| Date | |
|---|---|
| Author | Mia Blakeney |
Box Office Round-up
Avatar: The Way Of Water opened in the top spot with £11.2m, the sixth biggest opening weekend of 2022 and the second film this year to open with £11.2m, the other being Top Gun: Maverick. The first Avatar had a three-day opening of £6.6m but had legendary staying power, eventually getting to £94m. Hopefully the word-of-mouth on The Way Of Water will be strong too, and Comscore’s PostTrak exit polling suggests it will with the film achieving a rating of 4.5 stars, along with an 86% Total Positive rating. There’s little competition for IMAX and premium-large-format screens over the next month, so expect Avatar: The Way Of Water to be taking up those spaces. 3D showings accounted for over 57% of the weekend box office.
Roald Dahl’s Matilda The Musical fell to second, adding £1.3m, a drop of 38% from last weekend. That takes its total after four weekends in cinemas to £12.7m. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever came in third, falling 53% to £378k. That takes it £31.6m.
Violent Night fell to fourth adding £352k, a drop of 38% from last weekend. That takes its total after 17 days in cinemas to £2.6m and it has taken $55m worldwide from a reported $20m budget, so we may be getting more Santa-themed action films. Disney’s Strange World rounded out the top five, adding £194k for a new total just over £2m.
Outside of the top five, four of the rest of the top 10 were festive-themed offerings from Elf, Home Alone, It’s A Wonderful Life, and The Muppet Christmas Carol grossing £415k between them.
The box office is up 185% from last weekend and down 59% from the same weekend last year.
Next Weekend
Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody stars Naomi Ackie as one of the greatest singers of the last 50 years. Co-starring Stanley Tucci, it follows Houston’s story from obscurity to musical superstardom. It’s in cinemas on Boxing Day.
Corsage is a fictional account of one year in the life of Empress Elisabeth of Austria. On Christmas Eve 1877, Elisabeth, once idolized for her beauty, turns 40 and is officially deemed an old woman; she starts trying to maintain her public image. Vicky Krieps and Colin Morgan star. It’s in cinemas on Boxing Day too.
The Buzz
Oppenheimer is the next film from Christopher Nolan (Inception, Interstellar, Dunkirk, Tenet) and is in cinemas next summer. It’s the story of American scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer and his role in the development of the atomic bomb. Always favouring practical effects over CGI, Nolan has reportedly recreated an atomic explosion in the desert. The cast is arguably the most impressive of any film in 2023, including Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh, Robert Downey Jr, Matt Damon, Gary Oldman, Kenneth Branagh, Rami Malek and more. It’s one of the best blockbusters for an ABC1 audience in 2023 and it’s in cinemas on 21 July.
Across The Pond
Avatar: The Way of Water opened with $134m, the sixth best opening weekend of 2022. Incidentally, the biggest film of 2022, Top Gun: Maverick opened with $127m, so hopefully Avatar: The Way Of Water has similar staying power. Violent Night came in second, adding $5.6m for a new total of $35m. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever came in third, adding $5.4m for a new total of $419m, making it the highest grossing MCU film of the year. Strange World in fourth added $2.2m for a new total of $33.8m domestic, while The Menu added $1.7m for a new total of $32.1m.