| Date | |
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| Author | DCM |
| Categories | box Office |
The Weekend Round-Up
On its third weekend Blade Runner 2049 went back to the top of the box office, falling 42% to £1.8m. That takes its total to date to £15.7m and it needs another £1.7m to overtake Mad Max: Fury Road’s final total of £17.4m. It’s also now the 20th biggest film of 2017, just £164k behind Kong: Skull Island, the 19th film in the list.
Meteorological disaster film, Geostorm, opened in second with £1.6m. Of recent films pitching humans against the elements, Into The Storm opened with £1.1m, which included two days of previews, while San Andreas opened with £4.6m (including £740k from previews), but that film had the box office clout of Dwayne Johnson on its side.
Last week’s number one, The LEGO Ninjago Movie fell to third, adding £1.3m for a new total of £5.6m. The LEGO Movie finished on £34.4m, while The LEGO Batman Movie finished on £27.4m, The LEGO Ninjago Movie is going to finish well short of those two, but it will be hoping to be the biggest family film of the half term week, which kicks off today.
Groundhog Day-style horror, Happy Death Day opened in fourth with £998k. Director, Christopher Landon has directed one horror film before, Scouts Guide To The Zombie Apocalypse, which came out around Halloween 2015, and Happy Death Day has already surpassed the final total of that film (£577k).
Armando Iannucci’s (Veep, The Thick Of It) latest comedy The Death Of Stalin completed the top five, opening with an impressive £995k (including £86k from previews). That was from just 138 screens so delivered the biggest screen average of the weekend. It expands to a greater number of screens this coming weekend, so should have a productive run. Iannucci’s last film, In The Loop finished its run with £2.2m, so The Death of Stalin will easily top that.
Outside the top five, My Little Pony opened in seventh with £916k, which included £132k from previews in Scotland. Like The LEGO Ninjago Movie, it will be looking for a strong half term week.
Overall the box office was down 17% from last weekend and down 33% from the same weekend last year, when the top films were Trolls, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back and The Girl On The Train.
Next Weekend
Thor: Ragnarok is the latest blockbuster from Marvel. Imprisoned, the mighty Thor finds himself in a lethal gladiatorial contest against the Hulk, his former ally. Thor must fight for survival and race against time to prevent the all-powerful Hela from destroying his home and the Asgardian civilization. DCM’s Zoe Jones says it’s her favourite Marvel film to date. It opens tomorrow.
Jigsaw is the latest horror film in the lucrative Saw franchise. Bodies are turning up around the city, each having met a uniquely gruesome demise. As the investigation proceeds, evidence points to one suspect: John Kramer, the man known as Jigsaw, who has been dead for ten years. The last Saw film, Saw 3D, grossed over £8.6m in 2010. Jigsaw opens on Thursday.
Breathe is the inspiring true love story of Robin and Diana Cavendish, an adventurous couple who refuse to give up in the face of a devastating disease. Their heartwarming celebration of human possibility marks the directorial debut of Andy Serkis and it recently opened the London Film Festival.
Call Me By Your Name is the latest film from Italian director Luca Guadagnino (A Bigger Splash). It’s set in 1983, and Armie Hammer plays the son of an American professor who is enamoured by the graduate student who comes to study and live with his family in their northern Italian home. Together, they share an unforgettable summer full of music, food, and romance that will forever change them. It’s one of the best reviewed films of the year and set to be a major awards contender.
The Buzz
Pixar’s Coco sees the genius animation studio take on the Mexican Dia de los Muerto celebration. The film was originally scheduled to come out in early-December but moved back to January 19. It opens in the US on 24 November and the first reviews are coming in and they suggests it’s up there with Pixar’s best. The Hollywood Reporter said ‘at every imaginative juncture, the filmmakers create a richly woven tapestry of comprehensively researched storytelling, fully dimensional characters, clever touches both tender and amusingly macabre, and vivid, beautifully textured visuals.’ The Wrap said ‘if an animated movie is going to offer children a way to process death, it’s hard to envision a more spirited, touching and breezily entertaining example than Coco’, while Variety said ‘Coco’s creators clearly had the perfect ending in mind before they’d nailed down all the other details, and though the movie drags in places, and features a few too many childish gags...the story’s sincere emotional resolution earns the sobs it’s sure to inspire.’
Across The Pond
Tyler Perry’s Boo 2! opened at the top of the box office with $21.2m, which is nearly $7m short of the first film’s opening last year. Geostorm opened in second with $13.7m and the audience was 56% male and 77% over the age of 25. Last week’s top film, Happy Death Day tumbled 64% on its second weekend to $9.4m, while Blade Runner 2049 fell to fourth, adding $7.4m for a new cume of $74.2m. Only the Brave completed the top five, opening with $6m.