| Date | |
|---|---|
| Author | DCM |
| Categories | cinema |
The weekend round-up
The heroes in a half shell are back and as popular as ever. The new live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles opened with £4.8m, which includes £1.6m from previews. The last film featuring the pizza-eating reptiles was the computer animated TMNT in 2007, which kicked off with £1.3m and ended its run with £3m, so the newest incarnation has smashed through that benchmark. 39.4% of the £4.8m was from 3D presentations and with half term next week, there’s plenty more to come.
After topping the box office for two consecutive weeks, Gone Girl dropped to second, falling just 23% to £2.3m for a cume of £14.3m. That makes it the tenth highest 18-cert film of all time, ahead of The Departed (£12.9m) and Pulp Fiction (£12.7m). Next in its sights is Fatal Attraction on £15.4m, which it will beat comfortably. Annabelle had an unusually strong hold for a horror film, falling just 24% to £1.5m and now has a cume of £4.6m. With the Halloween boost still to come, it could overtake Insidious 2’s final total of £7.2m.
The Maze Runner fell just 24% (once previews are removed) to £1.5m and after ten days in cinemas has grossed £4.4m. With half term next week, like Turtles, it will be looking for a fair bit more too. The Best Of Me completed the top five, with £637k, which included £149k from previews. Nicholas Sparks adaptations have been pretty reliable performers over the last few years, with Safe Haven opening with £812k last year and The Lucky One opening with £1.2m (including £328k from previews) in 2012 but The Best Of Me fell short of both of those titles.
Outside of the top five, Robert Downey Jr stepped out of the Iron Man suit and it would appear that people did not step into the cinema. The Judge opened with just £421k from over 300 locations. The box office was up 16% from last weekend and for the third week in succession, the box office was up from the equivalent frame last year – this time 19%.
Next weekend
With half-term starting next Monday, there’s a flurry of new releases next weekend. British romantic comedy Love, Rosie opens on Wednesday, as does London Film Festival closing film, Fury. Having topped the box office in the US this weekend (see below), expectations will be heightened for the Brad Pitt-starring World War II drama. Two new family films are looking to cash in on the half term audience, in The Book Of Life and Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. The Babadook is looking to capitalise on the Halloween audience and Serena and Jimi: All Is By My Side will be targeting the arthouse crowd.
The buzz
A number of films premiered at the London Film Festival last week that are due to open over the coming weeks/months and DCM staff were in attendance. Foxcatcher opens on 9 January and Kloe Wells said "nothing can quite prepare you for the long-lasting feeling of menace that Foxcatcher leaves you with. Intense and dramatic performances from Steve Carell and Channing Tatum will shock, whilst the unassuming charm and warmth from Mark Ruffalo’s performance is I believe the true triumph of this film.” Alex Grounds saw Whiplash (16 January) and said "it’s a heart-pounding edge of your seat thriller with outstanding performances from JK Simmons and Miles Teller that resulted in a well-deserved standing ovation at the end of the movie."
Across the pond
Fury opened in the top spot with $23.5m, which is lower than Captain Phillips ($25.7m) but higher than The Monuments Men ($22m). The audience was unsurprisingly 60% men and 51% over the age of 35. Gone Girl dropped to second, adding $17.8m and crossed the $100m mark in the process. It has earned an impressive $107.1m to date. New entry The Book of Life kicked off with $17m this weekend and as is often the case with animation, the audience was 57% female. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day added $12m in fourth, and after ten days has grossed $36.9m. The Best of Me completed the top five with $10.2m, which is the worst start ever for a Nicholas Sparks film. Outside the top five there were two other notable performers. Birdman opened with a terrific $415k from just four screens, which is the 19th highest screen average of all-time. Not faring quite as well, Men, Women & Children grossed $320k from 608 screens, which is the fifth worst start ever for a film on over 600 screens.