Irish Box Office Report: Apr 4-6 2014

This weekend saw huge numbers attending cinemas across the country, as 5 films earned more than €150k at the box-office.

The biggest winner of the weekend was Paramount and Darren Aronofsky’s Noah, which beat off tough competition to capture the number 1 spot in its debut weekend. The film made a €4,300 average at its 59 locations, for an opening weekend total of €254k. That is by no means a record opening for a biblical epic (that belongs to Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ), or an Arofonsky film (that belongs to Black Swan) but it is solid given the mixed audience reaction in the US.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier drops from one to 2 in its second release weekend, down 40% to take €209k. That’s an average drop for a blockbuster as they tend to make most of their money on opening weekend. The €3,217 per location average is still very strong and will see the movie power past the €2m marker. The film just opened in the US, meaning that it should get a minor bump as the critical and audience reaction is extremely positive. It currently stands at €836k for its lifetime.

Sticking at 3 is 20th Century Fox’s Rio 2. The animated sequel took €194k in its first official release weekend, having taken €78k in its previews last week. The €3,144 per location will be encouraging for Fox, and with the film earning strongly around the world expect to hear about Rio 3 very soon.

In at 4 is the young adult aimed and first of the Veronica Roth penned adaptations, Divergent. The film, which is the latest dystopian teen drama hoping to leverage of an inbuilt fan-base earned a decent €157k from its 63 locations. Those are similar to slightly better numbers than Beautiful Creatures, The Host and The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones managed last year, but are not quite up there with Twilight or The Hunger Games. The film did well in the US and UK so should see the sequels greenlit.

At 5 and still drawing in big Irish crowds is Disney’s Muppets Most Wanted. The film dropped 3 places and 27%, but managed to earn an impressive €151k taking its lifetime total to €618k. That it did so well despite the underwhelming reviews and competition in the market is a sign that audiences just love the Muppets.

The Grand Budapest Hotel continued its steady descent down the charts dropping 2 more places to number 6. The film is still making more than €1,200 despite entering its fifth week as audiences continue to find Wes Anderson’s latest to be a charming affair. The film cruised past the €700k mark, and when DVD sales come later will easily earn Fox more than €1m from Ireland alone.

At 7 is a curiosity. The Met Opera’s cinematic screening of La Boheme managed to make €48k from 13 locations, proving that Irish audiences are very willing to take their opera wherever they can get it.

The home-grown comedy The Stag continues to do great business at the Irish box-office dropping a miniscule 16% to take another €42k and number 8 spot in the charts. The film has now successfully crossed the half million mark and is heading strongly for €700k.

At 9 and still awesome is Warner Animation’s The Lego Movie. The film made another €31k this weekend, celebrating €3.25m Irish box-office and 8 consecutive weeks in the Top Ten.

Finally, down 3 places to 10, it’s the Liam Neeson starring plane-bound action thriller Non-Stop. The film has now spent 6 weeks in the Irish chart earning €748k to date. This weekend’s take is a low €18k, meaning it is unlikely we will see it again next week. Still it has done a lot better than anybody expected it to. Well done Liam.

Next weekend will see another top of the chart clash as The Raid 2, the sequel to 2011’s surprise hit The Raid, and Irish film and IFTA award-winner Calvary hit Irish screens (literally in the case of The Raid 2). Calvary is expected to dominate, leaving The Raid 2 to fight it out with Noah for the number 2 spot. Other openers include Irish director Ruari Robinson’s space-based horror The Last Days of Mars, and the art-house stories Half Of A Yellow Sun and The Strange Colour of Your Body’s Tears. Of these The Last Days of Mars has the best chance of entering the Top Ten, but it will probably be a close call.

Source: Rentrak