‘Tron: Ares’ tops UK-Ireland box office with £1.8m; UK Tourette’s syndrome drama ‘I Swear’ grosses £1.1m

GBP to USD conversion rate: 1.33

Disney’s Tron: Ares topped the UK-Ireland box office with a £1.8m opening weekend, holding off the strong run of One Battle After Another and a good opening from Studiocanal’s UK drama I Swear.

Tron: Ares opened in 608 cinemas at a £2,940 location average, with final figures still to come. That figure is below the £2m opening at a £4,364 average from 452 sites of Tron Legacy from 2010. Legacy ended on £10.5m, a target that would satisfy Disney for Ares from this start.

Paul Thomas Anderson’s revolutionary thriller One Battle After Another held second spot on its third weekend in cinemas. Already Anderson’s highest-grossing film, the Warner Bros title added £1.2m – a 37% drop – to reach £8.3m. It now looks likely to pass £10m across its run, in a strong result for the studio.

Studiocanal opened UK drama I Swear, about the life of a young man with Tourette’s syndrome, to £1.1m, from 653 sites at a £1,615 average. Written and directed by Kirk Jones and produced by Georgia Bayliff, Piers Tempest and Jones, the film has grossed £1.2m including previews.

Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale leads Universal’s slate, dropping 48% on its fifth weekend with £454,244 taking it to £16.9m. It will finish as the second-highest-grossing of the three Downton Abbey features, ahead of 2022’s A New Era (£15.1m) but behind 2019’s Downton Abbey (£28.5m).

The Smashing Machine fell back 59% on its second weekend for Entertainment Film Distributors, with £352,812 taking it to a £1.6m cume.

Takings for the top five titles dropped a hefty 36% to £4.9m, despite the presence of two new films. With Halloween on the horizon, exhibitors are hoping the arrival of horror titles including Universal’s The Black Phone 2 from next weekend will move takings in the right direction again.

Zoopocalypse begins

The Conjuring: Last Rites added £303,631 – a 41% drop - to its total on its sixth weekend in cinemas, to hit a strong £17.8m cume for Warner Bros.

Independent animation Night Of The Zoopocalypse started with £261,000 from 504 sites at a £518 average for new distributor Kazoo Films, as the highest-grossing children’s film in the market.

Ghost dog horror Good Boy started with £172,515 from 329 sites at a £524 average for Vertigo Releasing. Including previews, the film has £229,643.

On a tough weekend for holdovers, Universal’s The Bad Guys 2 performed better than most, dropping 37% on its 12^th weekend in cinemas. The animated sequel added £166,516 and has passed £14m, overtaking the £13.8m of 2022’s The Bad Guys – a strong result for number two from a £1.6m opening.

Stephen King adaptation The Long Walk added £147,388 on its fifth session, dropping back 47% to hit £4.4m for Lionsgate.

The Roses dropped 49% on its seventh weekend in cinemas for Disney, with £123,850 taking it to £10.1m.

A re-release of Tim Burton’s stop-motion animation Corpse Bride made £122,143 at the weekend for Park Circus, and has £129,054 including previews. The film made over £5m on its original 2005 run.

Lionsgate’s Twilight re-release held well on its second weekend in cinemas, dropping just 6% with £97,010. The re-run of the 2008 film now has £241,000, in addition to the £11.2m from its original release.

Anime Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Infinity Castle leads Sony’s slate, adding £82,760 on its fifth weekend. Despite a drop of 52%, it has taken a strong £6.8m to date.

A re-release of 1997 Japanese psychological thriller Perfect Blue took a decent £80,600 through Anime Ltd, and has £82,016 including previews. This already tops the £45,714 total of a 20^th anniversary re-release from 2017.

Universal horror Him suffered a 72% drop on its second weekend, with £76,385 bringing the film to £495,804 total.

The Strangers: Chapter 2 added £45,022 on its third weekend for Lionsgate – a 67% drop that brough it to £792,360, behind the £1.9m total of the 2024 first film.

Animation Dora: Magic Mermaid Adventures leads Paramount’s slate again, adding £45,000 – a 58% drop across its second weekend that brought it to £168,000.

In addition to the aforementioned first film, Lionsgate has re-released 2009’s The Twilight Saga: New Moon, taking £42,433 on its first session from 221 sites at a £345 average. The Twilight sequel made a strong £27.6m on its original release.

National Theatre Live’s Inter Alia starring Rosamund Pike added £38,889 on its sixth weekend in cinemas – a 6% uptick that took it to a £2.1m total, a strong result for an event release.

The second weekend of Indian romantic comedy Sunny Sanskari Ki Tulsi Kumari added £35,390 for Moviegoers Entertainment, with the film up to £178,452.

Disney’s Freakier Friday is still in cinemas after 10 weekends, adding £27,789 – a 48% drop – on its latest session to hit £8.9m, ahead of the £6.6m of the 2003 first film.

Carmen Emmi’s UK-US independent thriller Plainclothes opened to £20,884 from 51 screens at a £409 average, and has grossed £45,154 in total for Curzon.

Sony romantic drama A Big Bold Beautiful Journey is reaching the end of its path after four weekends in cinemas. The film, starring Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell, added £18,142 on its latest session to hit £1.2m.

The Smurfs are starting their exit for Paramount, with a £15,000 13^th weekend taking the film to £5.8m – the lowest-grossing of the four most recent Smurfs films.

Myrid Carten’s Irish documentary A Want In Her opened to £12,115 in Ireland through Break Out Pictures.

Documentary Omar And Cedric: If This Ever Gets Weird about the band The Mars Volta took £1,558 from three screenings through Bulldog Film Distribution.

On what would have been the 100^th birthday of the late Margaret Thatcher, miners’ strike documentary Iron Ladies made £580 from three screenings through Miracle Comms, with final figures still to come.

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