The winner: Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Cinemagoing in the UK is usually pretty robust ahead of New Year’s Day but even so, Disney and Lucasfilm should be pleased with a slim 22% decline for Star Wars: The Last Jedi from the previous, pre-Christmas session. Third-weekend takings of £7.98m push the total after 18 days to £68.3m.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens stood at £97.4m at the same stage of its run, so The Last Jedi is running 30% behind the pace of Disney’s 2015 prequel. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story grossed £66m in the UK, so The Last Jedi is already ahead of that number.
The biggest-grossing release of 2017 remains – for the moment – Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, with £72.4m. Expect The Last Jedi to knock Belle off her perch this coming weekend.
The runner-up: Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle
While The Last Jedi fell by 22%, box office for Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle increased by 28% from the period 22-24 December. Buoyant takings of £5.21m pushed the total after 12 days to £17.8m. Including New Year’s Day that rises to £19m. The original Jumanji grossed £13.5m in the UK, in 1996. The reboot benefits from considerable ticket price inflation, but distributor Sony will nevertheless be pleased with the outcome so far.
The newcomer: The Greatest Showman
Hugh Jackman’s PT Barnum musical The Greatest Showman had to content itself with third place, but a debut of £4.75m, grossed over six days beginning on Boxing Day, is a decent start for the film. Over the 29-31 December weekend, it managed £2.58m.
It’s rare for a major-budget musical not to be based on an existing stage property (eg Chicago, Les Misérables) or at least on songs with established familiarity (Moulin Rouge!), so success for The Greatest Showman was hardly a given. However, a notable counter example is La La Land, which didn’t require familiarity with its songbook to reach more than £30m in the UK and $446m worldwide. Incidentally, The Greatest Showman has songs by La La Land lyricists Benj Pasek and Justin Paul.
The chart veteran: Paddington 2
Still in the UK Top 5 after eight weeks on release, Paddington 2 saw box office rise by 15%, with £1.88m weekend takings pushing its tally to £37.6m, and just under £38m including New Year’s Day, meaning it has now overtaken the original film. Paddington (2014) enjoyed an exceedingly long tail, with solid returns all the way through to the end of February 2015. StudioCanal will be hoping to similarly sustain Paddington 2, but faces competition from Disney-Pixar’s Coco from 19 January and its own Early Man (from Aardman’s Nick Park) a week later.
The market
Six titles grossed £1m or more at the weekend, for the first time since July. The robust numbers for The Last Jedi, the Jumanji reboot, The Greatest Showman, Pitch Perfect 3, Paddington 2 and Ferdinand helped the market overall achieve a 17% uptick on the same session from 2016, when Rogue One, Why Him? and Passengers were the top films on release. Cinema bookers now have hopes pinned on Ridley Scott’s All the Money in the World, arriving on Friday, and on fellow awards hopefuls Hostiles and Molly’s Game.
Top 10 films, 29-31 December
1. Star Wars: The Last Jedi, £7,975,174 from 691 sites. Total: £68,263,774 (three weeks)
2. Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, £5,210,725 from 580 sites. Total: £17,835,902 (two weeks)
3. The Greatest Showman, £4,754,049 from 606 sites (new)
4. Pitch Perfect 3, £2,322,065 from 541 sites. Total: £8,887,440 (two weeks)
5. Paddington 2, £1,884,062 from 620 sites. Total: £37,567,705 (eight weeks)
6. Ferdinand, £1,387,426 from 600 sites. Total: £6,145,052 (two weeks)
7. Daddy’s Home 2, £492,920 from 359 sites. Total: £13,597,770 (six weeks)
8. Tiger Zinda Hai, £265,424 from 74 sites. Total: £1,262,123 (two weeks)
9. Wonder, £160,396 from 166 sites. Total: £4,294,199 (five weeks)
10. Murder on the Orient Express, £82,146 from 47 sites. Total: £23,900,453 (seven weeks)
Other openers
Berlin Philharmoniker: New Year’s Eve Concert, £61,387 from 54 sites
The Wedding Party 2, £45,812 (including £27,459 previews) from six sites
Namiya, £5,980 from six sites
Kalavaadiya Pozhudhugal, £2,270 from eight sites
• Thanks to comScore. All figures relate to takings in UK and Ireland cinemas.
