UK-Ireland box office preview: ‘Novocaine’ and ‘A Working Man’ face off

Jason Statham and Jack Quaid go head-to-head in UK and Ireland cinemas this weekend as action titles A Working Man and Novocaine lead the new releases.

Paramount’s Novocaine is in 549 cinemas. Quaid stars as an introverted bank employee who cannot feel physical pain and seeks revenge when his co-worker, and new love interest, is taken hostage.

Quaid also starred in this year’s Companion which opened with £670,512 for Warner Bros and a £1.8m cume. Novocaine has already opened Stateside and has grossed $22m worldwide so far. Dan Berk and Robert Olsen directs the feature from a script by Lars Jacobsen. Further cast includes Amber Midthunder, Ray Nicholson and Jacob Batalon. 

For Warner Bros, A Working Man opens in 496 sites. Statham plays a man who, after leaving his counter-terrorism days behind to work in construction, must return to the trade after a local girl goes missing.

Statham’s last star vehicle was 2024’s The Beekeeper which opened with £920,844 and an eventual £2.8m cume. Statham’s shark thrillers The Meg and Meg 2: The Trench made £15.9m and £9.8m respectively.

A Working Man is directed by David Ayer and also stars Michael Pena, David Harbour and Noemi Gonzalez.

Aparatitions, apocalypses and Steve Coogan

Also out this weekend is Universal horror The Woman In Yard in 337 locations. Danielle Deadwyler stars in the supernatural feature about a mysterious woman who keeps appearing in the front yard of a grieving family.

Mubi is launching Joshua Oppenheimer’s The End in 65 venues. The apocalyptic musical stars Tilda Swinton, Michael Shannon and George MacKay as a wealthy family living in an underground bunker after an environmental disaster has left Earth uninhabitable.

In Indian and Asian cinema, Dreamz Entertainment is opening buddy comedy Mad Square in 70 sites and action Robinhood in 20. Pakistani epic The Legend Of Maula Jatt is being re-released in 30 sites for Moviegoers Entertainment.

In event cinema, National Theatre live is screening Dr. Strangelove starring Steve Coogan after opening on Thursday while Trafalgar Releasing has Imagine Dragons: Live From The Hollywood Bowl which opened Wednesday. Meanwhile, CinemaLive is opening Billy Elliot: The Musical Live on Sunday (March 30).

Picturehouse Entertainment opens Alonso Ruizpalacios’ La Cocina in 55 venues. Rooney Mara stars in the Berlin premiere following a Mexican cook in a New York tourist trap restaurant, who is in love with an American waitress who cannot commit to a relationship with an undocumented alien. 

Conic Films is releasing documentary War Paint: Women At War in 18 cinemas. Margy Kinmonth’s film follows women war artists on the front lines around the world.

Alain Guiraudie’s Misericordia opens in 15 venues for New Wave Films. The Cannes premiere mixes melodrama, crime and dark comedy, in the story of a man who returns to his native town for a funeral where a mysterious disappearance, a threatening neighbour, long-simmering desires and a strange priest all take prominence.

Dartmouth Films is rolling out documentary The Stimming Pool. Created by a collection of neurodivergent filmmakers, the film explores what it means to live in a world not made for those who are different.

Further releases include Polish fantasy Kleks I Wynalazek Filipa Golarza via Magnetes Pictures and Inidan action Sikandar via Bakrania Media. Disney’s Snow White will be the key holdover title. 

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