| Date | |
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| Author | Zoe Aresti |
The Weekend Round-up
Taken 3 sets the bar high with £6.7m in just four days. Its Friday to Sunday total of £5.8m would have been the eighth highest opening weekend of the year in 2014 and it’s also only 9% off from Taken 2’s huge £7.4m four day opening in 2012.
Disney’s Into The Woods took second with £2.5m. The last Stephen Sondheim adaptation to hit the big screen was Tim Burton’s Sweeney Todd in 2008 and that opened with £4.5m, although Into The Woods’ broader appeal should see it sustain longer.
Last week’s number one, The Theory Of Everything dropped to third but had a very strong hold, falling 16% to £2.5m. After eleven days in cinemas it has now grossed £7.9m and with Eddie Redmayne picking up the Golden Globe for Best Actor (Drama) on Sunday night, it should hold up well throughout awards season.
The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies was in fourth, after adding £1.3m and now has a cume of £39.2m. It’s almost certain to be the only film released in 2014 to cross the £40m mark.
Paddington completed the top five, and had the first significant drop of its run, falling 56% to £1.3m and a huge cume of £32.8m. It’s now all set to overtake The Lego Movie and become the highest grossing family film from 2014.
Just outside the top five, Foxcatcher opened in sixth with £877k and with it not winning anything in the Golden Globes and only receiving two BAFTA nominations (both for best supporting actor), it may not have a long run across the awards season.
Overall the box office was down 10% from last weekend, although that weekend had greater preview figures, and up 33% from the same weekend last year, when 12 Years A Slave came out on top.
Next Weekend
While we don’t have a Taken 3 sized hit on the horizon, there’s four films released that are all intriguing prospects. Whiplash is proving popular with people who’ve seen it (it’s my favourite film of the last twelve months) but getting people to see it is another matter and the tale of a jazz drummer and his abrasive instructor has proved hard to market in the US (only $6.2m to date). Wild has fared better at the US box office (£30.3m to date) and Reese Witherspoon’s strong performance will hopefully result in a good return here too. Clint Eastwood’s American Sniper is performing remarkably on limited release in the US but, understandably, it may not as interesting to a UK audience. Finally, WWI drama Testament Of Youth, based on Vera Brittain’s 1933 memoir, will be looking to attract an older audience. DCM’s Jack Jones was surprised how much he enjoyed this one.
The Buzz
After last night’s Golden Globes, it would appear that all the major awards contenders are already in cinemas, which is disappointing for the much-buzzed about Selma. Still, expect it to feature heavily when the Oscar nominations are announced on Thursday. It’s in UK cinemas on 6 February. One of the more surprising occurrences from last Friday’s BAFTA nominations was Trash receiving a nomination for Best Film non in the English Language. It’s written by Richard Curtis, directed by Stephen Daldry and in cinemas on 30 January.
Across The Pond
Taken 3's $40.4m debut is off 18% from Taken 2's $49m start but still a fantastic start. In second, Selma grossed $11.2m and to date has earned $13.5m. Into the Woods was in third, falling 48% to $9.8m and crossed the $100m in the process. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies had held the top spot for the last three weeks but dropped to fourth place this weekend, adding $9.4m for a cume of $236.5m. Unbroken took fifth place, adding $8.4m for a cume of $101.6m.
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