brutal dylan

Source: Universal / Disney

‘The Brutalist’, ‘A Complete Unknown’

Rank Film (origin)  DistributorJan 24-26 gross  Total  Week
1 A Complete Unknown  (US)                                 Disney  £1.7m £5.9m 2
Mufasa: The Lion King   (US)         Disney  £1.4m £27.9m 6
Sonic The Hedgehog 3  (US)  Paramount  £872,000 £23.3m 5
4 Flight Risk  (US) Lionsgate  £810,244 £810,244 1
The Brutalist  (US-UK)                                           Universal £703,617 £753,400 1

GBP to USD conversion rate: 1.25

Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist made a muscular start at the UK-Ireland box office with £703,617 from just 170 cinemas; as Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown wore the crown for a second weekend.

Disney’s A Complete Unknown added £1.7m – a fall of just 35%. James Mangold’s film now has £5.9m; a strong tail, boosted by awards attention, could see it chase down the £10.4m of Mangold’s 2006 Johnny Cash biopic Walk The Line.

Disney also held the number two spot, with CGI animation Mufasa: The Lion King. Barry Jenkins’ film dropped just 16%, with £1.4m on its sixth weekend taking it to £27.9m. It has now overtaken animation comparisons including How To Train Your Dragon 2 (£27.6m), The LEGO Batman Movie (£27.5m) and Sonic The Hedgehog 2 (£27m).

Sonic The Hedgehog 3 kept its claws in the top three, on its fifth weekend in cinemas. The animated title added £872,000 – a 20.7% drop – and is up to £23.3m for Paramount, above the £19.3m of the 2020 first film and with number two’s above figure still just in reach.

Lionsgate action title Flight Risk starring Mark Wahlberg opened to £810,244, from 526 cinemas at a £1,540 average. That is below the £1.3m of director Mel Gibson’s previous film, 2017’s Hacksaw Ridge.

The Brutalist scored an impressive top five spot for Universal, with its £703,617 opening coming at a strong per-cinema average of £4,139. It has £753,400 including previews, and has already dwarfed the totals of previous Corbet films Vox Lux (£153,505) and The Childhood of a Leader (£169,982).

It has also far surpassed the openings of recent awards titles Anatomy Of A Fall (£290,958), The Zone Of Interest (£353,315) and Triangle Of Sadness (£219,121). Universal may now be able to persuade more exhibitors to make space for the 214-minute film – especially with the potential for F&B sales during the 15-minute interval.

Takings for the top five came in at £5.4m – up 6.6% on the equivalent weekend from last year, although dropping for the fourth consecutive weekend this year. Cinemas are holding on for Universal’s Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy on February 13 as the next release with major box office potential.

Nosferatu  Universal record

Despite a 50% drop across its fourth weekend, Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu still scared up £534,940. It is up to an impressive £11.9m, as Universal’s highest-grossing horror title ever in the territory, overtaking 2023’s Five Nights At Freddy’s  (£10.6m).

Moana 2  fell just 11% across its ninth weekend in cinemas with £524,450. The Disney animation is now up to £40.7m, overtaking the likes of 2015’s Inside Out  (£39.4m).

Romantic drama We Live In Time starring Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh added £475,876 on its fourth session – a 44.7% drop that brought the Studiocanal title to £7.7m.

Babygirl_04039_R_Courtesy of A24

Source: A24

‘Babygirl’

Halina Reijn’s Babygirl starring Nicole Kidman and Harris Dickinson dropped 38.9% on its third weekend for Entertainment Film Distributors, and is up to £3.5m.

Wicked  added £357,802 on its 10th weekend in cinemas, and is now the highest-grossing 2024 film release with £60.1m, ahead of Inside Out 2 with £59.2m. The film has seen little adverse affect from its streaming release at the start of the month; and may be buoyed to further takings by its awards recognition, including at the Baftas and Oscars.

Steven Soderbergh’s horror Presence opened to £292,058 for Warner Bros, from 478 sites at a £611 average. The film, about a family who move into a house where a spirit watches their movements, has £364,157 including previews. 

Jesse Eisenberg’s A Real Pain starring Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin added £281,345 on its third weekend. The Searchlight Pictures title, released by Disney, is up to a decent £2.4m.

Robbie Williams biopic Better Man topped up by £244,415 – a 39.9% drop – on its fifth weekend for Entertainment Film Distributors, and is up to £6.3m.

Paddington In Peru, now in cinemas for 12 weekends, fell just 3% with £200,114 taking it to £35.9m for Studiocanal.

Edward Berger’s Conclave ploughs on through a ninth weekend in cinemas, adding £158,235 to hit a £7.5m total for Black Bear.

Leigh Whannell’s Blumhouse horror Wolf Man dropped 76% on its second weekend, with £156,847 taking it to £1.1m for Universal. 

Trafalgar Releasing’s event cinema title Aida – Met Opera 2024 made £137,584 from just 106 screenings at the weekend, at a strong £1,298 screening average.

Maria starring Angelina Jolie added £103,355 on its third weekend for Studiocanal. The Maria Callas biopic is up to £1.4m, behind the £2.8m of director Pablo Larrain’s Spencer and the £3.8m of Jackie.

Indian action thriller Sky Force opened to £64,781 for Moviegoers Entertainment, at £407-per-cinema.

An 11th weekend in the ring for Gladiator II saw it put on £38,000, for a £31.9m total for Paramount.

Family animation Panda Bear In Africa put on £22,384 on its second weekend, a slim drop from its £23,039 opening last time out, through Miracle Comms.

Event cinema release Baekhyun: Lonsdaelite [dot] In Cinemas made £11,357 across the weekend for CinemaLive.

RaMell Ross’ Nickel Boys put on £7,958 on its fourth weekend for Curzon, and is up to £323,539.

The second weekend of Robert Zemeckis’ Here starring Tom Hanks and Robin Wright made £7,149, for a £97,372 cume for Curzon.

Abhishek Kapoor’s Indian historical drama Azaad added £3,175 on its second weekend, and is up to £33,864 for Bakrania Media.

UK thriller The People Before opened to £206 through Miracle Comms and producers Sea High Productions.