| Rank | Film (distributor) | Three-day gross (August 16-18) | Total gross to date | Week |
| 1. | Alien: Romulus (Disney) | £3.7m | £3.7m | 1 |
| 2. | It Ends With Us (Sony) | £2.8m | £11.4m | 2 |
| 3. | Deadpool & Wolverine (Disney) | £2.4m | £48.4m | 4 |
| 4. | Despicable Me 4 (Universal) | £1.2m | £38.8m | 6 |
| 5. | Coraline (Trafalgar Releasing) | £744,365 | £1.3m | 1 |
GBP to USD conversion rate: 1.29
Alien: Romulus clawed its way to the top of the UK-Ireland box office with a £3.7m opening weekend – the second-highest start for the monster franchise.
Romulus topped the £2.7m opening of 1997’s Alien: Resurrection and £1.6m of 1992’s Alien 3, and was only down on the £4.8m opening of 2017’s Alien: Covenant.
The new film took a £5,538 location average with several sites still to report – also the second-highest of the franchise, behind the £7,595 average of Covenant.
Covenant finished on £12.9m – a low total from such an opening. Disney will hope to push Romulus beyond that figure.
The film knocked Sony’s Colleen Hoover adaptation It Ends With Us into second, with the domestic abuse drama falling 37.3% on its second session with £2.8m – a decent performance. It has an impressive £11.4m to date, already passing the £11.4m of hit romantic comedy Anyone But You from earlier this year.
Former number one Deadpool & Wolverine moved to third for Disney, dropping 41% on its fourth weekend with £2.4m bringing it to £48.4m. It is already the sixth-highest-grossing of 34 Marvel Cinematic Universe titles to date, overtaking the £48.3m of 2015’s Avengers: Age Of Ultron; and could finish as high as fourth, potentially catching 2012’s Avengers Assemble (£51.9m).
Despicable Me 4 took fourth spot for Universal, dropping a slim 22% on its sixth weekend with £1.2m taking it to £38.8m total. The £47m-£49m of every film in the Despicable Me / Minions franchise may look a long shot; but each film so far has had a long tail, giving number 4 a chance of ending in that range still.
Trafaglar Releasing’s re-release of Henry Selick’s stop-motion animation Coraline brought in an excellent £744,365 from Friday to Sunday. Added to the £509,635 from its Thursday, August 15 event cinema release date, it now has almost £1.3m total; plus the £8.7m it made on its original release in 2009.
Top five takings dropped a slim 7% to £10.9m, and are a significant 46.4% up on the equivalent weekend from last year. Warner Bros’ thriller Blink Twice offers the best chance of keeping this strong run going next weekend.
Bollywood keeps coming
M. Night Shyamalan’s Trap dropped out of the top five spot on its second weekend, falling 47.9% with £558,581 taking it to £2.5m. It should overtake the final totals of Shyamalan’s last two films, Knock At The Cabin (£3.2m) and Old (£3.4m), within the next fortnight.
Despite dropping out of the top five, Inside Out 2 posted one of the best holds this weekend, falling just 18% with £506,583 on its 10th session. The animation is up to £55.5m – now in the top 40 highest-grossing films of all time, and soon to overtake fellow Disney/Pixar title Incredibles 2 (£56.2m).
Warner Bros’ Twisters added £319,940 on its fifth weekend – a 45.5% drop that took it to £12.9m total.
Bollywood comedy-horror Stree 2 became the latest Indian film to land well at the UK-Ireland box office, with a £2,070 location average from 118 sites. Released by Bakrania Media, the film took £240,147 at the weekend, and has £291,805 in total – already almost five times the £58,697 total of 2018’s Stree.
Lionsgate’s Borderlands starring Cate Blanchett added £181,104 on its second weekend – a 67.3% drop that was bigger than the market average. It has almost £1.5m in total.
Spider-Man 3, Sony’s latest re-release from the webslinger series, took £156,677 – down on Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2 but still a decent result for a re-issue.
Harold and the Purple Crayon added £134,333 on its third weekend for Sony – a 37.5% drop – and is up to almost £2m.
After an excellent start last weekend, Kneecap dropped 53.8% on its second session in Ireland for Wildcard Distribution with £115,000. The film has £557,610 ahead of its England, Scotland and Wales release through Curzon next weekend.
Black Bear’s horror Longlegs continues to walk into cinemas on its sixth weekend, adding £88,000 to hit a £7.9m total.
Signature Entertainment’s animation Ozi: Voice of the Forest, produced by Leonardo DiCaprio, made £86,336 from 390 sites at a £221 average. The film has £100,793 including previews.
AA Films UK’s comedy Khel Khel Mein, released by Bakrania Media, made £52,616 on its first weekend at an £863 site average, and has £66,664 including previews.
Chinese crime drama Only The River Flows, released by Picturehouse Entertainment, made £31,522 at the weekend, at a £553 average. The film has £40,134 including previews.
Elysian Film Distribution’s re-release of Hayao Miyazaki’s My Neighbour Totoro added £10,742 on its third weekend in cinemas, and has a decent £209,169 in total.
Park Circus’ re-release of John Sayles’ mystery Lone Star took £9,731.
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