10th January 2025 - 12th January 2025

 

1. (02) Mufasa: The Lion King - £2,201,920 (-33%) Weeks: 4 (£24,023,260)

2. (01) Nosferatu - £1,992,465 (-62%) Weeks: 2 (£8,825,009)

3. (04) Sonic The Hedgehog 3 - £1,497,794 (-44%) Weeks: 3 (£20,921,886)

4. (03) We Live In Time - £1,347,255 (-53%) Weeks: 2 (£5,222,239)

5. (NE) Babygirl - £1,091,180 Weeks: 1 (£1,091,180)

6. (NE) A Real Pain - £999,818 Weeks: 1 (£999,818)

7. (06) Wicked - £877,940 (-47%) Weeks: 8 (£58,758,695)

8. (05) Moana 2 - £853,474 (-52%) Weeks: 7 (£39,524,929)

9. (07) Better Man - £622,200 (-33%) Weeks: 3 (£5,008,965)

10. (NE) Maria - £509,328 Weeks: 1 (£509,328)

 

 

Falling out:

Paddington In Peru (9 weeks)

Gladiator II (8 weeks)

Conclave (6 weeks)

 

 

'Mufasa: The Lion King' returns to #1 for a second week after another solid hold (-33%). This feels like a fair result after losing 2 weeks at #1 thanks to previews. It's reached £24 million which is obviously a far cry from the insane £76 million total that 2019's 'The Lion King' made but this is still going to be enough for it to end as a top 10 film of 2024. Disney would have obviously loved a total closer to 2019's film but I don't think this was ever really a possibility. Cinema going habits have changed massively since 2019 and this year's top grosser isn't even anywhere near that total. At the end of the day, this could have gone a lot worse, especially when it had a poor opening weekend. It has officially out-grossed the original 1994 classic (£22.6 million) although exchange rates would still heavily make true comparisons lean heavily in the 1994 film's favour.

 

Three new entries this week with the biggest debut going to 'Babygirl' (£1,091,180, #5). This is an erotic-thriller from Halina Reijn (Bodies Bodies Bodies) and stars Nicole Kidman as a CEO who begins an affair with a young intern played by Harris Dickinson. With that cast and the prestigious 'A24' as it's US distributor, this film was definitely released with awards season in mind but despite it finding an audience at the box office and strong reviews, I feel like it's Oscar hopes are fading as it's just not getting that sort of buzz. 'Bodies Bodies Bodies' only made £916,909 in total so this is already the director's biggest hit. Last year, only two 18-certificate films debuted higher ('Smile 2', £2,000,089 and 'Poor Things', £1,819,563) so this represents a good start for adult-oriented films in 2025.

 

The other two new releases this week feel like they will be more successful in their Oscar bids. Boosted two places by previews, Jesse Eisenberg written, directed and stars in 'A Real Pain' which debuts at #6 with £999,818 (£705,814 without previews). This is a comedy/drama about two cousins who go on a 'Holocaust tour' in Poland to honour their late grandmother. Starring as his brother is Macaulay's real-life brother Kieran Culkin who is highly predicted to win the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his acclaimed performance.

 

The final new entry this week is 'Maria' at #10 with £509,328 (£382,771 without previews). Starring Angelina Jolie as legendary opera singer Maria Callas. This is the third part of director Pablo Larraín's unofficial trilogy of biopics of famous 20th century women following 'Jackie' and 'Spencer'. See below for his opening weekends. Both of these previous films bagged their lead actresses Oscar noms (Natalie Portman, Kristen Stewart) and Jolie will be hoping to make it 3/3. After a supporting role in 'Eternal's, this is Jolie's first leading role since 2021's 'Those Who Wish Me Dead' (£302,653, #7). As one of the biggest movie stars of our lifetimes, it would be great to see her make a proper comeback now.

 

Losing top spot but holding well is 'Nosferatu' (-62% but only 36% without previews). It's already at a point where it's just short of £9 million. For comparison, this would already put it in third place for 2024 horror films, above 'Longlegs (£8.1 million) and only trailing 'A Quiet Place: Day One' (£10 million) and 'Alien: Romulus' (£13.4 million). It's ahead of where 'Romulus' was at this stage so has a good chance of beating that film's total. I don't even know what the next-most recent highest horror grosser would be, 'It: Chapter Two' maybe? Or if you're being generous with genre 'Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness'?

 

'Sonic The Hedgehog 3' holds ok as it climbs back up to #3 with a 44% drop. It has now passed £20 million and should pass 'Kung Fu Panda 4' in the next few weeks to bag the final top 10 spot for 2024. It has now passed the final gross for the original 'Sonic' film and should still reach the £27 million total for 'Sonic The Hedgehog 2' but I'm starting to think it won't go too much higher.

 

Dropping a spot but holding well is 'We Live In Time (-53% or only 19% when you take out previews) with a second weekend above £1 million. It's very speedily catching the £6 million total of the director's previous biggest hit 'Brooklyn' and will probably hold the crown by next weekend. With it already being at £5.2 million, it has officially outgrossed 'Better Man' which drops to #9 (-33%). It's another relatively good hold but it really needed great holds to save it after it's poor opening weekend. Robbie Williams's biopic had a reported budget of £110 million and has completely bombed this weekend with a $1 million opening in America so £5 million in his home market just isn't good enough. It's a shame because it's had brilliant reviews but this is one of the biggest bombs of recent times.

 

'Wicked' is still holding well for a film already being available on digital, dropping a further 47%. However this is enough for it to overtake 'Deadpool & Wolverine' to be the 2nd biggest film of 2024 with 'Inside Out 2' looking to also drop behind by next week. 'Moana 2' didn't have a good weekend, it wasn't even in the top 10 for Friday, but recovered enough to land at #8. A 52% drop is quite harsh though which suggest that it's on it's way out. It will pass the £40 million barrier but I don't think it will do much more than that. Seeming that the original only made about £20 million in total, doubling that for the sequel is still an outstanding result.

 

In great news for the box office in general, we are still running 28% ahead of the total box office at this stage last year in a year that's tipped to be big.

 

There is one further new entry in the #11-15 section: 'Game Changer' (#13). We also see a re-release of 'Se7en' enter at #15.

 

Next week sees the openings of 'Wolf Man', 'A Complete Unknown', 'Here', 'William Tell', 'Emmanuelle', 'Alone No More' and 'Panda Plan'. Can any of them top the charts?

 

~

 

Pablo Larraín's Openings:

 

Tony Manero (£7,532, #22, 2009)

Post Mortem (£3,201, #22, 2011)

No (£57,315, #16, 2013)

The Club (£9,285, #24, 2015)

Jackie (£662,900, #6, 2017)

Neruda (£40,132, #20, 2017)

Spencer (£492,643, #6, 2021)

Maria (£509,328, #10, 2025)

17th January 2025 - 19th January 2025

 

1. (NE) A Complete Unknown - £2,616,302 Weeks: 1 (£2,616,302)

2. (01) Mufasa: The Lion King - £1,626,698 (-26%) Weeks: 5 (£26,210,184)

3. (03) Sonic The Hedgehog 3 - £1,080,662 (-28%) Weeks: 4 (£22,287,279)

4. (02) Nosferatu - £1,075,989 (-46%) Weeks: 3 (£10,899,059)

5. (04) We Live In Time - £862,842 (-36%) Weeks: 3 (£6,810,955)

6. (05) Babygirl - £742,030 (-32%) Weeks: 2 (£2,568,990)

7. (NE) Wolf Man - £654,326 Weeks: 1 (£654,326)

8. (08) Moana 2 - £589,364 (-31%) Weeks: 8 (£40,228,576)

9. (07) Wicked - £542,989 (-39%) Weeks: 9 (£59,598,436)

10. (06) A Real Pain - £435,919 (-56%) Weeks: 2 (£1,847,305)

 

 

Falling out:

Better Man (3 weeks)

Maria (1 week)

 

 

Timothée Chalamet has done it again, gaining his third consecutive #1 debut with 'A Complete Unknown'. We had three major music biopics last year (not including 'Kneecap' because of the crazy reporting they did for it's 'opening weekend) and this ends up comparing fairly well. Poor old Robbie flopped with his 'Better Man' (£1,568,933, #5) which actually drops out of the top 10 after only three weeks but Bob Dylan proves a bigger draw, topping the chart with £2,616,302. This is pretty much in line with what Amy Winehouse's 'Back To Black' (£2,772,698, #1) did but Bob Marley proves to be the biggest of the bunch with 'One Love' opening to £6,950,773. This is not the first time Hollywood has tried to tell the story of Bob Dylan; most notably 2007's 'I'm Not There' (£58,491, #15) which experientially told stories 'based upon Dylan' where he was portrayed by a bunch of actors, including Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Richard Gere, Marcus Carl Franklin, Ben Whishaw and, most notably, bagging herself an Oscar-nom, Cate Blanchett. Directing this one is James Mangold, who is no stranger to the music biopic, directing 2006 Johnny Cash biopic 'Walk The Line' (£1,111,142, #2). See below for James Mangold's opening weekend history.

 

The only other new entry in the top 10 is 'Wolf Man' (#7, £654,326). This is Leigh Whannell's second attempt at rebooting Universal's old monster franchises after his remake of 'The Invisible Man' (£2,163,797, #1, 2020) surprised many by being a huge critical and commercial success. I think expectations were high after the success of that film and this result will be a disappointment for Universal who seem to be betting heavy on Whannell making the monsters relevant to the next generation after the failure of their 'Dark Universe' with Tom Cruise's big-budget 'The Mummy' (£3,343,650, #1, 2017). 'Wolf Man' has received a pretty mixed critical reception so I can't see this one hanging around much, even with recent times being particularly strong for horror. Starring in this film are Christopher Abbott, as the titular monster and Julia Garner as his wife trying to survive the night.

 

I've kind of buried the lede by discussing the new entries first as the biggest story this week is that 'Wicked' has officially passed 'Inside Out 2' to become the biggest film released in 2024. Dropping 39% on week 9, the film has reached £59,598,436 which is in-line with the final gross of 2023's 3rd biggest film 'Oppenheimer'. This puts it at #28 in the all-time list with the first and third 'Lord Of The Rings' films being the next to films it could overtake. I will create a thread for the full EOY chart in a couple of weeks when all of the 2024 films have ended their runs.

 

Losing top spot is 'Mufasa: The Lion King' as it drops 26% in week 5. It's still holding well and with no obvious big kids competition coming soon, it should continue to rack up the grosses. It should overtake 'Beetlejuice Beetlejuice' next week but then it would need another £5 million to reach 'Gladiator II'. 'Sonic The Hedgehog' sticks at #3 with it's best hold yet (-28%).

 

Last weeks biggest new entry 'Babydoll', shows decent legs by dropping 32% in week 2. 'A Real Pain' drops a larger 56% (a better 38% without previews) as it climbs up to a £1.8 million total. 'Maria' drops out of the top 10 (#12) but also passes the £1 million mark.

 

'Nosferatu' spends an impressive third weekend above £1 million. It's total is now in the double figures of millions which puts it above 'A Quiet Place: Day One'. This leaves 'Alien: Romulus' as the only horror film from last year to have out-grossed it. 'We Live In Time' does dip bellow the £1 million mark but still has a very solid third weekend, dropping 36%. It's almost at £7 million so may join 'Nosferatu' in the £10 million club by the end of it's run. 'Moana 2' has become the 5th 2024 release to pass the £40 million barrier.

 

There is one further new entry in the #11-15 section: 'Sankranthiki Vasthunnam' (#14).

 

Next week sees the openings of 'The Brutalist', 'Flight Risk', 'Presence', 'Sunray: Fallen Soldier', 'Sky Force' and 'Aida: Met Opera 2025'. Can any of them top the charts?

 

~

 

James Mangold's Openings:

 

Copland (£893,303, #3, 1997)

Girl, Interrupted (£148,261, #12, 2000)

Kate and Leopold (£204,325, #13, 2002)

Identity (£719,468, #3, 2003)

Walk The Line (£1,111,142, #2, 2006)

3:10 To Yuma (£368,510, #8, 2007)

Knight and Day (£2,404,163, #2, 2010)

The Wolverine (£4,694,092, #1, 2013)

Logan (£9,443,363, #1, 2017)

Le Mans '66 (£2,000,000, #2, 2019)

Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny (£7,144,441, #1, 2024)

A Complete Unknown (£2,616,302, #1, 2025)

 

~

 

Leigh Whannell's Openings:

 

Insidious: Chapter 3 (£1,440,299, #3, 2015)

Upgrade (£58,006, #19, 2019)

The Invisible Man (£2,163,797, #1, 2020)

Wolf Man (£654,326, #7, 2025)

'Wicked' is holding extremely well considering it's available on digital! :o Surprised to see it eventually took over 'Inside Out 2'!

 

I just need to watch 'Mufasa' and 'A Complete Unknown' (seeing the latter tomorrow) and I've seen the entire top 10 :cheeseblock:

 

I am a HUUUUGE fan of 'Upgrade' and 'The Invisible Man' but 'Wolf Man' was extremely average! The script was horrendous and the story was so under baked :( However, Leigh's directing is just SO good!

24th January 2025 - 26th January 2025

 

1. (01) A Complete Unknown - £1,667,822 (-36%) Weeks: 2 (£5,916,731)

2. (02) Mufasa: The Lion King - £1,375,889 (-16%) Weeks: 6 (£27,955,636)

3. (03) Sonic The Hedgehog 3 - £874,513 (-19%) Weeks: 5 (£23,333,230)

4. (NE) Flight Risk - £811,232 Weeks: 1 (£811,232)

5. (NE) The Brutalist - £754,678 Weeks: 1 (£754,678)

6. (04) Nosferatu - 535,852 (-50%) Weeks: 4 (£11,934,318)

7. (08) Moana 2 - £524,450 (-11%) Weeks: 9 (£40,861,114)

8. (05) We Live In Time - £476,932 (-45%) Weeks: 4 (£7,724,818)

9. (06) Babygirl - £454,038 (-39%) Weeks: 3 (£3,462,964)

10. (NE) Presence - £365,390 Weeks: 1 (£365,390)

 

 

Falling out:

Wolf Man (1 week)

Wicked (9 weeks)

A Real Pain (2 weeks)

 

 

'A Complete Unknown' had a great week, bagging 8 nominations at the Academy Awards which helped power it to a second week at #1 at the UK Box Office. A 36% drop in week 2 is a very solid result for Disney and leaves the film with a total just short of £6 million after two weeks. It's already over half way to the £10.4 million total of Mangold's other big musician biopic, 'Walk The Line'. It's also already a measly £300k off overtaking Robbie Williams's 'Better Man' which sinks further to #13. Expect this to continue to hold well as we head towards the conclusion of the awards season.

 

There are three new entries in the top 10 this week, the highest of which is aviation-thriller 'Flight Risk' at #4 (£811,232). Lionsgate seem desperate to not tell you who the director of this film is with the poster just stating "from the award-winning director of Braveheart, Apocalypto, and Hacksaw Ridge". Film fans will recognise that must mean the director is Mel Gibson who has, alongside Sylvester Stallone and Jon Voigt, has been appointed 'special advisors to Hollywood' for Donald Trump. Starring Michelle Dockery, Topher Grace and Mark Wahlberg with an insane bald-cut, it has earned awful reviews but some praise for Wahlberg for an off-the-rails, fun performance. Debuting at #1 in the U.S., This feels like typical January fare, being dumped during the typical slow-start to the year to make a few million and never to be thought about again. At least over here in the UK, we have all the award contenders releases in January so it's a busy time for us.

 

One such example is Best Picture favourite, 'The Brutalist'. Opening at #5 with £754,678 is a very solid result for a film with a runtime over 3.5 hours which includes a mandatory 15-minute intermission. This is the third feature from actor-cum-director Brady Corbet and stars Adrien Brody as a Holocaust survivor who immigrates to the US to work as an architect. The film is already grossed substantially more than Corbet's first two films ('The Childhood of a Leader' and 'Vox Lux') combined. As I previously mentioned, this is a front-runner for multiple Oscars with Brody extremely likely to nab himself a second Best Actor award. However, there has been some backlash as it was confirmed that AI was used on the film to make some accents sound more Hungarian and to help design some buildings in the film's closing sequence so we will see if this harms it's chances. See below to see how this opening compares with the other films nominated for Best Picture this year.

 

The final new entry to make it's presence felt is Steven Soderbergh's latest low-budget experiment 'Presence' (£365,390, #10). The film has an intriguing hook: a poltergeist flick told from the perspective of said spirit. I've seen a lot of praise directed at the inventiveness and genre-blending nature of the film but I have also seen some horror fans complain that it's just not scary. Lucy Liu stars and it feels like it might be something worth checking out. It will be interesting to see if the good-buzz can help it stick around, especially with direct competition in 'Wolf Man' bombing so hard (dropping all the way out of the top 15).

 

The storms this weekend have not kept the kids away with the three main children's releases having great holds. 'Mufasa: The Lion King' leads the way, holding at #2 with just a 16% drop in business. This has put it above 'Sonic The Hedgehog 2' when it comes to total gross, a target that 'Sonic The Hedgehog 3' still holds ambitions of reaching after a 19% drop makes it a third week at #3 for the threequel. I would say it's looking slightly-unlikely but holds like this will help. Despite an 11% drop in business, 'Moana 2' climbs a place to #7 on it's 9th week. With 'Wicked' dropping to #11, if 'Moana 2' holds on next weekend, it will overtake it's top 10 run as it reaches double-figures. Brilliant for Disney after it has a big fall in week 2.

 

'Noferatu' and 'We Live In Time' continue to be the two biggest releases of the year so far but both show some signs of fading away with 50% and 45% drops. 'Nosferatu' is now at about £11.9 million making it the biggest ever horror release for Universal according to Screen Daily. I don't think this is true because I think 'Hannibal' was released by Universal in the UK and that film made over £20 million, but I'll happily be proved wrong. 'Babygirl' is still doing well for a 18-certificate, dropping 39% on week three for a £3.5 million total.

 

There are no further new entries in the #11-15 section

 

Next week sees the openings of 'Companion', 'Saturday Night', 'Hard Truths', 'White Bird', 'The Tasting', 'The Colors Within' 'Detective Chinatown 1900' and 'Luther: Never Too Much'. We also see re-releases for 'Before Sunrise' and 'The Apartment'. Can any of them top the charts?

 

~

 

Mel Gibson's (Directorial) Openings:

 

The Man Without A Face (£1,063,361, #3, 1993)

Braveheart (£1,880,292, #1, 1995)

The Passion Of The Christ (£2,019,935, #1, 2004)* *1st weekend in wide release

Apocalypto (£1,360,110, #3, 2007)

Hacksaw Ridge (£1,490,158, #5, 2017)

Flight Risk (£811,232, #4, 2025)

 

~

 

2025 Best Picture Openings (so far):

 

1. Wicked - £13,696,057 (#1)

2. Dune: Part Two - £9,279,080, (#1)

3. A Complete Unknown - £2,616,302, (#1)

4. Conclave - £1,065,847 (#5)

5. The Brutalist - £754,678 (#5)

6. The Substance - £591,247 (#3)

7. Anora - £509,005 (#6)

8. Nickel Boys - £127,219, (#11)

 

'Emilia Pérez' was released by Netflix who do not report Box Office grosses and 'I'm Still Here' isn't released until 21st February.

31st January 2025 - 2nd February 2025

 

1. (01) A Complete Unknown - £1,236,908 (-28%) Weeks: 3 (£8,316,754)

2. (02) Mufasa: The Lion King - £1,124,693 (-18%) Weeks: 7 (£29,385,701)

3. (NE) Companion - £739,553 Weeks: 1 (£739,553)

4. (03) Sonic The Hedgehog 3 - £708,302 (-19%) Weeks: 6 (£24,168,368)

5. (05) The Brutalist - £608,607 (-19%) Weeks: 2 (£1,764,081)

6. (RE) Les Misérables: The Staged Concert (2025 Re-Release) - £549,548 Weeks: 1 (£549,548)

7. (04) Flight Risk - £451,241 (-44%) Weeks: 2 (£1,698,020)

8. (07) Moana 2 - £408,855 (-22%) Weeks: 10 (£41,333,356)

9. (NE) Hard Truths - £327,633 Weeks: 1 (£327,633)

10. (06) Nosferatu - £312,913 (-42%) Weeks: 5 (£12,547,480)

 

 

Falling out:

We Live In Time (4 weeks)

Babygirl (3 weeks)

Presence (1 week)

 

 

For a third week, the #1 film in the country is 'A Complete Unknown'. This is testament to the star-power of Timothée Chalamet who has been on a crazy run of late. It will probably pass the £10 million barrier next weekend and then it's closing in quick to the £12.3 million of last year's 'Back To Black'. Bob Marley still looks safe to have the biggest musician biopic of the last 12 months with 'One Love' ending with £17.2 million. 'Mufasa: The Lion King' holds at #2 and hasn't vacated the top 2 in any of it's 7 weeks in the chart. It's nearly at £30 million which is still a far way from the £76 million of the 2019 film but I didn't even see it getting this close on release. Another drop of just 18% suggests that there's still life in it too.

 

Previews stop us from having a third consecutive week with the same top 3 as it pushes 'Companion' into a 3rd placed debut (£739,553, without previews £670,512). I went to see this on Saturday and thought it was so fun. I definitely recommend it. It's the theatrical debut for director Drew Hancock and the first film he's directed since 2012's 'Fred 3: Camp Fred' (seriously) :o The cast includes Jack Quaid. Lukas Gage, Harvey Guillén, Megan Suri and Rupert Friend but stealing the whole show in a star-making performance is Sophie Thatcher. She's quickly becoming a scream queen with her appearance in last year's 'Heretic' also showing off her chops. The film treats it like it's a big twist but it's the main part of the trailer so I don't think it's a spoiler to say that she stars as a robot unaware that she's not human. This is the third mainstream 'killer robot' film of the last three years and it debuts somewhere between 2023's 'M3GAN' (£2,356,356, #2) and 2024's 'AfrAId' (£216,620, #10). I really hope this can stick around. Thatcher's performances gives me the same vibes as when I completely fell in love with Anya Taylor-Joy in 'Split' so I'm praying for a similar breakthrough.

 

The only other new entry in the top 10 is another one assisted by previews. Opening at #9 (#12 without previews) is 'Hard Truths'. The 15th feature from acclaimed British director Mike Leigh, this is his first effort since 2018's 'Peterloo' and stars frequent collaborator Marianne Jean-Baptiste in a BAFTA-nominated lead role. Although she missed out on the Oscar-nod, she is still a front-runner for the BAFTA and I've seen so much praise for her performance. She stars as a short-tempered woman suffering from depression and taking it out on everyone she meets. Very true-to-life like all of Leigh's work, I've heard that this is a really difficult one to watch but very rewarding. With £327,633 (£237,367 without previews), this is very slightly down on the opening of 'Peterloo' in 2018 (£348,697, #10).

 

A Sunday-only release of 'Les Misérables: The Staged Concert' does enough to re-enter at #6 (£549,548). An everlasting hit, it made £3.3 million on release in 2013 while the movie adaptation made £40.8 million in 2013.

 

Holding at #5 is likely Best Picture 'The Brutalist', falling just 19% in week 2. Although, this was despite an increase in screens from 171 to 308 across the country. It's already up to £1.8 million which is above the total of last year's Best Picture contenders 'Anatomy Of A Fall, 'The Holdovers' and 'The Zone Of Interest' at the same stage. The highest total of those was 'The Holdovers' with £3.9 million if you want an indication of where this might end up. 'Flight Risk' doesn't hold up as well (-44%) but still isn't doing too terribly and is currently just behind 'The Brutalist' with £1.7 million.

 

Three further older films complete the top 10: 'Sonic The Hedgehog 3' is still holding well (-19%) as it tries to reach the £27 million of the second film. 'Moana 2' drops 22% as it continues it's crazily strong back-end run. 'Nosferatu' is on the way out (-42%) as it drops to #10. 5 weeks in the top 10 and a total above £12 million is still an insane result for a director who's previous films have remained niche.

 

There is one further new entry in the #11-15 section: 'Detective Chinatown 1900' (#11).

 

Next week sees the openings of 'Dog Man', 'September 5', 'Bring Them Down', 'The Fire Inside', 'Macbeth: David Tennant & Cush Jumbo', 'Love Hurts', 'The Seed Of The Sacred Fig', 'Becoming Led Zeppelin' and 'Narayaneente Moonnaanmakkal'. We also a re-release of 'Eternal Sunshine Of A Spotless Mind'. Can any of them top the charts?

 

~

 

Mike Leigh's Openings:

 

Naked (£627,818, #4, 1993)

Secrets & Lies (£725,000, #4, 1996)

Career Girls (£84,938, #?, 1997)

Topsy-Turvy (£139,700, #9, 2000)

All Or Nothing (£164,291, #10, 2002)

Vera Drake (£266,010, #11, 2005)

Happy-Go-Lucky (£385,190, #9, 2008)

Another Year (£355,626, #9, 2010)

Mr. Turner (£904,947, #7, 2004)

Peterloo (£348,697, #10, 2018)

Hard Truths (£327,633, #9, 2025)

Ouch, how much did 'Saturday Night' flop if it didn't even make the top 15? I know SNL isn't really a thing over here, but there's at least some awareness of it and a good critical reception of the movie, so I wouldn't have expected it to do that badly.

 

24th January 2025 - 26th January 2025

 

There are three new entries in the top 10 this week, the highest of which is aviation-thriller 'Flight Risk' at #4 (£811,232). Lionsgate seem desperate to not tell you who the director of this film is with the poster just stating "from the award-winning director of Braveheart, Apocalypto, and Hacksaw Ridge". Film fans will recognise that must mean the director is Mel Gibson who has, alongside Sylvester Stallone and Jon Voigt, has been appointed 'special advisors to Hollywood' for Donald Trump. Starring Michelle Dockery, Topher Grace and Mark Wahlberg with an insane bald-cut, it has earned awful reviews but some praise for Wahlberg for an off-the-rails, fun performance.

 

What makes me laugh about the poster for 'Flight Risk' having seen it last week, is how only Mark Wahlberg is featured, when Michelle Dockery has the most to do :lol:

Ouch, how much did 'Saturday Night' flop if it didn't even make the top 15? I know SNL isn't really a thing over here, but there's at least some awareness of it and a good critical reception of the movie, so I wouldn't have expected it to do that badly.

 

It opened at #21 with £113,672 (£69k without previews) which would have been enough to make the top 10 in quite a lot of weekends last year.

7th February 2025 - 9th February 2025

 

1. (NE) Dog Man - £3,252,537 Weeks: 1 (£3,252,537)

2. (01) A Complete Unknown - £832,219 (-33%) Weeks: 4 (£9,967,699)

3. (02) Mufasa: The Lion King - £700,619 (-38%) Weeks: 8 (£30,340,897)

4. (NE) Macbeth: David Tennant & Cush Jumbo - £691,142 Weeks: 1 (£1,527,871)

5. (NE) September 5 - £638,912 Weeks: 1 (£638,912)

6. (05) The Brutalist - £467,764 (-23%) Weeks: 3 (£2,566,293)

7. (04) Sonic The Hedgehog 3 - £420,132 (-41%) Weeks: 7 (£24,727,622)

8. (NE) Becoming Led Zeppelin - £417,768 Weeks: 1 (£417,768)

9. (03) Companion - £366,478 (-50%) Weeks: 2 (£1,493,195)

10. (08) Moana 2 - £244,566 (-40%) Weeks: 11 (£41,652,799)

 

 

Falling out:

Les Misérables: The Staged Concert (2025 Re-Release) (1 week)

Flight Risk (2 weeks)

Hard Truths (1 week)

Nosferatu (5 weeks)

 

 

We have a new #1 as the latest DreamWorks animation 'Dog Man' easily debuts atop the chart with £3,252,537. When comparing to last year's animated films, this opened just under 'Migration' (£3,577,675, #1) and Dreamwork's last release, the Oscar-nominated 'The Wild Robot' (£3,256,572, #1) but with very similar figures. For those out of the loop, 'Dog Man' is an adaptation of the popular children's book series from author Dav Pilkey and is a spin-off from his 'Captain Underpants' series. This is then the follow-up to 2017's 'Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie' which opened at #2 (behind the 2nd week of 'Dunkirk') with £2,495,744 on it's way to a £8.4 million total. This feels like a nice boost in business for the second film and I expect that this will easily pass the total of 'Captain Underpants'. Although, after a strong debut weekend in America last weekend, it's had a surprisingly strong drop in week 2 over there (-62%) which suggests that the legs might not be there for this film. The voice cast includes Pete Davidson, Lil Rel Howery, Isla Fisher and Ricky Gervais.

 

Debuting at #4, we have another successful event cinema release with the David Tennant and Cash Jumbo starring 'Macbeth'. This is a recorded performance of off-West End adaptation of the play that ran from December to this month. Earning £691,142 from weekend showings, it was actually released last Wednesday and has earned £1,527,871 in total so far which would have been enough for it to debut at #2 if this was included in it's weekend total. Last year's biggest event cinema release was actually the re-release of 'Prima Facie: NT Live 2022' which made over £3 million. The biggest NEW event cinema release last year was 'Nye: NT Live 2024' that passed £2 million.

 

Also making the top (September) 5 is 'September 5'. Oscar nominated for 'Best Original Screenplay', the film tells the story of 1972 hostage situation at the Munich Olympic Games from the perspective of the ABC News crew who had to report on the event. This is the 4th film from Swiss writer-and-director Tim Felbaum but seems to be the first of his releases to hit UK cinemas. This is set at the same time period as Steven Spielberg's epic 'Munich' (£1,209,970, #2, 2006) and an interesting fact I've found is that one of this film's stars (John Magaro) actually had one of his first jobs in Hollywood as an extra on 'Munich'. This feels like a fairly decent debut for the film, especially as it hasn't done much in it's American release.

 

The final new entry this week is 'Becoming Led Zeppelin' (#8). This is a documentary about the early years of the legendary British Rock band. This is a great debut compared to last year's music documentaries Blur: To The End (£147,981, #8) and 'Piece By Piece' (£186,978, #10).

 

Losing top spot after 3 weeks is 'A Complete Unknown'. With another good hold (-33%), it has overtaken the final total of Mangold's 'Knight & Day' (£9.7 million) and will pass the £10.4 million of 'Walk The Line' within the week. Last year, 29 films passed £10 million and 'A Complete Unknown' will become the 2nd film to do so in 2025. 'Mufasa: The Lion King' isn't effected much by the release of a big kids flick, only dropping 38% in it's 8th week in the top 3. Passing the £30 million mark, it has now made over 7x it's opening weekend and has definitely won the award for the leggiest film of 2024. Is it still going to be in the top 10 when the latest Disney remake 'Snow White' is released next month?

 

More effected by 'Dog Man's release is 'Sonic The Hedgehog 3' which has a 41% drop. 'Companion' also drops big on week #2 falling to #3-9. With the massive releases in the second half of the year, it's almost been forgotten how bad the first half of 2024 was for horror releases. Despite not doing brilliantly, 'Companion' has already overtaken the final totals for 'Tarot' and 'Night Swim' with 'The First Omen', 'Abigail', 'Immaculate', The Strangers; Chapter 1' and 'Imaginary' all looking like they will be overtaken soon too. 'Moana 2' makes it an incredible 11 weeks in the top 10 but with a harsh 40% drop.

 

The last holder this week is 'The Brutalist' which has another great hold (-23%) with £2.5 million already in the bank. It's doing brilliantly for a film with that sort of run-length an it has already overtaken the total of it's main challenger for Best Picture, 'Anora' (£2 million) with 'The Substance' (£3.9 million) being targeted next. The BAFTAs is this Sunday and a few wins really help push this film even higher.

 

There are two further new entries in the #11-15 section: 'Vidaamuyarch' (#11) and ''Love Hurts' (#14).

 

Next week sees the openings of 'Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy', 'Captain America: Brave New World', 'Heart Eyes', 'The Sloth Lane', 'Memoir Of A Snail', 'Before Nikkah', 'Chhaava', 'To A Land Unknown' and 'Cottontail'. We also a re-release of 'Brief Encounter'. Can any of them top the charts?

Here 11 to 15

 

11 Vidaamuyarch DJ Tech LTD 1 £235,126 £235,126

12 Flight Risk Lionsgate UK 3 £213,828 £2,129,962

13 A Real Pain Walt Disney 5 £148,777 £148,777

14 Love Hurts Universal Pictures 1 £140,082 £140,082

15 Babygirl Entertainment Film Distributors 5 £134,002 £4,323,994

Bridget Jones is gonna out gross Captain America here in the UK (I'll predict about £14m for Bridget and about £10m for Captain America)

 

Also: 'September 5' is SO good & 'Companion' is fantastic! I double billed them both yesterday and both exceeded my expectations!

I've really missed this thread! Reading back through Mufasa has had quite the hold hasn't it! Wasn't expecting that. Not surprised by Dogman topping the charts all the children at my school are OBSESSED with the books.

 

Will be interesting to see this weeks with Bridget and Captain, I haven't really felt the hype for the captain america film tbh although I'd like to see it personally.

13th February 2025 - 15th February 2025

 

1. (NE) Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy - £12,298,966 Weeks: 1 (£12,298,966)

2. (NE) Captain America: Brave New World - £6,404,345 Weeks; 1 (£6,404,345)

3. (01) Dog Man - £1,852,706 (-43%) Weeks: 2 (£5,650,146)

4. (NE) Heart Eyes - £710,234 Weeks: 1 (£710,234)

5. (03) Mufasa: The Lion King - £453,824 (-35%) Weeks: 9 (£30,980,906)

6. (02) A Complete Unknown - £353,580 (-58%) Weeks: 5 (£10,898,076)

7. (07) Sonic The Hedgehog 3 - £237,597 (-43%) Weeks: 8 (£25,059,266)

8. (NE) Chhaava - £230,494 Weeks: 1 (£230,494)

9. (06) The Brutalist - £161,825 (-65%) Weeks: 4 (£2,985,209)

10. (05) September 5 - £155,041 (-76%) Weeks: 2 (£1,130,871)

 

 

Falling out:

Macbeth: David Tennant & Cush Jumbo (1 week)

Becoming Led Zeppelin (1 week)

Companion (2 weeks)

Moana 2 (11 weeks)

 

 

We've proved that the Rom-Com is not dead with the (very big) winner on Valentine's weekend being 'Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy) which has earned the biggest ever debut for a Rom-Com with a staggering £12,298,966 (£10.2 million without previews). The previous biggest opener for the franchise (and the genre) was 2004's 'The Edge Of Reason' which made £10,435,193. The third film ('Baby') did so poorly in America (less than $25 million in total) that this one has skipped cinemas completely over there. So you might be surprised to know that 'Bridget Jones's Baby' is the biggest grosser of them all over here, ending up with a brilliant £48.2 million total. With 'Mad About The Boy' having such a great start and earning the best reviews of the series, it will definitely be targeting the £50 million range to be the biggest film for the titular British icon. This is the fourth ever biggest opener in February behind 'Black Panther', 'Deadpool' and 'Fifty Shades Of Grey'. See below for the full top 5.

 

The runner up is 'Captain America: Brave New World'. Let's start with the positive, it has opened higher than the first two Captain America movies ('The First Avenger' £2,981,590 and 'The Winter Soldier' £6,037,850) which shows there is some potential hope for the franchise after losing it's star (Chris Evans) and having Anthony Mackie step up to replace him. However, it is also only the second film in the 35-movie strong MCU franchise to miss #1 (after the original 'Captain America' was beaten by the third weekend of the final Harry Potter). Overall, it ranks 24th in MCU openings, landing somewhere between 'Black Widow' (£6,889,187) and the aforementioned 'Guardians Of The Galaxy'. With this week being half-term across England, we should see some decent grosses for this midweek and I think the goal the film will now be to pass £20 million which wouldn't be disastrous all things considered. There's big pressure on 'Thunderbolts*' and 'Fantastic Four' to perform now for Marvel though.

 

Also targeting the Valentine's market is horror/comedy/romance hybrid 'Heart Eyes' (£710,234, #4). This is pretty much in line with what 'Companion' debuted with two weeks ago. This is a about a slasher who attacks on Valentine's Day and stars teen-drama-alumni Olivia Holt and Mason Gooding in lead roles. This has had really good reviews and has debuted higher than 'Wolf Man' did last month which is great as it's had much less of an advertising push and entered in a busy market. It will be interesting to see how this holds now that Valentine's had passed.

 

There is one final new entry this week and it's the second biggest debut for an Indian film so far in 2025. 'Chhaava' (#8, £230,494) is a historical actioner adapted from the novel of the same name. It stars Vicky Kaushal who was last seen in last year's 'Bad Newz' (£165,464, #7) and Rashmika Mandanna who was in last year's biggest Indian hit 'Pushpa 2: The Rule' (£1,118,894, #5).

 

Last week's #1, 'Dog Man' has a good hold, despite the release of two big films, dropping 43% in week 2. The film is already over £5.5 million and is already less than £3 million away from overtaking the lifetime gross of 'Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie'. With it being half-term now, I suspect to see that gap being much tighter this time next week. It's a good weekend for kids film all around with 'Mufasa: The Lion King' continuing it's brilliant run with a 35% drop in week #9 and another top 5 finish. 'Sonic The Hedgehog' holds at #7 (-43%) as it passes the £25 million mark. It needs another £2 million to catch the total of 'Sonic The Hedgehog 2' and I think it's going to come up just short.

 

And to conclude the round-up of the top 10 we have the Oscar section with three nominated films still holding. And with 'Bridget Jones' doing such a good job of conquering the adult market, these all have the biggest drops in the top 10. In it's second week, 'September 5' nearly drops out with a heavy 76% fall in business (70% without previews). It's passed the £1 million mark but with any more award wins unlikely, I don't see it having much more in the tank. 'A Complete Unknown' shows it's first signs of weakness with a 58% drop in week 5. It has, though, now passed 'Walk The Line' and is James Mangold's 4th biggest hit. It hasn't been a good week for 'The Brutalist'. After some amazing holds, it has had a brutal(ist) 65% drop in week 4 and, after some timely wins for 'Anora', is no longer looking likely to win Best Picture at the Oscars. Although it did have a good night at the BAFTAS, winning the joint-most awards (4) including Best Director and Best Actor which could give it a boost next week.

 

There is one further new entry in the #11-15 section: ''Memoir Of A Snail' (#14).

 

Next week sees the openings of 'The Monkey', 'I'm Still Here', 'September Says', 'I Am Martin Parr', 'Schmeichel' and 'Mere Husband Ki Biwi'. We also see a re-release of 'Picnic At Hanging Rock'. Can any of them top the charts?

 

~

 

Bridget Jones Openings:

 

Bridget Jones’s Diary (£5,720,292, #1, 2001)

Bridget Jones: The Edge Of Reason (£10,435,193, #1, 2004)

Bridget Jones’s Baby (£8,111,077, #1, 2016)

Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy (£12,298,966, #1, 2025)

 

 

~

 

Top 5 February Openings:

 

1. Black Panther (£17,700,000, #1, 2018)

2. Deadpool (£13,729,803, #1, 2016)

3. Fifty Shades Of Grey (£13,550,290, #1, 2015)

4. Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy (£12,298,966, #1, 2025)

5. Monsters, Inc. (£9,200,257, #1, 2002)

Wow amazing for Bridget! I must find a time to see it!

Yes Bridget! Captain America who?

21st February 2025 - 23rd February 2025

 

1. (01) Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy - £6,893,703 (-44%) Weeks: 2 (£27,341,739)

2. (02) Captain America: Brave New World - £2,927,599 (-54%) Weeks: 2 (£13,212,979)

3. (03) Dog Man - £2,033,137 (+10%) Weeks: 3 (£10,995,088)

4. (NE) The Monkey - £1,070,404 Weeks: 1 (£1,070,404)

5. (05) Mufasa: The Lion King - £586,278 (+29%) Weeks: 10 (£32,427,915)

6. (NE) I’m Still Here - £486,391 Weeks: 1 (£486,391)

7. (07) Sonic The Hedgehog 3 - £364,714 (+54%) Weeks: 9 (£26,002,710)

8. (NE) The Importance Of Being Earnest: NT Live 2025 - £341,208 Weeks: 1 (£1,048,377)

9. (06) A Complete Unknown - £226,392 (-36%) Weeks: 6 (£11,461,287)

10. (08) Chhaava - £205,427 (-11%) Weeks: 2 (£604,013)

 

 

Falling out:

Heart Eyes (1 week)

The Brutalist (4 weeks)

September 5 (2 weeks)

 

 

The UK still has Bridget-fever as ‘Mad About The Boy’ bags an easy second week at #1 in an unchanged top 3, dropping just 44% on week 2. Take in consideration that last Friday was Valentine’s Day and the film also had record-breaking previews from Thursday, this result looks insane. The drop without previews was a measly 33%. It’s already within the top 200 films of all-time in the country and is our-pacing where the three other Bridget Jones films were at the same stage. The highest-grossing so far, 2016’s ‘Bridget Jones’s Baby’ was on £21,219,529 at this stage so this is definitely on track to get above £50 million. ‘Captain America: Brave New World’ remains at #2 with a harsher 54% drop. However, it has already passed the final total for ‘Captain America: The First Avenger’ (£10.3 million) and is tracking ahead of where ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’ was at this stage (£10,933,395) so it will still be expecting to beat that film’s £20 million total.

 

The biggest new release this week is ‘The Monkey’ (£1,070,404, #4).  Osgood Perkins’s follow-up to last year’s surprise word-of-mouth hit ‘Longlegs’ (£1,371,352, #3). That film legged out to a brilliant £8.1 million which I can’t see this one matching but with a general good reception, we’ll see how it can do. This is a much more comedic effort and was adapted from a short story by Stephen King. This fare’s much more favourably that last year’s King’s adaptation ‘Salem’s Lot’ which didn’t even reach a total of £1 million, debuting at #6 with £359,911 last October. This is actually the best result for a King-related film of the decade so far with the last films to open higher being the double-bill of ‘It: Chapter Two’ (£7,368,586, #1) and ‘Doctor Sleep’ (£1,460,643, #4) in 2019.

 

Opening at #6 is Oscar-nominated ‘I’m Still Here’ with £486,391. Without previews, this would be reduced to £253,598 and would have landed at #8. This is Brazil’s entry for ‘Best International Picture’ and has earned the biggest debut for a film from Latin America in the UJK. This was a record that had been held for over 20 years as the previous holder was 2004’s ‘The Motorcycle Diaries’ (£333,368, #8) coming from the same director, Walter Salles. It is looking like Demi Moore’s to lose, but Fernanda Torres remains in the hunt for this year’s ‘Best Actress’. This is the best result for a non-English language film so far this year.

 

The only other new entry is the latest National Theatre recording. This time it’s of ‘The Importance Of Being Ernest’ and stars Sharon D Clarke and the current Doctor Who, Ncuti Gatwa. Opening with £341,209 over the weekend, it actually opened on Thursday with £700k which puts the release past £1 million already. Had the Thursday gross counted, this would have been enough for it to reach the top 5.

 

This past week was half-term across England and so all of the kids films saw big boosts this week thanks to the stronger Friday compared to weeks where kids are in school. This helped ‘Dog Man’ increase business in week 3 (+9%) to almost reach £11 million. This means that is has already passed the total of last year’s ‘The Garfield Movie’ (£8.9 million) which also came from Universal. It has also breezed past the total of ‘Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie’ so don’t be surprised if we see much more from this franchise to come. ‘Mufasa: The Lion King’ holds in the top 5 for a 10^th week increasing 29% in business. It’s not overtaken ‘Wallace & Gromit: The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit” as it works it’s way up the list of the biggest kids films. But the real winner from half-term is ‘Sonic The Hedgehog 3’ which sees a crazy 53% increase. It’s now only about £1.3 million from reaching ‘Sonic The Hedgehog 2’ and with how much Paramount seem keen to continue pushing it, I think it will now probably just about overtake it. The school holidays even saw ‘Moana 2’ almost re-enter the top 10 as it ended up only about £7k short.

 

The final two films holding in the top 10 are ‘A Complete Unknown’ (#9) and ‘Chhaava’ (#10). Any success at next week’s Oscar ceremony should see ‘A Complete Unknown’ pick up again but the bigger story is the stupendous hold for ‘Chhaava’ (-11%). This is pretty much unheard of for an Indian film where we’re more accustomed to seeing drops about 70%. Another gold hold and we could see this film reach £1 million. A feat that only 2 Indian films managed last year.

 

There are no further new entries in the #11-15 section. Although if you we’re wondering where ‘Heart Eyes’ is, it fell from #4 to #13 with a 79% drop (76% without previews) in business. Ouch.

 

Next week sees the openings of 'The Last Showgirl, ‘Attack On Titan: The Movie: The Last Attack’, ‘Vicious, 'Last Breath, ‘Superboys Of Malegaeon’, ‘Papa’, ‘The Summer With Carmen’, ‘Swan Lake – ROH, London 2025’, ‘IVE: The 1st World Tour In Cinema’ and ‘Babymetal: Legend 43: The Movie’. We also see a re-release of ‘The Big Lebowski’. Can any of them top the charts?

Great to see The Importance of Being Earnest making the top 10! I was at that filming :)

28th February 2025 - 2nd March 2025

 

1. (01) Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy - £4,130,748 (-40%) Weeks: 3 (£35,959,640)

2. (02) Captain America: Brave New World - £1,451,360 (-50%) Weeks: 3 (£15,693,916)

3. (03) Dog Man - £680,902 (-67%) Weeks: 4 (£12,053,949)

4. (04) The Monkey - £603,786 (-44%) Weeks: 2 (£2,198,710)

5. (NE) The Last Showgirl - £384,166 Weeks: 1 (£384,166)

6. (NE) Attack On Titan: The Last Attack - £331,879 Weeks: 1 (£331,879)

7. (05) Mufasa: The Lion King - £271,170 (-54%) Weeks: 11 (£32,835,290)

8. (12) Conclave - £197,029 (+25%) Weeks: 14 (£8,881,318)

9. (06) I’m Still Here - £194,342 (-60%) Weeks: 2 (£863,215)

10. (NE) Jesus Christ Superstar: Live Arena Tour - £193,171 Weeks: 1 (£193,171)

 

 

Falling out:

Sonic The Hedgehog 3 (9 weeks)

The Importance Of Being Earnest: NT Live 2025 (1 week)

A Complete Unknown (6 weeks)

Chhaava (2 weeks)

 

 

We have an unchanged top 3 for a third week as 'Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy' completes the hat-trick with a 40% drop on week 3. It ends the weekend close enough to the £36 million take of 'Bridget Jones: The Edge Of Reason' that it has already probably done enough today to overtake it. Next on the list is the original 'Bridget Jones's Diary' (£42.1 million) while 'Bridget Jones's Baby' continues to lead the pack so far (£48.3 million). That film was on £31,350,360 after 3 weekends so 'Mad About The Boy' is still well-on-track to become to the biggest Bridget Jones hit. Kids being back in school in England and the stunted Friday grosses this causes meant that 'Captain America: Brave New World' and 'Dog Man' both have large drops (-50% and -67%) despite holding their positions. As far as the MCU goes, 'Brave New World' has now overtaken 'Eternals' (£14.8 million) and Screen Daily have reported that it's currently ranked 31st out of the 35 MCU films. £20 million feels like the ceiling for this one and we'll see how close it can get to that. 'Dog Man' has already passed £12 million which feels like a really solid result. There's not really another big kids film released until 'Snow White' on 21st March so 'Dog Man' should continue to take advantage of the lack of competition until then.

The biggest new release this week is 'The Last Showgirl' (£384,166 ,#5). Distributed by Picturehouse, this is their 2nd biggest opener, only trailing the Oscar nominated, Glenn Close-starring 'The Wife' (£392,635, #7, 2018). This is the third feature from director Gia Coppola (Granddaughter to Francis Ford Coppola) following 'Palo Alto' (2014) and 'Mainstream' (2020) and focuses on a 57-year old Las Vegas showgirl who has to re-evaluate her life after the show that she has dedicated her life to comes to an end. Portraying said showgirl is Pamela Anderson in her first theatrical role since her cameo in 2017's remake of 'Baywatch' (£4,631,244, #2). Often (fairly or otherwise) maligned, this marks a huge turning point in Anderson's career where she's received universal praise for her nuanced, lived-in performance and even led to her receiving Golden Globe and SAG Award nominations. She will be seen again in the 'Naked Gun' sequel set for this summer but I think we will be seeing her in many more serious roles to come. It feels like a great turn-around for someone who has been treated so harshly by the media previously.

Opening just behind is 'Attack On Titan: The Last Attack' (£331,879, #6). This is a film-length cut of the final two episodes of the fourth series of the popular anime. These episodes were first broadcast in Japan in November 2023 and have been on Crunchroll in the UK since last year so it's impressive that there's this much of an audience for this release. Last year's biggest anime hit was 'Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba: To The Hashira Training' (£641,878) which debuted at #4 last February.

The final new entry in the top 10 is 'Jesus Christ Superstar: Live Arena Tour' (£193,171, #10). This is a recording of the 2012 revival of Andew Lloyd-Webber's stage-play starring Ben Forster after he won the ITV talent show 'Superstar'. The eclectic cast also includes Tim Minchin, Mel C and Chris Moyles(!).

'The Monkey' has a not-too-shabby second weekend dropping 44% and seeing it's total rise above £2 million. It's not doing the same numbers as Perkins's previous hit 'Longlegs' but is still doing well against a responsible budget. 'Mufasa: The Lion King' holds on for an 11th week passing 'The Incredibles' (£32.4 million) and 'Shrek Forever After' (£32.7 million) in the process. Despite this crazy, leggy run, 'Bridget Jones' has already passed it's total in 3 weekends which just goes to show what a monster hit that Jones is.

Award season came to a conclusion last night with the 97th Academy Awards being hosted last night and the BAFTAs being last weekend. 'Conclave' won big at the BAFTAs which helped it re-enter the top 10 in it's 14th week (despite being available on physical media as well as home markets) climbing 25% in business and helping it to an £8.9 million total. It's already well above the £8 million of 'Longlegs' to be the distributor, Black Bear's biggest ever hit. It won 'Best Adapted Screenplay' last night so should hold well next week. The other prestige film in the top 10 this week is the 2nd weekend of 'I'm Still Here' which officially dropped 60% but only dropped a much more respectable 24% when you take out previews. It beat 'Emilia Pérez' to the 'Best International Film' award last night which could help it break out even more. It needs to reach £2.7 million if it wants to overtake 'The Motorcycle Diaries' as Walter Salles's biggest ever release. Of course, the big winner was 'Anora' which made just £31,613 over the past weekend and has a total of £2.2 million. Expect to see it make it a big re-appearance next weekend with Universal putting it back out wide. I've already booked a ticket to see it for Thursday.

 

There is one further new entryin the #11-15 section: 'Swan Lake: Royal Opera House 2024' (#14).

 

Next week sees the openings of 'Mickey 17', ‘Marching Powder’, ‘One Of Them Days', 'Twiggy', ‘Kama’, 'On Falling' and 'Giants Of La Mancha'. We also see a re-release of ‘Erin Brockovich’. Can any of them top the charts?

Oh yes I noticed that Anora screenings were popping up post-haste, intrigued to see where that lands next week.

Chris Moyles appearing in a production of Jesus Christ Superstar definitely passed me by at the time *_ today I learned that his artistry expands further than Radio 1 parody songs

On 03/03/2025 at 18:28, Jade said:

Oh yes I noticed that Anora screenings were popping up post-haste, intrigued to see where that lands next week.

Chris Moyles appearing in a production of Jesus Christ Superstar definitely passed me by at the time *_ today I learned that his artistry expands further than Radio 1 parody songs

He was decent too, the whole cast was great and the show was incredible! I saw it live at Leeds Arena!

Bridget Jones still slaying. We like to see it :)