‘Free Guy’ scores £2.4m debut at UK-Ireland box office

GBP to USD conversion rate: 1.39

Disney’s Ryan Reynolds blockbuster Free Guy has opened with £2.39m to top the UK-Ireland box office this weekend.

The film scored a £3,824 average from 625 locations, and has £2.47m including previews.

This is a decent return for what is a rare ‘original’ big-budget studio film – not based on any existing IP. Its UK-Ireland performance was replicated in many international markets, with a $50.9m (£36.7m) worldwide start.

The PAW Patrol Movie opened to £1.26m from 581 locations for Paramount, at an average of £2,169. It is based on Canadian-originated animated TV series PAW Patrol. With previews, the film has £2.41m. A comparison from recent weeks is Sony’s Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway, an animation-live action hybrid, which opened to a £3.8m first weekend and currently sits on £19.8m.

Former number one The Suicide Squad dropped to third spot on its third weekend, falling 53% with £1.1m taking it to £10.8m for Warner Bros. It will finish well down on the £33.6m of 2016’s Suicide Squad, with which it shares some of the same characters, but in a separate story; although that title was released in the far more favourable pre-pandemic theatrical climate.

Disney’s Jungle Cruise dropped 57% on its third weekend with £845,000 taking it to £8.5m; the studio also has Black Widow in cinemas, which added £226,000 to reach £18.2m.

Space Jam: A New Legacy dropped 53% for Warner Bros, with £505,000 taking it to £10.1m. It is creeping up on the £11.7m of the 1997 first film.

Universal’s slate was led by The Croods 2: A New Age, which added £421,613 – a fall of 51% - to reach £7m from five sessions. Spirit Untamed added £240,320 to reach £2.2m; Old put on £109,019 for £3.2m total; The Forever Purge added £84,218 for £3.4m; while F9 added £60,959 for £16.3m.

For Sony, Don’t Breathe 2 opened to £349,702 from 404 locations at an £866 average – down on the £1m opening of the 2016 first film. Peter Rabbit 2 put on £59,827 to reach £19.8m from 13 sessions, while Zola added £18,528 and has £110,221 from two weekends.

Cumberbatch’s Courier

Benedict Cumberbatch drama The Courier opened to £337,408 from 421 locations, at an average of £421, for Lionsgate. The actor revealed today that his upcoming feature The Electrical Life Of Louis Wain will have its world premiere at Telluride Film Festival.

The second weekend of eOne’s Matt Damon starrer Stillwater saw a 62% drop, with £167,103 bringing it to £956,841 in total.

Bollywood romance Puaada brought in £69,806 on its opening weekend, with an extra £14,174 in previews, for Media House Global.

Studiocanal’s Jojo Moyes adaptation Last Letter From Your Lover fell a substantial 77% with £59,132 on its second weekend. It has £593,842 including previews.

Kotaro Tamura’s anime title Josee, The Tiger And The Fish opened to £19,340 from 59 locations for National Amusements, and has £41,465 including previews.

Animation Moonbound added £18,117 for Signature Entertainment, and has £139,671 from two weekends.

Maria Schrader’s I’m Your Man, which played publicly for the first time at the summer Berlinale in June, opened to £12,326 from 28 locations for Curzon at a £440 average, and has £13,895 to date.

For Mubi, limited release New Order opened to £3,848 from six locations including previews; while Ben Sharrock’s Limbo added £19,778 and has a decent £192,021 from three weekends.

Munro Film Services released Escher: Journey Into Infinity to £1,483 from five sites across the weekend, with single-day screenings in another four, and only playing once per day in all sites.

Apple TV+ released Sian Heder’s CODA; the company has not shared number of locations or box office results with Screen.

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