aquaman c warner bros 2

Source: Warner Bros

‘Aquaman’

Today’s GBP to USD conversion rate: 1.26.

RankFilm  (Distributor)Three-day gross (Dec 14-Dec 16) Total gross to date Week
1 Aquaman (Warner Bros) £3.8m £5.2m 1
The Grinch (Universal) £1.7m £21.7m 6
Ralph Breaks The Internet (Disney) £1.4m £9.3m 3
Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse (Sony) £1.2m £2.3m 1
5.  Creed II (Warner Bros) £748,000 £7.4m 3

Warner Bros

Saline superhero feature Aquaman started its UK run at the top of the box office chart, with a £3.81m opening. Adding in £1.4m in Wednesday-Thursday previews, the film is up to £5.21m, and achieved a £6,320 site average across 608 locations.

This number is down on the other openings for recent DC Comics titles. Zack Snyder’s 2013 Man Of Steel began with £11.2m in the UK, ending on £30m, while his Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice did £14.6m and £36.6m in 2016. The same year, David Ayer’s Suicide Squad did £11.3m and went on to £33.6m.

Last year, Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman started with £6.3m, including £1.2m in previews, and ended on £22.2m, while Snyder’s Justice League opened higher on £7.4m but struggled to £17.4m total.

Aquaman is the only one of this group to open in December, and with no Star Wars film this Christmas, Warner Bros will be hoping it can pick up an audience throughout the holiday period. With $186.2m after 10 days in China, it is already the biggest DC film in that territory. It also scored impressive $261m after two weekends internationally, ahead of its opening in many countries including the US (December 21).

Creed II stayed in the top five with £748,000 in its third week. Its lifetime of £7.4m is now ahead of the £5.9m achieved by the first title in 2016, and represents a decent result for Warner.

It pipped another Warner title, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald, which took £696,000 in its fifth week and is up to £30.5m. It will finish some way short of Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them, which took £54.7m in 2016.

A Star Is Born added £59,000 and has now passed the £29m mark.

Universal

Post-apocalyptic adventure Mortal Engines took £310,763 from 404 screens over its opening weekend, and is up to £1.27m including previews after screening from December 8.

Universal have a running hit with The Grinch, which held second place in its sixth week on release, dropping just 14% for a £1.74m weekend and putting it above Disney’s Ralph Breaks The Internet. The Grinch is now up to £21.68m, and will look to continue its form across the Christmas weeks.

Boots Riley’s Sundance comedy Sorry To Bother You starring Lakeith Stanfield and Tessa Thompson put on £81,313 and is at £458,147 after two weeks.

Sony

Another title to open after a preview run, Sony’s Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, took £1.23m over the weekend from 570 locations for a £2,174 site average, and has £2.28m in total. It started on UK screens on December 8, before an official opening last Wednesday (December 12).

Disney

Ralph Breaks The Internet fell 43% on its third weekend for £1.4m and £9.3m to date. Barring a surge over Christmas, it will finish down on Wreck-It Ralph’s £23.8m gross.

The Nutcracker And The Four Realms put on £100,000 on its seventh weekend and is up to £5.4m.

Paramount

Bumblebee, the latest title in the Transformers series that tells a prequel story about the eponymous robot, began a preview run with £670,000 from 521 sites across Saturday and Sunday, a site average of £1,286. The film officially opens on December 26 in the UK.

20th Century Fox

Bohemian Rhapsody took £528,064 over the weekend and is up to £45.13m after eight weeks. The Old Man & The Gun put on £100,028 for £625,183, while Widows added £37,497 and is at £6.13m. One year on from its release, Fox has also been re-running The Greatest Showman, with £47,829 from 58 locations this weekend pushing its UK total to £47.28m.

Entertainment One

Festive feature Nativity Rocks! added £232,554 and is at £2.2m, some way behind the totals of the previous Nativity! titles (£5.3m, £9.2m and £7.6m respectively). Peterloo advanced £4,564 and has £1.19m in total.

Dogwoof

Climbing documentary Free Solo, about Alex Honnold’s attempt to ascend El Capitan rock face in California without safety ropes, opened to £140,438 across the weekend, and has £391,578 including previews.

Three Identical Strangers added £36,375 and is up to £276,996.

Curzon

Lars von Trier’s Cannes title The House That Jack Built opened to £15,506 from 26 sites and has £31,445 including previews. Sebastián Lelio’s religious drama Disobedience added £29,111 for a £437,131 cume.

Thunderbird Releasing

Palme d’Or winner Shoplifters added £22,863 on its fourth weekend and is at £464,342. In comparison to recent Palme d’Or recipients, it is down on 2017’s The Square (£722,690 total) and 2016’s I, Daniel Blake (£3.45m), but ahead of 2015’s Dheepan (£411,991) and 2014’s Winter Sleep (£109,138).

Modern Films

CBeebies Christmas Show: Thumbelina, a yuletide special from BBC Children’s In House Productions, had a one-day event-style release across 399 sites on Saturday (December 15), taking £201,299, with previews taking the film to £205,601.

Park Circus

The annual re-release of Frank Capra’s festive favourite It’s A Wonderful Life from Park Circus grossed £70,118 from 44 sites, taking £114,865 including previews.

Lionsgate

Robin Hood added £22,051 for a £2.69m cume as it approaches the end of its run.

MUBI

Suspiria put on £3,871 for £340,287 to date.