Peter Rabbit 2 Leads UK Box Office Reopening

After many cinemas remained closed for the prior 5-month lockdown, some even remaining closed since last March until this week, a lot was riding on May 17^th. With Sony Pictures undeterred to stick with a May release date for Peter Rabbit 2, and even moving it forward to May 17^th, operators were thankful and excited.

Peter Rabbit 2, has so far according to released figures, dominated the box office at over 330 locations from Mon-Thurs alone. On the reopening this Monday the film took £226,840. Nomadland which is on Disney Plus took an estimated £96k, with Godzilla vs Kong sitting on £94k according to Comscore.

For Monday alone, the total box office figure was 66.4% of the equivalent date in 2019 which for context had Avengers Endgame and Detective Pikachu playing. Peter Rabbit 2 continued to lead at #1 across Monday, Tuesday, (taking another £150k) Wednesday and most likely Thursday too.

Today sees the new start of the theatrical week, however, there isn’t really a big release that will change the figures above, the most notable is perhaps Billie Piper’s directional debut Rare Beasts which was rescheduled from 2020.

Half-Term Hype For Pert Rabbit 2?

Credit: Columbia Pictures

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Peter Rabbit 2 should hold across the next week into half-term when it should continue to get a new lease of life from the school holidays. Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, and Cruella will launch on May 27-28^th.

With 80% of cinemas in England, Scotland, & Wales now open, and Northern Irish cinemas due to open on May 24^th, and an expected gross for this week sitting at £2-3m, UK audiences are seemingly ready to return.

Big news coming from Universal in the past 24 hours moving Fast & Furious 9 ahead in the UK a week to June 24^th, now a day before the US in order to avoid a clash with Black Widow which will be a huge boost for cinemas.

Elsewhere in Europe, France began reopening its cinemas this past Wednesday and despite the 9pm curfews and distancing regulations almost 300,000 cinema-goers returned.

Have you been back to the cinema yet?

Will you be going in the next few weeks?

Let us know in the comments below.

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