Universal animation Sing 2 is the latest challenger to the six-week consecutive run atop the UK-Ireland box office chart of Sony behemoth Spider-Man: No Way Home this weekend.
Sing 2 is opening in 635 sites – a 14.4% increase on the 555-site opening of first title Sing in 2017. That film took a huge £6.25m at a location average of £11,261; this figure was boosted to a £10.5m total opening by two days of previews that brought in £4.19m.
That is still the biggest-ever opening for an original animated film, ahead of the likes of The Secret Life of Pets (£9.58m).
Sing went on to a sizeable £29.5m total. Such heights have been rare in the dampened post-pandemic landscape, with only five titles crossing the £20m mark in 2021, compared to 13 in 2019.
However, Universal will still have high hopes of starting with enough to finally knock No Way Home from its plinth. The Marvel Studios title has held the number one spot for six consecutive weeks – the longest run since Joker in autumn 2019, and one that has not been bettered since Avatar’s eight consecutive weeks (10 total) in 2009/10.
With Garth Jennings returning on writing and directing duties, Sing 2 follows optimistic koala Buster Moon and his group of animal musicians as they enlist the help of a reclusive rock star to impress an entertainment mogul with a show in Redshore City.
U2 singer Bono as the lion rock star is the major addition to a stellar voice cast, which includes Matthew McConaughey as Buster Moon, plus Reese Witherspoon, Scarlett Johansson, Taron Egerton, Bobby Cannavale, Pharrell Williams and Letitia Wright.
Final figures saw Belfast open within £10,000 of No Way Home last time out. The monochrome awards contender has since topped the charts on both Tuesday and Wednesday this week; a strong hold could see it also surpass Spider-Man.
Parallel lines
Pathé UK is releasing Pedro Almodóvar’s Spanish drama Parallel Mothers in 186 locations this weekend.
The film stars Almodóvar regular Penélope Cruz and Milena Smit in the story of two mothers who give birth on the same day.
It opened the 2021 Venice Film Festival in Competition, with Cruz taking home the Coppa Volpi for best actress. It has subsequently gone on to nominations in best international film categories from bodies including the Film Independent Spirit Awards and the Golden Globes, with Cruz receiving nominations from multiple critics’ organisations.
Parallel Mothers is an impressive 23rd feature for Almodóvar, who started in full-length films with 1978’s Folle… folle… fólleme Tim!
He broke through commercially with 1988’s Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown, which took £291,585 in the UK and Ireland.
Cruz has starred in seven of his last 11 features, typically in a lead role; the collaboration has coincided with another step up in his box office takings, with his films now consistently landing in seven-figure territory, led by 2006’s Volver (opened: £433,283; closed: £2.9m).
That film was nominated for the then-named best foreign film award; Almodóvar previously won best screenplay and was nominated for best director for Talk To Her (opened: £174,757; closed: £1.5m), also starring Cruz, in 2003.
Flag has its day
Vertigo Releasing has Sean Penn’s latest film Flag Day out this weekend. It debuted in Competition at Cannes 2021, finishing bottom of Screen’s Cannes jury grid. Penn stars opposite his daughter Dylan Penn, as a man living a double life as a counterfeiter and bank robber in order to provide for his daughter.
Republic Film Distribution is conducting a 37-screen release for Romola Garai’s directorial debut Amulet, with limited shows in most locations for the mystery-horror. It centres on an homeless ex-soldier in London, who is offered a place to stay by a young woman and her dying mother. He begins to fall for her, but has growing suspicions that something sinister is occurring.
Sony is opening Yasuhiro Yoshiura’s anime title Sing a Bit of Harmony in 110 sites; while Magnetes Pictures has Polish-language biopic Gierek, about 20th century Polish Communist politician Edward Gierek, in 157 locations.
Further titles on limited release include BFI Distribution’s reissue of Frank Hurley’s 1919 South – considered by many film historians to be the first-ever documentary feature – in seven sites; and documentary Taming The Garden through Dogwoof.
In the event cinema realm, National Theatre Live played Tom Stoppard’s 2020 play Leopoldstadt in 651 UK screenings on Thursday, with 215 encore bookings; while Trafalgar Releasing’s Rigoletto will play at 138 sites on Saturday, January 29.
Key holdovers alongside No Way Home and Belfast include Paramount’s Scream plus Disney’s Nightmare Alley and The King’s Man.
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