| Date | |
|---|---|
| Author | Mia Blakeney |
Box Office Round-up
Avatar: The Way Of Water stayed in the top spot for the fourth successive weekend, adding £5.8m, a drop of 23% from last weekend. That takes its total after four weekends in cinemas to £57.3m and the road ahead for this title still appears to be long and fruitful. After its fourth weekend, Top Gun: Maverick was also on £57.3m, although that was from two extra days after opening on a Wednesday.
In a terrific result, Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody increased on last weekend’s total by 1% (after previews are removed). Word of mouth appears to be strong for this title and £1.4m from Friday to Sunday takes its total to £6.3m. A couple more holds like that would see it get to £10m.
Roald Dahl’s Matilda The Musical has slowed down a bit now the holiday period has ended but it still added £1.2m over the weekend, a drop of 42% from last weekend. That takes its total to a shade under £24m. It’s closing in on the final total of Elvis (£27.6m), the last big musical to cross £20m.
Tom Hanks’ A Man Called Otto was the weekend’s highest new entry, opening with £1.1m, which includes £33k from previews. This is a remake of a Swedish film called A Man Called Ove, which grossed £212k across its run in 2017. Event cinema returned to the top five as Andre Rieu in Dublin 2023 banked £716k.
Outside of the top five, awards contender Till opened in sixth with £327k, which includes £39k from previews. The Menu added £139k in ninth, an increase of 30% from last weekend, and that’s with the film launching on Disney+ last Wednesday! It is now up to £3.9m.
The box office is down 21% from last weekend and up 29% from the same weekend last year.
Next Weekend
Empire of Light stars Olivia Colman, Micheal Ward and Colin Firth and is the new film from Oscar-winning director, Sam Mendes (1917, Skyfall). It’s a drama about the power of human connection during turbulent times, set in an English coastal town in the early 1980s. It’s in cinemas from today (Monday).
M3GAN is the latest horror sensation that has had a barnstorming opening in North America (see below). A robotics engineer at a toy company builds a life-like doll that begins to take on a life of its own.
Tár is the hotly tipped Oscar contender starring Cate Blanchett. Set in the international world of Western classical music, the film centers on Lydia Tár, widely considered one of the greatest living composer-conductors and the very first female director of a major German orchestra.
The Buzz
65 is an original sci-fi thriller starring Adam Driver as an astronaut crash lands on a mysterious planet only to discover he's not alone. For months we have been speculating what the 65 in the title refers to, and as the trailer reveals it’s set 65 million years ago, on earth and Adam Driver has to use his futuristic technology to fight… dinosaurs! Who doesn’t want to see that? There’s some high-profile sequels in March (Creed III, Scream VI, John Wick: Chapter 4) but, like M3GAN, an original thriller with a dynamite premise and a strong trailer could be just what 16-34s are looking for.
Across The Pond
Avatar: The Way of Water crossed the half a billion mark in North America, adding $45m, a drop of 33% from last weekend. That takes its total to $517m and its global total is now over $1.7bn, making it the seventh highest grossing film of all-time. M3GAN opened in second with a sensational $30.2m, which is comfortably ahead of 2022’s big horror hits, Smile ($22.6m) and The Black Phone ($23.6m). Puss in Boots: The Last Wish fell just 22% in its third weekend, adding $13.1m for a new total of $87.7m. A Man Called Otto opened in fourth with $4.2m, and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever completed the top five, adding $3.4m for a new total of $445.4m.