puss avatar

Source: Universal / Disney

‘Puss In Boots: The Last Wish’, ‘Avatar: The Way Of Water’

RankFilm (distributor)Three-day gross (Feb 3-5)Total gross to date        Week
 1. Puss In Boots: The Last Wish  (Universal)
 £5m £5m 1
 2. Avatar: The Way Of Water  (Disney)  £1.3m £72.7m 8
 3. Knock At The Cabin  (Universal)  £984,948 £984,948 1
 4. Pathaan  (Yash Raj)
 £701,103 £3.3m 2
 5. Plane  (Lionsgate)  £641,859 £2.3m 2

GBP to USD conversion rate: 1.21

Universal animation Puss In Boots: The Last Wish took top spot with a £5m opening weekend at the UK-Ireland box office, ending the seven-week run of Avatar: The Way Of Water.

Playing in 634 cinemas, The Last Wish scored a strong £7,908 average, with an opening more than double the £2m start of the first Puss In Boots film from December 2011. That film went on to a £15.6m total; with strong word-of-mouth plus best animated film nominations at the Oscars and Baftas, Universal will hope that The Last Wish can claw its way to a £25m+ total.

Its Saturday (£2.3m) and Sunday (£1.8m) totals alone would have been sufficient to top this weekend’s chart.

After seven sessions on top spot, Avatar: The Way Of Water moved to second, with a 39% drop and £1.3m weekend taking it to a £72.7m cume. It is now the 14th -highest-grossing film of all-time in the territory, just behind Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 with £73.1m and Toy Story 3 with £74.1m.

It is still just ahead of the first Avatar film’s £72m at the same stage; however it is well down on that title’s £4.3m takings for the equivalent weekend.

M. Night Shyamalan’s horror Knock At The Cabin opened to £984,948 from 574 locations at a £1,722 average for Universal. The figure is above the £866,860 opening of Shyamalan’s previous film Old from 2021; but well down on the £3.4m of Glass from 2019, or £2.5m of Split from 2017.

Yash Raj Films’ Pathaan has become the highest-grossing Indian film ever in the UK and Ireland after just two weekends in cinemas. Siddarth Anand’s action title starring Shah Rukh Khan added £701,103 – a 50.5% drop – to hit £3.3m, making it the first film from India to cross £3m in the UK and Ireland, and taking the crown of 2013’s Dhoom 3, which took £2.7m.

Lionsgate’s Plane descended by 41.9% on its opening session, adding £641,859 to reach £2.3m to date.

Boosted by The Last Wish’s strong start, takings for the top five rose to £8.6m – a 34.1% increase on last time out, but still the second-lowest weekend since mid-December. Warner Bros’ Magic Mike’s Last Dance plus a strong hold for The Last Wish will aim to reverse that trend next weekend.

Whale of a time

whale

Source: A24 Films

‘The Whale’

The Whale starring Oscar-nominee Brendan Fraser made a strong impact this weekend, grossing £614,906 from 384 locations at a £1,601 average. Including previews, the film has £690,026 for A24 Films.

Steven Spielberg’s semi-autobiographical The Fabelmans fell 45.9% on its opening weekend, with £542,000 taking it to a £2.2m cume for eOne.

Encore screenings of BTS: Yet To Come In Cinemas, the latest concert film from Korean pop sensation BTS, brought in a hefty £535,337 for Trafalgar Releasing. With £213,575 on the film’s original Wednesday February 1 release date, it is now up to £790,907 – a strong result for an event cinema release.

On its fourth weekend in cinemas, Universal doll horror M3GAN dropped 55% with £337,077 taking it to a £6.7m cume.

Babylon added £300,000 for Paramount – a 54.6% drop – and is up to almost £3.3m across three weekends.

Roald Dahl’s Matilda The Musical led Sony’s slate, with a £251,947 weekend – a 51.8% drop – bringing it to £26.8m from 11 weekends.

It was followed by two Sony stablemates: Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody, which dropped 51.4% on its sixth weekend with £222,831 taking it to £11.1m; and A Man Called Otto, which fell 53.6% on its fifth weekend with £151,281 adding up to £4.8m.

On its fourth session, Todd Field’s Tár  starring Cate Blanchett fell just 24% with £136,438 bringing it to £827,652 total for Universal.

Chinese action sequel The Wandering Earth II dropped 55.2% on its second weekend, adding £129,412 for Trinity Film to reach £649,473.

Sam Mendes’ Empire Of Light saw a 63% drop on its fourth weekend in cinemas, adding £74,670 to reach a £3.6m total for Disney.

On the weekend when it topped the list of London Critics’ Circle winners, Disney’s Searchlight Pictures title The Banshees Of Inisherin was a rare film to see an increase on its previous session - and for the second weekend in a row. On a lengthy 16-weekend run, the film added £52,188, going up 15% and reaching a £9.5m cume. Further awards success could still see it cross the £10m barrier before the end of its run.

Aftersun shines on for Mubi after 12 weekends in cinemas, dropping just 19% on its previous session with £32,498 taking it to £1.6m.

Sony anime Sword Art Online Progressive: Scherzo Of Deep Night opened with a £29,800 weekend, and has £54,500 including previews.

Disney’s Strange World dropped 57% on its 11th weekend, with £29,332, reaching £3.9m.

Picturehouse Entertainment’s release of Alice Diop’s Venice title Saint Omer took £26,063 from 31 sites at an £841 average, and has £38,974 including previews.

Jerzy Skolimowski’s Cannes 2022 title EO opened to £19,417 through BFI Distribution from 21 sites at a £925 average, and has £28,407 including previews.

Dina Amer’s You Resemble Me by Modern Films took a decent £6,578 from just six screens, with £7,578 including previews.

Warner Bros’ horror Unwelcome is slipping out of cinemas after just two weekends, falling 94.4% on its opening with £5,281 and a £191,524 total.

Now available on Disney+, Disney’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is closing out its cinema run, adding £5,000 on its 13th weekend to reach a £34.3m total – the 14th -highest-grossing of 30 Marvel Cinematic Universe films to date.

A 43-site 70th anniversary re-release of William Wyler’s Roman Holiday through Park Circus took £3,748, and will expand across the next two weeks leading up to Valentine’s Day.