| Date | |
|---|---|
| Author | DCM |
| Categories | cinema |
The Weekend Round-up
The UK’s favourite bear comfortably held on to the top spot this weekend, with a strong hold that suggests there’s plenty more to come. Paddington fell just 25% to £3.8m and in doing so cracked the £10m mark. In just ten days it has already overtaken Rush to become StudioCanal’s third biggest film of all time, behind The Imitation Game and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, which it will overtake in the next week or so. With the bumper boost provided by the Christmas holidays on the horizon, a final total approaching £30m is not out of the question.
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 was once again in second spot, adding £2.2m for a cume of £25.2m. At the same stage, Catching Fire was on £26.4m, so it looks like Mockingjay Part 1 is going to fall short of that film’s final total of £34.2m, but it’s already the sixth highest grossing film of 2014 and likely to finish at least a couple of places higher. This week’s highest new entry in third was animated spin-off Penguins Of Madagascar. It kicked off with £1.4m, but the last Madagascar film, Europe’s Most Wanted opened with £6m, and although that included £2.4m in previews, it’s still significantly more than Penguins.
The Imitation Game had another strong hold, falling 38% to £875k and has now grossed a hugely impressive £11.3m. As mentioned above, in the last week it overtook Rush to become StudioCanal’s second biggest film of all time, although Tinker Tailor (£14.2m) looks to be out of reach and it will shortly be overtaken by Paddington. The top five was rounded out by Horrible Bosses 2, which fell 49% to £643k and after ten days has grossed £2.6m.
The rest of the top 15 contained six other new entries, the best performing of which was Get Santa in seventh with £577k. The animated title that just won’t quit, Frozen was in thirteenth with £111k and crossed the £41m mark in the process. An amazing achievement.
Overall the box office was down 23% from last weekend but up 9% from the same weekend last year, when Frozen took the top spot and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and Gravity continued to perform strongly.
Next Weekend
Next weekend is dominated by The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies. With the last two films both grossing over £42m, it is certain to be one of, if not the biggest film released this year. The only other major release going up against it is Tinker Bell and the Legend of the NeverBeast. It’s the second Tinker Bell film to be released this year and in a crowded family market place, it will do well to match Tinker Bell and the Pirate Fairy’s £6m final total.
The Buzz
Historical drama, Selma, has quietly become one of the films to beat this upcoming awards season. Telling the story of Martin Luther King and the civil rights marches that changed America, it reportedly features a towering lead performance from British actor, David Oyeluwo. The film currently has a score of 98 on Metacritic and that doesn’t include the five star review it received in The Telegraph last week. It’s released in the UK on 6 February and previews on the 19 January (the American public holiday, Martin Luther King Day).
Across The Pond
On a weekend with no major new releases, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 took the top spot for the third successive week, falling 62% to $21.6m. It is now the fourth biggest film of the year, having grossed $257.7m. In second, Penguins of Madagascar fell 56% to $11.1m and to date has earned $49.6m. At its current rate, it will wind up with less than $100m. Horrible Bosses 2 added $8.6m in third, which is a decent hold, falling just 44%. To date it has grossed $36.1m but has no chance of reaching the first film’s final total of $117.5m. In fourth, Big Hero 6 fell 57% to $8.1m and has now banked an impressive $177.5m. Interstellar completed the top five with $8m and to date the sci-fi epic has banked $158.7m.