UK Box Office – 10 April 2012

Metaphorically this ship is still sailing as the 3D re-release of Titanic cruised to the top of the UK box office with £2.9m (including £97k from previews). Although this is a is a good deal fewer than the original Titanic’s £4.8m opening weekend in 1997, it’s a big improvement on Star Wars - Episode 1’s 3D re-release in February (£1.5m) and similar to The Lion King 3D’s performance in October (£2.8m). Love for the epic film is still high and its performance is particularly impressive when you consider that the film is 194 minutes long, so less screenings can be scheduled per day. Including Easter Monday, James Cameron’s lavish romance has a cume of £3.9m.

In second place after another strong weekend was The Hunger Games. A further £2.4m, just a drop of 20%, takes the thriller to a very impressive £16.2m (including Monday). Although it may fall short of New Moon’s £27.5m total, it is already way ahead of the first Twilight’s £11.2m final total. Just behind in third place was Mirror Mirror, also with £2.4m. This weekend figure is inflated due to the film opening on Monday 2^nd, so includes £1.3m from previews. Including Easter Monday, the film now has a cume of £3m. In fourth place was The Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists with £2.2m. This is a fantastic hold for the film, actually improving on its opening weekend when the figure for previews is removed. Strong word of mouth should be in full flow for this title and its cume is now at £9.1m.

The next new entry was the Henry Cavill and Bruce Willis thriller The Cold Light Of Day in seventh with £504k. In tenth and with the weekend’s best location average (£6,836k) was the Bollywood comedy Housefull with £396k (£35k from previews).  The final new entries were Jo Nesbø’s Headhunters in eleventh with £265k (£10k from previews) and Le Havre in fifteenth with £62k. Overall the box office was up 39% from last weekend and a whopping 178% from the same weekend last year.

In the US, The Hunger Games fell 43% to $33.1m. Its $302.5m total is more than the final tally of all of the Twilight movies and all but two of the Harry Potter films. American Reunion took second place with $21.5m. Titanic 3D earned $17.3m which brought its five-day total to $25.7m. Including the original release, James Cameron's period epic has grossed $626.4m at the domestic box office, which ranks second on the all-time chart behind Avatar. Dr. Seuss' The Lorax added $5m this weekend to bring its total to $198.2m. By today or tomorrow it will become the second 2012 movie to pass $200m, and the first animated movie to hit that mark since Tangled in 2010.

Please note, while the attachment relates to Friday – Sunday, all cumulative UK grosses stated below include Monday (Easter Monday).