| Date | |
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| Author | Zoe Aresti |
The weekend round-up
Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk opened in the top spot with a sensational £10m. That’s an increase of 88% on Nolan’s last film, Interstellar, which opened with £5.3m in November 2014.
It’s also the fourth biggest opening of the year, behind Beauty and the Beast, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Despicable Me 3, and Nolan’s second biggest Friday to Sunday opening, behind The Dark Knight Rises (£14.4m).
Despicable Me 3 had another great weekend in second, falling just 20% to £3.1m. That takes its total to £30.3m, making it the fourth biggest film of the year to date, and with the school holidays kicking off this week it will be looking to add to that total considerably.
Last week’s number one, War for the Planet of the Apes fell to third, dropping 48% (once previews are removed) to £2.7m. It has now grossed £12.7m.
Spider-Man: Homecoming had a solid weekend, falling 41% to £2.2m. That takes its total across the £20m mark and it now sits on £21.1m. It’s one of the films that will be looking to capitalise on the school holiday audience.
After opening last weekend, Cars 3 added £1.6m in fifth. That was enough to take it to £5.1m and it will be hoping to add a lot more during the school holidays. It has some way to go to reach Cars 2’s final total of £15.7m.
Outside of the top five, Baby Driver added £686k in seventh, which was enough to take it past the £10m mark. It now sits on £10.1m.
Overall the box office was up 15% from last weekend and up 26% from the same weekend last year, when the top four films were The BFG, Star Trek: Beyond, Andre Rieu’s 2016 Maastricht Concert and Ghostbusters.
Next Weekend
Girls Trip is a comedy about four lifelong friends who travel to New Orleans for the annual Essence Festival. While there, sisterhoods are rekindled, wild sides are rediscovered, and there's copious amounts of dancing, drinking, brawling and romancing. It opened in the US on Friday and grossed a terrific $30.4m. It opens on Wednesday.
Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie is an animation aiming to hit the family school holiday sweet spot. Two overly imaginative pranksters named George and Harold hypnotise their principal into thinking he's a ridiculously enthusiastic, incredibly dim-witted superhero named Captain Underpants. DCM’s Anastasia Takis saw it at the weekend and said it was great. It opens today.
47 Metres Down is a tense thriller about two sisters vacationing in Mexico who are trapped in a shark cage at the bottom of the ocean. With less than an hour of oxygen left and great white sharks circling nearby, they must fight to survive. It opens on Wednesday.
The Big Sick has been dubbed the romantic comedy of the year. It stars Silicon Valley’s Kumail Nanjiani and Zoe Kazan as a couple who deal with their cultural differences as their relationship grows.
The Buzz
Detroit is the latest film from Kathryn Bigelow (Zero Dark Thirty, The Hurt Locker, Point Break). It tells the gripping story of one of the darkest moments during the civil unrest that rocked Detroit in the summer of '67. The first US reviews are in and they’re positive. Variety said it’s a ‘turbulent, live-wire panorama of race in America that feels like it’s all unfolding in the moment, and that’s its power’. Screen International said ‘this gritty, gripping movie starts slowly but builds in intensity, culminating in sorrow and raw nerves.’ It’s out in the UK on 25 August.
Across the Pond
Dunkirk topped the box office in the US too, opening with $50.5m. An impressive $11.7m (23%) was from IMAX screenings. Girls Trip opened in second with an excellent $30.4m. Spider-Man: Homecoming fell to third, adding $22m, which takes its total to $251.7m. War for the Planet of the Apes came in fourth, falling a chunky 64% to $20.4m. After 10 days in cinemas it has grossed $97.7m. Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets completed the top five, opening with $17m.