'One Battle After Another'

Source: Warner Bros

‘One Battle After Another’

Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another is the biggest title opening in UK and Ireland cinemas this weekend as the Warner Bros feature hits 650 locations.

Leonardo DiCaprio stars in the acclaimed director’s latest film as a washed-up revolutionary who must jump back into action when his daughter goes missing. It is one of Anderson’s widest releases to date, ahead of his last feature, 2021’s Licorice Pizza which debuted in 203 sites with £436,005.

Anderson’s biggest opening was 1998’s Boogie Nights on £794,295. It went on to gross £4.5m across its lifetime but is behind the director’s highest-grossing title in the territory – 2008’s There Will Be Blood on just shy of £5m.

With a reported budget somewhere between $130-175m, Warner Bros will hope One Battle After Another can reach new heights with the help of DiCaprio and a raft of strong reviews. Further cast includes Sean Penn, Benicio del Toro, Regina King, Teyana Taylor and Chase Infiniti.

Horror, Hamilton and Homebound 

Elsewhere, Lionsgate horror The Strangers: Chapter 2 launches in 427 sites. The film, centring on the aftermath of a home invasion, comes after Chapter 1 debuted in May 2024 with £452,507.

In event titles, Disney is re-releasing Hamilton in 738 venues over the weekend to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the stage show. Trafalgar Releasing has BTS 2016 Live The Most Beautiful Moment In Life On Stage: Epilogue Remastered in 108 venues after opening on Wednesday (September 24).

Universal is re-releasing Billy Elliot in 375 cinemas for its 25th anniversary. The UK drama from 2000, about a working-class boy who discovers a love of ballet, opened on £1.5m for a lifetime gross of £18.2m. Further re-releases include 2004 British crime drama Bullet Boy via Blue Finch Films and Spider-Man 2.1 via Park Circus.

The Dead Of Winter

Source: Locarno International Film Festival

‘The Dead Of Winter’

Emma Thompson stars in The Dead Of Winter which Vertigo Releasing is launching in 170 cinemas. The action thriller follows a woman travelling alone in Minnesota who stumbles upon the kidnapping of a young girl.

Japanese animation Detective Conan: One-eyed Flashback opens in 62 locations for Trinity Film and Cine Asia. 

Homebound, India’s submission for best international feature at the Oscars, launches in 46 venues via Moviegoers Entertainment. Martin Scorsese is among the executive producers of the feature about two childhood friends who train to become police officers.

UK queer romance A Night Like This is opening in 27 sites for Verve Pictures.

Justin Kurzel’s documentary Ellis Park lands in 12 cinemas via Conic Film. It centres around Australian musician Warren Ellis and the wildlife sanctuary he co-founded.

Further releases include French drama Better Days via Parkland Film Capital; Nadia Fall’s Brides via Vue Lumiere; Tourette’s Syndrome documentary Irvine Welsh: Reality Is Not Enough via Kaleidoscope; US documentary The Librarians via Dogwoof; and football documentary Euro 75 via Bruise Films.

Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale and The Conjuring: Last Rites remain the key holdover titles. 

Topics