| Date | |
|---|---|
| Author | Mia Blakeney |
The Weekend Box Office Round-up
With the eagerly anticipated Top Gun: Maverick hitting cinemas on Wednesday, there were no major new entries this weekend, so Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness stayed in the top spot for a third successive weekend. The Marvel blockbuster added £3m, a drop of 49% from last weekend (when it saw a 62% drop). That takes its total to £35.3m and it’s now £5.5m behind The Batman, the highest grossing film of 2022 to date.
Second place was taken by the indie-sensation Everything Everywhere All At Once, which expanded its screen count this weekend and saw an upswing of 50% from last weekend (once previews are removed) to £840k. That takes its total to £1.9m and if its US performance is anything to go by it can be expected to hold up well over the coming weeks. Downton Abbey: A New Era came in third and posted its best hold to date, falling just 22% to £757k. That takes its total to £12.3m and it’s now the ninth biggest film of 2022 to date. It looks like it will at least finish over half the total of the first Downton Abbey (£28.3m).
Sonic The Hedgehog 2 once again came in fourth, posting a great hold, falling just 19% to £424k. That takes its total to an impressive £24.7m, over £5m more than the first film and with no major family film released for May half term next week, it should extend that gap some way further. Completing the top five is The Lost City which increased on last weekend’s total by 2% to £357k. That takes its total to £9.8m and over the next week it should cross the £10m mark – a great achievement for an original romantic comedy.
Outside of the top five, the latest film from India to crack the top 10 is Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2, which opened in eighth with £123k. While Terence Davies’ Benediction opened in 10th with £101k, which includes £20k from previews.
Overall, the box office was down 34% from last weekend.
Next Weekend
Top Gun: Maverick is the latest film from Tom Cruise Joseph Kosinski (Tron: Legacy, Oblivion). Tom Cruise returns as Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell who is a top gun pilot and doesn’t play by the rules. In this brand new story he will ride a motorcycle without a helmet, play volleyball, and get results. It’s in cinemas on Wednesday and looks set to be one of the biggest films of the year.
The Buzz
Three Thousand Years Of Longing is the latest film from ‘mad genius’ (according to the trailer) George Miller (Mad Max: Fury Road). Tilda Swinton plays a lonely scholar who, on a trip to Istanbul, discovers a Djinn who offers her three wishes in exchange for his freedom. Idris Elba plays the Djinn. It premiered at the Cannes Film Festival last week and the first reviews have been published online. David Ehrlich in Indiewire called it ‘a bittersweet modern fairy tale from one of cinema’s most bombastic virtuosos’, while SlashFilm said it ‘tells a fantastic and poignant story about storytelling, longing, and love’ and it ‘reaffirms George Miller as one of the great magicians of cinema working today’. While The Guardian weren’t quite as gushing they still said ‘it’s so defiantly out of step with fashion that there’s finally something faintly glorious about it.’. It’s in cinemas on 30 September.
Across The Pond
Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness stayed on top for a third weekend, adding $31.6m, a drop of 49% from last weekend, which takes its total to $342.1m. Downton Abbey: A New Era opened in second with $16m which, as with the UK release, is some way down on the $31m the first film opened with. The Bad Guys came in third, adding $6.1m which takes its total to $74.4m. Sonic The Hedgehog 2 came in fourth, falling 15% to $3.9m and a new tot of $181m. Alex Garland’s Men completed the top five, opening with $3.3m.