| Date | |
|---|---|
| Author | Mia Blakeney |
Box Office Round-up
The Despicable Me / Minions series has been one of the big cinematic success stories of the 21st century, with Despicable Me 2, Despicable Me 3, and Minions all grossing over £47m in the UK & Ireland. After just one weekend it looks like Minions: The Rise Of Gru will join them as it opened with a terrific £10.4m. That’s the biggest opening for an animated film since Frozen II in 2019 (£15.2m), and by far the biggest this year, easily surpassing the £6.8m that Sing 2 opened with in January. It’s also the fifth film this year to open with over £10m. Only four films managed it in the whole of 2018. With DC League Of Super-Pets the only major studio animation still to come this summer, Minions: The Rise Of Gru should have a long and fruitful run.
Elvis posted a terrific hold in second, falling just 27% to £3m, which takes its total to £10.2m after just 10 days in cinemas. With a few more holds like that it will get close to Rocketman’s final total of £23.5m.
On the weekend of Tom Cruise’s 60th birthday, Top Gun: Maverick posted an even better hold than Elvis, falling just 21% to £2.7m. That takes its total to £68m and it’s now the 16th highest grossing film in UK & Ireland history. The way it’s going, it is going to get to £80m, which would see it comfortably in the top 10. What a result, especially when you consider Tom Cruise’s previous best performance in the UK & Ireland was with War Of The Worlds in 2005, which finished on £30.6m.
Jurassic World: Dominion added £2.7m in fourth, which takes its total over £30m to £30.4m. The last Jurassic World film, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom finished on £41.6m, so this third instalment still has some way to go to match that. It should play throughout the school holidays so should get pretty close.
Pixar’s Lightyear continued its disappointing run, falling a hefty 62% to 864k. That’s the biggest drop in the top 10, and takes its total after three weekends in cinemas to £8.5m. While it has ties to the Toy Story series, Toy Story 4 finished its run with £66.2m, so the latest Pixar is light years away from that.
Outside of the top five, The Black Phone is quietly having an impressive run, adding £576k for a new total of £2.6m. Jug Jugg Jeeyo is the latest title from India to crack the top 10, landing in eight with £64k, while Everything, Everywhere All At Once is less than £5k from £5m, after adding £58k in ninth. Finally, Nitram opened in 10th with £42k, which includes £21k from previews.
Overall, the box office was up 30% from last weekend and it was the fourth biggest weekend for the box office in the past year.
Next Weekend
The Railway Children Return is a sequel to the much-loved 1970 British drama. This sequel follows a group of children who are evacuated to a Yorkshire village during the Second World War, where they encounter a young soldier who, like them, is far away from home. Jenny Agutter returns and is joined by Sheridan Smith.
The Buzz
See How They Run is a brand-new caper film starring Sam Rockwell, Saoirse Ronan and a host of top British talent including Ruth Wilson, Harris Dickinson and David Oyelowo. A desperate Hollywood film producer sets out to turn a popular play into a film. When members of the production are murdered, world-weary Inspector Stoppard (Rockwell) and rookie Constable Stalker (Ronan) find themselves in the midst of a puzzling whodunit. If you liked Knives Out, this looks to be very much in the same vein, so ideal for upmarket ABC1 audiences when it hits cinemas on 8 September.
Across The Pond
On the 4th of July holiday weekend, Minions: The Rise of Gru opened with the biggest weekend for an animated film since 2019, kicking off with a huge $108.5m, which is expected to reach $127.9m including Monday. Top Gun: Maverick continues to soar in second, adding $25.5m, a drop of just 14% from last weekend. That takes its total to a jumbo $564m and it’s now the 12th biggest film of all-time in North America. Elvis fell to third, adding $19m, a drop of 39% from last weekend. That takes its total to an impressive $67.3m. Jurassic World Dominion in fourth added $15.7m, which takes its total to $331.8m. Rounding out the top five was the Universal horror flick The Black Phone with $12.3m which takes its total to $47.5m.