Irish Box Office Report: Apr 18-20 2014

Easter Weekend and we’ve a new entry at the top. Despite audience figures dropping considerably on last weekend The Amazing Spider-Man 2 opened at 1 with a solid €368k. The film opened on Wednesday so its 5 day total is more amazing €516k. Those figures are close to the €600k that The Amazing Spider-Man garnered, with the Easter Monday receipts almost guaranteeing that the sequel will swing past that mark. The good weather will have impacted the box-office, but favourable audience reaction amidst mixed critical reception will see the film continue to perform strongly in the next few weeks.

Down one place to number 2, but still performing very strongly is John Michael McDonagh’s Irish drama Calvary. The film’s receipts dropped 43%, but that was still good enough for €3,066 per location and a €205k weekend. That brings the blackly comic tale up to €811k so far making it the most successful Irish release of 2014 and in the Top 10 for the century to date.

Still holding strong at number 3, and likely to continue to do well with the kids still on holiday, is 20th Century Fox and Blue Sky Animation’s Rio 2. The colourful sequel has been a hit with family audiences over the Easter period, and despite the 51% drop managed to earn a further €62k this weekend. That brings its total up to €613k in its 3 week run.

Also in its third week, but dropping two places to 4, is Darren Aronofsky’s Noah. The religious holiday did not see a bumper crowd for the biblical epic, as audience figures dropped a whooping 59%. That saw the film earn €920 from each of its 54 locations, taking its total to €658k. If that trajectory continues the film will barely limp past €750k, but will still be impressive given the subject matter.

Marvel’s big hitter of 2014 Captain America: The Winter Soldier is down to 5 in its 4th week. The film had the joint highest drop of the week at 66% as The Amazing Spider-Man 2 took hold of the comic-book crowd. That drop saw the film earn €41k, bringing the films total to a mighty €1.1 million.

Still at 6 is Disney’s family favourite Muppets Most Wanted. Down 53% the film managed €611 per location, for a €39k fourth weekend. If the weather takes a turn this week it may hold its spot, but another big drop like this weekends will see it exit the Top 10. Still with €837k to date it has done a lot better than anybody expected.

The second new entry of the week, at 7, is the Pierce Brosnan and Emma Thompson starring The Love Punch. The film debuted at 40 locations, earning €712 at each, for an opening weekend of €30,607. The film has found favour with an older crowd, which should see it stay in a healthy number of locations for a few weeks.

At 8 is the other highest dropper of the week, the Veronica Roth adaptation Divergent. The film made just €574 at each of its 47 location, earning a paltry €30k in its third week. That saw its lifetime earnings pass €400k but that will be the landmark at which it stops.

Our number 9 is The Dark Knight cinematographer Wally Pfister’s directorial debut Transcendence. The film boasts a stellar cast, with Johnny Depp in the lead, and Morgan Freeman, Cillian Murphy, Rebecca Hall, and Paul Bettany all featuring. Despite this cast the film looks like a critical and commercial bomb as it made just €22,116 in its preview weekend. This can be put down to three key factors; the film did not screen for critics, the US reception was very poor, and the Easter weekend weather. It’s a shame to see a film that had such talent behind it do so badly.

Last of the new entries, and possibly the best film released of the weekend, is Steven Knight’s Locke at 10. The film stars Tom Hardy as an engineer driving from Birmingham to London making calls to colleagues, family and others as his life unravels over the course of the journey. A brilliant film which opened at just 12 locations, it managed to make €1,100 per location for a €13k opening weekend. This is not quite good enough to see the film expand so we encourage you to get to a screening as soon as you can before it is gone.

In the wake of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 there is no blockbuster this weekend. Two big releases will be Transcendence in its first official release weekend, and the Mia Wasikowa starring Australian drama Tracks. The latter is a fine film, a study of a girls journey across the Australian wilderness. Neither will trouble Spidey at the top, but what could is the Nick Cassavetes directed rom-com The Other Woman. Fox is putting a big marketing push behind the film, which stars Cameron Diaz and Leslie Mann as a wife and lover who team up to get revenge on the man in their lives.

Rank Title
1 Amazing Spider-Man 2, The
2 Calvary
3 Rio 2
4 Noah
5 Captain America: The Winter Soldier
6 Muppets Most Wanted
7 Love Punch, The
8 Divergent
9 Transcendence
10 Locke

Source: Rentrak