UK Preview 2018

IMDB listed the most anticipated films of 2018 which has a couple of surprises; Solo: A Star Wars Story, Mission Impossible 6, Ocean’s Eight, The Predator, Pacific Rim: Uprising, Tomb Raider, Jurassic World: Gallen Kingdom, Deadpool 2, Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War.

While Fandango has Avengers: Infinity War, Black Panther, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Deadpool 2, Solo: A Star Wars Story, Incredibles 2, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, A Wrinkle in Time, X-Men: Dark Phoenix and Ocean’s 8.

Last week ComScore announced UK and Ireland box office was up 3.7% from 2016 from £1.330bn to £1.378bn included about £90m+ from the Republic of Ireland not included in UK box office; UK box office alone was £1.277bn up 2.48% from 2016’s £1.246bn.

After admissions for the first 7 months of 2017 were 6.6% up for yearly admissions to be down 0.6% from 168.25 to 167.26 must be disappointing as admissions could and should have seen their first increase since 2002 instead they haven’t seen any increase now for 15 years.

As UK inflation rate for 2017 was 2.8% (compared to only 1.6% in 2016) average ticket prices must have seen a similar or bigger rise than 2015/2016 of 2.9% from £7.21/£7.42 up to £7.64+ in 2017. Of course, real average is closer to £11.57. (I checked average prices of The Last Jedi in over 230 cinemas in December for a standard adult ticket and average price got was £11.57 while are some cinemas charging less than £7.62 was fewer than 10% of cinemas checked)

Top 10 films took £425.17m = 31.99% of total box office of 2016

Top 20 films took £646.35m = 48.6% of total box office of 2016

Top 100 films took £1.107 billion = 83.3% of total box office of 2016

Left £221.7m (16.7%) for the other 800 releases included over 100 Event Cinema screenings having inflated ticket prices and Secret Cinema Screenings.

This compares to for 2017

Top 10 films took £452m = 35.39% of total box office of 2017

Top 20 films took £710m = 55.59% of total box office of 2017

Top 100 films took £1.18bn = 92% of total box office of 2017

Which leaves £81m (8%) for the other 700 film releases and 130 Event Cinema screenings.

While cinema attendance is as popular as it has been for the last 15 years despite streaming services audiences have become much more selective in the films they pay to see in cinemas and those they wait to see. While people with subscription cinema from Cineworld and Odeon Cinemas are seeing many more films than ever regular cinemagoers who are paying £10+ a time are going far fewer times than they have done before, and the price is the #1 reason why they aren’t gonging as often.

It is far from healthy to see the top 10 films now taking a third of the annual box office but more worrying the top 100 taking now over 90% showing that the rest are now being squeezed with far too many films being released. My preview covers almost 40 key releases of the year but while there were three surprises in the top 10 last year Dunkirk, It and La La Land it is much harder to imagine there will be any such surprises this year; taking a punt on Ready Player One to be the one original film as it plays to 80s and 90s nostalgia so could break into the top 10.

Disney

After releasing 6 films in 2017 taking £243.81m (18.02%) and releasing the two biggest films of the year Beauty and the Beast and Star Wars: The Last Jedi they release double the number of films in 2018 but could finish the year not having either of the two biggest films of the year.

Disney will likely have at least five of the top 10 biggest films of 2018 with Solo: A Star Wars Story, Avengers: Infinity Wars, The Incredibles 2, Mary Poppins Returns and Black Panther. But these are all more properties rather than films with eight of their 12 titles set for release in 2018 franchises, sequels and re-imagination.

Was announced Disney have taken $4bn globally with the three Star Wars films which were what Disney bought Lucasfilm for in 2012 but the real reason why Disney bought Lucasfilm was merchandise which takes over $1.5bn a year and over the last 40 years has taken over $35bn. The annual films are just the software to produce more merchandise hardware.

Disney always delay the release of their summer animation in the UK (saying that won’t in 2019 with Toy Story 4 opening day and date in the UK as the US as have The Lion King dated for mid-July) but they also delay both Ant-Man and the Wasp and their Untitled Christopher Robin Film due to the World Cup and because of Incredibles 2 opening 13^th July.

2015’s Ant-Man was Disney’s most disappointing performing Marvel film in the UK probably because similar to they’re earlier in the year Tomorrowland it was marketed as just another comic-book move instead of a family film for which Disney used to be experts making before they got into the comic-book business. Seen by the difference in styles of the trailers the regular trailer makes it as a typical comic-book movie

But the Japanese trailer highlights that it’s not the typical arrogant man seeking redemption it’s a dad who wants to take care of his daughter

• Black Panther – 12^th February

18^th Marvel Cinematic Universe film starring Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong’o, Martin Freeman, Angela Bassett, Forest Whitaker, and Andy Serkis and directed by Ryan Coogler.

Marvel first announced plans for a Black Panther film as part of their initial 10 film slate in 2005 Paramount Pictures would distribute; was officially announced in October 2014 appearing first in 2016’s Captain America Civil War (was also the first appearance of Tom Holland as Spider-Man)

The teaser trailer was released in June and viewed 89m times in the first 24 hours and reaction was very positive; the trailer was released in October and a third trailer released in December.

As with Doctor Strange and Thor: Ragnarok Black Panther opens on Tuesday to give it a 6-day opening weekend those two films opened with £9.28m and £12.37m and Black Panther is expected to open close to Doctor Strange.

The 17 Marvel Cinematic Universe films have taken over £450m in the UK over the last 10 years Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War and Ant-Man and the Wasp will see them add £120m+ to their box office. But the audience for MCU hasn’t grown since Iron Man 3 in 2013 the box office of films since has remained flat. As the audience for the MCU films would be similar from one film to the next as they continue the same story arc you would expect the audience to of grown over the 10 films since. So while many are predicting Black Panther to be massive it will be relative to the previous films opening with £14m+ over half term holidays but take similar £30m+ box office.

• A Wrinkle in Time – 23^rd March

Sci-fi fantasy adventure starring Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, Mindy Kaling, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Michael Peña, Storm Reid, Zach Galifianakis, and Chris Pine and directed by Ava DuVernay based on the 1962 novel by Madeleine L’Engle.

The most surprising thing about A Wrinkle in Time is that it’s not the original Disney movie many believe it is as previously made in 2002 planned as a two-part miniseries but was postponed a year and cut into a 128min TV movie.

Disney acquired remake rights in 2010 and Ava DuVernay was confirmed to direct in February 2016; teaser was released in July and trailer released in November has been viewed 8.5m times on YouTube.

A Wrinkle in Time must be Disney’ riskiest project since 2015’s Tomorrowland while based on a best-selling novel featuring a very strong ensemble cast and Ava DuVernay directing the $100m+ budget film will be compared to Patty Jenkins who directed $150m budgeted Wonder Woman.

As with Patty Jenkins A Wrinkle in Time will be Ava DuVernay second film directed going from low budget Selma to $100m+ budget but of course, male directors do this regularly going from indie to $200m budgeted films. If it fails to meet expectations failure will be on her shoulders likely to go MIA for years as Michael Lehmann after Hudson Hawk and Martin Brest after Gigli but of course, it is a success will hopefully see many more female directors signed up to direct more tentpole releases.

Disney original films are such a rarity now, so I really wanted to like the first trailer for A Wrinkle in Time buy found it a mess remaining me of Oz: The Great and Powerful.

Oz the Great and Powerful was Disney’s second re-imagination opened in March 2013 with £3.71m taking £14.98m.

• Avengers: Infinity War – 27^th April

19^th Marvel Cinematic Universe film and second sequel to 2015’s Age of Ultron; was first announced in October as a two-parter to be shot back-to-back with the first part set for May 2018 and a second released May 2019. In 2016 it was announced that they would be two separate films.

Footage was screened at D23 in July 2017, but the trailer wasn’t released until November and viewed almost 500,000 times in the first15 minutes on YouTube and was viewed 230 million times in its first 24 hours overtaking previous record holder It.

Avengers Assemble opened April 2012 with £15.78m taking £51.91m and Avengers: Age of Ultron opened April 2015 14% bigger with £17.99m taking £48.32m; if Avengers: Infinity Wars opened similar would be £20m+ with a total of £50m+.

• Solo: A Star Wars Story – 25^th May

The second Star Wars anthology film after 2016’s Rogue One and fourth Star Wars film released in four years and opening only five months after Star Wars: The Last Jedi while it received positive critics reviews audience reaction was much more mixed.

In December were rumours Disney were worried about the film which began in June when they fired the directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller due “”creative differences” and Ron Howard took over directing and reshot a large amount of the film and issues over Alden Ehrenreich acting abilities.

Ron Howard has made some great films in the past including Willow 30 years ago and Backdraft, Frost/Nixon and Apollo 13 but they were more drama than action and excitement which is what you would expect from Solo. But with the corporate machine that is Lucasfilm as Eon Productions with James Bond the director is more a figurehead and a puppet for the producers to make the films look and feel the same?

When Disney announced in 2012 annual Star Wars films infinitely sounded like a fantastic idea but after The Force Awakens was just a remake of A New Hope, Rogue One received mixed reception and polarized reaction to The Last Jedi expectations are so high for Star Wars films the critics get caught up in the hype.

The biggest problem with Solo is however good Alden Ehrenreich performance is of Han Solo he will be compared to Harrison Ford so would make much more sense to beg Harrison Ford and then use similar visual cosmetics Marvel used for Ant-Man with Michael Douglas to do the same with Harrison Ford?

Solo will likely perform close to Rogue One but be even more front-loaded opening with £15m+ it does, of course, have the advantage over The Force Awakens, Rogue One and The Last Jedi with half-term holidays for Its opening week. But with Deadpool 2 opening a week after opening and then Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom opening two weeks later its expected to be very front-loaded even more than The Last Jedi. Unlikely Ron Howard can pull one out of the bag and all this negativity was fake news to lower expectations?

• Patrick – 29^th June

Family UK comedy starring Jennifer Saunders, Tom Bennett and Beattie Edmondson and directed by Mandie Fletcher previously directed Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie; Patrick was written by Vanessa Davies former Head of UK Theatrical Publicity at Disney and Unit Publicist on many Disney films since including 101 Dalmatians and 102 Dalmatians as well as all eight Harry Potter films Vanessa Davies knows her animals and creatures. The original dog called Patrick makes a cameo in the film.

Disney rarely acquire a film for the just UK the last films they did was November Man in 2014, The Words in 2013, Won’t Back Down in 2012, Soul Surfer in 2011 and Flashbacks Of A Fool in 2008.

Before Disney went into the comic-book business animal and pet films were a regular part of the films they released from the already mentioned 101 Dalmatians live action and the classic animated film, Lady and the Tramp, Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey, Old Yeller, The Aristocats, The Fox and the Hound, Bolt, Turner & Hooch, Eight Below, Snow Dogs, White Fang, The Shaggy Dog, Iron Will and other films include Marley & Me, The Secret Life of Pets, Beethoven, Babe, Charlotte’s Web, Air Bud, My Dog Skip, Fly Away Home, Lassie, Dolphin Tale, Free Willy.

Most recently A Street Cat Named Bob opened November 2016 with £985,557 taking £4,253,677l; Patrick could do similar being the only family film released for over a month and two weeks before Incredibles 2 and with very few other films opening during the World Cup if the doggy comedy receives positive reviews and word of mouth could be an alternative to Ocean’s 8 and Sicario 2: Soldado.

• Incredibles 2 – 13^th July

Sequel to 2004’s The Incredibles featuring voices of Holly Hunter, Craig T. Nelson, Sarah Vowell and Samuel L. Jackson and written and directed by Brad Bird.

After Brad Bird directed Ratatouille in 2007 he spoke about wanting to make The Incredibles sequel only if he could come up with an idea superior to the original. In 2013 spoke again about wanting to make a sequel which was confirmed at Disney a board meeting in 2014 the sequel would be Brad Bird’s next film after Tomorrowland.

The teaser trailer was seen 113 million times in its first 24 hours

Incredibles opened in November 2004 with £9,753,035 taking £32,039,321; saw it at UCI Whiteleys in November 2004 was not that impressed with it the first time but on repeat viewings became a favourite of mine. Ocean’s 11 and Groundhog Day were similar are some films that you watch and need to see again others you try to watch again but can’t get past the first reel.

• Mary Poppins Returns – 21^st December

Sequel to the 1964 film Mary Poppins starring Emily Blunt, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ben Whishaw, Emily Mortimer, Julie Walters, Colin Firth, Meryl Streep and Angela Lansbury and directed by Rob Marshall; it’s one of the longest gaps between first film and sequel in history at 54 years.

After releasing the prequel Saving Mr Banks in 2013 now have the sequel to the beloved classic but can it possibly match up to the original film as with so many legacysequels the long wait between the films the sequel can never live up to expectations. Just as Harrison Ford is Han Solo Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins while Emily Blunt is wonderful in everything she does can she pull off the impossible and be Mary Poppins?

Also releases Coco, Patrick, Ant-Man and the Wasp, The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, Untitled Christopher Robin Project and Wreck-It-Ralph 2.

eOne

After £27.34m (2.02%) from 17 films (having the lowest year in over 5 years) down 75% from 2016 and 46% from 2015 eOne was the biggest independent distributor for four of the last five years and five times of the last eight;

• The Post – 19^th January

Political thriller starring Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, Sarah Paulson, Bob Odenkirk, Tracy Letts, Bradley Whitford, Bruce Greenwood, Carrie Coon, and Matthew Rhys and directed by Steven Spielberg; receiving critical acclaim receiving six Golden Globe nominations including Best Picture Drama, Best Director, Best Actress for Streep, Best Actor for Hanks, Best Screenplay.

Often critics call a film the film of the moment, but The Post is truly this with the current battles with President Trump declaring many trusted the news organisations fake news. With critics making comparisons between the administrations of Richard Nixon and Donald Trump.

Steven Spielberg had originally planned to direct The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortar after Ready Player One but after casting issues in March 2017 was announced he would direct and Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep would star. It is the fifth film directed by Steven Spielberg Tom Hanks had starred in (Saving Private Ryan, Catch Me If You Can, The Terminal and Bridge of Spies). Spielberg said. “When I read the first draft of the script (in February), this wasn’t something that could wait three years or two years this was a story I felt we needed to tell today.”

The Post also handles the treatment of women in the workplace showing how Meryl Streep character the first female publisher of a major American newspaper is undermined by her male bosses who don’t believe a woman can run a newspaper. Institutionalized sexism and a free press are “joined at the hip,” Spielberg said. “The relevance is up to everybody. But obviously, sometimes bad things happen twice, and history is certainly repeating itself.”

Captive State – 17^th August

Sci-fi thriller starring John Goodman, Ashton Sanders, Jonathan Majors, and Vera Farmiga and directed by Rupert Wyatt (previously directed 2011’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes and was to direct Marvel’s Gambit in 2015 but left it due to scheduling conflicts).

Little is known about this film as the plot has been kept under wraps but likely to be one of the more interesting and original films that will be released in the summer.

Also releases Molly’s Game, I, Tonya, Finding Your Feet, Entebbe, The Children Act, Show Dogs, The House With A Clock In Its Walls, Nativity Rocks!

20^th Century Fox

After releasing 24 films taking £191.73m in 2017 will release a similar number of films in 2018 and mix of genres sequels, comic-book and original movies in their sadly last year as a distributor as they will likely be incorporated as a label within Disney by mid-2019 being unlikely to make more riskier projects like The Greatest Showman and Bohemian Rhapsody.

• Red Sparrow – 2^nd March

Spy thriller starring Jennifer Lawrence, Joel Edgerton, Matthias Schoenaerts, Charlotte Rampling, Mary-Louise Parker, and Jeremy Irons and directed by Francis Lawrence, based on the book by Jason Matthews. Francis Lawrence previously directed The Hunger Games sequels

In April Fox delayed the release from November 10^th to March 2^nd likely to avoid opening against Jennifer Lawrence’s other autumn film Darren Aronofsky’s Mother and after had the big success with Marvel’s Logan opening the same weekend last year. Fox has already dated James Mangold’s next film The Force for the same weekend in 2019.

Since starring in the final Hunger Games films in 2015 Jennifer Lawrence has starred in ensemble Joy and X-Men: Apocalypse and Passengers which despite mixed reviews still managed to take more than £10m at the UK box office.

But Darren Aronofsky’s Mother flopped which she was playing against type more like her earlier roles while was a very polarized reaction to Mother was nothing wrong with her performance it was more the confusing marketing that alienated audiences.

Jennifer Lawrence stars in X-Men: Dark Phoenix opening in November

Have been few female leading action/spy films 2018 has Red Sparrow and Tomb Raider and 2019 already has Blake Lively in The Rhythm Section produced by Eon Productions and released by Paramount Pictures directed by Reed Morano previously directed episodes of The Handmaid’s Tale. Barbara Broccoli said in December 2017 that she’s up for a female James Bond to replace Daniel Craig after Bond 25 which is expected to be his final Bond film released in October 2019.

Atomic Blonde opened August 2017 with £1.69m taking £3.56m

Lucy opened August 2014 with £3.07m taking £14.5m

Salt opened August 2010 with £2.16m taking £6.73m

Wanted opened June 2008 with £3.81m taking £9.58m

While Mother alienated Jennifer Lawrence’s fanbase Red Sparrow is just what they want a female spy, a movie following in the footsteps of Angelina Jolie. If Red Sparrow is a hit then hopefully there will be more female lead spy movies that can hold their ground against Jason Bourne, Ethan Hunt and James Bond.

• Deadpool 2 – 1^st June

20^th Century Fox previously planned to release three Marvel films two years ago Deadpool, X-Men: Apocalypse and Gambit but after Rupert Wyatt left due to scheduling conflicts it was delayed several times and will finally start shooting this year. Two years later 20^th Century Fox is releasing three very different Marvel films R-rated comic-book film Deadpool 2, horror comic-film New Mutants and then follow-up to X-Men: Apocalypse X-Men: Dark Phoenix.

The three Marvel comic-book movies 20^th Century Fox are releasing this year are three very different films Deadpool 2 likely to continue what made the first film so original, but can the magic strike twice as only have seen a teaser trailer will no actual footage revealed so far. While the first film surprised can the sequel live up to expectations?

Deadpool had very little competition opening in February 2016 but Deadpool 2 is sandwiched between Solo: A Star Wars Story and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. All three would expect £15m+ opening if they were separated but opening the three over three weeks cannibalization of their box office as have similar demographics; if these films were properly separated they would be three of the top 5 biggest films of the year with Deadpool 2 taking £40m+, Solo: A Star Wars Story £50m+ and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom £60m+.

Distributors used to separate these films but in summer 2016 with Star Trek: Beyond, Jason Bourne and Suicide Squad and last summer Spider-Man: Homecoming, War for the Planet of the Apes and Dunkirk it was the first or second film released that is squeezed but the following films. After being much negativity surrounding Solo: A Star Wars and with Rogue One and The Last Jedi being very front-loaded 20^th Century Fox will be hoping similar for Solo: A Star Wars Story.

New Mutants (opening April) is a superhero horror film featuring a group of young mutants held against their will as they try to escape, and they are likely to then feature in X-Men: Dark Phoenix (opening November).

Fox chairman Stacey Snider compared the setting of the film to a “Breakfast Club detention/Cuckoo’s Nest”, described film as “a haunted-house movie with a bunch of hormonal teenagers. We haven’t seen a superhero movie whose genre is more like “The Shining” than “we’re teenagers let’s save the world.”

X-Men: Dark Phoenix is the sequel to X-Men: Apocalypse poorly received both critically and at the box office not helped to be the third major comic-book released in three months after Batman Vs Superman and Captain America: Civil War as all three felt very similar.

Dark Phoenix is the fourth part of the X-Men prequels set in the early 90s after X-Men: First Class was set in 60’s, X-Men: Days of Future Past in 70’s and X-Men: Apocalypse in 80s which will bring the X-Men story back to 00s with 2000’s X-Men.

X-Men First Class was released five years after X- Men Last Stand which was expected to be the final film of the film series; 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine was a prequel to 2000’s X-Men while 2013’s The Wolverine was a sequel to 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand and last years Logan ended the third trilogy of X-Men films that featured Logan.

Dark Phoenix was first seen in X-Men: The Last Stand but the events that featured in X-Men: Days of Future Past deleted the events of X-Men: The Last Stand which allowed for a much more faithful version of the comic-book adaption of The Dark Phoenix Saga. (the sifting time-lines of the X-Men films makes them very confusing how the X-Men film series has travelled through time zones in the future and the past in the other 10 films).

X-Men: Apocalypse was expected to be Jennifer Lawrence’s final appearance as Mystique as her contract for X-Men films was for only three films but she told Digital Spy last year “I felt like I owed it to the fans, and I owed it to the character to follow her journey, to be fair to the movies, and not be like, ‘I don’t want to do another X-Men!’ And then I just never show up and everyone’s very confused about the Mystique they’ve been following for the last three films.”

These three Marvel comic-book movies were according to Producer Simon Kinberg a new phase for the X-Men universe that started in 2011 but with Disney acquiring 20^th Century Fox in 2019 they will be wanting to bring the X-Men into their Marvel Universe. It’s unlikely they would want to continue Fox’s darker grittier comic-book versions even though Bob Iger has said he would be happy to still make R- Rated comic-book movies but to combined X-Men, with The Avengers they will need to be tonally similar.

• Alita: Battle Angel – 20^th July

Sci-Fi action based on Yukito Kishiro’s Battle Angel Alita manga starring Rosa Salazar in the title role, with supporting roles portrayed by Christoph Waltz, Jennifer Connelly, Mahershala Ali, Ed Skrein, Jackie Earle Haley and Keean Johnson and directed by Robert Rodriguez.James Cameron has probably been developing Alita: Battle Angel as long as he has developed The Crowded Room ever since he signed a $500m deal with 20^th Century Fox in 1992 to produce 12 films over 5 years but only two were made True Lies and Strange Days.

In 2003 was reported James Cameron would direct Battle Angel but then in 2005 was being delayed for him to make Project 880 which became Avatar. In 2016 Robert Rodriguez was signed to direct with James Cameron producing and was dated July 20^th, 2018. As with Avatar James Cameron developed unique software to produce the film.

The first trailer as released in December 2017 receiving a mixed reaction as the CGI animators tried to mimic human faces and were something they haven’t seen before was probably similar experience many had with 2016’s Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk in 3D 120fps. As its taking the technology regular used in the film but going to another level being so different probably was why the mixed reaction as didn’t know what to expect.

Many complain about the sequels remakes reboots and reimaginations Alita: Battle Angel gives audiences something they have never seen before, but it will be important that audiences are talking more about the film than the technology it uses which was the case with Avatar and films like Life of Pi, Hugo and Gravity.

It is films including Alita: Battle Angel, The Greatest Showman, Bohemian Rhapsody, Ad Astra and Bad Times At The El Royale are mostly at risk when Disney acquire 20^th Century Fox. Fox and Warner Bros are the two major studios still willing to make something different and risker which Disney rarely do anymore.

• The Predator – 3^rd August

Sci-Fi action starring Boyd Holbrook, Olivia Munn, Keegan-Michael Key, Jacob Tremblay and Thomas Jane and directed by Shane Black; the fourth part of the Predator film series, set between 1990’s Predator 2 and 2010’s Predators.

Was first announced in 2014 producer John Davis said it reimagining the franchise in a “different, interesting way” while Shank Black said was “It’s an attempt to ‘event-ise‘ the Predator again… to make it more mysterious.” And more intimate scale as the first film was.

Stacey Snider talked about The Predator script in Variety last September “it’s unexpected and utterly fresh… from the first page, it didn’t read like a Predator film. It’s set in suburbia.”

Was originally dated March 2^nd, 2018 but then pushed to August 3^rd after Fox moved Red Sparrow to 2^nd March.

• The Kid Who Would Be King – 28^th September

Fantasy adventure film starring Patrick Stewart, Louis Serkis, Tom Taylor and Rebecca Ferguson and written and directed by Joe Cornish his first film since 2011’s Attack the Block.

Attack the Block opened in May 2011 with £1,133,859 taking £2,466,020; ever since it was released Joe Cornish has been attached to direct many films including Gambit and Star Trek Beyond wrote the screenplay for Ant-Man working with Edgar Wright who produces The Kid Who Would Be King with his Big Talk Productions.

After the disappointing performance of King Arthur last year and opening a week after Robin Hood reboot could harm the film but being a family film will be targeting a much younger demographic.

Surprisingly Ridley Scot is attached to direct The Merlin Saga for Disney which sounds awfully similar to The Kid Who Would Be King.

• Bohemian Rhapsody – 28^th December

Biographical drama starring Rami Malek, Ben Hardy, Gwilym Lee, Joseph Mazzello, Allen Leech, and Lucy Boynton and directed by Bryan Singer and Dexter Fletcher.

Bryan Singer was fired as director of the film in December after being absent from the production on multiple occasions and clashing with the cast and crew and Dexter Fletcher replaced him.

The film was first announced in 2010 with Sacha Baron Cohen set to play Freddie Mercury and directed by Tom Hooper but he left the film in 2013 due to “creative differences” he wanted a more adult film while Queen wanted a more family-friendly film.

In 2013 Dexter Fletcher was chosen to direct the film but dropped out due to disagreements with producer Graham King. In November 2016 was announced Bryan Singer would direct and Rami Malek was cast as Freddie Mercury and the title would be Bohemian Rhapsody. They built an exact replica of the 1985 Live Aid set at Wembley Stadium in Bovingdon Airfield.

Hard to compare Bohemian Rhapsody with other musician’s biopics 1991’sThe Doors 2002’s 8 Mile, 2005’s Walk the Line and 2015’s Straight Outta Compton are probably the closest as have been many others but either older artists or not mainstream. Does make for an interesting box office battle next Christmas compared to recent years with Bohemian Rhapsody Vs Mary Poppins Returns.

Bohemian Rhapsody could be the last ever film to be released by 20th Century Fox as it will be absorbed as a label within Disney in 2019.

Also, releases: Three Billboards Outside, Maze Runner: The Death Cure, The Shape of Water, Walk Like a Panther, Love Simon, Unsane, Isle of Dogs, The Darkest Minds, Bad Times at the El Royale, Widows, Super Troopers 2, The Aftermath

Lionsgate

After £76.38m (5.65%) from 21 films, last year that included La La Land taking £30.4m 40% of the total along with several other films performed strongly their 2018 looks in comparison very light.

• Sicario 2: Soldado – 29^th June

Action crime-thriller starring Benicio del Toro, Josh Brolin, Isabela Moner, Jeffrey Donovan, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Matthew Modine and Catherine Keener and directed by Stefano Sollima; sequel to the 2015 film Sicario but is missing Emily Blunt her performance was the highlight of the original film.

The film was originally to be released in the US by Lionsgate who fell out with production company Black Label Media over marketing and distribution plans for Only the Strong and Soldado Sony Pictures acquired US rights, but Lionsgate kept hold of their international rights.

Sicario opened October 9^th, 2015 with £1,596,734 taking £4,777,440

Opening Soldado June 29^th it has very limited competition due the World Cup and is the only male-targeted film on release until Skyscraper two weeks later; if England does their normal at World Cup they will be out of the tournament by June 29^th and will be back in cinemas.

• Robin Hood – 21^st September

Action-adventure starring Taron Egerton, Jamie Foxx, Eve Hewson, Jamie Dornan, Ben Mendelsohn, and Paul Anderson and directed by Otto Bathurst.

The film was announced in 2015 when were three Robin Hood projects in development one at Disney and the other at Sony and Lionsgate acquired rights to the third produced by Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way.

After King Arthur: Legend of the Sword flopped last summer and is only 8 years ago since the last Robin Hood film directed by Ridley Scott starring Russell Crowe do audiences want or need another film its also 27 years ago since Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves directed by Kevin Reynolds and starring Kevin Costner.

But after the success of Kingsman: The Secret Service if it’s a similar styled Robin Hood fil adventure then couple be successful rival studios haven’t yet dated anything to open against it with The Darkest Minds opening week before and The Kid Who Would Be King week after.

Robin Hood opened in May 2010 with £5,750,332 taking £15,381,416

The Spy Who Dumped Me – 3^rd August

Action comedy starring Mila Kunis, Kate McKinnon, and Sam Heughan and directed by Susanna Fogel.

Was originally set for July 6^th release but moved to 3^rd August after “a phenomenal test screening”; in recent years August has been very lucrative for comedies with Bad Moms, Girls Trip, Trainwreck, Sausage Party and We’re the Millers.

But August is very crowded with Hotel Transylvania 3, Mission Impossible 6 and Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again opening the weekend before and opening against Ant-Man and the Wasp which was delayed in the UK a couple of weeks due to the World Cup.

Also releases: Journey’s End, Submergence, Winchester, Ghost Stories, On Chesil Beach, The Happy Prince, Hotel Artemis, McQueen and Fred

Paramount Pictures

After taking £46.99m (3.47%) from 9 films 2018 slate is similarly light on content and will be a holding year as the studio gets in place the slate of films by Jim Gianopulos already having more films dated in 2019 than having released in 2017 and 2019. Eli, What Men Want, Instant Family, Rhythm Section, Amusement Park, Untitled Tyler Perry film, Pet Sematary, Untitled Transformers film, Top Gun: Maverick, Gemini Man and Are You Afraid of the Dark?

Paramount Pictures surprisingly sold international rights to Alex Garland’s sci-fi thriller to Netflix and will be released on the streaming site 17 days after US release in February. Its Alex Garland’s follow-up to Garland’s Ex-Machina released in 2015 that received positive reviews.

It is the second such deal Netflix have recently acquired after previously acquiring international rights from Warner Bros for the 2019 Shaft reboot. These deals do make sense as the marketplace is very crowded for these mid-range budget films and with over 900 films released in the UK in 2017 almost double amount released 10 years ago are far too many released. But for a distributor as Paramount who already have so few films released again this year it was very surprising.

After the news, Disney is to buy Fox these international acquisitions of studio films for Netflix and Amazon are likely to become regular as Netflix do similar acquiring international rights to TV series. But of course, with box Netflix and Amazon and shortly Facebook and Apple with billion dollar chequebooks looking for studio made content for their streaming sites make it even tougher for independent distributors to acquire these films which they used to do 10+ years ago.

• Cloverfield 3 aka God Particle – 20^th April

In October 2016 Paramount surprised everyone including the cast of God Particle to announce God Particle would be delayed to October and be retitled as Cloverfield 3. This will be probably close to 10 Cloverfield Lane which was originally called The Cellar but became the Cloverfield sequel in the editing room.

10 Cloverfield Lane – opened 18th March 2016 – £1.6m taking £5.02m

Cloverfield – opened 1st February 2008 – £3.48m taking £9.12m

Paramount Pictures also have another JJ Abrams-produced film called Overlord which I imagine will be retitled Cloverfield 4 as they previously announced plans to make a Cloverfield film every year.

Cloverfield 3 aka God Particle as originally due for release in February 2017 the moved to October 27^th and then to February 2^nd, 2018 but as of January no trailer had been released and it was announced the release date would be moved back again to April 20^th. Early February was a decent date for the film but now opens the week after Dwyane Johnson’s Rampage and after the massive success of Jumanji, Baywatch was a blip he has quickly moved on from.

• Mission Impossible 6 – 27^th July

The sixth part of the Mission: Impossible film series starring Tom Cruise, Rebecca Ferguson, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Michelle Monaghan, Alec Baldwin, Henry Cavill and Angela Bassett and directed by Christopher McQuarrie;

In August 2016 Paramount had stopped pre-production on the film after a dispute between the studio and Tom Cruise over salary wanting to be paid more than Universal was paying him for The Mummy.

Filming started in Paris in April 2017 filmed using IMAX 3D digital cameras in August Tom Cruise injured his leg while filming in London filming resumed in October; in 2015 production was reportedly shut down for a week during Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol to come up with a new ending Paramount did similar with World War Z.

Many expected the first teaser to be released in December with the Christmas films but the teaser trailer for Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation as released in March 2015 with the second released in June so could be released with Ready Player One and Deadpool 2.

All the Mission Impossible films (except for Ghost Protocol due to its release as had previews over the lucrative Christmas holidays opening with £8.18m) have had similar sized openings between £6.45 for the first film in 1996 to £5.33m for Rogue Nation in 2015 so similar sized opening would be expected if not for Hotel Transylvania 3, Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again, and André Rieu’s 2018 Maastricht Concert all opening against it but they all play for different demographics.

Depends on how Incredibles 2, Skyscraper and Alita: Battle Angel also hold while Mission Impossible 6 faces immediate competition in its second weekend with The Meg and The Predator.

Tom Cruise’s next film is Top Gun: Maverick opening July 2019 33 years after the first film.

• Bumblebee – 28^th December

Sci-Fi action spin-off and prequel to 2007’s Transformers franchise starring Hailee Steinfeld, John Cena, Jorge Lendeborg Jr., Rachel Crow, and Pamela Adlon and directed by Travis Knight. It is the first film in the franchise to not be directed by Michael Bay.

Despite dwindling returns from the Transformers franchise Paramount Pictures announced plans in 2015 to create an extended universe for the franchise with spinoffs and sequels. In 2016 announced release dates for Transformers 6 and 7 in June 2018 and 2019 Transformers 6 was later revealed as Bumblebee and its release date moved from June to December.

Many were surprised after the disappointing performance of Age of Extinction in 2014 in the US that Paramount were continuing with the franchise, but China came to the rescue of the franchise with the film taking over $320m. Was a similar case with The Last Knight last summer as it was the lowest grossing of the series in the US and internationally with China taking more than a third of its worldwide box office of $605m.

In the UK The Last Knight was surrounded by controversy during filming at Winston Churchill’s home which was turned into Hitler’s HQ and it became the lowest performing film of the series opener with £4.63m taking £9.52m opening with half Age of Extinction opened within 2014 £11.7m taking 319.07m; Dark of the Moon in 20121 opened with £10.72m taking £27.86m; Revenge of the Fallen in 2009 with £8.34m taking £26.53m and Transformers in 2007 opened with £8.71m taking £23.25m.

The positive for Bumblebee is it opening during the lucrative Christmas holidays and Aquaman box office chances are iffy after the poor performance of Justice League.

• Sherlock Gnomes – 11^th May

Animated fantasy romantic comedy mystery featuring the voices of James McAvoy, Emily Blunt and Johnny Depp and directed by John Stevenson; sequel to 2011’s Gnomeo & Juliet opened in February 2011 with £2,945,627 taking £15,326,020.

It will be the first film from Paramount Animation to be entirely animated previous two were a mix of animation and live action 2015’s The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water and 2016’s Monster Trucks. It is also first fully animated film from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer since 2008’s Igor.

Opening an animated film in the middle of May two weeks before holidays is unusual especially as its opening for Easter in the US.

Also releases Downsizing, A Quiet Place, Action Point and Overlord

Sony Pictures

After taking £130.28m (9.63%) from 19 films 2018

• Peter Rabbit – 16^th March

Live-action/CGI animated adventure comedy features voice roles played by James Corden, Daisy Ridley, Margot Robbie, Elizabeth Debicki, Sia, and Domhnall Gleeson, Rose Byrne and Sam Neill and directed by Will Gluck based on the stories created by Beatrix Potter.

It was first revealed in the Sony Hack in April 2015 with Sony making an official announcement in December. In August 2016 Will Gluck was announced to direct having previously directed the Annie remake and Friends with Benefits and Easy A seemed strange choice to direct Peter Rabbit.

The first trailer was released in November with negativity response from fans and critics Peter Rabbit is a beloved children’s classic, but the trailer looked as bad as Yogi Bear and shockingly voiced by James Corden. Always amazes me that Holywood keeps getting James Corden to do these kinds of roles as while his breakthrough role was the excellent film version of 2006’s The History Boys he is always signed up to these kinds of characters. He also voices characters in Smallfoot and Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2.

• Hotel Transylvania 3 – 27^th July

The third part of the Hotel Transylvania franchise featuring the voices of Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg, Selena Gomez, David Spade, Steve Buscemi, Molly Shannon, Keegan-Michael Key, Kevin James, and Mel Brooks and directed by Genndy Tartakovsky.

Hotel Transylvania two previous films have been very successful opening in October when it had very little competition but opening in July two weeks after The Incredibles 2 will see how well it plays against the big boys. This is especially so in the UK opening on the crazy July 27^th weekend against Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again, Mission Impossible 6 and André Rieu’s 2018 Maastricht Concert.

Was original set for October release but was switched with Goosebumps: Horror Land moving to October in February 2017.

Hotel Transylvania opened with £1.73m taking £8.1m

Hotel Transylvania 2 opened October 2015 with £6.31m including £3.21m from two weekends of previews taking £19.72m

• Slaughterhouse Rulez – 7^th September

Action horror comedy produced and starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost (produced by tier own production company Stolen Pictures) also starring Michael Sheen, Asa Butterfield, Finn Cole and Hermione Corfield written and directed by Crispian Mills. His previous film was poorly received critically and at the box office 2012’s A Fantastic Fear of Everything starring Simon Pegg so Slaughterhouse Rulez could go either way Cuban fury or Paul.

While Simon Pegg and Nick Frost have had much success starring together in Edgar Wright’s directed Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and The World’s End away from Edgar Wright been less successful apart from Paul opened February 2011 with £5,517,121 taking £13,778,386.

Most films performances are very predictable as the audience for them is very similar be it for a comic-book movie or tentpole sequel. But then occasionally there are the surprises the biggest last year being It but saying that after the trailer was viewed 197m times in the first 24 hours this should have given some idea how big it could be. Similarly, La La Land and Dunkirk were given the must-see label by the buzz and audience reaction to them similarly Get Out and Girls Trip had been a massive success in the US before opening in the UK.

Looking down the top 50 films of 2017 it is probably the film’s most would have predicted to be there but of course, some have performed far better than might have expected a few months before released. Similarly, the top 50 films for 2018 are also predictable while there will be surprised along the way as some will perform far stronger others far worst but it’s rare for a film to come out from nowhere.

• The Girl in The Spider’s Web – 26^th October

Sequel to 2011’s American remake of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo starring Claire Foy and Sverrir Gudnason and directed by Fede Alvarez.

After the success of the Swedish original films, Sony Pictures acquired remake rights and David Fincher was signed to direct The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo starring Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara. He wanted to film the sequels The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest back to back with the first film given a 2013 release date, but it was delayed due to script issues.

In November 2015 Sony Pictures announced plans to reboot the film series with the adaptation of The Girl in The Spider’s Web a 2015 novel by David Lagercrantz the fourth part of the Millennium trilogy by Stieg Larsson who died in 2004. (he has since written the fifth part The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye published in 2017) The reboot wouldn’t star either Daniel Craig or Rooney Mara.

Maybe after the trouble, they were having trying to adapt The Girl Who Played with Fire Sony thought it would be easier to start fresh with the new novels and if it was a success they can go backwards or forwards with the sequels. Paramount Pictures did similar with Lee Child’s Jack Reacher basing the film on his ninth book One Shot.

After The Snowman flopped last year opening with £1.3m taking £3.3m The Girl in The Spider’s Web is going to be a hard sell to audiences confused that it’s a sequel but not a sequel.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo opened December 2011 with £4.32m (included £2.75m previews) taking £11.8m.

• Holmes & Watson – 9^th November

Action-mystery comedy starring Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly, Lauren Lapkus, Rob Brydon, Kelly Macdonald, Rebecca Hall, Ralph Fiennes, and Hugh Laurie and directed by Etan Cohen.

Ten years ago, the film was originally announced with Sacha Baron Cohen starring opposite Will Ferrell instead have Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly starring together in the comedy ten years after Step Brothers

Step Brothers opened August 2008 with £1,681,492 taking £6,154,637 and became a big hit on home video.

Will Ferrell has had mixed success at the box office while Daddy’s Home and its sequel performed well previous films The House and Get Hard and sequels to his bigger hits Zoolander 2 and Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues disappointed.

Was originally set for August 4^th release but was pushed back to November after Barbie was delayed from June to August after it was delayed due to Anne Hathaway replacing Amy Schumer.

Opening between Marvel’s Dark Phoenix and Fantastic Beasts could be an alternative for many as British audiences love their Sherlock be it Benedict Cumberbatch or Robert Downey Jr.

Also releases All the Money in the World, Alpha, Barbie, Goosebumps 2, Insidious Chapter 4, Proud Mary, Slaughterhouse Rulez, Slenderman, Animated Spider-Man, The Equalizer 2, Venom and White Boy Rick.

STX International

After a disappointing first year for STX releasing three films taking only £3.93m (0.29%) 2018 will be another tough year as they try to find their legs in the tough UK distribution marketplace. But they will need a far strong slate of films to compete against the other major independents let alone but won’t do it with films like Den of Thieves and Gringo

• The Happytime Murders – 17^th August

Puppet comedy thriller starring Melissa McCarthy, Bill Barretta, Maya Rudolph, Joel McHale, and Elizabeth Banks and directed by Brian Henson his first films since directing The Muppet Christmas Carol and Muppets Treasure Island over 20 years ago.

Puppet films are better known for family films and TV shows like The Muppets or Fraggle Rock but there have been also Peter Jackson’s 1989 Meet the Feebles, Team America and of course Gremlins. The combination of muppets and humans worked very well in the Muppet films but as a thriller is an interesting idea which does remind me of the very bad 1992 film Cool World which was a live-action/animated crossover film as well as 2001’s Monkeybone both were shockingly bad films.

• I Feel Pretty – 6^th July

Comedy starring Amy Schumer, Michelle Williams and Emily Ratajkowski and directed and written by Abby Kohn and Marc Silverstein previously wrote scripts for Never Been Kissed, He’s Just Not That Into You, How to Be Single and The Vow.

Amy Schumer starred in last summer’s comedy Snatched with Goldie Hawn disappointed at the box office opening with £0.84m and taking £1.95m she was to star in the live-action Barbie movie dropping out because of “scheduling conflicts2 being replaced by Anne Hathaway.

Opening July 6^th STX will be hoping women bored of the World Cup will come out to see it as studios always run scared from opening films during the month of the competition with only Ocean’s 8 the only other major release opening during the month. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom opens June 8^th and then The Incredibles 2 and Skyscraper open July 13^th the weekend of the World Cup Final.

Also released Den of Thieves, Gringo, Adrift, Peppermint, Second Act and The Red Sea Diving Resort

Studiocanal UK

After taking £52.46m (3.88%) from 46 films with over 60% from Paddington 2; their whole 2018 slate is unlikely to take more than Paddington 2 with Early Man and The Commuter likely to be their two biggest films of the year which they release a week apart from each other.

Studiocanal is releasing two films Crowhurst and The Mercy both about amateur British sailor Donald Crowhurst; Studiocanal were making The Mercy buy acquired rights for Crowhurst so they could control its release but are planning to release both early this year.

It is common that studios make similar films Deep impact/Armageddon Dante’s Peak/Volcano Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves/ Robin Hood Tombstone/Wyatt Earp, 1492/Carry on Columbus, Mission to Mars/Red Planet, No Strings Attached/Friends with Benefits it must be the first time a distributor has brought the competition.

• Early Man – 26^th January

Stop-motion animated adventure comedy from Aardman Animations featuring the voices of Eddie Redmayne, Tom Hiddleston, Maisie Williams, and Timothy Spall and directed by Nick Park.

It’s Aardman Animations second film to be released by Studiocanal after previously releasing Shaun the Sheep Movie in 2015 and have the sequel dated for 2019. It is the seventh stop-motion animated film made by Aardman after Chicken Run, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Flushed Away, Arthur Christmas and The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!

Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit opened October 2005 with £9.34m taking £32m

The follow up 2006’s Flushed Away wasn’t so successful opened with £3,106,874 in December 2006 taking £11,095,363 which saw Aardman moved from Dreamworks Pictures to Sony Pictures Arthur Christmas opened November 2011 with £2,112,516 opening #2 taking a very impressive £20,838,301 being Christmas #1 in week 7.

The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists opened in March 2012 with £2,176,195 taking £16,007,789.

Shaun the Sheep Movie opened in February 2015 £2,095,061 taking £13,675,389 a similar box office is expected for Early Man as has competition for half-term holidays from Disney’s Coco opening the weekend before.

• The Commuter – 19^th January

Action film starring Liam Neeson, Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Jonathan Banks, Elizabeth McGovern, and Sam Neill and directed by Jaume Collet-Serra.

In the 90s after the success of Die Hard and Die Harder were many films that copied the plot from Die Hard on a Battleship aka Under Siege, Die Hard on a Plane aka Air Force One to Die Hard on a Train aka Under Siege 2.

Twenty years later after the success of Taken have seen Liam Neeson repeat his roles on an aeroplane Non-Stop and now on a train in The Commuter.

Non-Stop opened in February 2014 with £2,652,364 taking £9,365,368

Taken opened September 2008 with £1.16m taking £6.3m

Taken 2 opened October 2012 with £7.38m taking £23.4m

Taken 3 opened January 2015 with £6.7m taking £17.45m

As the first action film opening of 2018 surrounded by Oscar contenders The Commuter might be just what regular audiences want to do battle with the annual fare prices rises but what most commuters will be amazed to see is that he got a seat; has received positive reviews

Also released The Mercy, Crowhurst, Journeyman, Midnight Sun, Wonderstruck, How to Talk to Girls at Parties, How to Stop Time and I Remember You

Universal Pictures

• Fifty Shades Freed – 9^th February

The final film in the Fifty Shades trilogy the second to 2017’s Fifty Shades Darker starring Dakota Johnson, Jamie Dornan and Kim Basinger and directed by James Foley.

Teaser trailer released in September with a second trailer released in November; has been viewed over 33 million times on YouTube but Fifty Shades Darker trailer was seen 114 million times in September times in September 2016 while Fifty Shades of Grey was seen over 100 million rimes in August 2014 as seen in the Universal Pictures UK YouTube channel over 19.3 million times; all showing how front-loaded the film series was while was huge interest for the first film in 2015 it was very short-lived and the three films should have been released over three years. While fatigue is expected to the many who saw the first film but didn’t read the books over 100 million copies of the books were sold.

Was massive hype for Fifty Shades of Grey in the build-up to its release in February 2015 but this quickly disintegrated after audiences saw the first film. There was far less hype and interest for Fifty Shades Darker last year opening with £7.55m taking £23.07m after Fifty Shades of Grey opened with almost double with £13.27m two years earlier (taking £4.61m on its opening day) taking £35.01m.

Fifty Shades of Grey had a high-profile premiere at the Berlin Film Festival while Fifty Shades Darker premiere was on a much smaller scale the day before it opened.

Being the final part of the trilogy might spark up a little more interest than the Fifty Shades Darker? Fifty Shades Freed to open slightly bigger than Fifty Shades Darker but be more front-loaded taking £20m+.

Fifty Shades Freed was announced as the final part of the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy but that was before E. L James wrote the fourth part Darker which was published last year as trilogies are so old nowadays could there be another still to come?

• Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom – 8^th June

Sequel to Jurassic World and the fifth instalment of the Jurassic Park film series starring Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, B. D. Wong, James Cromwell, Geraldine Chaplin, Toby Jones, Rafe Spall, Jeff Goldblum and directed by J. A. Bayona.

Trailer released in December was viewed 60.5 million timed in its first 24 hours

Nostalgia for Jurassic Park with Jurassic World opening 22 years to the day of the original opened in 1993 to open with a massive £19.35m including previews of £2.51m going on to take £63.67m while also repeating what made The Force Awakens so successful by remaking Jurassic Park. While director J. A. Bayona has said the trailer, the footage comes from the first hour of the film many are worried it reveals too much as the trailer for Jurassic World spoilt the ending of the film.

Universal Pictures are releasing the film two weeks earlier in the UK to open ahead of the World Cup as distributors always run scared of the tournament choosing to either open films earlier (Edge of Tomorrow in 2014 disappointed opening same weekend as Maleficent and soon after X-Men: Days of Future Past) or delay their release until afterwards.

Opening two weeks earlier has the issue of opening far closer to Deadpool 2 and Solo: A Star Wars Story as well as the issue if the sequel is not as good as fans are expecting it could affect its US box office. Jurassic World wasn’t a great film but was helped by having huge hype being a Jurassic Park reboot and having little competition either side of it.

On paper Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom 6 months ahead of release looks like it will be the biggest film of the year taking £60m+ but the big question is how will Solo and Deadpool 2 opening over the two weeks before it affects its box office. As in 2015 faced far less competition the second weekend of Spy and the third weekend of San Andreas and didn’t face any competition until two weeks after opening when Minions opened with £11.55m by which time it had taken £48.9m 77% of its final box office. Are of course big questions over Solo and can the magic work twice with Deadpool as the first time it was something fresh and new to comic-book movies so will need to do similar in the sequel.

2018 is the 25^th anniversary of Jurassic Park it took £46.71m in 1993 helped admissions have a huge increase for the year (average ticket price was £3.21 in 1993 compared to £7.21 in 2015 while average ticket price for Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom in 2018 will be £7.87) Jurassic World its inflation inflated box office would have been £104.91m for Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom to math Jurassic Park BO needs to take £113.2m. (doesn’t include 3D and large format surcharges). Jurassic World took £64.5m 38% more than Jurassic Park but was really 62.5% less than its box office; admissions Jurassic Park 14.55m Vs Jurassic World 8.95m 38% highlight how ticket inflation has increased their box office but with almost 40% fewer cinemagoers.

25 years ago, Jurassic Park is still seen as a classic film but as with Star Wars: The Force Awakens Jurassic World is seen now much more of a remake of the original film. As it was playing to a new generation audience were more accepting of Jurassic World as The Force Awakens but the sequel will need to be much more and different or it will see decline close to The Last Jedi.

• Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again – 27^th July

Romantic musical comedy sequel to the 2008 film Mamma Mia! starring Amanda Seyfried, Lily James, Christine Baranski, Julie Walters, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgård, Dominic Cooper, Andy Garcia, Cher and Meryl Streep and directed by Ol Parker.

The original films shockingly poor acting and terrible singing alienated Odeon bookers but cinema audiences loved it and played strongly in cinemas for months; opened July 10^th with £6.59m dropping 30% in its second and third weekends but then increased in its fourth and then small drops for its fifth to ninth weekend by which time took £57.68m of its final box office of £69.13m.

Ten years later will audiences feel similarly about the sequel If it’s as fun silly and feel good as the original then it could be as the theatre show is still running in London and whenever the film is shown on TV gets good ratings.

The first trailer was released in December attached to Pitch Perfect 3; the absence of Meryl Streep’s character Donna in the trailer made many worried that she might be dead especially Julie Walters tells Amanda Seyfried: “Your mother was the bravest person we ever met.” Meryl Streep does appear in the cast list so surely Mamma Mia! fans have little to worry about.

Opening surprisingly a week after the US the Mamma Mia sequel opens against Hotel Transylvania 3, Mission Impossible 6 and Andre Rieu’s 2018 Maastricht Concert at the start of the summer holidays with all four films targeting different audiences.

• Pacific Rim: Uprising – 23^rd March

Sci-Fi monster film starring John Boyega, Scott Eastwood, Cailee Spaeny, Jing Tian, and Adria Arjona, with Charlie Day, Burn Gorman, and Rinko Kikuchi and directed by Steven S. DeKnight.

Sequel to the 2013 film Pacific Rim released by Warner Bros Universal Pictures acquired it after they signed up to a five-year deal with Legendary Pictures in 2014 which ends next year.

Pacific Rim: Uprising is John Boyega’s first major film since starring in The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi having previously starred in The Circle and Detroit which both flopped while Daisy Ridley has already had success in the ensemble Murder on the Orient Express.

Pacific Rim opened in July 2013 with £2.19m opening third behind Monsters University and Despicable Me 2 taking only £8.5m; it took only $100m in the US and $411m worldwide including over $100m from China but with a budget of $190m was surprising a sequel was made; opens in the middle of both Tomb Raider and Read Player One.

The only possible reason why Legendary Pictures were so eager to make a sequel to Pacific Rim as they are owned by Wanda Group and as original was a success the sequel will be too. But in the UK and US likely to do close to the original film opening with about £2m taking £7m+.

• Mary Queen of Scots – 14^th September

Drama starring Saoirse Ronan, Margot Robbie, David Tennant, Jack Lowden, Martin Compston, Joe Alwyn, Brendan Coyle and Guy Pearce and directed by Josie Rourke and based on John Guy’s biography My Heart Is My Own: The Life of Mary Queen of Scots.

It could be the third part of the Elizabeth Extended Universe from and prequel to 1998’sElizabeth and 2007’s Elizabeth: The Golden Age opened November 2007 with £1,348,440 taking £4,985,423

Opening the second weekend in September is popular date for to launch British dramas that will likely premiere the week before at either Venice or Toronto Film Festivals like Victoria & Abdul last year opened with £1.84m taking £9.94m

Other British historical films include 2009’s The Young Victoria opened with £847,740 taking £4,694,925; The Duchess in 2008 opened with £1,402,200 taking £6,913,447;

Saoirse Ronan starred in the critically acclaimed Lady Bird (winning Best Actress Comedy Golden Globe) and On Chesil Beach, this year and Margot Robbie stared in last year’s Goodbye Christopher Robin and this year I, Tonya and voiced Flopsy in Peter Rabbit.

Also released Darkest Hour, Phantom Thread, Lady Bird, Tully, Truth or Dare, Skyscraper, Night School, Johnny English 3, Halloween, First Man, The Grinch and Mortal Engines

Warner Bros

• Ready Player One – 30^th March

Science Fiction starring Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn, T. J. Miller, Simon Pegg, and Mark Rylance and directed by Steven Spielberg based on Ernest Cline’s 2011 novel.

The film has many homages to popular culture including The Iron Giant, the DeLorean time machine from Back to the Future, KITT from Knight Rider, the DC Comics universe, Freddy Krueger, the van from The A-Team, Lara Croft from Tomb Raider and King Kong.

The first trailer was released in July and has been viewed over 21.7 million times on YouTube the second trailer was released in December.

• Ocean’s 8 – 22nd June

Sequel and spinoff to the Ocean’s 11 films starring Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway Mindy Kaling, Sarah Paulson, Awkwafina, Rihanna, Helena Bonham Carter and directed by Gary Ross.

In 2006 Steven Soderbergh said would be an Ocean’s Fourteen as George Clooney wanted to end with Ocean’s Thirteen, but a female spinoff had been rumoured for many years started development in 2015 and started shooting a year later with the ensemble cast and many cameos.

Despite the poor box office of Ghostbusters Hollywood have several gender flipping remakes set for release in the coming year with Overboard opening in March and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels remake starring Rebel Wilson opening in August as well Splash starring merman Channing Tatum and the remake of the underrated 1991 comic-book action film The Rocketeer.

Was also plans to remake William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, the problem with most of these remakes apart from the predictable misogynistic comments from men is most of these reboots are still written and directed by men.

As seen with the three biggest films in the US in 2017 that have leading women Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Beauty and the Beast and Wonder Woman audience like female lead films (sometimes) as more women than men go to the cinema. (52% to 48% men) but still, most of the films released today have male leads with token girlfriend parts for the women which made Wonder Woman so special as Chris Pine had the girlfriend role.

While Ghostbusters remake was overshadowed by the misogynistic comments the film had major issues before it became a female cast, so it as used as an excuse. While there have been some misogynistic murmurings for Ocean’s 8 the reaction has been positive the loudest noises have come more from removing Matt Damon from the film after his recent comments after the Harvey Weinstein sexual allegations which overshadowed his last two films Suburbicon and Downsizing flopping at the box office.

It is 16 years since Ocean’s 11 opened in February 2002 opened with £5,095,062 taking £24,877,642; Ocean’s 12 opened February 2005 with £3,394,100 taking £12,030,148 and Ocean’s 13 opened June 2007 with £3,021,302 taking £13,080,644.

Being 11 years after the last film and also being an all-female cast its impossible to compare the films but opening June 22^nd Warner Bros will be hoping as the only major release opening during the World Cup it will get audience interested as the cast is strong leading he cast Sandra Bullock most recent action comedy The Heat opened July 2013 with £2,500,522 taking £6,825,860 ana Anne Hathaway’s The intern also was steady earner at the box office.

While director Gary Ross as directed several excellent films from 1998’s Pleasantville, 2003’s Seabiscuit and 2012’s The Hunger Games also wrote screenplays for those as well as 1993’s Dave and 1988’s Big (celebrating its 30^th anniversary this year).

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• Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald – 16^th November

Sequel to 2016’s Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and the tenth in J. K. Rowling’s Wizarding World starring Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Dan Fogler, Alison Sudol, Ezra Miller, Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Zoë Kravitz and directed by David Yates.

This is the second part of five Fantastic Beasts films expected to be released over alternative years until 2024.

Johnny Depp joined the cast in November 2016 as Gellert Grindelwald his casting was heavily criticised by fans after previous domestic violence allegations. J. K. Rowling resisted recasting because Johnny Depp and Amber Heard that they both could move on from the controversy. But the question is will audiences as having seen the failure of both Suburbicon and Downsizing after Matt Damon’s comments over the Harvey Weinstein sexual allegation, Matt Damon has gone from box office hit with The Martian and Jason Bourne to having three glops in a row. Johnny Depp had a small role in ensemble Murder on the Orient Express but hasn’t had a solo hit away from Pirates of the Caribbean franchise since Alice in Wonderland in 2010.

Were huge expectations for the first Fantastic Beast film in November 2016 while being part of the Harry Potter world I couldn’t be compared with the previous films having the lowest opening of the franchise with £15.33m taking £54m. two years of from the first film the sequel should open bigger. Illumination Animation’s The Grinch opening the weekend before and Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2 opening two weeks after but both will be playing to a younger audience.

Fantastic Beasts was the second biggest film in 2016 and the sequel will likely be as successful with Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again the only films likely to be bigger.

• Aquaman – 21^st December

The sixth film in the DC Extended Universe starring Jason Momoa, Amber Heard, Patrick Wilson, Willem Dafoe, Dolph Lundgren, and Nicole Kidman and directed by James Wan; It’s the third film featuring Aquaman following Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League.

After the disappointing reception, both critically and at the box office for Justice League Aquaman is the first DC film to open 13 months afterwards Warner Bros have big plans for the DC Extended Universe so will be interesting to see how Aquaman is received if it is a step forward as Wonder Woman was.

As Aquaman isn’t one of the most well know DC superheroes even after Justice League it’s not likely to open like Man of Steel, Batman Vs Superman or Suicide Squad. The opening between Peter Jackson’s Mortal Engines and Bumblebee all three films are very much unknowns this far out and then add Mary Poppins Returns and Bohemian Rhapsody it’s a very different Christmas to the previous three years.

Also released The 15:17 Train to Paris, Father Figures, Wonder Wheel, Tomb Raider, Rampage, Game Night, Life of the Party, A Star is Born, The Meg, Crazy Rich Asians, Smallfoot, Mowgli,