HITS AND MISSES 15-17 JUNE: ARE YOU STILL SEEING THIS?
In yet another difficult weekend for openers large and small, the top three remained resolutely unchanged. Holding on to top position for a third week, face-grabbing 3D prequel PROMETHEUS took £1.9M to add to a £19.4M total to date; knockabout threequel MEN IN BLACK 3 took second place in week four with £1.5M; while stoney-faced dwarf-emphasis-negating fairy tale caper SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN clocked £1.3M in very healthy third week of play.
The biggest disappointment was arguably an extremely soft launch for big bucks rock opera ROCK OF AGES, which opened at fourth place, taking just £781K to average a distinctly un-rock n’ roll £1,631. At fifth place meanwhile, last week’s sleeper horror hit THE PACT sneaked in with a still decent £471K to make £1.9M to date for the micro-budget chiller. In a horror David and Goliath story, the film successfully beat out sixth place competition from mega-bucks spine tingler RED LIGHTS, trailing behind with £437K. At seventh place AVENGERS ASSEMBLE took £368K in its eighth week, while at eighth feisty girl sprinter opener limped to £330K and a decidedly un-Olympian average of £899 from a very wide 369 site launch. At ninth, WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU’RE EXPECTING coasted with £246K, and finally at tenth, TOP CAT took £241K in its third week of play, both titles clearly edging towards the place where films go to die.
Of the remaining openers, high profile re-issue JAWS proved distinctly blunt of tooth, with just £183K from a 319 site launch; David Cronenberg’s yuppie Delillo in a limo head scratcher COSMOPOLIS crashed and burned to a £105K total from a 63 site launchl and finally, luscious Swedish costume vehicle A ROYAL AFFAIR bombed to a less than regal £74K from 48 screens. All a bit doom and gloom. A glimmer of hope however could be found in the form of fourth week indie hold MOONRISE KINGDOM, which took £110K from 62 sites, still going strong.
Over in the states, CGI ‘toon sequel MADAGASCAR 3 held fast to the top spot, despite halving last weekend’s opening figure with $35.5M, PROMETHEUS held second place on $20.2M despite a drop of 60%, while ROCK OF AGES aped its UK flop with a dismal $15.1M launch to count as a major blow for the all star vehicle. Prospects were significantly brighter however at the speciality box office where Wes Anderson’s fourth week hold MOONRISE KINGDOM expanded to 178 sites to earn a cool $2.18M to register an impressive $12,253 average. The film has earned $6.78M to date, impressive, but sadly nowhere near the break out smash of MIDNIGHT IN PARIS last year at the US box office.
From Friday expect charming romcom from the Judd Apatow stable THE FIVE YEAR ENGAGEMENT, gambling caper LAY THE FAVOURITE from Stephen Frears, violent vampire gorefest ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER, as well as nuclear horror CHERNOBYL DIARIES and US smash romcom THINK LIKE A MAN. On a smaller scale meanwhile, Friday sees launches for exquisite Russian think piece SILENT SOULS and charming Morrocan comedy of the sexes WHERE DO WE GO NOW? Hold your hands and pray for rain.
PR.
