Robert Eggers’ vampire horror Nosferatu opens in 624 UK-Ireland cinemas this weekend through Universal, having made an excellent start since New Year’s Day.
Nosferatu took £1.3m on Wednesday, January 1 from 574 sites at a £2,247 location average; with a further £870,000 on Thursday for £2.2m already banked in previews. It could become Eggers’ highest-grossing film by the end of the weekend, ahead of the totals of 2022’s The Northman (£4.7m), 2020’s The Lighthouse (£1.4m) and 2016’s The Witch (£1.2m).
The £1.3m Wednesday figure was the highest-grossing single day for a horror title in the territory since Disney’s Alien: Romulus opened with £1.4m in August 2024; and the second-highest in the last 12 months.
Inspired by F.W. Murnau’s 1922 horror classic Nosferatu: A Symphony Of Horror – itself based on Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula – Eggers’ Nosferatu refreshes the tale of a haunted young woman and the terrifying vampire infatuated with her.
Lily-Rose Depp, Bill Skarsgard, Nicholas Hoult, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Willem Dafoe, Emma Corrin, Ralph Ineson and Simon McBurney lead the cast.
The highest-grossing horror of all time in the UK and Ireland is Andy Muschetti’s It, which made £32.3m after a huge £10m opening weekend in 2017; followed by M. Night Shyamalan’s The Sixth Sense, which started with £1.4m and ended on a huge £25.8m in 1999. Post-pandemic, Alien: Romulus is the top horror with £14.2m (if Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, which made £26m, is classified as horror-comedy).
Nosferatu is a breakthrough lead film role for Depp, who has indie credits including Nathalie Biancheri’s Wolf opposite George Mackay, 2021 horror Silent Night, and starred in HBO series The Idol last year. Hoult is in the midst of a busy run, with Justin Kurzel’s The Order and Clint Eastwood’s Juror #2 in the last few months, and James Gunn’s Superman, where he plays Lex Luthor, in July.
Time for romance
Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh, named Screen Stars of Tomorrow in 2007 and 2016 respectively, lead John Crowley’s romantic drama We Live In Time in 691 sites through Studiocanal.
The film took £1.2m from two days of previews, setting it up for a full opening past the £2.5m mark.
Written by Nick Payne, the film follows an up-and-coming chef and recent divorcé brought together by a chance encounter. It debuted at Toronto, before playing at San Sebastian, Rio, Athens and London film festivals.
Crowley scored his biggest hit to date with another romantic drama – 2015’s Brooklyn starring Saoirse Ronan, which made £6m through Lionsgate.
It is a first collaboration for Garfield and Pugh; the former returns to film for the first time since a cameo in 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home, while Pugh appeared in Dune: Part Two earlier this year, and award-winner Oppenheimer in 2023.
Curzon is opening Ramell Ross’ Nickel Boys in 76 sites this weekend. Adapted by Ross and Joslyn Barnes from Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name, the film follows the friendship between two young African-American men navigating the trials of reform school together in Florida.
Having launched at Telluride in August then played New York, Chicago, London and Stockholm film festival, Nickel Boys is already an awards favourite. It is nominated for best motion picture – drama at this weekend’s Golden Globes, won movie of the year from the US’ AFI Awards and best director at the Gotham Awards, and has further nominations from the Film Independent Spirit Awards and numerous critics circles.
Altitude is releasing Asif Kapadia’s documentary-fiction hybrid 2073 across the next few weeks, having held an event release with recorded Q&A with Kapadia on Wednesday and Thursday.
Inspired by Chris Marker’s 1962 featurette La Jetée, the film analyses a world falling into authoritarianism, through the prism of dystopian sci-fi combined with state-of-the-world documentary. It debuted out of competition at Venice in September, going on to play Sitges, DOC NYC and London among others.
Kapadia has scored strong results with his documentaries about celebrities who died young, including Diego Maradona (£974,552), Amy (£3.8m) and Senna (£3.2m).
Films not in the English language launching this weekend include S. Shankar’s Bollywood thriller Game Changer through Dreamz Entertainment; Bala’s drama Vanangaan through DJ Tech; and Blazej Jankowiak’s Polish action title Diabel through Magnetes Pictures. BFI Distribution is putting Luchino Visconti’s crime title Rocco And His Brothers in five cinemas on its 65th anniversary.
Nosferatu may have enough to displace a strong slate of holdovers this weekend, including Disney’s Mufasa: The Lion King, Paramount’s Sonic The Hedgehog 3 and Universal’s long-running Wicked.
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