Last week’s mid-term break has had a profound effect on the Irish Box Office Top Ten this weekend, with no less than 4 animated films featuring. Last week’s number one The Lego Movie saw its box-office draw increase in its second full weekend, netting a simply staggering €714k. That 4% increase sees the film’s cumulative total rise to €2.2m. To put that into context that is amongst the fastest that any animated movie has ever hit €2m at the Irish box-office. It is the per-location average that is truly stunning, as the film has made almost €11k at each of its 64 locations. Couple this to the impressive US box-office figures and it’s easy see why Warner Bros. has already staked claim to the May 26th 2017 weekend for the sequel.
The Lego Movie’s 4% bump is dwarfed by the other animated films in the top ten, with Frozen getting a 30% increase, Tinker Bell and the Pirate Fairy gaining 27%, and Mr. Peabody and Sherman up 22%. It is Mr. Peabody and Sherman in its third week that takes the number 2 spot earning €158k, narrowly besting number 3 Tinker Bell and the Pirate Fairy’s €150k. Both films managed a €2.5k per location average, which is impressive for films not in their first week, but pales in the light of The Lego Movie numbers.
The fourth of the animated films, and back into the Top Ten at number 9 is Disney’s Frozen. The film celebrated its twelfth week of release by earning €40k and bringing its cumulative total up to an otherworldly €3.4m. Obviously families were drawn to the sing-along version of the infectious musical that Disney released this weekend.
While animation fared brilliantly, the new openers this weekend did not as no new films managed to make it into the Top Ten. Three of the five new releases Highway, Only Lovers Left Alive and Stalingrad were limited to the art-house and independent cinemas, but the other two The Invisible Woman and A New York Winter’s Tale opened wider and will be no doubt disappointed by their lack of impact. A New York Winter’s Tale in particular will feel that book-fans and having Colin Farrell in the lead role should have helped it, but critical and audience reaction was very poor for Akiva Goldsman’s adaptation.
At 4 Dallas Buyers Club continued its strong performance, dropping just 10% to gross €101k. With €503k earned to date it will need McConaughey to grab the Oscar next weekend in order to stand a chance of coming close making what the other big Oscar films have made, but that particular result is not unlikely.
Elsewhere the other Best Picture nominees still in the Top Ten are Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street at 6, and Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave at 10. The former has made over €2.1m at the Irish box office, with €58k earned in it’s 6th week. The later has a lifetime total of €1.6m from its 7 week run, with €39k coming this week. Both films are still showing at almost 50 locations each, but with per location averages of €1,194 and €791 respectively that will not last long.
Two films hanging on in the Top Ten that opened last week are George Clooney’s The Monuments Men, and Shana Feste’s remake of 1981’s Endless Love, at 5 and 8 respectively. The later suffered a massive 55% drop to gross just €49k, but as it was counting on the Valentine’s crowd the previous weekend that is not unexpected. The Monument’s Men earned €95k in its second weekend, based on an average €1,556 per location. These figures are the weakest for a George Clooney directed feature to date, but then so are the reviews.
Finally at number 7 this week, and in its third week in the charts is Jose Padilha’s RoboCop. After a 44% drop in week 2 the film continues to plummet down the charts by dropping 38% in week 3. At this pace it will be gone by next weekend. Still as it stands at €450k right now it will make the half million by the time the batteries run out. Source: Rentrak