‘The Housemaid’ surges to UK-Ireland box office summit as ‘Hamnet’ scores excellent £3m opening

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Lionsgate’s The Housemaid leapt to top spot on its third weekend at the UK-Ireland box office with an excellent hold, as Universal’s Hamnet made a strong start, opening over £3m.

The Housemaid added £3.5m on its third session – a drop of less than 9% on its previous weekend. Paul Feig’s thriller, starring Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried, is up to an excellent £17.9m; it should cross the £20m mark within the next week, if it continues on its current trajectory.

Having overtaken the £17.6m of John Wick: Chapter 4, the film is already Lionsgate’s highest-grossing title since 2023’s The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes  (£18.2m), which it will pass this week.

It will also shortly pass the £18.1m of Feig’s 2019 festive romantic comedy Last Christmas; and could yet top the £23.1m of his 2011 comedy Bridesmaids to become the director’s highest-grossing film in the territory.

Chloe Zhao’s Hamnet made an excellent start for Universal, with just over £3m for the weekend, from 705 sites at a £4,283 average. Including previews it comes in at £3.2m.

It has already topped the £2.2m total of the director’s Nomadland, for which she won best picture and director at the 2021 Oscars.

Hamnet recorded a second-highest opening in the UK and Ireland for Zhao, behind 2021’s Eternals, which started with £5.5m. That film closed on a soft £14.9m, which Hamnet could approach with a long tail.

It is also a highest opening in a lead role for Jessie Buckley; and second-highest opening for Paul Mescal, behind 2024’s Gladiator II  (£8.8m).

Former number one Avatar: Fire And Ash dropped to third place on its fourth weekend in cinemas, with a £2.6m session – down 41% on its previous weekend.

The Disney blockbuster is up to £35.7m total; it will end well down on the £94m of 2009’s Avatar and £77.4m of 2022’s Avatar: The Way Of Water.

Entertainment Film Distributors’ Marty Supreme added £2m on its third weekend in cinemas, with another decent hold, falling just 26%. Josh Safdie’s ping pong caper now has £9.4m in total, as comfortably the highest-grossing film made by the Safdie brothers either in partnership or individually, and will pass the £10m mark this weekend.

Zootropolis 2 dropped 41% on its seventh weekend in cinemas for Disney, with £1.2m taking it to £29.3m total. It has already passed the £24.1m total of 2016’s Zootropolis; and will overtake several animations in the all-time list in the next week, including Chicken Run (£29.3m), A Bug’s Life (£29.5m), Sing  (£29.5m) and Ice Age II  (£29.6m).

All of the top five titles made over £1m at the weekend for the third session in a row – a good sign for exhibitors of a strong spread of titles with staying power. The top five titles made a combined £12.4m – up 53% on the equivalent weekend from last year.

SpongeBob on the march

The SpongeBob Squarepants Movie: Search For Squarepants added £618,000 on its third weekend for Paramount – a 48% drop that brought it to £6.9m total. It has passed the £5.7m of 2005’s SpongeBob Squarepants: The Movie, and could yet catch the £8.6m of 2015’s The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out Of Water 3D.

Sony’s Anaconda has slithered its way to £4.8m, after a £525,611 third weekend – a 46% drop. It has far surpassed the £1.4m of the original Anaconda film from 1997.

Music drama Song Sung Blue posted a reasonable hold on its second weekend, falling 39% with £435,691 taking it to £1.9m for Universal.

As part of a strong start in fourth place at the global box office this weekend, Maruthi Dasari’s fantasy adventure The Raja Saab took £262,100 in the UK and Ireland through Prathyangira Cinemas.

Wicked: For Good continues through an eighth weekend in cinemas for Universal. The musical added £211,220 on its latest session – a 44% drop that brought it to £46.9m. It will fall short of the £61.4m of the 2024 first film, but has still put in a decent performance, breaking into the all-time top 70 releases in the territory.

Joachim Trier’s Cannes 2025 Grand Prix winner Sentimental Value added £108,672 on its third weekend for Mubi – a 40% drop that brought it to £859,667 total. Another couple of weeks in cinemas could yet see it pass the £1.1m of Trier’s 2022 The Worst Person In The World, also starring Renate Reinsve.

Bollywood crime adventure Dhurandhar continues its strong cinema run in 2026, adding £67,419 on its sixth weekend – a 50% drop – that brought it to £2.9m for Moviegoers Entertainment. It is the fourth-highest-grossing Indian film of all time at the UK-Ireland box office.

Jack Lai’s Hong Kong adventure comedy Back To The Past added £45,972 on its second weekend for Trinity Film/CineAsia, and is up to £389,797.

Catherine Abbott’s documentary Becoming Victoria Wood opened to £21,198 from 23 cinemas for Dartmouth Films, at a healthy £922 site average; and still has four locations to report.

Universal horror Five Nights At Freddy’s 2 added £16,786 on its sixth weekend in cinemas and is up to £6.8m total, down on the £10.6m of the 2023 first film.

Ira Sachs’s Peter Hujar’s Day added £15,500 on its second weekend for Picturehouse Entertainment, and is up to £101,519 in total.

• Avatar: Fire And Ash crosses $1.2bn at global box office; The Raja Saab, Primate, Greenland 2: Migration roll out