| Date | |
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| Author | Mia Blakeney |
Box Office Round-up
Barbenheimer is here and has once again proven cinema’s unrivalled ability to create cultural moments. Smashing all expectations, both films between them grossed a huge £29.4m, contributing to this being the biggest weekend for box office since the opening weekend of Avengers: Endgame in April 2019, and the second biggest ever. It’s also the first time ever that two films have opened with over £10m.
Greta Gerwig’s Barbie opened with a frankly ridiculous £18.5m. That’s the biggest opening weekend since Spider-Man: No Way Home (£19.5m) in December 2019 and the third biggest since cinemas re-opened in May 2021 (behind No Time To Die and No Way Home) and it has smashed the record for biggest opening for a film directed by a woman, previously held by Sam Taylor-Johnson’s Fifty Shades Of Grey with £13.6m in 2015. Both No Way Home and No Time To Die crossed £90m, which seems like a tall order for Barbie, but don’t bet against it. Barbie has achieved all of this without playing on a single IMAX screen. It’s surely only a few weeks before it overtakes The Super Mario Bros. Movie (£54m) to become the biggest film of 2023.
Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer opened in second with an incredible £10.9m. Outside of his Batman trilogy, that’s Nolan’s biggest opening weekend in the UK & Ireland. It’s worth just re-iterating that this is a three hour 15-cert adult drama. It’s an amazing result and fully justifies Nolan and Universal’s decision to keep to the same release date as Barbie. Nolan’s biggest film in the UK & Ireland is 2017’s Dunkirk which finished on £56.8m but that film opened lower than Oppenheimer. It’s going to be an exciting road ahead for Barbenheimer.
While all other films understandably took a bit of a hit this week it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One fell to third adding £2.9m, a drop of 54% (once previews are removed). That takes its total after 14 days in cinemas to £16.4m. It has overtaken Mission: Impossible 3 (£15.5m) to become the sixth highest grossing film in the series and next in its sights is Mission: Impossible 2 on £17.3m.
Elemental posted a strong hold in the circumstances, falling just 42% to £1.4m. That takes its total after three weekends in cinemas to £9m. Last year’s big Pixar film, Lightyear, finished its run with £10.5m so by this time next week Elemental should have overtaken that. We’re now just getting into the school holidays, so it should be a fruitful few weeks for the family animation.
Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny rounded out the top five adding £677k, a drop of 62% from last weekend. That takes its total after three weekends in cinemas to £18m, and is now the ninth biggest film released in 2023.
Outside of the top five, The Super Mario Bros. Movie is back in the top 10 on its 16th week of release. It added £76k which takes its total to £54.3m. It’s the fourth highest grossing animated film of all time in the UK & Ireland.
Next Weekend
Talk To Me is reportedly one of the best horror films in years. When a group of friends discover how to conjure spirits using an embalmed hand, they become hooked on the new thrill, until one of them goes too far and unleashes terrifying supernatural forces. It looks terrifying.
The Buzz
Strays has been trailering with Oppenheimer this weekend (along with Dune Part II, Killers Of The Flower Moon and others) and is in cinemas on 17 August. It’s a comedy about an abandoned dog that teams up with other strays to get revenge on his former owner. The dogs can all talk and are voiced by Will Ferrell, Isla Fisher, and Jamie Foxx amongst others. Despite the fact this is coming out in the middle of the school holidays, this is most definitely not family friendly and has been given a 15 cert by the BBFC. It’s one of the best films for 16-34 adults for the rest of the summer.
Across The Pond
Barbie opened in the top spot with an incredible $162m, the biggest opening weekend of the year and biggest ever for a film directed by a woman. Oppenheimer was hugely impressive in second opening with $82m. Sound Of Freedom continued its remarkable run, adding $20.1m for a new total of $124.7m. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One fell to fourth adding $19.5m for a new total of $118.8m, and Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny completed the top five, adding $6.7m for a new total of $159m.