| Date | |
|---|---|
| Author | Tom Linay |
| Categories | box Office |
The Weekend Round-up
- After topping the box office last week, Bohemian Rhapsody continued the incredible recent run of music-based films, posting a quite sensational hold, falling just 11% to £5.8m. That would be enough to place it in the top 10 biggest opening weekends of the year. It takes its total to £20.4m and it is careering towards £30m and beyond. We appear to be in a golden period for music-based films, with current films easily outstripping the biggest hits from earlier in the 21st century, such as Walk The Line (£10.4m).
- A Star Is Born again stayed in second and posted another strong hold, falling 16% to £1.8m. That takes its total to £22.9m and next week it should crack the top 10 biggest films of 2019, overtaking Darkest Hour (£24.1m) and Mission: Impossible – Fallout (£24.3m) in 10th and 9th respectively.
- This week’s highest new-entry is Disney’s The Nutcracker And The Four Realms which kicked off its run with a slightly disappointing £1.7m. Disney are renowned for big lavish fantasy films but this one fell short of Alice Through The Looking Glass (£2.3m) and Cinderella (£3.8m). With a Christmas theme, it should hold up well in the coming weeks, if it can hold on to screens.
- Smallfoot had another good hold, falling 28% to £1.1m. With the schools around the country on holiday for at least one of the last two weeks, it has posted strong midweek numbers for two weeks and is now over the £10m mark on £10.2m.
- Johnny English Strikes Again has also benefitted from the school holidays and added £1m over the weekend, for a new total of £16.4m. This is a remarkably consistent franchise, with Johnny English and Johnny English Reborn, finishing on £19.7m and £20.7m respectively.
- Outside of the top five, Slaughterhouse Rulez opened in ninth with £398k, which includes £143k from previews. Director, Crispian Mills, of the band Kula Shaker, has previously helmed one other film, 2012’s A Fantastic Fear Of Everything, also starring Simon Pegg, and that film opened with £35k on its way to a total of £63k.
Overall, the box office was down 28% from last weekend and down 2% from the same weekend last year, when the top films were Murder On The Orient Express, Thor: Ragnarok, A Bad Moms Christmas and Jigsaw.
Next Weekend
- Widows is Steve McQueen’s follow-up to 12 Years A Slave. Set in contemporary Chicago, amidst a time of turmoil, four women with nothing in common except a debt left behind by their dead husbands' criminal activities, take fate into their own hands, and conspire to forge a future on their own terms. It’s good.
- Overlord is an 18-cert action horror. It’s the story of two American soldiers behind enemy lines on D Day.
- The Grinch is a big, Christmas themed animation, with Benedict Cumberbatch voicing the Grinch who plots to ruin Christmas for the inhabitants of Whoville.
The Buzz
Can You Ever Forgive Me is a comedy-drama which could see Melissa McCarthy get her second Oscar nomination. McCarthy stars as author, Lee Israel, who falls out of step with current tastes and turns her art form to deception. The film has played at the autumn film festivals and is now out in the US and has received almost universal acclaim. Richard Roeper in the Chicago Sun-Times said ‘At times Can You Ever Forgive Me? is actually quite funny and of course McCarthy is great in those scenes — but she’s equally effective in the darkest, most dramatic moments. It’s one of the finest performances of the year.’ Dana Stevens in Slate said ‘One of the things I loved about Can You Ever Forgive Me?—aside from the radiantly perfect casting of McCarthy and Richard E. Grant, a Withnail and I–esque pair of drinking buddies, except this time they’re both asocial, hilarious Withnails—was (director) Heller’s quiet confidence in establishing the milieu where all this typing and lying took place.’ It’s in UK cinemas on 1 February.
Across The Pond
Bohemian Rhapsody opened in the top spot in the US, kicking off its run with a terrific $51m. The Nutcracker and the Four Realms opened in second with, $20m, which was at the bottom end of pre-release estimates. Nobody's Fool opened in third with $14m and A Star Is Born came in fourth, adding $11.1m for a new total of $165.6m. Halloween completed the top five, adding $11m, which takes its total to $150.2m.