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The Weekend Round-up
After Star Wars: The Force Awakens became the biggest film in UK history hopes have been high for its sequel, Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Thankfully, the highly anticipated release didn’t disappoint, opening with a sensational £28m, the second biggest four-day opening of all time, behind only The Force Awakens. It’s Friday to Sunday total of £20.3m is the third highest three-day weekend of all time, behind The Force Awakens and Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2. Looking at the longer term prospects, Skyfall and SPECTRE both opened with Friday to Sunday totals in the region of £20m and they finished on £103.2m and £95.2m respectively. It’s clear The Last Jedi is going to be one of the biggest films of all time in the UK.
Paddington 2 fell to second, but delivered a decent hold in the face of The Last Jedi, falling 20% to £1.4m. That takes its total to £31.4m and it’s now the sixth biggest film of 2017 and it has It, currently in fifth spot, in its sights. The Last Jedi will overtake them both though by Tuesday of this week.
Daddy’s Home 2 had a great hold, falling just 9% to £1m. That takes its total to £11.4m and it’s edging closer to the first film’s final total of £17.4m.
Wonder came in fourth, falling 37% to £467k. That takes its total to £3.5m and it with a strong Christmas period, it still has a chance of reaching £5m.
Justice League completed the top five, falling a hefty 60% to £223k. It now sits on £17.2m and is reaching the end of its run. In terms of 2017 superhero films it’s behind Wonder Woman, Logan, The LEGO Batman Movie, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Thor: Ragnarok and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.
On a bumper weekend, the box office was up 437% from last weekend and up 43% from the same weekend last year, when the top films were Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Moana, Fantastic Beasts and Sully: Miracle On The Hudson.
Next Weekend
Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle is in cinemas on Wednesday and is a sequel to the popular 90s family film. Four teenagers discover an old video game console and are literally drawn into the game's jungle setting becoming the adult avatars they chose. The film has already previewed strongly, delivering £2.1m in two days of previews.
Pitch Perfect 3 is the third and reportedly final film in the comedy series and is also in cinemas on Wednesday. Following their win at the world championship, the now separated Bellas reunite for one last singing competition at an overseas USO tour, but face a group who uses both instruments and voices. Pitch Perfect 2 grossed an impressive £17.4m in the UK.
The Buzz
The Post is the latest major awards contender from the legendary Steven Spielberg. Meryl Streep stars as the United States’ first female newspaper publisher who embarks on an unprecedented battle between journalist and government after a cover-up over the Vietnam war. It has been nominated for six golden globes, including Best Picture, Director, Actress and Actor (Tom Hanks). It also received five stars in The Telegraph
Across The Pond
With an estimated $220m, Star Wars: The Last Jedi opened with the second highest opening weekend ever. It couldn’t quite top the record, held by The Force Awakens with $247.9m, but it’s still a fantastic result. It also became only the second film ever to gross over $100m on its opening day. Ferdinand opened in second with $13.4m, which is the lowest opening ever for a Blue Sky Animation release. Coco came in third, adding $9.9m, which takes its cume to $150.7m. Wonder came in fourth and continued to perform strongly, adding $5.2m for a new cume of $109.1m. Justice League completed the top five, adding $4.3m, which takes its total to $219.6m.