Sunday, December 3, 2023

‘The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes’ scores strong £5.4m start to top UK-Ireland box office

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Rank Film (distributor) Three-day gross (Nov 17-19) Total gross to date                                    Week
 1. The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes (Lionsgate) £5.4m £5.4m 1
 2. The Marvels (Disney) £1.3m £5.7m 2
 3. Saltburn (Warner Bros) £776,444 £840,589 1
 4. Trolls Band Together (Universal) £732,022 £14.8m 5
 5. Thanksgiving (Sony) £486,148 £486,148 1

GBP to USD conversion rate: 1.25

Lionsgate franchise title The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes recorded a strong £5.4m to top the UK-Ireland box office on its opening weekend.

Although down on the £12.2m, £12.7m and £11.3m starts of the final three original Hunger Games films, it did top the £4.9m opening of first title The Hunger Games from 2012.

Playing in 576 sites, The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes took an excellent £9,406 location average – among the highest opening location averages of 2023. Lionsgate will now look to push the film towards £20m, with the Christmas release period quieter than in previous years.

The Marvels struggled on its second session, falling 63% – although not as much as its 78% drop across international markets. Its £1.3m second weekend brought it to £5.7m total for Disney; it remains the lowest-grossing of all 33 Marvel Cinematic Universe films to date, and may struggle to match the £8.3m of the current low mark, second MCU title The Incredible Hulk from 2008.

Emerald Fennell’s awards contender Saltburn started with a £776,444 weekend through Warner Bros, at a healthy £1,391 average from 558 locations. Having started previews during last week, the MGM-produced title has £840,589 in total.

Universal’s Trolls Band Together put on the best hold of the weekend, dropping just 24% with £732,022 on its fifth session. The family animation is now up to £14.8m – down on the £25m of 2016’s Trolls, but still a decent result in the current market.

Sony’s seasonal horror Thanksgiving started with £486,148 from 460 sites at a £1,057 average.

Playing its first full weekend after opening on Sunday, November 12, Indian title Tiger 3 took £316,861 across Friday to Sunday for Yash Raj Films. The action thriller is at an impressive £1.2m from just eight days in cinemas – further evidence of the increasing popularity of Bollywood cinema at the UK-Ireland box office.

Martin Scorsese’s Killers Of The Flower Moon recorded the biggest drop of its five-weekend run so far, falling 52.2% with £317,000 taking it to £9.6m total. This still represents an excellent result for Paramount, with the film Scorsese’s sixth-highest-grossing of all time in the territory, behind the £10.4m of 1992’s Cape Fear.

An event cinema release of stand-up comedy show Kevin Bridges – The Overdue Catch-Up took an impressive £260,624 on Friday, November 17 through Piece Of Magic Entertainment. Encore screenings over the weekend boosted that figure to £329,219; final reports plus mid-week screenings should see it end around £375,000.

Justine Triet’s Palme d’Or-winning Anatomy Of A Fall registered a decent hold across its second weekend, falling just 29% with £206,1230 taking it to £853,800 total. Released by Lionsgate, its hold was the second-best in the top 15 after Trolls Band Together; and it is now predicted to cross the £1m mark by this time next week – a strong result for a film with significant non-English language dialogue.

Lionsgate’s The Miracle Club added £25,103 and is up to £1.8m from six weekends.

Torture horror Saw X added £5,454 on its eighth weekend, and has £6m in total, finishing as the seventh-highest-grossing of 10 Saw films.

Further results to follow.

 

 

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