First 6 months of 2018 £670.33m (estimate) up 15% from £580.69 last year; top 10 films Avengers Infinity Wars, Black Panther, Peter Rabbit, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, The Greatest Showman, Deadpool 2, Darkest Hour, Star Wars Solo, Coco and Fifty Shades Freed took £341.64m 50.96% of 2018 BO; top 20 took £462.37m 68.97%.
Disney took 46.35% of the top 10 to add 20th Century Fox box office Disney would have taken 65.57% and 53.9% of the top 30 box office.
June admissions have yet to be announced but admissions were up 21% in May with the year tracking at the highest level since 2002; Avengers: Infinity War and Deadpool 2 were the two films that helped May admissions increase to 13.72m up from 11.34m in May 2017 and the best May result since 2013 15.61m when Star Trek into Darkness and Fast & Furious 6 opened.
Avengers: Infinity War took £35.3 million of its total box office in May £10m more than Guardians of The Galaxy, Vol. 2 in 2017. Deadpool 2 took £24.2 million third was Solo: A Star Wars Story with £10.8 million
The first five months of 2018 admissions were 75.06m the highest for the January-May period in the UK since 2002 75.50m and 0.6% ahead of 2017 74.61m.
Since 2015 June admissions have dropped off from the months before so it’s not just because of the World Cup or hot weather that admissions will have dropped this year; Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom took £34.49m and Ocean’s Eight second with £6.86m in comparison Jurassic World took £51.15m and Minions second with £14.73m
Last year UK Cinema Association made similar announcement in August when UK cinema admissions were 102m by the end of July up 6.6% from the same period in 2016 and the best since 2009 when 103.5m tickets were sold. But then box office dropped off later in the year as June 2018 is unlikely to get anywhere near 2002’s 12,211,024 while Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom has performed well the rest of June releases have been poor.
From July-December 2017 there were 11 films that took over £20m; Star Wars: The Last Jedi £82.65m; Dunkirk £56.75m; Despicable Me 3 £47.70m; Paddington 2 £42.64m; It £32.34m; Thor: Ragnarok £30.93m; Spider-Man Homecoming £30.48m; Kingsman: The Golden Circle £24.88m; Murder on the Orient Express £24.18m; Wonder Woman £22.18m; War for the Planet of the Apes £20.76m taking over £400m combined.
While this year from July-December Incredibles 2, Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again, Mission: Impossible Fallout, Hotel Transylvania 3, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Johnny English 3, The Grinch, Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them 2, Wreck-It-Ralph 2 and Mary Poppins Returns likely to take £20m+ each and £340m+ combined. A Star Is Born, Bohemian Rhapsody, First Man and Holmes and Watson are the films that could surprise.
Estimate 2018 box office would be roughly £1.2bn close to 2017 total of £1.277bn
Disney
£169.94m (26.84%)
Up 28.28% from 2017 (£132.48m)
Top 3: Avengers: Infinity War, Black Panther and Solo: A Star Wars Story
Avengers: Infinity War was their biggest film taking £70.66m (10th biggest film ever in the UK) but after opening with £29.37m (third biggest ever opening after Spectre and Star Wars: The Force Awakens) didn’t have the legs of either Avengers Assemble 3.29x opening or Avengers: Age of Ultron 2.68x.
Black Panther took £50.37m after opening with £17.7m over its extending weekend holding stronger than Avengers: Infinity War taking 2.85x opening as the film attracted a much wider non-comic-book audience. The downside was it helped cannibalize the marketplace with the films that opened over the following weekends underwhelming at the box office. This often happens when a film surprises but being the 18th MCU over 10 years it shouldn’t have been such a surprise there would be a huge demand for a non-white comic-book film.
When Marvel Studios first announced the 10 films they were going to make in 2005 they were to be Captain America, The Avengers, Nick Fury, Black Panther, Ant-Man, Cloak & Dagger, Doctor Strange, Hawkeye, Power Pack, and Shang-Chi. So why did it take so long for Marvel to make Black Panther for all the criticism DC have deservingly received Wonder Woman was one of their first films to be made for their Extended Universe and being different from the rich arrogant men in spandex it was a huge success both critically and at the box office.
Disney held back Pixar’s Coco to avoid opening against Paddington 2 last year opened in January with £5.2m taking £18.30m; as Coco took over $200m in the US and performed strongly internationally taking under £20m must have been slightly disappointing, that was nothing compared to the disappointing performance of Solo: A Star Wars Story opening with £6,061,231 (179th biggest opening in the UK) taking £19.1m.
Much has been written about its poor performance I have much criticism abut Disney’s Star Wars saga films but their anthology films Rogue One and Solo have been far better films if completely unnecessary. While Solo isn’t a great film it didn’t deserve the negativity surrounding it as this was caused by the polarized reaction to Star Wars: The Last Jedi which only added £9.49m of its £82.67m in 2018 taking 88.5% in its first three weeks showing how front-loaded it was (opening with £28.01m).
A Wrinkle in Time also disappointed taking only £2.36m; Disney strangely opened the film two weeks after the US, the film was always going to e a hard sell in the UK but didn’t help opening two weeks after giving time for the negative buzz to spread which saw it open with only £0.65m. Most recently Disney released British comedy Patrick a film they picked up UK rights for despite recent doggy successes despite poor reviews of A Dog’s Purpose and Show Dogs only managed to open with £299k showing again that while Disney is great at properties they can’t market films anymore. 2012’s War Horse is Disney’s last non-property success but that was directed by Steve Spielberg and based on a hugely popular stage show.
Disney has 6 films remaining for the year Incredibles 2 opens next weekend expected to take £45m+ (Incredibles opened in November 2004 with £9,753,035 taking £32,039,321); Ant-Man and the Wasp (20th MCU) opening a month after US is the sequel to one of the lowest grossing MCU films but also the most enjoyable but opening a week after Mission Impossible: Fallout might hurt it. Disney’s next reimagination Christopher Robin trailers feel like a children’s version of Ted Winnie the Pooh as Paddington and Peter Rabbit are beloved children’s and books and Christopher Robin will surely have a sprinkling of pixy dust to delight children of all ages which are similarly the case for Mary Poppins Returns. Opening 54 years after the original film how will the sequel stand up. Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2 sees Disney bring all of its properties into one film the first film opened in 2013 with £4.52m taking £23.6m.
20th Century Fox
£134.98m (21.32%)
Up 42.28% from 2017 (£94.86m)
Top 3: The Greatest Showman, Deadpool 2 and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
2018 started strongly with the incredible performance of The Greatest Showman taking £33.6m of its £46.71m total.
The film took on a life of itself as it stayed in the top 10 for 18 weeks only Mamma Mia! in recent years has stayed in cinemas for longer. It became this generation Titanic as fans came back to see it again and again while the soundtrack was #1 for 21 non-consecutive weeks in the UK. Critics were quite snotty about the film but as Barnum is asked in the film “does it bother you that everything your selling is fake” his reply “do the smiles seem fake” The Greatest Showman does to quote the famous Ronseal advert What it says on the tin.
Over its release wrote much about it first comparing it to Moulin Rouge and then in February to Titanic as it was holding as strong as that did 20 years ago. Audiences responded to it as they did Titanic by seeing it countless times and recording their versions of the songs on social media.
In its 18th weekend took £300,947 and £45,974,245 which was comparable with Titanic released 20 years earlier took £199,618 in its 18th weekend its inflation inflated box office would be a similar £374,000.
Often think what films released today will we be looking back fondly to as we do with many 80s and 90s films The Greatest Showman will surely be one of them while its far from a great film it’s a great popcorn film and that’s what audiences want when they go to the cinema.
Oscar winners Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and The Shape of Water took £15.17m and £7.5m; Red Sparrow and Isle of Dogs did steady business these mid-range adult target films did suffer in a crowded marketplace.
When 20th Century Fox announced in January they were bringing forward the release of Deadpool 2 by two weeks to open May 18th only a few weeks after Disney announced they were buying the studio everyone surely thought they were crazy opening the week before Solo. But with a very strong fun and original marketing campaign, Deadpool 2opened with £12.97m (slightly less than Deadpool £13.2m) and has taken £32.1m about 10% less than the first film. By bringing forward its release it opened only three weeks after Avengers: Infinity War facing much tougher competition than the first film.
20th Century Fox has 8 films remaining for 2018 six are original films (The Predator reboot and Widows remake of UK TV series). YA adaptations of The Darkest Minds and The Hate You Give. Bad Times At the El Royale (from the director of the upcoming X-Force film) Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody and the James Cameron produced Alita: Battle Angel (both films have been in development for many years). Are rumours that Fox will delay their Dark Phoenix X-Men film which would see Alita: Battle Angel move to February 2019.
The Old Man and The Gun sees the return of Robert Redford and is one of several award contenders Fox Searchlight have others will be released early next year.
Universal Pictures
£112.72m (17.8%)
Down 10.96% from 2017 (£126.6m)
Top 3: Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Darkest Hour and Fifty Shades Freed
The year started strongly with Oscar winner Darkest Hour being the must seen award nominee taking £24.09m. Other Oscar nominees Lady Bird (received critical acclaim from critics but far more polarized reaction from audiences) and Phantom Thread took £5.23m and £2.68m.
The third and final part of the 50 Shades of Grey trilogy Fifty Shades Freed took £18.13m after opening with £6.13m) taking 20% less than Fifty Shades Darker last year. While Pacific Rim: Uprising underwhelmed taking £4.41m and Truth or Dare was another Blumhouse horror that again suffered from the PG-13 as with Happy Death Day it’s a teen horror but gets a 15 which means its target audience can’t see it. This was similarly the case with A Quiet Place why it did far better in the US than the UK. The problem with 12 certificates is they benefit the tentpoles that will often be borderline as Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom must have been.
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom opened with £14,334,894 in June (32nd biggest opening in the UK) Jurassic World opened in 2015 with £19,350,727 (11th biggest opening) and with one less day. At the time of release in 2015 Jurassic World was the biggest film of the year as The Lost World: Jurassic Park and Jurassic Park were in 1997 and 1993 but Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom will unlikely match the total of Jurassic Park released 25 years ago.
After Jurassic World took £64.6m in 2015 expected the sequel to take £60m+ but has dropped much faster than Jurassic World receiving poorer reviews as it is basically a remake of Rampage and again trailers as with Jurassic World feature scenes from the final scenes of the film.
Universal Pictures has 15 films remaining for the rest of the year Skyscraper which looks like Die Hard remake with Dwayne Johnson after his recent success with Jumanji and Rampage Skyscraper looks like it could be the dumb action film of the summer.
10 years after the huge success of Mamma Mia! it’s no surprise Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again; Mamma Mia is the 11th biggest film in the UK opened with £6,594,058 taking 10.49x opening taking £69,166,087 and staying in the top 10 for over 20 weeks in 2008. Dropped 30% in its second and third weekends but then increased in its fourth and then small drops for its fifth to the ninth weekend by which time took £57.68m of its final box office of £69.13m.
After the massive success of The Greatest Showman and the continued love of ABBA (will this still be the case after Saturday’s World Cup match against Sweden).
Universal Pictures recently acquired international rights to Bond 25 but before that Johnny English Strikes Back in the third film of the series which was based on the 90s spoof James Bond Barclaycard character. The first two films took £20m in 2003 and 2011 and the trailers for the third film promise more of the same. Damien Chazelle’s First Man is his first film since winning Best Director for La La Land stars Ryan Gosling as Neil Armstrong feels like a sequel to Hidden Figures (Select scenes were filmed using IMAX 70mm cameras). Illumination Entertainment’s The Grinch opens for Christmas. Peter Jackson directs Mortal Engines his first film since The Hobbit trilogy trailers and also have Halloween reboot.
Sony Pictures
£64.09m (10.12%)
Up 107.21% from 2017 (£30.93m)
Top 3: Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, Peter Rabbit and Insidious Chapter 4
While The Last Jedi and Pitch Perfect 3 underwhelmed Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle as The Greatest Showman were both were the popcorn films audiences wanted to see with it taking £22.4m (39.4% ) of its £36.96m box office in 2018. Sony Pictures have already dated Jumanji 2 to open the week before Star Wars IX.
In March Peter Rabbit surprised opening with £8.1m and taking 340.91m despite poor reviews; based on the beloved children’s books written by Beatrix Potter it was a similarly sized success as Paddington 2 which still got 100% Rotten Tomatoes score while Peter Rabbit is 62%. Being the only major children’s film released over Easter and with cold wet weather helped it be the massive success it was. Sony Pictures have also dated Peter Rabbit 2 for March 2020.
Apart from those two films Insidious Chapter 4 and All the Money in the World took £5.21m and £3.24m while others expectedly underwhelmed Proud Mary and Roman Israel Esq.
Sony Pictures have 11 films remaining this year 8 of which are either remakes, reboots or sequels; Hotel Transylvania 3 opens at the start of the summer holidays the first two films performed strongly opening in October with less competition, Hotel Transylvania 3 opens two weeks after Incredibles 2.
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
The Equalizer 2 is Denzel Washington’s first ever sequel and the first film wasn’t a big success in the UK. Goosebumps 2 opens for half-term holidays.
Other releases include The Girl in The Spider’s Web (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo opened December 2011 with £4.32m (included £2.75m previews) taking £11.8m) Holmes & Watson (Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly star together again ten years after Step Brothers opened August 2008 with £1,681,492 taking £6,154,637) and two Spider-Man films Venom and Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse
Warner Bros
£48.1m (7.6%)
Down 39.52% from 2017 ( £79.53m)
Top 3: Ready Player One, Rampage and Tomb Raider
Had a disappointing start to 2018 Tomb Raider reboot took £7.73m (one of the many films that suffered from the strong holdover of Black Panther while Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One took £16.11m. Dwayne Johnson’s dumb but fun Rampage took £8.79m (Jurassic WorldL Fallen Kingdom feels like a remake) and Game Night took £4.63m which is probably one of the most enjoyable films of this year (again suffered in the shadows of Black Panther).
Ocean’s Eight has taken £6.86m after two weeks doing steady business but probably suffered from Love Island being the counter-programming for the World Cup which had targeted the same 16-34 female audience getting up to 4m viewers daily on ITV2.
Warner Bros have 12 films remaining for 2018 including The Meg (Jason Statham Vs prehistoric shark), The Nun the latest Conjuring spinoff and A Star Is Born remake starring Lady Gaga and directed by Bradley Cooper. Two years after Disney released their Jungle Book reimagination Mowgli opens. The sixth film in the DC Extended Universe Aquaman opens at Christmas.
But of course, their key film is Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald the first sequel to Fantastic Beasts and 10th film of the Harry Potter Extended Universe opened with £15,333,146 two years ago taking £54,703,625. The sequel is expected to open bigger, but it did face some backlash when it was revealed Johnny Depp was cast in the sequel.
Paramount Pictures
£26.92m (4.25%)
Down 7.81% from 2017 (£29.2m)
Top 3: A Quiet Place, Sherlock Gnomes and Book Club
After another disappointing start of the year with Downsizing and Tad Jones and The Secret Of King Midas, A Quiet Place after receiving strong buzz from the premiere at SXSW opened strongly in April with £2.69m becoming this year Get Out taking £11.8m 6.3% of its US total. Sherlock Gnomes followed and despite poor reviews opened with £2.52m and took £8.26m and Book Club opened with £0.72m taking £3.66m.
Paramount Pictures has five films remaining for 2018 including Mission Impossible: Fallout which is the key release of the year the sixth film of the franchise. Mission Impossible film over the last 22 years have been steady performers; Mission: Impossible £18.36m; Mission Impossible 2 £17.29m; Mission Impossible 3 £15.34m; Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol £17.53m and Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation £21.07m; Mission Impossible: Fallout is expected to take £20m+ it is the first film of the series to be released in 3D if this will have any impact especially as 3D box office in recent years has dropped off.
Other films include Transformers spinoff and first film not directed by Michael Bay Bumblebee but their others Action Point, Overlord and Nobody’s Fool aren’t likely to do much. 2018 has been a holding year for the studio with their 2019 slate the strongest since 2011 their 100th anniversary.
eOne
£27.99m (4.42%)
Up 77.38% from 2017 (£15.78m)
Top 3: The Post, Finding Your Feet and Molly’s Game
Steven Spielberg’s Oscar nominated The Post was their biggest film opening with £2.15m taking £9.1m. When it was announced in May 2017 was expected to be the big awards contender, but it got overshadowed with films like Three Billboards, The Shape of Water and Darkest Hour.
Finding Your Feet took £5.77m in a crowded market while their other Oscar contenders I, Tonya and Molly’s Game took £3.89m and £3.56m decent performances during crowded marketplace for award contenders as they were the smaller films unlikely to win major awards so not likely to get the media coverage.
Despite poor reviews Show Dogs managed to open with £0.54m almost double Disney’s dog film Patrick taking £2.94m.
eOne has seven films remaining to be released this year including Mike Leigh’s Peterloo (likely to receive its UK premiere at the London Film Festival, the fourth Nativity film titled This Ain’t No Silent Night. Also releasing The Secret of Marrowbone, City of Lies, If Beale Street Could Talk and The House with a Clock in Its Walls.
STX International
£8.95m from 4 films
Top 3: I Feel Pretty, Den of Thieves and Adrift
I Feel Pretty was their biggest film so far and their biggest this year opening with £1.37m taking £5.38m and Den of Thieves took £2.79m but Adrift and Gringo underperformed.
STX have five remaining films of the year The Happytime Murders is their most their most high-profile release after the adult puppet film generated strong media coverage in May after they released the first trailer with the tagline “No sesame all street” saw the creators of Sesame Street sue STX.
Adult puppet films as adult animated films have had mixed success at the box office over the years while its 30 years ago since the classic live-action/aminated Who Framed Roger Rabbit was released there have also been the terrible Cool World and Monkeybone. They also release Mile 22, American Animals, Peppermint and Second Act.
Studiocanal UK
£23.12m (3.34%)
Up 122.32% from 2017 (£9.5m)
Top 3: Early Man, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and The Commuter
Early Man was their biggest film of the year taking £11.15m but opening the week Disney’s Coco probably cannibalized both films. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society took a decent £5.81m after opening with £0.82m in April which has been a good time in recent years for films targetting older audiences as schools have gone back and there is a small window before the next tentpole release. But distributors keep opening these films far too wide which gives them no chance to build which means they play out much too quickly than they used to.
The Commuter took an ok £3.95m but their other films underwhelmed was surprising You Were Never Really Here premiered at the London Film Festival but as so many other films opened 5 months later despite positive reviews.
Studiocanal has one key film set for release King of Thieves opening September 14th which they also released Legend in 2015 and Working Title has had several other successes over the years. As it gives the distributor the chance to premiere the film at Venice and then have a London premiere. But do audiences want to see a film about Hatton Garden jewellery heist only three years after it happened?
Lionsgate UK
£4.53m (0.72%)
Down 90.71% from 2017 (£48.75m)
Top 3: Ghost Stories, On Chesil Beach and Sicario 2: Soldado
What a difference a year makes as last year they released Oscar winner La La Land taking £30+ but this year none of them have yet found a wide audience On Chesil Beach, Sicario 2: Soldado, McQueen, Winchester, The Happy Prince and Journey’s End
Will hope for better things with The Spy Who Dumped Me (received strong buzz release date was moved due to positive test screenings) A Simple Favour, Robin Hood and Hunter Killer.
Disney 4 films £72.02
Entertainment 3 films £2.31
eOne 4 films £21.87
Fox – 9 films £81.33m
Lionsgate 2 film £0.84m
Paramount 2 films £3.2m
Sony – 6 films £44.74m
Studiocanal 6 films £16.64
STX – 2 films £3.17m
Universal – 8 films £70.43m
Warner – 6 films £17.04m
13,701,447
54,564,850
65,925,386
18,889,995
4,591,666
cigarette burns and missed changeovers 