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| Author | Zoe Aresti |
The weekend round-up
Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle has proven to be a major success story over the festive period. The sequel to the popular 90s fantasy adventure started off its run on December 9 delivering solid preview figures, almost a month later it has finally topped the box office, delivering greater box office this Saturday and Sunday than it did in its initial previews. Across the weekend, Jumanji added £3.9m, a drop of 25% from last weekend. That takes its total to £26.3m and it is sailing towards £30m and a total that would place it amongst the top 10 biggest films released in 2017.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi took a bit of a tumble and is now playing second fiddle to Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle. Despite that, it still added £3.5m, which was enough to take it to £76.7m. It is now the sixth biggest film of all time in the UK, having just overtaken Toy Story 3 (£73.9m).
The Greatest Showman delivered the best hold of any film in the top 10, falling just 6% to £2.4m (once previews are removed) and demonstrating the strong word of mouth the rousing musical is experiencing. That takes its total to £10m and with a few holds like that it should get quite a bit of the way to £20m before the end of its run.
Molly’s Game was the highest new entry in fourth, kicking off its run with £2.3m, which included £1.1m from previews.
Pitch Perfect 3 fell to fifth and also had a solid hold, falling 30% to £1.6m. That total was the fourth highest Friday to Sunday total of the weekend, ahead of Molly’s Game, and takes its cume to £12.7m and while the final total of the second film (£17.4m) looks out of reach, it won’t be by much.
Outside of the top five, All The Money In The World was another new entry in sixth, kicking off its run with £1.2m. The Ridley Scott drama has had a great deal of press thanks to the last-minute decision to replace Kevin Spacey with Christopher Plummer but that didn’t translate to big box office.
Also outside of the top five, Paddington 2 crossed the £40m mark in seventh, adding £1m for a new cume of £40.4m, and Christian Bale western, Hostiles, opened in ninth with £381k.
Overall, the box office was down 28% from last weekend and down 3% from the same weekend last year, when the top films were Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Moana and Passengers.
Next Weekend
Darkest Hour is the Gary Oldman’s big shot at finally winning an Oscar. Set during the early days of World War II, the fate of Western Europe hangs on the newly-appointed British Prime Minister Winston Churchill (Oldman), who must decide whether to negotiate with Hitler, or fight on against incredible odds. Oldman won the Golden Globe last night for his performance and it should perform strongly with a UK audience, particularly those are interested to see behind the scenes of the Dunkirk evacuation.
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri is the latest film from Martin McDonagh (In Bruges, Seven Psychopaths). Frances McDormand stars as a mother who personally challenges the local authorities to solve her daughter's murder when they fail to catch the culprit. It closed the BFI London Film Festival last year to rave reviews and won Best Picture (drama) at the Golden Globes last night. Frances McDormand also won Best Actress (drama) and Sam Rockwell won Best Supporting Actor.
Insidious: The Last Key is the fourth film in the horror series. Lin Shaye returns as parapsychologist Dr. Elise Rainier and faces her most fearsome and personal haunting yet - in her own family home. It has just opened strongly in the US, delivering the second biggest opening of the series (see below).
The Buzz
Lady Bird is the latest film from Greta Gerwig, better known as an actor in Frances Ha, Jackie, 20th Century Women and Mistress America. It’s set in the early 2000s, and Saoirse Ronan plays an artistically-inclined seventeen year-old who comes of age in Sacramento, California. Last night in Los Angeles Lady Bird won Best Picture (comedy or musical) and Ronan won Best Actress (comedy or musical) at the Golden Globes. It has further cemented its position as a front-runner for the Oscars.
Across The Pond
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle topped the box office with $37.2m, which takes its total to $245.6m. In the week’s big surprise, Insidious: The Last Key opened in second with $29.6m, the second largest opening in the series and beating the last chapter by over $7m. Star Wars: The Last Jedi fell to third with $23.7m, which takes its total to $572.7m. The Greatest Showman had a great hold, falling just 11% to $13.8m. That takes its total to $76.9m. Pitch Perfect 3 completed the top five, adding $10.3m for a new cume of $86.1m.