Phew!!! That’s the sound of UK cinema owners casting their eyes over the box-office receipts for the latest weekend. Following a disastrous previous weekend, box-office bounced back by 69% overall. And that’s not counting the £1.9million that Mr Bean’s Holiday took from paid previews – takings which will be added into its official opening-weekend figure announced next Monday.
The star performer, by miles, was artful Spartan battle flick 300, which sucked in £4.75million in till receipts. This is the second best opening for a film this year, after Hot Fuzz. The gory actioner squeezed out its mid-level competitors, with rival new entrants I Want Candy, Catch A Fire and Catch & Release all stumbling badly, and only anti-slave trade drama Amazing Grace holding up respectably with £432,000.
In the specialist sector, strongest was Bollywood romance Namastey London – tagline “A British brat meets a Funjabi boy” – which managed £239,000 from just 42 screens. But all the new-release activity was bad news for Factory Girl, which fell 61% on the previous weekend, and The Illusionist, which dropped a horrifying 80%. Inland Empire fell another 41%, and following a 43% drop last weekend it seems that this one is destined to stray not too far beyond David Lynch’s feverish fanbase.
However, The Family Friend, on nine screens, did spectacularly well, actually <increasing> 7% from its opening weekend, for a 10-day total of £53,000. A hugely unsympathetic protagonist – a rapacious, slovenly money lender – is proving a small obstacle to healthy box-office. Those who saw it at Cannes last May and decreed it a film for critics, not audiences, are now eating their words.
What others are saying about:
Amazing Grace
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10007415-amazing_grace/
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/film/2007/03/amazing_grace_confuses_educati.html
Namastey London
http://www.bollywoodcountry.com/view_article.php?id=202cb962ac59075b964b07152d234b70&category=review
http://withoutgivingthemovieaway.com/reviews/2007/03/review-namastey-london.html
Factory Girl
http://www.cinemattraction.com/?p=349
Inland Empire
http://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/reviews.php?id=5780
http://www.cinematical.com/2006/12/27/review-inland-empire/
The Illusionist
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/film/2007/03/the_illusionist_treat_or_trick.html
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