UK box-office September 28-30

Seventeen films opened in the UK last Friday, but none made it higher than number five in the box office chart, leaving the top four places unchanged. Simon Pegg comedy Run, Fay Boy, Run has now topped the chart for four straight weeks – a success that was probably not anticipated when it opened in early September. Ian McEwan adaptation Atonement landed at number two once again. Both home-grown hits have been released for the same amount of time, and Atonement has yet to win a weekend over Run, Fay Boy, Run. However, its total box office is higher – £8.511 million, against its rival’s £7.812 million – thanks to stronger takings on weekdays.

Highest new entry was Rob Zombie’s “re-imagining” of classic horror flick Halloween, closely followed by George Clooney conspiracy thriller Michael Clayton, Jodie Foster revenge picture The Brave One and Seann William Scott comedy Mr. Woodcock. The four newcomers occupied positions 5 to 8 in the chart, and all grossed in the £480,000 - £620,000 range. Martial arts picture War, the first pairing of action stars Jason Statham and Jet Li, landed at number 10, with £207,000.

A number of wide releases landed outside the top 10. Australian spoof documentary Kenny took a mediocre £48,000 from 112 screens. Hot Rod – starring Saturday Night Live comedian Andy Samberg – was just behind, with £44,000 from 97 cinemas.  Across The Universe, which utilises 33 Beatles songs for a fictional 1960s romantic drama, took £27,000 from 76. And Mrs. Ratcliffe’s Revolution, also set in the 60s, except in East Germany, managed £16,000 from 51. With nine films opening wider than 50 prints on a single weekend, cinema-goers struggled to respond to a bewildering set of options.

The failure of Across The Universe was especially disappointing for backers Sony, given its current US success. Having opened on 23 screens there with a stunning average of $29,000, the Julie Taymor-directed musical has now expanded to 339 cinemas, and taken a tidy $5.476 million after 17 days of play.

While many films in wide release in the UK under-whelmed, French-language picture The Singer scored a sizzling £48,000 from just 15 screens, for a £3,200 average. The music- and romance-themed Gerard Depardieu picture clearly connected with the older-skewing, traditional arthouse audience. A few places below it on the chart, September’s big success story Two Days In Paris is still going strong after five weeks of release. The Julie Delpy-directed romantic comedy has now taken £537,000, placing it among 2007s biggest foreign-language hits.

Lower down the UK chart, US indie flick Rocket Science opened on £5,300 from ten screens, while Matthew Barney’s art oddity Drawing Restraint 9 pulled in a comparatively healthy £2,700 at a single screen. Belgian director Lucas Belvaux’s crime caper The Right Of The Weakest grossed £540, also from a single print. This Filthy World, a concert film featuring cult director John Waters performing stand-up, took £370 from two screens. We have been unable to determine grosses for Bollywood picture Johnny Gaddar, which opened at a single east London cinema, and Gypsy Caravan: When The Road Bends, which played at London’s Institute Of Contemporary Arts.

Overall the top 15 films were down 22 per cent on the equivalent weekend from 2006, when Click, Hoodwinked! and World Trade Center opened at positions 1, 2 and 3. This is the first time since early July that a weekend has been down on its 2006 equivalent. In June, July and August overall, cinema takings were an impressive 27% up on the same three months in 2006.

Comments

[Clare Hopping]

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