That looks like quite the drop for Moana 2! :o Was expecting it to do between 8-10 million second week.

13th December 2024 - 15th December 2024

 

1. (01) Moana 2 - £3,613,290 (-48%) Weeks: 3 (£26,452,825)

2. (02) Wicked - £3,455,827 (-35%) Weeks: 4 (£43,634,854)

3. (03) Gladiator II - £918,257 (-44%) Weeks: 5 (£28,476,433)

4. (04) Paddington In Peru - £821,657 (-33%) Weeks: 6 (£30,212,570)

5. (NE) Kraven The Hunter - £686,806 (Weeks; 1 (£686,806)

6. (07) Conclave - £554,971 (-29%) Weeks: 3 (£4,038,532)

7. (NE) The Lord Of The Rings: The War Of The Rohirrim - £483,584 Weeks: 1 (£483,584)

8. (NE) Queer - £293,041 Weeks: 1 (£293,041)

9. (08) Red One - £259,405 (-43%) Weeks: 6 (£7,716,971)

10. (05) Pushpa 2: The Rule - £207,347 (-81%) Weeks: 2 (£1,614,356)

 

 

Falling out:

André Rieu’s 2024 Christmas Concert: Gold And Silver (1 week)

Nightbitch (1 week)

Solo Leveling: ReAwakening (1 week)

 

 

We'll get on to the main story of the weekend later but the winner for a third weekend is 'Moana 2'. At 48%, it's another slightly steep drop for the Disney sequel but when you had an opening weekend as good as 'Moana 2', you can have large drops and still be a massive hit. This is already Disney Animation's biggest non-Frozen hit which just goes to show how much they've relied on Pixar. 'Moana 2' is now up to 8th in the YTD charts, knocking 'It Ends With Us' out of the top 10. Almost retaking is 'Wicked' that has another brilliant hold (-35%) that allows it to overtake 'Dune: Part Two' to become the 4th biggest hit of the year. There's big competition coming in the next two weeks but if the singalong version does well when it releases on Boxing Day, there's still an outside shot that this can catch 'Inside Out 2' for that #1 spot. It's overtaken 'Les Miserables' in total gross but still has a long way to go to watch the UK's musical champions 'Beauty and the Beast' (£72.5 million) and 'Mamma Mia' (£69.5 million).

 

But the big story this week is the bombs of the two biggest new releases. Opening the highest is 'Kraven The Hunter' (#5, £686,806). This is Sony's third effort of the year in their Spider-Man-less Spider-Man universe and is, by far, the softest landing of the three. An opening of £686,806 is making 'Madame Webb' look like Avatar with it's £2,273,544 (£1.3 million without previews) debut from February. If rumours are to be believed, this might be the last we ever see of SPUMC and if that proves the to the case, the 'Venom' films and memes are all they really have to show for it. Heavily tipped to be the next Bond, this is another disappointment on Aaron Taylor-Johnson's CV after 'Bullet Train', 'The Fall Guy', and 'The Kings Man'.

 

But opening even more disappointingly is 'The Lord Of The Rings: The War Of The Rohirrim' (£483,584, #7). This is, of course, only a spin-off and an animated one at that but, with the original trilogy being the 26th, 27th and 32nd biggest films in the UK and the first 'Hobbit' being the 45th, it really feels like there should have been more of a market here for this. The 'Spider-Verse' has already showed that it's possible to get audiences to come out for an animated version of a beloved live-action series but this looks dead in the water. I know we've had some brilliant results for anime. especially 'The Boy and the Heron' last year, but it's still quite a niche market so maybe it was a bad idea for this film to adapt that style. One thing that has saved it compared to 'Kraven The Hunter' is the budget, this only costed $30 million, compared to $130 for Kraven. Warner Bros. must be slightly alarmed by how low this has opened and the negative reaction to the Amazon show with them going all in on the upcoming 'The Hunt For Gollum'

 

There's one final new entry in the top 10, 'Queer' (#8, £293,041). This is director, Luca Guadagnino's 2nd film of the year after 'Challengers' (£1,607,094, #1) in April. This one is adapted from the 1985 novella of the same name and stars Daniel Craig as an American expat in 1950's Mexico who becomes infatuated with a younger man. Craig is a potential awards contender for the role but it looks like it has a bit of a limited appeal, opening so far behind 'Challengers'.

 

Still holding at #3 and #4 respectfully are 'Gladiator II' and 'Paddington In Peru'. A 44% drop is nothing to be sniffed at for 'Gladiator II', especially with direct competition this week in 'Kraven The Hunter'. It still has a decent chance of catching the original 'Gladiator' to be Ridley Scott's biggest hit. 'Paddington In Peru' is showing some serious late legs, dropping 33%. However, it has now fallen off the place of original 'Paddington' so will definitely be ending as the lowest grossing film in the trilogy, barring something spectacular.

 

The best hold of the week again goes to 'Conclave' (-29%). A sure-fire Oscar contender, if I was a cinema owner, I would definitely be finding a few more screens to show this. The film is already up to £4 million and there is still plenty of appetite for the film. What a year it's been for Black Bear with 'Longlegs' becoming their biggest release in the summer and this will be in 2nd place by next week.

 

'Red One' is now on Amazon Prime but is still able to hold in the top 10. However it has dropped 43% so might not be here for much longer. I think they've probably left another £1 million+ on the table with this early Prime release. 'Pushpa 2' does something that not many Indian films do and bags a 2nd week in the top 10, albeit with a drop in business of 81%. It has now overtaken 'Kalki 2989 AD' to be the biggest Indian release of 2024.

 

There are two further new entries in the #11-15 section: 'Cinderella: Royal Opera House, London 2024' (#11) and 'Daft Punk & Leiji Matsumoto: Interstella 5555' (#15). We also see a re-release of 'Home Alone' (#12).

 

Next week sees the openings of 'Mufasa: The Lion King', 'Vanvaas', 'Dolphin Boy', and 'Marco'. Can any of them top the charts?

Next couple of weeks is going to be very, very interesting. 'Mufasa' will likely struggle and 'Sonic 3' will have 6 days of "previews" added to it's weekend tally the following weekend and I think it's going to be HUGE.

 

I think at this point it's a matter of "How high?" for 'Sonic 3' opening weekend numbers. I wonder if it could beat 'Wicked' opening total for the year? :thinking:

 

'Moana 2', 'Wicked', 'Gladiator II' & 'Paddington In Peru' all still going to be pulling strong/decent numbers through Christmas too... It's exciting having this many big film options all doing well!

I'll make a proper post when the full numbers are out (it may be after Christmas but we'll see) but the big news is that 'Mufasa: The Lion King' is the #1 movie of the week with about £4.4 million. Very poor opening and I'll get into in more detail when I make the full post.

 

'Sonic The Hedgehog 3' made £4.3 million in it's 2 days of previews (Saturday and Sunday). These won't be counted until next week's chart where it will be an easy #1. However the Sunday gross was a big drop from the Saturday which suggests that it might not have great legs.

 

~

 

Next couple of weeks is going to be very, very interesting. 'Mufasa' will likely struggle and 'Sonic 3' will have 6 days of "previews" added to it's weekend tally the following weekend and I think it's going to be HUGE.

 

I think at this point it's a matter of "How high?" for 'Sonic 3' opening weekend numbers. I wonder if it could beat 'Wicked' opening total for the year? :thinking:

 

This is looking like a great shout. :D Sonic would have easily been #1 this weekend if it opened properly.

 

Although, 'Deadpool & Wolverine' still has the biggest debut of the year when you count previews. 'Wicked' has the biggest 3-day opening.

'Moana 2', 'Wicked', 'Gladiator II' & 'Paddington In Peru' all still going to be pulling strong/decent numbers through Christmas too... It's exciting having this many big film options all doing well!

 

 

I agree with this, it has felt a bit like cinema in the glory days with a bunch big blockbuster movies doing really well!

 

I think Mufasa is either going to be huge or totally bomb. It had a fair few viewers in the cinema when I went to see it, more than Gladiator and Paddington did so hopefully it's a good indication of it being a hit.

Oh just seen Lewis' post! Eek #1 on such low numbers isn't a good sign for the film. A shame really, it was much better than I expected it to be.

How well did the previous Sonic movies do? (I realise this may very well be included as part of the full write-up anyway). I didn't realise it was so popular as a movie franchise! I've not bothered with them, thought they look a bit naff and I don't have the same attachment to Sonic as a character as I do with the Mario series.

 

It is nice seeing such great numbers over the past few weeks, but the downside of so many huge movies being out at once for me has been that smaller movies such 'Nightbitch' and 'Queer' haven't had a look in. The former wasn't showing at ANY branch of Cineworld in London during release week, I had to go and see both at my local Vue. Really annoying when I have a Cineworld membership, like what was the point of expanding the O2 branch to 19 screens :huh:

Sonic 1: Opened with about £5.38m

Sonic 2: Opened with about £5.21m

 

Sonic 3 did £4.3m with just Saturday and Sunday!

20th December 2024 - 22nd December 2024

 

1. (NE) Mufasa: The Lion King - £4,415,961 Weeks: 1 (£4,415,961)

2. (02) Wicked - £2,511,897 (-28%) Weeks: 5 (£48,233,183)

3. (01) Moana 2 - £2,057,688 (-43%) Weeks: 4 (£29,751,577)

4. (04) Paddington In Peru - £653,489 (-21%) Weeks: 7 (£31,375,364)

5. (03) Gladiator II - £497,569 (-46%) Weeks: 6 (£29,691,557)

6. (06) Conclave - £331,309 (-41%) Weeks: 4 (£4,966,803)

7. (NE) The Nutcracker: Royal Ballet & Opera 2024/25 - £227,083 Weeks: 1 (£837,061)

8. (05) Kraven The Hunter - £171,942 (-75%) Weeks: 2 (£1,247,593)

9. (RE) It's A Wonderful Life (75th Anniversary Re-Release) - £140,144 (+154%) Weeks: 160 (£1,612,724)

10. (09) Red One - £130,015 (-50%) Weeks: 7 (£8,031,957)

 

 

Falling out:

The Lord Of The Rings: The War Of The Rohirrim (1 week)

Queer (1 week)

Pushpa 2: The Rule (2 weeks)

 

 

Merry Christmas everyone! It's a Christmas miracle as we get the box office numbers as a Christmas Eve treat. As I said yesterday, the number one film is 'Mufasa: The Lion King' with £4,415,961. 2019's 'The Lion King' opened with an astonishing £16,671,764 so this has only opened to about a quarter of the original film. Finishing on £76 million, that remains as the 13th biggest release of all-time in the UK so Disney will be panicking about these numbers. However, this is the fourth attempt by Disney to create a sequel (or prequel) to a live-action remake and this is actually the best result of the lot. '102 Dalmatians' opened with £1,179,758 in 2000, 'Alice Through The Looking Glass' opened to £2,229,399 in 2016 while 'Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil' debuted with £3,300,000 in 2019. You can easily spin that into a positive, the openings are increasing with each attempt! By the time we get to the live-action 'Wish 2' in 2040 maybe we'll be seeing some high numbers. For anyone who's familiar with the plot of the film, you won't be surprised to hear that 'Mufasa' is a prequel with Aaron Pierre stepping into the looming shoes of the late James Earl Jones. But most intriguingly, 'Mufasa' is directed by Barry Jenkins who's 'Moonlight' infamously won the Best Picture Oscar in 2017. Christmas can be kind to films as the kids being off school can allow for some good holds so let's see how this can get on over the next few weeks. See below for lists of both Disney Remake debut weekends and Barry Jenkins debut weekends.

 

As previously mentioned, 'Sonic The Hedgehog 3' did open on Saturday to impressive numbers but these are being counted as previews so we won't see it in the chart until next week where it will have an inflated 9-day opening. This means that the only other new entry this weekend is 'The Nutcracker: Royal Ballet & Opera 2024/25' (£227,083, #7). It's a tradition for the ROH to release their Nutcracker performance in cinemas each Christmas and this year is an improvement on last year (£181,960). However, this is probably helped by being released one week closer to Christmas this year. With midweek showings this year's has made £837,061 while last year's had £803,518 by the end of it's first weekend.

 

Holding at #2 for a 4th week and doing no harm in it's battle to be the year's biggest film is 'Wicked'. Dipping just 28%, the film is already up to £48 million while still making £2 million+ weekend figures. With the sing-a-long version released this week, if that does well then I think it will be a lock for the year end #1. It's about £11 million behind 'Inside Out 2' at the moment.

 

After three weeks at #1, 'Moana 2' drops to #3 with another £2 million. This is a 43% drop on last weekend but with 2 new, big kids films being in cinemas this weekend, I think this is actually a brilliant hold, especially when compared to it's first two weekend drops. This is enough for it to climb above 'Gladiator II' in the YTD chart. Speaking of 'Gladiator II', it has finally dropped behind 'Paddington In Peru' due to the bear having a wonderful hold of -21%. 'Gladiator II' will be the 8th 2024 film to pass £30 million this weekend with 4 of them being November releases.

 

'Conclave' is almost at £5 million after another good hold and has overtaken 'Ferrari' to be the 2nd biggest film distributed to Black Bear, trailing another release from this year, 'Longlegs'. 'Kraven The Hunter' will not be hunting down any of the other Sony films as it has a dismal 75% drop in weekend 2 as it sits at a £1.2 million total. Despite being able to stream on Prime Video, 'Red One' still hangs around the top 10 with this weekend pushing it above £8 million. I think Amazon messed up by not letting it have the full festive period exclusively in cinemas.

 

One seasonal re-entry this week and it's 'It's A Wonderful Life' at #9 (£140,144). On the equivalent weekend last year, it was also at #9 with £269,149. However, that did include Christmas Eve in it's 3 day-weekend.

 

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

 

Next week sees the openings of 'Sonic The Hedgehog 3', 'Better Man', 'Baby John', 'The Order' and 'How To Make Millions Before Grandma Dies'. We also see a re-release of 'Spirited Away' as well as the sing-a-long version of 'Wicked'. Can any of them top the charts?

 

~

 

Disney Live-Action Remake Openings:

 

101 Dalmatians (£2,360,762, #1, 1996)

102 Dalmatians (£1,179,758, #3, 2000)

Alice In Wonderland (£10,555,220, #1, 2010)

Maleficent (£6,590,071, #1, 2014)

Cinderella (£3,803,799, #1, 2015)

The Jungle Book (£9,901,921, #1, 2016)

Alice Through The Looking Glass (£2,229,399, #2, 2016)

Beauty And The Beast (£19,700,000, #1, 2017)

Christopher Robin (£2,553,810, #1, 2018)

Dumbo (£6,076,779, #1, 2019)

Aladdin (£7,066,773, #1, 2019)

The Lion King (£16,671,764, #1, 2019)

Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil (£3,300,000, #2, 2019)

Cruella (£1,453,635, #3, 2021)

The Little Mermaid (£5,012,929, #1, 2023)

Mufasa: The Lion King (£4,415,961 #1, 2024)

 

~

 

Barry Jenkins's Openings

 

Moonlight (£621,836, #10, 2017)

If Beale Street Could Talk (£252,462, #12, 2019)

Mufasa: The Lion King (£4,415,961 #1, 2024)

I don't understand why Red One is on Prime? I was going to go see it but decided not to when I saw it was on Prime and watched it on there instead. They should have saved it for next Xmas on there.

Beauty And The Beast opened with how much?!? I feel like that didn't feel like a huge success at the time!

Pleased to see Mufasa underperforming, the first live action reboot was completely unnecessary and this is doubly so, I wish Disney would put as much effort into their new ideas as they do rebooting their existing IPs (I expect Moana will give them enough material for a while now sadly x)

Beauty And The Beast opened with how much?!? I feel like that didn't feel like a huge success at the time!

 

I saw it in the cinema 3 times and it was packed each time I saw it! Still the best live action remake for me 🥰

27th December 2024 - 29th December 2024

 

1. (NE) Sonic The Hedgehog 3 - £11,760,315 Weeks: 1 (£11,760,315)

2. (01) Mufasa: The Lion King - £4,244,612 (-4%) Weeks: 2 (£12,613,098)

3. (02) Wicked - £2,699,247 (+7%) Weeks: 6 (£53,009,797)

4. (03) Moana 2 - £2,214,590 (+7%) Weeks: 5 (£33,768,201)

5. (NE) Better Man - £1,568,933 Weeks: 1 (£1,568,933)

6. (04) Paddington In Peru - £819,038 (+24%) Weeks: 8 (£33,080,825)

7. (05) Gladiator II - £561,663 (+13%) Weeks: 7 (£30,574,151)

8. (06) Conclave - £364,320 (+9%) Weeks: 5 (£5,528,348)

9. (NE) Baby John - £112,835 Weeks: 1 (£112,835)

10. (08) Kraven The Hunter - £87,632 (-49%) Weeks: 3 (£1,442,123)

 

 

Falling out:

The Nutcracker: Royal Ballet & Opera 2024/25 (1 week)

It's A Wonderful Life (75th Anniversary Re-Release) (1 week*) *In this run

Red One (7 weeks)

 

 

It's the final chart of 2024 and the official number one is 'Sonic The Hedgehog 3'. Debuting with £11,760,315 including previews, this ranks as the 4th biggest opening weekend of the year behind 'Moana 2', 'Wicked' and 'Deadpool & Wolverine'. However, as has been previously discussed the previews for Sonic have been extensive, opening on Saturday 21st, this figure includes 6 days of previews. It's official four-day opening is £4 million which would actually rank the film behind 'Mufasa' for the weekend. I did say that last week's drop-off from Saturday to Sunday was big and suggested that it might not have great legs and that's looking like it's going to be the case. It's unfair to compare as this is practically the films second weekend but the other Sonic films opened with higher 3-day numbers: 'Sonic The Hedgehog (£4,733,768, #1, 2020) and 'Sonic The Hedgehog 2' (£4,986,334, #1, 2022).

 

2024 kicked off with traditional music biopics of Bob Marley and Amy Winehouse both pulling in decent numbers. However, this week's Robbie Williams biopic is anything but traditional with Williams himself being portrayed by a CGI monkey, 'Planet of the Apes' style in 'Better Man'. There had been great buzz for this film pre-release with Robbie being one of the biggest stars of all-time in the UK and after it garnered rave reviews when it debuted at the Telluride Film Festival. However, the film has underwhelmed with it's debut this week (#5, £1,568,933). For comparison, 'One Love' debuted with £6,950,773 and 'Back To Black' opened to £2,772,698. Was the CGI monkey just too weird for audiences? Is the title based after too obscure a song? (Would it have opened higher if it was titled 'Angels'?). However, the film has skewed older so far and these types of films usually have strong holds and long runs at the box office. Another potential saving grace is that the film is directed by Michael Gracey who's previous film also started slow but ended up being one of the biggest hits of all-time ('The Greatest Showman'). Having 12 consecutive weekends above £1 million and not reaching #1 until it's 6th weekend, if 'Better Man' has even half the success as that film it will be a massive hit.

 

The final new entry in the top 10 this week is 'Baby John' (£112,835, #9). This is an Indian action film directed by Kalees. This is a remake of the 2016 film 'Theri' (£281,485, #8) and opened with about half of that films debut weekend. Without previews, this film would have missed the top 10.

 

The real winner this weekend is 'Mufasa: The Lion King' that dips just 4% in week 2. I discussed that last week's opening was disappointing but 2024 is Disney's year and the film has had some great holds midweek and does enough to win the 3-day weekend. It's now up to £12 million so it's still trailing the 2019 film's opening weekend but it's looking a lot more promising that it did this time 7 days ago. We have another week of school holidays where the film can continue to rack up some decent figures and it needs to make as much as it can before the kids go back and it starts to rely on weekend figures. It's already out-grossed 'IF' as it looks to climb the YTD charts. The story of 'Mufasa' won't be told for a while yet.

 

Aside from the disastrous 'Kraven The Hunter' (-49%) getting it's 3rd and final week in the top 10, every other holder increases in business from past weekend. 'Wicked' has it's sing-a-long version released in the past week and has a 7% increase on last weekend. However, the sing-a-long showings opened on Boxing day which meant that film has strong midweek showings as it raises it's total to £53,009,797. After this weekend, I'm feeling confident in calling it: 'Wicked' will end up being the biggest film of 2024 in the UK. It's now only £6 million behind 'Inside Out 2' and I reckon it will overtake that within the next 3 weeks. UK has been a shining light for 'Wicked' and every single box office report has said that it has been a big hit in America but disappointed worldwide. But all these reports have missed the fact that it's been even bigger in the UK than it has in America! 'Wicked: For Good' has a lot to live up to next year.

 

'Moana 2' increases 7% and 'Paddington In Peru' climbs 24% as kids films continue to dominate. Despite the big increase for 'Paddington', 'Moana 2' has overtaken it to become the 5th biggest film of 2024. 'Gladiator II' passes £30 million and is now less than £1.5 million behind the original films total. 'Conclave' continues to be a shock hit and is hanging around with Awards season just starting.

 

There is one further new entry in the #11-15 section: 'The Order' (#12). We also see a re-release of 'Spirited Away' enter at #11.

 

Next week sees the openings of 'Nosferatu', 'We Live In Time', 'Nickel Boys', and 'Grind'. Can any of them top the charts?

 

~

 

Thanks for everyone who's followed this thread in 2024, I've really enjoyed making these and I hope everyone enjoys reading them :D

'Sonic 3' numbers are weird to me because it's consistently selling out in my cinema :lol: Even moreso than 'Mufasa' although 'Mufasa' has our 2 biggest screens including the more premium screen pricing... Still a really solid result, I think.

 

I'm starting to see a lot of viral Tik Tok clips about 'Better Man' LMAO! Americans cannot fathom how someone can be as huge as Robbie is worldwide, but not be known in the US! :lol: So I can see this having strong legs as word of mouth starts gaining for it (this is where I'm 100% wrong lol)

 

Thank you for continuing to do this each and every week Lewis. I really love reading your analysis and breakdowns! I learn quite a bit from your write ups!

Wow what a great hold for Mufasa! Truly was not expecting that at all!

 

The Robbie one is disappointing hopefully it also has a strong hold, I will be seeing it when the subtitled ones are released! His story is so interesting in him being such a huge worldwide star yet nothing in the US! He did at least have a successful residency in Las Vegas like Kylie.

'Sonic 3' numbers are weird to me because it's consistently selling out in my cinema :lol: Even moreso than 'Mufasa' although 'Mufasa' has our 2 biggest screens including the more premium screen pricing... Still a really solid result, I think.

 

I'm starting to see a lot of viral Tik Tok clips about 'Better Man' LMAO! Americans cannot fathom how someone can be as huge as Robbie is worldwide, but not be known in the US! :lol: So I can see this having strong legs as word of mouth starts gaining for it (this is where I'm 100% wrong lol)

 

Thank you for continuing to do this each and every week Lewis. I really love reading your analysis and breakdowns! I learn quite a bit from your write ups!

 

I have a feeling that 'Better Man' will end up having a strong legs and be a decently sized hit in the end. 'Anyone But You' opened in 5th in the same weekend last year and ended up being massive for maybe this can replicate that.

3rd January 2025 - 5th January 2025

 

1. (NE) Nosferatu - £5,246,910 Weeks: 1 (£5,246,910)

2. (02) Mufasa: The Lion King - £3,269,385 (-23%) Weeks: 3 (£20,713,443)

3. (NE) We Live In Time - £2,843,517 Weeks: 1 (£2,843,517)

4. (01) Sonic The Hedgehog 3 - £2,672,309 (-77%) Weeks: 2 (£18,756,893)

5. (04) Moana 2 - £1,756,445 (-21%) Weeks: 6 (£38,206,080)

6. (03) Wicked - £1,658,168 (-39%) Weeks: 7 (£57,339,707)

7. (05) Better Man - £925,066 (-41%) Weeks: 2 (£3,846,444)

8. (06) Paddington In Peru - £674,456 (-18%) Weeks: 9 (£34,918,545)

9. (07) Gladiator II - £294,774 (-48%) Weeks: 8 (£31,375,059)

10. (08) Conclave - £286,920 (-22%) Weeks: 6 (£6,154,079)

 

 

Falling out:

Baby John (1 week)

Kraven The Hunter (3 weeks)

 

 

Happy New Year everyone! And it is a pretty happy start to the year for cinema owners with 6 films all pulling in £1 million+ grosses for the first weekend of the year. If there was no such thing as previews, 'Mufasa' would be celebrating a 3rd week at #1 but, as it is, we instead get Robert Eggers's 'Nosferatu' exceeding expectations to earn a #1 debut. After making himself one of the auteurs at the front of the wave of 'elevated horror' that has became popular of recent times with 'The Witch' and 'The Lighthouse' and proving his blockbuster chops with 'The Northman', Eggers has been able to build his reputation to earn such a strong opening for a film has sounded like it could have been a tough sell to audiences. This is a remake of the 1922 silent film of the same name which was an unauthorised adaptation of 'Dracula' after it's director F. W. Murnau couldn't get the rights for Bram Stoker's novel. The film has been a long obsession of Eggers who wanted to make it his 2nd film after 'The Witch' and had cast Anya Taylor-Joy, Harry Styles and (in a different role to the one he eventually portrays) Willem Defoe at various points during the production. The version we finally get sees Lily-Rose Depp, Nicholas Hault and, as the title character, Bill Skarsgård, in these roles. In comparison to his earlier films, 'Nosferatu' has already out-grossed ALL three of his previous releases ['The Northman (£4.7 million), ''The Lighthouse' (1.4 million) and ''The Witch' (£1.2 million)]. That's lifetime totals, not just the opening weekends! Without previews, it would have opened at #2 with £3.1 million. With previews, this is the highest opening for a horror film since 'Five Nights At Freddy's' did £5,379,587 in October 2023, although it's 3-day opening is behind that of 'Alien: Romulus' from last summer (£3,741,288). 12% of it's total so far has come from IMAX showings. A strong showing in the format for this sort of film.

 

Opening at #3 is 'We Live In Time' (£2,843,517, £1.6 million without previews). Previews see it climb two extra places but even without them, it would be a strong opening. This is a romantic drama who's main selling point is the two leads, Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield. The most important factor in any romantic film is chemistry and those two have that in abundance. Released last October in the US by A24, it's taken a while for this film to reach our shores but it doesn't look like interest waded at any point. It's got strong reviews and I haven't seen it yet but I've heard people say that it's 'obnoxiously middle class' which puts me off a bit. It's certainly a very British film with Weetabix and Mars's Celebrations acting as plot points. I think this film should have strong weekday appeal so think it looks set to be a nice hit to start the year with.

 

'Mufasa: The Lion King' drops just 23% in week 3 as it has passed the £20 million barrier and started to open a gap between it and 'Sonic The Hedgehog 3' which is at £18 million and officially has a 77% drop in week 2. Although, that is obviously not very reflective on how it actually performed. It's true weekend-to-weekend drop off is 34%. It will overtake the final total of the original 'Sonic The Hedgehog' (£19.3 million) over the next few days but needs to reach £27 million before it matches 2022's sequel.

 

'Wicked' continues to edge ever closer to the taking the 2024 crown as it drops 39% on it's way to £57 million. It's now only about £2 million away from overtaking 'Inside Out 2'. It will definitely get there but it's not been helped by the film already being made available to watch at home. Just like Amazon did with 'Red One', they're leaving money on the table and I'm not really sure why. Still making over £1.6 million while being able to watch at home is impressive though.

 

'Moana 2' had a nice hold (-21%) as it climbs back above 'Wicked' on the weekend chart. It's now just behind 'Dune: Part Two' and will overtake it within the next week or so to become the 5th biggest film of 2024 in the UK. It's also pushing towards the $1 billion mark worldwide.

 

'Better Man' opened slightly underwhelmingly last week bit I mentioned that it could do a 'The Greatest Showman' and turn it around. After week 2, I won't say it's over yet but the signs aren't massively promising. It's dropped 41% (a more respectable 26% without previews) and it currently sitting at £3.8 million. With so much competition and every other film seeming to be performing, I'd say if 'Better Man' doesn't show some signs of life next weekend then it's going to be a disappointing result.

 

The remaining three are all holdovers, 'Paddington In Peru', 'Gladiator II' and 'Conclave'. 'Gladiator II' has a fairly big drop (-49%) and is in danger of falling out of the top 10 next week. 'Paddington' (-18%) and 'Conclave' (-22%) are still showing strong legs.

 

I've mentioned that it's a brilliant start for the box office in 2025 and it really is. This weekend is 37% up on the first weekend of 2024 and with an insane run of films in November, the total box office for 2024 ended up being level when compared to 2023. This is particularly impressive when we we're officially running 10% behind at the start of November.

 

There are three further new entries in the #11-15 section: 'Nickel Boys' (#11), 'Identity' (#12) and 'Diabel' (#13). We also see a re-release of 'Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani' enter at #15.

 

Next week sees the openings of 'A Real Pain', 'Babygirl', 'Maria', 'The Damned, 'Standing On The Shoulders Of Kitties' and 'It's Raining Men'. Can any of them top the charts?

 

~

 

Robert Eggers's Openings:

 

The Witch (£447,626, #7, 2016)

The Lighthouse (£384,284, #10, 2020)

The Northman (£897,737, #4, 2022)

Nosferatu (£5,246,910, #1, 2025)

Mufasa really showing strong legs compared to Sonic!

Excellent to see Nosferatu open so well, especially after The Northman really underperformed at least initially, I thought Eggers may not be given the chance again, but this is him at his strongest and deserves to do well <3