‘A Quiet Place Part II’ tops, ‘The Father’ opens sixth at UK-Ireland box office on sunny weekend

GBP to USD conversion rate: 1.41

Paramount’s A Quiet Place Part II held the top spot for a second successive weekend at the UK-Ireland box office, as titles posted reasonable holds amongst good weather across much of the territory.

The thriller sequel added £1.3m from Friday to Sunday, taking the number one position on each individual day. It is now up to £6.4m, and while it will fall short of the £12.1m taken by the first film in 2017, this still represents a decent performance given the distancing measures in place; plus the good weather, which typically keeps audiences away from indoor activities such as the cinema.

Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway held the number two spot on its fourth weekend, dropping 60% with £798,985. As the key family-friendly title near the top of the chart, it may have suffered more from the sunshine, with parents looking for children to be outside. The film has £13.9m in total – well short of the £41.1m of the 2018 first film, although again this was a pre-pandemic release.

Disney’s Cruella continued to take money on its third weekend in cinemas, holding the third spot with a 43% drop to £733,000 for £5.9m total. It was released on Disney+ at the same time as in cinemas in the territory, on May 28.

Warner Bros had a trio of titles in the top 10, starting with horror franchise title The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, which added £664,829 from Friday to Sunday at an average of £1,368, for £6.8m to date. Its 36% drop was the best hold in the top five, suggesting sustained interest in the Conjuring universe, even with the cume down on the £10.5m and £11m of the first two films.

Also from Warner Bros is Godzilla Vs. Kong, which also held well with a 30% drop for £112,197, and £2.4m in total. The film has been available on the HBO Max streaming platform since April 1. Finally, the studio has Euros Lynn’s Sundance 2020 title Dream Horse, which fell 60% on its first weekend, adding £79,992 for £478,197 total/.

Nobody, Ilya Naishuller’s crime drama starring Better Call Saul’s Bob Odenkirk, took £376,067 from Friday to Sunday, with an additional £198,332 following an opening on Wednesday June 9 giving it £574,399 in total. Its location average is £760 without previews.

Florian Zeller’s The Father took £357,532 across its opening weekend for sixth place in the chart. A further £37,792 in previews brought it to a total of £395,324. Anthony Hopkins won the Bafta and Oscar awards for lead actor for his role in the film as a man succumbing to dementia, while Zeller and Christopher Hampton won the best adapted screenplay award from both awards bodies.  

The Father was the widest theatrical release in the UK and Ireland since cinemas reopened in May, playing in 637 locations including 50 in Ireland and Northern Ireland (this was the first weekend in which cinemas were open in Ireland). Its location average for the weekend alone was £561.

With multiple horror franchise titles in cinemas, Spiral: From The Book Of Saw added £40,348 and has £1.5m after four weekends.

Elsewhere for Disney, Chloé Zhao’s four-time Oscar winner Nomadland dropped 52%, with £43,000 bringing it to £1.8m in total; while Raya And The Last Dragon fell back 50%, adding £41,000 for £606,000. 

Japanese anime hit Demon Slayer: Mugen Train added £40,428 on its third weekend. Due to issues at Cineworld, the film had previously underreported by £240,000; its total takings to date are now £1.4m.

In a joint release from Studiocanal and the Independent Cinema Office, the 4k restoration of Ousmane Sembène’s 1968 feature Mandabi took £1,530 from 13 locations, and has £1,875 including previews.

• Altitude boards Oliver Stone’s JFK documentary ahead of Cannes premiere