UK box office April 6-9

Mr Bean’s Holiday proved unshakeable at the top of the UK box office with a four-day Easter weekend haul of £3.33million, bringing its tally to a highly impressive £14.28million after 13 days of play. Newcomers Blades of Glory (£1.42million) and Sunshine (£1.15million) landed second and fourth on the chart, sandwiching 300, which is now in its third week of release. Sunshine’s backers Twentieth Century Fox will probably be slightly disappointed with their brainy sci-fi film’s modest debut in its home market, and will be regretting that its namesake – sunshine of the warm, bright and enticingly real variety – proved so abundant in Britain over Easter. Across the board, grosses for films targeting adults were flat, with only family attractions holding their own against the fine weather.

Movies targeting Asian audiences performed well, with Provoked, Shakalaka Boom Boom and Namastey London all in the box office top 20, despite modest screen counts. The Namesake, Mira Nair’s story of first- and second-generation Indian immigrants in the US, held up well, with a decline of just 9% from the previous weekend.

Most new specialist releases debuted weakly, however: Aki Kaurismäki’s Lights In The Dust managed £8,400 from six screens; Nanni Moretti’s The Caiman did £6,400 from four. The re-release of Alejandro Jodorowsky’s El Topo posted a much-more-impressive £4,100 from a single screen.

Overall, grosses were down from last weekend, despite the Monday holiday providing an extra day of takings. They were also significantly down on the equivalent weekend from 2006, when Ice Age 2: The Meltdown powered the market with a sensational opening just shy of £10million. This Easter may have seen our beaches and parks teeming with activity, but darkened cinemas proved a less-attractive option.

What the MyFilms.com Forum is saying about: 300

Eye for Film reviews El Topo, The Caiman, Lights in the Dusk and Blades of Glory

News on the latest releases: MyFilms News

Without Giving the Movie Away reviews Shakalaka Boom Boom

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