Animation was the big winner this weekend at the Irish box-office, with the 1 & 2 slots taken by computer generated characters. 20th Century Fox will no doubt delight that relatively unknown property Mr. Peabody And Sherman grabbed the number one spot. The film, which had advance previews last weekend, earned a very respectful €254k over the 3 days, up from the €173k that it earned last weekend. However if you take that extra day into account the real winner of the weekend was second placed The Lego Movie, which earned €233k over its 2 day advance preview. Warner Bros brick-based adventure is a hit with critics, and looks certain to take that number 1 spot when it opens wide on Friday. Sticking with animation Disney’s Frozen remains in the top 10. The film has now taken over €3.3m at the Irish box office!
The two other widespread new films this week both make it into the top 5, with Jose Padilha’s reboot of the Paul Verhoven 1980’s action classic Robocop coming in at 3, with a respectable, but not mind-blowing, €159k. Given a projected 40% drop it will probably be out of the Top 10 in 2-3 weeks. Best the best per-location average of the weekend the Matthew McConaughey starring, Oscar nominated drama, Dallas Buyers Club takes the 5 spot, earning €5,349 at 25 locations, for a €133k opening. This is about average for a weighty Oscar-worthy drama, but the awards buzz should keep it ticking over until after the March 2nd event.
Rounding out the top 5 in the number 4 spot is Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street. After 3 weeks at the top the film continues its strong run, now standing at €1.89m at the Irish box office. Given the 37% drop off from last week expect to see the film pass €2m very soon. At 6, and also continuing a very strong run is fellow Oscar Best Picture nominee 12 Years A Slave. Steve McQueen’s weighty drama has taken almost €1.5m to date, but as the per location drps to just over €1k expect to see the location count fall as screens are diverted to The Lego Movie and others next weekend.
At 7 and completing the eOne presence in the Top 10 is That Awkward Moment. Taking just €72k in its second weekend the film has failed to connect with the rom-com audience in the way that the filmmakers would’ve hoped. That said with Valentine’s this Friday, and with no strong competition in the genre, the film could see a pickup.
Also in its second weekend, and suffering the biggest per-location drop of the bunch, is Universal’s Lone Survivor at 8. The film suffers from Dredd 3D syndrome, with the core audience seeing the film in the first weekend, and the 18s rating working against its mass appeal.
Rounding out the top 10 is senior-citizen comedy Last Vegas, which has earned almost €1m in Ireland, proving that there seriously is life in these old-dogs legs yet. In fact the film returned to the Top 10 having dropped out last week, despite being in its 6th week!
Source: Rentrak