#Rock Of Ages

UK Box Office – 22nd – 24th June

June 26th, 2012 Author: Tom LinayTags: 3D, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter 3D, Avengers Assemble 3D, Chernobyl Diaries, Cinema Advertising, DCM, Digital Cinema Media, Men In Black 3, Prometheus 3D, Rock Of Ages, Snow White And The Huntsman, Teri Meri Kahaani, The Five-Year Engagement, Tom Linay, Top Cat 3D, UK Box Office

In an extremely close race for the top spot less than £90k separated the top four films but Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter just managed to come out in front. The historically inaccurate action horror opened with £1.1m but owes its number one spot to Wednesday and Thursday previews, which provided £375k of its total. The film feels similar in style and tone to the Underworld franchise and the most recent film in that series Underworld: Evolution also opened with £1.1m. A sizeable 81.2% of Abe Lincoln’s total was from 3D presentations.

For the third weekend in a row, Men In Black 3 secured second place holding off the challenge from The Five-Year Engagement by just £13k. The sci-fi comedy now has a cume of £19.1m and is the sixth highest grossing film of 2012. Also with £1.1m, The Five Year Engagement made a solid start. It is some way off the last Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller collaboration, Forgetting Sarah Marshall’s £2.1m opening, but a more apt comparison would be something like March’s Wanderlust, which opened with £491k.

UK Box Office – 15th – 17th June

June 20th, 2012 Author: Tom LinayTags: 3D, Cinema Advertising, Cosmopolis, DCM, Digital Cinema Media, Fast Girls, Madagascar 3, Men In Black 3, Moonrise Kingdom, Prometheus 3D, Red Lights, Rentrak, Rock Of Ages, Snow White And The Huntsman, That's My Boy, Tom Linay, UK Box Office

The top 3 was exactly the same as last weekend with Prometheus 3D again coming out on top, and in doing so joining War Horse, The Woman In Black and Avengers Assemble in topping the box office for three successive weekends in 2012. Ridley Scott’s sci-fi brain teaser grossed a further £2m taking its cume total to £19.5m, making it the fifth highest grossing film of the year to date. Judging by its performance over the weekend, you would expect it to have the legs to overhaul The Woman In Black’s £21.3m total in third place. Now seventh on that list is Men In Black 3, which grossed a further £1.5m over the weekend and the family friendly sci-fi comedy now has a cume total of £17.4m.

In third spot was Snow White And The Huntsman, which managed a further £1.3m, taking its cume total to £11.9m. With the sequel already being given the green-light, the producers are clearly hoping for a Twilight style franchise and over the weekend SWATH eclipsed the original Twilight’s £11.2m total. In fourth spot and the big disappointment of the weekend was 80s jukebox musical Rock Of Ages. Adaptations of stage musicals have been big business recently with Mamma Mia opening with £6.6m, Fame with £2.4m and Hairspray with £2m. Rock Of Ages however couldn’t muster more than £1m (including £214k from previews) and Hairspray’s final total of £12.8m looks a long way off. Perhaps a more suitable comparison would be the recent remake of 80s hit Footloose, which opened with £460k in October 2011.

Rock Of Ages

June 13th, 2012 Author: Tom LinayTags: Alec Baldwin, Box Office, Cinema Advertising, DCM, Digital Cinema Media, Footloose, Mamma Mia, Rock Of Ages, Tom Cruise, Tom Linay

It is still hard to believe but Mamma Mia grossed over £68m at the box office in the UK alone, proving that stage musical adaptations can be BIG business. Since then a number of musicals have been released with varying success – Footloose and the star studded Nine were notable disappointments while Fame outperformed expectations.

This summer it’s the turn of perhaps the highest profile musical release since Mamma Mia – Rock Of Ages. Since the first performance in Los Angeles in 2006 the stage show has been a huge hit around the world and has been consistently pulling in the punters since its launch in London last summer. Setting itself up as the alternative to Euro 2012, the stars seem to be aligning for a strong run at the box office, as long as the film meets the lofty expectations of fans of the stage show.