| Date | |
|---|---|
| Author | Tom Linay |
| Categories | box Office |
The Weekend Round-up
- After being deposed by Ocean’s 8 last weekend, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom has leaped back to the top spot at the first opportunity, delivering a strong hold – especially considering the glorious weather and football on television. It fell 38% to £2m, which takes its total to £34.5m and it has now overtaken Deadpool 2 to become the fourth biggest film released this year. The next target is Peter Rabbit in third, on £40.7m.
- Last week’s chart-topper Ocean’s 8 fell to second, adding £1.3m. That’s a drop of 44% and takes its total to £6.8m. Last week, the comparison was made to the opening of 2016’s Ghostbusters, which also added £1.3m on its second weekend. That film finished on £10.8m, which would be a good result for Ocean’s 8 from here.
- This week’s highest new entry is action-thriller Sicario 2: Soldado, which opened in third with £698k, which includes £42k from previews. As a sequel to a well-regarded original that was nominated for three Oscars, to open with less than half of the original’s £1.6m opening is a bit disappointing. Hopefully when the wall-to-wall football dies down it can bounce back a bit.
- Tag, a comedy about a group of men who have been playing a game of tag (or ‘it’ as it’s better-known in the UK) for 30 years, opened in fourth with £475k (including £1k from previews). Compared to recent US comedy releases, that’s a bit below Game Night, which opened with £1.1m in March.
- Bollywood title Sanju, a biopic of controversial actor Sanjay Dutt, completed the top five, opening with £449k. It’s been a strong period for Bollywood titles, with Race 3 opening with £783k on June 15.
- Outside of the top five, survival drama Adrift opened in seventh with £405k, and family comedy Patrick opened in eighth with £300k.
Overall, the box office was down 34% from last weekend and down 66% from the same weekend last year, when the top films were Despicable Me 3, Baby Driver, Transformers: The Last Knight and All Eyez On Me.
Next Weekend
- The First Purge is a prequel that focusses on the events that lead up to the very first Purge event.
- Swimming With Men is a British comedy from Oliver Parker (Johnny English Reborn, Dad’s Army). A man who is suffering a mid-life crisis finds new meaning in his life as part of an all-male, middle-aged, amateur synchronised swimming team. The cast includes Rob Brydon, Charlotte Riley, Jim Carter and Jane Horrocks.
- Uncle Drew is a basketball comedy, which delivered a solid opening in the US this past weekend (see below). After draining his life savings to enter a team in a street basketball tournament, Dax (Lil Rey Howery) recruits the legendary Uncle Drew to help him win.
- Whitney is an in-depth look at the life and music of Whitney Houston. It’s directed by Kevin Macdonald (Marley, Touching The Void).
The Buzz
Ant-Man And The Wasp is released in the US this coming Friday and the first reviews are now online. Variety said it ‘has a pleasingly breakneck, now-you-see-it-now-you-don’t surreal glee. It’s a cunningly swift and delightful comedy of scale.’ Screen International said it’s ‘a film which is less concerned with generating awe than in delivering plenty of goofy grins’, while IGN said it boasts ‘some of the most creative action scenes and finely-calibrated comedy in the Marvel universe so far, Ant-Man and The Wasp doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it certainly knows how to make the ride even more fun.’ It’s out in the UK on 3 August.
Across The Pond
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom held on to the top spot, falling 60% to $61m, which takes its total to $266m. Incredibles 2 stayed in second, adding $46.4m, a drop of 42%, which takes its total to a huge $440m. It’s now the second highest grossing Pixar film of all-time and third largest animated title ever. Sicario: Day of the Soldado opened in third, kicking off its run with $19m, while Uncle Drew opened in fourth with $1525m. Ocean's 8 completed the top five, adding $8.3m, for a new cume of $115m.