creed III 2

Source: Warner Bros

‘Creed III’

RankFilm (distributor)Three-day gross (Mar 3-5)Total gross to date           Week
 1. Creed III  (Warner Bros) £5m £5m 1
 2. Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania  (Disney) £1.4m £17.2m 3
 3. Puss In Boots: The Last Wish  (Universal)  £1.2m £22.1m 5
 4. Cocaine Bear  (Universal) £1.1m £3.6m 2
 5. What’s Love Got To Do With It?  (Studiocanal) £845,838 £2.7m 2

GBP to USD conversion rate: 1.20

Warner Bros’ Creed III has made a muscular start at the UK-Ireland box office, taking almost £5m on its opening weekend to top the charts.

Playing in 637 locations, the film took a £7,820 location average. Both of these figures far surpassed the numbers for the first two films: Creed  opened to £2.2m at a £4,619 average in 2016; while Creed II started with £3m at £5,652 in 2018.

With lead actor Michael B. Jordan taking over the director’s chair, Creed III and the series as a whole are bucking recent trends by improving with each result. The third entry will now look to surge past the £10.1m total of the second film.

Disney’s Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania dropped to second place, with £1.4m on its third weekend bringing it to a £17.2m cume. This represents a 53% fall on its previous session; the film is following the template of most Marvel titles with a front-weighted box office run, although it is still well ahead of 2015’s Ant-Man and 2018’s Ant-Man And The Wasp, which had £12.8m and £13.6m respectively at the same stage.

Puss In Boots: The Last Wish has moved up to £22.1m for Universal, adding £1.2m on its fifth weekend – a drop of 35%. The film has far outstripped the £15.6m of the first Puss In Boots film from 2011; although may not catch the £29m of 2001’s Shrek – the lowest-grossing of the Shrek films, from which the Puss In Boots titles have spun off.

Cocaine Bear dropped 31% on its second weekend for Universal, adding £1.1m to reach a £3.6m cume.

What’s Love Got To Do With It? added £845,838 for Studiocanal – a 17.9% drop, outperforming most holdovers. The Lily James and Shazad Latif romantic comedy is now up to £2.7m from two weekends.

Total takings for the top five increased 20.4% to £9.5m, with the presence of four titles over £1m and the healthy Creed III performance both pleasing signs for the exhibition sector.

Broker takes good money

Warner Bros’ Magic Mike’s Last Dance dropped 43.5% across its fourth weekend, adding £265,768 to reach a £5.5m cume. The £8.4m of 2012’s Magic Mike and even the £6.9m of 2015’s Magic Mike XXL may now be out of reach.

Avatar: The Way Of Water added £229,677 on its 12th weekend for Disney – a 36% drop. The blockbuster is now up to £76.5m, as the 11th -highest-grossing film of all time in the UK and Ireland; it will likely finish in this position, with the £82.7m of both Titanic and Star Wars: The Last Jedi  beyond its reach.

Sony anime Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba - To The Swordsmith Village opened to £180,147 from 239 sites at a £754 location average. Having first screened on Wednesday, March 1, the film already has £567,797 in the bank, representing a fast start.

Studiocanal’s animation Epic Tails added £174,360 on its fourth session, dropping just 14.9%, to reach £1.7m.

Magnetes Pictures’ Polish romance Heaven In Hell opened to £146,822. The film, directed by Tomasz Mandeswas released in 213 cinemas.

Broker

Source: ZIP CINEMA & CJ ENM Co. Ltd. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

‘Broker’

Picturehouse Entertainment’s Broker was one of the top-performing holdovers this weekend, dropping just 10% on its opening session with £94,272. The film is now at £326,212, tracking on a similar level to director Hirokazu Kore-eda’s 2018 Shoplifters, which finished on £785,403 through Thunderbird Releasing.

Another decent performance from an independent title came from Lukas Dhont’s Close, which opened to £84,392 for Mubi. Playing in 74 cinemas, its location average was £1,140 – a good showing for an independent film not in the English language. Including previews, the film has £128,208.

Universal’s Women Talking dropped an average 33% on its fourth weekend, with £58,684 taking it to £776,884 in total. 

The Whale starring Brendan Fraser added £51,258 for A24 – a 32% drop – and is up to £2.2m.

Sony’s Roald Dahl’s Matilda The Musical added £49,497 on its 15th weekend in cinemas, and is up to £27.8m.

After five weekends in cinemas, M. Night Shyamalan’s Knock At The Cabin is up to £3.1m, after a 50% drop saw it add £48,649 in its most recent session.

Universal stablemate TÁR  fared better, dropping just 18% on its eighth weekend with £40,197 taking it to a £2.3m cume.

Lionsgate’s Plane descended 47.3% across its sixth weekend with £39,066, and is up to £3.7m.

Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans added £38,000 on its sixth weekend in cinemas – a 39% drop – and is up to £3.4m.

Disney’s Searchlight Pictures award-winner The Banshees Of Inisherin posted another good hold, dropping just 10% with £34,639 taking it to £9.8m from a lengthy 20-weekend run. Another couple of weeks in cinemas – and a successful ceremony at this weekend’s Oscars - could see it reach the £10m mark.

Yash Raj Films’ Pathaan extended its status as the highest-grossing Indian film ever in the territory, adding £33,556 on its sixth weekend to reach a £4.3m total.

A 44% drop saw Damien Chazelle’s Babylon add £29,000 on its seventh weekend for Paramount, to reach almost £3.9m.

Animation Marcel The Shell With Shoes On  added £25,267 on its third weekend for Universal, falling 47% and reaching £300,845 in total.

With a nomination at the upcoming Oscars for lead actor Paul Mescal, Mubi’s Aftersun dropped just 2% with £21,011 taking it to almost £1.8m from a long 16-weekend run.

Pakistani Oscar entry Joyland added a further £12,300 on its second weekend, and has grossed £102,418 in total for Studio Soho.

MetFilm’s Fashion Reimagined took £4,388 over the weekend across 19 sites, rising to £12,036 Including previews. 

Park Circus’ 4k remaster of Sidney Poitier’s 1972 western Buck And The Preacher took £2,295 from 113 sites.

In event cinema, Brian & Roger Eno: Live At The Acropolis took £20,743 on Thursday, March 2, rising to £21,212 including encores for CinemaLive.