| Date | |
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| Author | Mia Blakeney |
Box Office Round-up
In quite big news, Smile is really taking off. The Paramount horror INCREASED on last weekend by 17% (once previews are removed) to £1.7m. There wasn’t a noticeable increase in locations showing it either, (519 last weekend vs 521 this weekend) so it’s even more impressive. After 12 days in cinemas it’s up to £4.8m, overtaking The Black Phone, and it’s looking on track to become the biggest horror film of 2022, likely to overtake both Scream (£7.6m) and Nope (£8m). An amazing result and yet another hit for Paramount this year, who have already released Top Gun: Maverick and Sonic The Hedgehog 2.
The Woman King opened in second with £1.3m, which includes £380k from previews. While this has proved a hit in North America, it hasn’t had quite the same reception here but it’s still a solid start. In Comscore’s PostTrak exit-polling survey it received the full five star rating and a 97% Total Positive reaction, so hopefully word-of-mouth will be strong with this title too.
Don’t Worry Darling fell to third, adding £1m, a drop of £1m from last weekend. That takes its total to £8.2m and today it should overtake Where The Crawdads Sing (£8.2m). It looks like it will get to £10m before the end of its run, which is where House Of Gucci ended up. Ticket To Paradise came in fourth adding £861k, a drop of 36% from last weekend, which takes its total to £6.7m. While it looks likely to fall short of The Lost City’s £10.7m final total, it’s yet more proof that the star-led romantic comedy is back.
Amsterdam completed the top five and was this weekend’s major disappointment. The cast includes more big names than any other film this year (or almost any year) but the critics were not impressed, and audiences have been cool on it too with it opening with £633k. Director, David O. Russell’s most recent films include American Hustle (£13.7m), Silver Linings Playbook (£5.3m) and Joy (£5.2m), with all three Oscar-nominated. Sadly, Amsterdam won’t get near those numbers and is likely to miss out come awards time too.
Outside of the top five, The Lost King opened in seventh with £369k, which includes £18k from previews. This is another film that has opened more quietly than expected. Director Stephen Frears (Philomena, The Queen, Victoria And Abdul) is used to making films that connect with an older audience but this film was met with mostly two and three star reviews and its long-term prospects are not great.
The box office was down 18% from last weekend and down 60% from the same weekend last year, which is no surprise as that was the second weekend of No Time To Die.
Next Weekend
Halloween Ends is apparently the climax of the saga of Michael Myers and Laurie Strode. Jamie Lee Curtis plays Laurie Strode for the last time. Maybe.
Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile is a family film based on the children's book about a crocodile that lives in New York City. It stars Javier Bardem, Constance Wu, Shawn Mendes and the songs of Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (The Greatest Showman, La La Land).
Emily is a biopic of Emily Bronte, one of the world's most famous, enigmatic, and provocative writers. Emma Mackey stars.
The Buzz
Roald Dahl’s Matilda The Musical is in cinemas on 25 November and is set to be one of the biggest films this Christmas. It’s an adaptation of the Tony and Olivier award-winning musical and tells the story of an extraordinary girl who, armed with a sharp mind and a vivid imagination, dares to take a stand to change her story with miraculous results. It had its world premiere as the opening night film of the BFI London Film Festival last Wednesday and has been very warmly received. Robbie Collin in The Telegraph gave it the full five stars saying ‘like Dahl’s book, everything in this film, from tenderness to terror, is so exuberant.’ Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian was also impressed calling it a ‘tangy bit of entertainment, served up with gusto’. It sounds like one not to miss.
Across The Pond
Smile had a terrific weekend in North America too, staying in the top spot with $17.6m, a drop of just 22% from last weekend. It’s now up $49.9m and is tracking ahead of The Black Phone, currently the biggest horror film of 2022. Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile opened in second with $11.5m, while the star-laden Amsterdam struggled in North America too. It opened with $6.5m and with lukewarm reviews the long-term prospects are not great. The Woman King came in fourth, adding $5.3m which takes its total to $54.1m. Don't Worry Darling completed the top five adding $3.5m for a new total of $38.5m.