UK Box Office May 9-11
It's only week 2 of the official Summer Blockbuster Season, and already cinemas are in trouble. Over in the US, commentators yelled "flop!" after news that the candy-coloured CGI spectacle Speed Racer had taken just $20 million – as against Iron Man's debut of $102 million the weekend before.
In the UK, Speed Racer has done even worse. Based on its US gross, a UK figure of around £2 million might have been expected, although that calculation does not reflect the fact that the TV programme on which the movie is based – the "property", in Hollywood parlance – isn't so well known over here. Nor does it take into account the warm weather enjoyed across much of the country, which encouraged potential cinemagoers to enjoy parks, gardens and barbecues instead. Speed Racer's UK opening weekend gross was in fact a disastrous £362,000 from 442 screens, for a per-cinema average of £819. This compares with Iron Man's opening last weekend in excess of £5 million.
Another way of looking at Speed Racer's UK disappointment is comparing it to What Happens In Vegas, which likewise opened on both sides of the Atlantic this weekend. In the US, the two pictures were more or less neck and neck (Vegas took just over $20 million).
Neither film grabbed the top spot. That honour went to Iron Man, which fell 59%, for an 11-day total of £10.16 million. The drop-off might be considered steep, but compares favourably with many films currently on release. The sunshine had an impact on audiences across the board.
The weekend's other wide release, horror picture Doomsday, performed in line with recently downgraded expectations, with £311,000 from 257 screens. Reviews were decidedly mixed on this latest picture from director Neil Marshall (Dog Soldiers, The Descent). If you accept the argument that the weather depleted Doomsday's box-office, Marshall can consider himself again blighted by timing. The Descent opened here on July 8 2005, the day after the London tube bombings. Audiences did not flock to experience underground terror, and the picture opened to a disappointing £571,000.
Two other new releases landed in the top 15. Indian ghost story Bhootnath took £65,000 from 33 screens for an OK £1,981 average – that's below-par for a Bollywood release, mind you. Morgan Spurlock's latest documentary, Where In The World Is Osama Bin Laden?, stumbled with £27,000 from 38 theatres, for a £699 average. This compares with Super Size Me's opening back in September 2004 of £265,000 from 82 screens. The poorly reviewed Bin Laden managed just one tenth of that opening total, from half the screen count.
A further nine films landed outside the top 15. All enjoyed modest screen counts, with suitably modest results. It is arguable that fans of specialist cinema may have been somewhat overwhelmed by the plethora of choices, and the films may have suffered by competing for review space (which tends to increase or decrease in size depending on adverts sold, rather than the number of releases) in the newspapers.
These smaller releases performed as follows: John Sayles' Honeydripper took £19,000 from 18 screens; Argentinian hermaphrodite teen drama XXY managed £11,000 from seven; Claude Miller's A Secret picked up £8,000 from just two sites; documentary Manufactured Landscapes grossed £5,600 from six. Cashback, directed by British fashion photographer Sean Ellis, and based on his short film of the same name, took £1,500 from four screens; Czech dark comedy I Served The King Of England pulled in £730 from a single venue; Japanese animation Vexille took £690, also from one site; documentary re-release Winter Soldier was below it with £590 from its single theatre; and Mouth To Mouth, starring Ellen Page, brought up the rear with £470, also on one screen.
While most of these new releases struggled to make an impact, the specialist sector continues to be dominated by two pictures: Mike Leigh's Happy-Go-Lucky and Marjane Satrapi's animated Persepolis. Each added over £50,000 to their respective totals, which now stand at £1.29 million for Happy, and £523,000 for Persepolis.
Overall, this was a rotten weekend for cinema takings. The top 15 films together grossed just £5.54 million, which ranks it 52nd out of the last 52 weekends. The figure also represents a 46% drop from the previous weekend; a 46% drop from the same weekend a year ago; and a 47% shortfall from the average of the last 52 weekends. It doesn't get much worse than that. Even more troublingly, this Friday (May 16) is short of major new releases, principally because no blockbuster wants to enter the market only to face the challenge of Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull six days later (ie on May 22). In other words, it's going to get worse for cinemas before it gets better.
Comments