Kick-Ass 2 tops UK box office

Thanks to a preview boost of $1.6m (£1m), Kick-Ass 2 has debuted top of the UK box office.

Universal’s sequel recorded an overall opening of $3.9m (£2.48m) from its 482 sites to land the number one spot ahead of Planes. The debut is however behind Kick-Ass’ $6.1m (£3.9m) UK bow from 402 sites, but it’s worth noting that its debut included $3.2m (£2.1m) in previews.

Taking solely on Fri-Sun figures, Kick-Ass 2’s $2.3m (£1.5m) is narrowly behind Kick-Ass, which took $2.9m (£1.8m). The original was arguably boosted by stronger word-of-mouth and critical acclaim.

Since becoming 2013’s biggest hit last week, Despicable Me 2 shows no signs of slowing down, adding $1.2m (£767,000) for a sterling $66.8m (£42.7m) to date through Universal.

DISNEY

For the third week in a row, the official number one isn’t the film that led over the Fri-Sun weekend with that honour going this week to Planes.

Disney’s spin-off to Pixar’s Cars flew to a $2.7m (£1.7m) debut from its 507 sites at a solid average of $5,306 (£3,392). That result is ahead of DisneyToon’s last UK release, Tinker Bell and the Secret of the Wings, which managed an $827,000 (£528,820) opening from its 383 sites.

However, it is behind Cars’ $4.2m (£2.7m) UK bow from 513 sites, although arguably that had a higher profile as a result of Pixar’s involvement.

Speaking of Pixar, Monsters University crossed the £25m mark last week and added $1.4m (£889,884) to climb to $41.1m ($26.2m). Having overtaken Ratatouille’s $38.4m (£24.8m) UK result, A Bug’s Life is the next target in the prequel’s sights at $46.1m (£29.4m).

Also for Disney, The Lone Ranger took $1.2m (£753,210) in its second weekend for a ten-day total of $5.2m (£3.3m). Without a significant hold, it’s hard to see it even matching Rango’s $11.1m (£7.1m) result.

EONE

Rounding off an all-new top three, 2 Guns charted third on its UK debut after shooting its way to $2.2m (£1.4m) from its 397 sites.

That result marks director Baltasar Kormákur’s best-ever UK result, doubling the debut of his only other English language release, Contraband, which took $1.1m (£683,654) from 412 sites.

It is, however, behind Denzel Washington’s last foray into the action genre, Safe House, which debuted with $3.4m (£2.1m) from 424 sites.

Also for eOne, action sequel Red 2 added $177,000 (£112,956) for $4.3m (£2.8m) to date, while Now You See Me is up to $17.1m (£10.9m) following an $115,000 (£73,529) weekend.

SONY

Falling just 33% in its second weekend, last weekend’s Fri-Sun champion Grown Ups 2 grossed $1.7m (£1.1m).

The comedy sequel is up to $7.5m (£4.8m) in the UK and will need another solid hold to stand a chance of matching its predecessor’s $12.1m (£7.8m) tally.

Also for Sony, The Smurfs 2 is up to $13.6m (£8.7m) after three weeks in play after taking an additional $1.3m (£834,000). The sequel is unlikely to match the original’s $26.7m (£17.25m) UK result, but could still enjoy a healthy run until the end of the school holidays.

WARNER BROS

Proving to be excellent counter-programming by Warner Bros, The Conjuring scared up $1.5m (£971,000) in its third weekend.

James Wan’s horror is now up to $12.7m (£8.1m) in the UK and is the director’s strongest performer in the UK, surpassing Insidious’ $11.1m (£7.1m).

STUDIOCANAL

Last weekend’s official number one Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa fell to seventh this week following a $1.3m (£852,670) second weekend from its 418 reported sites through StudioCanal.

The first big screen outing for Steve Coogan’s iconic character is now up to $6.6m (£4.2m) in the UK and will hope to challenge I Give It A Year’s $9.7m (£6.2m) to become the distributor’s biggest hit in 2013 to date.

Also for StudioCanal, horror Aftershock was given a limited release in three sites resulting in a $2,258 (£1,442) opening ahead of its home entertainment release today [Aug 19].

FOX

Fantasy sequel Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters posted a $1.3m (£833,662) second weekend in the UK for $6.7m (£4.3m) to date through Fox.

It’s just over halfway to Percy Jackson & the Lightning Thief’s $11.6m (£7.4m) UK tally and, with a little over £2m added in its past seven days, will need a similar performance to challenge that result.

Also for Fox, The Heat crossed the £6m mark in its third week, adding $833,000 (£532,411) for $9.8m (£6.2m) to date.

Meanwhile The Wolverine sliced its way to a further $661,000 (£422,116) for $20.4m (£13.1m), now just under £2m away from X-Men ($23.4m/£15m) to prevent becoming the franchise’s lowest UK grosser.

LIONSGATE

In its third week of release, Lionsgate’s Only God Forgives grossed $96,000 (£61,000) for $1.8m (£1.2m) to date.

Also for Lionsgate, the multi-platform release of Bachelorette resulted in a theatrical debut of $30,000 (£19,000) from its 20 sites. That debut is narrowly behind multi-platform release, A Field in England, which debuted with $32,000 (£21,399) from 17 sites, and also behind Curzon Film World’s A Late Quartet, which opened with $171,000 (£111,289), including previews, from 49 screens.

CURZON FILM WORLD

Released on 15 screens by Curzon Film World, Call Girl posted a $22,000 (£14,003) debut, including previews.

UPCOMING RELEASES

This week sees saturation releases for Sony’s Elysium (opens Aug 21), eOne’s The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones (opens Aug 21) and Warner Bros’ We’re The Millers.

Lionsgate’s Lovelace and Curzon Film World’s What Maisie Knew both receive wide releases, while Universal’s Jurassic Park 3D receives an IMAX-only re-release and StudioCanal’s The Kings of Summer is among the films receiving a limited release.