23% enjoyed Blade Runner 2049 the most receiving A while 53% of its audience were men over 25.
Warner Bros. domestic distribution president Jeff Goldstein said “Blade Runner 2049” had fallen short of expectations mid-sized and smaller markets… We did well in the major and high-profile markets,” he added. “Alcon and Denis made an amazing movie. The audience for it was narrower than we anticipated.”
Early tracking a month before release was predicting $40m+ opening weekend and then after received excellent reviews compared it to the original should have been a positive but the problem was original failed to find an audience and only became a cult success and a classic many years after its theatrical release.
In the days leading up to its opening Blade Runner 2049 was outselling advance bookings for Mad Max: Fury Road and was expected to open similar $45.42m but then after taking $4m in Thursday previews $1.5m more than The Martian went on to open with $54.3m and many expected it to open bigger. Then on Friday, it was seen to be a very front-loaded opening after many expected Blade Runner 2049 to be a long steady performer over weeks as films like Gravity, The Martian, Gone Girl and Arrival have been over previous Fall’s films targeting older audiences.
Tron Legacy opened December 17th, 2010 $44.02m
Gravity opened 4th October 2013 $55.78m
Interstellar opened 5th November 2014 $47.51m
Mad Max: Fury Road opened May 15th, 2015 $45.42m
The Martian opened October 2nd, 2015 $54.3m
Arrival opened 11th November 2016 $24.07m
When a film takes 35 years to be made and then the studio that made the original only distributes the film for a fee rather than finances it as Alcon and Sony Pictures have done this must be a sign that many expected a similar fate of the sequel at the box office to the original.
Despite an incredible marketing campaign which was a wet dream for fans of the original that as the sequels biggest problem being far too close to the original film for all the faults Star Wars: The Force Awakens has for being a reboot of the first film it made the film immediately accessible to non-Star Wars fans. While critics were orgasming over the film when they reviewed it with its hype regular cinemas have little interest in the sequel as they did in its original.
While previous legacyquels Jurassic World, and Star Wars: The Force Awakens crossed audiences old and young Blade Runner 2049 was limited to its older fanbase. Once the hype has faded Blade Runner 2049 will likely be seen similar as Star Wars: The Force Awakens with critics overdosing on memberries and hype
Blade Runner opened June 25th, 1982 taking $6,150,002 from 1,295 screens admissions 2.106m (average ticket price in 1982 was $2.92) compare this to Blade Runner 2049 3.64m admissions (using claimed average $8.95) but as Blade Runner was playing in many screens in PLF IMAX and 3D average ticket price must be closer to $12 with many cinemas more than double actual admissions were 3.03m despite playing on over 200% more screens.
According to Deadline Blade Runner 2049 will need to take over $400m worldwide to turn a profit. Many were surprised when Warner Bros didn’t take international rights for Blade Runner having first right to distribute films produced by Alcon Entertainment previously releasing films globally like The Blind Side, The 33 and the upcoming comedy Father Figures, but Warner Bros choose instead to take their 10% distribution fee and Sony Pictures paid $90m for international rights with Alcon putting up the rest $60m and the estimated $130m+ P&A are unlikely to see a profit from its theatrical release unless it performs strongly in South Korea opening next week and Japan an October 27 and China November 10.
The marketing for Blade Runner 2049 was stunning but the problem was it was always targeting the fanbase not wanting to spoil the film which made it feel pretentious to non-fans as the questions they wanted answering weren’t explained which helped to alienate them. Many questioned the 163min length as some directors believe that a film needs to be long to be an epic but as seen by Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk epic can be 107mins long some have said there is an excellent 95min film inside Blade Runner 2049 but it just feels too bloated.
Internationally Blade Runner 2049 took $50.2 million from 63 territories
20th Century Fox – The Mountain Between Us opened with $10.55m; despite receiving A- CinemaScore the film received poor reviews.
Six Days, Seven Nights opened June 12th, 1998 with $16.48m starring the unbelieving couple Harrison Ford and Anne Heche but The Mountain Between Us opening 19 years later will probably open with half $8-$10m.
It took $3.6 million from 11 territories total $13.7m.
Warner Bros – It drops 41% taking $9.97m in its fifth weekend taking $305.25m; has become the biggest horror overtaking 1999’s The Sixth Sense $293.5m and has become the fifth biggest film of the year behind Beauty and the Beasty, Wonder Woman, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Spider-Man: Homecoming (which It could overtake as Spider-Man: Homecoming had taken $294.95m in its fifth weekend so It could end with $335m)
As It was never expected to be the massive success has become the weeks after its opening had many films targeting similar audience demographic all of which underwhelmed at the box office was that due to It cannibalizing them as It has held strongly now for the five weeks it has been on release.
It took $319.8m internationally and $298.8m internationally and $603.7m globally; after 10 days on release its #11 biggest film of the year globally overtaking Kong: Skull Island and will shortly overtake Transformers: The Last Knight and Logan to be the ninth biggest film globally in 2017; #131 biggest ever ahead of Fifty Shades of Grey, Iron Man, I Am Legend and will shortly overtake Transformers: The Last Knight and Logan now likely to take more than $650m worldwide.
While Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Beauty and the Beast and The Fate of the Furious will be the biggest global hits at the box office this year it will be films including It, Dunkirk, Get Out, The Boss Baby, Split, Girls Trip and Baby Driver that will be the most profitable for their studios.
Lionsgate – My Little Pony opened with $8.8m; despite receiving A- CinemaScore failed to find an audience in the US which wasn’t helped by mixed reviews and a pirate copy of the film online before the film opened on Friday.
My Little Pony as Power Rangers were seen as potential franchises for Lionsgate while they had strong success with La La Land and John Wick: Chapter Two with a third film dated for 2019 they were looking at these two properties to build up a series of films; Later this month Lionsgate release Jigsaw the eighth part of their Saw franchise and next year release another Robin Hood reimagination which they also hope could start a franchise but after similar was expected with King Arthur this year for Warner Bros they will have better success with their Tyler Perry movies.
20th Century Fox – Kingsman: The Golden Circle – $8.67m down 48.8% in its third weekend taking $80.53m; this compares to Kingsman: The Secret Service taking $11.88m and $85.82m.
Took $25.5m taking $173.6m international and $253m worldwide from 69 territories; first film took $414.35m worldwide
Universal Pictures – American Made took $8.44m down 49.7% in its second weekend taking $30.81m;
Despite receiving positive reviews 87% Rotten Tomatoes score American Made has fallen behind Jack Reacher: Never Go Back in its second and will likely not match its total $58.69m. While American Made will overtake 2012’s Rock of Ages $38.58m it will become his worst ever action film. Incredibly American Made is unlikely to match the opening weekend box office for 2015’s Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation $55.52m so no wonder he is currently making Mission Impossible 6 for next summer.
As American Made received positive reviews it didn’t need to be this way had Universal Pictures decided not to open the film internationally first and opened US first in August it could have performed far stronger with less competition.
The film took $3.8m international and has taken $81.7m globally
Fox Searchlight – Battle of the Sexes – $2.56m added 609 screens down 25% and $7.83m; disappointing expansion not helped with Victoria & Abdul also expanding over the same weekend.
In recent years films have often performed well on platform release but expanded their releases far too quickly the problem for studios this time of year it is very crowded with similar adult targeted demographic films so often are forced to expand quicker than they would like.
On limited release
A24 – The Florida Project – opens $157,553 from 4 screens; Sean Barker’s film has been heralded by many as one of the best films of the year and is already generating strong Oscar buzz similar to Moonlight last year also released by A24 who have become the Miramax of this decade (after the shocking revelations revealed about Miramax founder last week by the New York Times to put the two companies together now feels uncomfortable but in the 90s Miramax had huge success releasing many Oscar contenders which saw them acquired by Disney in 1993 for $60m. A24 has similarly since their launch in 2013 released Oscar winners Moonlight, Ex Machina and Room.
It will extend next weekend before nationwide release the week after.
Opened October 13th
Opening UK
- The Lego Ninjago Movie – Warner Bros
Animated action-comedy featuring voices of Dave Franco, Justin Theroux, Michael Peña, Kumail Nanjiani, Abbi Jacobson, Zach Woods, Fred Armisen, Olivia Munn and Jackie Chan directed by Charlie Bean, Paul Fisher and Bob Logan based on the Lego Ninjago toy line, the first theatrical film to be based on an original Lego property and the second spin-off to The Lego Movie. The Lego Ninjago Movie is the second Lego movie of the year after The Lego Batman Movie was released in February and took £27m which was less than The Lego Movie but had far bigger competition from Sing that opened two weeks before.
The short film The Master was shown before Storks last September; first trailer was released featuring the song Bad Blood by Taylor Swift shown before The Lego Batman Movie; July 22 second trailer was shown at Comic-Con.
Despite having a disappointing opening in the US last month squeezed by opening against Kingsman: The Golden Circle it took a decent £1,484,747 from Sat/Sun previews over the weekend almost 91% from 2D (showing how 3D sales have shrunk in recent years). The Lego Batman Movie took £2.45m from previews and opened with £7.9m while The Lego Movie took £2.16m from previews in February 2014 opening with £8.03m. With Blade Runner 2049 likely to drop 60% including previews in its second weekend taking £2.8m The Lego Ninjago Movie will likely open with £4m including previews.
Its weekend previews finally saw The Emoji Movie and Despicable Me 3 thankfully finally dropping out of the top 10. Also opening for half term this weekend is My Little Pony which is unlikely to have much impact on it but Disney have brought forward the release date of Thor: Ragnarok opening now on Tuesday 24th October to give it 4 days of lucrative half term holidays ahead of its opening weekend.
- The Snowman – Universal Pictures
Crime thriller starring Michael Fassbender, Rebecca Ferguson, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Val Kilmer and J. K. Simmons and directed by Tomas Alfredson and based on the novel Jo Nesbø.
Martin Scorsese was originally attached to direct dropping out in 2013 and was replaced by Tomas Alfredson before considering Morten Tyldum and Baltasar Kormakur as possible directors both declined.
Serial killer thrillers have been very successful at the box office over the years Hannibal, the Silence of the Lambs, Basic Instinct and Seven but with crime drama series Mindhunter released on Netflix also on Friday will people be so interested in a serial killing Snowman.
Some recent serial killing thrillers include
The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo opened 30th December 2011 with £4,325,594 taking £11,640,666; Sony Pictures will release the sequel The Girl in the Spider’s Web next October without any of the original cast and with Fede Alvarez replacing David Fincher who has been producing the TV series Mindhunter already renewed for a second series.
Untraceable opened March 2nd, 1998 with £549,524 taking £1,517,882
Zodiac opened May 20th, 2007 with £818,369 taking £3,440,289
With Blade Runner 2049 likely to take £2.5-3m The Snowman is likely to be squeezed taking about £1m; I’m sure someone will confuse The Snowman with the classic Raymond Brigg’s 1982 animated film.
The Snowman is produced by Working Title starring British actor Michael Fassbender so surprising no premiering at the London Film Festival highlighting again studios don’t seem to want to screen their big films anymore in the festival ever since the leaking of the emails between Sony Pictures and BFI in the Sony Hacks over their plans to have Fury at the festival but also the BFI want studios to pay for more of the costs but don’t have the same control over the attendees as would if they held their own premiere. Last week Andy Serkis’s Breathe opened the film festival and Three Billboard will close but they are both far smaller films than have had in previous years only need to go back to 2013 when Tom Hanks opened and closed the festival with Captain Philips and Saving Mr Banks but this year’s films are similar to last year A United Kingdom a film that was overshadowed by the similar themed Moonlight and Free Fire which strangely premiered at the festival but didn’t open in UK cinemas until March.
- The Ritual – eOne
British horror starring Rafe Spall, Robert James-Collier, Arsher Ali and Sam Troughton and directed by David Bruckner; premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in September and Netflix acquired world rights for the film excluding the UK.
Netflix recently announced a similar deal acquiring international rights to the Shaft reboot which will be released internationally two weeks after being released in the US by Warner Bros. With mid-range budget films being squeezed at the box office in recent years (this year has been an exception with Get Out, Split Baby Driver and It) these split rights deal will likely be the future for mid-range budget films with Netflix and Amazon and with Facebook and Apple both likely to be as aggressive and with even deeper pockets to acquire bigger films as seen by both being interested in acquiring Bond 25 rights.
Opening in US
- The Foreigner – STX Entertainment
Action thriller starring Jackie Chan, Pierce Brosnan, Charlie Murphy, Michael McElhatton, Orla Brady, Liu Tao and Katie Leung and directed by Martin Campbell based on the 1992 novel The Chinaman by Stephen Leather; opened in China two weeks before its US release.
Martin Campbell previously directed two James Bond films 1995’s Goldeneye starring Pierce Brosnan and 2006’s Casino Royale starring Daniel Craig; while doing interviews for Spectre Daniel Craig said he would rather slash his wrists than play James Bond again but after his recent film Logan Lucky flopped he only needs to see the films Pierce Brosnan has made since leaving Bond in 2002 with the exception of Mamma Mia and the sequel Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again he is currently filming all of his films are instantly forgettable has have been Daniel Craig’s films since starring in Casino Royale.
In February 2016, filmmakers were criticised for not warning the public they would be filming a scene featuring a bus exploding on Lambeth Bridge which generated much concern after recent terrorist attacks in London. While the authorities were warned of the stunt more should have been done to warn local people in advance which would have avoided much panic on social media after people saw the bus explode.
It is Jackie Chan’s first wide release since 2010’s Karate Kid remake; vocally appeared in Kung Fu Panda 2, Kung Fu Panda 3, The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature and The LEGO Ninjago Movie.
Could opened with $11-14m but more likely high single figures; opened in China two weeks ago taking $67m to date and $15m over last weekend.
- Happy Death Day – Universal
Teen horror starring Jessica Rothe and Israel Broussard and directed by Christopher B. Landon produced by Jason Blum through his Blumhouse Productions banner; been described as Scream meets Groundhog Day.
After Blumhouse Productions have already had strong success earlier this year with Split and Get Out teen horror opening Friday 13th weekend showed play well over the next two weeks through to Halloween. With trailers playing with It and Kingman: The Golden Circle almost played out Happy Death Day has a strong chance to open top $15m-20m with Blade Runner 2049 likely to drop 50%+.
Friday October 13th was one of the many dates Paramount Pictures had dated over recent years for their Friday the 13th reboot.
- Professor Marston & the Wonder Women – Annapurna Pictures
Biographical drama starring Luke Evans, Rebecca Hall and Bella Heathcote and directed and written by Angela Robinson about American psychologist William Moulton Marston, who created character Wonder Woman; premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival receiving average reviews.
After the massive success of DC’s Wonder Woman this summer Professor Marston & the Wonder Women it’s a comic-book origin film with a different. But opening the same weekend on limited release as Goodbye Christopher Robin will either be of interest to cinemagoers.
- Marshall – Open Road Films
Biographical legal drama starring Chadwick Boseman, Josh Gad, Kate Hudson, Dan Stevens, Sterling K. Brown and James Cromwell and directed by Reginald Hudlin; premiered at Howard University in September.
In 2013 Chadwick Boseman starred in the excellent baseball drama 42 opening with $27.48m and a year later in Get On Up opening $13.58m playing Jackie Robinson and James Brown and before starring as superhero Black Panther he stars as real life superhero Thurgood Marshall; the film marks 50th anniversary of Thurgood Marshall’s Supreme Court arrival.
- Goodbye Christopher Robin – Fox Searchlight
Drama starring Domhnall Gleeson, Margot Robbie and Kelly Macdonald and directed by Simon Curtis; it tells the story of Winnie the Pooh in a similar way as Finding Neverland did for Peter Pan.
Finding Neverland opened 12th November 2004 on limited release $220,524 on 8 screens slowly expanded to 1,000 screens after 8 weeks going on to take $51.67m and nominated four six Oscars winning Best Original Score; other similar films include Saving Mr Banks opened 13th December $413,373 taking $83,301,580
Simon Curtis previous films My Week with Marilyn opened 23rd November 2011 $1,750,507 taking $14,600,347 and The Woman in Gold opened 1st April 2015 $2,091,551 taking $33,307,793.
Disney release their own film about A. A. Milne’s creation Christopher Robin in an untitled reimagination with a grown-up Christopher Robin opening next August directed by Marc Forster and starring Ewan McGregor and Hayley Atwell; Marc Forster also directed Finding Neverland.
- Breathe – Bleecker Street
Biographical drama starring Andrew Garfield, Claire Foy, Hugh Bonneville, Tom Hollander, Ed Speleers and Dean-Charles Chapman and directed by Andy Serkis and screenplay by William Nicholson; had world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival and opened the London Film Festival in October.
Reviews have been mixed with many comparing it to a TV movie of the Oscar winning The Theory of Everything while Andrew Garfield and Claire Foy performances have been praised the film itself not so much.
cigarette burns and missed changeovers 