Latest Site News

[LewisGT]

16th February 2024 - 18th February 2024

1. (NE) Bob Marley: One Love - £6,950,773 Weeks: 1 (£6,950,773)
2. (01) Migration - £2,764,151 (+11%) Weeks: 3 (£13,592,505)
3. (NE) Madame Web - £2,273,544 Weeks: 1 (£2,273,544)
4. (02) Argylle - £544,846 (-45%) Weeks: 3 (£5,046,902)
5. (08) Wonka - £424,825 (+3%) Weeks: 11 (£62,192,678)
6. (03) The Iron Claw - £417,128 (-45%) Weeks: 2 (£1,633,593)
7. (06) Mean Girls - £383,317 (-21%) Weeks: 5 (£8,544,708)
8. (05) Peppa's Cinema Party - £351,896 (-28%) Weeks: 2 (£1,233,937)
9. (07) Anyone But You - £320,966 (-27%) Weeks: 8 (£10,835,651)
10. (04) All Of Us Strangers - £309,082 (-39%) Weeks: 4 (£4,513,523)


Falling out:
The Zone Of Interest (2 weeks)
Dune (1 week* *in this run)


It's One Love at the box office this week with the Bob Marley biopic entering at #1 with the biggest opening of the year so far. Of course, last week was Valentine's day and both the new releases took advantage of it by opening on Wednesday so their numbers are inflated by large previews. Without previews, 'Bob Marley: One Love' would have opened with £4.2 million which would still be enough to be the biggest weekend gross of 2024. The music biopic has been a solid formula for a box office hit of recent times and this has been the 2nd biggest opening out of them, behind 'Bohemian Rhapsody' (£9,530,463, 2018). Without previews, it would also be under 'Rocketman' (£5,381,904, 2019) but it does beat 'Elvis' (£4,023,573, 2022) and 'Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody' (£3,325,458, 2023). Plating the Reggae legend is Kingsley Ben-Adir, who alongside playing Basketball Ken in last year's biggest release 'Barbie', has already portrayed Malcolm X and Barack Obama before on screen. If you need an actor to play a legendary real-life icon, he seems the be the first number on speed-dial. Director Reinaldo Marcus Green previously directed Will Smith to one of the most-overshadowed Oscar wins of all-time with his last release 'King Richard' (£570,316, 2021). See below for a comparison of Reinaldo Marcus Green's opening weekends. I think I will also compile a music biopic opening weekend chart sometime this week so look out for the bonus stats!

Now it's time for some some SPUMC. After asking for some help from Marvel Studios with their Spider-Man films, Sony have retained the rights to the wider characters and the latest in their renamed universe (it's now called SSU) is 'Madame Web'. It's fair to say that the franchise hasn't been a critical favourite so far, even if the Venom films have certainly been a hit with audiences. Pairing that with the almost universally negative responses to the trailers and promotion, hopes have not been high for 'Madam Web' and it has opened at #3 with £2,273,544 (£1.3 million without previews). The star Dakota Johnson has seen pretty apathetic during the promotional campaign but the film features Sydney Sweeney who has been involved in the biggest box office story of 2024 so far in 'Anyone But You' (more on that later) so there was some slight hope. But this opening has shown that the film (and potentially the franchise) is dead in the water. Sony might wish it was still Morbin time as this has opened with even less than 'Morbius' did last year. The only saving grace I can see is that it has opened higher than 'Blue Beetle' (£1,189,812, 2023) to stop it being the lowest superhero opening post-covid. See below for a comparison of SSU opening weekends.

Last week was school holidays in many parts of the country and the effect seemed to last the weekend with two family favourites both increasing in business. 'Migration' has an incredible 11% rise on weekend 3 and made an astonishing ~£5 million during the week to comfortably become the biggest release of 2024 so far. The film is already at £13,592,505 which puts it above 'One Life' which previously held the record with £ £9,674,749 . It just shows that you can never write off Illumination Studios. However, the film that has overall made the most money in 2024 so far is 'Wonka' and it just is not slowing up, gaining 3% on it's 11th week and climbing back into the top 5. I've ran out of superlatives to describe how successful this film has been. Warner Bros. will be hoping that it will rub off on the Timothée Chalamet starring 'Dune: Part 2' in a couple of week's time.

'The Iron Claw' drops 45% on it's 2nd week but has now passed £1.5 million and 'Peppa's Cinema Party' has a nice 28% hold. The last story that needs mentioning this week is that 'Anyone But You' has finally passed £10 million. Who would have thought that when it opened behind both 'The Boy And The Heron' and 'Ferrari' (who???) in January?

One further new entry in the #11-15 section: 'The Taste Of Things' at #12. A re-release of 2012's 'Les Misérables' also appears at #14.

Next week sees the openings of 'Wicked Little Letters', 'Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba -To The Hashira Training', 'Perfect Days', 'Out Of Darkness and 'Memory'. Can any of them top the charts?

The reason I thought I was not going to able to post this today was because I just went to a free-screening of 'Wicked Little Letters' and didn't realise I'd be back so early. I'm not just saying this because they gave out free branded Rock but the film seemed to have a great reaction for the audience so look out for it being a bit of a sleeper hit.

Reinaldo Marcus Green openings

Monsters And Men (£8,440, #35, 2019)
King Richard (£570,316, #5, 2021)
Bob Marley: One Love (£6,950,773, #1, 2024)

SSU openings

Venom (£8,031,342, #1, 2018)
Venom: Let There Be Carnage (£6,167,833, #2, 2021)
Morbius (£3,254,830, #2, 2022)
Madame Web (£2,273,544, #3, 2024)