| Date | |
|---|---|
| Author | Tom Linay |
| Categories | box Office |
The Weekend Round-up
- The first of this year’s big Christmas films was unleashed on Friday and it proved that November 8 is not too early to get into the festive spirit, as The Grinch walked away with £5m on its opening weekend. The big animated film for Christmas 2016 was Disney’s Moana, which opened with £2.2m, so The Grinch has more than doubled that figure. Although it will face strong competition in the coming weeks, from the likes of Ralph Breaks The Internet, with Christmas still seven weeks away, The Grinch should be looking at a total in excess of £20m.
- After topping the box office for the last two weeks, Bohemian Rhapsody posted another terrific hold, falling just 21% to £4.6m. That takes its total to £28.9m and it’s now the ninth biggest film of 2018 to date and will be looking at getting very close to £40m, if not beyond that.
- Steve McQueen’s heist-thriller Widows opened in third with £2.4m, which includes £762k from previews. McQueen’s previous film, 12 Years A Slave, opened with £2.5m in January 2014, but that film had the weight of a number of Oscar and BAFTA nominations behind it which resulted it in it finishing on £20m. I imagine that Widows would be delighted with half that figure at the moment.
- A Star Is Born fell to fourth, but still posted a strong hold for a film on its sixth week of release, falling 32% to £1.2m. That takes its total to £25.5m and it has now overtaken Darkest Hour and Mission: Impossible – Fallout to be the 10th biggest film of 2018.
- The Nutcracker And The Four Realms completed the top five, falling 36% to £1.1m. That’s a solid hold, but The Grinch is obviously a bigger draw for the family audience. The Nutcracker And The Four Realms is now up to £3.4m and has to go down as Disney’s second disappointment this year, after Solo.
- Outside of the top five, two very different WWII films opened this weekend. Horror Overlord opened in sixth with £678k (including £197k from previews), and Peter Jackson’s documentary They Shall Not Grow Old opened in 10th with £271k, which includes £4k from previews.
- Bollywood title, Thugs Of Hindostan, opened in seventh with £498k, which includes £109k from previews.
Overall, the box office was up 15% from last weekend and down 8% from the same weekend last year, when the top films were Paddington 2, Murder On The Orient Express, Thor: Ragnarok and A Bad Moms Christmas.
Next Weekend
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald is the sequel to one of the biggest films of the last few years, Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them, which finished on £54.7m. Eddie Redmayne returns as Newt Scamander and it’s once again written by J.K. Rowling. It should be one of the biggest films of 2019.
The Buzz
On The Basis Of Sex is a biopic about Ruth Bader Ginsberg, her struggles for equal rights and what she had to overcome in order to become a U.S. Supreme Court Justice. It stars Felicity Jones as Ginsberg, and Armie Hammer as her husband, Marty. It has its premiere in the US at the weekend and the reviews have been mostly positive. Variety said ‘an RBG biopic shouldn’t be about sizzle and showpersonship, but hard work and determination in the face of rampant, seemingly unremitting sexism, and in that respect, Leder’s film gets its priorities right’, while Screen International said ‘the sincerity of the undertaking — and the issues at the film’s centre — make it hard to resist, no matter what objections might be raised.’. It’s in UK cinemas on 8 February.
Across The Pond
The Grinch opened in the top spot with a sensastional $68m, which is the third largest opening weekend for an animated title in November behind The Incredibles ($70.4m) and Frozen ($67.4m). Bohemian Rhapsody fell to second, adding $31.2m, which takes its total to $100m. Overlord opened in third with $10.2m, while The Nutcracker and the Four Realms came in fourth, adding $10.1m, which takes its total to $35.8m. Completing the top five is The Girl in the Spider's Web, which opened with a disappointing $8m.