ParaNorman creeps into top spot at the UK box office

In a busy week for new releases at the UK box office, one of last week’s debutants in the form of Universal’s ParaNorman held well to climb one spot and claim number one.

The second film from animation studios Laika spooked up an estimated $1.9m (£1.2m) from its 479 sites - only a 13% drop, the week’s strongest holdover - to stand at $4.7m (£2.9m) after ten days in play. That leaves it trailing behind Laika’s debut feature Coraline which stood at $6.8m (£4.2m) at the end of its second weekend, although it had enjoyed two days of previews prior to its release. It also suffered a 67% drop in its third weekend, so if ParaNorman continues its resistance, it could end up challenging Coraline’s $12.2m (£7.5m).

The film’s number one result marked Universal’s fifth number one weekend this year.

Andrew Dominik’s second collaboration with Brad Pitt, Killing Them Softly, was this week’s highest new entry. Entertainment’s black comedy-thriller shot its way to a strong $1.5m (£934,000) from its 375 sites.

That total is easily Dominik’s best-ever opening in the UK and Killing Them Softly will also become his best-ever performance in the UK this week once it overhauls The Assassination Of Jesse James’ final tally of $1.6m (£970,207).

Momentum’s House At The End Of The Street was this week’s second highest new entry in third, recording a decent $1.3m (£794,297) at an average of $3,476 (£2,147) with some sites still to report. The result is comfortably director Mark Tonderai’s best-ever performance already in the UK - his only previous feature Hush took $150,130 (£92,719) during a limited run in 2009 - and the sixth-best for a horror this year.

eOne’s The Sweeney dropped three places to fourth after being displaced from the top spot by ParaNorman. Nick Love’s reboot took an additional $1.2m (£727,747) and has now taken a solid $4.8m (£3.0m) after two weeks.

Hope Springs enjoyed just a 14% decline in its second weekend to climb one place to fifth, taking $1m (£623,853) through Momentum for $3.3m (£2.0m) to date, while Lawless added $669,000 (£413,184) for $5.7m (£3.5m) making it director John Hillcoat’s best-ever performance in the UK.

After three weeks in the UK, Universal’s Anna Karenina stands at $6.2m (£3.9m) following a third weekend haul of $820,000 (£500,000).

Oliver Stone’s latest Savages opened with a non-final $600,000 (£380,000) from its 379 sites through Universal, some way short of Stone’s previous film Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps which notched the director’s finest ever opening in the UK at $2.9m (£1.8m).

The week’s strongest performance based on averages belonged to Entertainment’s Untouchable. The French global box office smash looks set to continue that in the UK as it managed an estimated $174,000 (£107,000) from just 19 sites for a storming per-site average of around $9,158 (£5,632).

From its re-release at 15 IMAX sites across the country, Paramount’s Raiders Of The Lost Ark corralled a strong $120,000 (£74,000) for the week’s second strongest site average, behind Intouchables, at $7,992 (£4,933).

Lionsgate’s Tower Block, which received its world premiere as the closing film of this year’s FrightFest, missed its target after taking a disappointing $58,000 (£36,000) from its 61 sites to land outside the top 20 on its debut.

Also for the distributor, The Possession has amassed $5.2m (£3.2m) after four weeks in play.

This week sees saturation releases for Warner Bros.’ The Campaign, eOne’s Toronto opener Looper and Sony’s Resident Evil: Retribution. Worldwide box office smash Intouchables expands wide through Entertainment, while Soda’s Barbara and Momentum’s The Babymakers are among the films receiving a limited release.

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