UK Box Office Report Dec 8-10th 2017
It was a quiet week at the UK box office as cinemas and distributors prepared for the arrival of box office mega-power Star Wars and its latest series entry The Last Jedi (set for release Weds 13th Dec 2017). As such, The Disaster Artist was the only film to receive a big push, moving from its expansive preview screenings and into a wider release this past weekend, but failing to break the top 5’s relatively low entry point of £413,000 and therefore seemingly failing to capture the imaginations of British audiences. This meant that the top 5 was the same for the 2nd week in a row, with Murder on the Orient Express now making it 6 weeks in the top 5 and Paddington 2 closing in on a £30million run. Here’s the top 5:
The biggest news from the top of the charts is of course the seemingly never-ending success of Paddington 2, which suffered a drop off of about 35% this weekend, a much lower percentage than most films at any stage of their run, let alone 5 weekends in. Of course, barring a movie miracle, the beloved bear will be surrendering his top spot this coming weekend, but the reality is that this week’s total of £1,690,027 would suggest that the movie may top £1million for the 6th weekend running, which would put the film comfortably above £30million and even, perhaps, ahead of Thor: Ragnarok (currently at £30.7million) in the yearly chart’s top 5 grossing movies.
Elsewhere in the top 5, Justice League earned another half a million pounds to push it towards £17million at the box office overall, a figure that it will top this week. Its run has been by no means a success, but the figure isn’t necessarily a failure either, and with the international box office for the film now topping $600million, it seems that Justice League will at least break even, quashing thoughts that it may lose Warner Bros money. The effects of its lacklustre performance – the film was expected to make $1billion following the financial successes of Wonder Woman and Batman v Superman, each considered to be sequels – have already been seen, with Warner Bros re-organising their DC films division from the very top down, and changes in the cast thought to be on the way.
Daddy’s Home 2 is still sitting pretty in the number 2 spot after 3 weeks in the chart, having earned £1,135,646 in total this past weekend. The comedy, starring a plethora of recognisable names, has performed admirably to reach close to £10million overall, though the story internationally isn’t quite as positive. At the worldwide box office, Daddy’s Home 2 has thus far earned around $126million, nearly 50% less than its predecessor Daddy’s Home which earned just under $243million. This result would indicate that the film series is all-but dead, as drop offs so steep rarely see further films made.
The full results of the top 15:
- Paddington 2 – weeks on release: 5 – weekend: £1,690,027 – total: £29,332,318
- Daddy’s Home 2 – 3 – £1,135,646 – £9,742,929
- Wonder – 2 – £742,687 – £2,586,699
- Justice League – 4 – £552,227 – £16,683,721
- Murder on the Orient Express – 6 – £412,400 – £23,011,404
- The Disaster Artist – 2 – £331,685 – £677,471
- Thor: Ragnarok – 7 – £242,176 – £30,678,863
- A Bad Moms Christmas – 6 – £168,037 – £7,847,589
- Event Cinema: Nutracker (Ballet) – 2 – £137,861 – £1,086,577
- Stronger – 1 – £102,379 – £102,379
- The Star – 3 – £97,759 – £566,266
- Human Flow – 1 – £94,920 – £94,920
- The Dinner – 1 – £85,252 – £85,252
- Battle of the Sexes – 3 – £67,193 – £1,332,759
- The Man Who Invented Christmas – 2 – £56,547 – £369,381
Despite being backed strongly in the US – being one of the top per screen earners of the year and sitting at $8.5million thus far – James Franco’s The Disaster Artist seems to be having a more modest box office run here in the UK. The film, that was this week nominated for a plethora of Golden Globes, may receive an awards season boost that pushes it beyond £1million overall, but at £677,471 and earning just £331,685 in its wide-release debut weekend, it seems that British film goers have less enthusiasm for its subject matter, Tommy Wiseau’s The Room, than North American audiences at this stage. It may turn out that the film earns less, in total, than Battle of the Sexes, another awards season film that arrived with much less hype and sits at 14th in the chart in only its 3rd week, having earned £1,332,579 overall.
One of this week’s debuts was David Gordon Green’s Jake Gyllenhaal starring Stronger, the true story of a Boston Marathon bombing victim, which entered at just over £100,000 and will likely go on to make a quarter of a million. At a budget of around $30million, the $300,000 or so that the UK will likely contribute to its lacklustre North American run of $4.2million, will be unable to pull the film from the mire of financial failure. Green, who has directed a number of hits including Pineapple Express, seemed to have all the pieces in place for an awards season push that simply hasn’t come and has undoubtedly effected the film’s box office takings.
This week’s other debuts look set to fare a little better relative to their budgets and box office expectations, with human rights documentary Human Flow tapping into the zeitgeist to earn £94,920 this past weekend, and The Dinner starring Steve Coogan taking £85,252. Human Flow in particular has achieved great things by breaking the top 15, as documentaries of its ilk rarely find large audiences in cinemas and are usually more popular as home entertainment properties.
So there does it for another week of box office analysis. Next week, we’ll be welcoming The Last Jedi to the chart, where we’re likely to answer the question of: is this the biggest film of the year already? Things will also become more clear as regards Paddington 2’s standing in the yearly chart. Can the independently made sequel add Thor: Ragnarok to its list of box office victims after already surpassing LEGO Batman, Logan, Wonder Woman, Spider-Man: Homecoming and Justice League? We’ll find out next week. For now, make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel to be the first to access our weekly Top 5 UK Box Office Films chart videos (released every Tuesday), and be sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook to keep up to date with all the latest film news, reviews and coverage we have to offer.
