SPIELBERG’S STEED SHOWS STONKING SUSTAIN, UNDERWORLD AWAKENS BIG, WHILE A TRIPLE WHAMMY OF HIGH END OPENERS DIE SHAKESPEARIAN DEATHS IN ANOTHER SMASHING WEEKEND AT THE UK BOX OFFICE
With a stratospheric top spot opening of £3.9M last weekend, Steven Spielberg’s man on horse action epic WAR HORSE scored another brilliant weekend of business this week, galloping in with a three day haul of £3.2M and a winning average of £6.2K from 516 sites, barely down on last week’s opening figure. Stunning. Opening in second place meanwhile, on just under 300 prints was a very different hairy beast, in the form of werewolf vs. vampire franchise fourquel UNDERWORLD: AWAKENING. An impressive haul of £1.1M and an average of £3,743 from 298 screens clearly shows what the majority of the British public want right now, bar sweaty horseplay – hot people shooting at things, in 3D.
Also opening at fifth position was 80s throwback rude-com THE SITTER with a take just over £900K. At sixth place meanwhile, Steven Soderbergh’s no-nonsense action spectacle HAYWIRE judo-chopped its way to £860K and a healthy average of £2,275 from 380 sites. Less impressive were openings for Clint Eastwood’s old-fashioned biopic J.EDGAR, only managing to Hoover up an underwhelming £400K and a pretty miserable average of £1588 from 259 sites. Faring even worse was Madonna’s critically mauled biopic W.E, which at £162K from an ambitious 172 sites, failed to deliver on its sexy moneyed-Nazi-sympathisers-in-love premise. Last, and least, with a slightly higher average just under £1.3K, Ralph Fiennes’ violent modern take on bleak Shakespearian bloodbath CORIOLANUS saw a disappointing opening at £157K in 122 screens, beat out even by the likes of W.E, to count as a major upset for so awards-friendly a film.
With so many new starts squibbing, it was once again the turn of a handful of resilient holds to take the majority of the booty in a very strong weekend for business overall. The Guy Ritchie-flavoured gift that just keeps on giving, SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS clocked an audacious £951K in its sixth week at third place, while super-hyped biopic THE IRON LADY was likewise not for turning, holding at fourth place with £945K. On a smaller scale, averaging a stonking £5389 from its still comparatively limited 143 screens in week 4, silent sensation THE ARTIST kept up its strong sustain as (I must emphasise to avoid customer confusion) audible word of mouth continued to spread and awards season inched closer. A few inches behind meanwhile, but arguably many inches in front – in terms of controversy – Steve McQueen’s slice of sexistential sadcore SHAME showed a decent hold with £328K and a strong average of £2788 from its 119 sites.
Over in the states UNDERWORLD: AWAKENING bit into a juicy $25.4M opening weekend total to comfortably nab the top spot, while George Lucas-produced WWI romp RED TAILS flew away guns blazing with $19.1M at second place. Filling out the top three meanwhile was healthy second week hold CONTRABAND, which, at $12.2M has dropped just 50% on last weekend’s stratospheric opening. More independent fare in the form of Ralph Fiennes’ Hurt Lockered Shakespearian mash up CORIOLANUS clocked a healthy total of $60K from nine prime sites to average a decent $6.6K, while titillating tits n’ tassels doc CRAZY HORSE clocked $10K from just one site. The crumpled mac brigade unite.
A bit of a box office bonanza kicks off from this Friday with a host of new openers going up against Steven Spielberg’s resilient steed. Family audiences will guffaw in delight at three-dimensional Gallic adventure MONSTER IN PARIS. Horror fans will shriek in terror at monstrous chiller INTRUDERS. Action nuts will wait in sweaty palmed anticipation for Liam Neeson to finally sucker punch a wolf in THE GREY. While punters for more cerebral fare will enjoy either George Clooney’s bereaved mid-life crisis in awards-magnet dramedy THE DESCENDENTS or a twenty something couple’s spiral from winning kookster romance to frazzled immigration crisis in Sundance 2011 hit LIKE CRAZY. So many options.
Paul Ridd
