15th November 2024 - 17th November 2024

 

1. (NE) Gladiator II - £9,100,897 Weeks: 1 (£9,155,050)

2. (01) Paddington In Peru - £6,848,128 (-29%) Weeks: 2 (£18,819,292)

3. (02) Red One - £1,430,706 (-41%) Weeks: 2 (£4,599,207)

4. (03) Heretic - £505,119 (-50%) Weeks: 3 (£4,923,277)

5. (04) Venom: The Last Dance - £398,650 (-59%) Weeks: 4 (£11,836,452)

6. (05) The Wild Robot - £387,353 (-42%) Weeks: 5 (£13,247,169)

7. (06) Small Things Like These - £326,316 (-51%) Weeks: 3 (£3,024,577)

8. (NE) Kiss Me, Kate: The Musical - £258,966 Weeks: 1 (£258,966)

9. (NE) The Last Dance - £187,204 Weeks: 1 (£187,204)

10. (NE) Andrea Bocelli: 30: The Celebration - £179,352[/b] Weeks: 1 (£179,352)

 

 

Falling out:

Smile 2 (4 weeks)

Blitz (1 week)

Anora (2 weeks)

Piece By Piece (1 week)

 

 

The busy November continues with ‘Gladiator II’ posting the 2nd £9 million+ plus opening of the month to debut at #1. The long awaiting sequel to the 2000 Best Picture winner, this is the highest ever opening for legendary director, Ridley Scott. His previous biggest debut was previously 2015’s ‘The Martian (£6,531,734) while ‘Gladiator’ only opened to £3,555,446. Although it’s 2nd weekend was almost identic to it’s first, something that won’t be happening with the sequel. This is good enough for the 5th biggest opening weekend of 2024, falling just short of ‘Dune: Part II’ back at the start of the year. While the original film was a bit of a breakthrough for Russell Crowe, it’s Paul Mescal that takes the starring role here with Scott also re-teaming with Denzel Washington.

 

A shorter post this week as I've been away; also opening at #9 (£187,204), ‘The Last Dance’ isn’t a re-release of the Venom film without the title character but a Chinese funeral drama that broke records as the biggest grossing opening day ever in Hong Kong. It’s director, Anselm Chan was previously known for comedies but this turn to drama has earned him rave reviews. There are also two event cinema releases entering this week, The Adrian Dunbar and Stephanie J. Block starring ‘Kiss Me, Kate: The Musical’ at #8 and ‘Andrea Bocelli: 30: The Celebration’ at #10.

 

‘Paddington 2’ drops down a place in its 2nd week with a solid 29% drop pushing it’s running total to just under £19 million and earning it a place in the YTD top 10. ‘Paddington 2’ was at £16.9 million at the same stage in it’s run so ‘3’ is currently running slightly ahead. I said Christmas films always hold well and dropping 41% in it’s second week is ‘Red One’. If you take out previews, the drop is only 28%, the best hold of any film in the top 10. It's showing positive signs but the market is so crowded between now and Christmas that it could easily fall away.

 

There's not too much to note with the other holders: 'Heretic', 'Venom: The Last Dance' and 'Small Things Like These' all post drops in the 50-59% range while 'The Wild Robot' holds slightly better at 42%.

 

There is one further new entry in the #11-15 section: 'Kanguva' (#11). We also see a re-release of 'One Direction: This Is Us (#15).

 

Next week sees the openings of 'Wicked, 'The Magic Reindeer: Saving Santa's Sleigh', 'Karan Arjun', 'CBeebies Panto 2024: Beauty And The Beast', 'The Flight Of Bryan', 'Layla' and 'Snow Leopard'. Can any of them top the charts?

 

~

 

Ridley Scott 21st Century Openings:

 

Gladiator (£3,555,446, #1, 2000)

Hannibal (£6,402,540, #1, 2001)

Black Hawk Down (£1,772,920, #2, 2002)

Matchsticks Men (£647,483, #6, 2003)

Kingdom Of Heaven (£2,530,445, #1, 2005)

A Good Year (£376,962, #9, 2006)

American Gangster (£2,564,853, #1, 2007)

Body Of Lies (£991,979, #2, 2008)

Robin Hood (£5,750,332, #1, 2010)

Prometheus (£6,236,580, #1, 2012)

The Counsellor (£815,051, #4, 2013)

Exodus: Gods And Kings (£2,607,453, #2, 2014)

The Martian (£6,531,734, #1, 2015)

Alien: Covenant (£5,178,531, #1, 2017)

All The Money In The World (£1,161,475, #6, 2018)

House Of Gucci (£2,425,627, #1, 2021)

The Last Duel (£325,522, #6, 2021)

Napoleon (£5,235,706, #1, 2023)

Gladiator II (£9,155,050, #1, 2024)

I think next week will see a 3rd consecutive new entry score £9m+ in it's opening weekend. I can also see 'Moana 2' doing the same (even though I reckon it'll debut at #2 - behind 'Wicked' - both hitting double digits and 'Wicked' having an insane 2nd week hold)

 

Would 4 weeks (consecutive) of new entries scoring £9m+ in opening weekends be a record?

Would 4 weeks (consecutive) of new entries scoring £9m+ in opening weekends be a record?

 

I've done a bit of a deep-dive and the last time it happened was in 2012 when 'The Amazing Spider-Man', 'Ice Age 4: Continental Drift' and 'The Dark Knight Rises' all made over £10 million in consecutive weeks! Although, this was technically not a new entry for 'Ice Age 4' as it debuted 2 weeks earlier (at #1) after opening in Wales, Scotland and Ireland. It's weekend over £10 million was after being released in England. No idea why they separated out the release like that but it means 'Wicked' could set the record this weekend.

 

The last time we had 3 weekends in a row of #1s above £9 million is in June-July 2015-2016 with the first two weeks of 'Jurassic World' followed by the debut of 'Minions'.

 

We also had a time in 2007 where 'Shrek The Third', 'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix' and 'The Simpsons Movie' was consecutive #1s but they all had multiple weeks at the top between each other. A similar thing happened in 2002 with 'Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets', 'Die Another Day' and 'The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers'.

22nd November 2024 - 24th November 2024

 

1. (NE) Wicked - £13,696,057 Weeks: 1 (£13,696,057)

2. (01) Gladiator II - £4,736,972 (-48%) Weeks: 2 (£18,468,011)

3. (02) Paddington In Peru - £4,218,383 (-38%) Weeks: 3 (£24,504,286)

4. (03) Red One - £866,764 (-39%) Weeks: 3 (£5,891,645)

5. (04) Heretic - £205,457 (-59%) Weeks: 4 (£5,425,231)

6. (06) The Wild Robot - £183,578 (-53%) Weeks: 6 (£13,534,351)

7. (07) Small Things Like These - £166,803 (-49%) Weeks: 4 (£3,466,235)

8. (NE) Tosca: Met Opera 2024 - £129,206 Weeks: 1 (£129,206)

9. (NE) Listy Do M 6 (Letters To Santa 6) - £123,449 Weeks: 1 (£123,449)

10. (05) Venom: The Last Dance - £122,166 (-69%) Weeks: 5 (£12,162,962)

 

 

Falling out:

Kiss Me, Kate: The Musical (1 week)

The Last Dance (1 week)

Andrea Bocelli: 30: The Celebration (1 week)

 

 

It's a record breaking weekend at the box-office as 'Wicked' gives us the biggest 3-day opening weekend of 2024 (2nd behind 'Deadpool & Wolverine' when previews are included) with a brilliant £13,696,057. In fact, it's best opening weekend since 'Barbie' debuted with £18,509,236 in July last year. 'Wicked' has also broken the record as the biggest adaptation of a stage musical from 'Les Miserables' (£8,127,991) (or 'Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again' if you want to be loose with the rule [£9,735,930]) and is also the 3rd biggest opening for any musical-related film ever behind 'Beauty and the Beast' (£19,700,000, 2017) and 'Frozen II' (£15,088,012). It's also the 3rd biggest opening for a 'PG' certificate film ever behind the aforementioned 'Beauty and the Beast' and 'The Lion King' (£16,671,764). Jon M. Chu's film is the first part of two films of the 'Wizard of Oz' prequel with the second already being filmed and is set to release this time next year. Led by Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, the film has earned great reviews and has quickly put itself at the forefront of the current Oscar conversations. 2024 has been a mixed year for musicals, we've already seen the good ('Mean Girls'), the bad ('The Color Purple') and the ugly ('Joker: Folie à Deux') but we'd have to invent some new superlatives to describe the performance of 'Wicked'.

 

Most other major releases saw this coming and ran scared but we do get two further new entries in the top 10. The customary event cinema release this week is 'Tosca: Met Opera 2024' (£129,206, #8). It's the 3rd Met Opera release to make the top 10 this year following 'Roméo et Juliette: Met Opera 2024 (£81,880, #10) in March and 'Madama Butterfly: Met Opera 2023/24 (£96,727, #9) in May. Another 7 releases and they might make #1.

 

The final new entry this week is the Polish festive release 'Listy Do M 6 (Letters To Santa 6)' (£123,449, #9). As the title suggests, this is the 6th entry in director Lukasz Jaworski's Christmas 'Listry Do M' franchise and they seem to be big ensembles with interconnected stories a la 'Love Actually'. This is actually significantly-down on the opening of 'Listy Do M 5' in 2022 (£205,640, #8).

 

The other two films that make up that recording breaking run of films debuting with £9 million +, 'Gladiator II' and 'Paddington In Peru' make up the top 3 with both falling down one spot. 'Gladiator II' drops 48% this week which could have easily been worse with 'Wicked' taking most of it's premium screens. At £18,468,010, it's already safely in the YTD top 10 and has also entered Ridley Scott's top 5 overall grosses. It's aiming for a slightly different market than most of the other big hitters this Q4 so I think it should continue to hang around well, even in a busy marketplace.

 

'Paddington In Peru' has the best hold of any film dropping just 38% and landing just £500k behind 'Gladiator II'. At £24.5 million, it's still tracking slightly ahead of 'Paddington 2' from the same stage (£22,990,836) but let's see how it fares when 'Moana 2', 'Mufasa' and 'Sonic 3' all release. Having an almost identical drop is 'Red One' (-39%) as it continue to have an ok run in the UK as it disappoints everywhere else.

 

'Heretic' makes it four weeks in the top 5, despite being miles off the pace of the top 4. It's nearly reached £5.5 million and should soon climb passed 'Speak No Evil' to enter the top 5 Horror releases of the year. 'The Wild Robot' and 'Small Things Like These' both hold at #6 and #7 respectfully and both will be happy with the business they've done. 'Venom: The Final Dance' has one final week in the top 10 as it temporarily climbs into the YTD top 20.

 

There are three further new entries in the #11-15 section: 'The Magic Reindeer: Saving Santa’s Sleigh' (#11), 'Soorma' (#13) and 'Girl From The North Country' (#15).

 

Next week sees the openings of 'Moana 2', 'Conclave', 'Hello Mummy', 'All We Imagine As Light', 'Your Monster', 'The Contestant' and 'The Taste Of Mango'. We all see a re-release of 'The Polar Express'. Can any of them top the charts?

Wow great numbers for Wicked :clap: it was the busiest I've seen my local Cineworld since Barbenheimer so that 'biggest weekend since Barbie' stat checks out.

 

(thank you for posting this info, the write-ups and the physical charts thread too btw - I may not always comment but do read and appreciate the work every week!)

Yeah. I echo that sentiment Lewis. Thank you so much for always compiling these. It's really appreciated. I read it every week!

 

Incredible result for 'Wicked' and as I said last week, I really think it's going to hold incredibly well too, even up against 'Moana 2'! Expecting big, BIG things for that!

 

Obviously this is Jon M. Chu's biggest opening, but how do the others of his fare against it - has this already outgrossed all of their totals? I remember 'Step Up 2: The Streets' having surprisingly strong legs at the time. 'Crazy Rich Asians' also held well and 'In The Heights' seems to have been the anomaly in his UK success... which is a shame as it's also fantastic and deserves so much more than what it got </3

Another one who always reads but doesn’t often comment, I find these really informative. Do you write everything yourself Lewis or is it based on articles elsewhere? If you write it yourself then I think they are very impressive

A fourth to put their hat in the ring here!

 

I used to look at the reports that are released on bfi each Wednesday, but your commentary goes into so much depth and you normally post it on the Monday too (2 days in advance!). Thank you for posting these, I really enjoy reading them and will try to reply more!

 

Great figure for Wicked! That's gonna be popular HUGE!

I love reading these too :heart:

I've never noticed this thread, have added it to my faves to keep an eye on, that was so interesting to read, thank you!

 

 

Should Gladiator not be on 13,892,021? How has it got to the 18 million figure?

I've never noticed this thread, have added it to my faves to keep an eye on, that was so interesting to read, thank you!

Should Gladiator not be on 13,892,021? How has it got to the 18 million figure?

Because it's the "Total Gross" so the total gross includes the business it did Mon-Thurs too! Wicked's Mon-Thurs gross aren't in it's total because it has only had the weekend so far.

 

The figures on the box office charts are just the Friday-Sunday grosses (plus "Previews" if they release early etc.. - they act essentially like "pre-orders")

 

I hope that all makes sense aha!

 

So essentially the totals in brackets are:

 

Wicked = Fri 22nd - Sun 24th

Gladiator II = Friday 15th - Sun 24th

Paddington 3 = Friday 8th - Sun 24th

Red One = Friday 8th - Sun 24th

 

etc..

Thanks everyone. I'm glad that people like reading it! :heart:

 

I do write the commentary but it's really just summarising all the info from 3 different sources and collating it all together. And then I sometimes do a bit more research if there's something interesting that none of the sites have already talked about (i.e. the list of the Ridley Scott openings last week).

 

If you ever want to read more, the sources I usually use are:

 

Film Distributor Association - For the early figures and then the BFI report on Wednesday to correct any inaccuracies

 

Screen Daily - For a lot of the info for the commentary

 

Box Office Theory - For any additional interesting facts and figures

Because it's the "Total Gross" so the total gross includes the business it did Mon-Thurs too! Wicked's Mon-Thurs gross aren't in it's total because it has only had the weekend so far.

 

The figures on the box office charts are just the Friday-Sunday grosses (plus "Previews" if they release early etc.. - they act essentially like "pre-orders")

 

I hope that all makes sense aha!

 

So essentially the totals in brackets are:

 

Wicked = Fri 22nd - Sun 24th

Gladiator II = Friday 15th - Sun 24th

Paddington 3 = Friday 8th - Sun 24th

Red One = Friday 8th - Sun 24th

 

etc..

 

Yes that makes sense! Thank you for explaining. :D

 

I do find it strange that the midweek popularity of a film is completely ommited from the chart (particularly for films that would probably achieve longer legs due to being marketed at an older demographic...), but there we go. 😂

I'm so, SO excited to see the box office figures for this weekend. The US are looking at some record breaking Thanksgiving numbers on the whole thanks to 'Moana 2' & 'Wicked' ('Wicked' did big numbers on a THURSDAY! It would have been a record had 'Moana 2' not been released that day!) I assume they're still going to credit 'Gladiator II' in the reports like it's closer than what it actually is etc..

 

Today has been MANIC! 'Moana 2' has been selling out pretty much most of the day and 'Wicked' has been hot on it's tail... 'Gladiator II' and 'Paddington In Peru' would be selling out more screens too had we not needed the capacity for the newest releases of the 4... crazy good!

 

It's so nice seeing it healthy again and I believe these 4 will be enough to carry it right through until 'Mufasa'/'Sonic 3' week commencing 20th Dec (although 'Sonic 3' box office won't be accounted for until the week after as it's "previews" 21st-26th...)

‘Moana 2’ looking at a $175m open in the US :mellow:

Nice to see cinema being a bit more healthy again. I have say other than wicked my cinema screens have been all but empty for gladiator, moana and Paddington, but then I go see captioned screenings as I am deaf and there are lots of hearing people who still have big issues with text on the screen. 🤷‍♂️

29th November 2024 - 1st December 2024

 

1. (NE) Moana 2 - £12,021,342 Weeks: 1 (£12,021,342)

2. (01) Wicked - £8,371,251 (-39%) Weeks: 2 (£28,530,258)

3. (02) Gladiator II - £2,533,801 (-47%) Weeks: 3 (£23,596,835)

4. (03) Paddington In Peru - £1,808,775 (-57%) Weeks: 4 (£27,320,210)

5. (NE) Conclave - £1,065,847 Weeks: 1 (£1,065,847)

6. (04) Red One - £425,853 (-51%) Weeks: 4 (£6,627,450)

7. (NE) All We Imagine As Light - £111,033 Weeks: 1 (£111,033)

8. (05) Heretic - £96,584 (-53%) Weeks: 5 (£5,701,549)

9. (RE) The Polar Express (20th Anniversary Re-Release) - £83,677 Weeks: 1 (£83,677)

10. (07) Small Things Like These - £71,177 (-57%) Weeks: 5 (£3,712,452)

 

 

Falling out:

The Wild Robot (6 weeks)

Tosca: Met Opera 2024 (1 week)

Listy Do M 6 (Letters To Santa 6) (1 week)

Venom: The Last Dance (5 weeks)

 

 

The good tines at the box office continue with 'Moana 2' posting the 3rd highest opening weekend of the year with an impressive £12,021,342, just about topping the £11,321,387 that the current biggest release of the year, 'Inside Out 2' debuted with in June. After 2023 proved to be a disaster for Disney with disappointment after disappointment ('The Marvels', 'Wish', 'Haunted Mansion' 'Indiana Jones'...), 2024 was been one big comeback with a brilliant second half of the year. It's the 5th biggest opening ever for an animated film (see the full list below) or 6th if you want to include 2019's remake of 'The Lion King' which always proves controversial when discussing if that is animated or not. This debut is all the more impressive when you consider that the original 'Moana' opened at #2 with just £2,214,898 in December 2016 behind the 3rd weekend of 'Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them'. It's clear to see which film has won the war and has provided the longest legacy. It's been reported that 'Moana' is the most streamed film ever and with all of the think-pieces written about how streaming has killed the box office, it has definitely ended up playing it's part in causing this film to perform so well on the big screen. Auliʻi Cravalho and Dwayne Johnson return to the roles from the original but one major absentee is songwriter Lin-Manuel Miranda who penned the now classic tracks 'How Far I'll Go' and 'You're Welcome'. Replacing him is Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear. This is not a bad result for a film that was originally meant to be a TV series and was turned into a full film late into it's production. With a live-action version coming next year, it's going to be fascinating to see how it compares to this.

 

Debuting in the top 5 and being pushed past the £1 million barrier thanks to previews is 'Conclave' (#5, £1,065,847). A drama about a group of cardinals who have to elect the next pope doesn't sound like thrilling material but it has gained brilliant reviews (I've seen it described as a crowd-pleaser) and has made itself an Oscar front-runner. Directed from Edward Berger ('All Quiet On The Western Front') and adapted from a book by Robert Harris, the film stars Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithhow & Isabella Rossellini. This is is pretty solid opening in a busy marketplace and it should continue to do well in midweek showings as it's targeting an older audience.

 

The final new entry in the top 10 is 'All We Imagine As Light' (#7, £111,033). This is the first narrative feature from director Payal Kapadia and is the first Indian to compete for the main Prize at the Cannes festival since 1994. It ended up winning the Grand Prix. It currently has 100% on Rotten Tomatoes and seems to be loved by everyone who sees it. It's usually on the big Bollywood blockbusters that do well over here so this is a good result for a more indie production.

 

After having the biggest (3-day) opening weekend last week, 'Wicked' continues to impress with a slight 39% drop in week two. It's £8,371,251 would have been enough to be the 9th biggest opening weekend on it's own which shows how crazy this films success is. It's already in the top 5 biggest grossing films of the year, displacing 'Beetlejuice Beetlejuice' and climbing above 'Paddington 2'. In terms of musicals, it's already out-grossed last year's remake of 'The Little Mermaid',

 

'Gladiator' is down to #3 with another ok 47% drop. With £23,596,835, it's now Ridley Scott's 4th biggest hit, overtaking 'Hannibal' (£21.5 million). 'Paddington 2' has a slightly heavier drop (57%) after the release of direct competition. It's still running slightly ahead the pace of 'Paddington 2' at this stage in it's run (£26,903,226) but with the busy release schedule I think it will fall short soon.

 

'Red One' drops 51% in week 4 which is a lot better than it could have been for the festive actioner. At £6,627,450, it's not a good result for a $200 million+ budget but compared to it's box office elsewhere, it's comparatively solid. 'Heretic' and 'Small Things Like These' both stay in the top 10 but with low sub-£100k grosses.

 

'The Polar Express' re-release made £83,677 this weekend and debuts at #9. The film made about £10.5 million in it's original run and has made about £1.5 million more in it's 2020's re-releaes.

 

There is one further new entry in the #11-15 section: Sookshma Darshini' (#11). We also see a re-release of 'Elf' (#12).

 

Next week sees the openings of 'Nightbitch', 'Pushpa 2', 'Rumours', 'Solo Levelling: ReAwakening', 'Unstoppable', 'Grand Theft Hamlet', 'RM: Right People, Wrong Place', 'Club Zero' and 'On Becoming A Guinea Fowl'. Can any of them top the charts?

 

~

 

Top 5 All-Time Animation Openings:

 

1. Toy Story 3 (£21,187,264, #1, 2010)

2. Frozen II (£15,088,012, #1, 2019)

3. The Simpsons Movie (£13,626,853, #1, 2007)

4. Toy Story 4 (£13,300,000, #1, 2019)

5. Moana 2 (£12,021,342, #1, 2024)

'Moana 2' will hold extremely well next weekend and probably up until Christmas tbh, however, I do think 'Wicked' will re-overtake this coming or next weekend and have another great hold!

 

Neither of them have competition really until 'Mufasa' on the 20th December (and then 'Sonic 3' may eat into the family audiences of them both the week after (well from the 21st))

 

It's going to be interesting how far 'Moana 2' can go (hahahehehahaho). I thought it was "fine" and the critics are being a bit *too* harsh, but it definitely didn't feel like the sequel 'Moana' (which is top 2 with 'The Lion King' for me) deserved. I do hope they focus on a solid, proper story to create a real MOMENT for the 3rd installment. I can't see a 3rd not happening after the resounding success

and the mid-credits sequence.

 

6th December 2024 - 8th December 2024

 

1. (01) Moana 2 - £6,904,866 (-43%) Weeks: 2 (£21,494,240)

2. (02) Wicked - £5,320,032 (-37%) Weeks: 3 (£37,692,710)

3. (03) Gladiator II - £1,629,112 (-36%) Weeks: 4 (£26,623,304)

4. (04) Paddington In Peru - £1,213,581 (-33%) Weeks: 5 (£29,029,662)

5. (NE) Pushpa 2: The Rule - £1,118,894 Weeks: 1 (£1,118,894)

6. (NE) André Rieu’s 2024 Christmas Concert: Gold And Silver - £931,024 Weeks: 1 (£931,024)

7. (05) Conclave - £779,764 (-27%) Weeks: 2 (£2,741,856)

8. (06) Red One - £454,459 (+7%) Weeks: 5 (£7,271,308)

9. (NE) Nightbitch - £133,977 Weeks: 1 (£133,977)

10. (NE) Solo Leveling: ReAwakening - £112,243 Weeks: 1 (£112,243)

 

 

Falling out:

All We Imagine As Light (1 week)

Heretic (5 weeks)

The Polar Express (20th Anniversary Re-Release) (1 week)

Small Things Like These (5 weeks)

 

 

After four straight weeks of consecutive massive openings, we were due a quiet week and that's what we have with top 4 remaining the same. This means that the winner for a second week is 'Moana 2'. Dropping 43% in week 2, the film has now passed £21 million and, in turn, has already beat the total achieved by the original 'Moana' in 2016 which ended with just over £20 million. Although it's not all good news; despite opening bigger than 'Inside Out 2' last week, 'Moana 2' is now tracking behind where that was at the same stage (£23,250,882). It's up to #11 on the YTD chart so should comfortably be in the top 10 by next week.

 

Holding well at #2 is 'Wicked'. I still haven't been able to catch it and was planning on doing so on Saturday but ended up having to give it a miss due to the storm. To be fair, I was expecting the storm to cause much larger drops all around than it has. Weirdly enough, Screen Daily claims 'Wicked' will soon overtake 'Dune: Part Two' to become the 3rd biggest film of the year, while UKBoxOffice on Box Office Theory claims it will be the 5th biggest film of the year. They're both wrong, it will be the 4th biggest release of the year.

 

The biggest new entry this week and the first Indian release of the year to open with over £1 million is 'Pushpa 2: The Rule' (£1,118,894, #5). The original, 'Pushpa: The Rise: Part 1', debuted at #7 with £131,599 in 2021. Without previews, this film would have matched that position but with a (still) much healthier 3-day debut of £663k. It's breaking a lot of records with it's debut in India this weekend.

 

Opening just behind at #6 is 'André Rieu’s 2024 Christmas Concert: Gold And Silver' (£931,024). This is down on last year's 'André Rieu's White Christmas' (£1,001,094, #5) but is well up on his Summer release from this year 'André Rieu's 2024 Maastricht Concert: Power of Love' (£629,652, #5).

 

Underwhelming in it's debut at #9 is 'Nightbitch' (£133,977). Starring Amy Adams, this was originally being tipped as being a contender to finally give her an overdue Oscar but the film has gained so-so reviews and it's chances are looking slim. Adapted from a 2021 novel, it certainly has an eye-catching concept: An unnamed woman, struggling with motherhood, slowly starts to believe that she's turning into a dog. With Graham Norton promo a couple of weeks ago, this really should have opened better.

 

The final new entry in the top 10 is 'Solo Leveling: ReAwakening' (£112,243, #10). This is a recap of the first season of the 'Solo Levelling' anime series with a sneak-peak of the first two episodes of the upcoming second season.

 

A quick recap of the rest of the holdovers: 'Gladiator II' stays in 3rd place (-36%). It's now Ridley Scott's 2nd biggest ever release, only trailing the original 'Gladiator' (£31.3 million). 'Paddington In Peru' recovers slightly (-33%) after the big drop last week although it had now fallen off the pace of 'Paddington 2'.

 

'Conclave' has a brilliant hold (-27%, 12% without previews) as it's award push seems to be picking up loads of momentum. While entering December has seen 'Red One' has a nice boost (+7%) in business as Christmas nears.

 

There is one further new entry in the #11-15 section: 'Laufey’s A Night At The Symphony: Hollywood Bowl' (#14). We also see a re-release of 'Gremlins' (#12).

 

Next week sees the openings of 'The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim', 'Kraven The Hunter', 'Queer', 'Troubleshooters', 'The Universal Theory' and 'The Bibi Files'. Can any of them top the charts?

 

~

 

Top 5 2024 Indian Openings:

 

1. Pushpa 2: The Rule (£1,118,894, #5)

2. Kalki 2898 AD (£886,366, #3)

3. The Greatest Of All Time (£768,842, #2)

4. Fighter (£590,146, #8)

5. Moana 2 (£485,910, #5)