uk ire bo pic 27:11

Source: Sony / Lionsgate / Disney / Warner Bros

Clockwise from top left: ‘Napoleon’, ‘The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes’, ‘Saltburn’, ‘Wish’

RankFilm (distributor)Three-day gross (Nov 24-26)Total gross to date                                     Week
 1. Napoleon  (Sony) £3.8m £5.2m 1
 2. The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes  (Lionsgate) £2.7m £10.1m 2
 3. Wish  (Disney) £2.4m £2.4m 1
 4. Saltburn  (Warner Bros) £572,728 £2m 2
 5. The Marvels  (Disney) £483,939 £6.6m 3

GBP to USD conversion rate: 1.26

Ridley Scott’s Napoleon charged to the top of the UK-Ireland box office with a £3.8m opening weekend – the director’s sixth-highest in his 46-year feature career.

Opening in 716 locations – a record for distributor Sony – Napoleon took a £5,331 location average. Its £3.8m start is above that of Scott’s Oscar-winning Gladiator, which took £3.6m in 2000. Having opened on Wednesday of last week, the film has £5.2m in total so far.

The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds & Snakes added a decent £2.7m on its second weekend, falling 50.4%. The film has crossed the £10m mark after just two sessions for Lionsgate, with £10.1m total. This represents a decent performance in the post-pandemic marketplace; it is still ahead of the £9.9m of the 2012 first film The Hunger Games at the same stage, with that film finishing on £24.1m.

Wish started with £2.4m for Disney, from 618 sites at a £3,923 location average. This is slightly down on the £2.9m start of fellow 2023 Disney animation Elemental; that film grew to a decent £18.4m total, so there is still hope for Wish if it can form a long tail.

Emerald Fennell’s class satire Saltburn added £572,728 on its second weekend for Warner Bros – an excellent hold in the current market, dropping just 26.2%. It is just shy of the £2m mark and could find further audiences as the awards season kicks into gear.

Disney’s The Marvels dropped 61% on its second weekend, with £483,939 taking it to £6.6m total. It is still behind the £8.3m of 2008’s The Incredible Hulk, currently the lowest-grossing of all 33 Marvel Cinematic Universe titles to date.

Takings for the top five rose 15.2% to just shy of £10m - the highest level since £10.9m on the weekend of August 11-13. The major opportunity to keep this progress going next weekend may lie with Trafalgar Releasing’s latest event cinema concert release, Renaissance: A Film By Beyonce.

Cliff faces the music

Event cinema release Cliff Richard: The Blue Sapphire Tour took £327,826 across two days of screenings on Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 for Trafalgar Releasing. It is behind the £583,252 total of the singer’s previous event cinema release, 2021’s Cliff Richard: The Great 80 Tour – although could get within range with additional encore screenings.

Trolls Band Together took a 69% hit on its sixth session in cinemas, partly through the presence of genre competitor Wish. The Universal film added £227,473 across the weekend, and has £15.1m in total.

Hindi-language hit Tiger 3 added £113,644 on its third full weekend, and has £1.4m in total for Yash Raj Films.

keira-knightley-love-actually-1541774672

Source: Universal

‘Love Actually’

Universal’s 20th anniversary re-release of Richard Curtis’ Love Actually brought in £104,675 at the weekend, in addition to the £37.6m made from the film’s initial release and subsequent re-releases.

Justine Triet’s Palme d’Or winner Anatomy Of A Fall added £104,000 on its third weekend in cinemas – enough to take it past the £1m mark to £1.1m, an excellent result for Lionsgate for a film with significant sections not in the English language.

Martin Scorsese’s Killers Of The Flower Moon still leads Paramount’s slate after six weekends. It took a hefty 76% drop this session, with £76,000; but still has a strong £9.9m to date, closing in on the £10.4m of 1992’s Cape Fear which is currently Scorsese’s fifth-highest-grossing film in the territory.

Paw Patrol: The Movie put on £60,000 on its seventh weekend in cinemas, and has £7.8m total for Paramount.

Five Nights At Freddy’s dropped 75% on its fifth session for Universal, with £56,758 taking it to £10.5m in total.

Todd Haynes’ Cannes 2023 title May December, released by Studiocanal on behalf of Sky Cinema, dropped 58.2% on its second weekend, adding £24,037 to reach a £230,826 total.

A repertory release of 1985 animation Santa Claus: The Movie took £20,514 for Park Circus, with further screenings planned in the lead up to Christmas.

Joanna Hogg’s The Eternal Daughter starring Tilda Swinton started with £18,770 at the weekend for BFI Distribution, from 45 sites at a £417 location average. Including previews, the film has £50,026.

The Great Escaper put on £16,683 on its eighth session for Warner Bros, and has £5.2m total as it nears the end of its run.

Hong Kong drama Time Still Turns The Pages opened to £15,396 from 20 sites for Trinity Film, and has £16,966 including previews.

With a further £12,000, Adam Deacon’s crime comedy Sumotherhood has £2.4m from seven sessions – topping the £2.1m of its 2011 predecessor Anuvahood.

The Miracle Club is closing out for Lionsgate, adding £5,458 on its seventh session in cinemas to reach £1.9m.

Emma Seligman’s Bottoms added a further £5,177 on its fourth weekend for Warner Bros, and is up to £549,514.