'Everest' tops UK box office with $4.9m

UNIVERSAL

Boosted by a week of IMAX and PLF (Premium Large Format) previews, Everest reached the summit of the UK box office.

Universal’s real-life disaster thriller landed with $4.9m (£3.16m) from its 567 sites, including $1m (£657,959) in previews. It’s worth noting that its Fri-Sun tally of $3.86m (£2.50m) would have also seen it narrowly take the top spot ahead of Legend.

It marks the distributor’s eighth number one bow of 2015 to date, and also director Baltasar Kormákur’s best-ever UK opening. Everest will also shortly become his highest grossing outing, currently 2 Guns’ $6.7m (£4.3m) result.

Everest stands a great chance of repeating at the top of the chart this coming weekend, before The Martian comes into orbit on Sept 30.

Also for Universal, The Visit dropped over 50% (as expected with genre films) on its way to a $752,000 (£484,855) second weekend for $3.1m (£1.99m), while Straight Outta Compton hit $12m (£7.73m) with a $462,000 (£298,022) fourth weekend.

Minions has now amassed a terrific $71.8m (£46.25m).

STUDIOCANAL

Legend will hit £10m at the UK box office today [Sept 21].

StudioCanal’s Krays biopic fell just over 30% (excluding previews) as it enjoyed a $3.78m (£2.43m) second weekend with 11 of its 547 sites still to report.

That lifted Legend to $15.5m (£9.96m) and there’s every chance that its final weekend results could already have pushed it past the £10m mark.

FOX

Falling a respectable 35% (excluding previews), Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials unlocked a further $2.3m (£1.5m) as it dropped to third.

Fox’s sequel is now up to $8.1m (£5.2m) in the UK and is tracking ahead of its predecessor, which stood at $6.8m (£4.4m) at the same stage in its run before going on to take $13.8m (£8.89m).

Also for Fox, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl stands at $1.3m (£814,126) after three weeks in play.

DISNEY

Inside Out will shortly become the second highest grossing original animation of all time at the UK box office.

Disney’s latest Pixar outing fell a slim 27% on its way to a $676,000 (£436,000) ninth weekend for $57.9m (£37.36m) to date, hot on the heels of Finding Nemo ($58.2m/£37.5m) and Monsters Inc ($58.8m/£37.9m).

Surpassing those would also make Inside Out the third biggest Pixar film behind Toy Story 2 ($68.7m/£44.31m) and Toy Story 3 ($114.7m/£73.97m).

EONE

Achieving the fourth best site average of the top ten, eOne’s A Walk in the Woods journeyed to a $387,000 (£249,332) opening from its 194 sites.

That’s ahead of $233,000 (£149,796) debut of director Ken Kwapis’ previous UK release, Big Miracle, from 269 sites, and A Walk in the Woods will hope its older-skewing audience can lead to solid midweek returns.

VERTIGO FILMS

Despite relatively strong reviews, Bill landed with a soft $343,000 (£221,387) from its 294 sites through Vertigo Films.

It’s unlikely to prosper midweek, so will hope for a solid hold this coming weekend to have any chance of a longer run.

SONY

Crossing the £8m mark in its sixth weekend was Sony’s Pixels as a $310,000 (£200,000) weekend saw it reach $12.6m (£8.15m).

Also for Sony, The D Train managed to gross just $16,000 (£10,000) on its UK bow in 106 sites.

PARAMOUNT

In its eighth weekend, Paramount’s Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation shot to an extra $222,000 (£143,000) for a strong $32.3m (£20.82m).

WARNER BROS

Falling over 50% in its second weekend, Warner Bros’ Irrational Man took $126,000 (£81,000) for a lacklustre $636,000 (£410,000) to date.

Also for Warner Bros, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is almost at the end of its run and stands at $9.8m (£6.33m).

DARTMOOR KILLING

The self-distributed UK thriller Dartmoor Killing recorded a non-final debut of $19,000 (£12,413), including $16,000 (£10,552) in previews, from its 16 sites with eight still to report.

Of its opening sites, four showed the film just once over the weekend while the preview figures came from four screenings across two sites.

PECCADILLO PICTURES

Released in six sites through Peccadillo Pictures, A Girl at My Door posted a UK bow of $5,300 (£3,418).

UPCOMING RELEASES

This week sees saturation releases for eOne’s Miss You Already and Entertainment’s Solace.

eOne’s Life, Curzon Artificial Eye’s Mia Madre, StudioCanal’s 99 Homes, Altitude’s Narcopolis and Paramount’s Captive are among the films receiving a limited release.