| Date | |
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| Author | Mia Blakeney |
Box Office Round-up
On an unusually sunny and warm October weekend, The Exorcist Believer opened in the top spot with £1.7m. Universal rebooted the Halloween series to much success, with the first film in the recent trilogy opening with £2.7m in October 2018 on its way to a final total just under £9m. While The Exorcist: Believer hasn’t managed to replicate that, £1.8m is a solid start and The Exorcist: Deceiver is already on the schedule for April 2025.
Last weekend’s top film The Creator fell to second and posted a solid hold, falling 45% to just over £1m. That takes its total after 11 days in cinemas to £4.2m. While original sci-fi films have been thin on the ground in recent years, it has easily surpassed the final total of March’s 65, starring Adam Driver, which finished with £3.4m.
Continuing a great year for horror, Saw X is holding up well in third, adding £954k which takes its total after 10 days in cinemas to £3.9m. The last film in the Saw universe to be released was Spiral: From The Book Of Saw which finished its run with £1.6m in 2021. Prior to that it was Jigsaw, which finished its run with £5m in 2017, so Saw X looks like it’s going to surpass both of those.
Michael Caine, and in her last big screen role, Glenda Jackson star in British drama The Great Escaper which opened in fourth with £593k. This is a film squarely aimed at an older audience, so we’d expect it to perform more strongly in midweek showings. The obvious comparison from this year is The Unlikely PIlgramage of Harold Fry which opened with £789k in April and finished its run with £3.4m.
Kenneth Branagh’s A Haunting In Venice rounded out the top five, adding £559k, a drop of 44% from last weekend. That takes its total to £7.9m, and at some stage in the next week it wil overtake the final total of last year’s Death On The Nile, which finished on £8m.
Outside of the top five, The Equalizer 3 in sixth is now up to £8.3m, and is the first film in the series to cross the £8m mark.
Next Weekend
Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour is a new concert film from one of the world’s biggest music artists. The cultural phenomenon continues as pop icon Taylor Swift performs hit songs in a once-in-a-lifetime concert experience.
PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie is a new film featuring the popular canine characters. A magical meteor crash lands in Adventure City and gives the PAW Patrol pups superpowers, transforming them into The Mighty Pups.
The Miracle Club is a new comedy drama starring Laura Linney, Kathy Bates and Maggie Smith. There's just one dream for the women of Ballygar to taste freedom: to win a pilgrimage to the sacred French town of Lourdes.
The Buzz
Five Nights At Freddy’s is a big screen adaptation of the popular video game series. Josh Hutcherson (The Hunger Games) plays a troubled security guard who begins working at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. During his first night on the job, he realises that the night shift won't be so easy to get through. Pretty soon he will unveil what actually happened at Freddy's. While the video game is more popular in the US than the UK, advance ticket sales in the US are apparently huge and it is set to be the biggest horror film this Halloween. If you’re looking to reach a 16-34 audience this month and next, with very little wastage, this is the film to be in.
Across The Pond
The Exorcist: Believer opened in the top spot in North America with a solid $27.2m. Last weekend’s top film, PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie fell to second, adding $11.8m for a new total of $38.9m. Saw X fell 56% in third to $8.2m, which takes its total to $32.6m. The Creator added $6.1m in fourth, a drop of 57% from last weekend, that takes its total to $25m. Faith-based drama, The Blind, rounded out the top five, adding $4m for a new total of $10.5m.