Picturehouse Blog

No real surprises this weekend as resilient plex holds MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: GHOST PROTOCOL and SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS topped the UK box office, with healthy takes both over £2M in their second and fourth weeks respectively. Spunky fem-punk thriller THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO meanwhile dropped considerably behind, with a take just over £1.6M in week 2. It was perhaps inevitable however, that all eyes were fixed on a pair of big guns openers, with silent film sensation THE ARTIST expanding from its solo outing in Leicester Square to 102 sites, and demon Maggie biopic THE IRON LADY going out wide in 443 screens.

Ultimately, it was difficult to gauge just which film came out on top. Clocking in at third place, Fox’s THE IRON LADY certainly took the bigger haul at well over £2M, and a smashing average of $4,877 from its ambitious opening. But in considerably less screens, THE ARTIST averaged a significantly higher £5,860 – the highest average in the top ten in fact – to take a smashing £621K, setting things up nicely for further expansion next week, while of special interest to everyone at Picturehouse will be our 20% stake of the film’s box office, proving this particular love letter to cinema has found its natural home. Meryl’s Maggie may not have been for turning, but with its little film that could attitude, aggressive expansion strategy, and universally positive word of mouth, THE ARTIST could very well have even the most moneyed of biopics spiralling into the latter stages of financial dementia in the coming weeks.

Filling out the remainder of the top ten were a trio of swiftly ageing kid-friendly holds, cast out into the box office wilderness post-holiday season. At the top end, in fifth and sixth place were squeakwel ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS: CHIPWRECKED and feline spinoff PUSS IN BOOTS, which both took decent takes close to £1M. Headed more swiftly for the box office graveyard however was Scorsese’s HUGO, which in its sixth week scraped its way to tenth position to take just £161K from its 222 sites.

Of the remaining new starts, knockabout US hockey comedy GOON did some decent business, taking a healthy slice of the box office cake with £723K from 360 sites and an average of £2,026. With very little in the way of meathead alternative openers, the figure counts as a bit of a slam dunk for distributor Eone, who clearly spotted a nice piece of counterprogramming in a weekend full of celluloid Tories and silent stars. Less impressive was a small opening for neglected 2009 dramedy MOTHER AND CHILD, which, in just 11 sites took an embarrassing £4,816 total and an abortive average of £401, to have even the most optimistic of new parents swiftly sinking into a depressive malaise.

Stateside, a smashing number one opening for exorcism horror THE DEVIL INSIDE was tempered by terrible word of mouth and an extremely swift decline as the weekend progressed. The film took a mammoth $16.9M Friday on the back of a striking marketing campaign and anticipatory online chatter. But the film sunk 30% on Saturday to take $11.8M, and rounded off the weekend with a record breaking 50% drop at $5.9M. Many will put this down to a violent online backlash, with bloggers reporting of booing at screenings and a general consensus that savvy marketing aside, the film itself, in spite of it all, is pretty awful. Filling out the rest of the top three were MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: GHOST PROTOCOL and SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS, which both saw healthy weekend to weekend declines. Meanwhile, on a (comparatively) smaller scale THE IRON LADY averaged a stellar $34,400 and took an impressive $172,00 haul from just five key city sites. The film has collected $516,000 to date. 9/11 drama EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE took a smashing $96,000 from just six sites, for a solid $16,000 average. With $496,000 to date, the film is set for an aggressive expansion Jan 20 just four days prior to the Oscars. Underdog Oscar contender PARIAH meanwhile averaged a respectable $10,182 from 11 sites and has taken an admirable £235K to date. Roll on January 24, but all bets are off.

A bit of a bumper glut of new releases fill out this Friday, with heavy weight Spielbergian horse-buster WAR HORSE going out on saturation release along with sex n’ sadness opus SHAME, going wide on the back of some critically well-endowed word of mouth and the prospect of significantly more tearful threesomes than your average opener. There’s also a limited release for Wall St whistle blower thriller MARGIN CALL, but for something a little more cheerful, a wide release for apocalyptic Moscow-set sci-fi chiller THE DARKEST HOUR 3D, will have prestige-pic-shunning punters gleefully gasping at the explosions and refreshing lack of depth. Happy viewing.

- Paul Ridd