| Date | |
|---|---|
| Author | Mia Blakeney |
Box Office Round-up
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire opened in the top spot with £4.1m, the third highest opening weekend of 2024 to date. The previous film in the series, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, opened with £4.3m in November 2021 but that figure includes £550k from previews so this sequel has a bigger Friday to Sunday total. Afterlife finished its run with £11.5m, but with the two weeks of the Easter holidays coming up, Frozen Empire will be looking to beat that quite comfortably. It’s another sequel, after Dune: Part Two, that is going to outperform its previous film.
After three weekends in the top spot, Dune: Part Two fell to second adding £2.6m, which takes its total to £30.7m. That would place it seventh in the top 10 films of 2023. The first film finished its run with £22.5m, so this sequel will soon have grossed more than £10m more than the previous film. This is the most impressive uplift for a sequel since Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse last summer.
Sydney Sweeney has had a rollercoaster few months: Anyone But You was one of the big success stories of the first few months of 2024, while Madame Web wasn’t so much. Her latest film is religious-themed horror Immaculate, which reportedly has a shocking conclusion, but could only manage £523k in its opening weekend (including £31k from previews). In terms of 2024 horror titles, that figure is below the £653k Imaginary opened with a couple of weekends ago and the £591k Night Swim opened with in early-January.
Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley comedy-drama Wicked Little Letters added £373k, a drop of 37% from last weekend, which takes its total after just over a month in cinemas to £8.2m. In February 2020, Emma starring Anya Taylor-Joy was released and finished its run with £7.4m, so Wicked Little Letters has now overtaken that.
On its eighth weekend, Migration rounded out the top five adding £370k, a drop of just 36% from last weekend. It’s now up to £19.5m and with the Easter holidays starting this week it should be looking to cross £20m very soon.
Outside of the top five, 70s set horror Late Night With The Devil opened with £220k, which includes £54k from previews after opening on Tuesday.
Next Weekend
Kung Fu Panda 4 is the fourth instalment in the popular animated series. After Po is tapped to become the Spiritual Leader of the Valley of Peace, he needs to find and train a new Dragon Warrior, while a wicked sorceress plans to re-summon all the master villains whom Po has vanquished to the spirit realm. It’s in cinemas from Thursday.
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is the sequel to Godzilla vs Kong. Two ancient titans, Godzilla and Kong, clash in an epic battle as humans unravel their intertwined origins and connection to Skull Island's mysteries.
Mothers’ Instinct is a drama starring Jessica Chastain and Anne Hathaway. Alice and Celine live a traditional lifestyle with successful husbands and sons of the same age. Life's perfect harmony is suddenly shattered after a tragic accident. Guilt, suspicion and paranoia combine to unravel their sisterly bond.
The Buzz
Alien: Romulus is the latest film in the classic sci-fi horror series. While scavenging the deep ends of a derelict space station, a group of young space colonizers come face to face with the most terrifying life form in the universe. Fresh from her Cannes’ Best Actress winning performance in Priscilla, Cailee Spaeny plays the lead in a series with a tradition of strong female lead characters and she’s supported by a host of up-and-coming actors. Prometheus and Alien: Covenant both delivered comfortably more than 1m DCM admissions and this should be one of the stand-out horror films of 2024, so a great way to reach 16-34 adults. It’s in cinemas from 16 August.
Across The Pond
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire opened in the top spot in north America too with $43.2m, which is $800k less than Ghostbusters: Afterlife opened with in 2021. Dune: Part Two again came in second, adding $17.6m, which takes its total to $233.4m, more than double the $108m the first film finished on. Kung Fu Panda 4 fell to third, adding $17m for a new total of $133.2m. Kung Fu Panda 3 finished its run with $143.5m, so this sequel will overtake it this week. Immaculate opened with $5.3m in fourth and Arthur The King added $4.4m for a new total of $14.6m.