| Date | |
|---|---|
| Author | Mia Blakeney |
Box Office Round-up
David Leitch’s The Fall Guy signals the start of the summer blockbuster season, opening in the top spot with £3.6m, which includes £433k from previews after opening on Thursday. It then had its biggest day yet on bank holiday Monday, adding £1.3m. The two most obvious comparatives for The Fall Guy are the Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum romantic-comedy The Lost City and the action-comedy Bullet Train, which is also from David Leitch. The Lost City opened on a Wednesday and in its first five days grossed £2.7m. Including Monday, so a full five days, The Fall Guy is up to £4.9m, well ahead of The Lost City. The Lost City finished its run on £10.7m, while Bullet Train finished on £11m, so The Fall Guy has to be looking at a total in advance of both of those films.
Hugely popular films of yesteryear are being re-released on a regular basis at the moment, but we can’t recall when one was as popular as Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace was this weekend. It grossed £1.2m across the weekend and a further £231k on Monday for a four-day total of £1.4m. For context, the 30th anniversary of Jurassic Park only banked £284k across its opening weekend last summer and finished with £557k. This just goes to show the public still have a big appetite for Star Wars on the big screen.
Last weekend’s top film Challengers fell to third, adding £987k across the weekend, a drop of 36% from last weekend. It then added a healthy £369k on Monday for a new total of £4m. The last tennis film in cinemas was Battle Of The Sexes, starring Emma Stone and Steve Carell in 2017, which finished its run with £1.5m so Challengers is beating that one in straight sets.
Back To Black fell to fourth but is still proving a strong draw, adding £771k from Friday to Sunday and a further £305k on Monday for a new total of £10.8m. It now looks like it’s going to finish with a total superior to Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody (£11.6m).
Rounding out the top five is Kung Fu Panda 4 and it is showing amazing fighting spirit. The film added £562k from Friday to Sunday and then had a great Monday, banking a further £459k, which takes its total to £20.9m. It’s now the highest grossing film in the Kung Fu Panda series, having overtaken the final total of the first Kung Fu Panda (£20.4m).
Outside of the top five, Tarot opened in sixth, continuing the recent trend of horror films opening with around £500k, after Immaculate (£523k), The First Omen (£522k) and Abigail (£597k). Tarot launched with £509k but that includes £76k from Thursday previews. It added a further £122k from Monday for a five-day total of £631k.
Love Lies Bleeding was a new entry in eighth with £310k and then added a further £100k on Monday for total of £411k.
Next Weekend
Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes is a new entry in the long running and high-quality film series. Many years after the reign of Caesar, a young ape goes on a journey that will lead him to question everything he's been taught about the past and make choices that will define a future for apes and humans alike. It opens on Thursday.
The Buzz
Mufasa: The Lion King is a prequel to one of the biggest films of all-time. It’s about the rise of one of the greatest kings of the Pride Lands, and goes back to the African savannah where Rafiki tells Kiara, daughter of Simba and Nala, the story of her grandfather while Timon and Pumbaa add colourful commentary. It’s directed by one of the greatest filmmakers on the planet, Barry Jenkins, who directed the Oscar best picture winning Moonlight, and If Beale Street Could Talk and it has original songs written by Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton). The Lion King delivered 8 million DCM admissions and we’re forecasting Mufasa to deliver 10 16-34 adult TVRs. It’s in cinemas on 20 December.
Across The Pond
The Fall Guy is top in North America too, having opened with $27.7m. The re-release of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace opened in second with $8.7m. Last week’s top film Challengers fell to third adding $7.6m, a drop of 49% from last weekend, which takes its total to $29.4m. Tarot opened in fourth with $6.5m, while Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire rounded out the top five adding $4.5m for a new total of $188.1m.