| Date | |
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| Author | Mia Blakeney |
Box Office Round-up
In an unusually close race, The Wild Robot topped the box office, beating Venom: The Last Dance by just £4,202. The emotion-filled Dreamworks animation added £2.2m, which is up 12% from last weekend – the benefit of Friday being a half-term day. That takes its total after three weekends in cinemas to £11.7m and it needs just £773k more to overtake May half-term’s big family film IF, which is up to £12.5m.
Last weekend’s top film Venom: The Last Dance fell to second, adding £2.2m, down 49% from last weekend. That takes its total after 10 days in cinemas to £9.1m. The first Venom finished its run with just over £20m in 2018, while Venom: Let There Be Carnage finished its run with £18.1m in 2021, so that’s the target for Venom: The Last Dance. However, with the huge blockbusters on the horizon (Paddington In Peru, Gladiator II, Wicked), it could fall short.
The highest new entry this weekend is the Hugh Grant horror Heretic, which opened with just shy of £2m, with £429k from Thursday previews. This is the best opening for an original horror film this year, surpassing Longlegs, which opened with £1.4m in July.
Cillian Murphy drama Small Things Like These opened in fourth with £890k. This is an Irish-set drama and has performed particularly strongly in the Republic of Ireland, opening with €621k, the fourth highest opening of all-time for an Irish film.
Horror sequel Smile 2 rounded out the top five, falling 40% to £601k. That takes its total after 18 days in cinemas to £5.5m and it’s one of the biggest horror films of 2024, despite falling short of the first film’s final total (£11.7m).
Outside of the top five, the Palme d’Or winning Anora opened in sixth with £509k, which includes £132k from previews. Last year’s Palme d’Or winner, Anatomy Of A Fall, also opened in early November and opened with a Friday to Sunday total of £291k, so Anora is tracking ahead of that. Anatomy Of A Fall finished with over £2.1m, while the previous year’s Palme d’Or winner, Triangle Of Sadness, finished with £1.7m, so these are the targets for Anora.
Two South Asian releases timed for Diwali opened in seventh and ninth, Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 (£408k) and Singham Again (£360k). Finally, 94 year-old Clint Eastwood’s latest directorial effort, Juror #2 opened in 10th with £335k, which includes £15k from previews.
Next Weekend
Paddington In Peru is the third film about the iconic British character. Paddington returns to Peru to visit his beloved Aunt Lucy, who now resides at the Home for Retired Bears. With the Brown family in tow, a thrilling adventure ensues when a mystery plunges them into an unexpected journey.
Red One is the only major Christmas themed release this year. After Santa Claus (code name: Red One) is kidnapped, the North Pole's Head of Security (Dwayne Johnson) must team up with the world's most infamous bounty hunter (Chris Evans) in a globe-trotting, action-packed mission to save Christmas.
Piece By Piece is a vibrant journey through the life of Pharrell Williams, told through the lens of LEGO animation.
Bird is the latest film from British filmmaker Andrea Arnold (American Honey, Fish Tank). Bailey lives with her brother Hunter and her father Bug, who raises them alone in a squat in northern Kent. Bug doesn't have much time to devote to them. Bailey looks for attention and adventure elsewhere. Nykiya Adams, Franz Rogowski, and Barry Keoghan star.
The Buzz
Wicked is in cinemas in two and a half weeks and the first social media reviews for the film are starting to come out and they are universally positive. Variety’s Katcy Stephen called it a ‘masterpiece’ adding ‘Ariana Grande makes Glinda sparkle: she milks every moment with gusto, humour and hair flips. Jon M. Chu added so much new life to the story that I can see why it needed to be 2 parts! Well worth the 20-year wait.’ Jazz Tangcay tweeted ‘The world is not ready for how great @wickedmovie is’, while Scott Mendelson from Puck News tweeted ‘The highest compliment I can pay #WickedMovie is that it artistically justifies the "Two Acts = Two Films" gimmick. It's a lively, sprawling, and colorful fantasy melodrama that works as a stand-alone tragedy even if there was no follow-up’. It's in cinemas on 22 November and the silver spot is still available.
Across The Pond
Venom: The Last Dance held on to the top spot in North America too, adding $26.1m, a drop of 49% from last weekend. The Wild Robot added $7.6m in third, an increase of 11% from last weekend, which takes its total to $121.5m. Smile 2 fell to third, adding $6.8m, a drop of 29% from last weekend. That takes its total after 17 days in cinemas to $52.7m. Conclave added $5.3m in fourth, taking its total to $15.2m. Robert Zemeckis’ Here rounded out the top five, opening with $5m.