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| Author | Zoe Aresti |
The Weekend Round-up
Arrival has been touted as one of the best sci-fi films in recent years and it duly had an impressive opening, kicking off its run with £2.9m, which included £354k from Thursday previews. That’s director, Denis Villeneuve’s best opening yet, beating last year’s Sicario (£1.6m) and 2013’s Prisoners (£1.4m).
Doctor Strange fell to second but had another strong weekend, easing just 31% to £2.4m. That’s a much better hold than a typical comic book film, and brings its total to £19.6m. It will now be looking at a total comfortably north of £25m.
Trolls also had a great weekend, falling just 9% to £1.8m. It has now grossed £19.3m, and will have Zootropolis’ final total of £24m in its sights.
On a weekend where most of the holdovers experienced strong holds, The Accountant too had a good weekend, falling 33% to £1m. After 10 days in cinemas, the Ben Affleck action-thriller has grossed £3.6m.
A Street Cat Named Bob completed the top five, falling just 12% to £865k and after 10 days in cinemas has banked £2.6m.
Outside of the top five, Nocturnal Animals too fell just 12% (once previews are removed) to £617k in sixth, and has now grossed £1.8m.
In seventh, The Girl on the Train added £477k and has now reached £22.9m, which means it has overtaken Gone Girl (£22.6m), the film it has been most often compared with.
Overall the box office was down 7% from last weekend and down 23% from the same weekend last year, when the top four films were SPECTRE, The Lady in the Van, Hotel Transylvania 2 and Prem Ratan Dhan Payo.
Next Weekend
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is in cinemas on Friday and should be one of the biggest films of the year. Written by J.K. Rowling, it follows the adventures of writer Newt Scamander in New York's secret community of witches and wizards 70 years before Harry Potter reads his book in school. The first reviews have been released with The Guardian giving it the full five stars, and The Telegraph and Time Out both giving it four stars.
The Buzz
Moana is Disney’s big animation for this Christmas. Newcomer Auli'i Cravalho voices Moana, a young woman who uses her navigational talents to set sail for a fabled island. Joining her on the adventure is her hero, the legendary demi-god Maui, voiced by Dwayne Johnson. The first reviews are in and are glowing. Empire called it ‘A crowd-pleasing oceanic musical with big tunes and beguiling characters’, Variety said it ‘marks a return to the heights of the Disney Renaissance’ and The Hollywood Reporter went as far to say it’s ‘as appealing equally to the eyes, ears, heart and funny bone, Moana represents contemporary Disney at its finest’. It’s out on 2 December.
Across The Pond
Doctor Strange added an impressive $43m in its second weekend, which brings its 10-day total to $153m. Trolls stayed in second, falling 25% to $35m, which means its cume is now $94m. Arrival was the highest new entry, kicking off its run with $24.1m. Fourth place was taken by seasonal comedy Almost Christmas, which kicked off its run with $15.1m. Mel Gibson’s Hacksaw Ridge completed the top five, adding £10.6m for a new cume of $32.1m.