UK Box Office 19 - 21 April 2013

Olympus Has Fallen has risen to the top of the Box Office with a decent £2.2m opening (including £651k from previews). The first of the year’s White House set action films has set a solid benchmark which September’s White House Down will be looking to beat. It was the best opening for a live-action Gerard Butler film since 300 in 2007 (£4.7m).

Oblivion dropped to second spot with a further £1.7m, a total which would have been enough to hold on to the top spot had it not been for Olympus Has Fallen’s previews. The stylish Sci-Fi epic has now grossed £8.1m and should have no trouble overhauling the final total of Tom Cruise’s last star vehicle, Jack Reacher (£9.5m). Evil Dead possessed third spot with £1.4m (including £288k from previews). In terms of recent horror remakes, that’s above Texas Chainsaw 3D (£1.2m), The Thing (£486k) and Fright Night (£682k).

Now the Easter holidays are a distant memory The Croods is starting to slow down but another £676k takes its cume to £23.7m and it has now overtaken Wreck-It Ralph (£23.4m) to become the biggest animated film of the year so far. We may have to wait until Monsters University in July to see it surpassed. The Place Beyond the Pines completed the Top 5 and had the strongest hold of the weekend, easing just 13% to £581k. The Gosling-Cooper drama now has a cume of £1.6m.

Overall, the clement weather meant that the Box Office was down 31% from last weekend and 9% from the same weekend last year when Battleship topped the box office and Salmon Fishing in the Yemen made a strong start. Expect the Box Office to receive an Iron Man 3 3D sized boost next weekend.

Across the Atlantic, Oblivion opened with $38.2m which is Tom Cruise’s fifth best opening ever. The audience was 57% male and 74% were 25 years of age and older. Baseball drama, 42 fell 34% to $18.2m and after 10 days has grossed $54m. The Croods had a decent hold easing just 28% to $9.5m this weekend and has grossed a strong $154.9m. Scary Movie 5 fell to fourth with $6.3m and has now earned $22.9m and will struggle to match Scary Movie 4’s $40.2m opening weekend during its entire run. G.I. Joe: Retaliation completed the Top 5 with $5.8m and has a cume of $111.2m.