| Date | |
|---|---|
| Author | Zoe Aresti |
The Weekend Round-up
The Jungle Book swung into the top spot, smashing all expectations and opening with a huge £9.9m. That’s already almost half of the final total of Disney’s live-action Cinderella (£21.3m) and over half the final total of 2014’s Maleficent (£19.5m). With no major family film released until The Angry Birds Movie on 13 May, it has a great chance of overtaking Deadpool’s £37.8m to become the highest grossing film of 2016 to date. 38.3% of The Jungle Book’s box office was from 3D presentations, which is very high for a family film.
Despite facing direct competition from The Jungle Book, Zootropolis had a decent weekend, adding £1.1m and crossing the £20m mark in the process. It has now grossed £20.7m, comfortably extending its lead as the biggest family film of 2016 to date, a title it will hold until The Jungle Book overtakes it sometime next week.
It was also a decent weekend for new entry, Eye In The Sky (including £3k from previews). The Helen Mirren thriller, notable for featuring Alan Rickman’s last big screen performance, opened with a solid £1.1m.
Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice fell to fourth, dropping 57% to £990k and has now grossed £35.3m. It’s looking like Deadpool’s £37.8m may be just out of reach, which would be a remarkable result for the ‘merc with a mouth’.
Eddie The Eagle had another strong weekend, falling 38% to £795k and it has now banked a strong £7.3m. It’s proving that a strong British film can compete with the titans from Disney and DC Comics.
Outside of the top five, The Huntsman Winter’s War continued its disappointing run, falling 59% to £647k for a new cume of £4.4m. It could end up finishing about £10m short of Snow White And The Huntsman (£15.8m). Kevin Costner vehicle, Criminal, could only muster £248k on its opening weekend in eighth, as the Costner-comeback stalled once again.
Overall the box office was up 41% from last weekend and up a chunky 103% from the same weekend last year when the top four films were Fast & Furious 7, Cinderella, Home and Child 44.
Next Weekend
Friend Request follows in the footsteps of last year’s Unfriended and is a teen-horror that plays on fears surrounding social media. When a college student unfriends a mysterious girl on-line, she finds herself fighting a demonic presence that wants to make her lonely by killing her closest friends. It’s in cinemas on Wednesday.
Bastille Day stars Idris Elba as a former CIA agent who has to team up with a young con artist on an anti-terrorist mission in France. It’s directed by James Watkins, who scored big with The Woman In Black.
Miles Ahead is written by, directed by and stars Don Cheadle. It’s an exploration of the life and music of jazz legend Miles Davis and has received a good deal of praise for Cheadle’s performance.
The Buzz
Florence Foster Jenkins stars Meryl Streep as the New York socialite who had a passion, but not talent, for singing. It had its world premiere at Odeon Leicester Square last week and the first reviews are now coming in. Robbie Collin in The Telegraph was effusive in his praise, saying ‘it feels less like a biopic than a classic postwar studio comedy – a pillowy paean to silliness, and the perfect antidote for sobering times’. Fionnuala Halligan in Screen International said ‘Bouquets all round: Stephen Frears goes broad in Florence Foster Jenkins, and the appeal should be wide.’ I was lucky enough to be able to take my mum to the premiere and as soon as the end credits started, she said ‘that was just amazing’. So, ideal for mums (and everyone else) everywhere. It’s out in the UK on 6 May.
Across The Pond
Exceeeding all expectations, The Jungle Book opened with an amazing $103.3m, the second largest April opening weekend of all-time. Barbershop: The Next Cut kicked off its run with $20.2m in second and The Boss fell to third with $9.9m, for a new cume of $40.1m. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice added $9m in fourth and it has now banked $311.3m. Zootopia completed the top five, adding $8.1m for a new cume of $307.4m.
To browse all these movies are more, visit our Now Booking page.