Bob Dylan biopic ‘A Complete Unknown’ opens top at UK-Ireland box office

Rank	Film (origin)	Distributor	Jan 17-19 gross	Total	Week
1	A Complete Unknown (US)	Disney	£2.6m	£2.6m	1
2	Mufasa: The Lion King  (US)	Disney	£1.6m	£26.1m	5
3	Sonic The Hedgehog 3 (US)	Paramount	£1.1m	£22.3m	4
4	Nosferatu (US)	Universal	£1.1m	£10.9m	3
5	We Live In Time (UK-Fr)	Studiocanal	£860,881	£6.8m	3

GBP to USD conversion rate: 1.22

Disney’s Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown opened to £2.6m this weekend across the UK-Ireland, landing in the top spot.

With just shy of 700 sites reporting, and a few still to report, the film has a location average of £3,714.

Timothee Chalamet plays the American Blowin’ In The Wind singer from his early days as an unknown musician in 1961 New York. James Mangold directs the Searchlight title, with Elle Fanning and Edward Norton also in the cast.

Music biopics proved a hit at the box office last year. A Complete Unknown has opened very slightly behind Studiocanal’s Amy Winehouse film Back To Black, which launched to £2.7m in April of 2024, and hasn’t quite matched Paramount’s Bob Marley: One Love, which opened to £4.2m last February. A Complete Unknown opened ahead of Entertainment Film Distributors Robbie Williams film Better Man, which kickstarted with £1.3m at the very end of 2024.

Now on its fifth weekend, Disney’s Mufasa: The Lion King dropped 26% on its previous weekend’s takings, but still roared up £1.6m, for a total of £26.1m.

Paramount’s live action-animation family adventure Sonic The Hedgehog 3’s popularity rumbles on with £1.1m (full figure: £1,080,662) in its fourth weekend, now totalling £22.3m. This puts it just ahead of Universal gothic horror Nosferatu which added £1.1m (full figure: £1,075,780) on weekend three, boosting its total to £10.9m.

Studiocanal’s romance starring Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield, We Live In Time, grossed £860,881 in its third session, for a strong £6.8m total so-far.

Entertainment Film Distributors’ erotic thriller Babygirl, starring Nicole Kidman and Harris Dickinson, took in £742,030 in its second weekend on release, for a running total of £2.6m. 

Meanwhile, fellow Universal horror Wolf Man’s first weekend unleashed in cinemas brought in £654,276 from 518 spots, for a location average of £1,263. Christopher Abbot and Julia Garner star in the horror revamp, directed by Leigh Whannell and produced through Jason Blum’s Blumhouse. It hasn’t matched the opening weekend of Whannell and Blum’s previous creative partnership, The Invisible Man, which debuted to £2.2m from 582 locations in 2020.

Disney’s Moana 2 swept up £589,364 in its eighth weekend, down 31% on its seventh, for a cumulative figure of £40.1m.

Wicked’s ninth weekend conjured up £542,407 for Universal, a drop of 39% on the previous session. The musical now boasts a UK-Ireland total of £59.6m. It has overtaken Inside Out 2, the highest-grossing 2024 release, which took £59.2m.

Disney’s A Real Pain, starring Jesse Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin, added £435,919 on weekend two, a drop of 38% on its debut. The comedy’s total is £1.8m. 

Entertainment Film Distributors’ Robbie Williams biopic Better Man topped up its box office takings by £406,673 in its fourth weekend, for a cumulative figure of £5.8m. 

Pablo Larrain’s Maria, headlined by Angelina Jolie, drummed up £215,879 in the biographical drama’s second weekend for Studiocanal, now totalling £1.1m.

Paddington In Peru’s 11th weekend on release for Studiocanal guzzled up £206,402, for a total to-date of £35.6m.

Conclave’s eighth weekend saw a 22% drop for Black Bear, bringing in £173,000, boosting the papal thriller’s cumulative figure over the £7m mark.

Trafalgar Releasing’s event title, opera Offenbach’s The Tales Of Hoffmann, brought in £35,298 from re-plays at 103 venues in the UK only across the weekend, for a site average of £343, after showing as-live on Wednesday (January 15). Including pre-weekend showings, the title has grossed £160,912. 

Paramount’s Gladiator II added £61,000 in its 10th weekend, now on £31.8m. 



Dreamz Entertainment’s Telugu-language Sankranthiki Vasthunam, from Indian filmmaker Anil Ravipudi, brought int £58,057 from 20 locations in its debut weekend, for an impressive location average of £2,903. The action comedy opened in cinemas on Tuesday (January 14), with an overall figure of £195,057. 

Robert Zemeckis’s 100-year study of lives in a single place in Pennsylvania, Here, opened to £44,324 for Curzon from 130 cinemas, for a £341 site average. Including previews, the total is £52,737. Tom Hanks and Robin Wright star.


Curzon’s drama Nickel Boys added £23,593 in its third weekend, for a total of £291,942.

Family animation Panda Bear In Africa opened to £23,039 from 292 sites for Miracle/Dazzler, for a location average of £79. A panda travels from China to Africa to save his kidnapped best friend, a dragon, with Richard Claus and Karsten Kiilerich directing.

AA Films UK grossed £20,856 from 57 locations for Abhishek Kapoor’s Azaad. The Hindi-language film is set in 1920s India, where a young stable boy bonds with a horse.

Modern Films brought in £19,079 for Italian filmmaker Maura Delpero’s Vermiglio from 30 sites. The film is Italy’s entry to the international Oscar category and debuted at the Venice Film Festival last September. The Second World War title’s location average is £636. With previews, its total to-date is £32,854.

Cinema Live had four replays of event cinema title Tomorrow X Together: Hyperfocus In Cinemas  on Saturday, grossing £1,065, to a site average of £266. The K-Pop concert showed as-live on Thursday (January 16), and including the pre-weekend screenings, it’s total is £7,052. 

Trinity Film/Cine Asia’s Chinese action comedy Panda Plan, in which Jackie Chan plays himself in a rescue operation of a beloved zoo panda, with Luan Zhang directing, grossed £1,737 from 25 sites, for a location average of £69.49, with a few sites still to report. 

Also new in UK-Ireland cinemas this weekend: William Tell and Emmanuelle for Altitude; and Emergency for Zee Studios. 

• ‘Mufasa: The Lion King’ claims global box office throne again; ‘Wolf Man’ has slow start while ‘Moana 2’ passes $1bn