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The Weekend Round-up
Having dropped to second last weekend, Darkest Hour, fresh off the back of its Oscar nomination for Best Picture, returned to the top of the box office, falling just 19% to £2.7m. That takes its total to £15.2m and if, as expected, Gary Oldman picks up the Best Actor Oscar and BAFTA, it should finish well north of £20m. For comparison, The Iron Lady finished its run on £9.9m.
Last week’s top film, Coco, fell to second but had a solid hold, falling 31% to £2.3m. That takes its total to £8.2m and while it’s not going to trouble the highest grossing Pixar films, Toy Story 3 (£74.1m), Toy Story 2 (£44.3m) and Finding Dory (£43m), it will shortly overtake the lowest grossing, Cars 3 (£11.7m). Its most lucrative period, February half-term, is still to come too.
The weekend’s highest new entry is the third and final film in the Maze Runner series, Maze Runner: The Death Cure. It kicked off its run with £2.2m, which is in between the two Maze Runner films to date. The first film opened with £2m in 2014 and the second film, The Scorch Trials, opened with £2.8m in 2015. Both those films finished just shy of £9m.
Remarkable holds have become the norm for The Greatest Showman and it fell just 3% in its fifth weekend to £2m. That takes its total to just shy of £20m and with the sing-a-long version set for release in a few weeks, La La Land’s final total of £30.4m may not be out of reach.
Aardman’s Early Man completed the top five, opening in fifth with £2m. That’s just below the £2.1m that Shaun The Sheep Movie opened with in February 2015 and that film finished on £13.7m, so that’s a good benchmark for Early Man.
Outside of the top five, the big awards contenders, The Post and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, had strong holds falling just 25% and 23% respectively. The Post is now on £5.2m, while Three Billboards is on £7.6m.
Downsizing is one of the casualties of this awards season, picking up zero nominations at the Oscars and BAFTAs. It opened in ninth with £1.1m, which included £298k from previews.
Overall, the box office was down 7% from last weekend and down 27% from the same weekend last year, when the top films were Sing, T2 Trainspotting, La La Land and Spilt.
Next Weekend
Phantom Thread is the latest film from Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood, The Master). Set in 1950's London, Reynolds Woodcock (Daniel Day Lewis) is a renowned dressmaker whose fastidious life is disrupted by a young, strong-willed woman, Alma (Vicky Krieps), who becomes his muse and lover. It has been nominated for six Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director and features Daniel Day Lewis’ final big screen performance.
Roman J. Israel, Esq. is a thriller starring Denzel Washington as a driven, idealistic defence attorney who finds himself in a tumultuous series of events that lead to a crisis and the necessity for extreme action. It’s directed by Dan Gilroy (Nightcrawler) and Washington has received an Oscar nomination for his performance.
Den Of Thieves is a gritty crime saga which follows the lives of an elite unit of the LA County Sheriff's Dept. and the state's most successful bank robbery crew as the outlaws plan a seemingly impossible heist on the Federal Reserve Bank. It stars Gerard Butler, O’Shea Jackson Jr., and Curtis ’50 Cent’ Jackson.
Journey’s End is a British drama from Saul Dibb (The Duchess, Suite Francaise). Set in a dugout in Aisne in 1918, it is the story of a group of British officers, led by the mentally disintegrating young officer Stanhope, variously awaiting their fate.
Winchester is a horror from the Spierig brothers who recently directed horror hit, Jigsaw. Helen Mirren stars as an eccentric firearm heiress who believes she is haunted by the souls of people killed by the Winchester repeating rifle.
The Buzz
Solo: A Star Wars Story is released on 25 May and we are still yet to have a trailer or poster. That all looks likely to change next week though as the talk on the internet is that the trailer will launch in one of the much sought-after Superbowl spots next Sunday.
Across The Pond
Maze Runner: The Death Cure topped the box office, opening with $24.2m. Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle fell just 17% in second to $16.1m, which takes its total to $338m. Christian Bale-starring western, Hostiles, went on wide release this weekend, which was enough to deliver $10.1m and a spot in third. That takes its total to $12m. The Greatest Showman had another great hold in fourth, falling just 10% to $9.6m and new cume of $126.5m. The Post completed the top five, adding $9.1m, which takes its total to $58.8m.