poor wonka

Source: Disney / Warner Bros

‘Poor Things’, ‘Wonka’

RankFilm (distributor)Three-day gross (Jan 12-14)Total gross to dateWeek
 1. Wonka  (Warner Bros) £2.2m £56.2m 6
 2. Poor Things  (Disney) £1.6m £1.8m 1
 3. Anyone But You  (Sony) £1.2m £5.4m 3
 4. One Life  (Warner Bros) £1.2m £5.9m 2
 5. The Beekeeper  (Sky Cinema/Studiocanal) £920,844 £956,380 1

GBP to USD conversion rate: 1.27

Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things got off to an excellent start at second place in the UK-Ireland box office; as musical Wonka held top spot for a sixth consecutive weekend.

Warner Bros’ Wonka added £2.2m – a 40.7% drop – to reach a huge £56.2m. It is already the third-highest-grossing release of 2023, behind Barbie  (£95.5m) and Oppenheimer  (£58.4m); another fortnight in cinemas should see it move into second place on that list.

Wonka is also now the 33rd -highest-grossing film of all time in the UK and Ireland, coming up fast on Star War: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (£56.4m) and The Dark Knight Rises (£56.4m).

Disney’s Searchlight Pictures title Poor Things was the major success story of this weekend’s box office, opening to £1.6m from Friday to Sunday. Playing in 585 sites, it took a £2,675 location average – an excellent start for an esoteric 18-rated title.

Including previews, Poor Things has £1.8m – already past the £1.5m total of Lanthimos’ 2015 film The Lobster.

Demonstrating the variety on offer in the current market, Sony’s romantic comedy Anyone But You is building heat at cinemas, increasing its takings for a second successive weekend.

It went up 14.3% on its third weekend, with £1.2m taking it to an impressive £5.4m total to date.

It just pipped Warner Bros’ One Life starring Anthony Hopkins, which added £1.2m on its second weekend – a decent hold, falling just 27.8% - to hit almost £5.9m.

Sky Cinema’s The Beekeeper broke into the top five on its opening weekend, taking £920,844 from 480 sites at a £1,918 site average, distributed theatrically by Studiocanal. Including previews, the film has £956,380.

Cumulative takings for the top five came in at £7.2m – a 13.2% drop on last weekend. It is also down 23.7% on the equivalent weekend from last year, when Avatar: The Way Of Water flooded cinemas; distributors will look to Paramount’s Mean Girls musical to bring audiences back next weekend.

Priscilla holds firm

Priscilla.

Source: Mubi

‘Priscilla’

Priscilla held well on its second weekend for Mubi, dropping just 23.2% - better than the market average. It added £493,384 to reach a £2.2m total, and is already director Sofia Coppola’s second-highest-grossing film in the territory, behind 2004’s Lost In Translation (£10.1m).

Elysian Film Distribution’s The Boy And The Heron added £487,022 on its third weekend, in a 38.7% drop, with 27 sites still to report. This brought it to £3.9m total – a strong total for an animation not in the English language (part of this total does come from the English dubbed version).

Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom fell 51.3% on its fourth session with £454,993, dropping out of the top five. It has just shy of £9m in total, putting it above fellow DC Extended Universe title Birds Of Prey’s pandemic-afflicted £8.8m from 2020; and ending the Warner Bros franchise on a rather low note.

Disney’s Wish added £373,442 on its eighth session – a 41% drop – and has £11.8m in total – down on the £16.2m of animation stablemate Elemental from 2023.

It was a flat start for George Clooney’s rowing film The Boys In The Boat, with just £251,117 from 427 sites at a £588 cinema average. The Warner Bros historical drama has £270,297 including previews.

Blumhouse horror Night Swim leads Universal’s slate, adding £249,691 on its second session – a 58% drop – to reach £1.1m.

Ferrari added £242,000 for Black Bear Pictures – a 59.5% drop across its third weekend, that brought it to a £3.8m total.

The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes sings on for Lionsgate, adding £77,618 on its ninth weekend – a 57.6% drop – to reach £18.1m.

Godzilla Minus One stomps on for Anime Ltd, adding £76,764 on its fifth session – a 53.9% drop – to hit £2.5m.

Napoleon added £46,028 for Sony – a 66.8% drop – and is up to £14.1m from eight sessions.

Saltburn continues to demonstrate the viability of simultaneous streaming and theatrical availability, adding £41,879 – a 34.8% drop – on its ninth weekend in cinemas to hit a £5.5m total.

Awards contender Anatomy Of A Fall added £39,813 on its 10th weekend in cinemas – a second successive increase, going up 7.8%. It now has £1.6m in a strong result for Lionsgate.

Yash Raj Films’ Indian comedy Dunki added £33,591 – a 67% drop – on its fourth weekend to hit a £1.6m total.

Miracle/Dazzler has a repeat performer with animation Cats In The Museum, which increased 2.4% with £33,199 taking it to £235,437 from three weekends.

Next Goal Wins dropped 80% on its third weekend for Disney, adding £32,410 to reach a near-£1.5m total.

Back in Imax venues almost six months on from its initial release, Universal’s Oppenheimer added £24,114 on its 26th weekend in cinemas to hit a £58.4m total.

Universal’s Trolls Band Together is dancing out of cinemas after a lengthy 13-weekend run, adding £13,150 on its latest session to hit £15.5m. It is down on the £25m of 2016’s Trolls, but still a successful theatrical relaunch for the franchise after Trolls World Tour was controversially sent to streaming in 2020 (later grossing £1m in cinemas).

Dogwoof documentary The Disappearance Of Shere Hite took £3,188 from seven sites.

Fantasy adventure Freaks Vs The Reich brought in £183 from four cinemas in Ireland for Miracle/Dazzler.