300 No one younger than 15 may see a 15 film in a cinema.

BBFC

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.

After 4 weeks at the top of the global box office Christopher Nolans Tenet is replaces, this week at least, by the Chinese release Leap which makes its debut at the top.

The Chinese box office is, at the moment, by far the highest grossing market and it is responsible for the high grosses of Tenet, Mulan, The Eight Hundred and now Leap.

Here is a quicklook breakdown of the top 15.

• Number 1 - Leap
• Highest debut = Leap (@1)
• Longest Run - Onward (29 weeks)
• Highest global gross - The Eight Hundred ($441,654,352)

Weekly breakdown of the top 5 global movies 25th - 27th September 2020.

Leap

Making its debut at the top is this Chinese movie from director Peter Ho-Sun Chan and starring Li Gong which takes $24.7 Million over the weekend on its debut.

The movie is only released in China at the moment and with Tenet still to open in some territories it will be interesting to see what to top looks like in the coming weeks.

Tenet

Moving from the top to number 2 after 4 weeks is the 'saviour of cinema' which quite frankly has struggles over its release so far, even in China.

This weekend the movie took $19.2 Million which brings its 5 week global total to $284.9 while it looks to cross the $300 Million mark which it could do by next weekend.

The Eight Hundred

As the movie starts to open in other territories outside China the movie falls to number 3 with $8.3 Million giving the hit movie a total gross of $441.6 Million.

This new global total means that after 7 weeks of release it is the highest grossing movie globally in 2020, beating out the previous holder Bad Boys For Life.

Greenland

Starring Gerard Butler this movie has had a hard time so far, a couple of moves of release date in the UK and US has meant that the movie will most likely go to VOD in many major markets.

Of the countries it has been released in it has taken $3.3 Million and is this week a re-entry on the global box office at number 4 and after 8 weeks on the chart has taken $17.6 Million.

Mulan

Disney's animated remake has had a hard time of it really, after being days away from a full on cinema release it was pulled because of the pandemic, had its release date moved a couple of time then went to Disney+.

It did get a cinema release in some countries, after complains for many people, and this weekend is at 5 with a weekend gross of $3.3 Million taking its total to $64.4 Million after 5 weeks of release.

There is still no official box office numbers getting released but with many drive-in cinemas across America open and reporting numbers horror movie The Wretched spends a third week at the top of the US cinema chart.

Here is the top 5 films in America this weekend

The Wretched

Spending a third weekend at the top this horror film from directors Brett Pierce and Drew T. Pierce took $85K from its drive-in showings to bring its total gross in the US to nearly $300K.

How To Build A Girl

Starring Beanie Feldstein this comedy movie stays at number 2 this weekend for a second week taking $36K for a total gross of $55K.

Circles: The Restorative Justice Project

This is kind of the highest new entry of the week although it was released in 2018!

The documentary feature directed by Cassidy Friedman takes $4k over the weekend, the film wisely taking advantage of the lack of new films at the cinema.

Strike

This animated feature from May of 2019 spends its second week on the box office (of sorts) taking $1.5K on its second weekend pushing its total to $4K.

The Burnt Orange Heresy

With a take of $55 this drama directed by Giuseppe Capotondi spends its fourth weekend on the box office, it has now taken $40K.

Thoughts

We know under normal circumstances the American box office would have been far different than this but its fun to take a look at what is happening across the county with the movie industry until we get more theatres opening.

At the moment the studios are hoping that will be by July when Warner Bros. have their big tentpole picture Tenet directed by Christopher Nolan opening.