| Date | |
|---|---|
| Author | DCM |
| Categories | cinema |
The Weekend Round-up
The Boxtrolls clung on to the top spot this weekend, just withstanding the challenge from Liam Neeson in A Walk Among The Tombstones. The charming animation actually increased 2% from last weekend (once previews are removed), adding a further £1.3m for a cume of £3.6m. At the same stage in its run in 2012, ParaNorman, added a further £1.2m and was on £2.9m, so The Boxtrolls is holding up nicely.
The highest new entry was Liam Neeson thriller, A Walk Among The Tombstones. Adapted from Lawrence Block’s novel it opened with £1.3m, just £16k behind The Boxtrolls. That figure is an improvement on Neeson’s last 15-cert thriller, The Grey, which kicked off with £1.1m in 2012. A Walk Among The Tombstones is just one of seventeen novels featuring Neeson’s character, Matthew Scudder, so if this one proves to be a success, expect to see him return in the role.
Pride took third spot, falling just 12% to £579k and a cume of £1.9m. That impressive hold demonstrates the strong word of mouth the film is receiving and for comparison Made In Dagenham fell 25% on its second weekend. Lucy dropped to fourth adding £551k and crossed the £13m mark in the process. Another new entry, The Riot Club completed the top five with £497k (including £3k from previews). Director Lone Scherfig first experienced success with An Education in 2009 and that film opened with £399k on its way to a final total of £2.6m.
A few other new entries landed in the lower reaches of the top 15, with Nick Cave documentary, 20,000 Days On Earth earning £356k, with £284k of that from last Wednesday. Woody Allen was unable to repeat the terrific success of Blue Jasmine as Magic In The Moonlight opened with £274k in twelfth and despite boasting the heavyweight talents of Jeff Bridges and Meryl Streep, the latest young adult fiction adaptation, The Giver, could only manage a paltry £187k from 286 locations in fourteenth.
Overall the box office was down 6% from last weekend and 3% from the same weekend last year when Diana was the highest new entry.
Next Weekend
Denzel Washington once again teams up with Training Day director, Antoine Fuqua, in The Equalizer. A new British comedy from the makers of television show Outnumbered is released in What We Did On Our Holiday. David Cronenberg (The Fly, A History Of Violence) returns with Hollywood satire, Maps To The Stars and the recipient of the Best Film award in the official competition at last year’s London Film Festival, Ida, finally reaches UK audiences.
The Buzz
One of the year’s most anticipated films, Gone Girl, is released in just under two weeks and the first reviews are in. Variety’s Justin Chang said it’s ‘surgically precise, grimly funny and entirely mesmerizing’. The Telegraph’s Robbie Collin called it ‘unnerving, shocking and provoking’ and The Hollywood Reporter called it ‘expertly crafted entertainment’.
Across The Pond
Young adult fiction adaptation, The Maze Runner, topped the box office with $32.5m and the second book in the series, The Scorch Trials, was immediately given a release date (18 September 2015) after this impressive opening. The audience was 64% below 25 years of age. Liam Neeson drama, A Walk Among the Tombstones, took second place with $12.8m, which is a good deal less than the $19.7m The Grey opened with in 2012. The audience gender split was fairly even, with 51% men, and it was 77% over the age of 25. This is Where I Leave You opened in third place with $11.6m and the audience was 63% female and 86% over the age of 25. Last week’s number one, No Good Deed, fell a chunky 60% to $9.8m for a cume of $39.7m and Dolphin Tale 2 completed the top five, falling 44% to $8.9m for a cume of $26.9m.