| Date | |
|---|---|
| Author | Zoe Aresti |
The Weekend Round-up
So far LEGO has released three films and with the release of their latest, The LEGO Ninjago Movie, all three have topped the box office. The LEGO Movie opened with £8.1m (including £2.2m from previews) in February 2014, while The LEGO Batman Movie opened with £7.9m (including £2.4m from previews) in February earlier this year. Ninjago is a less well known property but it still managed to top the box office with £3.6m, which included £1.6m from previews.
Last week’s number one, Blade Runner 2049, fell to second but it delivered the biggest Friday to Sunday total of the weekend. A second outing of £3.1m is a drop of 41% on its opening and takes the brilliant dystopian sci-fi to £12.2m. Mad Max: Fury Road added £2.6m on its second weekend, so it’s still tracking well ahead of that title.
Jo Nesbø adaptation, The Snowman, opened in third with £1.4m.
Kingsman: The Golden Circle had another strong hold, falling 36% to £1.3m in fourth. That takes its total to £21.8m and it is now the 15th biggest film released in 2017 and it should climb at least a few more places up that list before the end of its run.
Completing the top five, and the weekend’s big surprise is Polish title Botoks which banked a hugely impressive £793k across the weekend. It’s an action thriller that is ‘intended to be a record of the authentic history of strong, determined and expressive physicians who struggle with life's decisions and problems: discrimination, maternity pressures, the pursuit of youth, the fight for the right to free choice and own views’.
Outside the top five, British horror The Ritual opened in eighth with £424k (including £31k from previews), Loving Vincent opened in ninth with £274k (including £174k from previews), while The Party, starring Timothy Spall, Kristin Scott Thomas and Cillian Murphy, opened in 10th with £221k (including £14k from previews).
Overall the box office was up 13% from last weekend and down 21% from the same weekend last year, when the top films were The Girl On The Train, Bridget Jones’s Baby and Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children.
Next Weekend
Geostorm is the latest hi-tech disaster movie from the producer of Independence Day and Godzilla (1998). When the network of satellites designed to control the global climate start to attack Earth, it's a race against the clock to uncover the real threat before a worldwide geostorm wipes out everything and everyone. Gerard Butler holds the fate of the world in his hands.
Happy Death Day is the latest horror film from Blumhouse (Get Out, Split), and it’s a Groundhog Day-style slasher, as a college student relives the day of her murder over and over, until she discovers her killer's identity. It opened strongly in the US this past weekend (see below), which bodes well for its run here.
The Death of Stalin is a British comedy from Armando Iannucci (In The Loop, The Thick Of It, Veep) and follows the Soviet dictator's last days and depicts the chaos of the regime after his death. It received five stars in both The Guardian and Empire.
My Little Pony is the big screen outing for the popular Hasbro toys. A dark force threatens Ponyville, and the Mane 6 embark on a journey beyond Equestria where they meet new friends and exciting challenges. The voice cast includes Emily Blunt, Kristin Chenoweth and Live Schreiber.
The Buzz
Martin McDonaugh’s Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri closed the London Film Festival on Sunday 15 October and a number of DCMers were in attendance. Zoe Aresti was so enamoured she said she’d ‘never felt this way about a film before’, Zoe Jones said it was ‘absolutely amazing’ and Amy Davies was similarly effusive. 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’s out in the UK on 12 January and it would seem to be a front-runner for major awards.
Across The Pond
Groundhog Day-style horror, Happy Death Day topped the box office with an impressive $26m. Last week’s number one, Blade Runner 2049, fell 54% in second to $15.5, which takes its cume to $61m. Jackie Chan and Pierce Brosnan action-thriller, The Foreigner opened in third with $13.1m, while It added another $6m, which takes its total to $314.9m. The Mountain Between Us completed the top five, falling 45.5% to $5.8m, for a new cume of $20.6m.