'Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice' retains UK box office lead despite hefty drop

UK top five (April 1-3)

WARNER BROS

Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice retained its lead at the UK box office despite a hefty week-on-week drop.

Warner Bros’ superhero brawl fought to a further $6.6m (£4.66m) for $39.5m (£27.83m) after ten days in play. That’s a drop of almost 70% on its record-breaking opening, despite only one other major release this weekend.

For comparison, Man Of Steel fell 56% in its second weekend, Avengers: Age Of Ultron fell 52% and Avengers fell 49%. Batman v Superman will hope to arrest the slump as otherwise it could struggle to match this year’s biggest superhero film to date Deadpool, currently at $53.4m (£37.62m).

One thing in Batman v Superman’s favour is that there’s still another week of school holidays, meaning midweek numbers should be solid. It will hope to have passed Man Of Steel’s $42.6m (£30m) result by the end of this week.

LIONSGATE

After opening on Easter Monday [March 28], Eddie The Eagle flew to a $4m (£2.83m) debut from its 572 sites to chart second.

Lionsgate’s biopic banked $1.8m (£1.29m) from Mon-Thurs, meaning its Fri-Sun tally of $2.2m (£1.55m) would have seen it land in third behind Zootropolis. It achieved a healthy site average of $7,055 (£4,096).

Eddie The Eagle looks well set to become director Dexter Fletcher’s best-ever UK result, currently Sunshine On Leith’s $6.5m (£4.6m) tally.

Also for Lionsgate, London Has Fallen crossed the £10m mark with a $435,000 (£306,457) for a strong $14.5m (£10.24m) to date.

In its Irish release, Sing Street boosted 1% for a $134,000 (£94,594) third weekend for $813,000 (£572,126) to date. It opens in the rest of the UK on May 20.

DISNEY

Zootropolis fell a slim 24% (excluding previews) in its second weekend as it dropped to third.

Disney’s animation hopped to a further $3.8m (£2.7m) to stand at $17.9m (£12.6m), after adding more than $6.4m (£4.5m) from its first Mon-Thurs. It’s already surpassed Kung Fu Panda 3 in the battle of the Easter family offerings.

In terms of Walt Disney Animation Studios outings, the next targets for Zootropolis will be Bolt’s $25.5m (£17.94m) and Big Hero 6’s $28.1m (£19.72m).

FOX

Kung Fu Panda 3 dropped 34% on its way to a non-final $1.1m (£759,014) fourth weekend.

Fox’s threequel is now up to $15.8m (£11.14m), and will need to make the most of the remaining school holiday if it’s to stand a chance of catching Kung Fu Panda’s $24m (£16.87m) result, currently the lowest grossing outing of the series.

Also for Fox, Deadpool sliced to an extra $175,000 (£122,901) for an excellent $53.4m (£37.62m) after eight weeks in play.

Alvin And The Chipmunks: The Road Chip and Snoopy And Charlie Brown: The Peanuts Movie stand at $23m (£16.21m) and $14.6m (£10.28m), respectively, after small holiday boosts.

UNIVERSAL

Rounding off this week’s top five, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 posted a $877,000 (£614,594) second weekend.

Universal’s comedy sequel is now up to $3.5m (£2.48m), although it won’t come close to the $19.3m (£13.57m) result of its predecessor over a decade ago.

PARAMOUNT

In its third weekend, Paramount’s 10 Cloverfield Lane uncovered $684,000 (£481,000) for $6.3m (£4.46m) to date.

ENTERTAINMENT

Posting a respectable drop, Entertainment’s The Boy scared up a $389,000 (£273,459) third weekend for a solid $3m (£2.12m) to date, benefitting from being the only mainstream horror in the market at the moment.

EONE

Rounding off this week’s top ten, eOne’s The Divergent Series: Allegiant added $229,000 (£161,158) for $6.2m (£4.36m). It will end its run as the lowest grossing outing of the series to date.

STUDIOCANAL

JG Ballard adaptation High-Rise enjoyed a $212,000 (£149,236) third weekend for $2.1m (£1.5m) to date through Studiocanal.

CURZON ARTIFICIAL EYE

Including previews, Curzon Artificial Eye’s one-take thriller Victoria opened with $153,000 (£107,602) from its 34 sites, resulting in a strong average of $4,496 (£3,165) per site.

Also for Curzon Artificial Eye, Anomalisa stands at $888,000 (£625,280) after four weeks in play.

UPCOMING RELEASES

This week sees saturation releases for Universal’s The Huntsman: Winter’s War (opens today), eOne’s Midnight Special and Entertainment’s Hardcore Henry.

Warner Bros’ The Man Who Knew Infinity receives a wide release, while Verve Pictures’ Couple In A Hole, Studiocanal’s Dheepan and Picturehouse Entertainment’s The Absent One are among the films receiving a limited release.