Elysium tops UK box office

Neill Blomkamp’s highly anticipated Elysium has debuted top of the UK box office.

Sony’s sci-fi soared to a $4.8m (£3.13m) debut from its 465 sites, which included $1.5m (£975,000) in previews. It tops Blomkamp previous feature, District 9, which opened with $3.5m (£2.3m) from 447 sites, although it’s worth noting that was without any previews.

Comparing just Fri-Sun, District 9 is a shade ahead of Elysium’s $3.3m (£2.15m) Fri-Sun result.

Blomkamp’s second feature added a further $720,000 (£464,000) yesterday [Aug 26], so it has taken $5.6m (£3.59m) to date. District 9’s $14m (£9m) UK result is the target.

Also for Sony, Grown Ups 2 is up to $10.2m (£6.6m) after adding $1.1m (£678,000) over Fri-Sun and an additional $248,000 (£160,000) on Monday.

The Smurfs 2 has crossed the £10m mark and stands at $15.7m (£10.1m) following a $846,000 (£546,000) weekend and $197,000 (£127,000) on Monday.

WARNER BROS

Despite having to settle for second place, We’re The Millers got off to a solid start in the UK.

Warner Bros’ comedy took $2.3m (£1.5m) over Fri-Sun, with a result of $2.9m (£1.85m) from its 423 sites at an average of $6,780 (£4,374) over the four-day Bank Holiday weekend.

That result is, however, behind director Rawson Marshall Thurber’s Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story which recorded a UK bow of $3.4m (£2.2m) in 2004, including $564,000 (£363,253) in previews, on its way to $15.6m (£10.03m).

Also for Warner Bros, The Conjuring scared up an additional $901,000 (£581,000) (£492,000 Fri-Sun) over the four-day weekend and is up to $14.6m (£9.42m).

DISNEY

Last week’s Fri-Sun champion Planes dropped to third as it flew to an extra $1.8m (£1.2m)

Disney’s spin-off from Pixar’s Cars is now up to $6.8m (£4.4m) in the UK, as of yesterday.

Also for Disney, prequel Monsters University is edging towards £30m as it stands at $43.1m (£27.7m) following a $920,000 (£592,070) weekend.

EONE

The week’s third new entry came in the form of eOne’s The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, which recorded a $1.77m (£1.14m) debut from its 420 sites.

That opening includes $735,000 (£473,955) in previews and compares favourably to 2013’s other fantasy adaptations, The Host ($1.5m/£991,017 from 432) and Beautiful Creatures ($1.72m/£1.11m from 423 including £371,494 in previews).

As of yesterday, The Mortal Instruments had taken $2.04m (£1.3m).

Director Harald Zwart’s last feature, the reboot of The Karate Kid, opened with $7.6m (£4.9m) in 2010, including $3.6m (£2.3m) in previews, from 446 sites.

Last week’s number three 2 Guns is up to $4.8m (£3.1m) as of yesterday, and added $993,000 (£639,968) in its second weekend from its 387 sites.

UNIVERSAL

Falling a hefty 59% in its second weekend, Universal’s Kick-Ass 2 added $951,000 (£613,000) for $6.8m (£4.37m) to date.

The sequel is now likely to fall some way short of its predecessor’s $18m (£11.6m) UK performance.

Meanwhile, 2013’s biggest hit to date Despicable Me 2 is up to $68.3m (£44m) following a $878,000 (£566,000) ninth weekend, dropping just 26% week-on-week.

FOX

Fantasy sequel Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters took an additional $762,000 (£491,137) this weekend and has made $8.7m (£5.6m) after three weeks in play through Fox. It’s now just under £2m away from Percy Jackson & The Lightning Thief’s $11.6m (£7.4m) UK result.

Also for Fox, The Heat and The Wolverine are up to $10.6m (£6.9m) and $20.9m (£13.5m), respectively.

STUDIOCANAL

The first big screen outing for Steve Coogan’s iconic character Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa grossed $637,000 (£410,288) in its third weekend through StudioCanal for $8.2m (£5.3m) to date.

StudioCanal also opened The Kings of Summer in three sites, resulting in a $11,000 (£6,773) debut, climbing to $14,000 (£8,754) including yesterday.

CURZON FILM WORLD

Released in 43 sites through Curzon Film World (and also available on-demand at the likes of iTunes, Sky Store, Filmflex and Curzon Home Cinema), What Maisie Knew recorded a UK bow of $147,000 (£95,060) and has taken $184,000 (£118,761) as of yesterday.

LIONSGATE

Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman’s biopic Lovelace achieved a debut of $115,000 (£86,118) from its 80 sites through Lionsgate.

UPCOMING RELEASES

This week sees saturation releases for Lionsgate’s You’re Next (opens Aug 28), Sony’s One Direction: This Is Us (opens Aug 29) and Paramount’s Pain & Gain.

Fox’s The Way, Way Back receives a wide release (opens Aug 28), while Vertigo’s Hammer of the Gods and Metrodome’s Upstream Colour are among the films receiving a limited release.