| Date | |
|---|---|
| Author | DCM |
| Categories | cinemabox OfficeExhibitor News |
It looked like a strong weekend of releases on paper and it turned out to be so with Insidious: Chapter 2 leading the pack. The horror sequel opened with £2.9m, which is over double the first film’s £1.4m opening in 2011. It’s also more than director James Wan’s hugely successful recent offering, The Conjuring, which opened with £2.2m in early August.
F1 drama Rush sped off the starting line with £2.1m but had to settle for second position on the grid, however, the fantastic reviews for Rush suggest that it may have more in the tank than Insidious: Chapter 2.
The year’s second White House invasion film, White House Down, opened in third place with £1.2m, which is lower than Olympus Has Fallen’s Friday to Sunday opening of £1.6m. In the US, where it opened in June, common consensus was that White House Down suffered from being released too close to Olympus Has Fallen in May. The extra few months the film had in the UK didn’t appear to help much and despite the much higher profile cast, it couldn’t overcome Gerard Butler’s more visceral offering.
About Time had a strong hold, easing just 21% (when previews are removed) to £1.1m and a cume of £3.9m. At the same point in its run, Richard Curtis’ last film, The Boat That Rocked, fell 47%, so word of mouth on About Time is looking strong. Rounding out the top five is the Antonio Banderas produced animation, Justin and The Knights of Valour,with £831k. Last year, ParaNorman opened on the same weekend in September with £1.4m.
There was one other notable performer and it may have been around since June but Despicable Me 2 continued its fantastic run. Increasing 20% from last weekend to £380k, the biggest film of the year now has a cume of £45.8m.
Overall the box office was up 28% from last weekend and 34% from the same weekend last year.
Insidious: Chapter 2 also topped the box office in the US. A $41m debut is over three times as high as the first Insidious’ $13.3m opening. It’s also the second highest September opening ever behind last year's Hotel Transylvania ($42.5m). The audience was 52% male and 62% under the age of 25. In second place was Robert De Niro comedy, The Family, which opened with $14.5m.
Third spot was taken by Riddick, which fell 63% to $7m and has a cume of $31.3m. In fourth, Lee Daniels' The Butler, fell 34% to $5.6m and a cume of $100m. We're the Millers completed the top five with $5.4m. The road trip comedy has grossed $131.6m to date.
