UK/US Box Office November 10th – 12th 2017 Week 46

Top 5 Breakdown

1. Paddington 2 – £8,260,160 – NE

Paddington 2 overtook Studiocanal UK’s previous biggest opening 2015’s Legend £5.19m and opened 60% bigger than 2014’s Paddington £5.13m; Paddington 2 has a 100% Rotten Tomatoes score compared with 98% for the first film.

In 2014 Paddington dropped only 25.1% in its second weekend Paddington 2 is likely to drop slightly more similar to last year’s second weekend of Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them dropping 42% taking £4.80m.

Paddington 2 has limited competition until Christmas when Ferdinand is released; Disney delayed the release of Pixar’s Coco from November 24^th to January 19^th as three years ago the original film held strongly over the weeks after opening which killed of Dreamworks animation’s Penguins of Madagascar opening with only £1,575,949 despite John Lewis Christmas advert featuring Monty the Penguin.

This year Marks and Spencer’s Christmas advert featured Paddington Bear with M&S selling Paddington merchandise and in December M&S staff will be handing out Paddington-themed random acts of kindness in their stores.

The first Paddington film took over $76m at the US box office in January 2015 Weinstein Company had also planned to release the sequel in January 2018 but after the Harvey Weinstein, sexual abuse scandal US rights are expected to be sold either to Sony Pictures or Warner Bros the film will still be released in January. It would be a strange twist of fate if Paddington 2 was to be released by Warner Bros as producer David Heyman had developed the film adaptation of Paddington at Warner Bros for many years before Warner Bros put the film in turnaround and Studiocanal acquired it. David Heyman has a long history at Warner Bros producing the Harry Potter films, Gravity and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them the second part is currently in production for release next November. 

Paddington 2 opening highlights the feast or famine challenge independent distributors have in the UK in recent years. For most of the year, Studiocanal were sitting in tenth place with only 1% share of the market despite releasing double the amount of films Universal Pictures and Warner Bros have released in the UK 42 films. But over the weekend thanks to Paddington 2 Studiocanal have almost doubled their box office for 2017 and their percentage share.

Compare this with this to eOne who had massive success last year with The BFG, The Girl on the Train and Arrival taking over £109m but this year The Death of Stalin and Peppa Pig: My First Cinematic Experience is their biggest films of the year taking £4m. Paddington 2 after opening with £8.25m could take upwards of £40m if it plays as strongly as the original through the Christmas holidays which will see Studiocanal climb up to seventh above Paramount Pictures. Lionsgate released a similar amount of films this year as eOne but thanks to La La Land has taken almost 50% of their year’s box office with most others taking close to many of eOne. After a disappointing year for eOne 2018 looks like to start strong with the release of the first trailer for Steven Spielberg’s The Post starring Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks. As soon as the film was announced earlier this year it was expected to be an Oscar favorite but so often that favorite never goes on to win but with a very strong trailer, it tells a story set in the 70s that could easily be today. 

Studiocanal have two Aardman Animations films for 2018 Early Man and Shaun the Sheep 2 but both will only take a fraction of what Paddington 2 will do but they know they will have Paddington 3 in November 2020 will give them the opportunity to acquire a stronger slate to open with it.

Entertainment Film Distributions had an output deal with New Line Cinema since the 90s which brought them mixed success but then came Lord of the Rings trilogy in 2001 after the first film took over £60m at the box office allowed them to acquire bigger films as they knew they had two more films opening the following years. This was similar at eOne after the success of the first Twilight film they could build on its success and acquire bigger films as knew they had another Twilight film opening the next year the same was true for Lionsgate with The Hunger Games film series between 2012 and 2015.

As the cinema marketplace gets even more competitive independent distributors need these high-profile films so they can compete against the major studios with the megamovies and get exhibitors to book their films. The risk for independent distributors is much higher than studios who can swallow up their losses. As they are putting all their eggs in one basket as First Independent Films did 20 years ago acquiring two Ridley Scott films GI Jane and White Squall both flopped and saw them acquired by Columbia Tristar Home Video. (Interesting side note is those two films were Ridley Scott’s last independent financed films before this years All the Money in the World has been affected by the Kevin Spacey sexual abuse allegations). So many other independent distributors have come and gone after similar issues from Palace Pictures to Icon Films who acquired the high-profile Russell Crowe Ryan Gosling action comedy The Nice Guys but the film underperformed at the box office as its inspirational sequel Kiss Kiss Bang Bang did over 10 years earlier.

In 2013 Koch Media announced plans to release 25 films a year in the UK but after disappointing performances of many of their films including Hector and the Search for Happiness £240,000 and Wish I Was Here £27,739 they closed their theatrical operations focussing on home entertainment.

STX International performance after three more higher profile films Wind River, Home Again and Breathe all taking similar £1.4m box office highlights the feast or famine challenge independent distributors have. Do you gamble and acquire a high-profile film in the hope it could be a success? Or do you miss out on that potential hit which was something Rank Film Distributors were famous for doing in the 80s and 90s with the many high-profile projects they rejected. 20 years later the marketplace is more competitive than ever with far too many films being released exhibitors can pick and choose the films they want so it’s vital distributors have a strong slate of films they can build on. Of course, Disney has gone the opposite route but can do so as all their films are brands and the film is just the first stage of these products.

2. Murder on the Orient Express – £4,376,429 – £12,989,387

Down 12.2% in its second weekend had one of the smallest second-weekend drops for a wide release this year (Logan Lucky and American Made were smaller but openings were far smaller and held well because of the lack of new releases). It also took £8.21m in its opening week and £3.6m Mon-Thurs.

Some cinemas have had Murder on the Orient Express nights with cinemagoers dress up and have food before the screening tickets for these screenings are about £40 but are these included in its box office as Secret Cinema screenings are. 

Despite 58% Rotten Tomatoes score, Murder on the Orient Express showed it was a crowd pleaser while many critics complained the reboot brought nothing new to the film the same could be said about the other films in the top five two sequels, a reboot and a comic book movie sequel all have nothing that you haven’t seen before many times before.

Earlier this year AARP examined the impact of the over 50s cinemagoers have on the film business with more than 30% of all visits they are a strong and loyal group of cinemagoers who aren’t as fickle as younger audiences as they know what they want to see and will go and see it.

Earlier this year films including La La Land, Hidden Figures, Viceroy’s House, Their Finest, My Cousin Rachel, Churchill, Hampstead all attracted older audiences with differing levels of success.

The strong performance of Murder on the Orient Express was helped by being based on the classic novel by Agatha Christie the third biggest selling author in the UK after god and Shakespeare but it was also helped to have a trailer with Dunkirk as was Victoria and Abdul.

2012’s The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel opened with £2.22m taking £4.79m in its opening 7 days taking £2.57m Mon-Thurs went on to take £20.4m; 2015’s The Lady in the Van opened with £2.24m taking £4.82m in its opening week taking £2.58m Mon-Thurs; 2015’s The Second-Best Marigold Hotel opened with £3.3m taking £6.69m in its opening 7 days taking almost £3m Mon-Thurs.

Murder on the Orient Express dropped only 12.2% in its second weekend this is close to 12.7% Suffragette dropped in 2015 while The Lady in the Van dropped 28.1%, 2014’s The Imitation Game 19%, 2012’s The Iron Lady 31%, The Second-Best Marigold Hotel 37% while the first film increased by 5% in its second weekend.

With the strong performance of Murder on the Orient Express in the UK and US 20^th Century Fox will likely be pushing to get their Witness for Prosecution remake Ben Affleck was attached to direct and star last year which is dependent on his other commitments including starring in The Batman. Earlier this year Amazon acquired US rights to seven Agatha Christie dramas BBC were producing one of them was Ordeal by Innocence which was meant to be broadcast this Christmas on BBC1 but after sexual allegations against Ed Westwick they will not broadcast it.

At the end of Murder on the Orient Express Hercule Poirot is told he is needed in Egypt to investigate a murder which sets up Kenneth Branagh to star again in Agatha Christie’s Death on the Nile. Often are Easter eggs in films where they tease or set up another film the most like at the end of Notting Hill Hugh Grant is reading Hugh is reading Captain Corelli’s Mandolin which was being made next by Working Title. 

3. Thor: Ragnarok – £3,073,349 – £25,879,938

Down 33.4% in its third weekend as with many other Marvel Cinematic Universe films Thor: Ragnarok dropped only 33% in its third weekend which is close to last year’s Doctor Strange and the first Thor film.

Thor: Ragnarok has become the 12^th biggest film of the year overtaking Wonder Woman, Logan and Kingsman: The Golden Circle and will join Guardians of the Galaxy 2 and Beauty and the Beast in the top 10 next weekend and with of course Star Wars: The Last Jedi opening next month Disney will end the year with four films in the top 10 and all of their 6 film releases of the year in the top 40.

Thor: Ragnarok is now the seventh biggest Marvel Cinematic Universe film in the UK has overtaken Doctor Strange, Iron Man 2, Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: Winter Soldier, Iron Man, Ant-Man, Thor and Captain America: the first Avenger. Over the next couple of weeks Thor: Ragnarok will overtake Guardians of the Galaxy and Spider-Man: Homecoming ending as the sixth biggest MCU film in the UK.

Despite releasing 10 MCU films since 2013 only Avengers: Age of Ultron, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 and Captain America: Civil War has taken more than Iron Man 3. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 is the only film that has improved on previous films as both Captain America: Civil War is more Avengers 2.1 than a Captain America sequel as Thor: Ragnarok can’t be compared to previous Thor films.

Have Marvel Cinematic Universe films found their box office plateau in the UK as after 17 films over 9 years the growth there was tremendous growth in the first 6 years between Iron Man, Captain America: The First Avenger, Thor and Iron Man 2, Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Thor: The Dark World. But since Iron Man 3 in 2013, the growth has been flat as comic-book audiences have seemed to stop growing maybe this is because of the additional competition from DC Extended Universe and Fox/Marvel offering a different kind of comic-book movie in Deadpool.

This is similarly the case with MCU films in US Iron Man 3 took $409m in 2013 but none of their films since have had the same growth as their films released before Iron Man 3. If this was the case with DC Extended Universe much more would be said and asked if comic-book movies are still as popular as they seem or is I with so many being released they are getting to cannibalize each other as we will see with Justice League opening so close to Thor: Ragnarok but as comic-book fans are so fickle they will move quickly off to Justice League despite calling it the best ever comic-book movie a few weeks ago.

4. A Bad Moms Christmas – £1,272,396 – £4,186,649

Down 28.55% in its second weekend holding surprisingly close to the original film despite receiving much poorer reviews (Bad Moms received 58% Rotten Tomatoes while A Bad Moms Christmas only 29%).

Removing the extra day’s previews for A Bad Moms Christmas which took £509,089 from two days compared to £253,739 from one for Bad Moms their box office would be almost identically £4,186,649 Vs £3,967,600.

After opening bigger than Horrible Bosses 2 (£1,257,808), Bad Neighbours 2 (£1,099,710) and Office Christmas Party (£1,198,176) A Bad Moms Christmas has already overtaken Horrible Bosses 2 took £3,628,652 and Office Christmas Party £2,984,346 and will shortly overtake Bad Neighbours 2 £6,216,894.

Last week and this weekend have seen a surprisingly strong marketplace with three films last weekend and four this weekend all playing to a different audience demographic which has allowed each of them to perform strongly.  The big question is how will direct competition effect this with Justice League opening this weekend as younger audiences are fickle and will happily move over to the next big thing.

5. Jigsaw – £414,932 – £4,541,777

Down 44.83% in its third-weekend Jigsaw will overtake total box office for2009’s Saw VI £4.98m but won’t come close to the box office totals of the other films.

While much has been said that 2017 has been a massive year for horror the successful horror is the social modern horrors like Get Out, Split and It rather than the older style torture or slasher horror.

Also released

Professor Marston and The Wonder Women – Sony Pictures took £9,148 from 72 screens

UK box office in detail

This weekend’s top 10 box office took £18,601,350 up 28.69% from last weekend £14,453,653

The weekend admissions 2,441,122 up 28.69% from last weekend 1,896,805 (average price £7.62 by UK Cinema Association/BFI for 2017).

Paddington 2 took 44.34% of the top 10; 9,047,942; 18 films opened at weekend taking £9,047,942; Paddington 2 91.29% (£8,250,861); Only the Brave 2.96% (£268,680); The Florida Project 2.66% (£241,490); remaining 15 films shared 3.06% (£277,612);

The weekend was up 69.34% from last year (£10,984,043): Arrival £2,924,059

Up 25.58% from 2015: (£14,812,116): The Lady in the Van £2,256,121, Steve Jobs £903,214, Fathers and Daughters £25,199

Next weekend in 2016: (£21,643,947) Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them £15,333,146, Andre Rieu: Christmas With Andre 2016 £1,180,208

 

 

UK Box Office Top 10

 

US Box Office Top 10

US Box office

Disney – Thor: Ragnarok – dropped 53.5% in its second weekend taking $57.07m and $212.06m total;   

After 10 days on release it has overtaken the total box office of both Thor and Thor: The Dark World and is the 12^th highest grossing of the Marvel Cinematic Universe it sounds more impressive than it looks as their box office totals are very close if you remove two Avengers films and Avengers 2.1 Captain America: Civil War.

As with the UK Marvel, Cinematic Universe films openings might have gotten bigger but their totals haven’t increased since Iron Man 3 in 2013. As comparing the box office of Thor: Ragnarok after 10 days it’s holding most close to Iron Man 2 released 7 years ago but ticket inflation since is almost 25%.

Likewise comparing their admissions, the audience for MCU films hasn’t increased since 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy and it’s ticket inflation and crossovers that are keeping their box office numbers increasing. While there is much negativity surrounding DC Extended Universe films their growth is steady and increasing since 2013 the same time MCU seemed to reach its plateau.

Man of Steel took $291m in 2013 and Wonder Woman took $412.5m this year with Justice League expected to open with $150m+ and take $400m in the US but opening so close to Thor: Ragnarok will cannibalize both as both won’t take as much as they could of done had they been had a bigger gap between them. Saw this issue happening last year with Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice, Captain America: Civil War and X-Men: Apocalypse open within 100 days of each other.

As with all megamovies more comic-book movies hasn’t meant higher box office it has meant that these films are cannibalizing each other as the audience in the US and UK isn’t growing. 

Thor: Ragnarok took $76m internationally over the weekend with a total of $438.5m and global box office of $650m and will shortly overtaking the global box office of 2013’s Thor: The Dark World $644m and will shortly overtake last year’s, Doctor Strange.

Paramount Pictures – Daddy’s Home 2 opens with $29.65m; after receiving negative reviews it surprisingly received A- CinemaScore better than B+ for the first film.

Daddy’s Home 2 opened with 23.46% less than original film $38.74m last week A Bad Moms Christmas opened with 30% less than Bad Moms $23.81m to $16.75m.

Daddy’s Home 2 will take about half of the first film which will see Paramount Pictures have their worst ever year at the US box office in their 105-year history; 10 years ago, Paramount Pictures were #1 studio and over the next five years they were the top two studios with 2011 their best year taking almost $2bn this year their 11 releases will take just over quarter of the total about $550m.

In March Jim Gianopulos was named CEO of Paramount Pictures but won’t be until 2019 until we will see projects that were developed under him with Eli and Gemini Man along with Terminator reboot produced by James Cameron. While the long in development Top Gun sequel released 33 years after the original film highlights more the desperation the studio has for franchises but seen this year with Blade Runner 2049 32 years after the original film will today’s millennials be interested in Top Gun 2?.

The original Daddy’s Home in 2015 was a surprise to everyone including Paramount Pictures opening a week after Sisters starring Tina Fey and Amy Poehler which was expected to be the film that was going to be a strong alternative to Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Instead, Daddy’s Home opened with almost three times more than Sisters opened the weekend before $38.74m Vs $13.97m and took almost double $150.35m Vs $87.1m.

As with STX rushing their Bad Moms sequel Paramount Pictures immediately started developing the sequel and in January 2017 dated the sequel for November 10^th with A Bad Moms Christmas already dated the weekend before;

Are many issues with Daddy’s Home 2 the first being why did Paramount date the sequel to open a week after similarly themed sequel a Bad Moms Christmas at the start of November especially after the original performed very strongly opening Christmas Day. As with A Bad Moms Christmas, the question many asked about Daddy’s Home 2 is why it even existed as while the first film was tolerable as with director Sean Anders other recent Horrible Bosses 2 it was a sequel to a one-hit wonder.

But of course, the reason both films existed is that is Daddy’s Home was Paramount Pictures biggest original hit in years and only Star Trek: Beyond has since taken more at the box office. While Bab Moms was STX biggest hit to date and being a new distributor are despite to build an identity and franchise even if Bob Moms was nothing new and just a female version of The Hangover. The interesting thing about Bad Moms was Paramount Pictures originally acquired US rights in May 2015 but six months later left the film and STX acquired it.

The biggest issue has as many have with Daddy’s Home 2 was the casting of Mel Gibson over the last couple of months have been sexual harassment and assault allegations against Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey. This has seen Kevin Spacey sacked from Netflix House of Cards and replaced on Ridley Scott’s All the Money in the World and the BBC cancel Ed Westwick comedy White Gold and not screen Agatha Christie’s Ordeal by Innocence but whereas these are only allegations Mel Gibson and Roman Polanski have been found guilty of domestic abuse and rape.

After the strong opening for Daddy’s Home does this mean Mel Gibson’s comeback is real and Hollywood will be signing him up for more family comedies and the threatened Lethal Weapon 5. Before he signed up to star in Daddy’s Home 2 were rumors Warner Bros were going to sign him up to direct Suicide Squad 2. But the fact that cinemagoers are seemingly happy to see Mel Gibson back in a family comedy could mean that Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey could also return as Hollywood has very short memories. As the difference between Mel Gibson as Roman Polanski both were found guilty of wife beating and rape while despite how horrific the stories are about all these other actors and directors they are still allegations and as seen by many people who have had allegations against them in the past but then found innocent they should be innocent until guilty? 

With Daddy’s Home 2 opening with $30m does this mean cinemagoers don’t care as much about the sexual harassment stories currently taking over Hollywood as of course he was found guilty of wife beating as Roman Polanski was found guilty of rape 

20th Century Fox – Murder on the Orient Express opens with $28.68m; receiving mixed reviews and getting B CinemaScore it opened bigger than most expected and bigger than last years The Girl on the Train and Arrival opening with $24.5m and $24m.

As with UK, the top four films play to different demographics why they all performed probably better than expected with Murder on the Orient Express targeting older audiences that surprisingly didn’t come out to see the many adult dramas that opened in September/October.

Internationally has taken $45.7m and $57.2m total taking $19m from China.

STX – A Bad Moms Christmas – drops 31.6% in its second weekend taking $11.46m and $39.82m;

Surprisingly holding well against the bad dads close to original film which took $14m in its second weekend taking $50.85m

On limited release

Focus Features – Lady Bird – added 33 screens up 229.2% $1,199,748 from 33 screens total $1,731,828 climbing into the top 10; still has 100% Rotten Tomatoes score; expands this weekend before going wide over Thanksgiving.

A24 – The Florida Project – took $540,508 down 14.7% adding 40 screens taking $3.8m;

Fox Searchlight – Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri took $322,168 from four screens; after having its world premiere at Venice International Film Festival and screening at Toronto International Film Festival has received 95% Rotten Tomatoes score; expands into 12 screens this weekend and then into 425 screens over Thanksgiving.

Interesting to see A24 and Fox Searchlight are expanding Lady Bird and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri much slower than other platform releases this year that expanded wide a week after platform. But with the arrival of these two limited releases, The Florida Project lost some of its momentum adding 40 screens but not increasing its weekend box office.

Opened November 17^th

Opening UK

• Justice League – Warner Bros

The fifth installment in the DC Extended Universe starring Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Gal Gadot, Ezra Miller, Jason Momoa, Ray Fisher, Jeremy Irons, Diane Lane, Connie Nielsen, and J. K. Simmons and directed by Zack Snyder. Zack Snyder was replaced by Joss Whedon in May 2017 after a family tragedy Joss Whedon rewrote and directed the reshoots but will only get a writing credit for the film; When the film was originally announced in 2014 was planned as a two-part film with first part released in 2017 and the second in 2019

As with all DC Extended Universe Justice League comes with much additional baggage as Warner Bros try to find the secret formula right with comic-book adaptations which they got so right in the late 80s early 90s with Tom Burton version of Batman but then came Joel Schumacher’s Batman Forever in 1995 and Batman & Robin in 1997 poorly received by both critics and fans.

In 2005 three years before Marvel launched their Cinematic Universe with Iron Man Warner Bros rebooted the franchise with Batman Begins directed by Christopher Nolan which was a critical and fan favorite as were its two sequels The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises.

At the same time Warner was rebooting Batman they were fighting a legal battle over ownership of Superman and fearing losing rights to much of Superman they were forced to push Man of Steel into production sooner than they would have liked. In 2008 Warner Bros had big plans for the Superman reboot as they tried to ignore 2006’s Superman Returns. But then in August 2009 Jerry Siegel’s family recaptured 50% rights to Superman’s origins and told if they didn’t start production on the film by 2011 Siegel estate could sue for lost revenue.

Warner Bros started Man of Steel production in August 2011 directed by Zack Snyder. Despite taking $291m in US $377m international and $668m worldwide in June 2013 was poorly received by critics and fans. But worse was to come with both Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad before things changed for the better this year with the critic and fan favorite Wonder Woman.

Despite the negative response from fans and critics Man of Steel opened with £11,198,786, Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice £14,621,007 and Suicide Squad £11,252,225. While despite receiving far better reviews Wonder Woman opened with half of those films with £6,179,616 but was hurt by many non-film related issues including UK premiere being cancelled after the terrorist attack at the end of the Ariana Grande concert generated the Manchester One Love concert was one of the most watch TV shows of the year and then in its second weekend had the hottest temperatures of the year.

Despite the disappointing opening, it held strongly over the weeks after release but the damage was done in its opening weekend. As Wonder Woman’s marketing campaign was building up to its climax the UK premiere (premieres don’t get the same media coverage used to unless it’s a James Bond or Star Wars) was massive awareness and expectations for Wonder Woman meant the loss of the premiere likely affected its film launch. Close to The Mummy premiere being canceled and the loss of Tom Cruise on the red carpet which always generates huge media coverage while The Mummy was a far inferior film suffered at the box office without their premieres.

Justice League had a long production since started production in April 2016 over a year after filming started the film had major reshoots to lighter its tone to try to follow the success of Wonder Woman raising its budget to $300m. According to reports, 15-20% of Justice League is from reshoots with Wonder Woman getting more screen time; the look of Justice League is very Zack Snyder with Joss Whedon adding his vision for dry humour and feminist touches.

After releasing four DC film in the last 18 months Warner Bros will release one DC film in 2018 Aquaman and then Wonder Woman 2 in 2019 and 2018; some have said 2018 is a reset year for DC to refocus their vision of the DC Universe films.

After the huge success of Wonder Woman ($821m worldwide) and It ($677m worldwide) and despite several massive flops Warner Bros are still #1 studio in the US taking $1.78bn Justice League doesn’t need to be their first $1bn comic-book movie since The Dark Knight Rises.

After many had an issue with the length of many of the DC films Warner Bros CEO Kevin Tsujihara demanded that Justice League would be under 2 hours long the original cut was nearer three hours. Test screenings of the final cut have compared it to Wonder Woman in tone.

After all the negativity surrounding Justice League over the reshoots fans were relieved to read last Thursday on social media that reactions were positive calling the film fun despite the flaws. Embargo ends on Wednesday, but Rotten Tomatoes won’t reveal its rating until Thursday during Rotten Tomatoes weekly Facebook show called weekly show called Rotten Tomatoes See It / Skip It which will include the Tomatometer Score Reveal.

The first footage of Justice League was screened at Comic-Con 2016 seen over 41.54m on YouTube; the first trailer was released in March seen over 31.7m on YouTube; In July Comic Con 2017 footage seen almost 37m times on YouTube and trailer 3 released last month has been seen over 23m times.

There has been fan rivalry between Marvel and DC but Marvel’s Kevin Feige has followed a comment from Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn to try to ignore it. Recently saying in an interview “I think it’s ridiculous. I think movies are awesome and people should go out and support awesome movies, and I go support those movies and I thought Wonder Woman was awesome,”

After Brett Ratner was the latest director accused of sexual harassment were rumours Gal Gadot refused to sign up for Wonder Woman 2 unless he was out of the sequel Warner Bros have said that it wasn’t true. But Warner Bros TV has suspended production of Supergirl and the Flash after it was revealed producer Andrew Kreisberg has been accused of sexual harassment.

Warner Bros on Monday brought forward the release date of Wonder Woman from December 13^th, 2019 a week before Star Wars Episode IX and two weeks after Frozen 2 to November 1^st. Bringing forward Wonder Woman 2 release likely means Warner Bros don’t have international rights for Bond 25 was already dated for November 8^th, 2019 release date expected to be released by Annapurna Pictures but as UK release is likely to open October 28^th in the UK same week as Wonder Woman.

• Film Stars Don’t Die In Liverpool – Lionsgate

Drama starring Annette Bening, Jamie Bell, Vanessa Redgrave, Julie Walters and Kenneth Cranham and directed by Paul McGuigan produced by Eon Productions.

Only the second non-James Bond film Eon have produced since Dr No in 1962 the other film was 1963’s Call Me Bwana their third will be The Rhythm Section starring Blake Lively and directed by Reed Morano Paramount Pictures are releasing in February 2019. Barbara Broccoli also produced 2014’s The Silent Storm  

• Ingrid Goes West – Universal Pictures

Comedy-drama starring Aubrey Plaza, Elizabeth Olsen, Billy Magnussen, Wyatt Russell, Pom Klementieff and O’Shea Jackson Jr and directed by Matt Spicer; premiered at Sundance Film Festival receiving positive reviews Universal Pictures acquired selective international rights; opened on limited release in the US in August taking $3,019,057.

Opening in US

• Justice League – Warner Bros

Strengths

• Fifth DC Extended Universe film opening five months after Wonder Woman opened which was box office success but more importantly critical success.
• Success of Marvel’s superhero team-ups The Avengers and Avengers Age of Ultron
• Early buzz is positive
• Joss Whedon being brought in for a rewrite and reshoots replacing director Zack Snyder after a family tragedy. Having written and directed The Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron comic-book fans have a lot of respect for • Joss Whedon along with writing classic TV show Firefly, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Serenity and is writing the script for DC Extended Universe Batgirl (weakness he also wrote the sexist screenplay for Wonder Woman in 2005)
• Only 2 hours long as most comic-book films run over 2.5hours and are far too long.
• No young male competition until the release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi in a months’ time

Weaknesses

• Despite being box office hits Man of Steel, Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad were poorly received critically and by fans
• Continued comparison with Marvel Cinematic Universe
• The Lego Ninjago Movie being the second Lego Movie released this year disappointed after The Lego Batman Movie opened earlier in the year despite positivity for Wonder Woman could two films be one too many

Opportunities

• To build on the positivity for DC Extended Universe after Wonder Woman
• Despite the negativity surrounding first four DC Extended Universe films have taken $1.35bn at the US box office with an average of $339.6m and opening average $129.89m and globally taken $3.1bn; Justice League is expected to open with $150m+ and take $400m+ in the US and $900m globally.
• Success of comic-book movies this year; are five comic-book movies in the 2017 top 10 Wonder Woman, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Logan, and Thor: Ragnarok
• Despite Thor: Ragnarok #1 in its second weekend taking $56m comic-book fans are fickle and will go to the next big thing very quickly with Thor: Ragnarok likely to drop heavily against it.

Threats

• Opening three weeks after Thor: Ragnarok
• Audiences tiring of comic-book movies being the last comic-book film released of the year after Logan, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Wonder Woman, Spider-Man: Homecoming and Thor: Ragnarok
• Always being compared to Marvel Cinematic Universe even if Justice League opening with $166m+ which would be the biggest opening for a DC Extended Universe film in the US it will be The Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron opened with $207.43m and $191.27m.
• Ben Affleck’s connection to Harvey Weinstein after being branded a liar by Rose McGowan saying he knew about the sexual abuse for many years. Matt Damon’s Suburbicon flopped last month and was a report that claimed he tried to kill a New York Times article about Harvey Weinstein in 2004 he denied that he did but the problem is once it is out there the damage is done.

Early tracking was predicting a month ago an opening of $120m but after early positive social media reaction many expect it to open with $150m+ but could open with $170m which would be the biggest DC Extended Universe opening in the US and will take $400m+ and $850m+ worldwide; Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Wonder Woman took $873.3m and $821.8m worldwide.

• Wonder – Lionsgate

Comedy-drama starring Julia Roberts, Owen Wilson, and Jacob Tremblay and directed by Stephen Chbosky based on the 2012 novel of the same name by R.J. Palacio; currently has 67% Rotten Tomatoes score.

Was originally set for release in April but pushed back to November to build awareness and the film is generating strong buzz.

Lionsgate UK had a nationwide program of talker screenings on November 13^th in the UK to celebrate World Kindness Day.

• The Star – Sony Pictures

Animated Christian comedy featuring the voices of Steven Yeun, Gina Rodriguez, Zachary Levi, Keegan-Michael Key, Kelly Clarkson, Patricia Heaton, Kristin Chenoweth, Tracy Morgan, Tyler Perry and Oprah Winfrey directed by Timothy Reckart.

Faith-based films have been lucrative in recent years with films including Miracles from Heaven, Risen, If I Stay, When the Game Stands Tall and Heaven Is for Real low budget films that have been successful in recent years.

• Roman J. Israel, Esq. – Sony Pictures

Legal drama starring Denzel Washington, Colin Farrell and Carmen Ejogo and written and directed by Dan Gilroy (first film since the critically acclaimed 2014 film Nightcrawler); premiered at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival receiving average reviews (55% Rotten Tomatoes score) film was re-edited with a dozen minutes removed to tighten its pace; opens on limited release before going wide on November 22nd