Is Rampage a Financial Success? | UK Box Office Report 13-15th April 2018

Posted on by Joseph Wade

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson returns to the top of the UK box office chart for the 2nd time in 2018, following up his year-opening chart topper Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle with new monster-action movie Rampage. Here are the top 5 films at the UK box office for the weekend of 13th-15th April 2018:

Somewhat tentatively in at number 1 in this week’s box office chart is Rampage with a debut figure of £4,109,247 here in the UK and $154million total worldwide – an accumulation that includes an impressive $55million opening in China.

Made from a budget of around $140million, it is understood that Warner Bros. paid an additional $120million towards promoting the film, making an overall box office return of at least $260million the figure needed just to break even throughout the course of its run.

The studio, seeing the box office devouring Avengers: Infinity War on the horizon (set for release in the UK on 26th April), smartly pushed Rampage forward a week to give it the breathing room of a 2nd weekend to make as much money as possible, but with a fairly mediocre opening for a film of its budget, the likelihood of it being profitable enough to be tagged as a hit seems almost impossible even at this early stage because of the impending Marvel mega-team-up. Unlike The Rock’s earlier hit Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, it seems that the power of Infinity War and the impending summer blockbuster season will eat up every opportunity for Rampage to be making millions into its 3rd, 4th and 5th weeks, and this has lowered projections to an overall run of around $300million, the sort of figure that would barely cover costs and certainly wouldn’t make the monster movie a viable financial option for a sequel.

This would mark the 2nd time in as many years that Johnson had opened a film to lower figures than had been expected following 2017’s Baywatch reboot, and while this film will likely turn a profit more substantial than that particular summer bomb, The Rock will no doubt be hoping for a wholly impressive 2nd weekend to carry Rampage to a tidy profitability that would steer him clear of discussions regarding his viability as a franchise-opening star.

Still performing strong at number 2 is Peter Rabbit, which earned £2,021,162 in its 5th weekend to push beyond £38million overall in the UK alone, around £2.5million more than the film’s production budget. For a mid-budget movie of its type to have its production costs covered by just its UK box office takings is incredibly rare and illustrates the true value the animated film has found in the market thus far.

Worldwide, the animated feature starring James Corden and Domhnall Gleeson has earned around £210million ($300million), the sort of return that makes Peter Rabbit a massive financial success. With the film still earning in the millions here in the UK, it’s safe to predict that the picture will have an overall accumulation of at least £43million, a figure that makes it the 2nd early 2018 contender for the annual top 5 highest grossing films along with Black Panther, which itself has earned £49,457,708 so far.

Another surprise hit is A Quiet Place, which has broken the $100million mark in just 10 days in the North American market, a total that exceeds that of Spielberg’s latest blockbuster Ready Player One during the same period. The small budget horror – made for just $17million – is currently tracking ahead of 2017 low-budget horror mega-hit Split at this stage in its run, and has made a tidy £6,350,119 here in the UK after just 10 days of release. Worldwide, the John Krasinski written and directed feature has earned $154million worldwide, a figure 9 times that of its production budget. Come the end of 2018, we may be looking at this particular surprise hit as the most profitable movie of the year.

Similarly, Blumhouse have continued their run of hugely profitable releases with Truth or Dare, which gathered $18.7million during its opening in the US and nearly £1million here in the UK for a $22.3million worldwide opening weekend which dwarfed its budget of just $3.5million. This makes Truth or Dare a movie that has earned 6 times its budget in just 3 days – the equivalent of Rampage making $720million during the course of its opening weekend – an undeniably incredible feat.



Here are the top 15 films at the UK box office for the weekend of 13-15th April 2018:

  1. Rampage – weeks on release: 1 – weekend: £4,109,247 – total: £4,109,247
  2. Peter Rabbit – 5 – £2,021,162 – £38,093,407
  3. A Quiet Place – 2 – £1,907,585 – £6,350,119
  4. Ready Player One – 3 – £1,183,259 – £14,501,485
  5. Truth or Dare – 1 – £931,249 – £931,249
  6. The Greatest Showman – 16 – £623,091 – £44,928,180
  7. Love, Simon – 2 – £623,042 – £1,802,635
  8. Isle of Dogs – 3 – £502,487 – £5,131,027
  9. Black Panther – 9 – £452,734 – £49,457,708
  10. Duck Duck Goose – 3 – £357,087 – £3,229,768
  11. Pitbull. Ostatni Pies – 1 – £276,451 – £276,451
  12. Blockers – 3 – £274,440 – £3,557,364
  13. Ghost Stories – 2 – £265,098 – £1,252,223
  14. Luisa Miller – Met Opera 2018 – 1 – £231,297 – £231,297
  15. Blade Runner: The Final Cut – £228,809 – £1,396,414

The biggest news outside of the top 5 is the continued performance of The Greatest Showman which has now got some of the greatest legs of any movie in history, making it 16 weeks in the top 10 here in the UK, sitting as high as number 6 this weekend – mid April – despite being released in 2017. At an accumulation of just under £45million overall, the Hugh Jackman starring musical is now less than £1million away from surpassing the total of 2017’s 4th highest grossing movie Despicable Me 3, a figure it will likely surpass by the end of next weekend, marking yet another landmark on this incredibly well performing run.

In at number 11 is the latest Polish-made film to hit the chart, Pitbull. Ostatni Pies. The Polish-language action movie has become the 5th Polish chart entry in the past 12 months, further asserting the financial viability of Polish-language cinema in the UK and establishing Polish film as the 3rd most prolific national cinema in UK cinemas in the past 12 months behind American and British films respectively.

Finally, in at number 15 is the return of Blade Runner: The Final Cut, which earned over £200,000 from limited locations over the course of last weekend to mark its return to the chart some 36 years after the film’s initial release.

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