| Date | |
|---|---|
| Author | Zoe Aresti |
Cinema received a boost this weekend from the National Lottery’s cinema weekend, which enabled anyone who purchased a lottery ticket this weekend to get a pair of free cinema tickets to participating cinemas. Coupled with cinemagoing weather, the box office received a boost from last weekend with almost every film posting a strong hold.
The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard opened on top of the box office, thanks to previews from opening on Monday. It has so far grossed £1.6m, with £1m of that coming over the weekend. The first film, The Hitman’s Bodyguard, opened with £2m in August 2017, which included £367k from two days of previews. That film finished its run with £7.3m, which is a tall order for this sequel.
Second place this week was taken by Peter Rabbit 2, which posted the best Friday to Sunday total of the weekend. The family blockbuster added £1.1m, which is a terrific increase of 39% from last weekend, and shows there’s plenty more life in the film yet. We still have to wait until 16 July for another major family film to be released (The Croods: A New Age, Space Jam: A New Legacy).
In The Heights was another new entry in third, opening with £1.1m, which includes £37k from previews. This film has been rapturously received by many critics in the UK and US but this has not yet translated into major box office. Hopefully word-of-mouth will be good in the UK over the next few weeks.
Last week’s top film, A Quiet Place Part II fell to fourth, but less than £100k separated the top four films’ Friday to Sunday totals. The thrilling sequel added £1m, taking its total to £8.3m. It looks like it has a great shot of crossing the £10m mark and falling not too far short of the first film’s final total of £12.2m, which would be an amazing result. Cruella completed the top five and was another film to post a sensational hold, increasing on last week’s total by 1% to £732k, and is now on £7m.
Outside of the top five, The Father posted a great hold, falling just 6% (once previews are removed) to £338k and is now on £1.2m. Nobody added £201k and also crossed the £1m mark. Monster Hunter opened in ninth with £150k.
Overall the box office was up a hefty 46% from last weekend.
Comscore is reporting that there were 749 cinemas open across the UK and Ireland at the weekend.
Next Weekend
Fast & Furious 9 is the fastest and most furiousest film in the series yet. Cipher (Charlize Theron) enlists the help of Jakob, Dom's younger brother to take revenge on Dom and his team. John Cena and Helen Mirren co-star and it’s in cinemas on Thursday.
Supernova is a moving drama starring Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci as Sam and Tusker, who are traveling across England in their old RV to visit friends, family and places from their past. Since Tusker was diagnosed with dementia two years ago, their time together is the most important thing they have.
Dogtanian And The Three Muskehounds is a big screen debut for the classic cartoon from the 1980s. Young D'Artagnan travels to Paris, where he meets his best friend, the little mouse Pom, and tries to fulfill his dream of becoming a Muskehound.
Across The Pond
The Hitman’s Bodyguard opened in the top spot with $11.7m over the weekend, and including previews since Monday it’s on $17m. A Quiet Place Part II had a great hold, falling just 21.7% to $9.4m. That takes its total to $125.3m, just 16% lower than the first film at the same point in its run. Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway came in third, adding $6.1m for a new total of $20.3m. The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It came in fourth, adding $5.2m for a new total of $53.6m. Cruella completed the top five, adding $5.1m, another strong hold, falling just 24.3%, and takes its total to $64.7m.