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| Author | Tom Linay |
The Weekend Box Office Round-up
Cinema is back! On the first box office round-up of 2021 Peter Rabbit 2 was comfortably the top film, opening with a seven day total of £4.6m, which includes £797k from previews after opening on Monday. The Friday to Sunday total of £3.8m easily surpasses Tenet’s opening weekend of £3.2m and is the biggest Friday to Sunday opening since Sonic The Hedgehog in February 2020. With half term week starting next week, Peter Rabbit 2 should have an even better week next week.
Oscar best picture winner, Nomadland, opened in second with £875k, which includes £378k from previews. These are impressive numbers considering that the film has been available on Disney+ since 30 April and the audience for this film is primarily older, who we were seeing stay away from cinemas in summer 2020 after the first lockdown.
Godzilla: King Of The Monsters came in third with £784k, which takes its total to £1.2m. This film has been available to watch at home since the end of March, so it proves that people still want to watch films on the big screen. It’s box office prior to this week was likely from outdoor cinemas and in the small number of places in the UK where cinemas were able to open (Guernsey).
Spiral: From The Book Of Saw opened in fourth with £779k, which includes £297k from previews after opening on Monday. This is the first of a handful of horror titles out in the next few weeks, with The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It arriving on 26 May and A Quiet Place Part II in cinemas on 3 June. Another horror title rounded out the top five, The Unholy launched with £405k, which includes £156k from previews.
Outside of the top five a number of titles performed well, despite being available to watch at home too, including Mortal Kombat (£319k), Raya And The Last Dragon (£236k) and Tom & Jerry The Movie (£236k). The latter two will be hoping for a fruitful half term period. For context, on the first full weekend after cinemas re-opened in July 2020, The Empire Strikes Back topped the box office with £50k. That would have been enough for 15th spot in the chart this weekend.
Next Weekend
Cruella is a live-action prequel feature film following a young Cruella de Vil. Emma Stone stars alongside Emma Thompson. This is the first film to release simultaneously at cinemas and Disney+ Premier Access.
A Quiet Place Part II is the sequel to the dynamite 2018 thriller. Following the events at home, the Abbott family now face the terrors of the outside world. Forced to venture into the unknown, they realize the creatures that hunt by sound are not the only threats lurking beyond the sand path. It’s in cinemas on Thursday 3, June but also previews on bank holiday Monday.
Across The Pond(s)
There were no major new releases in the US this weekend, ahead of A Quiet Place Part II and Cruella opening this week. Spiral topped the box office with $4.6m, which takes its total to $15.8m. The Saw franchise has now passed $1bn worldwide! Guy Ritchie’s Wrath of Man came in second, adding $2.9m for a new total of $18.8m. Those Who Wish Me Dead came in third adding $1.8m for a new total of $5.5m. Raya and the Last Dragon came in fourth, adding $1.7m for anew total of $48.3m. Godzilla vs. Kong completed the top five, adding $1.4m and is now tantalisingly close to $100m, sitting on $96.9m.
The most exciting news came from other international markets. Fast & Furious 9 opened this past weekend in just eight international markets and banked a huge $162m. That is, hands down, the best international launch for a Hollywood film since the pandemic began and bodes well for its UK release on 24 June. It was also the first Hollywood film to debut to more than $100 million in China since 2019’s Avengers: Endgame.