Inception

As is well documents the COVID-19 pandemic and its devastating effect on the world has been the story of the summer, and in fact the year, and it has had the biggest impact on the box office ever.

Cinemas across the globe started closing down in the middle of March and didn't open again in the UK until early July, so the summer box office period of May till early September has been greatly effected.

Most of the Spring and Summer potential blockbusters got their release dates moved, at least once, including Mulan, A Quiet Place Part II, Tenet and Ghostbusters: Afterlife and some of them got a direct to VOD release, including Mulan!

Tenet did finally get a cinema release at the tale end of August and was just about the biggest film of the summer and when the movie theatres finally opened the box office continued where it left off with the Pixar movie Onward still at the top.

What you will also see in the list of top 10 movies for the summer is evidence that movie theatres used old catalogue titles to try and entice movie goers back hence Jurassic Park and Dirty Dancing showing up.

Here is a breakdown of the top 5 film of the summer box office 2020.

Tenet

Christopher Nolan potential big summer blockbuster had its difficulties on its way to the box office but it finally got a release on 28th August and was hailed as the saviour of the cinema.

The movie had a good start to its box office career and took £5.3 Million on its debut and took £10 Million over the Summer period.

In comparison the top film of summer 2019 was the The Lion King remake which took over £71 Million.

Onward

Disney's Pixar movie Onward was the top film on weekend of 13th March when cinemas closed and when they came back it was still the top movie, it has remained in the top 3 for every UK box office since.

Over the summer the movie took was has tuned out to be quite an impressive £1.6 Million.

Unhinged

After the top 2 potential blockbusters we start to get movies which would not have been big movies, but due to the lack of big blockbusters they got a lot of exposure, maybe still not taking as much as they would have done but having good box office runs.

This Russell Crowe movie was the first new movie to get released after the closures and benefitted from that, it has a big star name and got a decent amount of hype and exposure.

The movie took £1.4 Million over the summer period.

100 Wolf

Another movie which has had a decent box office run that would not have without the lack of blockbusters is director Alexs Stadermann likeable animation which took just over a Million pound over the summer.

Trolls World Tour

Perhaps the most controversial movie of the summer, the sequel movie was at the start of the summer the biggest movie to go direct to VOD that would have had a good box office run.

The cinema chains, especially the American company AMC which owns the ODEON chain in the UK objected to this move, this was at a time when the world didn't know how long the closures would last.

Despite the release onto VOD the movie still took a very respectable £745K at the UK box office, this is no where near tens of million it has taken on digital.

1. Tenet - £10,006,540
2. Onward - £1,666,470
3. Unhinged - £1,436,243
4. 100% Wolf - £1,026,699
5. Trolls World Tour - £754,093
6. The New Mutants - £686,407
7. Pinocchio - £685,332
8. Dirty Dancing - £541,863
9. Inception - £432,449
10. Jurassic Park - £347,981

As more cinemas re-open in the UK, but with restrictions for capacity and mask wearing, Unhinged goes back to the top and the top 15 movies grossed nearly a million pound this weekend.

With the cinema going public waiting for the 'saviour' of cinema, Tenet, opening next weekend there were no new releases this weekend so no highest new entry.

Here is the top 5 movies in the UK 21st - 23rd August 2020.

Unhinged

The Derrick Borte directed movie starring Russell Crowe as a man who becomes psychotic after a bump in his car goes back to the top of the UK box office with a weekend gross of £178.8K.

The movie has now made £962.1K over its 4 weeks of release and should go over a million by next weekend.

It is the most successful film since cinemas started re-opening after the COVID-19 shutdown, with Tenet being released next weekend and will go to the top, that will in one week take over that crown.

Onward

Pixar's latest movie spends yet another weekend inside the top 5 movies, this week at number 2, with an 11th weekend take of £142.1K.

THe movie which was released before the pandemic closures has now taken £6.2 Million.

Inception

Christopher Nolans 2010 movie made it to the top last weekend and falls to number 3 this week with, £117.4K, this takes the films total to £35.6 Million after 13 weeks on the chart.

100% Wolf

The animated tale of Werewolves goes back to number 4 this week with £105.5K for a half million total after 4 weeks.

Pinoccio~2019

Falling to number 5 this week after making its debut at 3 last week the Matteo Garrone directed movie takes £99.2K over the weekend for a £324.1K after 2 weeks.

With Christopher Nolans new film Tenet getting a cinema release in the coming weeks one of his greatest movies gets a re-release on its 10th anniversary and hits the top spot.

Elsewhere on the box office a live action version of Pinocchio from Italy is the top new movie of the weekend while the critically acclaimed Babyteeth is new at number 8.

Things are getting better in the Uk as box office takings this week for the top 15 movies are nearly £900K, that more than doubles last weeks takings.

Here is a rundown of the top 5 movies in the UK 14th - 16th August 2020.

Inception

Is it really 10 years since this film hit Uk cinemas, it would seem that way and the movie gets a re-release to celebrate, and in the current post COVID-19 market it take the top spot.

The movie takes £207.6K on its new debut which gives it a £35 Million total gross since its 2010 release and 12 weeks total on the box office.

Unhinged

Last weeks top film falls to number 2 this week as Russell Crowe continues his rage which takes £136.3K over the weekend.

After a couple of weeks at the top this is the movies third weekend on the chart and the movie has taken £675.9K to date.

Pinocchio~2019

Making its debut at number 3 is this Italian retelling on the classic story best known by the Disney version from 1940.

This version is directed by Matteo Garrone and takes £108.6K on its debut weekend.

Onward

Pixars latest hit is at number 4 this weekend and has been the most consistent movie on the box office over the last 6 months.

This week the Dan Scanlon directed feature takes £92K which pushes its total UK gross to £6 Million after 10 weeks on the box office, all of them inside the top 5.

100 Wolf

Three weeks on the chart and the Alexs Stadermann animated comedy is at number 5 with £83.9L=K taking its UK total to £278.2K.

Pixar didn't release a cinematic film in 2014 so the new film from the animated studio was going to be a big deal, and Inside Out is critically one of their best and makes an impressive UK box office debut.,p> Entering the chart at the top Inside Out takes in £7.3 million on it's debut, compared to their last film Monsters University this was over double its debut.

It is though way behind the leader in the Pixar crown, Toy Story 3 which took an incredible £21 million on it's debut and went on to become one of the highest grossing animation of all time.

Inside Out has a good start and is inline with Finding Nemo from 2003, it will easily go over the £30 million mark in the coming days.

Last weeks top film, Ant-Man, falls to number 2 this week with a £2.5 million weekend gross raising its total to £9.6.

One other new entry on the top 10 this week is Southpaw new at 4 with £1.6 million.

Historical Box Office

A year ago
Dawn of The Planet of The Apes extended its stay at the top of the box office by another week leaving Hercules to debut at number 2.

Five years ago
Toy Story 3 made its very impressive debut at the top moving aside Inception which fell to number 2.

Ten years ago
Fantastic Four over took the number one spot on its debut week of release while Madagascar fell to number 2.

Fifteen years ago
Stuart Little moved to the top of the box office after 3 weeks on the chart knocking Chicken Run down to number 2, High Fidelity was the highest new film at number 4.

Twenty years ago
Stallone's Judge Dredd was the top new film making its debut at number 1 knocking Batman Forever down to number 2

This week in the UK Marvel/Disney's new franchise made its mark by debuting at the top of the box office at the top.

The tiny superhero had a debut weekend gross of £4 million from 555 sites, below other Marvel superhero films but for one of the less known characters and a new franchise a good opening.

A decent run over the school summer holidays could see a total gross in the high 20's into low 30 million region.

Falling into second place are the Minions, a £2.7 million gross has extended their total to £32 million, with plenty more to go over the summer this could be one of the highest grossers of the year.

André Rieu's 2015 Maastricht Concert also makes an appearance in the top 5 this week with a followup to the 2014 concert of the same name.

Indian film Bajrangi Bhaijaan and The Gallows also make appearances in the top 10 at 7 and 9 respectively.

Historical charts

A year ago
Dawn of The Planet of The Apes made it's debut on the UK box office at the top knocking down How to Train Your Dragon 2 into the runner up spot.

Five years ago
Christoper Nolan's Inception made it's mark on the box office debuting at the top while The Twilight Saga: Eclipse fell to number 3

Ten years ago
Madagascar made its way to the top of the UK box office knocking War of The Worlds to number 2 after 2 weeks at the top.

Fifteen years ago
Chicken Run continued its run at the top while The Patriot made its debut at number 3.