The end of summer sees a remake win out, as Total Recall takes the top spot in its first week.
1. Total Recall (464 sites) W/E: £2,493,230 NEW (Includes W/Th previews)
2. The Watch (419) W/E: £2,235,933 NEW (Includes M/Tu/W/Th previews)
3. Brave (548) W/E: £1,604,163 Total: £17,940,622
4. Ted (454) W/E: £990,842 Total: £28,122,651
5. The Possession (374) W/E: £979,192 NEW
6. The Dark Knight Rises (339) W/E: £759,838 Total: £54,535,548
7. The Bourne Legacy (470) W/E: £714,020 Total: £9,895,086
8. The Expendables 2 (331) W/E: £376,319 Total: £5,546,276
9. Keith Lemon: The Film (361) W/E: £370,735 Total: £2,531,902
10. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days (449) W/E: £287,969 Total: £7,086,728
Source: The Guardian
It’s the week before the Autumn film season kicks off, but there were a few wide releases fighting to get the last of the summer holiday coin and this resulted in an OK-ish debut for both Total Recall and The Watch. Both benefited heavily from there additional days of previews, particularly The Watch which Fox have been bumping all over the place in terms of release date before finally deciding to give it so many extra days of previews that its inflated total was always going to chart highly. Total Recall performed far better in the big scheme of things, though with a crowded marketplace for comedies – there being four in the chart if you count Wimpy Kid – and this is filling a 12a action gap which hasn’t had anything new since The Bourne Legacy, with teens wanting one last action blow out before they have to go back to school. The film has also benefited from key talent Colin Farrell and Kate Beckinsale working the publicity trail like the pros they are, and Sony’s marketing department making the film pretty all encompassing. Fox’s work on The Watch has felt more subdued with trailers being all over the place but the talent not really doing all that much in terms of getting the word out. If the film hadn’t bombed as badly as it did in the US maybe more effort would have been paid, but I’m surprised the Ayoade connection hasn’t been worked more. Both likely won’t have that much of a life in the chart, though the fare opening this week is either going a little more upmarket or is rated out of many teens reach, with Dredd likely packing them in if it wasn’t an 18.
After two weeks at the top, Brave submits and drops a couple of places but a less than a third drop week-on-week is a damn solid hold regardless. Pixar’s latest has now overtaken the Cars films in terms of lifetime box office, and while it won’t be scaling the heights of Toy Story 3′s performance by a long chalk, this is a respectable total for an original IP with challenging marketing. Dropping more week-on-week is Ted which tumbles a little shy of 50% but is the summer, and year’s third best performer which is a storming result for Universal with this being their biggest hit since the titan that was Mamma Mia.
Elsewhere in the chart, The Possession gets a decent start with a horror-starved audience eating up what they can get and resulting in a decent showing for the relatively low-budget Sam Raimi produced effort, TDKR holds well yet again, The Bourne Legacy and The Expendables 2 drop pretty hard in the wake of Total Recall offering fresh fare for their audience. Keith Lemon drops around two-thirds on its way out of cinema screens with comforting speed and the Wimpy Kid makes some more bank as it becomes the most successful installment of the franchise at the UK Box Office.
This week sees a lot coming out as Momentum unleash the hotly cast Lawless, Entertainment bring us the well reviewed action flick Dredd 3D and Universal open up the Awards Season with Joe Wright’s interesting looking Anna Karenina. Oh and Sony plop out That’s My Boy. Expect a lot of movement in the chart next week.
