| Date | |
|---|---|
| Author | Tom Linay |
The Weekend Round-up
- There was no clowning around this weekend as It: Chapter Two floated to the top of the box office, opening with £7.4m which includes £452k from previews. The first film opened with £10m in September 2017, a record for a horror film, and while this sequel couldn’t quite match it, it’s still one of the biggest opening weekends ever for a horror. The biggest horror films of 2019 so far are Us (£10m) and Annabelle Comes Home (£6.6m) and It: Chapter Two has almost surpassed them both after just three days. The first film finished its run on £32.3m, making it the highest grossing horror film of all-time, and while this sequel looks like it will fall short of the first film, it will still be one of the biggest films ever in the genre.
- Once Upon A Time In Hollywood dropped one place to second, falling 41% to £1.1m. That takes its total to £18.6m and it’s already Quentin Tarantino’s biggest film ever in the UK, and it still has a chance of cracking the £20m mark too.
- Angel Has Fallen also posted a solid hold in fourth, falling 41% to £696k. That takes its total to £5.9m and in the next week it will overtake Olympus Has Fallen to become the second biggest film in the series. London Has Fallen is out of reach on £11m.
- The Lion King fell to fourth but added another £687k. That takes its total to a huge £73.1m and it has now surpassed Beauty and the Beast’s final total of £72.4m to become Disney’s highest grossing remake of their animated classics.
- Polityka is a Polish political drama and rounded out the top five. It follows the recent trend of Polish films finding an audience at UK cinemas, with 2017’s Botoks finishing its run with £1.1m and 2018’s Kler finishing with £1.3m.
Overall the box office is up 9% from last weekend and up 10% from the same weekend last year when the top films were The Nun, Disney’s Christopher Robin, BlacKkKlansman and Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again!.
Next Weekend
- Downton Abbey is the big screen debut of one of the 21st century’s most successful television dramas. This film follows the continuing story of the Crawley family, wealthy owners of a large estate in the English countryside in the early 20th century, as they prepare for a visit from the royal family.
- Hustlers is inspired by the viral New York Magazine article and follows a crew of savvy former strip club employees who band together to turn the tables on their Wall Street clients. Jennifer Lopez, Constance Wu and Keke Palmer star.
The Buzz
The Personal History Of David Copperfield is Armando Ianucci’s adaptation of the Charles Dickens novel and unlike his previous films, this one has been rated PG by the BBFC. It opens the BFI London Film Festival next month but last week it had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). Little White Lies were in attendance and loved it, saying ‘it joins the ranks of Paddington 2… both warm-hearted, brightly-coloured romps about the milk of human kindness, distilled from stock notions of Britishness, such as a plucky determination to overcome adversity without losing one’s gentle manners in the process.’ The Guardian gave it four stars too, saying ‘it’s a story that remains as witty and resilient as its main character and its charms, like David’s, remain impossible to resist.’ . It’s in cinemas on 10 January next year.
Across The Pond
It: Chapter Two opened with the second largest opening for a horror film of all-time and the second largest September opening. In both cases it is second only to It: Chapter One. Chapter Two opened with $91m, as opposed to Chapter One’s $123m. Angel Has Fallen added $6m in second, which takes its total to $53.5m. Good Boys came in third, adding $5.4m for a new total of $66.8m. The Lion King fell to fourth but added $4.2m for a huge new cume of $529.1m. Overcomer completed the top five, adding $3.8m for a new total of $24.7m.