'The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel' tops UK box office for third week

The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel has become the first film this year to record a hat-trick of number one weekends at the UK box office.

Fox’s sequel fell a slim 29% with a $2.1m (£1.4m) third weekend for $17.3m (£11.7m) to date. It is still tracking ahead of its predecessor which stood at $16.3m (£11.05m) at the same stage, but did enjoy a stronger third weekend of $2.7m (£1.8m).

Also for Fox, Home previewed strongly over Saturday and Sunday with its $3.6m (£2.5m) result making it the unofficial champion. The previews will go towards its opening this coming Friday [March 20] and puts it in a great position to lead the weekend.

Kingsman: The Secret Service shot to a further $422,000 (£285,560) for $23.3m (£15.8m) after seven weeks in play, while Unfinished Business fell a hefty 64% in its second weekend to take $163,000 (£110,580) for $1.1m (£715,403).

The 50th Anniversary re-release of The Sound of Music grossed $37,000 (£25,089) from its 95 sites on Sunday [March 15].

WARNER BROS

It may have been the week’s highest new entry, but Run All Night didn’t set the chart alight with a $1.2m (£822,000) opening from its 430 sites.

Warner Bros’ action thriller recorded the lowest debut for a Jaume Collet-Serra and Liam Neeson collaboration, behind Non-Stop ($3.9m/£2.7m from 453) and Unknown ($2m/£1.4m from 332).

With the arrival of The Gunman this Friday, it will struggle to challenge Unknown’s $9.8m (£6.6m) result, let alone Non-Stop’s $14.1m (£9.5m).

Also for Warner Bros, Focus fell 39% on its way to a $1.2m (£803,000) third weekend for a solid $8.3m (£5.64m) to date.

EONE

Suite Française charted fourth on its UK bow with an uninspiring $743,000 (£502,569) from its 426 sites.

eOne’s romantic drama fell some way short of director Saul Dibb’s best-ever UK bow, the $2.1m (£1.4m) recorded by The Duchess from 426 sites, but will hope to have a sturdy midweek performance given its older-skewing audience.

UNIVERSAL

Rounding off this week’s top five was Universal’s Fifty Shades of Grey with a $721,000 (£487,649) fifth weekend lifting it to a terrific $50m (£33.8m). The raunchy adaptation could well be on the cusp of £35m by the end of next weekend.

Also for Universal, The Theory of Everything has now amassed $31.4m (£21.2m).

SONY

Falling over 50% in its second weekend, Sony’s Chappie added $661,000 (£447,000) for $3m (£2m) to date. The sci-fi may now struggle to even match half the $13.3m (£9m) tallies of District 9 and Elysium in the UK.

Also for Sony, The Wedding Ringer has grossed $3.3m (£2.25m) after four weeks in play.

CURZON FILM WORLD

Expanding to 202 sites nationwide, Curzon Film World’s Still Alice rose 9% (excluding previews) on its way to a $617,000 (£417,592) second weekend for a strong $1.6m (£1.1m) to date.

It faces arthouse competition this coming weekend with the arrival of Metrodome’s Mommy and Vertigo Films’ A Second Chance.

DISNEY

Arguably hit hardest by Home’s healthy previews, Big Hero 6 fell 53% in its seventh weekend for $571,000 (£386,000) and a running total of $28.2m (£19.1m) through Disney.

STUDIOCANAL

Homegrown hits Shaun the Sheep Movie and Paddington took $387,000 (£261,773) and $129,000 (£87,302), respectively, to reach $18.8m (£12.7m) and $55.2m (£37.3m) through StudioCanal.

Also for StudioCanal, the re-release of Far from the Madding Crowd grossed $9,400 (£6,377) from its five sites.

KOCH MEDIA

With around $30,000 (£20,000) in previews, Koch Media’s X + Y got off to a steady $228,000 (£154,374) start in the UK from its 119 sites. Morgan Matthews’ feature directorial debut could be another of this week’s new openers to benefit more from a midweek crowd.

ICON FILM DISTRIBUTION

Critically acclaimed horror It Follows crossed £1m with a $155,000 (£104,492) third weekend through Icon Film Distribution to stand at $1.56m (£1.06m).

UPCOMING RELEASES

This week sees saturation releases for Fox’s Home (following its previews on March 14-15), eOne’s The Divergent Series: Insurgent and Lionsgate’s Wild Card.

Metrodome’s Mommy, StudioCanal’s The Gunman and Arrow Films’ The Voices all receive wide releases, while Vertigo Films’ A Second Chance and Content Media’s Dark Summer are among the films receiving a limited release.