| Date | |
|---|---|
| Author | DCM |
| Categories | cinema |
The Weekend Round-up
In a stunning performance, a bear from Peru with a penchant for marmalade sandwiches came in and shook things up at the top of the box office. Few would have predicted that Paddington would out-gross The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 on the huge franchise’s second weekend, but the beloved children’s character opened with a tremendous £5.1m. It has been looking like Paddington would be the family film to beat this Christmas for a while and it proved to be the case. That opening is bigger than the £4.7m Frozen kicked off with last December and that film had the benefit of 3D, which the makers of Paddington eschewed. Paddington also delivered distributor StudioCanal’s biggest ever start, far eclipsing their previous best of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy’s £2.8m in 2011.
Despite coming second best to a bear, a weekend take of £4.9m is still a decent performance for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 and after eleven days in cinemas, it has already cracked the top 10 biggest films of the year. It has now grossed £21.2m and at the same point in its run Catching Fire was on £21.7m, so there’s not that much to choose between them. On a great weekend for StudioCanal, The Imitation Game had another strong hold in third, falling just 33% to £1.4m and has now grossed a terrific £9.5m. It’s already the distributor’s fourth biggest film of all time and is certain to overtake Rush’s £10.1m in second, although Paddington is certain to overtake all of them.
Horrible Bosses 2 opened in fourth with £1.3m, which is down 38% from the first film’s £2m opening weekend. Allied with its disappointing performance in the US (see below), it’s clear that this sequel is not connecting with audiences the way the first film did. Interstellar completed the top five, adding a further £1.2m and has now earned £18m.
Lower down the top 15, Paddington’s success meant that Nativity 3: Dude, Where’s My Donkey suffered, falling 49% to £795k. On its third weekend in 2012, Nativity 2: Danger In The Manger fell just 20% to £966k, so it looks like this latest instalment may not have the staying power in the face of strong competition. In seventh Frozen made a return to the top 10, adding £178k for a gargantuan cume of £41m. It should add to that total in the run up to Christmas.
On another strong weekend, the box office was down 23% from last weekend but up a chunky 32% from the same weekend last year, when Free Birds, Saving Mr. Banks and Carrie were the biggest new entries.
Next Weekend
Penguins Of Madagascar is the biggest release of next weekend but after an underwhelming start in the US, it may struggle to overcome Paddington’s barnstorming performance. There’s also a host of smaller independent films hoping to provide a strong counter-programming option. Bill Murray stars in St.Vincent, which has charmed its way to $39m in the US. Jude Law plays the captain of a submarine crew in Black Sea, which Empire awarded four stars and called a ‘superbly shot men-on-a-mission thriller with chest-tightening tension and striking contemporary resonance’. There’s also Jason Reitman’s Men, Women And Children, which after its disastrous US performance is now being marketed, somewhat disingenuously, as a The Fault In Our Stars-style romance. The Pyramid is a spooky horror starring James Buckley (Jay from The Inbetweeners).
The Buzz
Ridley Scott’s Exodus: Gods And Kings is out on Boxing day and the first reviews went online on Sunday. Variety went all in, stating ‘what’s remarkable about Scott’s genuinely imposing Old Testament psychodrama is the degree to which he succeeds in conjuring a mighty and momentous spectacle’. Robbie Collin in The Telegraph said it was ‘bold and uncompromising stuff’, while Catherine Shoard in The Guardian said it’s ‘half turkey, half triumph’.
Across The Pond
After the five day Thanksgiving weekend, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 topped the box office for the second successive frame, falling 53% to $56.9m and after ten days in cinemas has earned $225.7m. That makes it the seventh biggest film of 2014 and it’s sure to finish in the top two come the end of the year. The weekend’s big family new entry was Penguins of Madagascar, which opened with $25.8m and after five days has grossed $36m. The previous two Madagascar films opened with over $60m on three day weekends, so this is a disappointing start. Big Hero 6 added $18.8m and has now grossed a very healthy $167.2m. Interstellar experienced a holiday boost adding $15.8m from Friday to Sunday, which is up 3% from the previous week and to date the sci-fi epic has banked $147.1m. New entry Horrible Bosses 2 completed the top five, with $15.7m from Friday to Sunday, which is down 45% from the first Horrible Bosses’ opening weekend. Having opened on Wednesday it has grossed $23m over its first five days.