Box Office: Mufasa Still Reigns

    Date
    Author Mia Blakeney

Box Office Round-up

Mufasa: The Lion King stayed in the top spot with £2.2m, down 33% from last weekend. That takes its total after four weekends in cinemas to just over £24m and in the big Mufasa vs Sonic 3 competition, it looks like we can now crown Mufasa as the victor, despite Sonic 3 racing out of the blocks. With February half-term not for another month, and Dog Man the only family film released between now and then, there should be plenty more to come for Mufasa.

We’re only 13 days into the year but we already have a breakout hit as Nosferatu added another £2m, which takes its total to a hugely impressive £8.8m. In terms of horror films last year, Alien: Romulus (£13.4m) and A Quiet Place: Day One (£10m) were the two biggest but they were from established franchises. The biggest non-franchise horror was Longlegs with £8.1m, and Nosferatu has already surpassed that. It will surpass A Quiet Place: Day One in the next week and Alien: Romulus might not be safe either.

Sonic The Hedgehog 3 added £1.5m in third, which takes its total to £20.9m. It has now surpassed the £19.3m total of the first Sonic The Hedgehog, and is closing in on the £27m Sonic The Hedgehog 2 finished on.

We Live In Time added £1.3m on its second weekend which takes its total to £5.2m. January last year saw another moving British drama hit cinemas in All Of Us Strangers. That film finished its run with £5.3m, so We Live In Time will surpass that in the next couple of days.

New entry Babygirl rounded out the top five, opening with an impressive £1.1m, which includes £51k from previews. In January 2020, Nicole Kidman starred in Bombshell, which opened with £742k on its way to £2.3m. Babygirl is going to fly past that total.

Outside of the top five there were two other new entries that have Oscar and BAFTA ambitions, as A Real Pain, which saw Kieran Culkin win the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor last week, opened in sixth with a shade under £1m, which includes £293k from previews. Maria, which stars Angelina Jolie as Maria Callas, opened in 10th with £509k (including £126k from previews).  

Next Weekend

A Complete Unknown is a biopic of Bob Dylan starring Timothée Chalamet. In 1961, an unknown 19-year-old Bob Dylan arrives in New York City with his guitar and forges relationships with music icons on his meteoric rise, culminating in a groundbreaking performance that reverberates worldwide.

Wolf Man is a new version of the classic werewolf horror from Leigh Whannell (The Invisible Man). A family at a remote farmhouse is attacked by an unseen animal, but as the night stretches on, the father begins to transform into something unrecognizable. Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner star.

William Tell is a period action-drama starring Claes Bang as the titular character. The narrative unfolds in the 14th Century amidst the days of the Holy Roman Empire where Europe's nations fiercely vie for supremacy and the ambitious Austrians, desiring more land, encroach upon Switzerland, a serene and pastoral nation.

Here re-unites Robert Zemeckis with Tom Hanks and Robin Wright for the first time since Forrest Gump. It’s a generational story about families and the special place they inhabit, sharing in love, loss, laughter, and life.

The Buzz

Companion is set to be one of the most talked about thrillers of Q1. From the makers of Barbarian, it stars Jack Quaid (TV’s The Boys) and Sophie Thatcher (Heretic) and features a mysterious plot and trailer. A billionaire's death sets off a chain of events for Iris (Thatcher) and her friends during a weekend trip to his lakeside estate. It should be one of the best films for a 16-34 audience in Q1 and is in cinemas on 31 January. 

Across The Pond

Action sequel Den Of Thieves 2 opened in the top spot with a solid $15.5m. Mufasa: The Lion King added $13.2m in second, down 44% from last weekend, which takes its total to $188.8m. Sonic The Hedgehog 3 added $11m in third for a new total of $204.5m. In third Nosferatu continued its terrific run, adding $6.8m which takes its total to $81.8m, while Moana 2 rounded out the top five, adding $6.5m for a new total of $434.9m.