The winner: football
Another weekend of hot temperatures plus an England World Cup quarter final on a Saturday – typically cinema’s busiest day – combined to lay waste to the UK box office. Not counting those who watched in pubs and on outdoor screens, 19.64 million people at peak saw England beat Sweden on Saturday afternoon. There was plenty of time to watch a film at the cinema after the game, but jubilant football fans were hardly going to choose to do so.
Overall, the market recorded its lowest box office of the year so far. Saturday was notably weak: the day’s takings were 18% behind Sunday box office. For comparison, the previous weekend, Saturday was 31% ahead of Sunday.
Although cinemas cannot charge audiences to watch World Cup football due to licensing agreements, at least one chain opted to offer audiences the match for free. The 24-venue Picturehouse presented the England v Sweden game on the big screen, presumably calculating that it is better to have customers using the bars and restaurants than having no customers at all. Picturehouse will also show Wednesday’s semi-final between England and Croatia.
The challenger: The First Purge
When Universal decided to release The First Purge in the UK on 4 July, it might have been hoping England would be knocked out of the World Cup by then. In any case, this was also the North American date, and Hollywood studios tend to prefer globally aligned release dates for franchise titles due to fears about online piracy.
The First Purge saw Saturday takings below the Friday and Sunday numbers in the UK, but managed an opening weekend in seven figures: £1.16m. Add in Wednesday and Thursday and that number rises to £1.78m.
For comparison, 2016’s The Purge: Election Year began with £808,000 in the UK; 2014’s The Purge: Anarchy with £1.17m (almost identical to The First Purge) and 2013’s The Purge with £1.02m. The highest final total for the franchise so far is The Purge: Anarchy, with £4.58m.
The disappointment: Whitney
Released into an ambitious 231 cinemas, Kevin Macdonald’s Whitney has opened with a poor £116,000, or £143,000 including previews. Not counting previews, site average for the Whitney Houston film was a weak £501.
Distributor Altitude had enjoyed stellar success with Asif Kapadia’s Amy, and was presumably hoping that audiences would similarly embrace this documentary about a deceased female singer. Kapadia’s film debuted in July 2015 with £397,000 from 133 sites, and £523,000 including previews. Final tally was £3.76m.
With Whitney, Altitude faced the challenge that Whitney: Can I Be Me, co-directed by Nick Broomfield, opened just over a year ago. It began with £39,000 from 60 sites, and £94,000 including previews.
The event: Yellow Submarine
A boon to independent cinemas in particular was the Beatles’ Yellow Submarine, a 50th-anniversary rerelease of the animated classic. Picturehouse screened it at 72 venues on Sunday only, in an event-style release. Box office was a robust £163,000, yielding a site average of £2,266. This was the second strongest average of any film on release, behind only The Purge – and achieved from just two showings in each venue, as opposed to a weekend of play for other titles. The Beatles film now enjoys a regular release from this Friday at around 50 venues, with a sing-along version following from 3 August.
The market
Overall box office declined by a reasonably slim 10% from the previous session. However, takings were down a much more alarming 65% on the equivalent weekend from 2017, when Spider-Man: Homecoming arrived at the top spot.
Data gatherer comScore has released figures for the month of June, and for the first six months of the year. June began strongly this year relative to 2017, but went into dramatic decline with the arrival of very hot weather and the World Cup. Overall box office for the first six months is running 2% behind 2017 levels, despite ticket price inflation.
Even if England wins its semi-final against Croatia on Wednesday, ensuring maximum domestic interest in Sunday’s final, salvation for cinemas must surely come, based on two significant new releases. Thursday sees the arrival of Dwayne Johnson in action movie Skyscraper. And then the next day comes Pixar’s Incredibles 2, which has already grossed $504m in the US and $772m worldwide.
Top 10 films, 6-8 July
1. The First Purge, £1,778,157 from 481 sites (new)
2. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, £1,318,104 from 612 sites. Total: £36,810,689 (five weeks)
3. Ocean’s 8, £837,427 from 490 sites. Total: £8,529,286 (three weeks)
4. Sicario 2: Soldado, £321,750 from 559 sites. Total: £1,462,458 (two weeks)
5. Tag, £250,517 from 453 sites. Total: £1,063,855 (two weeks)
6. Adrift, £229,898 from 471 sites. Total: £979,004 (two weeks)
7. Patrick, £226,306 from 518 sites. Total: £723,318 (two weeks)
8. Hereditary, £224,003 from 413 sites. Total: £5,090,322 (four weeks)
9. Sanju, £221,424 from 112 sites. Total: £939,136 (two weeks)
10. Yellow Submarine, £163,155 from 72 sites (new)
Other openers
Uncle Drew, £151,337 from 272 sites
Whitney, £142,936 (including £27,243 previews) from 231 sites
Swimming With Men, £59,301 from 136 sites
Mary Shelley, £16,562 from 35 sites
The More You Ignore Me, £8,420 from 14 sites
Flying the Nest, £8,217 from 82 sites
Nankana, £7,626 from 11 sites
Ideal Home, £5,868 from 11 sites
Pelėdų Kalnas, £5,119 from 26 sites
Na Band Na Baraati, £4,623 from 16 sites
Mr Chandramouli, £3,056 from six sites
In Darkness, £1,550 from 10 sites
Terminal, £893 from five sites
Postcards from the 48%, £874 from five sites
Eugene Onegin – Met Opera, £524 from four sites
• Thanks to comScore. All figures relate to takings in UK and Ireland cinemas.
