No Time To Die

Due to restriction enforcement in England set by the Government due to large increases in COVID-19 cases cinemas in the UK will be closing their doors for the second time in 2020 from November 5th.

The restrictions, at the moment, are to be set in place until 2nd December, but there is every possibility that when it comes to public places like shops, bars and yes cinemas, it will take a bit longer to open up.

This means that there will likely be no box office to report in the coming weeks, and the reopening which could take a couple of weeks, will be slow with very few blockbuster film released.

Which films is this going to effect? It has been mainly small indie film which have enjoyed the exposure over the last couple of months, and in the coming week there were no sizeable film scheduled.

Ryan Reynolds next movie Free Guy is coming on 11th December, things may have re-opened by a week by then but this could be sent to 2021, also there is every possibility that it could see a digital release

On the 18th of December there is Death On The Nile from Kenneth Branagh, which may see a schedule change and just as easily it could go direct to streaming.

Coming 2 America has been sold to Amazon Prime and will make its debut on that platform around the same time frame.

Wonder Woman 1984 is the next big blockbuster due for release and there is every possibility that this will be pushed to spring 2021 , altohugh if this happens then there will be another round of schedule changes as we have Raya And The Last Dragon, Morbius and the much delayed No Time To Die all set around to debut around Spring.

Its yet another blow for the cinema industry and with many major companies already struggling how many closures can cinemas handle before going down.

Streaming is not the way most people want to see big blockbusters, but we also want to feel safe when we go out to enjoy a new movie, time will tell but lets hope this closure controls the virus and cinemas make the necessary safety measures so we can enjoy what could be a blockbuster packed 2021.

Disappointed to confirm that @Cinema_UK members in England - who like cinemas across the UK have done so much to deliver a safe and enjoyable big screen experience - will now be required to close from Thursday 5 November to Wednesday 2 December. #LoveCinema

— Cinema UK (@Cinema_UK) November 1, 2020

As the blockbuster movies from 2020 slowly get delayed until 2021 the latest to move in unsurprisingly Denis Villeneuve's Dune adaptation will will now see a release on October 1st 2021.

This is, at the moment, the same release date as The Batman starring Robert Pattinson and directed by Matt Reeves, so I suspect that might be on the move as well as its currently still in production and has been hit with CODIV-19 while filming which has caused delays.

This only leaves Death On The Nile and Wonder Woman 1984, and maybe Free Guy which got a new trailer today, left as movies to come out in 2020 that can be considered major blockbusters (Coming 2 America surely isn't ready yet!).

Last week the latest Bond movie No Time To Die got moved to April 2021 leaving the release schedule rather empty.

As I have written about today this is very worrying for the cinema industry that has started to, for the second time this year, shut down, this time not just because of COVID-19, through lack of films being shown.

2021 is shaping up to be one of the biggest ever year for blockbusters and at the moment we have not only some of the biggest films of 2020 now next year but all the films that should have come out in 2021!

When Universal delayed the release of the next Bond movie No Time To Die from November 2020 to April 2021 it seems it has had a devastating effect on cinema chains in the UK and US.

Today one of the worlds biggest cinema chains Cinema has announced they will close cinemas in the UK and US from Thursday 8th October until further notice and ODEON cinemas in the UK have announced they will only open at the weekend.

The root of this is the change in release date of No Time To Die which was to be the next blockbuster after the COVID-19 reopening to try and get people back into the habit of going to the movies.

Tenet which was released in late August has now been seen as a test bed for the publics tolerance for going back to cinemas, a public place where social distancing is a challenge, and with the figures coming off the movie it seems it failed the test, the movie has taken so far £25 million in the UK, $40 Million in the US and just over $300 Million globally.

If there is a positive side to this its that a number of smaller independent movies that would normally have been overshadowed by the big blockbusters are being given a chance to shine, and doing better than they would normally, After We Collided being a prime example.

The next 'big' movie to be released is Death On The Nile and Dune, both on December 18th 2020 (thats got to change), also due that day is Coming 2 America starring Eddie Murphy but with no poster, trailer or publicity thats not going to happen!

Then there is Wonder Woman 1984 coming out over Christmas which is massive, and unlike Tenet will do well in cinemas if its given the chance.

With Tenet still at the top of the US box office and no big new releases this weekend it was up to a 27 year old Halloween favourite to cheer up the box office.

Hocus Pocus is the top new movie of the weekend and it wasn't that far from going to the top but Tenet still had the strength to remain at the top.

With the new Bond movie, No Time To Die being delayed until April 2021 there is not a lot in the way of big new movies coming out now in 2020, there is Death On the Nile in mid December and Wonder Woman 1984 on Christmas Day so what we see now could be the shape of the box office for a while.

Here is a quick breakdown of this weeks UK box office.

• Number 1 - Tenet (5th Weekend)
• Highest debut - Hocus Pocus (@2)
• Longest run - Ava (10 weeks)
• Highest total gross - Tenet ($45,100,000)

Here is a breakdown of the top 5 movies in the US 2nd - 4th October 2020.

Tenet

Five weeks in and Christopher Nolans movie is still the top film at the box office and this week it takes $2.7 Million, 21% down from last weekend.

The movie has now taken $45.1 Million in total at the US box office and is by far the top grossing movie since cinemas re-opened.

Hocus Pocus

First released in 1993, and not doing that well at the box office, the movie has since become a seasonal favourite and this week re-enters the chart at number 2 with $1.9 Million.

This means that the Bette Midler and Sarah Jessica Parker movie from the Disney company has taken $41.4 Million since its first release.

The New Mutants

The second biggest hit of the post COVID-19 closedown box office is Disney's mutant movie which this week falls to 3 with a $1 Million gross giving it a 6 week total of $20.9 Million, only the second movie to go over $20 Million since the re-opening.

Unhinged

The Russell Crowe movie which was release while cinemas were closed down across most of the US and did well in drive-in theatres this weekend falls to 4 with $870K for a total of $18.4 Million after 8 weeks of release.

Infidel

Falling to 5 this week is Cyrus Nowrasteh's political drama which takes $445K for a $3.4 Million total after 3 weeks of release.

After Bond 25, No Time To Die, steals the release date of Fast And Furious 9 the studio has moved the Vin Diesel movie to a little later in the year, May 28th.

The movie had already been moved from its original release date in 2020 to a year later, April 2nd 2021, then Universal moved No Time To Die to that date and we can't have 2 high profile action movies on the same day.

The only option was to move the car movie, a move which suggests that Universal has more faith in the Bond franchise than the Fast And Furious franchise, despite what the box office figures might suggest, but there we have it, a jiggle around for some high profile movies.

The new release date for F9 is Memorial Day in America and Bonds new release date is over the Easter period in the UK so maybe they are catering for the different markets!

With the move to may 28th it now clashes with Disney's live action Cruella (from the 101 Dalmatian universe) which stars Emma Stone as the title character, so expect that to either move or go to Disney+.

We're sure there are more changes to come so stay tuned for the latest information.