Taken 3 outguns American Sniper to retain UK box office lead

Despite some stiff competition from awards contender American Sniper, Taken 3 has retained top spot at the UK box office for the second straight week.

Fox’s threequel shot to a further $5m (£3.3m) after a 43% drop (excluding previews) for $18.5m (£12.2m) after 11 days in play. At the same stage in its run, Taken 2 stood at $22m (£14.5m) meaning that Taken 3 will require a stronger hold this weekend to have a chance of topping the sequel’s $35.6m (£23.5m) result.

Also for Fox, Birdman fell just 27% on its way to a $836,000 (£551,250) third weekend for $6.1m (£4m) to date, while Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb reached $17.1m (£11.3m) with a $629,000 (£415,211) fifth weekend.

Released in 293 sites, Wild travelled to a UK bow of $796,000 (£524,991) including previews of just over $167,000 (£110,000). That’s behind the $1.6m (£1.1m) debut of director Jean-Marc Vallée’s last awards contender, Dallas Buyers Club, which went on to take $7.9m (£5.2m) in the UK.

Penguins of Madagascar and Exodus: Gods and Kings stand at $11.7m (£7.7m) and $12m (£7.9m), respectively.

WARNER BROS

The week’s highest new entry came in the form of American Sniper with an impressive $3.8m (£2.5m) opening salvo from its 411 sites.

Warner Bros’ awards contender posted Clint Eastwood’s best-ever UK bow as director, some distance ahead of Changeling’s $1.9m (£1.2m) debut from 351 sites. American Sniper also marked the second-widest opening for Eastwood, behind Jersey Boys’ 448 sites debut.

Gran Torino is currently Eastwood’s highest grossing film with $12.6m (£8.3m) and a strong hold this coming weekend should see American Sniper in a position to challenge that.

Also for Warner Bros, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies has become the first 2014 release to hit £40m. The climactic Hobbit outing journeyed to $970,000 (£639,000) for $61.2m (£40.3m), but is likely to finish as the lowest-grossing outing of the trilogy.

UNIVERSAL

Boosted by its awards recognition over the past fortnight, The Theory of Everything posted a terrific hold in its third weekend, dropping just 6% for $3.5m (£2.3m).

Universal’s biopic has now taken $18.1m (£11.93m) to date and can likely look forward to an extended run up to the Oscars and beyond, pushing it towards £20m at the very least.

DISNEY

Expanding slightly to 485 sites, Into the Woods fell just 18% on its way to a $3m (£2m) second weekend.

Disney’s musical is now up to $8.1m (£5.4m) in the UK and is on course to top the $16.6m (£10.97m) result of previous Stephen Sondheim film adaptation, Sweeney Todd. It’ll need a couple of further strong holds to challenge director Rob Marshall’s highest-grossing musical outing, Chicago’s $24.9m (£16.4m) result.

STUDIOCANAL

Falling a slim 27% in its eighth weekend, StudioCanal’s Paddington added $1.4m (£936,248) for $51.6m (£34.03m) to date. It will shortly overtake The Lego Movie’s $52m (£34.3m) to become the second highest-grossing 2014 release.

Also for StudioCanal, The Imitation Game was buoyed by its Oscar nominations as it climbed 1% for a $320,000 (£211,093) weekend, crossing the £15m mark to stand at $23m (£15.2m).

SONY

Strong critical approval saw Sony’s Whiplash drum up a solid $879,000 (£580,000) from its 249 sites on its UK bow. Equally impressive word-of-mouth could see the film sustain up to the Oscars, where it’s nominated for five awards including Best Film.

Also for Sony, Annie is now director Will Gluck’s best-ever UK performer after a respectable 34% drop in its fourth weekend led it to $629,000 (£415,000) for $10.5m (£6.9m) to date.

LIONSGATE

With $91,000 (£60,376) in previews from Monday’s [Jan 12] live stream of a Q&A from the BFI Southbank to nearly 300 sites, Lionsgate’s Testament of Youth posted a $632,000 (£417,269) UK opening from its 235 sites. It should enjoy sturdy midweek returns given its older-skewing audience.

Also for Lionsgate, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 has amassed $46.9m (£30.96m).

EONE

Falling over 50% in its second weekend, eOne’s Foxcatcher grossed $576,000 (£379,947) for a ten-day tally of $2.5m (£1.7m). As expected, the film is now director Bennett Miller’s best-ever UK performer, surpassing Capote’s $2.3m (£1.5m) tally.

Also for eOne, The Woman in Black: Angel of Death has now scared up $7.1m (£4.7m) following a $558,000 (£368,439) third weekend.

UPCOMING RELEASES

This week sees saturation releases for Universal’s Ex Machina (opens Jan 21), Lionsgate’s Mortdecai, Paramount’s The Gambler and Icon’s A Most Violent Year.

Teen movie documentary Beyond Clueless and Curzon Film World’s La Maison De La Radio are among the films receiving a limited release.