The winner
It’s official: American Sniper, which has already taken a stunning $200m (£131.5m) in US cinemas, is also a significant box-office success story in the UK. Holding steady with no decline whatsoever from the previous weekend session, Clint Eastwood’s Iraq war film knocks Taken 3 from the top of the chart. In 10 days, the title has grossed a robust £6.62m. The last title to reach the summit having debuted lower down the chart is The Grand Budapest Hotel, which achieved that feat last March.
American Sniper has already overtaken the lifetime totals of Eastwood-directed hits such as Million Dollar Baby (£5.43m) and Unforgiven (£5.77m), although these comparisons are not inflation-adjusted. Sniper should soon overtake Eastwood’s top-grossing film Gran Torino (£8.33m).
American Sniper saw its venue count increase from 401 for its opening frame to 457. The site average edged back from £6,172 to £5,557.
The battle of the newbies
Three new films opened at the weekend on at least 300 screens each, all landing in the middle of the chart table (see Top 10, below). Best of the bunch, box-office-wise, is Ex Machina, the directorial debut of The Beach author and 28 Days Later screenwriter Alex Garland. The film kicked off with a decent £904,000 (plus previews of £190,000) from 442 sites, and a £2,046 average (or £2,475 if previews are included). The title found a berth at multiplexes as well as indie chains, offering a smart genre alternative to Oscar fare.
Comparisons are tricky to make. However, Spike Jonze’s Her, which shares an artificial-intelligence premise with Ex Machina, began last February with £449,000 from 200 cinemas.
Landing in seventh place is Mortdecai, the caper comedy starring Johnny Depp, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ewan McGregor and Paul Bettany. The film grossed £485,000 from 350 venues, yielding a £1,385 average. Depp’s last lead role was in Transcendence, which debuted with £587,000 (plus £595,000 in previews) last April. Expensive flop The Lone Ranger kicked off with £1.34m in August 2013. Mortdecai enjoys a weak 5.3/10 user rating at IMDb and a dismal 27/100 score at Metacritic. Depp’s quirky taste in material seems increasingly to be alienating the affection of audiences.
One place below Mortdecai, The Gambler, starring Mark Wahlberg, picked up £382,000 from 345 screens, for a £1,106 average. So far, the film has been liked a little more than Mortdecai by audiences (6.2/10 at IMDb) and also by critics (56/100). The Gambler is a remake of the 1974 James Toback-scripted film, which starred James Caan, and both are inspired by the Dostoevsky novella. Populated by a number of violent criminals but not exactly a propulsive thriller, and saddled with a literature-professor protagonist suffering from existential ennui, The Gambler suffers from an uncertain genre positioning, as well as rather unlikely casting in the lead role.
The disappointment
Landing in lowly 17th place, A Most Violent Year has begun falteringly with £217,000 from 180 cinemas, yielding a £1,203 average. Although the JC Chandor film was nominated for a Golden Globe (Jessica Chastain, supporting actress), has appeared in a smattering of critics groups’ annual polls and won three prizes including best film from the US National Board of Review, it was not blessed with nominations from either Bafta or Oscar. Landing at this highly competitive time has clearly been a challenge for the picture.
A Most Violent Year has always been a tough film to position. It’s not exactly an action thriller – although oil delivery trucks are robbed at gunpoint, and its milieu is where business overlaps with criminality. As a character-driven drama, a release on 180 screens seems optimistic. And as for the cast, lead actor Oscar Isaac is not yet a marketable movie star, perhaps because he manages to look different in all his films (including Inside Llewyn Davis, The Two Faces of January, Drive and WE), and broader audiences have yet to get a clear fix on him. The cast also includes Jessica Chastain and David Oyelowo.
JC Chandor has yet to achieve a breakout hit in the UK. Debut feature Margin Call was a niche release, grossing £380,000 in total. Follow-up All Is Lost was pushed a bit wider, managing £795,000 over its lifetime.
The holdovers
In addition to American Sniper, three further Oscar best-picture nominees continue their reign in the top 10. All fell from the previous session by amounts in the 30-32% range. Pick of the bunch is The Theory of Everything, which has racked up £14.74m in 25 days of play, and looks on course to emerge as the biggest hit – in the UK – among this year’s awards contenders. Birdman has been in cinemas for the same period, grossing £4.67m. Whiplash has managed £1.28m in 10 days.
Lower down the chart, best-picture nominee The Imitation Game is still holding steady in its 11th week of play (down just 12% from the previous frame). With takings of £15.53m, the Alan Turing drama remains the biggest-grossing among the Oscar films, but Theory of Everything should overtake it very soon.
The plucky contender
Crowd-funded and self-distributed films don’t get much more independent than documentary Beyond Clueless, directed – full disclosure – by Guardian contributor Charlie Lyne. Recognising that his teen-movie essay film becomes more of a theatrical proposition by creating an event around it in individual cinemas, Lyne took the film on a 10-day UK tour prior to release, with director Q+As and the occasional frat party. The regional tour grossed £6,592, which adds to an earlier preview event last summer at London’s BFI Southbank (£3,964). Beyond Clueless opened at the weekend at London’s ICA and Glasgow Filmhouse, with one-off events in Manchester on Saturday and Dublin on Sunday, together grossing £6,456. Total to date is just over £17,000.
The future
Overall, the market was 23% down on the previous frame, and also 8% down on the equivalent session from 2014, when The Wolf of Wall Street and 12 Years a Slave continued their hold on the top of the chart. Cinemas are now gearing up for February half-term, with the arrival on Friday of Disney’s Big Hero 6, which has grossed $217m in the US. Kingsman: The Secret Service, from Kick-Ass director Matthew Vaughn, likewise offers commercial appeal, and is an alternative for young adults to the prestige dramas currently on release. Stephen Daldry’s Trash, from a Richard Curtis screenplay, is harder to position, with its child protagonists, 15 certificate and significant foreign-language dialogue. Paul Thomas Anderson’s Inherent Vice looks the likely winner for the indie sector, with a cast including Joaquin Phoenix, Josh Brolin, Benicio Del Toro, Owen Wilson and Reese Witherspoon. Also in the mix: Aussie thriller Son of a Gun, with Brenton Thwaites, Ewan McGregor and Alicia Vikander.
Top 10 films January 23-25
1. American Sniper, £2,539,534 from 457 sites. Total: £6,617,063
2. Taken 3, £1,809,724 from 478 sites. Total: £15,171,997
3. The Theory of Everything, £1,588,737 from 558 sites. Total: £14,739,154
4. Into the Woods, £1,347,845 from 495 sites. Total: £7,272,642
5. Ex Machina, £1,093,952 from 442 sites (new)
6. Paddington, £748,628 from 547 sites. Total: £34,975,237
7. Mortdecai, £484,878 from 350 sites (new)
8. The Gambler, £381,554 from 345 sites (new)
9. Birdman, £380,113 from 335 sites. Total: £4,668,099
10. Whiplash, £376,485 from 269 sites. Total: £1,280,311
Other openers
Swan Lake: Bolshoi Ballet, £284,344 from 194 sites
A Most Violent Year, £216,538 from 180 sites
Baby, £67,995 from 38 sites
Dolly Ki Doli, £41,191 from 18 sites
Beyond Clueless, £17,012 from four sites
Ask Sana Benzer, £4,962 from four sites
Bana Masai Anlatma, £2,442 from four sites
La Maison de la Radio, £1,322 from two sites
La Prochaine Fois Je Viserai le Couer, £508 from one site
