#Taken 2

UK Box Office sees biggest one week admissions this century

December 3rd, 2012 Author: Joey PayneTags: Admissions, DCM, Digital Cinema Media, Django Unchained, Heineken, Ikea, james bond, Les Miserables, News, Quartet, Skyfall, Taken 2, Tom Linay, Toyota, UK Box Office, UK Cinema

Figures just released reveal that the week commencing 26 October 2012 saw the highest admissions to cinema in the UK this century, at over 7.5m. Furthermore, the month of October has seen industry admissions, which totalled 16.8m, up 24% from the same period in 2011 and the biggest October in terms of admissions for nearly a decade.

The release of the 23rd James Bond movie, Skyfall, has made this October huge. Bond’s return has easily beaten the one week box office record, previously held by Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows (£18.1m) with £33.1m.

UK Box Office 26th – 28th October 2012

October 31st, 2012 Author: Tom LinayTags: Argo, Cloud Atlas, Hotel Transylvania 3D, Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted, Paranormal Activity 4, Silent Hill: Revelation 3D, Skyfall, Taken 2

The film we’ve all been waiting for is finally here and it didn’t disappoint. Skyfall opened with £20.2m, the highest opening weekend of all time for a 2D release (Friday – Sunday) and the second highest of any film, behind 2011’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 3D (£23.7m). That’s the highest opening for a Bond film, comfortably beating Quantum of Solace (£15.4m) and Casino Royale (£13.4m). It’s also by some distance the highest opening of 2012 beating The Dark Knight Rises (£14.4m) and Avengers Assemble (£13.2m) In fact, Skyfall had taken more than Avengers Assemble’s entire weekend after just Friday and Saturday (£13.5m).

Saturday was Skyfall’s most productive day grossing £7.2m, which is the second biggest Saturday performance of all time behind Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt 2 3D (£7.6m). However, Harry Potter had the extra ticket price that 3D entails and distributor Sony are proclaiming Skyfall now has the all-time Saturday attendance record (source: Hollywood Reporter). Skyfall also made up a whopping 75.2% of the top 15’s box office and its location average was £34.4k, over £10k more than The Dark Knight Rises’ opening weekend location average (£24.2k).

UK Box Office 19th – 21st October 2012

October 24th, 2012 Author: Tom LinayTags: Alex Cross, Argo, Beasts Of The Southern Wild, frankenweenie 3D, Looper, Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted, Paranormal Activity 4, ParaNorman 3D, Skyfall, Taken 2

Sequels monopolised the top of the UK box office this weekend as the top three places all went to high profile franchises. The number one spot was taken by Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted 3D with £6m (including £2.4m from previews). When the previews are removed it shows the extremely consistent performance of the series. The first Madagascar opened with £3.6m in 2005 and Madagascar 2: Escape 2 Africa opened with £3.9m in 2008. Both those films went on to a final total in excess of £22m.

Second place was possessed by found footage chiller, Paranormal Activity 4 with £2.5m (including £806k from previews). It’s a solid start but comfortably the lowest of the series, with PA2 opening with £3.8m, PA1 with £3.6m and PA3 with £3.4m. The low production costs of the series though has ensured that a fifth instalment is on the way in time for Halloween 2013. In third spot, Taken 2 continued its remarkable run with a further £2.3m taking its cume to £18.6m. Although it’s likely to take a hit with the release of Skyfall on Friday, it’s possible that The Bourne Ultimatum’s final total of £24m is within reach.

UK Box Office 12th – 14th October

October 17th, 2012 Author: Tom LinayTags: Argo, Here Comes The Boom, Hotel Transylvania 3D, Looper, Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted, On The Road, Ruby Sparks, Sinister, Taken 2

For the second weekend running, Liam Neeson took the UK box office by the scruff of the neck as Taken 2 delivered an impressive £3.7m. The Istanbul-set actioner has now grossed a considerable £14.5m after eleven days and with another instalment surely on the cards, Neeson’s dog must be getting nervous. A great comparison for Taken 2 would be The Bourne Ultimatum, which opened with a similarly impressive £6.6m but grossed a much lower £2.9m on its second weekend on its way to £24m. With that in mind, a final total of £20m-plus for Taken 2 looks almost guaranteed and considering the first Taken only grossed £6.4m, it demonstrates just how much impact the first film made on DVD and television.

In second spot, the highest new entry was Adam Sandler animation Hotel Transylvania 3D with £1.7m. Distributor, Sony Pictures, have released an autumnal animation twice before (not including last year’s Arthur Christmas) with 2006’s Open Season (£1.7m) and 2009’s Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs (£1.6m) and Hotel Transylvania 3D has outperformed them both. Third spot was taken by Sinister, which had a terrific hold, easing just 12% to £1.3m for a cume of £3.7m. Distributor Momentum are obviously using their 2011 horror hit Insidious as a template and that had a similarly strong second weekend hold, falling just 9% on its way to a final total of £7.1m.

Testosterone Fuelled Action Movies

September 12th, 2012 Author: Joey PayneTags: Alex Cross, Bond, Bruce Willis, Cinema Advertising, Daniel Craig, DCM, Digital Cinema Media, Jack Reacher, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Liam Neeson, Looper, Skyfall, Taken 2, Tom Cruise

The final quarter of the year is full of testosterone fuelled movies. With many Action epics scheduled for release in this period this is an ideal time to reach the traditionally hard to target young male audience in the 15-24 age bracket.

LOOPER

Releasing September 28 is Looper, starring Bruce Willis and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Looper is a mind bending time travel epic that pits Joseph Gordon-Levitt against his older self (Bruce Willis) in a race to close the loop by killing himself to stop the mob doing it for him. This movie is expected to take £6m at the box office with 1.1m admissions.

New Trailers – 25 June 2012

June 25th, 2012 Author: Lee BesserTags: Anna Karenina, Cinema Advertising, DCM, Digital Cinema Media, Dredd 3D, Inc, Keith Lemon, Monsters, Monsters University, Pixar, Taken 2, Tom Linay

A brand new batch of trailers arrived this week and excitement is already building for some of the biggest Autumn releases and beyond.

First up is Keira Knightly in Joe Wright’s sumptuous Anna Karenina. With an all-star British cast, the Leo Tolstoy adaptation looks as lush and regal as 19th century aristocracy should. Out on the same day as Anna Karenina is another potential smash hit with a host of British talent involved, Dredd 3D. This time Karl Urban plays the titular Judge Dredd and the film looks to have nailed the darker, grimier aspects of the comic.

Kicking October off with a bang is Taken 2. It would appear that the gang behind the kidnapping in the first film haven’t learned their lesson and are ready to incur Liam Neeson’s not inconsiderable wrath once again; this time in Istanbul.

Finally, we were treated to the first teaser for 2013’s most anticipated animated film, Monsters University. A prequel to one of Pixar’s most beloved films, Monsters, Inc., University covers how Mike and Sulley became friends and if this first teaser is anything to go by, we’re in for another laugh riot. If you need a refresher on the original you can catch it on the big screen again in 3D in January.