‘Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale’ tops UK-Ireland box office with £4.4m; ‘Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle’ opens second

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Universal’s Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale topped the box office in the UK and Ireland with a £4.4m opening as new titles dominated the top five.

The third instalment in the historical drama series beat out its predecessor, A New Era, which debuted on £3.1m in 2022 but failed to match that of the original 2019 film on £5.2m.

According to Universal, the film scored the highest share of its box office takings in independent cinemas, with Everyman also over-performing its usual box office share on the film. It also performed especially well in Odeon Luxe cinemas, with Luxe sites comprising eight of Odeon’s top 10 highest-performing cinemas this weekend.

Simon Curtis directs The Grand Finale which sees many familiar faces return including Joanne Froggatt, Dominic West, Hugh Bonneville and Paul Giamatti. The story centres around a public scandal which sees the Downton Abbey household grapple with the threat of financial troubles and social disgrace.

In second place was Japanese animation Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle which opened on £3.5m from 472 venues, with a strong location average of £7,339.82, and the biggest opening for an anime title in the territory. It will likely become the highest-grossing anime film of all time, quickly overtaking Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy And The Heron which grossed £5.1m in 2024. 

Dropping to third position was Warner Bros horror The Conjuring: Last Rites which brought in £2.8m on its second weekend. Now up to £12.4m, the final entry in the paranormal franchise has already topped the total box office runs of all previous titles in the series including 2016’s The Conjuring 2 which had previously held the top spot with £10.8m.

Stephen King adaptation The Long Walk opened on £1.2m for Lionsgate UK from 540 cinemas. While it has not quite reached the hefty openings of director Francis Lawrence’s The Hunger Games films - the highest of which, Mocking Jay – Part 1 debuted with £12.7m in 2014 - The Long Walk had the biggest opening for a King adaptation since 2019’s It: Chapter Two (£6.9m).

‘Spinal Tap II’ fails to rock

On its third weekend, Disney’s The Roses dropped just 38% with £939,197. The Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Colman comedy is now up to £7.3m.

Universal animation The Bad Guys 2 surpassed £13m in its eighth session after dropping just 15% with £281,476.

Long-awaited mockumentary sequel Spinal Tap II: The End Continues opened on £215,115, making for a £531.15 location average. Rob Reiner returns to direct with Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer all reprising their roles as members of the fictional rock band.

Lindsay Lohan comedy Freakier Friday was down 41% on its sixth weekend for Disney with £210,100 for an £8.5m cume.

Also on its sixth weekend, Warner Bros horror Weapons is now up to £11.6m after bringing in £130,352.

Disney’s Fantastic Four: The First Steps dropped 58% on its eighth outing with £89,295, bringing its total up to £23.8m.

For Paramount, Smurfs topped up £48,000 in its eighth weekend for a total of £5.6m.

Ethan Coen’s Honey, Don’t! dropped 72% on its second week of play for Universal, adding £45,059 to a £346,711 cume.

Also for Universal, Jurassic World Rebirth is up to £35.8m on its 11^th outing which brought in £37,644.

On its seventh session, Paramount comedy The Naked Gun hit £7.5m after adding £36,000.

Russian animation Dogs At The Opera debuted with £33,696 for Miracle Comms and Dazzler.

Curzon opened Spanish drama Deaf on £14,198. Eva Libertad’s debut won the audience award in the Berlinale Panorama strand.

Studiocanal’s The Life Of Chuck is ending its run just shy of £1.2m after the Tom Hiddleston drama added £6,760 in its fourth weekend.

• ‘Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle’ expands with $148m session; ‘Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale’ lands with $30m