UK Box Office 11-13 July

At the beginning of this summer, as industry experts surveyed the major movies scheduled for release, there was always one title that fell into the category of Unknown Quantity. The joker in the pack. Mamma Mia! may have succeeded on the London stage (and all over the world), but how many cinemagoers would line up to see a musical featuring Meryl Streep singing ABBA hits on a Greek island? As the release date drew near, the answer to that question became increasingly clear: lots.

Mamma Mia! The Movie opened at the weekend on £6.59 million, including nationwide Thursday previews plus takings from its one-week platform release at London’s Leicester Square Odeon. Stripping out the previews, the three-day figure is £5.21 million. This result is very similar to that of Sex and the City, which posted a three-day weekend of £5.12 million (plus whopping previews from Wednesday and Thursday). Sex and the City has gone on to gross nearly £26 million, and there is every chance that Mamma Mia! will match or exceed that total. Since it plays to a very broad demographic, including older cinemagoers, this kind of audience does not traditionally rush out to see films on opening weekend; it often takes its time. This all augurs well for Mamma Mia! and backers Universal.

The opening weekends for recent musicals are as follows: Chicago, £1.98 million (first weekend of wide play); The Producers, £1.31 million; Rent, £25,000 from 61 screens; Across the Universe, £27,000 from 76 screens; Dreamgirls debuted with £1.33million; and Hairspray with £2.05million.

Two other wide releases opened against Mamma Mia! Family adventure Journey to the Center of the Earth, playing in both 2D and 3D, took £954,000. Martial arts time-travel adventure The Forbidden Kingdom picked up £676,000, including previews of £148,000. Eddie Murphy comedy Meet Dave previewed on Saturday and Sunday, grossing an anaemic £100,000.

Of the specialist releases, edgy US indie flick Savage Grace, starring Julianne Moore, landed top of the pack, with £22,000 from six screens. Bollywood picture Mehbooba was next, with £18,000 from 13 cinemas. The rerelease of Billy Wilder’s The Apartment came in third, with £7,000 from nine sites. Cuban film Memories of Underdevelopment, made in 1968, picked up £1,700 from a single theatre. Japanese animation Origin: Spirit of the Past managed £530, also from a single venue.

So far, this summer has failed to produce many major arthouse hits, especially in foreign language. The only film currently in the top 15 not in the English language is Indian release Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na, propping up the chart with £28,000 this weekend, and a total of £81,000. Other non-Hollywood films in the top 15 are British urban youth drama Adulthood, which has grossed an impressive £3.25 million to date; 1940s romantic drama The Edge of Love, starring Keira Knightley and Sienna Miller, with just over £1 million after four weeks; and US indie flick The Visitor, with £136,000 in the bank after 10 days of play. The Visitor’s slim decline of just 6% from its opening weekend suggests it may have decent legs.

Other indie hits so far this summer include gritty French family drama Couscous, with £166,000 so far; French WWII picture Female Agents, with £198,000 to date; French romantic comedy Priceless, with a total of £383,000; and US indie flick In Search of a Midnight Kiss, with £195,000. This compares with last summer, when French films Tell No One and La Vie En Rose both cleared £1 million. This summer, we’ve yet to see foreign-language hits at that level. Closest is historical actioner Mongol: The Rise to Power of Genghis Khan, with £723,000.

Overall, the top 15 films were 17% down from last weekend, which was boosted by Hancock’s whopping opening, and 24% down from the equivalent weekend from 2007, which benefited from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix’s £16 million-plus debut (including previews). Compared with a typical weekend from the last 52, takings were an encouraging 61% up. Cinema chains are happy with the way the summer has panned out so far, with takings buoyant despite a lack of surefire sequels equivalent to 2007’s quadruple whammy of Shrek the Third, Spider-Man 3, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. And WALL-E and The Dark Knight are on their way…