| Date | |
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| Author | Mia Blakeney |
Box Office Round-up
Wonka remains in first place at the UK box office this weekend with £3.7m, topping the charts for a fifth week, and dropping 44% from last weekend. The last time a film remained at the top spot for this long was in summer 2023, when Barbie was top for six weeks. Paul King’s musical has now passed the £50m mark with £53.0m, overtaking Mary Poppins Returns (£44.5m) and The Greatest Showman (£50.1m) to become the second-highest grossing musical of all time, behind only Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again! (£65.6m).
The highest new opener this weekend is One Life, grossing £1.7m to take second place. Including nationwide previews from New Year’s Day the drama will open with £3.3m, making it the highest-grossing opening in the genre for Anthony Hopkins, overtaking Noah (£2.4m in 2014). Across all genres, Hopkins has 60 credits since The Elephant Man in 1980, with a combined gross of over £250m. His highest-grossing films are Thor: Ragnarök (£31.0m) and Hannibal (£21.5m). James Hawes’ film achieved 4.5 stars and a 91% Total Positive rating in our PostTrak poll, with the main reasons audiences wanted to watch the film were the subject matter/plot (44%) and the genre/type of film (36%).
Anyone But You takes third place adding +49% this weekend, with a gross of £1m. The romantic comedy starring Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell has grossed £3.3m to date, overtaking the lifetime of Marry Me (£2.2m) and just behind No Hard Feelings (£3.9m). At the same point of release, What’s Love Got To Do With It? had £2.7m on its way to a lifetime of £4.8m.
James Wan’s Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom is at no.4 with £933k, a 46% drop in its third weekend. With a running total of £8.2m, it has overtaken the lifetime of Shazam! Fury Of The Gods (£6.0m) and is 7% behind both The Flash (£8.8m) and Birds Of Prey: And The Fantabulous Emancipation Of One Harley Quinn (£8.8m).
The Boy And The Heron is at fifth place with £793k, gaining 16% from its opening weekend. The latest from Hayao Miyazaki has grossed £3.0m to date, making it the director’s highest-grossing title in the UK & Ireland above the likes of Spirited Away (£1.1m, 2003), Howl's Moving Castle (£999k, 2005) and Ponyo (£880k, 2010). It is also the second-highest grossing anime title of all time, behind only Pokémon: The First Movie (£11.7m, 2000).
Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla opens at the sixth spot with £642k. This is 66% higher than Coppola’s previous record opening, Lost In Translation, which opened with £796k and went on to gross £10.1m in 2004. The Cailee Spaeny-starring drama is also MUBI’s biggest opening, above Decision To Leave (£410k), and is on track to overtake Aftersun (£1.8m) to become their highest-grossing release. In the PostTrak exit poll, the film achieved 3 stars and a 76% Total Positive rating, rising to 81% among females under 25. The genre/type of film (35%) and the subject matter/plot (34%) were again the top reasons for audiences watching the film, whilst 22% went as I heard “it was good”, and 20% for Jacob Elordi. 18% cited Sofia Coppola as a reason for watching.
Wish is at no.7 with £625k, dropping 39% in its seventh week of release. Disney’s latest animated release has passed £11m (£11.3m), overtaking the lifetime of Lightyear (£10.4m). Michael Mann’s Ferrari is at No.8 with £597k, a 41% drop from its opening weekend. Mann’s drama has grossed £3.2m in total so far, bringing the combined total for films he has directed to £48m led by Heat at £9.9m. Another new opener this weekend is Night Swim, grossing £588k to chart at no.9 and according to the PostTrak poll, Bryce McGuire’s directorial debut gained 2 stars and a 63% Total Positive rating, rising to 72% among males under 25. Closing the chart at no.10 is The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes with £183k. Francis Lawrence’s prequel has a total gross of £17.9m, overtaking John Wick: Chapter 4 (£17.6m) to be Lionsgate’s best-performing release of 2023.
The overall box office is up 5% from last weekend, and up 12% versus the equivalent weekend in 2022 when Avatar: The Way Of Water remained at the top spot in its third weekend with £7.6m. Year-to-date, 2023 is now 8% ahead of the same period in 2022. The full-year total will be just over £1.5 billion as forecast. Year-to-date, 2024 starts 1% ahead of the same period in 2023.
Next Weekend
Poor Things - Brought back to life by an unorthodox scientist, a young woman runs off with a lawyer on a whirlwind adventure across the continents. Free from the prejudices of her times, she grows steadfast in her purpose to stand for equality and liberation.
The Beekeeper - One man's brutal campaign for vengeance takes on national stakes after it's revealed he's a former operative of a powerful and clandestine organization known as Beekeepers.
The Boys in the Boat - During the height of the Great Depression, members of the rowing team at the University of Washington get thrust into the spotlight as they compete for gold at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.