'Paper Towns' tops UK box office with $3.3m debut

FOX

With the market hit by good weather, Paper Towns debuted top of the UK box office thanks to previews after opening last Monday [Aug 17]

Fox’s adaptation journeyed to $3.3m (£2.07m) from its 472 sites, including $2.1m (£1.3m) in previews. It’s worth noting that based solely on Fri-Sun, Paper Towns would have charted sixth with its $1.2m (£743,983) tally.

Paper Towns opened behind previous John Green adaptation The Fault in Our Stars which opened with $5.4m (£3.43m) from its 511 sites, including $1.56m (£992,893) in previews, on its way to $17.3m (£11m).

Also for Fox, Fantastic Four posted a $393,000 (£249,205) third weekend for $8.9m (£5.65m) to date, while Secret Cinema’s production of The Empire Strikes Back has reached $7.1m (£4.5m) after 12 weeks of its run.

Mistress America and Brothers have grossed $605,000 (£384,325) and $401,000 (£254,376), respectively, after their second weekend in play.

DISNEY

As with last weekend, Inside Out led the UK market over Fri-Sun as a slim 29% drop saw it add $2.2m (£1.38m).

Disney’s latest Pixar offering has now become the sixth 2015 release to hit £30m and currently stands at $48.1m (£30.65m). It’s now overtaken A Bug’s Life ($46.2m/£29.45m) and will surpass Monsters University’s $48.2m (£30.7m) today [Aug 24].

After that, Inside Out’s next - and potentially final - targets will be The Incredibles ($50.6m/£32.27m) and Up ($54.3m/£34.59m).

2014 only saw six £30m+ releases in the entire year, while 2015 still has at least three £30m+ films to come (The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2, Spectre and Star Wars: The Force Awakens).

Also for Disney, Ant-Man took a further $221,000 (£141,000) for $24.8m (£15.78m) after six weeks in play, while Strange Magic conjured up $89,000 (£57,000) from its 289 sites, with minimal shows, on debut.

EONE

Sinister 2 scared up $1.7m (£1.07m) from its 396 sites on its UK bow to chart third.

eOne’s horror sequel recorded one of the strongest site averages of the weekend with $4,243 (£2,699), although it fell short of its predecessor’s $2.3m (£1.44m) debut from 370 sites.

Sinister went on to take $10.4m (£6.6m) in the UK, and the sequel will require a strong hold to have a chance of challenging that.

PARAMOUNT

Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation posted a $1.6m (£1.04m) fourth weekend as it dropped one place to fourth.

Paramount’s latest outing for Ethan Hunt is now up to $26.5m (£16.88m) and has surpassed Mission: Impossible III’s $24.3m (£15.45m). It looks to be in a strong position to finish its run as the highest grossing mission of the series, currently Mission: Impossible’s $29.3m (£18.65m).

WARNER BROS

The Man from U.N.C.L.E. rounded off this week’s top five with a $1.4m (£916,000) second weekend.

Warner Bros’ spy reboot has now uncovered $5.6m (£3.54m) and, having overtaken Revolver, is only likely to be able to challenge RocknRolla’s $8m (£5.12m) result in terms of Guy Ritchie performances in the UK.

Also for Warner Bros, Vacation travelled to an uninspiring $952,000 (£606,000) UK bow, including previews, from its 432 sites.

Like the rest of the market, it will likely have suffered from the good weather on Saturday [Aug 22] so will hope to hold well this coming weekend.

SONY

Last week’s champion Pixels gobbled up an extra $1.3m (£818,000) as it fell to sixth.

Sony’s sci-fi comedy is now up to $7.5m (£4.8m) and, barring a surge, will likely finish up around the £7m-£8m mark.

ENTERTAINMENT

The Bad Education Movie started its UK run with $936,000 (£594,243) from its 414 sites through Entertainment.

In terms of recent big screen outings for UK comedies, that’s some way short of Mrs. Brown’s Boys D’Movie’s $6.8m (£4.3m) debut from 522 sites and even Keith Lemon: The Film’s $1.9m (£1.2m) from 420 sites.

Also for Entertainment, Southpaw punched its way to a further $588,000 (£373,478) for $12.3m (£7.82m) after five weeks in play and, as expected, became director Antoine Fuqua’s best-ever UK performer last week.

UNIVERSAL

Falling almost 50% in its second weekend, Universal’s Trainwreck added $769,000 (£490,027) for a ten-day tally of $3.4m (£2.17m).

It will still hope to be able to overtake This Is 40’s $4.4m (£2.8m) to avoid becoming Judd Apatow’s lowest-grossing UK outing.

Also for Universal, Minions is up to $69.4m (£44.2m) following a $612,000 (£389,566) ninth weekend, and is currently the fifth highest grossing animation of all time in the UK.

Jurassic World has now amassed $100.3m (£63.84m).

LIONSGATE

In its second weekend, Lionsgate’s Absolutely Anything crossed the £1m mark with $291,000 (£185,265) for $1.7m (£1.06m), and will still hope to edge past Man Up’s $1.9m (£1.23m) run.

Also for Lionsgate, The Gift stands at $2.7m (£1.74m) after three weeks in play, while Good People opened with $40,000 (£25,150) from its 18 sites.

CURZON ARTIFICIAL EYE

Alejandro Jodorowsky’s The Dance of Reality grossed $4,600 (£2,901) from its one-site release at London’s ICA through Curzon Artificial Eye.

UPCOMING RELEASES

This week sees saturation releases for Fox’s Hitman: Agent 47 (opens Aug 27) and StudioCanal’s We Are Your Friends (opens Aug 27)

Universal’s domestic smash Straight Outta Compton and Curzon Artificial Eye’s 45 Years both receive wide releases, while Signature Entertainment’s Barely Lethal and Altitude’s Zombie Fight Club are among the films receiving a limited release.