- Spider-Man No Way Home – £3,215,166 – £84,127,768
Down 28% in its fifth weekend; 6th biggest 5th weekend between LOTR: The Fellowship of the Rings (£3,276,912) and Star Wars: The Force Awakens (£3,137,258) close to No Time To Die (£4,672,560) and LOTR: The Fellowship of the Rings (£4,371,354); only Avatar (£5,527,039); Skyfall (£3,809,893); Titanic (£3,657,613); No Time To Die (£3,514,308) took more (7th film to take £3m+ in its fifth weekend); biggest MCU fourth weekend taking a third more than Black Panther (£1,881,691); Avenger Infinity War (£1,215,206); Captain Marvel (£1,156,476); Avengers: Age of Ultron (£1,067,076); Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 1 (£1,027,274); Spider-Man Homecoming (£927,957); Avengers: Endgame (£900,524)
6th biggest film after 5 weeks between Avengers: Endgame (£85,594,376) and Star Wars: The Last Jedi (£79,867,006) with Star Wars The Force Awakens (£113,955,827); Skyfall (£89,620,677); Spectre (£88,374,402) and No Time To Die (£85,944,606) taking more.
With no major must-see Oscar contender this year Spider-Man No Way Home is likely to remain #1 until Sing 2 in two weeks. This will see Spider-Man No Way Home #1 for 6 weeks two weeks less than Tenet did in October 2020 but did it due to having no similar-sized competition for 8 weeks. Tenet took £628,247 in its 6th weekend which was the first film since 2019’s Joker (£1,668,466) last year to stay at #1 for 6 weeks which was the first film to do so since Avatar in 2010 to remain #1 for 6 weeks taking £2,260,319; Avatar was #1 for 11 weeks and the longest ever #1 1998’s Titanic with 13 consecutive weekends.
While the industry celebrates what will likely be two £90m+ films within three months they fail to see the damage this is causing to the box office as the audience that saw No Time To Die in October and Spider-Man No Way Home in December aren’t seeing other films. Despite films over the last couple of weeks having smaller drops than you would normally expect the box office has been the lowest for 20 years over these weekends.
Normally in January, there are the must-see Oscar contenders as 1917 in 2020 opening alongside a wide range of other films, but over the last three weeks and this weekend there hasn’t been the choice of films so many films have stayed much longer in the top 10 than they would normally. It’s funny how the industry seems to go from one extreme of opening very few wide releases to opening far too many in only a few weeks as will be the case in February to April. After Spider-Man No Way Home next weekend will be #1 for 6 weeks (next weeks) it’s unlikely a film will remain #1 for more than 3 weeks for the rest of the year.
Spider-Man No Way Home can’t be compared with other MCU fourth weekends due to the lucrative Christmas release date which often sees films have longer legs and as early January normally sees Oscar contenders opening has very limited competition. After moving ahead of No Time To Die last weekend Spider-Man No Way Home is showing that it doesn’t have the legs as James Bond taking £1,816,838 less (£85,944,606) after 5 weeks and also taking £1,466,608 less than Avengers Endgame (£85,594,376) despite taking £2,314,642 more in its 5th weekend (£900,524). Spider-Man No Way Home has held on to all 50 IMAX cinemas for the last 5 weeks along with other premium format screens. DCM has calculated that No Time To Die has had more admissions than No Time To Die as it sold many more children’s tickets as it attracted a much younger audience and this younger audience likely saw it multiple times in cinemas.
This has seen Spider-Man No Way Home move ahead of No Time To Die after 4 weeks by £1,293,363 (£79,321,181 Vs £78,027,818) as it holding similar to Avengers Endgame taking £4,672,214 more (£83,993,395 94.7% of £88,692,771).
The same could be said for Spider-Man No Way Home as while The Matrix Resurrections and The King’s Man opened immediately after and Scream in its 5th weekend none of these films were ever going to be big enough to defeat an Avenger. This is especially true in this current marketplace where few films can maintain momentum for more than a few weeks unless it’s a comic-book movie.
Many over the last 4 weeks have said the same thing about Spider-Man No Way Home its BO performance shows that audiences have returned to the cinema but this is the same audience that returned many months ago, comic-book fans are watching it multiple times, while as with No Time To Die BO it all depends on when these cinemagoers return to cinemas again, will it only be for the next comic-book movie (The Batman in March) or will they return in similar numbers for something else before that.
7th biggest film in the UK (8th film taking over £80m since Avatar in 2009) between Avengers: Endgame and Star Wars: The Last Jedi; 3rd biggest Sony Pictures film in the UK between Spectre and Skyfall and 19th biggest film in the UK inflation inflated between Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 and Casino Royale (close to Toy Story 3, The Full Monty, Pirates of the Caribbean and Shrek 2).
48th biggest historical in the UK by admissions between Fanny By Gaslight (£84,474,000) and Piccadilly Incident (£83,030,000) close to The Towering Inferno, Doctor in the House, Doctor Zhivago and The Sting).
The 27 MCU films have taken almost £900m in the UK since 2008 (over £920m inflation inflated) with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Thor: Love and Thunder and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever the film series will top £1bn at the UK BO next year.
Interestingly, the two studios exhibitors criticised the most last year for “killing cinema” Universal Pictures for releasing Trolls World Tour on VOD in April 2020 rather than delaying it which saw AMC and Regal ban their upcoming films from their cinemas (in July 2020 AMC announced a deal to shorten theatrical window). While Sony Pictures delayed many of their 2020 releases and sold others to streaming services (The Mitchells vs. the Machines, Fatherhood, Vivo, Cinderella, Hotel Transylvania: Transformania and Greyhound) waited until May 2021 to release Peter Rabbit 2 and then waited to autumn to open their big guns Venom 2, Ghostbuster Afterlife and Spider-Man No Way Home. These two studios had the two biggest films of 2021 with No Time To Die and Spider-Man No Way Home taking 30% of the 2021 UK box office.
Sony Pictures were castigated for delaying films but they waited until they felt audiences were more comfortable to return to cinemas and maybe had the rest of the industry done similar there wouldn’t have been the rush to reopen far too soon that predicably saw soft box office for many months, that said the performance of No Time To Die and Spider-Man No Way Home is likely to be short term blip until March with box office not returning to normal till the summer 2 years after they first reopened.
Many expect Spider-Man No Way Home could receive a Best Picture nomination for “saving cinema” but it’s not eligible for BAFTAs after missing the deadline, BAFTA require all their contenders to be accessible for members to watch on their portal but Sony didn’t put it on there due to piracy. Often films wouldn’t qualify for BAFTAs in the same year as Oscars as the film releases were many months apart so they would get nominated the following year.
The reason Spider-Man opened so big and taken so much is simple if it looks like an Avengers film, swims like an Avengers film, and quacks like an Avengers film, then it probably is an Avengers film. As the previous comic-book movies released this year Black Widow, Shang-Chi, Venom Let There Be Carnage and Eternals were always going to be aperitifs for Spider-Man No Way Home, all playing to comic-book fans, not the extended fanbase Avengers films attract.
Looking back at this weekend in 2020 the top 5 films all took £1m+ 1917, Bad Boys For Life, Little Women, The Gentlemen and Jumanji: The Next Level having a mix of Christmas, Oscar contenders and action films playing to a wide range of demographics. With all top 10 films taking more than Licorice Pizza
The same was the case in 2019 with Glass, Mary, Queen of Scots. Stan and Ollie, Mary Poppins Returns and The Favourite
January is normally a very strong month for cinema with the long-legged Christmas releases playing strongly, major Oscar contenders opening ahead of nominations being announced and then a mix of genres with family films opening towards the end of the month ahead of half-term, last weekend Spider-Man No Way Home and Scream took two-thirds of the top 10 box office.
The question is will award contenders Belfast and Nightmare Alley find audiences next weekend or as last year will it be a repeat of last year when the majority of people hadn’t heard or seen most of the Oscar contenders. Of course the difference this year cinemas have been opened to show them.
Oscar and public tastes have widened over the last 20 years since Titanic won Best Film and was also the biggest film of the year, many believe Spider-Man No Way Home should be rewarded the same way as Black Panther to receive Best Picture nomination as it helped “save cinema “. Giving Spider-Man No Way Home a Best Picture will be as cynical as Black Panther’s trying to show they do diversity as there are far more deserving films that should receive award recognition.
2. Scream – £2,468,510 – NE
Had the 636th biggest opening in the UK between Instant Family and The Shape of Water (close to Total Recall (2012), Saw IV, RoboCop (2014) and The Predator) and 898th biggest inflation inflated between Instant Family and The Shape of Water (close to Final Destination, After Earth, Split and The Woman In Black: Angel of Death);
Took £406,625 more than Scream 4 (£2,061,885); £18,573 more than Scream 3 (£2,449,937); £25,440 less than Scream 2 £2,493,950; find it very strange coincidence that Scream took very similar BO as Scream 2 and 3.
UK opening was 8.22% of US opening similar to The Great Gatsby, Predator, iT and It Chapter 2; while the UK industry say films will open with 10% of their US opening its rarely 10% unless they have previews, most are normally either 7-8% or 11-12%.
25th biggest horror between Saw IV and Scream 3 (close to A Quiet Place, Halloween, The Grudge and The Others) and 49th biggest inflation inflated between Final Destination and Split (close to 28 Days Later, The Haunting, The Conjuring and 28 Weeks Later)
53rd biggest Paramount Pictures opening between Instant Family and The Paw Patrol Movie (close to Paranormal Activity 4, Tropic Thunder, Shutter Island and Super 8).
Had the biggest opening for an 18 since The Gentlemen in January 2020 (£3,057,108 including £838,031 previews) or 2018’s Fifty Shades Freed without previews £3,402,217 (opened with £6,132,414 including £2,730,197 previews); had Scream opened Thursday with previews it could of possible opened #1 so was surprising didn’t.
Had the second widest opening for an 18 film in the UK in 622 cinemas after 2019’s Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood’s 666 cinemas; of course, these are cinemas rather than screens as both would have played in about three times the amount of screens
2011’s Scream 4 opened £2.06m (£2.45m inflation inflated) taking £5,581,902 (£6.65m inflation inflated)
2000s Scream 3 opened £2.45m (£4.02m inflation inflated) taking £5,585,267 (£9.16m inflation inflated)
1998’s Scream 2 £2.49m including £713,000 from previews (£4.42m inflation inflated) taking £8,280,725 (£14.68m inflation inflated)
1997’s Scream £1.06m (£1.88m inflation inflated) taking £8,247,094 (£14.62m inflation inflated)
Scream has been described as a requel, a film that features events that featured in earlier films but is not a remake or a direct continuation of the plot, this allows the film to have fun with the concept of the film which was what the original trilogy was all about.
Scream was a horror film for people who watched horror films as Randy in Scream explains the rules of horrors, that you can never have sex, never drink and never say “I’ll be right back”, while the rules for the sequel are the body count is always higher, death scenes are more elaborate and never assume the killer is dead (that part is also the in the first film when Billy comes back from the dead for one last scare. While the rules of the third film were the killer is superhuman, anyone can die (which is also the case with Scream 5 as the aim of the film is to start a new trilogy of films) and the past will come back to bite you. The original title for Scream was Scary Movie, the title that was used a few years after Scream to spoof Scream which was also spoofing horror films.
I went to a Pre-MIFED preview screening of the original Scream at the Plaza Lower Regent Street, despite not liking horror films it was a film and the audience enjoyed it and knew if the studio could get audiences in to see the film then word of mouth would give it legs. Scream was one of several horrors that featured actors from popular teen US TV shows with I Know What You Did Last Summer opening the following year starring Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy) who then starred in Scream 2. There was also Final Destination, Urban Legend, Halloween H20: 20 Years Later and The Faculty many of them written by Kevin Williamson who wrote the original Scream script and also Dawson Creek (many of its teen actors appeared in these teen horrors).
The ideas of Scream about how fans of horror films become obsessed with the genre and want to live out their fantasy were seen first in Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (trailer “it’s seven films later. The actors are assembled. The effects artists are hard at work. Wes Craven is making a new Nightmare on Elm Street. But this time, the world he’s creating seems to be coming true.”)
which saw Heather Langenkamp and Wes Craven playing themselves pitching an idea for a new Nightmare on Elm Street film and seeing Freddy Krueger enter into the real world killing real people. Wes Craven says in the film “The problem comes when the story dies. It happens a lot of different ways, the story gets too familiar, or too watered down by people trying to make it easier to sell, or it’s labelled a threat to society and just plain banned. However it happens, when the story dies, the evil is set free.”… “Current version. For ten years he’s been imprisoned as Freddy by the story of Nightmare on Elm Street. But now that the films have stopped – The genie’s out of the bottle, Heather, that’s what the nightmares are about. That’s what I’m writing.”…”The way to stop him is to make another movie. And I swear to you I’ll stay at my computer and keep writing until I finish the script. But when that time comes…You’re gonna have to make a choice.
The question with Scream was always if it would play to a younger audience, that said it is an 18 as the previous films so Spider-Man No Way Home likely many underage people paying to see Spider-Man and sneaking in to see Scream.
Scream is directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett they previously directed horror-comedy Ready Or Not that received positive reviews (88% Rotten Tomatoes) opened #4 in the UK in September 2019 with £947,958 including £250,470 previews) took £1,637,064; dropped 73% in its second weekend (64% not including previews).
Horrors often fail to open as strongly as the US and with a film like Scream getting 18 stops many from seeing it legally, while in the US having an R rating under 17s can see it if accompanied by an adult;
2018’s Halloween opened with £2,656,097 only 3.5% of its $76,221,545 opening (10% is the normal industry guide for UK Vs US opening) A Quiet Place opened with £2,696,892 5.4% of $50,203,562 and A Quiet Place Part II despite previews of £1,316,513 37% of £3,567,048 still managed to open with 7.5% of $47,547,231
Scream 4 bucked that trend as it was a 15 certificate (all other Scream films have been 18) taking 11% of US opening without previews.
1997’s Scream 16.7% but was in a far different position as the film opened 6 months after the US in May and had generated a lot of buzz building up to its opening wh
1998’s Scream 2 7.6%; 2000’s Scream 3 7.1% (with previews)
Despite Scream being the fifth film it’s not called 5cream or Scream 5 but Scream as it is planned to be the first of a new trilogy so bringing back Sidney, Gale and Dewey were always likely to set up the next generation of younger characters. This was similar to other legacyquels Jurassic World, Star Wars The Force Awakens and Ghostbuster Afterlife with the original cast supporting the younger cast and all of them were unlikely to survive the films.
As with other long-gap sequels, The Matrix Resurrections wasn’t going to perform like the previous films did as audience tastes have changed over the 25 years since the original film and the question is always who its target audience is. As Scream features a mix of the old and new cast from the original films it should attract a mix of both of those who saw the original film and also their children similar to Ghostbuster Afterlife, Jurassic World and Star Wars The Force Awakens.
Of course, the reason studios make many of these is in the hope its success will allow further films by introducing new characters as was the case with the Scream and calling it Scream rather than Scream 5. As 11 years on from making Scream 4, the aim is to make them accessible to old and young and allow them to pass the baton on to the next generation, with Harrison Ford dying Star Wars The Forr Awakens, Harold Ramis “dying” in Ghostbusters Afterlife. It was always likely that one of the three remaining actors wouldn’t survive the fifth film as the plan is to build the following films of this new trilogy on younger characters.
While fans who grew up with the originals hate that they kill off the original characters these films aren’t really for them they are for their children to introduce these films to them and then further films. As probably the original plan with Disney’s Star Wars trilogy was to bring back Han Solo, Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker only to kill them off in the films, but these plans changed when Carrie Fisher sadly died during making the second film.
Similar is likely in Indiana Jones 5 as with Harrison Ford being 81 when the film opens he make another film but Disney aren’t interested in making just one film they must have plans to relaunch Indiana Jones with a new trilogy so the film will likely see him pair up with his son and his son following in on his footsteps after again falling from a great height in a building without safety railings.
After opening #2 to Spider-Man No Way Home Fri-Sun Scream was #1 on Monday so with good word of mouth should hold well in its second weekend.
3. The King’s Man – £627, 445 – £6,459,482
Down 30.7% in its fourth weekend; after having a heavy second weekend drop The King’s Man is holding well despite the poor reviews, this isn’t that surprising as the first two films were very popular in the UK.990th biggest films in the UK between Intolerable Cruelty and Constantine (close to Road to Perdition, Master and Commander, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and Red Sparrow) and 1,249th biggest inflation inflated between The Green Hornet and The Matrix Resurrections (close to The Equalizer, Lucky Number Slevin, Get Smart and Contagion).
In 2018 Matthew Vaughn announced a Kingsman film was in development at that time The Kingsman film series was a valuable film series for 20th Century Fox and there were plans for Kingsman shared universe with prequels, sequels and spinoffs. The King’s Man started production in January 2019 but two months later was acquired by Disney and they had no interest in the film series as it didn’t fit in Disney’s plans. So as with X-Men: Dark Phoenix and The New Mutants which 20th Century Fox had planned to be the start of a new series of X-Men films, it’s unlikely there will be any more theatrically made King’s Man films, but Matthew Vaughn did say during interviews ahead of release that the next film would start production in September.
2015’s Kingsman: The Secret Service #4 dropped 27% £1,605,942 and £10,883,927 66.3% of £16,418,247
2017’s Kingsman: The Golden Circle #2 dropped 50% £2,112,966 taking £19,458,871 78.2% of £24,883,225
The King’s Man has taken $92.5m worldwide after 3 weeks compared to $253m 61.5% of $410.9m for and Kingsman: The Golden Circle while Kingsman: The Secret Service took $414.35m total worldwide; if The King’s Man holds similar to Kingsman: The Golden Circle will take about $150m worldwide about a third of the global box office of the previous two films.
4. Clifford The Big Red Dog – £525, 107 – £7,977,918
Down 16% in its sixth weekend has performed steadily over the last six weeks helped by Disney’s Encanto underwhelming, until Sing 2 opens in two weeks’ time Clifford, The Big Red Dog is the only children’s film on release and they have been the one genre that had performed steadily since cinemas reopened.
Clifford the Big Red Dog has now overtaken Disney’s Encanto (#8 taking £221,635 and £ 6,840,827) ahead of release would have surely expected Encanto to be holding far stronger but Jack Whitehall was likely drawn to the film’s success in the UK
Normally family films at Christmas perform very strongly as they open in November and play till January. Universal held back the release of Sing 2 to January 28th as they did with the first due to Disney releasing Moana in December 2016 taking £20,041,031 while Sing took £28,840,000 in January 2017.
815th biggest film in the UK between Pacific Rim and Closer (close to Mr Popper’s Penguins, The Haunted Mansion, Back To The Future Part III and The Jungle Book 2) and 1,100th biggest inflation inflated between Notes on a Scandal and Prisoners (close to The Secret Garden (1992), Penguins of Madagascar, Dr Seuss’ The Lorax and Hoodwinked).
64th biggest family film between Mr Popper’s Penguins and The Jungle Book 2 (close to Home Alone, Dr Dolittle 2, The House with A Clock in Its Walls and Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween); 24th biggest eOne film between Limitless and Quartet (close to Nativity 2: Danger in the Manger!, The Post, The House with A Clock in Its Walls and Nativity 3: Dude, Where’s My Donkey?).
Family films about pets have been popular in cinemas including 2009’s Marley And Me £15.4m; 1992’s Beethoven £6.8m; 1993’s Beethoven’s 2nd £5.8m; 2017’s A Dog’s Purpose £3.2m. Along with animated The Secret Life of Pets films, the first £35,825,195 and the second £18,638,365; 2001’s Cats and Dog £23,013,391 (£40,134,464 inflation inflated); 2010’s Cats & Dogs: Revenge of Kitty Galore took £3,972,149 (£4,819,986 inflation inflated) and even in October 2020 the made for DVD third film Cats & Dogs: Paws Unite! Took £1.36m.
5. LIcorice Pizza – £393,988 – £1,527,797
Down 55.2% (10% without previews) in its second weekend despite adding 160 screens from last weekend up from 202 showing again Paul Thomas Anderson films receive widespread critical acclaim (92% Rotten Tomatoes), award recognition (named one of the best films of 2021 by the American Film Institute and received four Golden Globe nominations not winning any), but struggled to play beyond cinephiles.
Had there been the normal amount of films released in January then Licorice Pizza would have performed similarly to Phantom Thread in its second weekend and dropped out of the top 10. The lack of new releases is making films drop less than they would normally but all apart from Spider-Man No Way Home are starting from a lower point than they would pre-pandemic.
2007’s There Will Be Blood is Paul Thomas Anderson’s biggest film in the UK taking £4.93m but 1998’s Boogie Nights taking £4.45m (£8m inflation inflated was probably his most commercial and most accessible film.
2000’s Magnolia opened #5 £428,435 taking £1,021,833
2002’s Punch-Drunk Love opened #13 £151,494 from 82 screens taking £322,921
2007’s There Will Be Blood opened #11 £215,490 from 24 screens; expanded into 181 screens 2nd-weekend #7 £540,472 and £888,968 taking £4,392,471
2012’s The Master opened #14 £65,701 from 1 screen; expanded in 3rd weekend into 153 screens taking £372,360 #6 and £553,521 taking £1,213,977
2014’s Inherent Vice opened #9 £363,133 from 187 screens; dropped 61% in 2nd weekend £147,087 #13 from 175 screens taking £739,232
2017’s Phantom Thread opened #10 £727,104 from 196 screens; down 40% in 2nd weekend £434,351 #11 from 192 screens £1,658,992 taking £2,611,458
Licorice Pizza is the fourth film Paul Thomas Anderson shot in 70mm (The Master, Inherent Vice and Phantom Thread) and it was shown in 70mm in several cinemas including Picturehouse Central; in 2012 The Master opened at the Odeon West End exclusively in 70mm for two weeks.
Also opening
Also opened Sky Cinema’s Save The Cinema, a British film about a cinema manager who wrote a letter to Steven Spielberg asking to have the premiere of Jurassic Park at their cinema to save it from closure. Ironically, a film about saving cinema won’t be playing in many cinemas as major exhibitors refuse to book Sky Cinema’s films.
Despite these same exhibitors talking so much about needing to “save cinema” due to COVID closing cinemas twice over the last 18 months and a small British feel-good film about saving a cinema is surely a film major exhibitors should be supporting as these films used to be the lifeblood of British cinema for decades but now struggle to find an audience and stay in cinemas.
Never makes any sense that major exhibitors refuse to book Sky Cinema films as the channel is subscription-based so only available to about a quarter of the public, but exhibitors are happy to book Event Cinema screenings like Anything Goes The Musical in November in 436 screens taking £371,880 despite it being broadcast freely on the BBC a month later. While all Sky Cinema films get strong marketing and media coverage as A Boy Called Christmas also did opening the same weekend on only 172 screens taking £120,770.
UK box office in detail
This weekend’s top 10 box office took £8,436,216 down 3.2% from last weekend £8,715,464
The weekend admissions 1,186,528 down 3.2% 1,225,804 from last week;
Top 3 took £6,298,488 74.6% of the top 10; Spider-Man No Way Home 36.2% (£3,215,166); Scream 29.3% (£2,468,510); The King’s Man 7.5% (£627,445);
Down 50.2% from 2020 (£16,951,901); Bad Boys For Life (£3,781,233); Bombshell (£742,085); Just Mercy (£529,435); A Hidden Life (£63,375); #1 1917 £6,190,049 2nd week 17% drop 714 screens (36.5% of the top 10)
Down 36.7% from 2019; (£13,317,271); Glass (£3,423,380); Mary, Queen of Scots (£2,082,160); Beautiful Boy (£361,382); La Bayadere – Bolshoi Ballet 2019 (£136,621t); Hey Duggee at the Cinema (£67,672); #1 Glass £3,423,380 1st weeks 559 screens (25.7% of top 10)
Down 58% from 2018: (£20,087,765); Coco (£5,209,214); The Post (£2,152,977); The Commuter (£1,602,680); Romeo and Juliet – Bolshoi 2018 (£181,834): #1 Coco £5,209,214 1st week 575 (25.9% of the top 10)
Down 35% from 2017: (£12,971,749); Split (£2,548,516); xXx: The Return of Xander Cage (£1,620,811); Lion (£1,265,282); Jackie (£662,900); Romeo et Juliette – Met Opera 2017 (£228,384); The Sleeping Beauty – Bolshoi 2017 (£218,668); Goodfellas (Re: 2017) (£27,226); #1 La La Land £4,373,249 2nd week 674 screens 43% drop (33.7% of top 10)
Down 46.6% from 2016: (£15,806,711); The Revenant (£5,235,851); Creed (£2,221,758); Room (£674,033); Les Pecheurs de Perles – Met Opera 2016 (£354,738): Ip Man 3 (£77,650); #1 The Revenant £5,235,851 1st week 589 screens (33.1% of top 10)
Down 39.1% from 2015; (£13,848,440); American Sniper (£2,530,473); Whiplash (£573,546); Wild (£524,941); The Merry Widow – Met Opera 2015 (£463,195); Testament of Youth (£417,486); #1 Taken 3 £3,295,309 2nd week 500 screens 51% drop (23.8% of top 10)
Down 43.97% from 2014: (£15,034,724); The Wolf of Wall Street (£4,655,984); Devil’s Due (£1,002,627); The Night of the Hunter (Re: 2014) (£15,270); #1 The Wolf of Wall Street £4,655,984 1st week 500 screens (30.9% of top 10)
Down 32.6% from 2013 (£12,516,225); Django Unchained (£2,801,312); Monsters, Inc. 3D (£681,247); The Sessions (£84,899); #1 Les Miserables £4,406,828 2nd week 599 screens 46% drop (35.2% of top 10)
Down 32.9% from 2012 (£12,582,954); War Horse (£3,944,746); The Darkest Hour (£740,773); Shame (£535,288); Margin Call (£131,982); #1 War Horse £3,944,746 1st week 491 screens (31.3% of top 10)
Down 32.6% from 2011 (£12,522,775); The Green Hornet (£1,878,905); Conviction (£279,016); Blue Valentine (£176,411); Henry’s Crime (£64,508); #1 The King’s Speech £4,401,926 2nd week 422 screens 25% increase (35.1% of top 10)
Down 43.3% from 2010: (£14,882,462); Up In The Air (£1,298,023); The Book Of Eli (£1,232,001); All About Steve (£275,083); 44 Inch Chest (£152,171); #1 Avatar £5,527,039 5th week 441 screens 16% increase (37.1% of top 10)
Down 29.9% from 2009; (£12,037,268); Seven Pounds (£1,565,949); My Bloody Valentine (£1,337,613); Beverly Hills Chihuahua (£1,028,983); The Wrestler (£802,046); #1 Slumdog Millionaire £2,630,820 2nd week 1st #1 330 screens 44% increase (21.8% of top 10)
Down 9.8% from 2008; (£9,348,113); Alien vs. Predator 2 (£1,970,363); No Country for Old Men (£1,257,183); Walk Hard (£240,833); The Good Night (£25,985); #1 Alien vs. Predator 2 £1,970,363 1st week 399 screens (21.1% of top 10)
Down 19.1% from 2007: (£10,426,402); The Pursuit of Happyness (£2,527,181); Smokin’ Aces (£1,023,862); The Last King of Scotland (£861,991); #1 The Pursuit of Happyness £2,527,181 1st week 402 screens (24.2% of top 10)
Down 17.8% from 2006; (£10,263,408); Jarhead (£1,927,987); Memoirs of a Geisha (£1,147,056); Breakfast on Pluto (£199,154); Cry Wolf (£196,093); #1 Jarhead £1,927,987 1st week 390 screens (18.7% of top 10)
Down 5.6% from 2005 (£8,932,279); Closer (£1,568,526); Team America: World Police (£1,526,329); Million Dollar Baby (£803,899); Vanity Fair (£204,693); #1 Closer £1,568,526 275 screens (17.5% of top 10)
Down 13.3% from 2004 (£9,729,138); Paycheck (£927,212); Runaway Jury (£583,367); Girl with a Pearl Earring (£384,498); A Mighty Wind (£62,657); #1 Lord of the Rings: Return of the King £2,377,268 5th week #1 483 screens 36% drop (24.4% of top 10)
Down 36.2% from 2003 (£13,216,953); 8 Mile (£4,440,334); Chicago (expansion) (£1,983,505); The Transporter (£338,420); The Master Of Disguise (£60,077); #1 8 Mile £4,440,334 1st week 423 screens (33.6% of top 10)
Down 5.1% from 2002 (£8,882,363); Black Hawk Down (£1,772,920); Long Time Dead (£580,487); Iris (£378,749); #1 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring £3,276,912 5th week #1 489 screens 25% drop (36.9% of top 10)
Next weekend in 2020 (£13,633,691); The Personal History Of David Copperfield (£1,524,147); Paw Patrol: Ready, Race, Rescue (£483,886); The Grudge (£461,921); The Turning (£104,459); #1 1917 £4,518,270 2nd week 27% drop 742 screens (33.1% of the top 10)
US Box Office
- Scream – Paramount Pictures
Opened with $30.018m and $35m from 4 days; received positive reviews (76% Rotten Tomatoes) and B+ CinemaScore (Scream 3 received B and Scream 4 B-)
Scream opened in 3,326 cinemas having 85,504 screenings 9% PLF (7,548) no IMAX
Took $3.5m from Thursday midnights and $13m Friday taking similar Friday BO as 2000’s Scream but
Compared with $1m from 2011’s Scream 4 (5.3% of $18.69m) $8.2m Friday;
A Quiet Place Part II took $4.9m (10.3% of $47.54m opening); same as Halloween Kills (9.9% of $49.4m); Candyman took $1.9m (8.6% of $22m); Glass $3.7m (9.2% of $40.3m)
EntTelligence reported 2.4m watched Scream over 3 days ($12.75 average), with 1m on opening day and 250K from Thursday night previews.
67% of cinemagoers were aged 18-34 so they wouldn’t have seen the original trilogy in the cinema showing again that even these legacyquels aren’t bringing in the older audiences who saw them originally in cinemas. This is also the reason why these films are often front-loaded and are also the reason why they opened slightly lower than their Saturday estimates. But still, the industry doesn’t seem to realise this is a problem despite this being repeated with most films since cinemas reopened.
Its opening was strangely very similar to Scream 3 which also took $13.3m on Friday and $36.5m over 4 days, the inflation inflated opening for Scream would have been similar to 2018’s Halloween $76.2m.
Had the biggest opening for horror film over MLK weekend ahead of 2013’s Mama $28.4m taking $71.62m and 10th biggest MLK opening weekend between The Book of Eli and Black Hawk Down; American Sniper $107.21m; Bad Boys For Life $73.03m and Ride Along $48.62m is the biggest MLK openings. Sure Scream should have opened with $40m+ similar to Glass, Cloverfield and Ride Along 2 if in normal conditions and despite the industry believing we are due to Spider-Man No Way Home box office things are still far from normal for non-comic-book movies.
1996’s Scream opened with $6.35m taking $103.04m and $173.04m worldwide (after opening #4 behind Beavis and Butt-Head America, Jerry Maguire and 101 Dalmatians had a very strong word of mouth and held very strongly staying in the top 10 for 9 weeks)
1997’s Scream 2 opened $32.92m taking $101.36m and $172.36m WW
2000s Scream 3 opened $34.71m taking $89.14m and $161.83m WW
2011’s Scream 4 opened #2 (behind Rio $39.22m) with $18.69m taking $38.18m and $97.23m WW
Opened with $18m from 50 territories; UK$3.4m; France $1.8m; Australia $1.5m; Russia $1.3m; Germany $1.1m; Mexico $1.1m;
- Spider-Man No Way Home – Sony Pictures
Dropped 38% in its fifth weekend taking $20.09m and $698.01m
Took $2.5m from IMAX in the US $60.5m total and $2m international and $100.5m worldwide becoming the highest-grossing IMAX release of 2021.
5th biggest film in the US between Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War (the 11th film to take over $600m since Titanic in 1997) and the 3rd biggest comic-book movie between Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War; 17th biggest inflation inflated between Black Panther and Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
Fifth weekends
2017’s Spider-Man Homecoming #6 dropped 33.3% taking $8.84m and $294.93m 88.2% of $334.2m
2019’s Spider-Man: Far From Home #3 dropped 36.5% taking $7.9m and $360.47m 92.3% of $390.53m
2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron #5 dropped 47.4% taking $11.4m and $427.55m 93.1% of $459m
2018’s Avengers Infinity War #3 41.3% taking $17.29m and $622.48m 91.7% of $678.81m
2019’s Avengers Endgame #3 dropped 42.6% taking $17.2m and $798.53m 93.1% of $858.37m
But Spider-Man No Way Home third weekend can only really be compared to Christmas releases as films between Christmas and the New Year perform differently than any other time of the year often increasing the weekend after Christmas.
2009’s Avatar #1 dropped 14.9% taking $42.78m and $493.25m 65.8% of $749.76m
2015’s Star Wars The Force Awakens #3 dropped 37.8% taking $26.34m and $852.27m 90% of $936.6m
2016’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story #5 dropped 39% taking $13.46m and $498.55m 93.7% of $532.17m
2017’s Star Wars The Last Jedi #6 dropped 50% taking $11.85m and $592.12m 95.5% of $620.18m
2017’s Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle #1 dropped 30.6% taking $19.5m and $316.45m 78.2% of $404.54m
2019’s Star Wars The Rise of Skywalker #5 dropped 45.4% taking $8.28m and $494.23m 96% of $515.2m
Has become Sony Pictures biggest film in the US overtaking 2017’s Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle in 2017 ($404.5m)
Spider-Man No Way Home is the 8th Spider-Man film made by Sony Pictures since 2002;
Original trilogy directed by Sam Raimi starring Tobey Maguire between 2002 and 2007
Spider-Man took $407.02m; $418m international and $825.02m);
Spider-Man 2 took $373.58m; $415.39m international and $788.97m WW);
Spider-Man 3 took $336.53m and $558.45m and $894.98m WW);
The Amazing Spider-Man in 2012 with a sequel in 2014 directed by Marc Webb starring Andrew Garfield
The Amazing Spider-Man took $262.02m and $495.9m and $757.93m WW;
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 took $202.85m and $506.12m and $708.98m WW);
Spider-Man then became part of the MCU directed by Jon Watts and starring Tom Holland between 2017 and 2021
2017’s Spider-Man Homecoming $334.2m and $545.96m internationally $880.16m WW);
2019’s Spider-Man: Far From Home took $390.53m and $747.39m internationally $1.13bn WW)
Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse took $190.24m and $185.29m and $375.54m WW with Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse Part 1 and Morbius set for April 2022 release.
Spider-Man also appeared in Captain America Civil War, Avengers Infinity War, Avengers Endgame MCU films and also in the end credit scene in Venom Let There Be Carnage with Spider-Man 4 currently in a development likely to be released in November 2023 with The Marvels in February, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 in May, Ant-Man 3 in July. (Ant-Man featured the first mention of Spider-Man in the MCU during the end credit scene).
Took $33.4m (down 48.2%) from 63 territories (18,400+ screens) $926.21m total and $1.625bn worldwide; the UK took $112.1m; South Korea $58.5m; Australia $50.6m; Germany $40.4m; Japan $22m; 8th biggest film worldwide between The Lion King and The Avengers (46th film to take over $1bn worldwide since Jurassic Park in 1993).
- Sing 2 – Universal Pictures
Dropped 31% in its fourth weekend taking $7.98m and $119.07m
Despite being released on VOD last week Sing 2 is still holding strong in its fourth weekend
Sing 2 is the highest-grossing animated movie in the US since 2020, that said it has taken half of what the original had taken over similar time and Sing 2 didn’t have any competition.
Exhibitors are fickle 18 months ago AMC and Regal banned Universal Pictures films after they announced Trolls World Tour was going to VOD, but now they are celebrating then and castigating Disney’s decision last week to move their latest Pixar film Turning Red to Disney+ rather than having a theatrical release. Since Disney released Onward in March 2020 they have released Soul and Luca also direct to Disney+.
It’s interesting that while children’s films have been the one genre of films that has performed steadily since cinemas reopened in July 2017 in the UK they haven’t done as well in the US and after the soft BO of Encanto this was probably the reason behind Disney’s decision to move the film to Disney+, that and the need for content, one thing you can be sure of is Disney won’t be releasing Lightyear straight to Disney+ in June.
94th biggest animated film between The Good Dinosaur and Mulan; 556th biggest film in the US between Superbad and Speed; 1,050th biggest inflation inflated between Jack and Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again!; 11th biggest 2021 film between Free Guy and Jungle Cruise; 76th biggest Universal Pictures film between The Bourne Identity and Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again!.
2016’s Sing fourth weekend #3 down 31.2% taking $14.24m and $233.45m 86.3% taking $270.44m and $634.2m WW
Took $8.44m (down 51%) from 54 territories $95.31m total and $216.7m worldwide; 120th biggest animated film worldwide between The Prince of Egypt and The Emoji Movie; 761st biggest inflation inflated between Central Intelligence and Twins; 19th biggest 2021 film worldwide between Encanto and Jungle Cruise; 101st biggest Universal Pictures film worldwide between Ted 2 and Twins; opens in the UK on 28th January ahead of half-term holidays as the first film was in January 2017 while Sing had competition from The LEGO Batman Movie opening two weeks later, the sequel has Uncharted opening two weeks later.
- The 355 – Universal Pictures
Dropped 51% in its second weekend taking $2.27m and $8.35m
As the film was presold in 2018 by FilmNation to distributors worldwide including Universal Pictures paying $20m for the US and UK the film has probably already turned a profit but will be a costly failure for all the global distributors who acquired the film.
Buying films by presale often many years before they start production is a huge gamble for global distributors there have been many huge global presale hits but then also many huge presales that have killed off many independent distributors spending big to acquire high profile studio-sized films.
So many companies over the last 30 years have launched UK operations but so many have failed far too many to mention Guild Films in the ’80s and 90s released so of the biggest action films thanks to their output deal with companies including Carolco but then merged with Pathe in 1996. Vestron Films launched in the 80s as a video company moved into film distribution as so many other companies did release a wide range of films they acquired including Dirty Dancing. Was relaunched as First Independent Films made a statement acquiring films including 1996’s White Squall and 1997’s G.I Jane which lost $3.3m only 18 months after having huge success with Dumb and Dumber.
The 355 was originally due for release January 15th, 2021, but was delayed in November 2020 to January 14th but then in May 2021 brought it forward a week to avoid opening against Scream and The Man From Toronto (which was later moved to August). The problem is the first weekend of January is Labor Day (until last year with Shang-Chi) and the first weekend in December is normal dump weekends.
There were rumours The 355 could have been released on Peacock but as the film was an acquisition the studio was probably contractually bound to give the film a theatrical release in the US and UK as the film was sold to independents elsewhere around the world.
Took $1.39m from 6 territories internationally and $10.2m worldwide
- The King’s Man – 20th Century Studios
Dropped 31% in its fourth weekend taking $2.33m and $28.59m
2,948th biggest film in the US between Drop Zone and The Uninvited; 3,873rd biggest inflation inflated between Lottery Ticket and Season of the Witch; 39th biggest 2021 film between In the Heights and Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins.
Fourth weekend
2015’s Kingsman: The Secret Service #4 dropped 30% taking $8.31m and $98.04m 76.4% of $128.26m and $414.35m WW
2017’s Kingsman: The Golden Circle #7 dropped 38% taking $5.37m and $89.71m 89.5% of $100.23m and $410.9m WW
Took $10.2m (64% drop) from 22 territories $63.8m total and $92.39m worldwide; UK $8.7m; Korea $8.2m; Japan $7.2m; France $5.2m; Taiwan $4.6m; Germany $2.6m; Russia $2.2m; Australia $2.1m; Indonesia $1.9m; Mexico $1.8m; 1,814th biggest film worldwide between Four Brothers and The Family Stone; 44th biggest 2021 film worldwide between Raya and the Last Dragon and Old.
UK Box Office Top 10
UK Box Office Preview
Spider-Man No Way Home will hold #1 for a sixth weekend taking (£2.3m-£2.8m) similar to Tenet in 2020 but that did it with no competition taking only £628,247 in its 6th weekend and 2019’s Joker taking £1,668,466 in its 6th weekend. Joker as Spider-Man No Way Home managed to hold #1 as all films that opened afterwards didn’t match expectations.
With strong word of mouth, Scream should hold better than most horrors down 45% taking £1.3m-£1.8m, this is where not having Thursday previews helps as it will hold better.
The new releases Belfast and Nightmare Alley are a bit harder to predict as normally both films should open well as they are prestigious critical acclaimed films, but normally opening this weekend would see their profiles boosted by BAFTA and Oscar’s nominations announced,(but they won’t be announced till early February). While these films are targetting an older demographic who haven’t been going to the cinema as often as they did pre-pandemic so they could come short to expectations.
As Tom Bernard said in a recent article in Variety, “The older audience they will come back when they feel safe”.. “but theatres have not done enough” despite exhibitors own research from 22 months ago saying older audiences would take much longer to return, as they focused on the under 35s who returned quickly.
2000’s Angela’s Ashes opened £1,351,095 (£2,217,024 inflation inflated) taking £7,753,488 (£12,722,769 inflation inflated)
Kenneth Branagh has directed all sizes of films over the last decade it has been mostly big-budget studio releases since Thor in 2011 his last non-studio release was 2018’s All Is True opened £266,767 #10 from 252 screens taking £976,123
Guillermo del Toro’s last film 2018’s The Shape of Water opened with £2,466,217 including £918,894 previews taking £1,547,323 Fri-Sun and £7,312,082 total.
Journal For Jordan also opens but the Denzel Washington film will likely struggle to find an audience in the UK as the other films he has directed; 2003’s Antwone Fisher opened #14 £59,976 from 46 screens; 2007’s The Great Debaters didn’t get a UK cinema release and 2017’s Fences opened £102,688 #14 limited released 21 screens expanding into 148 and 359 screens over following weeks with £378,351/£350,071 #12/#13 taking £1,158,590.
Opening next week
- Sing 2 – Universal Pictures
Sequel to the 2016 Illumination Animation comedy musical featuring an ensemble cast of voices including Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon, Scarlett Johansson, Taron Egerton, Pharrell Williams, Halsey, Chelsea Peretti, Jennifer Saunders and Bono and directed by Garth Jennings.
The film opened in the US in December receiving mixed reviews opened with $22.3m a third less than the original film ($35.28m) taking $109.2m less than half the original took $270.44m and $634.2m worldwide; it was released on VOD in the US om January 7th.
The sequel follows the same UK release strategy of the first film which opened a month after the US on January 27th, 2017, ahead of the half-term holidays to avoid opening Disney’s Moana. Sing opened with £10,487,380 including £4,201,298 previews (£6,286,082 Fri-Sun) taking £28,840,000.
Sing had a competition for half-term from The LEGO Batman Movie opened two weeks later with £7,906,468 taking £26,771,191; the sequel has Uncharted opening two weeks later had the advantage of being trailered with Spider-Man No Way Home also featuring Tom Holland.
Surprising Sing 2 doesn’t have weekend previews ahead of opening to inflate its opening as the original did.
- Parallel Mothers – Pathe
Drama starring Penélope Cruz and Milena Smit and features Aitana Sánchez-Gijón, Israel Elejalde, Julieta Serrano and Rossy de Palma and written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar.
Had world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival receiving critical acclaim (97% Rotten Tomatoes)
It’s the first Pathe film to be released by Warner Bros after their distribution deal ended with 20th Century Fox in June 2021.
Previous Pedro Almodóvar directed films
Pain & Glory opened £307,131 from 125 screens
2016’s Julieta opened with £356,191
2011’s The Skin I Live In opened with £325,349
2006’s Volver opened with £433,283
2002’s Talk To Her opened with £174,757
1990’s Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! Opened with £81,747
1989’s Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown is Pedro Almodóvar most well know film which was recently turned into a West End stage show.
cigarette burns and missed changeovers 