Why is a film's opening weekend so important to its overall success?

A strong opening gets more publicity for a film

Builds on pre-existing hype created by advertising, marketing and plugs

Works around positive word of mouth

Shows direct competition with other opening films

May encourage more exhibitors to rent the film from distributors

Might well be the start of a long run at the cinema

This box office might well lead to more success/revenue on non-theatrical outlets.

Task 1

Monsters University retains UK box office lead

22 July, 2013 | By Ian Sandwell

Disney’s animated prequel adds $4.3m (£2.8m) for a second straight week at number one; Universal’s The World’s End suffers from the heat, debuting with $3.2m (£2.1m).

Holding off competition from both the sun and The World’s End, Monsters University has retained top spot at the UK box office for a second consecutive week.

Disney’s animated sequel grossed $4.3m (£2.79m), recording the highest site average of the top 20 at $8,044 (£5,246). The latest feature from Pixar Animation Studios has now taken $13.2m (£8.63m) in the UK.

Monsters University will be hoping for a boost from the school holidays as it aims to track down previous Pixar results in the UK. First in its path: Cars 2 and Cars at $23.95m (£15.6m) and $25.2m (£16.45m), respectively.

Monsters Inc’s mighty $58.1m (£37.9m) UK haul may be more difficult to match.


UNIVERSAL

The much-anticipated closer to Edgar Wright’s Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy, The World’s End, got off to a solid, if unspectacular, start in the UK, having to settle for second place in the process.

At an average of $6,128 (£3,997), the sci-fi comedy grossed $3.2m (£2.11m) and arguably suffered as a result of the continued heatwave in the UK.

Compared to its predecessor’s, The World’s End opened ahead of Shaun of the Dead ($2.5m/£1.6m) but behind Hot Fuzz ($9.1m/£5.9m including $2.5m/£1.6m in previews). It’s worth noting that both Shaun and Hot Fuzz avoided blockbuster season, opening in April and February, respectively.

Hot Fuzz went on to take an excellent $32.2m (£20.99m) in the UK, but the first target for The World’s End is Shaun’s $10.3m (£6.69m) tally.

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Read the extract from Screen Daily's website concerning the UK cinema opening of The World's End.

  • What problems are there around the opening of The World’s End?
  • Do you think that some of these problems could have been avoided by Universal?
  • How might you develop an alternative release strategy for this film?