Irish Box Office Report: Mar 21-23 2014

For the second week in a row the Irish Box Office report is underwhelming, with figures barely up on last week. Last week’s number two film, the brilliant The Grand Budapest Hotel, is our new number one, increasing by 18% to take the top spot with €109k. The film is enjoying its third week in the charts and has slowly worked its way up to the top spot, showing that the word of mouth and the two additional locations are working for Wes Anderson’s latest.

Up from 7 to 2 is Disney’s Muppets Most Wanted. The latest Muppet caper is still in pre-release mode as it does not officially come out until March 28th, but managed to capture €105k at the weekend, bringing its total to €210k. That’s much better for Kermit and co, however the US box-office receipts have been underwhelming and that news could effect further takings on this side of the Atlantic.

Down from 1 to 3 is the Aaron Paul starring, high-octane videogame adaptation, Need for Speed. The film dropped 18% to take €91k in its second week, losing out on the coveted number one position.

Holding strong at number 4 is John Butler’s The Stag. The Irish comedy seems to have found favour with the home audience, dropping just 3% to take a further €84k, and bring its lifetime total to €402k. If it stays the course the film will cruise past the half million mark and wind up at around 600k. That’s got to be encouraging for Irish film and all involved.

Dropping 3 places to 5, but still doing astounding business in its 6 week is The Lego Movie. Having passed the €3m mark last weekend the film recorded a further €83k on a paltry 16% drop to move up to €3,167,201. At this stage it has secured its place in the Top Ten of the year, and likely the Top 3.

For the second consecutive week Non-Stop drops just one place to take the number 6 slot. The Liam Neeson starring claustrophobic action thriller landed another €60k to record a €658k total to date.

Another film falling just one place in the charts is Noam Murro’s 300: Rise of an Empire. The film had the biggest percentage drop of the week, at 35%, in recouping €47k. While Warner Bros. are sure to be pleased that the film didn’t suffer a second record breaking drop, they cannot be happy with how their investment has played over here. Thankfully for them the film is faring better elsewhere worldwide and has already made back its costs.

The first of this weeks new entries comes at 8, with Juno director Jason Reitman’s Labor Day earning just €43k from its 45 locations. It is incredibly rare for a film that opens that wide to do that poorly, failing to make more than €1,000 per location. Mixed reviews, the release delay, and a sombre marketing campaign have combined to make audiences wait for the DVD or possibly until it is shown on TV.

Now in its seventh week Dallas Buyers Club hangs on in there at number 9. Much like Matthew McConaughey’s character the film shows a dogged determination to stick around for as long as possible, taking another €42k from Irish audiences. That’s brought the film up to €969k so the million will definitely be reached in the next week.

At 10 is the second and last new entry of the week, the hard-hitting British prison drama Starred Up. We give the film 5 stars, and it appears that audiences agree with our judgement as the film earned €2,343 at its 18 locations for a €42k opening weekend. Word of mouth is very good for this so hopefully it will open wider and find even more fans.

Box Office figures should rebound next week as the first of the true Summer blockbusters hit in the shape of Marvel’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Ordinarily a blockbuster of this magnitude would have the weekend to itself, but Lionsgate has scheduled the Kellan Lutz starring Legend of Hercules to compete. This is most likely a move by Lionsgate to bury the film’s release, given that the US box-office figures were extremely underwhelming. Muppets Most Wanted also opens officially to offer families with younger children an option, while Oscar winning documentary 20 Feet from Stardom, and Asghar Farhadi’s The Past offer the art-house crowd something different.

Source: Rentrak