Reviews were mixed and the casting not necessarily a slam-dunk with audiences, but an exciting concept powered Jumper to number one at the box office at the weekend. With just over £3 million in four days (including Thursday previews), the Hayden Christensen teleporting flick clearly connected with teens now enjoying the half-term holiday. Marketed as “Bourne meets The Matrix” (thank you, Total Film magazine), the $80 million action sci-fi also benefited from the cachet of director Doug Liman, who previously made TheBourne Identity and Mr & Mrs Smith. The presence of Jamie Bell (Billy Elliot) may also have provided an assist in his home market, alongside co-stars Rachel Bilson (The OC) and Samuel L Jackson.
Below Jumper, National Treasure: Book Of Secrets and Juno battled for second place. The Nic Cage treasure-hunting sequel won out with £1.49 million, and should continue to play well this week to families enjoying the half-term break. Juno was not far behind with £1.34 million. The teen-pregnancy indie comedy played exceptionally well on weekday evenings last week, and should do likewise over the next few days. So far, the Oscar-nominated comedy has taken £4.85 million, putting it ahead of the lifetime totals of comparable pictures Sideways and Little Miss Sunshine, and this is after only ten days on release.
Second-highest new entry The Bucket List landed at number 6, with an OK £602,000 from 280 screens. The older-skewing globetrotting drama presented itself as a lighter alternative to the many awards contenders currently courting upscale viewers. Paul Thomas Anderson’s acclaimed There Will Be Blood expanded nationwide from its West End London base, jumping from 24 screens to 121, and taking a nifty £540,000 for an £889,000 total. With extra media attention following Daniel Day-Lewis’ near-certain Best Actor Oscar win on Sunday, this brilliant – but challenging – oilman drama should continue to attract discerning audiences.
Other new entries included: Bollywood film Jodhaa Akbar (an excellent £366,000, including previews, from just 46 cinemas); teen horror All The Boys Love Mandy Lane (£102,000 from 89); documentary Annie Leibovitz: Life Through A Lens (£2,800 from a single screen); Polish romcom Midnight Talks (£2,100 from three cinemas); and Samantha Morton New Zealand-set historical drama River Queen (a desultory £440 from one site). River Queen had sat unreleased for a while, following a troubled shoot, so commercial expectations were not high.
One slight disappointment on the specialist front is the performance of The Diving Bell and The Butterfly. This much-admired Cannes prizewinner (Julian Schnabel won Best Director at the festival) debuted the previous weekend with £107,000 from 29 screens. Despite its expansion this weekend to 41 venues, box office declined slightly to £89,000. Still, its total now stands at a decent £297,000, indicating the film played well on weekdays last week, and that may continue to be the case.
Meanwhile spare a thought for the latest Judd Apatow comedy production, Walk Hard. Having debuted a month ago on 296 screens, the rock spoof had a tough time holding on to its sites when its initial two-week bookings expired. By week three, it was down to 40 cinemas, then seven and finally this weekend it was playing at a single site, where it grossed £22. Its total of £529,000 isn’t disgraceful but its rapid decline was certainly undignified.
Overall, the top 15 films were 5% up on the previous weekend, but 20% down on the equivalent weekend from 2007, when Hot Fuzz opened with nearly £6 million. The success of that Edgar Wright/Simon Pegg comedy (as well as surprise hit 300) added buoyancy to the first quarter of 2007; cinema owners will be pleasantly surprised if equivalent hits emerge in the same period of 2008.
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