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| Author | Zoe Aresti |
The Weekend Round-up
The Avengers: Age Of Ultron is now the biggest film in the UK in 2015. It grossed £3.5m over the weekend, overtaking Fast & Furious 7 in the process and crossed the £40m mark on Sunday to sit on £40.4m. On its third weekend in 2012, Avengers Assemble added £4.2m, so Ultron is falling away slightly faster but there’s still an outside chance it can reach £50m.
Spooks: The Greater Good was the highest new entry, opening in second with £1m (including £14k from previews).
Far From The Madding Crowd fell 43% to £834k in third and to date has grossed £3.6m. It performed strongly during the week last week, so expect the same again.
Unfriended fell just 51% to £663k in fourth, which is a much better hold than the 61% it fell on its second weekend in the US. After ten days in cinemas it has now grossed £2.8m.
The Age Of Adaline completed the top five, opening with £570k, which after its $13m debut in the US, is a little less than expected.
Outside of the top five, Big Game opened with £536k (including £60k from previews) in seventh.
On a quiet weekend, when the weather probably played a part, the box office was down 41% from last weekend and down 34% from the same weekend last year, which was boosted by £5.2m worth of previews for the number one film, Bad Neighbours.
Next Weekend
On a weekend with big potential, we have two contrasting major releases and a smaller regal themed one.
Mad Max: Fury Road finally hits cinemas on Thursday and the early reviews suggests this is going to be the action film to beat this summer. Justin Chang writing in Variety said it’s ‘exhilarating gonzo entertainment that makes even the nuttier Fast and Furious movies look like Autopia test drives’. It has also received five star reviews in Empire, Total Film, Time Out and The Telegraph.
Pitch Perfect 2 opens on Friday and off the back of strong reviews, it should comfortably beat the first film’s final total of £6.5m.
A Royal Night Out goes nationwide on Friday after banking £34k in previews on Friday evening.
The Buzz
Hot Pursuit has moved around the schedule a bit over the past couple of months but it has (hopefully) finally settled on 31 July 2015, a date previously occupied by Magic Mike XXL. It opened in the US on Friday and has been the recipient of some pretty scathing reviews. It currently has a score of 30 on Metacritic but not all critics were down on it. Stephanie Zacharek of The Village Voice said ‘Hot Pursuit is a quiet triumph of tone and timing. Nearly every scene is cut at just the right point, often topped off with a fantastic kicker of dialogue.’
Across The Pond
The Avengers: Age of Ultron delivered the second biggest second weekend of all time with $77.7m. Only the first Avengers has beaten that with $103.1m on its second weekend. To date, Ultron has banked a huge $313.4m and will become the biggest film of the year to date in the next week. Hot Pursuit opened in second with a disappointing $13.9m. Age of Adaline was in third, falling just 6% to $5.8m and to date has a cume of $31.8. Furious 7 also had a decent hold, falling 19% to $5.4m for a huge cume of £338.6m. Paul Blart: Mall Cop completed the top five, adding $5.3m and to date has grossed $58.2m.
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