Taylor Swift film leads UK-Ireland box office with £3.5m; ‘One Battle After Another’ sets Paul Thomas Anderson record

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Event cinema title Taylor Swift: The Official Release Party Of A Showgirl topped the UK-Ireland box office on its one-and-only weekend in cinemas, with a £3.5m session.

Playing in 656 cinemas and starting at 20.00 BST on Friday, October 3, The Official Release Party Of A Showgirl  took a strong £5,275 location average, having sold out multiple screenings in advance.

It closed its screenings on Sunday as a three-day-only event.

The £3.5m weekend was down on the £5.7m opening of Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour from October 2023 – the biggest opening ever for an event cinema title in the region. That film played for several weeks on its way to a £12.3m total gross.

However, £3.5m still represents an excellent result for distributor Piece Of Magic, with the release having topped the global box office chart too.

Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another posted an excellent hold on its second weekend for Warner Bros, dropping just 19% with just under £2m.

The revolutionary thriller is up to £6m from just 10 days in cinemas, already making it Anderson’s highest-grossing film ahead of There Will Be Blood  (£5m). Warner Bros will now look to push the film past the £10m mark across its run.

Another former number one, Universal’s Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale, added £865,075 – a 34% drop on its fourth session that brought it to £15.6m total. It has passed the £15.1m total of 2022’s second film A New Era, although the £28.5m of 2019’s Downton Abbey will likely be beyond it. 

Benny Safdie’s The Smashing Machine starring Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt opened to £862,322 for Entertainment Film Distributors, from 650 sites at a £1,327 average.

Warner Bros horror The Conjuring: Last Rites continues to flourish through its fifth weekend in cinemas. The film added £510,757 on its latest session – a 39% drop that brought it to £17.3m, already the highest-grossing title in the nine-film Conjuring universe by almost £6m.

Takings for the top five rose for a second consecutive weekend, up 13% to £7.7m. This brings more good news for exhibitors, after September takings were up 18% on last year. Although there will be no Taylor Swift next weekend, Disney’s Tron: Ares will look to maintain the good feeling.

Urchin strides out

Stephen King adaptation The Long Walk posted £276,169 on its fourth weekend in cinemas – a 41% drop that brought it to £4.1m total.

Him, the latest horror from Jordan Peele’s Monkeypaw Productions, opened to £274,742 from 433 sites at a 648 average for Universal.

Universal animation The Bad Guys 2 posted a 13% increase on its 11^th weekend in cinemas, with £264,716 bringing it to £13.8m total. It has now made more than eight times its £1.6m opening from late July, and will pass the slightly higher £13.8m of 2022’s The Bad Guys today.

A re-release of sci-fi blockbuster Avatar: The Way Of Water led Disney’s slate this weekend, taking £254,000 from 430 sites at a £591 site average. The Avatar sequel made £77.4m following its December 2022 release, and is the 12^th -highest-grossing film of all time in the territory; its re-release comes weeks before the launch of third film Avatar: Fire And Ash on December 19.

Disney comedy The Roses added £238,000 on its sixth weekend – a 31% drop that brought it to £9.8m. A total beyond £10m will represent a reasonable performance following a £2.2m opening weekend for the Benedict Cumberbatch- and Olivia Colman-starring film.

Anime Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle leads Sony’s slate, adding £172,445 on its fourth weekend. This drop of 47% brought it to £6.6m total – comfortably the highest-grossing anime title ever at the UK-Ireland box office.

Horror The Strangers: Chapter 2 dropped 59% on its second weekend for Lionsgate with £136,000, and is up to £663,111 – unlikely to catch the £1.9m of the 2024 first film.

Animation Dora: Magic Mermaid Adventures led the Paramount slate this weekend, taking £107,000 across the three days from 578 sites at a £102 average.

Lionsgate’s re-release of Catherine Hardwicke’s 2008 vampire hit Twilight made £103,201 this weekend, in addition to the film’s £11.2m from its original run.

Park Circus’ 30^th anniversary re-release of Martin Campbell’s GoldenEye took £99,124 from 367 sites at a £270 average. The James Bond title made £18.3m on its original release.

Indian romantic comedy Sunny Sanskari Ki Tulsi Kumari opened to £95,826, from 101 sites at a decent £949 average for Moviegoers Entertainment. Including previews, the film has £101,402.

Harris Dickinson’s UK independent title Urchin made a decent start, with £69,279 from 68 sites at a £1,019 average for Picturehouse Entertainment. Including previews, the film is up to £131,116 already.

Opera Tosca - ROH London 2025 took £68,830 at the weekend for Trafalgar Releasing from 117 screenings at a £588 screening average; and has £356,212 in total.

Brian Kirk’s action thriller Dead Of Winter added £49,651 on its second weekend for Vertigo Releasing - a 36% drop that brought it to £216,590.

Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell romance A Big Bold Beautiful Journey added £46,819 on its third weekend for Sony – a 71% drop that brought it to £1.2m total.

Smurfs topped up by a further £37,000 on its 12^th weekend for Paramount, and is now up to £5.8m – still well down on the £17.4m of 2011’s The Smurfs and £12.4m of 2013’s The Smurfs 2, but closer to the £6.1m of 2017’s Smurfs: The Lost Village.

Trafalgar Releasing had a trio of concert film releases by Kpop group BTS in cinemas this weekend. BTS 2019 ‘Love Yourself: Speak Yoursef’ London Remastered and BTS 2019 & 2021 Concert Marathon both made £23,393 at the weekend, as part of £57,464 totals; while BTS 2021 Muster Sowoozoo Remastered took £14,467 at the weekend, and £28,593 in total.

Signature Entertainment animation Diplo: The Mighty Dinosaur added £20,551 on its second weekend, and has £114,921 in total.

Embeth Davidtz’s Africa-set drama Don’t Let’s Go To The Dogs Tonight opened to £13,158 for Sony, from 105 cinemas at a £125 site average.

Action thriller The Shadow’s Edge starring Jackie Chan started with £12,725 for Trinity Film/CineAsia, and took an extra £852 in previews for a £13,577 total.

Indian legal comedy Jolly LLB 3 added £12,099 on its third weekend for Bakrania Media, and is up to £214,549 – down on the £312,540 of 2017’s Jolly LLB 2.

Universal’s How To Train Your Dragon live-action remake is finally closing out after 17 weekends in cinemas. It added £11,568 on its latest session for a £23.2m total.

Radiohead X Nosferatu: A Symphony Of Horror, in which F.W. Murnau’s 1922 horror classic is paired with Radiohead albums Kid A and Amnesiac, took £8,673 at the weekend through CinemaLive. The release has £95,829 in total after opening on Thursday, October 2.

Activism documentary Power Station started with £4,712 from four sites at a strong £1,178 average for Dartmouth Films.

Nadia Fall’s UK title Brides added £4,707 on its second weekend for Vue Lumière, and has £56,997 in total.

A box office hit throughout the summer, Zach Cregger’s Weapons is closing out for Warner Bros, adding £4,345 on its ninth weekend in cinemas to hit £11.8m total.

Spider-Man 2.1, Park Circus’ extended cut of Spider-Man 2, added £3,617 on a second session, for a £120,776 total.

Comedy Mr Blake At Your Service started with £1,869 for Vertigo Releasing, from 25 sites at a £75 average.

Spy thriller The Partisan opened to £1,647 from 16 sites at a £103 site average for Miracle Comms.

Esports screening 2025 Valorant Champions Tour: Finals In Cinema took £1,330 from two cinemas for Piece Of Magic Entertainment.

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