| Date | |
|---|---|
| Author | DCM |
| Categories | cinema |
The Weekend Round-up
COWABUNGA (again)! On their third weekend, The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles returned to the top of the box office, knocking Fury from the top spot and defeating the strong challenge from a few new entries too. Six films earned more than £1m over the weekend and another one came close. The heroes in a half shell added £1.4m, which is just a 26% drop from the previous weekend, and to date the Michael Bay produced action-pic has grossed £11.8m.
Continuing on from the strong performance of Annabelle, another US horror opened in second. Despite being based on a board game that isn’t particularly well known in the UK, Ouija started its run with £1.4m, which is very similar to 2012’s Sinister (£1.4m). Sinister finished its run with £6.5m, which, unless it holds up extremely well, is probably out of reach of Ouija but a good target to aim for.
Last week’s number one, Fury, fell 38% to £1.2m and after twelve days in cinemas has grossed £5.6m. Gone Girl had another decent hold, falling 34% to £1.1m and to date has grossed £19.3m. That now makes it the fifth highest grossing 18-cert film of all time and later this week, it should overtake Seven (£19.5m) and then it will have only American Beauty, Hannibal and The Wolf Of Wall Street in its sights. The Book Of Life rounded out the top five with £1.1m, actually increasing 8% on last weekend’s total and after ten days in cinemas has grossed £4m.
A couple of new entries landed in sixth and seventh. Jake Gyllenhaal has justifiably been the recipient of much praise for his enthralling performance in Nightcrawler and Dan Gilroy’s stylish, gripping thriller kicked off its run with £1m (including £59k from previews). The obvious comparative for a neon-lit, LA-based thriller is Drive and Ryan Gosling’s most lauded film opened with £609k in 2011. Mike Leigh’s Mr.Turner opened just behind Nightcrawler with a terrific £905k (including £24k from previews) and posted by far the highest screen average of the weekend (£7k). Leigh’s previous best opener was Happy-Go-Lucky with £385k in 2008 and his best performer overall was 2005’s Vera Drake, finishing its run with £2.4m, so Mr.Turner will certainly finish well above that.
Overall, the box office was down 4% from last weekend and down 18% from the same weekend last year, when Thor: The Dark World opened.
Next Weekend
Interstellar finally opens on Friday. Since the start of the year it has been my most anticipated blockbuster of the year and over the last few months, various film directors (Edgar Wright, Paul Thomas Anderson, Brad Bird) have revealed that they’d seen it and loved it. A few DCMers were lucky enough to make it along to the European premiere last week and Marketing Director Zoe Jones said ‘it’s one of the best films I’ve ever seen’. Marketing Manager, Anastasia Takis was equally as enthusiastic but Exhibition Coordinator, Sabrina Parmar was a bit more cautious, calling it ‘intermittently stellar, but still a spectacle to be seen’. Also in cinemas are brilliantly acted comedy-drama, The Skeleton Twins and mildly insightful comedy, Say When.
The Buzz
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 is in cinemas in less than three weeks and although there’s no reviews out yet, it has been announced that the film will hold its world premiere in London next Monday (10 November). Going up against The Hunger Games on its opening weekend are a few smaller films, including Idris Elba’s No Good Deed, which has already earned $52.5m in the US and Tommy Lee Jones’ western, The Homesman, which was in the main competition in Cannes. Also out is the funny and charming New Zealand mockumentary, What We Do In The Shadows.
Across The Pond
On a quiet weekend, it was super tight at the top of the box office with Ouija just shading Nightcrawler for the top spot. Last week’s top film, Ouija held on to the top spot, falling 46% to $10.7m and to date has grossed $34.8m. Nightcrawler's $10.4m was enough for second and its opening is a shade lower than its obvious comparison, Drive ($11.3m). Fury added $8.8m in third and now has a respectable cume of $60.2m. Gone Girl had yet another strong hold, falling just 23% to $8.5m and a cume of $136.3m. The Book of Life completed the top five with $8.2m and to date has grossed $40.4m.
