The 2009 heavyweight
After just 12 days on release, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince has amassed £33.07m to trump Slumdog Millionaire (£31.66m) as 2009's biggest box-office hit. The wizard sequel is also conjuring up a big lead in the summer blockbuster race: it is nearly £8m ahead of second-placed Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (£25.86m).
Half-Blood Prince grossed £5.18m over the weekend, a hefty fall of 57% from its opening frame, but still managed to add more than £13m over the last seven days thanks to scorching mid-week numbers. With schools on holiday, the film is now a seven-days-a-week phenomenon, and will no doubt continue to be so in August.
After two weekends of play, the previous entry in the Potter franchise, summer 2007's Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, had grossed £30.06m. However, that figure represents 11 days' takings, against 12 for Half-Blood Prince. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire had taken £29.62m after two weekends; but this is a 10-day figure, since the fourth Harry Potter flick did not benefit from any paid previews at all.
The hit romcom
Big smiles at Disney, thanks to a £3.25m debut for The Proposal, the biggest ever for Sandra Bullock. A Wednesday opening gave the romcom two extra days of play, boosting its figure by a handy £1.15m. Bullock's previous biggest opening was for Two Weeks Notice, which began its run in February 2003 with £2.64m. Miss Congeniality and its sequel debuted with £1.87m and £1.30m, respectively. The previous biggest opening for a comedy starring Ryan Reynolds, Bullock's partner in The Proposal, is Just Friends, which debuted in January 2006 with £1.75m.
It's worth noting that Two Weeks Notice's £2.64m debut included just £182,000 in previews, meaning that its three-day figure (£2.54m over Friday, Saturday, Sunday) is actually bigger than The Proposal's (£2.10m) over the same period.
The mystery
Bruno arrested its decline in the chart, somewhat, with a 47% fall this weekend, against 54% the previous frame. The Sacha Baron Cohen film was boosted by the release of a new 15-certificate version last Friday, which allowed previously excluded 15-to-17-year-olds to catch up with the comedy. The exact size of the boost, however, is impossible to gauge, since backers Universal are not offering a breakdown of figures between the 15- and 18-certificate versions. This is the first time a film has been on simultaneous UK release with two different certificates.
The arthouse hit
It's accepted wisdom that acres of press coverage for controversial films don't necessarily translate into box-office takings. After all, titles such as Nine Songs (graphic sex), Irreversible (rape) and The Idiots (orgies) hardly set tills ringing. So distributor Artificial Eye will be happy with its £99,000 opening and 10th place for Lars von Trier's well-publicised controversy magnet Antichrist. The debut is the Danish director's best ever in the UK, beating previous record holder Breaking the Waves' £65,000. Antichrist opened on a relatively wide 38 screens, achieving a site average of £2,608. The film benefited from a dearth of successful smaller films in the market – Moon is its only significant competitor. It's worth pointing out that the picture currently propping up the Top 15, Kambakkht Ishq, grossed just over £19,000 at the weekend. It's the first time a film taking less than £20,000 has appeared in the top 15 since Let's Get Lost did so in June 2008. In mid-January, in contrast, Sex Drive earned the No 15 spot with weekend takings of £327,000.
The future
The 24-26 July weekend overall is 28% down on the corresponding period from 2008, when The Dark Knight topped the chart and Mamma Mia! enjoyed a strong hold. Cinemas will be hoping that the arrival this weekend of Disney family film G-Force, which just opened strongly in the US, plus The Taking of Pelham 123, will inject some fresh life into the market – but frankly we'd be surprised if takings match 2008 levels. We will, however, be looking out for The Hangover to reach £20m and in the process overtake Night at the Museum 2 to become the summer's fifth-biggest blockbuster, behind Star Trek. We'll also be looking for Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs to nudge ahead of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, thereby earning the summer blockbuster runner-up spot, behind Half-Blood Prince. Ice Age 3 is now the biggest ever UK hit on 3D, with £14.39m of its total £25.26m haul achieved on 3D screens. Previous record holder Monsters vs Aliens grossed £10.45m at 3D cinemas.
UK top 10, 24-26 July
1. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, 586 sites, £5,176,950. Total: £33,070,181
2. The Proposal, 428 sites, £3,249,640. (New)
3. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, 507 sites, £2,151,251. Total: £25,257,783
4. Bruno, 445 sites, £1,212,641. Total: £13,153,625
5. The Hangover, 354 sites, £687,772. Total: £19,485,350
6. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, 360 sites, £416,579. Total: £25,885,419
7. Public Enemies, 277 sites, £277,353. Total: £6,353,498
8. My Sister's Keeper, 283 sites, £224,320. Total: £5,602,199
9. Moon, 59 sites, £137,963. Total: £448,838
10. Antichrist, 38 sites, £99,092. (New)
How the other openers did
Skin, two screens, £4,267
Once Upon a Time in the West, two screens, £4,217
Modhi Vilayadu, two screens, £4,051
Just Another Love Story, four screens, £3,115
Charles Dickens' England, two screens, £278 (plus £2,434 in previews)
