| Date | |
|---|---|
| Author | Tom Linay |
The Weekend Round-up
- Aladdin is still flying, posting another terrific hold falling just 20% to £3.9m. That takes its total to £26.1m and it’s now the third biggest film of the year to date, having overtaken the other Disney live-action film of 2019 so far, Dumbo, which is now on £25m. Next on the list is Captain Marvel with £39.4m, which looks to be out of Aladdin’s reach but a total north of £30m looks likely.
- X-Men: Dark Phoenix was this weekend’s highest new entry in second kicking off with £3.8m, which includes £1m from previews after opening on Wednesday. The last X-Men film, 2016’s X-Men: Apocalypse opened with £7.4m, which included £2m from previews, so Dark Phoenix only managed to gross just over half that total. The lowest grossing X-Men film to date is the very first X-Men film from 2000, which finished its run with £15m, while Days Of Future Past from 2014 grossed over £27m. Disappointingly, Dark Phoenix looks like it’s going to be the new low point for the series.
- Rocketman posted a great hold, falling just 13% to £2.2m. Impressively its Saturday box office was up 21% week-on-week, proving that Saturday night’s alright for going to the cinema as well as fighting. After three weekends in cinemas it’s now on £16.1m. At the same point in its run, A Star Is Born was on £14.9m and still had the legs to get to £30m, so hopefully Rocketman can repeat that feat.
- The Secret Life Of Pets 2 fell to fourth, adding £2m, a drop of 31%. That takes its total to £14.9m and at the same stage of its run, the first Secret Life Of Pets was up to £22.3m. With the school holidays starting in just over a month, this sequel still has a good shot of reaching £20m.
- Live event, Take That – Greatest Hits Live, completed the top five. It was in cinemas for one night on Saturday and managed to gross and impressive £1.8m in that time.
- Outside of the top five, Bollywood title Bharat opened in seventh with £610k (including £248k from previews), Secret Cinema’s Casino Royale makes its first appearance in the top 15 in eighth spot, while Liam Gallagher documentary, As It Was opens in 11th with £363k.
Overall the box office is up 8% from last weekend and down 7% from the same weekend last year when the top films were Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Solo: A Star Wars Story, Deadpool 2 and Book Club.
Next Weekend
- Men In Black International is a brand new adventure for some brand new people who dress in black, this time played by Tessa Thompson and Chris Hemsworth. In this new adventure, they tackle their biggest threat to date: a mole in the Men in Black organization.
- Diego Maradona is documentary about the greatest footballer of the 20th century. Asif Kapadia (Amy, Senna) constructs the film from over 500 hours of never-before-seen footage.
The Buzz
The long awaited and much delayed Ad Astra finally has a confirmed release date and a first trailer. Brad Pitt stars as an astronaut who travels to the outer edges of the solar system to find his father and unravel a mystery that threatens the survival of our planet. He uncovers secrets which challenge the nature of human existence and our place in the cosmos. Director, James Gray has been something of a critical darling over the last decade with films such as The Lost City Of Z and The Immigrant, but this is by far his biggest film to date, which you can see from the new trailer (https://youtu.be/J8lVYSSPQpU). It’s in cinemas on Wednesday, 18 September.
Across The Pond
The Secret Life of Pets 2 opened in the top spot with $47.1m, which is less than half the $104.3m the original opened with in 2016. Dark Phoenix opened in second with $33m, which makes it the first film in the X-Men series to open with less than $50m. Aladdin had another solid hold in third, adding $24.5m, which takes its total to $232.3m. Last weekend’s top film Godzilla: King of the Monsters took a big tumble, falling 68% to $15.5m, which takes its total to $78.6m. Rocketman completed the top five, adding $14m for a new total of $50.5m.