| Date | |
|---|---|
| Author | DCM |
| Categories | box OfficeExhibitor News |
Man of Steel forged its way to the top of the box office this weekend with the second highest debut of the year so far, only narrowly failing to steal the “best opening weekend of the year” title from the current record holder, Iron Man 3. £11.2m is a fantastic result, falling just £200k short of Iron Man 3’s £11.4m opening weekend in April.
It’s also a 158% improvement over the £4.3m debut of the last Superman film, Superman Returns in 2006. Man of Steel’s Friday total of £3.4m was the highest opening day of any film so far this year, although Iron Man 3 opened on a Thursday which is usually a quieter day than Friday. Over half of Man of Steel’s box office was from 3D presentations and 7.6% was from IMAX screenings.
Some way behind the Man of Steel’s stellar opening weekend in second spot this weekend was After Earth with £1.2m. Despite a very lukewarm reception from the critics, the Smith family sci-fi has proved relatively popular with the public and has grossed a solid £4.8m to date.
The Hangover Part III had a strong hold in third place, falling just 25% to £860k and a cume of £18m. It’s almost certain that the £22.1m final total of the first Hangover film is going to be out of reach.
Epic experienced a resurgence in fourth place, increasing 28% from last weekend and adding a further £862k for a healthy cume of £12.3m. With Despicable Me 2 previewing from next weekend we are unlikely to see Epic reach these heights again.
The top five was completed by Behind The Candelabra, which improved on last weekend by 21% with £622k. The moving Liberace biopic now has a cume of £1.6m.
Two other notable performers were Fast & Furious 6, which crossed the £24m mark in sixth spot and Star Trek Into Darkness crossing the £25m mark in eighth.
Overall the box office was up 100% from last weekend and 93% from the same weekend last year, when Rock Of Ages was the biggest new release. With World War Z this Friday and Despicable Me 2 and This is The End the following weekend, we should see a strong end to June too.
Matching its UK success, Man of Steel grossed a terrific $125.1m in the US over the weekend, which is the second-best debut of 2013 so far behind Iron Man 3 ($174.1m). It’s also a new highest ever June opening. The audience was 56% male.
Some way back in second place, was raucous comedy This is The End, which earned $32.8m after opening on Wednesday. The audience was 60% male and 48% under the age of 25.
Once again, Now You See Me had a strong hold falling just 46% to $10.3m and now has a cume of $80m.
Fast & Furious 6 fell 52% to an estimated $9.4m and with $219.6m has overtaken Fast Five to be the highest-grossing entry in the series.
The top five was rounded out by last week’s number one, The Purge which fell a huge 76% to $8.2m and a cume of $51.8m.
