| Date | |
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| Author | Zoe Aresti |
The Weekend Box Office Round-up
As expected, it was another quiet weekend at the box office with so few major new releases, so Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings made it four weekends in the top spot, posting another strong hold, falling 34% (exactly the same as last weekend) to £1.6m. That takes its total to £18.3m and it has now overtaken the final total of 2015’s Ant-Man (£16.3m) and 2018’s Ant-Man And The Wasp (£17.8m). This week it will overtake Black Widow’s final total of £18.8m.
The Sopranos prequel The Many Saints Of Newark opened in second with £945k, which includes £329k from previews after opening on Wednesday. Plenty of television shows have been turned into hit movies (Sex and the City, Star Trek, The Inbetweeners, On The Buses) but I can’t recall another prequel. Anyone?
Free Guy had yet another great hold, falling just 19% on its seventh weekend to £551k. That takes it over the £16m mark and it’s now on £15.1m. I think it has been THE success story of the summer. Respect came in fifth, falling 34% to £250k and a new total of £1.7m.
It was the return of event cinema to the upper echelons of the weekend chart as Oasis Knebworth 1996, a documentary about one of the biggest live music events ever seen in the UK, opened in fourth with £344k. It was only in cinemas on Thursday and Friday but a quirk of box office reporting for event cinema titles means that the Thursday box office was not counted as previews. This title has grossed £634k across its two days, making it both the highest grossing event cinema release, and the highest grossing documentary of 2021. Some might say that more showings are reportedly being added.
Outside of the top five, The Green Knight opened in eighth with £166k. This is a day-and-date release with Amazon Prime.
Overall the box office was down 1% from last weekend, but something tells me it will be up again next week.
Next Weekend
The next James Bond film, No Time To Die, finally hits cinemas on Thursday 30 September. The film had its World Premiere at London's Royal Albert Hall this week and has opened to rave reviews from critics, receiving 5* from The Guardian, Time Out, The Telegraph and The Times, which said "It’s better than good. It’s magnificent."
Across The Pond
Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings topped the box office for the fourth weekend in North America too, adding $13.3m for a new total of $196.5m. That means it has overtaken Black Widow to become the biggest film in the pandemic era. Musical, Dear Evan Hansen, opened in second with a disappointing $7.5m. It opens in the UK next month. Free Guy continues to stick around, adding $4.1m, a drop of 19% from last weekend, and that takes its total to $114.1m. Candyman came in fourth again, adding $2.5m in its fifth weekend and that takes its total to $56.8m. Cry Macho completed the top five, adding $2.1m for a new total of $8.3m.