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| Author | Zoe Aresti |
The Weekend Round-up
Fast & Furious 8 held on to the top spot, but hit the skids a little on a weekend where there was plenty of sporting distractions. It fell 58% to £3.6m, which brings its total to £23m. It’s certain to top the sixth instalment’s final total of £25.3m, but it’s going to fall short of Fast & Furious 7’s £38.6m.
The Boss Baby continued its terrific run and stayed in second, adding £2.1m. It has now crossed the £20m mark and sits on £22.3m. It looks like it could at least match Trolls’ current total of £24.9m.
Beauty and the Beast, in third, became the highest grossing musical in UK history this weekend. Its total of £1.3m was enough to take it to £68.9m, surpassing Mamma Mia’s final total of £68.6m in the process. It’s now the eighth highest-grossing film ever in the UK.
Their Finest was the highest new entry, kicking off its run with £850k, which includes £24k from previews. It’s a film that should prove a strong draw with an older audience who like to go to the cinema midweek.
Smurfs: The Lost Village completed the top five, adding £328k for a new cume of £4.5m. It’s going to be by far the lowest performing Smurfs film, with the previous holder of that title, 2012’s The Smurfs 2, finishing on £12.4m.
Outside of the top five, trashy thriller Unforgettable opened in seventh with £271k. That’s a bit lower than the £407k the similarly styled Jennifer Lopez thriller, The Boy Next Door, opened with in 2015.
Overall the box office was down 46% from last weekend and down 23% from the same weekend last year, when the top four films were The Jungle Book, Eye In The Sky, Bastille Day and Zootropolis.
Next Weekend
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 is the sequel to Marvel’s breakout smash-hit. Set to the backdrop of Awesome Mix Vol. 2, it continues the team's adventures as they unravel the mystery of Peter Quill's true parentage. It should be huge.
The Promise is a historical drama set during the last days of the Ottoman Empire. It follows a love triangle between Michael, a brilliant medical student, the beautiful and sophisticated Ana, and Chris - a renowned American journalist based in Paris. The heavyweight cast includes Christian Bale and Oscar Isaac.
Lady Macbeth is a highly regarded British adaptation of Nikolai Leskov's novella ‘Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk’, in which a 19th Century young bride is sold into marriage to a middle-aged man. Florence Pugh stars and picked up an Evening Standard award for Breakthrough of the Year.
The Buzz
Gifted is (500) Days of Summer director Marc Webb’s return to independent filmmaking after he made the last two Spider-Man movies. Chris Evans stars as Frank, a single man raising his child prodigy niece Mary, who is drawn into a custody battle with his mother. It opened in the US a few weekends ago and has been receiving some positive reviews.
Richard Roeper in the Chicago Sun-Times went all-in, saying ‘Gifted isn’t the best or most sophisticated or most original film of the year so far — but it just might be my favourite.’ Screen International weren’t quite so keen, arguing that ‘a heartfelt performance from Chris Evans as the conscientious caretaker of his brilliant niece isn’t ample compensation for a film lacking the same intelligence and inquisitiveness that its young protagonist possesses in abundance.’ It’s out in the UK on 16 June
Across The Pond
The Fate of the Furious stayed in the top spot, falling 61% to $38.4m. That takes its total to $163.3m. The Boss Baby stayed in second with a great hold, falling 20% to $12.7m, which brings its total to $137m. Beauty and the Beast also had a good weekend, falling 27% to $9.6m and a terrific cume of $470.8m. Going in Style finished in fourth with $4.9m for a solid cume of $31.7m and Smurfs: The Lost Village completed the top five, adding $4.9m, for a new cume of $33.4m.