The winner
In recognition of the increasing value of live events to the cinema sector, data gatherer Rentrak started including this alternative content in its UK box office reports last November. Now, for the first time, a live event has topped the UK box office chart. Despite playing just one performance on Sunday, Billy Elliot the Musical Live took more money (£1.90m) than any other film over the Friday-to-Sunday period. Denzel Washington action thriller The Equalizer, playing a typical 12 times in each venue over the weekend period, was edged into second place.
Repeat screenings – encores, in the industry parlance – should soon see the Billy Elliot musical push past the £2m mark, although it has a long way to go to catch the market leader in this sector, the National Theatre’s production of War Horse (£2.7m in UK cinemas).
While unseasonably warm late-September weather at the weekend will have affected box office negatively across the market, Billy Elliot seems to have proved the exception. Most audience members will have pre-booked their tickets, and this was their one chance to see a show that returned Liam Mower (an original Billy) to the stage as the older Billy, and presented 26 of the actors who had played the title role over the years in a mash-up finale. The fact that Billy Elliot the Musical Live began at 2pm, meaning that cinemas could still programme films in their regular evening slots, represented a big win for them.
The runner-up
Having convincingly led the market on Friday and Saturday, Sony will be disappointed that The Equalizer was pipped at the post by Billy Elliot’s stunning Sunday gross. The £1.89m debut compares with a £1.42m opening for Washington’s previous film, 2 Guns. It’s the biggest opening for Washington since Safe House, co-starring Ryan Reynolds, began its run in February 2012 with £2.14m.
Peter Bradshaw reviews The Equalizer
The plucky Brit flick
Since its debut in 2007, TV sitcom Outnumbered has proved a consistent ratings winner for the BBC. For that reason, there was a large potential audience for What We Did on Our Holiday, which was written and directed by the show’s creators Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin, and uses the same improvisational techniques and also features two London parents and their three young children. On the other hand, the film does not carry a hit TV show’s brand – unlike, say, BBC Films’ Mrs Brown’s Boys D’Movie – and the cast is different.
Distributor Lionsgate will be reasonably satisfied with the result, especially considering the sunshine and the competition from Billy Elliot. What We Did on Our Holiday kicked off with £811,000 from 448 cinemas, yielding a £1,810 average. That compares with a £4.30m debut for Mrs Brown’s Boys D’Movie back in June, although the comparison is hardly apt.
There’s a strong showing overall for British product in the current UK top 10, with Pride and The Riot Club both present, and of course Billy Elliot the Musical Live occupying the top spot. Rowan Joffe’s Before I Go to Sleep is at number 11.
Admissions report
Admissions figures – number of actual tickets sold, rather than revenue – are in for August, and they show the highest monthly tally (17.07m) for the year so far, boosted by the likes of Guardians of the Galaxy and The Inbetweeners 2. However, this isn’t necessarily a cause for celebration, because August is traditionally a strong month for cinemagoing, and this year’s figure represents a dip from August 2013 (17.64m). Likewise, January, March, May, June and July were all down from 2013. Overall, 2014’s figures are 7% down on last year’s.
The arthouse sector
While independent cinemas have a profusion of crossover titles to choose from – Pride, The Riot Club, A Most Wanted Man, Magic in the Moonlight – there are leaner pickings among films in limited play. David Cronenberg’s Maps to the Stars went out on a restrained 67 screens, achieving a reasonably healthy average of £1,956. Its opening number of £131,000 is a modest improvement on Cronenberg’s last film, Cosmopolis, which began with £117,000 from 62 venues.
The top foreign-language film, outside the Bollywood sector, is Paweł Pawlikowski’s Ida, which delivered a healthy £52,600 from 16 cinemas, including previews of £5,600, yielding an average of £3,288. Ida won best film in the official competition at last October’s London film festival, and Curzon Artificial Eye waited nearly a year to release it. September can be a good time to unleash an arthouse title since many films that appeared earlier at Sundance, Berlin and Cannes are playing in the London festival and need to release after it – creating a potential vacuum in the release calendar. Five-star reviews in the Guardian, Time Out and elsewhere will have helped snag audience interest.
The flop
Released on 51 screens, sci-fi flick I Origins proved a distribution challenge for Fox. Despite having premiered in January at the Sundance film festival and boasting a cast including indie actor Michael Pitt, the title seemed to lack proper arthouse credentials. But neither did it seem likely to appeal to the mainstream genre fan. With a critics’ Metascore of 57/100 and a marketing spend that may be politely termed fiscally responsible, it was always hard to imagine this one working. An opening gross of £15,000 resulted.
The future
Although the weekend market overall landed among the dozen lowest-grossing for the past year, takings are nevertheless 22% up on the previous frame, and 17% up on the equivalent from 2013, when Prisoners (starring Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal) led a lacklustre session. Salvation for cinema owners is surely at hand, with the arrival on Friday of David Fincher’s Gone Girl, adapted from the Gillian Flynn bestseller.
The first half of October 2013 was an exceptionally weak period for cinemagoing in the UK, so exhibitors will be hoping to see some steep rises on last year’s figures. Also in the mix are Dracula Untold, starring Luke Evans and Dominic Cooper, and family title Dolphin Tale 2. Spandau Ballet documentary Soul Boys of the Western World should prove modest in general release from Friday, but has a much better chance as a special event this evening, presented with a performance by the band beamed live from London’s Royal Albert Hall.
Read Xan Brooks’ first look review of Gone Girl
Top 10 films 26-28 September
1. Billy Elliot: The Musical Live, £1,904,098 from 553 sites (New)
2. The Equalizer, £1,890,146 from 457 sites (New)
3. The Boxtrolls, £1,130,062 from 519 sites. Total: £4,947,935
4. What We Did on Our Holiday, £811,087 from 448 sites (New)
5. A Walk Among the Tombstones, £603,062 from 459 sites. Total: £2,691,989
6. Pride, £400,247 from 418 sites. Total: £2,712,148
7. Lucy, £377,138 from 342 sites. Total: £13,717,003
8. Guardians of the Galaxy, £340,417 from 343 sites. Total: £27,768,628
9. The Riot Club, £301,607 from 373 sites. Total: £1,121,764
10. Sex Tape, £265,384 from 329 sites. Total: £4,068,571
Other openers
Maps to the Stars, £131,057 from 67 sites
Ida, £52,604 from 16 sites (including £5,646 previews)
Madras, £17,423 from 17 sites
I Origins, £14,953 from 51 sites
Honeymoon, £9,246 from 34 sites
Human Capital, £2,124 from 2 sites
Berliner Philarmoniker Live: Schumann-Brahms, £1,359 from 10 sites
Salvatore Giuliano, £1,083 from 2 sites
It’s Complicated, £730 from 1 site
The Last Impresario, £292 from 2 sites
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