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| Author | DCM |
The Weekend Round-up
- Do you want to build a box office smash? Love was an open door to a screen showing Frozen 2 over the weekend, with the sequel opening with £15m, which is the third-highest Disney opening of their imperial year and just down from The Lion King’s £16.7m. The original Frozen opened in 2013 with £4.7m before becoming a global phenomenon and ending its run on £42.9m. Frozen 2 looks good value to better that number over the festive period and go into the unknown box office-wise for the franchise.
- Last Christmas gave us its heart, but UK cinemagoers gave it away to Frozen 2, with the romcom dropping to second place in its second week. The festive frolic now has a cumulative £6.7m. The film won’t let you down, so lets hope UK cinemagoers do not give up on it as we move into December.
- Blue Story opened in third place with £1.3m, which includes limited previews from the previous Friday. Vue cinemas have decided not to screen the film going forwards, which will affect future box office numbers.
- Le Mans ’66 drops off the podium and in to fourth place in its second weekend, with a new total of £4.2m.
- The top five was completed by 21 Bridges, which opened with £654k. This beats the three-day gross of comparative Mile 22, which had a three-day gross of £571k.
- Outside of the top five, Joker now has a running total of £57m.
Overall, the box office is up 124% from last weekend, ranking 3rd out of the latest 52 weekends. It’s up 46% versus the same weekend last year when Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald held the top spot with £5.6m. The top new opener was Robin Hood at No.4 with £1.0m.
Next Weekend
- Knives Out (released on Wednesday) is the latest work from Rian Johnson. When renowned crime novelist Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer) is found dead at his estate just after his 85th birthday, the inquisitive and debonair Detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) is mysteriously enlisted to investigate.
- Charlie’s Angels sees the iconic trio rebooted for a new generation. When a young systems engineer blows the whistle on a dangerous technology, Charlie's Angels are called into action, putting their lives on the line to protect us all.
- Jay And Silent Bob Reboot - The stoner icons who first hit the screen 25 years ago in Clerks are back! When Jay and Silent Bob discover that Hollywood is rebooting an old movie based on them, the clueless duo embark on another cross-country mission to stop it all over again!
The Buzz
1917 had its first UK screening last night and has received a rapturous response. The Guardian gave the film the full 5 stars, with the oft-hard to please Peter Bradshaw calling the film a “western front horror […] a single-shot masterpiece”. The Times also went for top marks, with Kevin Maher writing “Sam Mendes delivers the film of his career by mashing up the survivalist thrills of The Revenant with the helter-skelter mayhem of a shoot’em’up video game, and setting it during the Great War. The resulting two hours of amphetamine-rush cinema is both a monumental technical achievement and, instantly, an Oscar-night frontrunner.” 1917 is released in UK cinemas on 10 January.
Across The Pond
Frozen 2 topped the box office in the US with a huge $127m, following (not closely) by Ford V Ferrari (Le Mans ’66), which added $16m to take its total to $58m. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood opened in third place with $13.5m, and 21 Bridges opened in fourth with $9.3m. Midway completed the fop five, adding $4.7m to take its total to $43m.