Ridley Scott’s The Dog Stars leads the new releases in UK and Ireland cinemas this weekend as Altitude’s long-awaited Coyote Vs. Acme and Universal romantic comedy One Night Only are also released.
Disney is launching the post-apocalyptic drama The Dog Stars in 631 locations. It is Scott’s smallest opening since 2021’s The Last Duel which launched in 440 locations; followed by 2021’s House Of Gucci (685); 2023’s Napoleon (716) and 2024’s Gladiator II (722). The latter film was the director’s biggest opening ever with £8.8m and went on to gross £32m.
Jacob Elordi stars in The Dog Stars as a former pilot surviving in a world where most of humanity was wiped out by a virus. Margaret Qualley, Josh Brolin, Guy Pearce and Allison Janney co-star.
Altitude officially opens Looney Tunes adaptation Coyote Vs. Acme in 545 venues after previewing since last Friday (August 21). The film, which is inspired by an article in The New Yorker, grossed £325,000 from previews last weekend.
Directed by Dave Green, the live-action and animated comedy was produced and prepped for distribution by Warner Bros before the studio shelved the project in 2023 and later sold it on. It was a similar story with Looney Tunes: The Day The Earth Blew Up which Vertigo released earlier this year, opening on £66,100 from 518 venues.
Universal is opening Will Gluck’s One Night Only in 527 sites. The romantic comedy, starring Monica Barbaro and Callum Turner, debuted in the US earlier this month, bringing in $5.7m from 3,012 sites.
Gluck’s last film, Anyone But You, opened on £733,400 in December 2023 before becoming a sleeper hit with a total gross of £11.7m across its run.
One Night Only is set in a fictionalised version of America where pre-marital sex is only legal one night of the year.
Re-releases, Almodovar and I Want Your Sex
Universal also has a re-release of the original The Fast And The Furious out in 424 cinemas. The 2001 car action, which launched an 11-film franchise, grossed £6.6m on its original run. Also on re-release is Damien Chazelle’s La La Land in 350 locations for Lionsgate to celebrate its 10th anniversary. The musical romance also grossed £6.6m on its original run back in 2012. Park Circus is re-releasing Shaun The Sheep in 218 sites.
Australian animation The Pout-Pout Fish opens in 289 venues for Vertigo Releasing.
Trafalgar Releasing’s concert title Ghost: 2 Big To Rig has encore screenings in 234 sites over the weekend after launching on Wednesday (August 26). It features pro-shot footage from the Swedish band’s phone-free tour.
Rise Of The Footsoldier: Retribution opens in 154 cinemas for Signature Entertainment. It is the seventh entry in the British crime action franchise – the highest-grossing of which was 2023’s Vengeance with more than £365,000, ahead of 2021’s Origins on £287,600.
The French war drama De Gaulle: Résistance launches in 152 locations for Entertainment Film Distributors. It is the first part of a two-part epic tracking Charles de Gaulle’s journey during World War Two, from soldier to politician. Directed by Antonin Baudry, it had its world premiere, out of competition, at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year.
Gregg Araki’s I Want Your Sex launches in 130 venues for Black Bear. Olivia Wilde and Cooper Hoffman star in the comedy about a contemporary artist who hires an assistant to be her sexual muse. The film premiered at Sundance in January and was released in the US last month, where it grossed $600,000 from 700 screens on its opening weekend.
Pedro Almodóvar’s Bitter Christmas opens in 106 sites for Curzon. The Spanish filmmaker’s last feature, the English-language Venice Golden Lion winner The Room Next Door, opened with £239,043 in 2024 – slightly down on his previous film, 2022’s Parallel Mothers with £247,075, and less than his record opening of £433,283 for 2006’s Volver.
The Spanish-language Bitter Christmas premiered in competition at Cannes. Set in 2004, it follows a screenwriter in 2026 and the story she is writing.
Fellow Cannes premiere Colony launches in 47 cinemas via Studiocanal. The South Korean horror follows a biotech conference where a mutating virus is unleashed and survivors are quarantined inside.
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