Box Office Round-up
Practical Magic 2 opened in the top spot at the UK box office with £2.8m. The first Practical Magic finished its run in 1999 with £3.4m, so this sequel is heading for a total well north of that. Two years ago another nostalgia-filled legacy sequel, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, opened in early September with £7.4m, so Practical Magic 2 isn’t going to replicate that film’s performance, but it’s still a solid start.
On a good weekend for new releases, Oasis: Don’t Look Back In Anger opened in second with £2.7m, which includes £1m from previews after opening on Wednesday. This is the third major concert film / documentary to hit cinemas this year after EPiC: Elvis Presley In Concert, which opened with a Friday to Sunday total of £1.1m, and Billie Eilish: Hit Me Hard And Soft, which finished on £2.1m, so Don’t Look Back In Anger has comfortably surpassed both of those.
Pressure was another new entry, opening in third with £2.1m, which includes £608k from previews after opening on Wednesday. This is a World War II drama and in November last year we had two of those in cinemas, The Choral opened with a Friday to Sunday total of £903k and Nuremberg opened with £857k, so Pressure’s Friday to Sunday total of £1.5m is a big improvement on those two films.
The Odyssey came in fourth, adding £890k, which is down 42% from last weekend. That takes its total to a HUGE £84.5m and it is now the 11th biggest film of all-time in the UK & Ireland. It would have been comfortably the biggest film of the year in 2024 and 2025 and it has now overtaken Top Gun: Maverick, the biggest film of 2022, which finished with £83.9m.
For the first time in six weeks, Spider-Man: Brand New Day did not land in the top spot. The biggest film of the year added £840k, which is down 49% from last weekend, and enough for fifth place. That takes its total to £97.7m. It is now the 4th biggest film of all-time in the UK & Ireland. £100m total is still a possibility, a total only two films have reached in the past (Skyfall and Star Wars: The Force Awakens). In terms of previous Tom Holland Spider-Man films, Homecoming finished on £30.8m, Far From Home finished on £37.4m and No Way Home finished on £97.3m. A remarkable box office progression.
Outside of the top five, Fall 2 opened in sixth with £479k, which includes £107k from previews. The first Fall finished with £615k in 2022 so this sequel looks like surpassing that. Runner opened in eighth £383k.
Next Weekend
Resident Evil is a new version of the smash-hit video game series, directed by Zach Cregger (Weapons). It stars Austin Abrams as a hapless courier tasked with delivering a package to a remote hospital. He soon finds himself caught in the middle of an outbreak and must fight through hordes of mutated creatures to survive.
Bad Apples stars Saoirse Ronan as a struggling primary school teacher begins to make some questionable decisions after one of her students is injured.
Shaun The Sheep: The Beast Of Mossy Bottom is the next film featuring Aardman’s woolly heroes. On Halloween Eve at Mossy Bottom Farm, excitement turns to dismay when the clumsy Farmer ruins the pumpkin patch. Shaun tries fixing it with science experiments, but things go wrong when a wild beast appears in the woods.
The Buzz
Primetime stars Robert Pattinson as Chris Hanson, presenter of To Catch A Predator, who in 2006 sets out to make television history. The film premiered last week at the Venice Film Festival and has been warmly received by critics. Robbie Collin of The Telegraph gave it the full five-stars saying ‘it is the best and nastiest film of its type since 2014’s Nightcrawler’. Nicholas Barber on BBC.com also gave it the full five stars particularly praising Pattinson saying ‘his is the best performance yet from the most intriguing actor of his generation.’ It’s the latest film from A24 who, over the past year, have repeatedly shown they are able to reach a consistent audience, with films like Marty Supreme, Backrooms, The Drama, and Tony. It’s one of the best films for ABC1 adults in Q4 when it hits cinemas on 30 October.
Across The Pond
Practical Magic 2 opened in the top spot in North America, kicking off its run with $30m. Spider-Man: Brand New Day came in second, adding $8.4m for a huge new total of $935.2m and it’s about to become the biggest film of all-time in North America. The Odyssey fell to third, adding $7.4m, which takes its total to a huge $600.5m. Runner opened in fourth with $6.4m, while Coyote vs. Acme rounded out the top five, adding $6.2m for a new total of $47.8m.
