UK-Ireland cinemas are looking for Disney blockbuster sequel Black Panther: Wakanda Forever to inject new life into the box office this weekend as the film opens in a hefty 700 cinemas.
The release is over 100 sites up on the 588-site opening of 2018’s Black Panther. That film started with a £10.5m weekend and £17.7m total opening at a colossal average of £30,105 per site.
Black Panther took more in its first six days than the entire runs of most other films introducing a new character to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), including The Incredible Hulk (£8.3m), Captain America: The First Avenger (£10.4m), Ant-Man (£16.3m), Thor (£14m) and Iron Man (£17.4m).
It went on to a £50.8m total, and still holds a place in the top 50 highest-grossing films of all time in the UK and Ireland.
The wider release may mean Wakanda Forever does not hit the same per-site average; however, Disney will still look for it to reach £10m on its opening three-day session.
Other films to have done that since the pandemic include James Bond title No Time To Die (£21m), Spider-Man: No Way Home (£19.5m), Doctor Strange And The Multiverse Of Madness (£14.9m), The Batman (£13.5m), Jurassic World: Dominion (£12.1m) and Top Gun: Maverick (£11.2m).
With two of those six titles also coming from the MCU, Disney has a strong chance of crossing eight figures in the next three days on Wakanda Forever.
Recent MCU titles have tended to be front-loaded at the box office – ie. taking a larger than average amount of their total figure in the opening days. However, the first Black Panther was one to buck that trend, taking almost five times its opening Friday-to-Sunday across its run (Doctor Strange 2 took less than four times; Avengers: Endgame took less than three).
Following the death of actor Chadwick Boseman, who played lead character King T’Challa in the first film, the sequel sees the people of the Afrofuturist territory of Wakanda fight to protect their home from intervening world powers as they mourn T’Challa’s death.
As T’Challa’s sister Shuri, Screen Star of Tomorrow 2012 Letitia Wright steps up to a more prominent role, alongside fellow cast Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Winston Duke, Angela Bassett and 2017 Screen Star Michaela Coel.
Counter-programming
Wakanda Forever’s dominance is represented both in its number of sites, and the smaller number of new releases: 11 titles are starting out across this seven-day period, compared to 25 last time out.
However, independent distributors are taking the opportunity for counter-programming. Picturehouse Entertainment is opening Jafar Panahi’s No Bears in 29 locations.
The film follows two parallel love stories in which the partners are thwarted by hidden, inevitable obstacles, the force of superstition, and the mechanics of power. It won a special jury prize on debut at Venice Film Festival in September.
Iranian director Panahi has been imprisoned in his homeland since July, when he was ordered to serve a six-year jail sentence that was given to him in 2010. His detention, along with that of compatriots Mohammad Rasoulof and Mostafa Al-Ahmad, have drawn condemnation from the international film community. A flash mob at Venice was followed by a show of solidarity at BFI London Film Festival, attended by industry representatives including Picturehouse managing director Clare Binns.
No Bears is an 11th feature for Panahi, whose son Panah Panahi’s debut feature Hit The Road, which Jafar produced, was also distributed by Picturehouse earlier this year.
Jafar Panahi’s record gross in the UK and Ireland is for 2015 Golden Bear winner Taxi Tehran, which opened to £27,890 for New Wave Films on its way to a decent £192,143 total.
Dogwoof is opening Retrograde, the latest documentary from US filmmaker Matthew Heineman. The Telluride premiere tells the story of the final months of the 20-year war in Afghanistan through the relationship between American Green Berets and the Afghan officers they trained.
Heineman has a track record for capturing serious, often dangerous contemporary issues. Third feature Cartel Land examined the drug problem along the US-Mexico border, and received multiple best documentary nominations including at the 2016 Oscars and Baftas; while City Of Ghosts followed the efforts of activists in Raqqa, Syria to protect their hometown from Isis, and also recorded a Bafta nomination.
MetFilm Distribution, the distribution arm formed recently when MetFilm acquired Zak Brilliant’s Republic Film Distribution, is releasing its first title: Kim Hopkins’ documentary A Bunch Of Amateurs, about one of the world’s oldest amateur filmmaking clubs – the Bradford Movie Makers.
With a score by 2019 Screen Star Terence Dunn, the film debuted at Sheffield DocFest in June, where it won the audience award, and has gone on to play Edinburgh, Calgary and DOK Leipzig.
It will open in 13 locations; and has 90 bookings between now and Christmas.
Dartmouth Films is starting Leah Gordon and Eddie Hutton-Mills’ documentary Kanaval: A People’s History Of Haiti In Six Chapters in two sites. The film scored two Bifa nominations last week, in the new debut director – feature documentary category, and for Joel Honeywell’s cinematography.
Further new releases include documentary Clouded Reveries, about Irish writer Doireann Ni Ghriofa, through Eclipse Pictures; and Everest mountain drama Uunchai in 24 sites through Yash Raj Films.
Repertory releases include Walter Hill’s 1978 The Driver through Studiocanal; and Peter Greenaway’s 1982 The Draughtsman’s Contract in 18 sites through BFI Distribution.
Netflix, which does not share location numbers, is starting Sally El Hosaini’s Toronto premiere The Swimmers, and Francis Lawrence’s adventure comedy Slumberland.
Holdovers will also see reduced site numbers due to Wakanda Forever; however there is a range of genres available to audiences, including three-time number one Black Adam, family title Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile, awards contenders The Banshees Of Inisherin and Living, and anime One Piece Film Red.
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