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The Weekend Round-up
With a hugely impressive performance, The Theory Of Everything is the first box office champion of 2015. James Marsh’s Stephen Hawking biopic opened with £3.7m, which included £803k from new year’s day previews. Another high profile biopic, Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom, opened on the first weekend of 2014 with £1.5m (including £36k from previews), which gives some context to just how strong The Theory Of Everything’s debut is.
The top film for the previous three frames, The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies, dropped to second but its Friday to Sunday total of £3.2m was the highest in the top 15. With £36.7m now banked for Peter Jackson’s trilogy closer, it is comfortably the biggest film released in 2014, overtaking The Lego Movie’s final total of £34.3m. It also stands a good chance of at least matching The Desolation Of Smaug’s final total of £42.9m
The UK’s favourite bear, Paddington, stayed in third and once again actually increased on the previous weekend, adding £2.8m, and to date has grossed a magnificent £30.8m. When you consider that distributor, StudioCanal’s previous best performing film was Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy with £14.2m, it’s even more remarkable. With no big family titles released until Big Hero 6 at the end of January, Paddington should still add a fair bit more before the end of its run.
Fourth spot was taken by The Woman In Black: Angel Of Death, which opened with £2.4m (including £547k in previews). The first Woman In Black was one of the surprise hits of 2012, opening with £3.2m and finishing with £21.3m, making it one of the most successful horror films of all time. It’s perhaps a little unfair to compare it to the sequel, as the first film starred a fresh-from-Harry-Potter Daniel Radcliffe and was controversially given a 12A cert by the BBFC. Angel Of Death is a 15 certificate and has no notable star but £2.4m is a solid start and compared to Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones, which opened with £1.6m (including £571k from previews) last new year’s day, it’s strong.
Night At The Museum 3: Secret Of The Tomb rounded out the top five, increasing 10% from last weekend to £1.7m and has now grossed £9.7m. Although it’s going to fall well short of the last Night At The Museum’s £20.2m final total, it’s now in a better position than it looked like it would be two weeks ago. Outside of the top 15, Birdman opened strongly with £1.5m (including £369k from previews) and Annie has shown great staying power, adding another £1.3m for a cume of £5.4m.
Overall the box office was up 25% from last weekend and up 7% from the same weekend last year, when American Hustle came out on top.
Next Weekend
Liam Neeson is back as Bryan Mills in Taken 3, released on Thursday. Expect more of the same B-movie action orchestrated by the aptly named Olivier Megaton, with Neeson’s imposing presence elevating it above the average action flick. Taken 2 grossed over £23.5m in the UK but this sequel will probably be aiming for a bit less than that. Fantasy musical, Into The Woods is also released. Based on the Tony winning Stephen Sondheim musical, it has already banked $91.2m in the US, although the musical is arguably more well-known across the pond. Sports drama, Foxcatcher is also out on Friday and features a trio of fantastic performances that will be aiming for awards recognition over the coming weeks.
The Buzz
Big Hero 6 previewed at selected cinemas on Sunday and grossed an impressive £471k for the second highest location average on that day. It has so far banked $211m in the US and will be looking to at least match Wreck-It Ralph’s final total of £23.8m in the UK when it goes on general release on 30 January. Out the same weekend is Kingsman: The Secret Service and the first reviews are in and they’re very promising. Both Empire and The Guardian gave it four stars and The Wrap called it ‘a startlingly enjoyable and well-made action film leavened by humour’. You may also have noticed that it had very prominent space in an ad break during Skyfall on ITV on Christmas Eve, so distributor, 20th Century Fox are clearly fully behind it.
Across The Pond
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies topped the box office for the third successive weekend, falling 47% to $21.9m. Peter Jackson’s last foray to Middle Earth has now grossed $220.8m. Into the Woods had a solid hold in second, easing 39% to $19.1m and after 11 days in cinemas has grossed $91.2m. Just behind in third was Unbroken, adding $18.4m for a cume of $87.8m. Fourth spot was taken by The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death, which banked $15.2m. The first Woman In Black opened with $20.9m, so it’s some way off that. The top five was rounded out by Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, which fell 29% to $14.5m and now has a cume of $89.7m.
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