| Date | |
|---|---|
| Author | Mia Blakeney |
Box Office Round-up
The Super Mario Bros. Movie continued its remarkable box office run adding £7.6m, a drop of just 14% from last weekend. That takes its total after 12 days in cinemas to a huge £35.9m, an average box office of £3m per day. It has flown past Puss In Boots: The Last Wish (£25.6m) to be the biggest film released in 2023 and it’s setting a benchmark that will be tough to beat this year. In terms of the biggest animated films, Minions: The Rise of Gru is the biggest animated film since cinemas re-opened in 2021 with £47m and The Super Mario Bros. Movie looks like it will get past that. Only four animated films in history have grossed more than £50m at the UK & Ireland box office (Toy Story 3, Toy Story 4, Incredibles 2, Frozen 2) and at the moment The Super Mario Bros. Movie has a good chance of becoming the fifth.
Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves placed second and added £1.2m on its third weekend, a drop of 27% from last weekend. To date it has banked £10.8m and any fears it would perform like the Warcraft movie have been dispelled, as that film finished its run with £6.1m.
John Wick: Chapter 4 added £824k, which takes its total to a shade under £15m. This is a terrific performance and continues the huge growth of each John Wick film, with the first three films grossing £1.6m, £6m, and £10.4m respectively.
Amazon Studios title Air stayed in fourth, adding £723k, a drop of just 10% from last weekend (once previews are removed). That takes its total to £2.8m and with the NBA playoffs starting this week hopefully there’ll be further interest in a film about one of the most famous basketball players of all-time.
New entry, Renfield rounded out the top five, opening with £681k. Universal Pictures have had success this year with eye-catching horror-comedies, such as M3GAN and Cocaine Bear and both those films have grossed over £5.5m, so this opening for Renfield is something of a disappointment.
Outside of the top five, anime title Suzume opened with £469k, which includes £10k from previews. The last anime title to hit the top 10 was Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba – To The Swordsmith Village which grossed £641k last month, so Suzume looks like it will surpass that total.
The box office is down 41% from last weekend and up 7% from the same weekend last year.
Next Weekend
Evil Dead Rise is a brand-new story in the classic horror saga. It’s a twisted tale of two estranged sisters whose reunion is cut short by the rise of flesh-possessing demons, thrusting them into a primal battle for survival as they face the most nightmarish version of family imaginable.
Missing is a standalone sequel to the 2018 screen-life thriller Searching, starring Storm Reid and Nia Long. After her mother goes missing, a young woman tries to find her from home, using tools available to her online.
How To Blow Up A Pipeline is a heart-stopping thriller about a crew of environmental activists who plot a daring plan to disrupt an oil pipeline.
The Three Musketeers: D’Artagnan is a new swashbuckling adaptation of Alexander Dumas’ classic novel. D'Artagnan arrives in Paris trying to find his attackers after being left for dead, which leads him to a real war where the future of France is at stake. He aligns himself with Athos, Porthos and Aramis, three musketeers of the King. Superstars of French cinema, Romain Duris, Vincent Cassel and Eva Green star.
The Buzz
After the huge success of The Super Mario Bros. Movie, what other films this spring could breakout and capture the UK public’s imagination in a similar way? One with clear potential to do so is Disney’s The Little Mermaid, which hits cinemas ahead of the May half-term period on 26 May. The story of a mermaid princess who makes a Faustian bargain in an attempt to become human and win a prince's love is one of the most popular Disney animations of the late 20th century and won two Oscars for its beloved music. Disney’s live-action adaptations of their classic animated films have proven huge hits over the last few years, with both Beauty And The Beast and The Lion King delivering over 7m DCM admissions. We’re forecasting The Little Mermaid to be the biggest film for 16-34 women this summer, delivering 13 16-34 women TVRs. If you’re looking to target this hard-to-reach audience, don’t miss out.
Across The Pond
The Super Mario Bros. Movie continues to smash it in North America too, adding $87m for a new total of $347.8m. The Pope’s Exorcist opened in second with $9.2m, while John Wick Chapter 4 fell to third, adding $7.9m for a new total of $160.1m. Renfield disappointed in North America too, opening with $7.7m, while Air also banked $7.7m this weekend for a new total of $33.3m.