| Date | |
|---|---|
| Author | Mia Blakeney |
Box Office Round-up
Joker: Folie à Deux opened in the top spot at the UK box office with £5.7m, which is the sixth biggest opening weekend of 2024 to date. This is a disappointing start after the first Joker opened with £12.5m in October 2019. That film went on to gross £58.4m, still a record for a 15-cert comic book film (Deadpool & Wolverine is going to fall just short of this total), but at present this sequel looks like it will finish with around a third of that total.
After four weekends in the top spot, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice fell to second but posted a strong hold, adding £1.1m, a drop of 38% from last weekend. After five weekends in cinemas, Tim Burton’s blockbuster sequel is up to a terrific £22.8m, and it’s now the fifth biggest film released so far this year. It's also the fourth biggest film for director Tim Burton, behind only Dumbo (£25.1m), Charlie And The Chocolate Factory (£37.8m) and Alice In Wonderland (£42.6m).
Speak No Evil posted another strong hold in third, falling just 37% to £408k, which takes its total to £4.8m. It’s horror masters Blumhouse’s fourth release of 2024 and is already their biggest film of the year, having overtaken March’s Imaginary (£2m). It looks set to be the second-biggest non-franchise horror of 2024, behind only Longlegs.
MUBI’s body-horror The Substance came in fourth, falling just 15% from last weekend to £358k. That takes its total after three weekends in cinemas to £2.2m, and it is now distributor MUBI’s second biggest film of all-time, a title that was held by Aftersun with £1.9m. Priscilla in first place with £3.3m might just be out of reach.
Saoirse Ronan drama The Outrun rounded out the top five, posting a terrific hold, falling just 20% to £320k. That takes its total to £1.1m, and it has now surpassed another coastal based drama Saoirse Ronan starred in, 2018’s On Chesil Beach, which finished its run with £1m.
Outside of the top five, Lee has crossed the £3m mark in seventh and is now up to £3.3m, and A Different Man opened in 10th with £89k.
Next Weekend
Transformers One is a new animation telling the untold origin story of Optimus Prime and Megatron, better known as sworn enemies, but who once were friends bonded like brothers who changed the fate of Cybertron forever. Chris Hemsworth and Scarlett Johansson are in the voice cast.
Terrifier 3 is the third film in the cult horror series. Art the Clown is set to unleash chaos on the unsuspecting residents of Miles County as they peacefully drift off to sleep on Christmas Eve. It’s not for the faint-hearted.
Salem’s Lot is a new adaptation of the Stephen King vampire story. An author returns to his hometown of Jerusalem's Lot in search of inspiration for his next book, only to discover that the townspeople are being attacked by a bloodthirsty vampire.
Buffalo Kids is an animation about two Irish orphans who journey by train across America, encountering villains and heroes. They make an extraordinary friend and search for a new home, facing adventures and dangers along the way.
Paddington & Paddington 2 are back in cinemas ahead of the release of Paddington In Peru on 8 November.
The Buzz
Maria is a biopic of the legendary opera singer Maria Callas and is set during her final days in 1970s Paris. Director Pablo Larrain has made a name for himself making striking biopics about some of the most famous women in history, having previously made Jackie and Spencer. Both those films received Oscar nominations for Best Actress and Maria is a firm favourite to continue that record with Angelina Jolie’s lead performance. Robbie Collin in The Telegraph wrote ‘Jolie is given ample space to dazzle, but less to surprise. Dazzle she does though, with a fine understanding of just how camp she can go without proceedings becoming too operatic for their own good.’ It’s one of the standout films of awards season, particularly for ABC1 women, and opens in the UK cinemas on 10 January.
Across The Pond
Joker: Folie à Deux opened in the top spot with $40m, which is down from the $96.2m the first film opened with in 2019. The Wild Robot fell to second adding $18.7m for a new total of $64m. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice fell to third but added $10.3m for a new total of $265.5m. Transformers One added $5.4m, a drop of 42% from last weekend, which takes its total to $47.2m. Speak No Evil rounded out the top five, adding $2.8m for a new total of $32.6m.