Disney’s sci-fi fantasy epic, John Carter 3D topped the weekend’s box office with £2m. It’s a decent performance from a film that many had been predicting to fail. The obvious point of comparison is Disney’s last fantasy epic, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, which kicked off its cinema run with £1.4m in May 2010. That film went on to gross £8.7m in total. John Carter 3D also had a stronger opening than last year’s fantasy epic, Cowboys and Aliens, which opened to £1.8m in August.

In second place with a further £1.8m was The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. Easing just 24% from last weekend this was another strong performance from a film on its third weekend on release and it now has a cume total of £10.9m. In third place with its fifth £1m+ weekend in succession was The Woman In Black. This time around it took £1.1m and on Friday cantered past War Horse to become the highest grossing film in the UK so far this year with a cume total of £19.5m.

In sixth place, The Muppets crossed the £15m mark with a further £667k. This is a fantastic performance, especially considering that no previous Muppets film had taken more than £3.1m at the UK box office. In eighth and ninth place were two new entries, The Raven and Bel Ami. Both fell just shy of £300k with £299k and £296k (with £6k from previews) respectively. In tenth place The Artist took a further £211k, which saw its cume total cross the £9m mark on its 11th week on release.

Overall, on a weekend of sunny spring like weather the top 15 total was down 21% on last weekend and down 4% from the same weekend last year.

Stateside, The Lorax fell 44% to an estimated $39.1m and has now taken $122m after ten days. John Carter 3D opened to an estimated $30.6m from 3,749 locations. Like in the UK its opening was slightly above that of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time ($30.1m). The audience was 63% male and 59% over the age of 25. Project X added an estimated $11.6m for a 10-day total of $40.1m and horror film, Silent House was a new entry in fourth place with an estimated $7m. Safe House eased 32% to an estimated $5m and now has a cume of $115.8m. In limited release, Friends with Kids, which reunites much of the Bridesmaids cast, opened in 13th place with $2.2m from 374 locations.

It’s Super Bowl season again and 2012’s ad break extravaganza was far from disappointing. A handful of new trailers for some of 2012′s most anticipated films were featured during the Patriots Vs Giants championship game, providing the Hollywood studios with the perfect opportunity to show off their big cinematic offerings for the year ahead.

Below we’ve compiled a list of the featured trailers for your viewing pleasure!

21 Jump Street
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjaBphCHisg

The Avengers 3D

The Avengers 3D (extended)

Battleship

The Dictator

Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax 3D

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance

G.I. Joe 2 : Retaliation

The Hunger Games

John Carter 3D

Our friends at Way To Blue used this opportunity to track the twitter discussions around these newly released trailers and created the below infographic. the original blog post can be found here.

March 2012 has something for everyone and sees a wealth of quality releases estimated to draw 14 million pairs of eyes to the big screen.

The month opens with Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters. This action-comedy follows the duo with a sweet tooth 15 years after their traumatic gingerbread-house incident as they seek to track and kill witches all over the world. The fairy-tale adaptation is set to take a healthy £3m in the box office and is likely to attract a predominately 18+ male audience.

Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum continue the comedy theme when their cop-com 21 Jump Street. The movie follows a pair of underachieving cops who are sent undercover to a local high school to blend in and bring down a synthetic drug circle. The recently released above trailer supports the buzz around this film and is expected to be seen by 961,538 cinemagoers during March.

March also sees the release of The Hunger Games which is set to be the hot new franchise after the Twilight Saga. Set in a future where the authorities select a boy and girl from the twelve districts to fight to the death on live television, Katniss Everdeen volunteers to take her younger sister’s place for the latest match. Expect a youth ABC1 audience, similar to that of Harry Potter.

Closing March sees the release of Wrath of the Titans 3D. Expected to take a mammoth £15m in the box office, Wrath of the Titans follows Perseus (Sam Worthington) as he embarks on a treacherous quest into the underworld to rescue Zeus, who has been targeted for capture by his traitorous son, Ares, and his brother, Hades.

Helping to close March is the family adventure The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists. Pirate Captain sets out on a mission to defeat his rivals Black Bellamy and Cutlass Liz for the Pirate of the year Award. Big numbers are expected for the heavily British production. Directed by Peter Lord (known for Chicken Run and Wallace & Gromit) the latest Aardman motion picture is expected to take £10m at the UK Box Office.

With 16 releases, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Other great releases in March include John Carter 3D, We Bought a Zoo, Wanderlust, Safe, Bel Ami and The Raven. The hugely diverse slate really does offer something for everybody.

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