THE TOP TEN
1. Men In Black 3. Weekend/Total: £2,935,736 Sites: 532 (New)
2. The Dictator. Weekend/Total: £1,078,155 / £7,563,554 Sites: 507 (1)
3. Avengers Assemble. Weekend/Total: £872,664 / £46,891,709 Sites: 479 (2)
4. What To Expect When You're Expecting. Weekend/Total: £661,617 Sites: 415 (New)
5. Dark Shadows. Weekend/Total: £409,560 / £6,236,054 Sites: 450 (3)
6. American Reunion. Weekend/Total: £362,323 / £15,813,549 Sites: 378 (4)
7. Moonrise Kingdom. Weekend/Total: £251,760 Sites: 163 (New)
8. The Raid. Weekend/Total: £116,340 / £805,399 Sites: 239 (5)
9. Beauty And The Beast 3D. Weekend/Total: £69,795 / £2,475,361 Sites: 306 (6)
10. Iron Sky. Weekend/Total: £66,076 Sites: 26 (New)
(Previous week's placement in parentheses)
MIB3 No. 1
Defying worrying word of production woes and a borderline toxic predecessor, Men in Black 3 opened in the number one spot with £2.94m.
The takings are strong enough to get the top spot, as box office across the board dropped pretty sharply due to the great weather over the weekend. Compared to the numbers drawn by champions of previous weeks, Men in Black 3's debut feels more like an February/March opening than a big Summer event.
THE DICTATOR'S REGIME CRUMBLES, AND OTHER SURPRISES
The Dictator falls by 78% but this is to be expected for a movie that had extensive Wednesday and Thursday previews to bulk up their numbers, but manages to be the only other film to gross over a million.
Avengers Assemble falls short of a million but despite being 4 weeks old, faced with extra competition and glorious weather (resulting in a 69% drop), still performed pretty well. The current total stands at £46.9m, comfortably placing Marvel's opus as the film to beat at the box office this year. Watch your ass, Batman and Bilbo.
What to Expect When You're Expecting landed higher than my best case scenario predicted (by one mark but, still, it exceeded my expectations) as it turns out Dark Shadows fell even harder than anticipated with a whopping 75% drop on last weeks takings, which fell by a relatively soft 32% on the opening weekend.
Moonrise Kingdom did well for a light opening, no doubt boosted by the Wes Anderson brand, which gives this particular low-key indie production a much bigger lift in awareness over a more anonymous low-key indie production.
The Raid held onto the Top 10 despite a 72% drop on last weeks solid opening.
Speaking of solid openings, Moon Nazi sci-fi Iron Sky opened quite incredibly with £66,076 from just 26 sites and a very small release window. Iron Sky's initial (and clearly gimmick-driven) one-day only booking paid off in a big way, the hype was pitched as high as it could be and provided with a release window that could sustain this type of one-joke concepts (before going wider in the video market). The per theater average was a very impressive £2,542 which is better than The Dictator's £2,127 average but that had 507 screens to help.
SOMETHING FOR THE WEEKEND...
Snow White and The Huntsman opened on Wednesday, which gives the fantasy movie a head start on the competition. Can Kristen Stewart's in-built fan base of admittedly terrifying young women help give this movie the box office leg up it (and Universal) needs? Chris Hemsworth's post-Thor/Avengers heat may pull in even more audience members.
It will be interesting to see how much of Snow White's relentless marketing (so many posters) has spread out into the public consciousness. Speaking of online hype translating to real world interest...
Ridley Scott's hugely anticipated Prometheus opens on Friday (with midnight screenings around the country) and the movie has already made an impressive dent in France's box office becoming the second-highest grossing opening of the year, behind The Avengers.
If Prometheus has built up enough interest in non-Alien fans, it could do well but can it out perform Snow White which has a more dedicated in-built audience and a lower, more accessible age rating? We shall see.
Also opening is Ken Loach's recent Cannes smash The Angels' Share, if the overall turn out remains low (outside of the top two or three) then we could see Loach crack the Top 10.
