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| Author | Zoe Aresti |
The Weekend Round-up
On its fourth week of release, Finding Dory swam against the tide and back up to the top spot. With the inclement weather returning over the weekend, families flocked back to the comfort of the cinema and Finding Dory was the biggest recipient, increasing its weekend take by 12% to £2.9m. That brings its total to £32.4m, making it the seventh biggest film of the year to date. It will climb at least a few more places up that list before the end of its run too.
Suicide Squad ended its two-week stay at the top, but had a solid hold in second, adding £2.6m and it has now banked £27.7m. That’s enough to place eighth in the top 10 of the year to date.
The highest new entry was David Brent: Life on the Road, which opened with £1.5m (including £13k from previews). That’s a disappointing result for the big screen debut of a classic comedy character, especially when you consider Absolutely Fabulous (£4.1m) and Dad’s Army (£2.1m) have both made the leap to cinema more successfully so far this year.
Jason Bourne also had a great weekend, falling just 15% to £1.3m. That’s a terrific hold for an action film on its fourth week and brings its total to £19.7m. It will pass £20m in the next couple of days and brings it closer to The Bourne Ultimatum’s series best total of £24m.
On a great weekend for family films, The BFG also increased its total from last weekend, going up 10% to £1.2m, which was enough for fifth place in the chart. It’s now the ninth biggest film of 2016 to date, with £25.8m.
Three new releases fell outside the top five, with horror, Lights Out, the highest with £1.1m in sixth. Swallows and Amazons opened in eighth with £676k and Nine Lives opened in ninth with £637k, which includes £123k from previews.
Like The BFG and Finding Dory, Pete’s Dragon was the third family title to have a great weekend, falling just 6% to £794k in seventh, and after 10 days in cinemas has banked £2.4m.
Overall the box office was up 3% from last weekend and up 37% from the same weekend last year, when the top four films were Paper Towns, Inside Out, Sinister 2 and Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation.
Next Weekend
War Dogs stars Jonah Hill and Miles Teller in the remarkable true life story of two 20-somethings in Florida who win a $300m contract from the Pentagon to arm America's allies in Afghanistan. It’s directed by Todd Phillips, who has had great box office success with The Hangover trilogy.
The Purge: Election Year is the third film in the low-budget horror series. In this instalment a presidential candidate is targeted for death after she vows to abolish the purge. The last film in the series, The Purge: Anarchy grossed £4.6m.
Bad Moms stars Mila Kunis, Kathryn Hahn and Kristen Bell as three overworked and under-appreciated mothers who ditch their conventional responsibilities for a jolt of long overdue freedom, fun, and comedic self-indulgence. It has had a successful run in the US, having grossed $85.8m to date.
Mechanic: Resurrection is the sequel to the Jason Statham action vehicle, The Mechanic, which grossed £3.2m in 2011. Statham plays Arthur Bishop, who is called into action when the love of his life is kidnapped by his most formidable foe. Tommy Lee Jones will be giving the film a thin air of respectability.
Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping is a mockumentary from SNL alumnus, The Lonely Island. Andy Samberg plays popstar Conner, who when it becomes clear that his solo album is a failure, does everything in his power to maintain his celebrity status.
Last, but by no means least, Julieta is the latest from five-time BAFTA winner, Pedro Almodóvar (Talk to Her, Volver, The Skin I Live In). After a casual encounter, a broken-hearted woman decides to confront her life and the most important events about her stranded daughter. It played in competition at the Cannes Film Festival, and like most Almodóvar films, is not to be missed.
The Buzz
Kubo and the Two Strings is the latest stop-motion marvel from the extremely patient people at Laika (The Boxtrolls, ParaNorman, Coraline). A young boy named Kubo must locate a magical suit of armour worn by his late father in order to defeat a vengeful spirit from the past. It opened in the US this past weekend and has received rave reviews, with The Hollywood Reporter calling it “an eye-popping delight that deftly blends colourful folklore with gorgeous, origami-informed visuals to immersive effect” and IndieWire saying it’s “staggeringly beautiful and immensely true, the best animated film of 2016 — one of the year’s best films of any kind, really”.
Across The Pond
Suicide Squad stayed in the top spot for the third successive weekend as it added $20.8m, bringing its total to $262.4m. Sausage Party again came in second, falling 54.8% to $15.5m and after 10 days in cinemas has banked a healthy $65.5m. The highest new entry was War Dogs, in third with $14.7m. Kubo and the Two Strings opened in fourth with $12.6m, while Ben-Hur completed the top five, opening with $11.2m.