‘Fantastic Beasts 3’ holds onto UK-Ireland box office top spot, ‘The Lost City’ leads debuts

GBP to USD conversion rate: 1.30

Holdovers kept the top two spots at the UK-Ireland box office over the Easter bank holiday weekend, as Warner Bros’ Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets Of Dumbledore topped the chart again in its second session, taking £2.6m from Friday to Sunday.

This was a 44% decline on its opening weekend’s takings, with the box office possibly impacted by sunny weather. The third film in the Fantastic Beasts series’ gross to date, including takings from Easter Monday, now stands at £14m.

It was a busy weekend for Paramount, with Sonic The Hedgehog 2 taking £2m from Friday-Sunday in its third weekend. This brings the animated title’s total to-date to £17.2m.

Paramount’s Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum-led comedy adventure The Lost City was the top new opener, taking £1.7m from 617 sites, across Friday to Sunday, with an average of £2,755.

This was boosted to a total £3.3m gross figure, including £1m from previews and £580,000 from Easter Monday.

Universal’s Viking revenge epic The Northman, directed by Robert Eggers and starring Alexander Skarsgård, Nicole Kidman, Björk and Anya Taylor-Joy, opened to £897,516 at 529 locations, for a three-day average of £1,700. That figure was boosted on Monday with an additional £287,131, bringing its total gross to-date to £1.2m.

Warner Bros’ World War II drama Operation Mincemeat, directed by John Madden and starring Colin Firth, grossed £853,809 across the weekend from 623 locations, for an average of £1,370. This figure rose to a total of £1.2m thanks to £41,146 from previews and £324,420 from Easter Monday.

Universal’s The Bad Guys added £807,324, bringing its total up to £7.9m in its third weekend.

In its seventh session, Warner Bros’ The Batman took £319,338, bringing its total to £40.2m.

Sony’s Morbius grossed £248,000 in its third weekend. Its total now stands at £5.9m.

Paul Verhoeven’s Cannes premiere Benedetta took £20,361 from 80 sites across Friday-Sunday in its opening weekend, for an average of £255, reaching a total of £62,056 thanks to previews. Mubi also took an additional £33,349 for The Worst Person In The World. The Joachim Trier directed Norwegian-language title has now grossed £829,714 to-date.

Park Circus celebrated the 60th anniversary of Dr. No this weekend, taking £8,349 from 89 sites, averaging £94. Monday’s takings of £4,007 brought the total up to £12,357.

• ‘Fantastic Beasts 3’ tops global box office in second session; India’s ‘KGF: Chapter 2’ opens on $71m (update)