| Date | |
|---|---|
| Author | Tom Linay |
| Categories | box Office |
The Weekend Round-up
- Marvel have done it again. Their latest solo superhero movie, Captain Marvel, opened with a sensational £12.8m, by far the biggest opening weekend of the year and the biggest since Avengers: Infinity War. It’s also Marvel’s sixth highest of all time, and even ahead of the three day opening of last year’s phenomenon, Black Panther, which opened with £10.4m.
- Last weekend’s top film, Fighting With My Family fell to second place but posted a solid hold, falling just 37% to £1m. That takes its total to £3.6m.
- The LEGO Movie 2 had another decent weekend, falling 41% to £816k. That takes its total to £16.8m and it’s now the third biggest film of 2018 to date, having overtaken The Favourite.
- Instant Family is still having a great run, falling just 38% to £673k in fourth. It’s now on £9m and still has a good shot at £10m.
- How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World completed the top five, adding £655k, which was enough to take it over the £18m mark. It’s now on £18.1m and closing in on the biggest film of 2019 to date, Mary Poppins Returns, which is on £19.1m. Of course, Captain Marvel will have soared past them both within a week.
- Outside of the top five, Oscar Best Picture winner, Green Book, is still experiencing a boost, adding £519k, a drop of 31% on last weekend – the best in the top 10. That takes its total to £8.4m.
Overall the box office is up 65% from last weekend and up 83% from the same weekend last year when the top films were Black Panther, The Greatest Showman, Red Sparrow and Game Night.
Next Weekend
- What Men Want is a spin on the 2000 Mel Gibson comedy What Women Want. Taraji P. Henson is a woman who is boxed out by the male sports agents in her profession, but gains an unexpected edge over them when she develops the ability to hear men's thoughts.
- Ben Is Back is a drama starring Julia Roberts and Lucas Hedges. Hedges plays a drug addicted teenage boy who shows up unexpectedly at his family's home on Christmas Eve.
- The Prodigy is a horror about a mother concerned about her young son's disturbing behaviour thinks something supernatural may be affecting him.
- Fisherman’s Friends is a musical comedy about ten fisherman from Cornwall who are signed by Universal Records and achieve a top ten hit with their debut album of Sea Shanties.
- Benjamin is the directorial debut of Simon Amstell. It’s a bittersweet comedy about a rising young filmmaker who is thrown into emotional turmoil by a burgeoning romance and the upcoming premiere of his second feature.
The Buzz
Shazam! had its premiere in the US last week and the first responses are overwhelmingly positive. Mike Cecchini of Den Of Geek said ‘I'm gonna go out on a limb and call Shazam my favourite DCEU movie. It is really well balanced, gets the magical wonder of the character and his world right, and somehow never feels like it's trying too hard.’ Germain Lussier of io9 said ‘Shazam! is another win for DC. Sure, the humour & action you'd expect from a superhero film are there, but Shazam stands out because of the emotional, family story at its center.’ Peter Sciretta of Slash Film said ‘Shazam is parts Home Alone, parts Big, a crowd pleasing family-friendly joy-filled wish-fulfilment superhero film which gets a bit over the top and cheesy at times. It’s fun and funny, and I was surprised at how much it wears it’s heart on its sleeve.’ It’s in cinemas on 5 April.
Across The Pond
Captain Marvel opened with a huge $153.4m, which is the third highest March opening of all-time. How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World came in second with $14.7m, which takes its total to $119.7m. Tyler Perry's A Madea Family Funeral fell 54% in its second weekend to $12.5m, taking its total to $46.3m. The LEGO Movie 2 added $3.4m in fourth, and is now on $97.2m. Completing the top five is Fox's Alita: Battle Angel, which added $3.2m and takes its total to $78.4m.