| Date | |
|---|---|
| Author | Mia Blakeney |
Box Office Round-up
Roald Dahl’s Matilda The Musical opened in the top spot with £4.1m, which is the biggest opening for a musical this year, surpassing Elvis, which opened with £4m in June (and finished on £27.7m). In terms of recent Roald Dahl adaptations, it’s down on the £5.3m opening for The BFG, but it should play well all the way up to Christmas and beyond.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever fell to second, falling 52% to £2.8m. That takes its total after 17 days in cinemas to £27.1m. In terms of this year’s Marvel titles, it’s still some way behind Thor: Love And Thunder (£37.5m) and Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness (£42.1m) despite being more warmly received by critics and audiences than both. In the US (see below) it has already surpassed Thor: Love And Thunder and looks likely to surpass Doctor Strange soon.
Disney’s Strange World opened in third with £833k, which includes £116k from previews. Last year Encanto was the pre-Christmas Disney animation and that had a Wednesday release date like Strange World, and opened with £1.7m. Moana is from the same director as Strange World and that opened with £2.2m pre-Christmas 2016.
She Said opened in fourth with £445k, which includes £95k from previews. Comscore’s PostTrak survey saw audiences award the title 4.5 stars out of 5 and an 89% Total Positive score. The Menu completed the top five, adding £430k, a drop of 55% from last weekend. That takes its total after two weekends in cinemas to just under £2m.
Outside of the top five, Bones And All opened in sixth with £318k, which includes £108k from previews, while Living has crossed the £3m mark in eighth.
The box office is down 2% from last weekend and up 8% from the same weekend last year.
Next Weekend
Violent Night is an action-comedy starring Stranger Things’ David Harbour. When a group of mercenaries attack the estate of a wealthy family, Santa Claus (Harbour) must step in to save the day (and Christmas).
The Buzz
Puss In Boots: The Last Wish is the next big family animation in cinemas. A spin-off from the hugely popular Shrek films, Antonio Banderas returns as Puss who finds that his passion for adventure has taken its toll and he has burnt through eight of his nine lives. Puss sets out on an epic journey to find the mythical Last Wish and restore his nine lives. It’s in cinemas in many countries around the world over the next few weeks which means that is starting to be screened to critics in the US. Variety said ‘the stakes may be more serious this time around, but the film’s every bit as amusing as you’d expect from the clever-as-ever team at DreamWorks Animation’. The Hollywood Reporter were equally effusive saying ‘Puss in Boots: The Last Wish looks great, but what really makes it work is Banderas’ silky-voiced turn, conveying all of the character’s over-the-top feline suavity while making it clear that he’s very much in on the joke’ and Indiewire were big fans too, giving it an A grade and saying it’s a ‘cut above the rest’. It in UK cinemas on 3 February and is the best way to reach the main shopper with kids audience next February half-term.
Across The Pond
On the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever stayed in the top spot with $45.9m from Friday to Sunday and $64m from Wednesday to Sunday. That Friday to Sunday total is a drop of just 31% and takes its total to $367.7m, making it the sixth highest grossing film of the year-to-date, and it should make it to second, although Avatar: The Way Of Water may have something to say about that. Walt Disney Animations’ Strange World made a very disappointing start, opening with $11.9m from Friday to Sunday and $18.6m for the five-day weekend. Last year, Encanto managed over $40m for the five-day weekend. In a limited number of cinemas for just one week, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery opened in third with $9.4m from Friday to Sunday and $13.4m for the five-day. It delivered the highest per theatre average of any film in the chart this weekend. Devotion, which is about the Navy’s first African-American aviator, opened in fourth with $6m for the three-day and $9m for the five-day weekend, while The Menu completed the top five, opening with $5.2m for the three-day and $7.3m for the five-day, which takes its total to $18.7m.