© Allstar/Sony Pictures So-so debut … The Angry Birds Movie.
The winner: Marvel – yet again
Related: Marvel axed female villain from Iron Man 3 after fears of poor toy sales, says director[1]
Decent weather and a lack of strong commercially appealing new releases saw a continuing decline in UK box office, down 13% on the previous session, and 33% below the equivalent frame from 2015, when Pitch Perfect 2[2] topped the chart. Disney Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War[3] resisted the challenge of Sony Animation’s The Angry Birds Movie[4], hanging on to the top spot for the third week, and with a decent 42% decline. After 17 days, the box office is a robust £32.2m. Civil War is the fourth 2016 release to cross £30m here, following Deadpool[5], Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice[6] and The Jungle Book[7]. Civil War is just behind the pace of Batman v Superman, which stood at £33.3m at the same stage of its run.
The runner-up: The Angry Birds Movie
Sony’s adaptation of the Rovio game debuted with a so-so £2.12m. The biggest animated hit so far this year is Disney’s Zootropolis[8], which debuted in March with £5.31m, including previews of £1.73m. The Angry Birds Movie would probably have made a splashier debut had it arrived in 2013 when development of the film was announced – but lengthy production schedules for animated features tend to resist any attempt by studios to speed them up.
The 2016 champ: The Jungle Book
Jon Favreau: ‘Whenever I hear Garry Shandling’s voice in The Jungle Book, it’s sobering’[9]Still in the box-office top three in its fifth week of play, and with £39.3m, Disney’s The Jungle Book has just overtaken Fox-Marvel’s Deadpool (£37.9m) to become the biggest hit of the year so far. Takings were just 24% down on the previous weekend – evidence that audience word of mouth continues to hold up on the Rudyard Kipling adaptation. The film looks certain to overtake the lifetime total of Alice in Wonderland[10] (£42.5m) and could well catch The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe[11] (£44.4m) – two family titles that far exceeded box-office expectations.
The also-rans
A quintet of mid-size films was released collectively on 721 screens, delivering a poor total of £783,000, including previews. Best result was achieved by John le Carré adaptation Our Kind of Traitor[12], starring Ewan McGregor, Naomie Harris, Damian Lewis and Stellan Skarsgård: £358,000 from 245 sites, yielding an average of £1,461.
Damian Lewis in a clip from John le Carré’s Our Kind of Traitor[13]Critical support couldn’t push Richard Linklater’s campus comedy Everybody Wants Some!![14] very far, despite the director coming off the widely admired Oscar winner Boyhood[15]. It debuted with £170,000 from 111 cinemas, but that includes £35,000 in previews. For comparison, Boyhood kicked off in July 2014 with £333,000 from 89 cinemas. Commercial chances for the new film may not have been helped in the UK by the profusion of college baseball players among principal characters – a fact that the trailer could not hide. The look and feel of the film also appeared very male, and it was certainly a challenge to communicate the disarming sweetness that gradually emerges.
Landing just inside the Top 10 is Jeremy Saulnier’s 18-rated Green Room[16], starring Anton Yelchin, Imogen Poots and Patrick Stewart. A debut of £145,000 from 136 sites includes previews of £49,000. Strip those out, and the film’s screen average falls to a weak £706.
All of the aforementioned new releases look like hits when compared with the two films that round out the quintet: Whiskey Tango Foxtrot[17] and The Darkness[18]. Both landed outside the Top 10. The former, a Tina Fey comedy drama based on US journalist Kim Barker’s memoir The Taliban Shuffle, struggled to define its audience, debuting in 12th place with £59,000 from 123 sites for a £478 average. Three places below it is horror title The Darkness, starring Jennifer Mason and Kevin Bacon, which kicks off with a limp £51,000 from 106 sites, for a similar average of £486. MetaCritic score is a poor 28/100.
It’s hard to escape the conclusion that, in at least a couple of cases, commercially problematic films were being pushed into the marketplace in what has been a relatively fallow period between Captain America: Civil War and the forthcoming X-Men: Apocalypse[19].
The future
Salvation for cinemas is surely at hand this week with X-Men: Apocalypse, the third in the series to feature James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Jennifer Lawrence, and the eighth appearance for Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine. Counter-programming alternatives include Dublin-set teen comedy Sing Street[20], from Once director John Carney, expanding to mainland UK having already racked up an impressive £857,000 in Ireland and Northern Ireland. Tom Hanks toplines A Hologram for the King[21], adapted from the Dave Eggers book and directed by Tom Tykwer.
Top 10 films, 13-15 May
1. Captain America: Civil War[22], £2,789,985 from 586 sites. Total: £32,162,068
2. The Angry Birds Movie[23], £2,138,507 from 520 sites (new)
3. The Jungle Book[24], £1,628,456 from 506 sites. Total: £39,312,115
4. Bad Neighbours 2[25], £1,099,710 from 495 sites. Total: £3,733,673
5. Florence Foster Jenkins[26], £461,784 from 574 sites. Total: £1,883,019
6. Our Kind of Traitor[27], £358,180 from 245 sites (new)
7. Everybody Wants Some!![28], £169,764 from 111 sites (new)
8. Secret Cinema: 28 Days Later, £158,989 from 1 site. Total: £929,662
9. Eye in the Sky[29], £153,959 from 298 sites. Total: £4,631,689
10. Green Room[30], £144,517 from 136 sites (new)
Captain America’s Chris Evans on realism in the superhero genre[31]Other openers
Mustang[32], £65,038 from 43 sites
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot[33], £58,798 from 123 sites
The Darkness[34], £51,490 from 106 sites
Azhar[35], £37,291 from 24 sites
SPL 2: A Time of Consequences, £5,071 from 15 sites
Cabin Fever[36], £3,229 from 22 sites
Troublemakers: The Story of Land Art[37], £2,958 from three sites
Kill Command[38], £944 from two sites
The Seventh Fire[39], £602 from two sites
• Thanks to comScore[40]. All figures relate to takings in UK and Ireland cinemas.
References
- ^ Marvel axed female villain from Iron Man 3 after fears of poor toy sales, says director (www.theguardian.com)
- ^ Pitch Perfect 2 (www.theguardian.com)
- ^ Captain America: Civil War (www.theguardian.com)
- ^ The Angry Birds Movie (www.theguardian.com)
- ^ Deadpool (www.theguardian.com)
- ^ Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (www.theguardian.com)
- ^ The Jungle Book (www.theguardian.com)
- ^ Zootropolis (www.theguardian.com)
- ^ Jon Favreau: ‘Whenever I hear Garry Shandling’s voice in The Jungle Book, it’s sobering’ (www.theguardian.com)
- ^ Alice in Wonderland (www.theguardian.com)
- ^ The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (www.theguardian.com)
- ^ Our Kind of Traitor (www.theguardian.com)
- ^ Damian Lewis in a clip from John le Carré’s Our Kind of Traitor (www.theguardian.com)
- ^ Everybody Wants Some!! (www.theguardian.com)
- ^ Boyhood (www.theguardian.com)
- ^ Green Room (www.theguardian.com)
- ^ Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (www.theguardian.com)
- ^ The Darkness (www.theguardian.com)
- ^ X-Men: Apocalypse (www.theguardian.com)
- ^ Sing Street (www.theguardian.com)
- ^ A Hologram for the King (www.theguardian.com)
- ^ Captain America: Civil War (www.theguardian.com)
- ^ The Angry Birds Movie (www.theguardian.com)
- ^ The Jungle Book (www.theguardian.com)
- ^ Bad Neighbours 2 (www.theguardian.com)
- ^ Florence Foster Jenkins (www.theguardian.com)
- ^ Our Kind of Traitor (www.theguardian.com)
- ^ Everybody Wants Some!! (www.theguardian.com)
- ^ Eye in the Sky (www.theguardian.com)
- ^ Green Room (www.theguardian.com)
- ^ Captain America’s Chris Evans on realism in the superhero genre (www.theguardian.com)
- ^ Mustang (www.theguardian.com)
- ^ Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (www.theguardian.com)
- ^ The Darkness (www.theguardian.com)
- ^ Azhar (www.imdb.com)
- ^ Cabin Fever (www.theguardian.com)
- ^ Troublemakers: The Story of Land Art (www.theguardian.com)
- ^ Kill Command (www.theguardian.com)
- ^ The Seventh Fire (www.theguardian.com)
- ^ comScore (twitter.com)