| Date | |
|---|---|
| Author | Zoe Aresti |
The Weekend Round-up
Last Valentine’s it was Fifty Shades Of Grey dominating the box office and this year, it’s the turn of Deadpool. The Ryan Reynolds starring superhero tale opened with a spectacular £13.7m, which included £3.8m in previews. The character of Deadpool previously appeared in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and that film also opened on a Wednesday and only grossed £6.7m it its first five days. Deadpool’s Friday to Sunday total of £10m is also the comfortably the biggest opening weekend for any X-Men film, easily besting Days Of Future Past’s £7.6m in 2014.
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip kicked off its run with £4.3m, which included £1.7m from previews. That’s an improvement on the £2.4m the last Chipmunks film, Chipwrecked opened with, and that film finished on £15.7m, so with the half term holidays upon us, The Road Chip will be looking at a similar number.
Zoolander 2 opened in third, with £2.1m, which included £670k from previews. While that’s not up there with the £2.9m, another returning cult favourite, Anchoman: The Legend Continues delivered when it opened in 2013, it’s a big improvement over the £677k the first Zoolander opened with in 2001.
Dad’s Army had a solid hold in fourth, falling 37% to £1.3m and has now banked £4.9m.
Last week’s number one, Goosebumps, completed the top five, adding £1.1m for a new total of £4.2m. Like the Chipmunks, it’ll be hoping to capitalise on this week’s half term crowd.
After last week's BAFTAs, the big winners will be hoping to see a boost to their current totals. Best Picture winner, The Revenant, is now up to £19.6m in sixth and best screenplay winners, Spotlight and The Big Short are up to £3.7m and £4.7m in eighth and twelfth respectively.
Two new entries landed in the lower end of the chart. Pride And Prejudice And Zombies could only manage £357k (including £64k in previews) in tenth and A Bigger Splash opened its run with £348k (including £43k from previews) in eleventh.
On a terrific weekend, the box office was up 135% from last weekend and up 15% from the same weekend last year, when the top four films were Fifty Shades Of Grey, Big Hero 6, Shaun The Sheep Movie and Kingsman: The Secret Service.
Next Weekend
How To Be Single opens on Friday and stars Rebel Wilson and Dakota Johnson as best friends, negotiating the world of singledom in New York.
Triple 9 is the latest gritty action thriller from Lawless director, John Hillcoat. An all-star cast, including Kate Winslet, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Woody Harrelson and Casey Affleck star in a tale of a gang of criminals and corrupt cops who plan the murder of a police officer in order to pull off their biggest heist yet. DCM’s Hazel Thomson was lucky enough to see it last week and said she ‘really liked it’.
The Finest Hours is the second film next weekend to star Casey Affleck and is a sea bound adventure film about a coast guard team who make a daring rescue attempt off the coast of Cape Cod after a pair of oil tankers are destroyed during a blizzard in 1952. It has so far banked $23.4m in the US, after releasing on 29 January.
The Buzz
Zootropolis is shaping up to be the big animated title this Easter and after it opened in selected international territories this past weekend, the first reviews are now coming in. The Hollywood Reporter said that it boasts ‘a pitch perfect voice cast’ and ‘expertly combines keen wit with a gentle, and very timely, message of inclusivity and empowerment’. Variety called it ‘an adult-friendly whodunit with a chipper “you can do it!” message for the cubs’, while Screen International called it ‘a lively but lightweight 3D family adventure’. It’s out on 25 March.
Across The Pond
Smashing all expectations, Deadpool opened with the biggest February opening ever, beating the previous record holder, Fifty Shades Of Grey, by $45m. A three day total of $132.8m is also by far the biggest opening for an R-rated film of all time. Kung Fu Panda 3 had a great third weekend in second, falling 8% to $19.7m and it’s now up to $93.9m. How to be Single opened with a solid $18.7m in third and Zoolander 2 opened with $15.7m in fourth. The Revenant completed the top five, adding $6.9m for a new total of $159.2m.
Browse all these movies and more on our Now Booking page.