| Date | |
|---|---|
| Author | Tom Linay |
The Weekend Round-up
- 1917 followed up its seven BAFTA wins on Sunday night by holding on to the top of the box office for a fourth successive weekend with a total of £2.8m. It has now banked a huge £31.4m and with the boost from last night’s win, it could easily get to £40m. In terms of recent big awards season films it has now overtaken 2017’s La La Land (£30.5m), and Les Misérables final total of £40.8m in 2013 looks achievable. After that, 2011’s The King’s Speech on £45.7m would be the target.
- Bad Boys For Life posted another terrific hold this weekend. The Will Smith and Martin Lawrence action-comedy added £1.8m, a drop of just 33%, which takes its total to £11.3m. It has now overtaken Bad Boys II’s final total of £8.7m to become the biggest film in the series.
- Armando Iannucci’s The Personal History of David Copperfield posted a great hold too, adding £1m, a drop of 30% from last weekend. That takes its total to £3.8m and it looks odds-on to become Iannucci’s biggest film to date, which is currently The Death Of Stalin with £5.2m.
- Little Women again had a good weekend, adding another £659k for a new total of £19.9m. In the next couple of days it will cross the £20m, which is a fantastic result. We haven’t had two awards season titles gross over £20m in the same year since 2014 when The Wolf Of Wall Street and 12 Years A Slave both managed it.
- The Gentlemen completed the top five, adding £597k over the weekend, a drop of just 32% from last weekend. These gentlemen definitely have legs, as Guy Ritchie’s film is now up to £10.3m.
- Outside of the top five, it wasn’t a great weekend for new releases. Queen & Slim opened in seventh with £507k (including £98k from previews), while A Beautiful Day In The Neighbourhood opened in 8th with £494k (including £20k from previews). The Lighthouse opened in 10th with £384k but posted the best screen average of any film in the top 15, which hopefully bodes well for a possible expansion next weekend.
Overall the box office is down 30% from last weekend and down 20% from the same weekend last year when the top films were How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, Green Book, Glass and Escape Room.
Next Weekend
- Birds Of Prey: And The Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn is a mouthful of a title but will hopefully be a snappy comic book adventure. Margot Robbie once again plays Harley Quinn as she joins forces with a group of female superheroes to fight an evil crime lord.
- Parasite is the most talked about foreign language title in years and is set to be a breakout hit. All unemployed, Ki-taek and his family take peculiar interest in the wealthy and glamorous Parks, as they ingratiate themselves into their lives and get entangled in an unexpected incident.
- Dolittle stars Robert Downey Jr as the famous physician who discovers that he can talk to animals. The voice cast is star-packed and too big to list here.
- Underwater is a claustrophobic thriller about a crew of aquatic researchers who work to get to safety after an earthquake devastates their subterranean laboratory. But the crew has more than the ocean seabed to fear.
The Buzz
Fast & Furious 9 is the ninth instalment in one of cinema’s biggest franchises and the action looks more outrageous as ever. Vin Diesel returns as Dominic Toretto, Charlize Theron reprises her role as Cipher, and John Cena joins the cast as Dominic Toretto’s brother, Jacob. It’s set to be one of the biggest films for 16-34 men this year and is forecast to deliver 15 16-34 male TVRs across its run. The new trailer launched during the Super Bowl on Sunday night and you can watch all four minutes of it here: https://youtu.be/FUK2kdPsBws.
Across The Pond
Bad Boys for Life came out on top for the third straight weekend, adding $17.7m for a new total of $148.1m and it’s now the biggest film in the franchise.1917 again came in second, adding $9.7m, a drop of 39%, which takes its total to $119.2m. Dolittle came in third, adding $7.7m for a new total of $55.2m. Gretel & Hansel was a new entry in fourth, opening with $6.1m, while The Gentlemen added $6m in fifth, for a new total of $20.4m.