The winner
Following two weeks at the top spot, Fifty Shades of Grey cedes its place to a film that could hardly be more different: The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. Having said that, most would agree that it is female cinemagoers that are driving the audience for both these literature-originating franchises.
The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel debuted with a rosy £3.07m over the Friday-to-Sunday period, plus £705,000 in Thursday previews. That compares with a first session of £2.22m for its predecessor exactly three years ago. The original Best Exotic Marigold Hotel went on to achieve £20.4m in the UK, with positive word-of-mouth driving the total to a very healthy 9.2 times the opening weekend.
With a sequel, you would expect the box-office to be more front-loaded, and nobody is expecting such a high multiple of the debut number this time around. On the other hand, the film is likely to do consistently well midweek with older viewers, so the best is possibly yet to come.
Judging by the film’s top-performing site list, The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is connecting especially well with audiences in towns and suburbs across the south of England. Multiplex cinemas in Cheltenham, Guildford, Portsmouth, Milton Keynes, Watford, Basildon, Crawley and Chichester all appear among the film’s top 10 grossing venues, as do Showcase Bluewater and Odeon Leicester Square.
The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is an original story based on characters created by Deborah Moggach in her novel These Foolish Things. The film reunites director John Madden and screenwriter Ol Parker with all the first episode’s surviving cast members.
The runner-up
Having fallen 66% in its second frame, Fifty Shades of Grey drops a calmer 51% third time around. After 17 days, the film has grossed a mighty £30.31m, making it the fastest-grossing film since Iron Man 3 notched up £31.12m in its first three weekends of play (a figure that was, however, boosted by £2.32m in previews). Excluding previews, Fifty Shades is the fastest-grossing film since the first Hobbit movie in December 2012.
The EL James adaptation is now £7.61m ahead of the second-ranked title in the all-time box-office chart for 18 certificate films, The Wolf of Wall Street (lifetime of £22.70m). Adjusting for inflation, and using average ticket-price information supplied by the Film Distributors Association, Fifty Shades remains behind 18-certificate titles including Hannibal (£21.58m = £35.03m in today’s money) and American Beauty (£21.39m = £32.66m in today’s money). Earlier 18-certificate titles Seven and The Silence of the Lambs are also likely to remain ahead of Fifty Shades, when ticket prices are inflation-adjusted.
He’s back: Will Smith
Although no new movie star has come along that has definitively toppled Will Smith from the top of the A-list, it’s been a long while since the actor’s box-office power has been comprehensively measured. Smith’s most recent films have seen him in a supporting role (A New York Winter’s Tale), in a substantial role co-starring with son Jaden (After Earth) and in a sequel with an inherited audience (Men In Black 3). Not since Hancock and Seven Pounds (both 2008) has the actor been presented as the lead actor in an original property – making his new picture Focus a test case that will command the attention of Hollywood executives.
Focus has opened in the UK with a decent £1.91m, a number that is very much in line with the concurrent US debut of $18.69m. Hancock began with £9.59m including £2.96m in previews, although the CGI-driven action blockbuster is hardly a like-for-like comparison. Downbeat drama Seven Pounds kicked off with £1.57m – given the subject matter, that number was a testament to Smith’s mighty star power at the time.
The takeaway from the Focus result is that US studios will still want to be in the Will Smith business, but also that there is no current star that can guarantee audiences at the levels seen in the recent past with Smith and Tom Cruise. Hollywood’s new A-list is a set of characters, not actors.
She’s back: Jennifer Lopez
One-time A-lister Jennifer Lopez has been similarly quiet on big screens – her last appearances were in a supporting role in Jason Statham actioner Parker (2013) and in ensemble picture What to Expect When You’re Expecting (2012). The last J-Lo vehicle was 2010 romantic comedy The Back-Up Plan.
Now Lopez returns as the lead actor in The Boy Next Door, a modestly budgeted thriller from genre hit factory Blumhouse Productions. The film has opened in the UK with a so-so £406,000 from 337 cinemas. For comparison, The Back-Up Plan began with £710,000 from 279 venues.
The indie alternatives
Three well-reviewed indie movies vied for audiences, with mixed results. Distributor Icon successfully positioned It Follows as the cool teen horror film for genre audiences, winning five-star endorsements from critics including the Guardian’s own Peter Bradshaw. An opening of £336,000 (plus previews of £35,000) from 190 venues resulted. Icon reports that the film did best in multiplex venues, with the top 10 sites including Vue, Cineworld and Empire cinemas in London, Glasgow, Sheffield, Aberdeen and Dublin.
It Follows was less successful in independent cinemas, suggesting that the arthouse audience was not fully persuaded by the warm critical praise.
Gritty Yorkshire-set chase thriller Catch Me Daddy debuts with £37,700 from 24 sites, although this number includes a chunk of previews. The film enjoys a healthy 73/100 score at MetaCritic. A chase thriller of a different hue is supplied by Hungarian title White God, which kicks off with £17,500 from 14 sites, also including previews. The canine-themed picture enjoys even stronger critical approval – 82/100 at MetaCritic – but seems to be struggling to engage the arthouse audience. The challenge for all titles in this indie space is that film fans have just competed a huge Oscar-movie binge in January and February. The equivalent frame from 2014 was similarly becalmed: the only arthouse releases of note were Nymphomaniac Vol 1 and Vol 2. The market picked up again with The Grand Budapest Hotel.
The future
Overall the market is dead level, with the equivalent frame from 2014 (when Non-Stop and Ride Along were the top new releases) and is also dead level with average takings from the past 52 weekends. A mixed bag of titles arrives in cinemas this weekend, with Neill Blomkamp’s Chappie leading the charge. Still Alice, showcasing Julianne Moore’s Oscar-winning turn, offers indie venues a very credible alternative to safe banker The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. Vince Vaughn and Dave Franco star in fish-out-of-water comedy Unfinished Business. Jeremy Renner tests his leading-man mettle in Kill the Messenger, which already proved commercially disappointing in the US. Alternatives include Shailene Woodley in White Bird in a Blizzard, US indie Appropriate Behaviour and violent London gangland flick Hyena.
Top 10 UK films – 27 February to 1 March
1. The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, £3,771,852, 589 sites (new)
2. Fifty Shades of Grey, £2,248,492 from 545 sites. Total: £30,314,012
3. Focus, £1,910,245 from 457 sites (new)
4. Big Hero 6, £1,219,171 from 544 sites. Total: £17,669,306
5. Shaun the Sheep the Movie, £1,008,452 from 555 sites. Total: £11,648,735
6. Kingsman: The Secret Service, £667,464 from 371 sites. Total: £14,553,017
7. The Boy Next Door, £406,174 from 337 sites (new)
8. It Follows, £371,142 from 190 sites (new)
9. The Wedding Ringer, £368,213 from 361 sites. Total: £1,797,696
10. The Theory of Everything, £333,039 from 329 sites. Total: £20,621,855
Other openers
Kaaki Sattai, £48,901 from 33 sites
Catch Me Daddy, £37,679 from 24 sites
White God, £17,475 from 14 sites
Honour Killing, £5,662 from 10 sites
The Tales of Hoffmann, £5,415 from 2 sites
Hinterland, £3,110 from 2 sites
A Dark Reflection, £3,073 from 3 sites
Love’s Labours Won – RSC Live, £1,939 from 2 sites
Carsi Pazar, £485 from 1 site
Thanks to Rentrak. Source for FDA’s inflation-adjusted ticket prices: IHS Screen Digest
