Irish Box Office Report: Mar 28-30 2014

After the tame box-office receipts of the past two weeks the big numbers have returned with a bang this weekend.

Disney ruled the roost, nabbing the top two spots, as Captain America: The Winter Soldier went straight in at 1 with a somewhat impressive €347k weekend, and a €478k five day release. That’s up on the first Cap outing, but is the lowest opening weekend for a post-Avengers Assemble Marvel movie. Strong word-of-mouth and positive reviews should see the movie coast past the €1m at the Irish box-office, but Iron Man 3 made that in its opening weekend!

Muppets Most Wanted holds on to its number 2 spot in its first official week in the charts, increasing its takings almost 100% to net €205k from 61 locations. The film made as much this weekend as in its two previous preview weekends combined. That jump takes the film’s lifetime gross to a much more respectable €418k and justify the marketing push that Disney put into this release.

At 3 is Fox Animation’s Rio 2, the sequel to their surprise hit of 2011, the 3D animated musical adventure-comedy Rio. The Brazilian set film had the biggest opening for an animated film ever in that country, and looks likely to do good business over here as it earned €78k in this weekend’s preview release. That’s up significantly on the €30k the first Rio took in previews. The film is officially out next week and should do good business over Easter.

Down from last week’s number one to 4 is Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel. The film dropped a respectable 36% in its 4th week in the charts, nabbing a further €70k, bringing its lifetime earnings to an amazing €612k. Its per location is still mightily impressive as it earned an average €1,807 from 39 locations.

Further good news for fans of Irish film as John Butler’s The Stag holds strong in the charts at the number 5 spot. The 30% decrease saw the film take another €52k from Irish cinema-goers, taking its total to €476k to date.

Now in its 7th week in the charts The Lego Movie is still vacuuming up money. The film is sitting pretty at the number 6 spot despite a 53% drop in earnings. This can be attributed to the fact that everybody in Ireland most have seen the film by now, and the increased competition from Muppets Most Wanted and Rio 2. Still the film took €39k more, pushing it up and over €3.2m.

At 7, and enjoying its 5th week in the Top Ten is the Liam Neeson starring airplane-bound actioner Non-Stop. The Irish audiences love affair with the Ballymena actor saw the film earn €32k, bringing its lifetime takings to €713k. While it will likely drop out of the Top Ten next weekend it will do so having made three-quarters of a million euro in Ireland alone.

Starred Up climbs from ten to number 8 in its second week although it is down 41% and took just €26k. Despite the stellar reviews the films was hit badly by the loss of its screen at the prestigious Irish Film Institute in Dublin. Its 18 remaining locations still recorded strong numbers, and the quality of the film is sure to shine through once it moves to home release.

Suffering by far the biggest drop in earnings in recent memory is Need for Speed at number 9. The film made a paltry €458 average in its third week at its 50 locations, plummeting 72% as Captain America: The Winter Soldier stormed in to capture its key demographic of young males. Still it did manage a total of €351k to date, so it’s not a complete disaster. However, with figures that small it will not remain as wide for long, so if you plan on seeing it you better go now!

Finally, the last new entry of the week is The Legend of Hercules, limping in at number 10. The film made just €23k from 39 locations, for a very poor €552 locational average. Given the fact that Lionsgate put almost no marketing behind this, the lack of press screenings, and the catastrophic word-of-mouth from the US release it is almost surprising that it managed to break into the Top Ten at all.

Next week is another big release weekend as Paramount and Black Swan director Darren Aronofsky’s Noah sails into cinemas. The film is an epic spectacle and should benefit from having had a very public premiere in the capital last weekend. The competition for the top spot will be fierce with Captain America: The Winter Soldier in its second weekend, and the Shailene Woodley starring, popular Young Adult novel adaptation Divergent releasing on Friday also. Elsewhere Rio 2 will look to capture the family market, whilst Richard Ayoade’s The Double will cater to the more art-house crowd. Mark Cousin’s documentary The Story of Children and Film will also open in the IFI, but is unlikely to trouble the Top Ten.

Source: Rentrak