| Date | |
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| Author | Zoe Aresti |
The Weekend Round-up
Black Panther shows no sign of relinquishing its hold on the top spot, fighting off all newcomers to stay in first place for a fourth successive week. It added £2.9m, which takes its total to £39.8m. It’s now the fourth highest grossing Marvel film of all time, only behind Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2 (£41m), Avengers: Age of Ultron (£48.3m) and Avengers Assemble (£51.9m). It will overtake GOTG Vol. 2 this week and still has a chance of catching Avengers: Age of Ultron.
The Greatest Showman did its usual defying expectations thing in second place. On its 11th week, it increased on last weekend by 26%. To any other film that’s a remarkable result, but The Greatest Showman is not any other film. That takes its total to £37.3m and with the Easter holidays on the horizon, it should get well past £40.8m, which is the mark set by Les Misérables in 2013.
After its opening weekend was hit by the bad weather, Red Sparrow delivered a solid second weekend hold, falling 31% to £1.2m. That takes its total to £4m and it has already overtaken the final total of Jennifer Lawrence’s last film, mother!, which finished on £2.3m.
Game Night also had a strong hold in fourth, falling 16% once previews are removed to £887k. It has now grossed a solid £2.6m and has vastly outperformed March 2017’s big studio comedy CHiPs: Law And Disorder which finished on £478k.
Lady Bird completed the top five adding £703k for a cume of £4m. Whilst it came away from the Oscars empty handed, it is clearly proving a hit with cinemagoers.
Outside of the top five, Finding Your Feet also had a sensational hold, increasing on last weekend by 22% to £574k, and The Shape Of Water saw a big Oscar bounce, increasing on last weekend by 31% to £552k, which takes its total to £6.3m.
For the first time since December 2015 there were no new entries in the top 10, with You Were Never Really Here the highest new entry in 12th with £288k (including £78k from previews).
Overall, the box office was down 17% from last weekend and down 27% from the same weekend last year, when the top films were Kong: Skull Island, Logan, The LEGO Batman Movie and Viceroy’s House.
Next Weekend
Tomb Raider is the latest adaptation of the hit video game. Alicia Vikander stars as Lara Croft, the fiercely independent daughter of a missing adventurer who must push herself beyond her limits when she finds herself on the island where her father disappeared. It’s in cinemas in 3D on Wednesday and then everywhere else from Thursday.
Peter Rabbit is a feature adaptation of Beatrix Potter's classic tale of a rebellious rabbit trying to sneak into a farmer's vegetable garden. James Corden voices Peter, while Rose Byrne, Margot Robbie and Domhnall Gleeson are also in the classy cast. It has been out in the US for a month and is pushing $100m. It’s in cinemas on Friday.
The Square won the biggest prize, The Palme d’Or at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival. A prestigious Stockholm museum's chief art curator finds himself in times of both professional and personal crisis as he attempts to set up a controversial new exhibit. It stars Claes Bang, Elisabeth Moss and Dominic West.
Mary Magdalene is the story of the biblical figure, played by Rooney Mara. It’s directed by Garth Davis, who had a big hit in 2017 with Lion.
The Buzz
Ready Player One is Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of Ernest Cline’s cult sci-fi novel. When the creator of a virtual reality world called the OASIS dies, he releases a video in which he challenges all OASIS users to find his Easter Egg, which will give the finder his fortune. The film had its world premiere at SXSW on Saturday evening and the responses from attendees were universally positive. The Hollywood Reporter called it ‘a rollicking adventure through worlds both bleak and fantastic’, while Indiewire said it’s ‘Spielberg’s biggest crowdpleaser in years, a CGI ride that wields the technology with an eye for payoff’. It’s in cinemas on 28 March.
Across The Pond
Black Panther topped the weekend box office for the fourth week in a row, adding $40.8m for a huge new cume of $561.7m. That’s the third largest fourth weekend of all time and it’s now the seventh biggest film in US history. A Wrinkle in Time opened in second with $33.1m, which is very similar to Tomorrowland’s opening in 2015. That film went on to gross $93.4, so A Wrinkle In Time will be looking for a similar performance. The Strangers: Prey at Night opened in third with $10.4m and Red Sparrow added $8.5m in fourth, which takes its total to $31.4m. Game Night completed the top five, adding $7.9m for a new cume of $45m.