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| Author | Zoe Aresti |
The Weekend Round-up
Fast & Furious 7 opened with a huge £12.8m from Friday to Sunday. This is the twelfth biggest opening weekend of all time in the UK and 32% higher than Fast & Furious 6’s opening weekend of £8.7m. FF7’s opening day of £5.6m was the biggest opening day for a film since Skyfall in 2012. Barring a huge collapse, it’s nailed on to become the biggest film in the series, overtaking the sixth instalment’s final total of £25.3m.
Cinderella was a long way back in second, but had an impressive hold, falling just 22% to £3m and after ten days in cinemas has grossed an impressive £10.4m.
Home had its second fantastic hold in succession, falling just 8% to £2.4m. After the weekend it had grossed a hugely impressive £14.5m.
On a strong weekend for family films, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out Of Water fell 29% (once previews are removed) to £1.1m and after ten days in cinemas has grossed £4.8m.
Get Hard completed the top five, falling 41% to £845k and after Sunday was on a solid £3.3m.
Outside of the top five, two smaller new entries saw success over the long weekend, with The Water Diviner landing in seventh with £522k (£632k including Monday) and While We’re Young landing in eighth with £427k.
Overall, the box office was up 67% from last weekend and up 74% from the same weekend last year, when the biggest films were Rio 2, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Noah and Divergent.
Next Weekend
With Fast & Furious 7 expected to dominate again next weekend, there are a handful of smaller films vying for the public’s attention.
John Wick is in cinemas on Friday and is the best action film released so far this year. Keanu Reeves is back on commanding form in a stylish, ultra-violent tale of revenge and the secret underworld of professional killers.
Helen Mirren stars alongside Ryan Reynolds in Woman In Gold. It will be hoping to lure the older audience from their armchairs.
Hot Tub Time Machine 2 only amassed $12.3m when released in the US, so we’re expecting it to fall short of the first film’s final total of £3.1m.
Finally, Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 is also out, six years after the first film was in cinemas. It will be aiming for a younger audience and the first film’s total of £5.5m will be the target.
The Buzz
Far From The Madding Crowd is set to be one of the stand-out arthouse films for the next couple of months and the first wave of reviews have been published. The Hollywood Reporter called it ‘a concise and involving rendition of the story’, The Guardian review said it’s ‘an interesting, heartfelt but flawed Hardy adaptation’, while Wendy Ide in The Times said ‘there is more than enough in Danish director Thomas Vinterberg's gorgeous adaptation of Thomas Hardy's classic novel to treat any lingering Poldark withdrawal symptoms’. All reviews praised Carey Mulligan’s performance though and an audience less familiar with the 1967 adaptation may be more open to this new version than the critics.
Across The Pond
Fast & Furious 7 broke April records opening with a huge $147.2m, which is up 51% over Fast & Furious 6. Perhaps surprisingly, the gender split was almost even (51% male). Home was in second, falling 48% to $27m and to date has grossed $95.6m. Get Hard was in third, adding $13.1m, for a ten day total of $57.2m total. Cinderella fell 40% to $10.2m and has now banked $167.1m. The Divergent Series: Insurgent completed the top five, adding $10.1m and to date has grossed $103.5m.
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