SPIELBERG’S STALLION STILL THE FAVOURITE, WHILE CLOONEY AND NEESON JOIN THE RACE AT A GALLOP…
Despite a few high profile openers entering the race on Friday, Spielberg’s equine blockbuster WAR HORSE showed a remarkable sustain over the weekend to still nab the top spot for a third week running. The film took a solid £2.1M and an average just over £4K from 519 sites and has thus far reigned in well over £13M and counting. Opening second, but averaging higher at £4.5K from 403 sites, George Clooney-led dramedy THE DESCENDANTS took just under £1.8M to rank as the biggest opening for an Alexander Payne film well above SIDEWAYS on £350K back in 2004. In third place meanwhile, Liam Neeson’s beefed up turn in man on wolf actioner THE GREY munched into a muscular £1M to average a solid £3.1K from 348 sites.
Of the remaining openers, only high-energy CGI toon MONSTER IN PARIS registered a significant dent in the weekend’s takings. Opening in 434 sites, the film benefitted from a significant drought in more kiddy-friendly fare to rake in just over £1M and a solid average of £2.4K at fourth place. Filling out the remainder of the top ten were a clutch of holds, led by silent sensation THE ARTIST in fifth in its fifth week at £698K and SHERLOCK HOLMES 2 at sixth on £649K in week seven. There were trail offs for one weekend wonder UNDERWORLD: AWAKENING at seventh in its second weekend, THE IRON LADY at eighth, THE SITTER at ninth and Christmas hit MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – GHOST PROTOCOL at tenth which has raked in £17.5M to date. All seem destined for a brief shift at the box office graveyard in the coming weeks as more competitive fare floods the market pre-Oscars and holiday season.
The big misses of the weekend were clearly wide openings for hip Sundance 2011 romance LIKE CRAZY and supernatural horror INTRUDERS. The former took just £93K from a 100-site opening to average a risible £898 and promise a box office death far swifter than the painful demise of its central romance. Spooky chiller INTRUDERS meanwhile fared slightly worse from 104 screens to average £776 and take a risible £76.8K far scarier than any of the film’s ghostly apparitions.
Stateside, a pair of disparate dogs took the top two spots, with Liam Neeson’s wolf-based survivalist action thriller THE GREY opening in first to gobble down a solid $20M, while last weekend’s werewolf-based opener UNDERWORLD: AWAKENING held far stronger than its UK performance to take second place and a still excellent $12.5M. At third place, Katherine Heigl-led romcom ONE FOR THE MONEY opened respectably with $11.8M, while the only other major opener, taut thriller MAN ON A LEDGE stumbled a touch at fifth with $8.3M. The more independent end of the spectrum – now heating up in the run up to Oscar’s big day – was led by an opening for Glenn Close pet project ALBERT NOBBS, which in an ambitious 245 site opening took a stonking $773K and an average of $3,154. Less impressive however, was a six-screen opening for upbeat French sleeper hit DELARATION OF WAR, which took $14,4000 for a weak $2.4K average, perhaps in part due to its snubbing on the foreign language shortlist last week.
A healthy mix of mainstream meat and mouth watering Art House treats lie in store from this Friday. Filling up the plexes will be bonkers heist flick MAN ON A LEDGE, family adventure yarn JOURNEY 2: THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND and another slice of knockabout misogyny from Adam Sandler in JACK AND JILL. More discerning audiences meanwhile will enjoy misanthropic farce CARNAGE, or that tongue twisting US indie currently giving the critical community a winter’s bone, MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE.
Paul Ridd
