joker

Source: Warner Bros

‘Joker’

Rank Film  (Distributor) Three-day gross (Oct 4-6) Total gross to date  Week
1 Joker (Warner Bros) £12.6m £12.6m 1
Judy (20th Century Fox) £1.5m £2.1m 1
3 Downton Abbey (Universal) £1.5m £23.1m 4
Hustlers (STX) £590,340 £6.2m 4
5 Ad Astra (20th Century Fox) £467,774 £5.5m 3

Today’s GBP to USD conversion rate: 1.23

Warner Bros

Todd Phillips’ Joker stormed the UK box office this weekend, with a £12.6m start and ranking the fifth-highest opening of 2019 to date.

Opening Friday (October 4) through Warner Bros, the film played in 668 locations for an astonishing £18,848 site average, well beyond any other title at the box office over the weekend.

Its performance comfortably exceeded Warner Bros’ projections for the title, which aimed for the £10m mark.

This dovetailed with the film’s global success, with a $234m worldwide launch including $93.5m in North America, a record launch for October.

The film tells the origin story of Batman villain the Joker and stars Joaquin Phoenix as Arthur Fleck, a part-time clown and wannabe stand-up comic who turns to violence following repeated mistreatment from those around him.

It received its world premiere at Venice in August, where it won the Golden Lion for best film. Both the film and Phoenix have been tipped for recognition this awards season.

It: Chapter Two added £358,000 for £18.5m to date, while The Goldfinch continued to perform poorly, falling a sizeable 85% on its second weekend with £48,000, taking it to £564,000.

20th Century Fox

Judy Garland biopic Judy started with £1.5m from 633 locations for a £2,443 average and - having opened in many locations on Wednesday (October 2) - has £2.1m including previews.

It scored second place and secured the third-highest screen average of the top 10, although is arguably one of the titles to have suffered from the substantial success of Joker.

Ad Astra dropped a sizable 64% on its third weekend, taking £467,774 for £5.5m to date. Although comfortably director James Gray’s highest-grossing title, it will struggle to catch the £8m cume of genre comparison title First Man from October 2018.

Comedy-horror Ready Or Not also experienced a 64% fall on its second weekend, with £253,340 taking it to £1.6m.

Universal

Downton Abbey fell from the top spot on its fourth weekend of release, dropping 46% and taking £1.5m. It has secured £23.1m so far, and has now broken into the top 10 of the year, just behind Rocketman’s £23.7m.

Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw will end just short of the top 10 for the year, with £23,427 taking it to £20.4m after 10 weeks.

Good Boys put on £7,051 for £3.2m to date.

STX

Jennifer Lopez title Hustlers is still dancing after four weekends on release, with £590,340 moving it to £6.2m. Its 42% drop was the smallest of the top five, marking it as the best of the counter-programming titles against Joker.

It is now STX UK and Ireland’s biggest ever release, passing the £5.5m of I Feel Pretty.

Disney

Disney’s three powerhouse remakes continue to generate box office long into their releases. The Lion King fell just 22% with £370,000 taking it to £75.3m after 12 weekends; Toy Story 4 dropped 19% with £250,000 taking it to £65.8m after 16.

Aladdin will be the first to leave cinemas, with a 71% drop of £22,000 bringing it to £37.2m, caused in part by its home entertainment release.

Paramount

For the second weekend in a row, Dora And The Lost City Of Gold had the best hold in the top 10, falling just 18% on its eighth session with £305,000 taking it to £6.2m to date.

Yash Raj Films

war

Source: Yash Raj Films

‘War’

Hindi-language Indian action title War was one of the best-performing openers this weekend, taking £255,588 from just 94 locations for a £2,719 location average.

This was the second-highest screen average in the top 15, behind Joker. That result could allow it to expand into further territories this weekend, as the only non-English language title in the top 10.

CinemaLive

An event cinema release of Plácido Domingo: 50th Anniversary Gala Evening on Tuesday, October 1 took £186,402, with encore screenings taking it to £191,452.

Lionsgate

Rambo: Last Blood added £168,928, a 68% fall on its third weekend taking it to £2.6m.

Angel Has Fallen added £45,378 and has now taken £7.4m.

Sony

The Angry Birds Movie 2 was Sony’s best performer of the weekend, falling just 18% with £126,000 bringing it to £5.4m after 10 weekends.

Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood possibly suffered from the arrival of Joker, dropping 67% with £75,000 taking it to £21.1m after eight sessions; while Spider-Man: Far From Home is closing out on £37.3m after a £19,000 weekend.

Trafalgar Releasing

Event cinema release Roger Waters: Us + Them took £117,131 from a Sunday release, and has £219,663 including preview screenings.

National Theatre Live

The encore screenings of Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s play Fleabag continue to engage audiences, taking £89,906 over the weekend and generating an impressive £3.5m to date.

Trinity Film

Trinity Film had two Chinese titles on release this weekend, with The Captain taking £85,264 from 24 sites and The Climbers managing £22,795 from 25.

Entertainment Film Distribution

The Farewell dropped 48% for £78,346 and has £654,673 after three weekends.

Picturehouse Entertainment

Shola Amoo’s Sundance 2019 feature The Last Tree starring Screen 2019 Star of Tomorrow Sam Adewunmi took £19,982 from 29 sites and is now up to £113,427.

Pinpoint Films

Dolly Wells’ comedy-drama Good Posture opened to £12,050 from 36 screens. Including previews, the film has £14,184.

Stronghold

Martha Pinson’s war veteran drama Tomorrow added £3,271 on its second weekend and has £97,727 so far.

Eureka Video

Polish war horror Werewolf opened to £1,597 from seven sites and has £2,820 in total.