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The Weekend Round-up
Continuing the recent trend of Marvel sequels outperforming their predecessor, Thor: Ragnarok opened with £12.4m, which includes £5.1m from three days of previews. The previous Thor film, Thor: The Dark World opened with £8.7m in October 2013, and while that only included two days of previews worth £3.1m, the Friday to Sunday total of £5.6m is well behind Ragnarok’s Friday to Sunday total of £7.2m, which, incidentally is the eighth highest this year. The Dark World finished on £20.1m and after just six days, Thor: Ragnarok is well over half way to eclipsing that total.
Horror sequel, Jigsaw, opened in second with £1.9m, which includes £353k from Thursday previews. It’s been a strong year for horror films, and this proves that there’s still an appetite for the particular brand of gore that the Saw films provide. In comparison to the rest of the series, it opened ahead of the first Saw and Saw VI, but behind the other five films.
The LEGO Ninjago Movie came in third once again but took a sharper drop than expected, falling 34% to £890k, which takes its total to £8.2m. Last year the big half term film, Trolls, grossed £24.9m. The LEGO Ninjago Movie is likely to finish at half that total.
After expanding to a greater number of screens this weekend, The Death of Stalin came in third, falling just 11% to £812k. That takes its total to £2.5m and it has already outperformed Armando Iannucci’s last film, In The Loop, which finished on £2.2m.
Blade Runner 2049 rounded out the top five and took its first big drop, falling 61% to £693k. It has now banked £17.4m and it is just £19k behind Mad Max: Fury Road’s final total of £17.44m.
Outside the top five, the new entries disappointed with Andy Serkis’ LFF opener, Breathe, kicking off its run with £535k (including £53k from previews) and Oscar contender, Call Me By Your Name, opening in 11th with £236k, including £4k from previews.
Overall the box office was up 84% from last weekend and up 1% from the same weekend last year, when the top films were Doctor Strange, Trolls and Jack Reacher: Never Go Back.
Next Weekend
A Bad Moms Christmas is the sequel to the surprise 2016 hit. It follows our three under-appreciated and over-burdened women as they rebel against the challenges and expectations of the Super Bowl for moms: Christmas. It’s in cinemas from Wednesday.
Murder On The Orient Express is an all-star adaptation of the Agatha Christie whodunnit, directed by Kenneth Branagh. It’s the story of thirteen strangers stranded on a train, while a detective races to solve the puzzle before the murderer strikes again.
The Killing Of A Sacred Deer is a thriller from The Lobster director, Yorgos Lanthimos. Colin Farrell stars as Steven, a charismatic surgeon who is forced to make an unthinkable sacrifice after his life starts to fall apart, when the behavior of a teenage boy he has taken under his wing turns sinister.
The Buzz
Paddington 2 is out on November 10 and I saw it at the weekend and, like the first, it’s an utter delight. I still feel warm and fuzzy, much like I imagine, Paddington feels. Don’t just take my word for it, Variety said ‘conceived once more with bounding wit, kindness and visual imagination by writer-director Paul King, “Paddington 2” is another near-pawfect family entertainment’, The Telegraph said ‘Paddington was uncommonly charming and Paddington 2 is very nearly as good’, while both Den of Geek and Empire went the full five stars.
Across The Pond
With Thor: Ragnarok not opening until next weekend, Jigsaw topped the box office with $16.6m. Tyler Perry's Boo 2! A Madea Halloween fell to second, adding $10m, which takes its total to $35.6m. Geostorm finished in third, adding $5.9m, for a new cume of $23.8m. Happy Death Day added another $5m in fourth, which takes its total to $48.4m. Blade Runner 2049 completed the top five, adding $4.1m, for a new cume of $81.5m.