‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ crosses £14m at UK-Ireland box office; ‘Speak No Evil’ opens second with £1.2m, ‘Lee’ captures third

Rank	Film (distributor)	Three-day gross (Sep 13-15)	Total gross to date	Week
1.	Beetlejuice Beetlejuice  (Warner Bros)	£4.3m	£14.4m	2
2.	Speak No Evil  (Universal)	£1.2m	£1.4m	1
3.	Lee  (Studiocanal)	£674,914	£705,643	1
4.	Prima Facie  (NT Live)	£554,794	£1.5m	1
5.	Despicable Me 4  (Universal)	£389,930	£46.3m	10

GBP to USD conversion rate: 1.32

Warner Bros’ Beetlejuice Beetlejuice crossed £14m in a second weekend atop the UK-Ireland box office chart as Universal’s latest Blumhouse horror Speak No Evil opened in second place.

Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice added £4.3m on its second session, a 41.5% drop on its opening session. It is up to £14.4m from 10 days in cinemas, falling behind two comparative titles from Burton: 2005’s Charlie And The Chocolate Factory (£19.4m at this stage) and 2010’s Alice In Wonderland (£22.7m). 

However it is still ahead of the director’s 2019 Dumbo (£12.1m) at this point; and has topped the lifetime total of his 2016 Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children  (£12.3m) and 2008’s Sweeney Todd (£11.1m).

Universal’s latest Blumhouse Productions horror Speak No Evil started in second place, with £1.2m from 582 sites at a £2,045 average. Having opened on Thursday, September 12, the film has £1.4m to date, and should soon overtake fellow 2024 Blumhouse title Imaginary (£2m total through Lionsgate).

Lee  starring Kate Winslet opened to £674,914 from 610 sites at a £1,106 average for Sky Cinema, released by Studiocanal. Ellen Kuras’ biopic of US photographer Lee Miller has £705,643 including previews. 

National Theatre Live’s re-release of filmed play Prima Facie starring Jodie Comer took £554,794 at the weekend, at an £817 site average. The play has proved an enduring cinema hit, making £1.5m on its re-release so far in addition to £5.5m from its original 2022 run, as the previous highest-grossing event cinema release of all time in the UK and Ireland.

Universal’s Despicable Me 4 held a top five spot on its 10^th weekend in cinemas. The Illumination animation added £389,930 – a 29% drop – and is up to £46.3m. It could still overtake Despicable Me 2 (£47.5m) and 3 (£47.9m) before it leaves cinemas, as well as Minions (£47.8m) and Minions: The Rise Of Gru (£47m).

Takings for the top five came in at £7.1m – up 31.7% on the start of the month, and up 39% on the equivalent weekend from last year. Comic book character re-releases will hold major space next weekend, with Sony’s latest Spider-Man title No Way Home (the 4^th -highest-grossing film ever in the territory on its original run with £97.1m) and four Batman films from Park Circus including Christopher Nolan’s 2005-2012 trilogy.

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Deadpool & Wolverine leads Disney’s slate, adding £359,589 on its eighth session – a 46% drop. It is up to £56.7m, as the second-highest-grossing 2024 release; and will finish as the fourth-highest-grossing of 34 Marvel Cinematic Universe titles to date, in a timely boost for the franchise.

Lionsgate’s The Critic starring Ian McKellen and Gemma Arterton opened to £327,410 at a £577 site average, and has £353,075 including previews.

Despite dropping out of the top five, Sony’s domestic abuse drama It Ends With Us added £327,196 on its sixth weekend in cinemas. The film is up to £20.9m in a spectacular result.

Alien: Romulus added £268,311 on its fifth weekend – a 53% drop. The Disney title is up to £12.8m, and should catch the £12.9m of 2017’s Alien: Covenant within the next week to become the highest-grossing title of the Alien series.

Dropping just 33% on an impressive 14^th consecutive weekend in cinemas, Disney’s Inside Out 2 added £154,731. It is up to £58.9m, as the highest-grossing release of 2024.

Zoe Kravitz’s Blink Twice took a further £124,611 on its fourth weekend in cinemas, and is up to £2.9m for Warner Bros.

Sony’s latest Spider-Man re-release Far From Home took £77,914 this weekend, in addition to the £37.3m from the 2019 original run.

Kneecap added a further £74,301 on its fourth weekend in UK and Ireland cinemas, of which £34,955 came from England, Scotland and Wales through Curzon and £39,346 came in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland through Wildcard Distribution. The film now has almost £1.9m across the territories, in an excellent result for Rich Peppiatt’s Irish Oscar entry.

After a slow opening, Sony’s Harold And The Purple Crayon has found its audience, taking £41,847 on its seventh session to hit £3.1m.

Japanese anime title Dan Da Dan: First Encounter took a £40,491 total including previews this weekend through Anime Ltd.

Concert film Usher: Rendezvous In Paris took £38,233 at the weekend, and has £71,064 including its Thursday September 12 event opening for Trafalgar Releasing.

Children’s animation Boonie Bears: Time Twist opened to £32,078 from screenings on Saturday and Sunday only, through Miracle/Dazzler.

Iranian drama My Favourite Cake, a Berlinale 2024 Competition entry, opened to £31,933 through Curzon. Maryam Moghaddam and Behtash Sanaeeha’s film has £34,975 including previews.

A third weekend of The Count of Monte Cristo added £30,737 for Entertainment Film Distributors, with the film up to £314,860.

Indian title Mathu Vadalara 2 started with £30,061 in total for Dreamz Entertainment.

MetFilm’s Firebrand starring Alicia Vikander and Jude Law added £23,945 on its second weekend, and is up to £258,053.

Twisters starring Daisy Edgar-Jones and Glen Powell is still in cinemas after nine weekends for Warner Bros, adding £23,442 to hit £14.4m. 

Black Bear’s Sing Sing added £20,362 on its third session – a 68% drop – and has £285,945 in total.

Moviegoers Entertainment’s The Buckingham Murders opened to £16,025 this weekend.

Ozi: Voice of the Forest added £13,754 on its fifth weekend in cinemas for Signature Entertainment, and is up to £540,916 – a decent total for an original animation without studio backing.

M. Night Shyamalan’s Trap is closing out after six weekends for Warner Bros, adding £9,257 on its latest session to reach £3.8m.

Daniel Kokotajlo’s Starve Acre starring Matt Smith and Morfydd Clark added £7,107 on its second weekend, and is up to £100,705 in total for BFI Distribution.

Park Circus’ latest Batman re-releases saw Batman & Robin start with £5,579; while Batman Forever is up to £24,102 from two sessions.

Fawzia Mirza’s Canadian comedy-drama The Queen of My Dreams opened to £4,951 through Peccadillo Pictures, and has £8,445 including previews.

Sony’s Blumhouse Productions horror Afraid put on £3,730 on its third weekend, and has £449,614 in total.

Altitude opened Kevin Smith’s The 4:30 Movie to £2,729 from three sites; while the distributor also has blur: Live at Wembley Stadium up to £84,381.

Black Bear horror Longlegs is still in select cinemas after 10 weekends, and added £2,392 on this session to hit £8.1m.

Trafalgar Releasing’s Coraline re-master is up to £3.4m. The event cinema specialist also had Mozart’s The Marriage Of Figaro, which played on Tuesday, September 10 and has £267,978 in total; and Riize Fan-Con Tour ‘Riizing Day’, which has £11,664 in total.

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