UK Box Office Thread

[SchumacherFTW]

6 minutes ago, Bruce said:

You guys all ignored The Lord of the Rings

Different time. LOTR and Potter were pretty neck and neck back in the early 2000s. BUT, LOTR is always a perennial figure, whenever the movies are rereleased there's always an audience, I saw this again at the weekend with the IMAX rerelease, not opening night of avengers busy, but they had a decent showing for each film. The Hobbit franchise though was much smaller than I think anybody anticipated here. They couldn't reach the heights of the original trilogy at all.

Side note, still strange to me that Fellowship is actually the biggest of the three.

Edited September 27, 2021 by SchumacherFTW

[charlie Jatinder]

4 minutes ago, Bruce said:

You guys all ignored The Lord of the Rings

I guess that answer it

 

[charlie Jatinder]

4 minutes ago, SchumacherFTW said:

Side note, still strange to me that Fellowship is actually the biggest of the three.

Same for Potter and LoTR in other European markets. Franchise rarely grows in west, that's what make MCU feat special.

[SchumacherFTW]

Just now, charlie Jatinder said:

Same for Potter and LoTR in other European markets. Franchise rarely grows in west, that's what make MCU feat special.

Can't deny, it's impressive. I expected by now there would be a dip, there's only so much room for growth. We really won't start to get an idea of that going forward until Spidey in December though.

[Sophia Jane]

I think we shouldn't only count recent years movie,Bond's popualrity has been widespread all over the world for 60 years ,and there is no doubt that Bond and "007" has already become the culture symbol of UK.

 

As a Chinese,I'd say that 99% of Chinese people have heard of “007”,the series is really famous and well-known in China,almost everybody know it.

 

I don't know other country,but if you come to China,ask people"What's the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of Britain?"

they must say

 

"Oh,I think is 007/Harry Potter/David Beckham/Football/London/Sherlock Holmes/Queen Elizabeth 2/Big Ben"

 

just like when we mention America we will think about Superman,Michael jackson,New York ,Disney,coca-cola，Hollywood......

 

I think that is what "true popularity"means

 

 

 

Edited September 27, 2021 by Bruce

[charlie Jatinder]

Just now, SchumacherFTW said:

Can't deny, it's impressive. I expected by now there would be a dip, there's only so much room for growth. We really won't start to get an idea of that going forward until Spidey in December though.

I said this some days back. The MCU age demographic remained stable unlike other franchises which keep ageing.

Reason being they are adding younger demos regularly to fanbase, hence growth.

 

[SchumacherFTW]

1 minute ago, charlie Jatinder said:

I said this some days back. The MCU age demographic remained stable unlike other franchises which keep ageing.

Reason being they are adding younger demos regularly to fanbase, hence growth.

 

Even so, there will come a point where younger audiences are less interested and the older audience stops showing up. Whether that's 12 months from now or 12 years, we don't know, but it will happen.

[Chicago]

3 minutes ago, SchumacherFTW said:

Star Wars in the UK is definitely an interesting case for sure. The sequel trilogy obviously had much higher gross potential then it inevitably did as can be shown by the TFA total and TLJ opening. But I really can't remember another situation where the fortunes of a franchise went so wrong so quickly as it did with Last Jedi. I firmly believe that if Last Jedi were received better it likely would have been bigger than Skyfall by a small margin

Yeah they really dropped the ball with TLJ. I think it's one of those super rare blockbusters that was loved by the critics but hated by audiences

[Ipickthiswhiterose]

29 minutes ago, SchumacherFTW said:

Star Wars in the UK is definitely an interesting case for sure. The sequel trilogy obviously had much higher gross potential then it inevitably did as can be shown by the TFA total and TLJ opening. But I really can't remember another situation where the fortunes of a franchise went so wrong so quickly as it did with Last Jedi. I firmly believe that if Last Jedi were received better it likely would have been bigger than Skyfall by a small margin

 

I'd pretty fundamentally disagree with this: as stated before the only really toxic word of mouth I ever exerienced was RoS, not TLJ. I just feel TLJ was a return to where the franchise always was in the UK following an anomaly in TFA.

 

I always saw the backlash to TLJ as a combination of an American thing and TFA having been such a remake of ANH that a certain degree of dissonance in the turns it took afterwards was inevitable. But that's an old debate not worth addressing here.

 

As for a franchise going wrong so quickly, the Matrix trilogy's trajectory was clearly worse: 2 to 3 shed 42% of the box office in a 6 month gap with the second having been one of the most anticipated films in history.  Star Wars Rise of Skywalker lost 19% of the Last Jedi box office with a 2 year gap. That's not even the biggest loss in Star Wars history - Phantom Menace to AOTC was 34%. 

Edited September 27, 2021 by Ipickthiswhiterose

[Chicago]

27 minutes ago, Bruce said:

I think we shouldn't only count recent years movie,Bond's popualrity has been widespread all over the world for 60 years ,and there is no doubt that Bond and "007" has already become the culture symbol of UK.

 

As a Chinese,I'd say that 99% of Chinese people have heard of “007”,the series is really famous and well-known in China,almost everybody know it.

 

I don't know other country,but if you come to China,ask people"What's the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of Britain?"

they must say

 

"Oh,I think is 007/Harry Potter/David Beckham/Football/London/Sherlock Holmes/Queen Elizabeth 2/Big Ben"

 

just like when we mention America we will think about Superman,Michael jackson,New York ,Disney,coca-cola，Hollywood......

 

I think that is what "true popularity"means

 

 

 

You forgot Danny Dyer

[SchumacherFTW]

19 minutes ago, Ipickthiswhiterose said:

 

I'd pretty fundamentally disagree with this: as stated before the only really toxic word of mouth I ever exerienced was RoS, not TLJ. I just feel TLJ was a return to where the franchise always was in the UK following an anomaly in TFA.

 

I always saw the backlash to TLJ as a combination of an American thing and TFA having been such a remake of ANH that a certain degree of dissonance in the turns it took afterwards was inevitable. But that's an old debate not worth addressing here.

 

As for a franchise going wrong so quickly, the Matrix trilogy's trajectory was clearly worse: 2 to 3 shed 42% of the box office in a 6 month gap with the second having been one of the most anticipated films in history.  Star Wars Rise of Skywalker lost 19% of the Last Jedi box office with a 2 year gap. That's not even the biggest loss in Star Wars history - Phantom Menace to AOTC was 34%. 

Oh I'd absolutely disagree. I remember the "heated" discussion I had with my boss in the days following TLJs release, and he was far from the only person disappointed or angry. 

As for what you're saying about percentage drops, that's not necessarily what I meant. The discourse on Star Wars began following TLJ's Opening weekend, not in between films. 

Edited September 27, 2021 by SchumacherFTW

[Chicago]

9 minutes ago, SchumacherFTW said:

Oh I'd absolutely disagree. I remember the "heated" discussion I had with my boss in the days following TLJs release, and he was far from the only person disappointed or angry. 

As for what you're saying about percentage drops, that's not necessarily what I meant. The discourse on Star Wars began following TLJ's Opening weekend, not in between films. 

Yeah a whole group of us went to watch TLJ and I was the only one who thought it was passable. Time has only made things worse for it and now it's know as the movie that single handidly killed a promising franchise 

 

I mean if the GA actually liked TLJ, he would have directed the 3rd. 

[Chicago]

31 minutes ago, Ipickthiswhiterose said:

 

I'd pretty fundamentally disagree with this: as stated before the only really toxic word of mouth I ever exerienced was RoS, not TLJ. I just feel TLJ was a return to where the franchise always was in the UK following an anomaly in TFA.

 

I always saw the backlash to TLJ as a combination of an American thing and TFA having been such a remake of ANH that a certain degree of dissonance in the turns it took afterwards was inevitable. But that's an old debate not worth addressing here.

 

As for a franchise going wrong so quickly, the Matrix trilogy's trajectory was clearly worse: 2 to 3 shed 42% of the box office in a 6 month gap with the second having been one of the most anticipated films in history.  Star Wars Rise of Skywalker lost 19% of the Last Jedi box office with a 2 year gap. That's not even the biggest loss in Star Wars history - Phantom Menace to AOTC was 34%. 

No franchise should be compared to Matrix 2/3 because they are the only films in existence who's sequel was released before the predecessor made it to home video. The 6 month wait proved to be one of the dumbest decisions in Hollywood, hence it's massive drop

[Ipickthiswhiterose]

21 minutes ago, Chicago said:

Yeah a whole group of us went to watch TLJ and I was the only one who thought it was passable. Time has only made things worse for it and now it's know as the movie that single handidly killed a promising franchise 

 

I mean if the GA actually liked TLJ, he would have directed the 3rd. 

 

I find this baffling but there we go.

 

Nobody in the history of movies has been put in the position Rian Johnson was in that film as far as I'm aware (ie. no creative control over the first or the third movie in a pre-determined trilogy, just having to make a second). Add to that he had to follow a first film that had simply remade the first SW movie....hardly a "promising" setup no matter how successful financially it had been. It was somewhat contentious (again, less so in my experience than TROS) but no more so than was inevitable after Abrams did what he did with the first film. It still blows my mind that to those to whom it is important, Johnson is the villain in the story and not Abrams. And that the trilogy was fundamentally unplanned is a huge mark against its producers and a reason for the diminishing returns, but not something to hold specifically against one of the three films. 

 

As you say...the Matrix reception and release strategy was a disaster. Hence a far more tangible tanking of a franchise than anything that's happened with the - still entirely alive and didn't have to take a 20 years hiatus unlike the Matrix - Star Wars franchise. 

Edited September 27, 2021 by Ipickthiswhiterose

[SchumacherFTW]

3 minutes ago, Ipickthiswhiterose said:

 

I find this baffling but there we go.

 

Nobody in the history of movies has been put in the position Rian Johnson was in that film as far as I'm aware (ie. no creative control over the first or the third movie in a pre-determined trilogy, just having to make a second). Add to that he had to follow a first film that had simply remade the first SW movie....hardly a "promising" setup no matter how successful financially it had been. It was somewhat contentious (again, less so in my experience than TROS) but no more so than was inevitable after Abrams did what he did with the first film. It still blows my mind that to those to whom it is important, Johnson is the villain in the story and not Abrams.

 

As you say...the Matrix reception and release strategy was a disaster. Hence a far more tangible tanking of a franchise than anything that's happened with the - still entirely alive and didn't have to take a 20 years hiatus unlike the Matrix - Star Wars franchise. 

I won't comment upon TLJ's quality, that's been done ad nauseum for the last 4 years. I will say this though, The Matrix wasn't as established as a mega franchise, it had a beloved first film and poorly received follow up. Star Wars on the other hand was a 40+ year old icon with the release of Last Jedi and Rise of Skywalker. If Last Jedi wasn't poorly received, why does Rise of Skywalker, a film sold as the end of a classic franchise, drop so much over opening weekend? 

[Ipickthiswhiterose]

16 minutes ago, SchumacherFTW said:

I won't comment upon TLJ's quality, that's been done ad nauseum for the last 4 years. I will say this though, The Matrix wasn't as established as a mega franchise, it had a beloved first film and poorly received follow up. Star Wars on the other hand was a 40+ year old icon with the release of Last Jedi and Rise of Skywalker. If Last Jedi wasn't poorly received, why does Rise of Skywalker, a film sold as the end of a classic franchise, drop so much over opening weekend? 

 

 

Original Trilogy:

Film One drops 30% to Film Two. Film Two drops 11% to Film Three.

 

Prequel Trilogy:

Film One drops 34% to Film Two. Film Three RISES

 

Sequel Trilogy:

Film One drops 36% to Film Two. Film Two drops 19% to Film Three.

 

In each case the First Film is an unprecedented major cinematic event. 

 

In the first two cases the films came out sparingly, with the third film representing what we considered the end of the franchise to the degree they were likely to be the final SW movies ever. With Star Wars (at least when the first film came out) unchallenged as the biggest movie franchise in existence.

 

In the case of the sequels, the films came out among 5 Star Wars films in 5 years, with promises of ongoing further Star Wars content. With at least 3 major franchises as competitors for the Star Wars franchise.

 

Really don't see the major issue here: the sequel trilogy does the weakest here, but this is clearly explainable by changing contexts, sudden saturation and the lack of a plan. Disappointing? To a degree yeah - the trilogy should have been planned, obviously and this caused growing discontentment. "A franchise killer" - objectively not since Star Wars is still a major brand with a large scale movie and multiple TV series on the way. In a far better state than the Matrix, Predator, Alien, Terminator and even at this stage Harry Potter/Beasts franchises. 

Edited September 27, 2021 by Ipickthiswhiterose

[Chicago]

21 minutes ago, Ipickthiswhiterose said:

 

I find this baffling but there we go.

 

Nobody in the history of movies has been put in the position Rian Johnson was in that film as far as I'm aware (ie. no creative control over the first or the third movie in a pre-determined trilogy, just having to make a second). Add to that he had to follow a first film that had simply remade the first SW movie....hardly a "promising" setup no matter how successful financially it had been. It was somewhat contentious (again, less so in my experience than TROS) but no more so than was inevitable after Abrams did what he did with the first film. It still blows my mind that to those to whom it is important, Johnson is the villain in the story and not Abrams. And that the trilogy was fundamentally unplanned is a huge mark against its producers and a reason for the diminishing returns, but not something to hold specifically against one of the three films. 

 

As you say...the Matrix reception and release strategy was a disaster. Hence a far more tangible tanking of a franchise than anything that's happened with the - still entirely alive and didn't have to take a 20 years hiatus unlike the Matrix - Star Wars franchise. 

 

I mean, he didn't have to kill Luke off the way he did. He didn't have to add that 30 minute casino scene and set up which led to nothing. He didn't have to make us think we were about to get an old school style lightsabre fight only for Luke to be a fucking ghost. We can slate TFA all we want for being a modern copy of the original, but atleast it was somewhat fun

 

A year after the release of TLJ, the only people still talking about it were the rare few trying to defend it, everyone else had moved on, leaving the Star wars franchise behind them. Solo absolutely bombed and TROS underwhelmed all things considered. Clearly this all started after the release of TLJ

 

 

[SchumacherFTW]

Anyway, just done a quick check at my local. For Thursday night Bond starts every 20 minutes from 16:40 through to 21:00, with an extra show at 19:30. All of our non "major" screens are at least half full after 5pm with the exception of 20:40, so roughly 60 people minimum per show right now during peak show times here. I wouldn't be shocked if Free Guy's evening showing gets cancelled in the next day or two, while Shang Chi's is in the balance right now. 

[Sophia Jane]

1 hour ago, Chicago said:

You forgot Danny Dyer

sorry,I don't know who he is,he is not famous in China

[SchumacherFTW]

2 minutes ago, Bruce said:

sorry,I don't know who he is,he is not famous in China

Don't worry, we brits want to not know who he is too