1. Ghosts: The Possession Of Button House £2,458,995 – NE

Took £733k 29.81% Friday; £918k 37.33% Saturday; £808k 32.86% Sunday.

760^th biggest opening between Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and Sin City (close to Free Guy, Instant Family, The Woman In Black: Angel of Death and Dark Shadows) and 1,183^rd biggest inflated opening between Angelas Ashes and Ali (close to The Lady in the Van, A Fish Called Wanda, Rain-Man and The Devil’s Advocate).

34^th biggest opening over the last 52 weeks between Oasis: Do not Look Back In Anger and Now You See Me: Now You Don’t (close to The Magic Faraway Tree, Practical Magic 2, The Running Man and Predator: Badlands).

2^nd biggest British film opening in 2026 after The Magic Faraway Tree (£2.87m) and ahead of Pressure (£2.05m) and Shaun The Sheep: The Beast Of Mossy Bottom (£1.49m).

Television audience and established fanbase

Ghosts: The Possession Of Button House continues the hugely popular BBC comedy Ghosts. When the sitcom ended its five-series run in 2023, it was one of Britain’s most-watched comedies, averaging 6.62m viewers on BBC1. The 2023 Christmas special attracted 3.92m viewers, rising to 7.2m with BBC iPlayer viewing.

Production partnership and UK film infrastructure

The television series was made by the BBC and Lionsgate through a partnership established in 2018, following their earlier collaboration on Motherland. The need for a British broadcaster to partner with a US studio highlights the weakness of the UK’s film financing and distribution infrastructure, despite decades of lottery funding.

Lionsgate also partnered with the BBC on Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, and with BBC Films on Their Finest, Brooklyn and On Chesil Beach.

From television popularity to cinema admissions

Like many films based on popular television shows, Ghosts had a large, established fanbase. The key question was whether those fans would see it in cinemas or wait to watch it on television. British television adaptations can open strongly when they connect with cinema audiences, as these examples show:

• Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie — £4.04m opening.
• Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa — £2.17m opening.
• Mrs. Brown’s Boys D’Movie — £4.30m opening.
• The Inbetweeners Movie — £13.21m opening.

Television popularity does not guarantee box-office success, however. Failures include 1998’s The Avengers, 2015’s The Bad Education Movie, 2016’s Dad’s Army and 2012’s Keith Lemon: The Film, despite the popularity of the shows on which they were based.

Reception, release timing, and second-weekend outlook

Ghosts: The Possession Of Button House received very positive reviews. Its release ahead of Halloween and the start of half-term helped it reach number one, following six weeks in which films had struggled to sustain audience interest beyond a week. It became the seventh different number one film in seven weeks.

Strong word of mouth, Halloween this weekend and the half-term holiday should help Ghosts hold strongly in its second weekend.

While Ghosts’ opening is good, if you compare it with the likes of 2014’s Mrs. Brown’s Boys D’Movie opening (£4.30m), expectations have been lowered over the years since.

Lionsgate UK: origins and the pricing debate

Lionsgate UK began as Redbus Film Distributors, which found success with British films such as Bend It Like Beckham. Like many British distributors, it was subsequently acquired by a foreign company: Lionsgate bought Redbus in 2005 and continued to invest in British films, with mixed success.

In 2014, Zygi Kamasa, then head of Lionsgate UK, suggested that tickets for British films should cost less than those for US blockbusters. Exhibitors predictably rejected the proposal, saying, “I think we need to be careful of ghettoising particular films.” Yet that marginalisation appears to have happened anyway, with British films struggling to attract the audiences they once enjoyed.

The challenges facing independent British distribution.

Kamasa left Lionsgate in 2020 to set up True Brit Films. Like many companies over the past 20 years, it struggled to establish a foothold with the British films it made and released. It filed for administration, citing “extremely challenging market conditions”, conditions that have affected the British independent market for more than 30 years.

The pattern is familiar: British distributors launch with considerable optimism but are then either acquired by international companies or struggle to establish themselves and close.

That a film such as Ghosts, based on a hugely popular British television show, needed to be acquired by a US-owned distributor highlights the British film industry’s failure over the past 30 years to build a sustainable domestic distribution sector, despite hundreds of millions in lottery funding. Next year marks the 30th anniversary of the Lottery Film Franchises fiasco.

Lionsgate’s release outlook

Lionsgate nevertheless looks set for a strong year. The Housemaid took £32.1m earlier this year, and The Hunger Games: Sunrise On The Reaping opens in three weeks.

• 2. Clayface £2,011,764 – NE

Took £639k 31.8% Friday; £680k 33.8% Saturday; £693k 34.4% Sunday.

959th biggest opening between Argylle and Need for Speed (close to The Ring Two,  The Mask, Unbreakable and Smile 2) and 1,442^nd biggest inflated opening between Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets and Nightmare on Elm Steet III (close to The Rocketeer, The Running Man (1988), Universal Solider and Blair Witch 2)

44^th biggest opening over the last 52 weeks between Pressure and Other Mommy (close to Insidious: Out Of The Further, The End Of Oak Street, Mortal Kombat 2 and Send Help).

3^rd biggest 18 rated horrors in 2026 after Scream 7 (£3.83m) and 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (£3.36m) and ahead of Obsession (£1.39m).

James Watkins previously directed 2024’s Speak No Evil opened £1,424,999 taking £5,591,077 and 2012’s The Woman In Black opened £3,153,020/£3,964,787 taking £21,237,668/£26,705,451.

A different approach to DC adaptations

Although Clayface is based on a DC character, it may not feel like a comic-book film to most cinemagoers because the character is relatively unfamiliar. Like Joker, it offers Warner Bros a way to distinguish its films from the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), rather than trying to replicate an extended universe, a strategy whose previous attempts have been poorly received by critics and audiences.

Marvel’s Deadpool and Wolverine is likely to remain a rarity within the MCU. Warner Bros, meanwhile, has twice led the way with comic-book films: with Tim Burton’s Batman in 1989 and Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins in 2025.

Since The Dark Knight trilogy ended in 2012, only 2019’s Joker has combined box-office success with critical acclaim for DC. Clayface has also received positive reviews and generated positive word of mouth among audiences.

A lower-budget horror model

Clayface may never match the box-office success of MCU films, but with a budget around a tenth of their size, it does not need to. According to Companies House, Deadpool and Wolverine had a budget of £418m ($534 million), compared with $40m for Clayface. Its opening was closer to that of a conventional horror film such as 2022’s Smile (£1,860,452), while its tone recalls Darkman and The Invisible Man.

Box-office comparisons

• Darkman (1990): opening £219,752/£626,411 from 126 screens; total £507,114/£1,445,546.
• Hollow Man (2000): opening £1,634,386/£2,975,325; total £6,101,225/£11,107,003.
• The Invisible Man (2020): opening £2,163,797; total £6,841,147.
• Smile (2022): opening £1,860,452; total £11,096,080.
• Smile 2 (2024): opening £2,000,089; total £6,367,402.
• Supergirl: opening £2,725,611; total £5,549,687.

Anti-heroes and the studio’s priorities

Sony has made several attempts to build anti-hero films around Spider-Man characters, including Morbius, Madame Web, and Kraven the Hunter. Only Venom has succeeded, despite receiving poor reviews.

The challenge now is that, with Warner Bros owned by Skydance, the studio is likely to prioritise high-profile DC tentpoles such as Man of Tomorrow and The Batman Part 2 over a sequel to Clayface.

• 3. Ali G: Who Iz I? £1,344,873 – NE

Took £531k 39.5% Friday; £540k 40.7% Saturday; £266k 19.8% Sunday.

1,419^th biggest opening between Kindergarten Cop and Daybreakers (close to Hustlers, Unfriended, Edward Scissorhands and The Amityville Horror) and 2,072^nd biggest inflated opening between Elektra and Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (close to American Psycho, The Delinquents, Rumour Has It and Boogeyman (2005).

56^th biggest opening over the last 52 weeks between Obsession and Deliver Me From Nowhere (close to Crime 101, Marty Supreme, Forgotten Island and Regretting You).

2^nd biggest opening for a 15-rated comedy ahead of Digger (£1.08m), How To Make A Killing (£892k), and The Invite (£803k), and behind Scary Movie (£4.19m).

561^st widest opening (456 cinemas) similar to John Carter, Bruno, and Transformers; 1,598^th biggest 400+ opening since 1989’s Batman.

Cinema performance and streaming release

Much was written about the film flopping in cinemas, particularly after it arrived on Amazon on Wednesday, just five days after its cinema opening. Yet despite having only two screenings a day in most cinemas during its opening weekend, it still took more than £500k on both Friday and Saturday, before dropping off on Sunday.

Amazon’s decision to give the film a cinema release was itself surprising. When it acquired the Borat sequel, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, in 2020, it released it directly to streaming.

MGM’s return to UK self-distribution

Ali G: Who Iz I? is the first MGM film the studio has released itself in the UK for more than 53 years. For decades, its films were distributed through Sony Pictures, 20^th Century Fox, Universal Pictures, Warner Bros, UIP, CIC and MGM-EMI.

Before 1970, during its golden era, MGM was one of the biggest film studios in both the UK and the world. It owned the Empire Leicester Square, then a 3,330-seat art-deco cathedral of cinema, before selling it to CIC in 1973.

For months ahead of opening there was a lot of negativities surrounding the film including a boycott campaign in August to try to get the film banned by exhibitors calling a racist caricature, not understanding that is the whole point of the character. Sacha Baron Cohen’s uncomfortable comedy plays on a long-standing tradition of Jewish subversive satire, very much like Mel Brooks to weaponised bigotry against the bigots themselves. Mel Brooks famously used outrageous portrayals of Nazis and religious persecution to disarm hate by making it look completely ridiculous.

Baron Cohen takes the same concept but applies it to the real world using a “Trojan Horse” technique. Instead of putting actors on a stage, he puts himself into character to see how real, ordinary people react when confronted with extreme bigotry, In Da Ali G Show, Borat gets the entire crowd of an American country bar to enthusiastically sing along to a fictional song called “Throw the Jew Down the Well”.

The campaigners focussed on the aesthetic of the character missing the actual mechanism of the joke. As he appears non-threatening and simple-minded, his interview subjects lower their guards. They believe they are talking to someone beneath them. In doing so, authority figures often let slip their true condescension, latent racism, classism, or sheer ignorance. They say things on camera that they would never say if they thought an astute journalist was watching. The joke is never on the culture Ali G mimics; the joke is on the powerful elites who show their true faces when they think nobody is paying attention.

Most people growing up over the last 20 years with Ali G must understand what his character is as seen by him appearing famously on This Morning. While other times he has appeared on chat shows in character including appearing at Wimbledon finals as Ali G.

2002’s Ali G Indahouse opened £3,231,673/£6,033,963 taking £10,170,779/£18,990,196

2006’a Borat opened £6,242,344/£10,267,182 taking £23,863,341/£39,249,561

2009’s Bruno opened £5,000,229/£7,362,470 taking £15,786,364/£23,244,260

2012’s The Dictator opened £4,963,745/£6,241,695 taking £11,016,175/£13,852,364

Sacha Baron Cohen will star next in The Popinjay Cavalier stage play written and directed Quentin Tarantino starting in February in London.

• 4. Wildwood £1,022,599 – NE

Took £277k 27.1% Friday; £376k 36.8% Saturday; £369 36.1% Sunday.

1,812^th biggest opening between Barnyard: The Original Party Animals and Enemy at the Gates (close to Planes 2: Fire & Rescue, Monster House, Home Alone 3 and The Borrowers) and 2,457^th biggest inflated opening between Take the Lead and Medicine Man (close to The Perks of Being a Wallflower, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Justin and the Knights of Valour and Haunted Mansion (2023).

6^4th biggest opening over the last 52 weeks between The Dog Stars and Bugonia (close to Anaconda, Digger, Shelter, and Song Sung Blue).

148^th widest opening in 655 screens similar to Captain Marvel and close to Freakier Friday, Digger, I Swear and Yesterday: 656^th biggest 600+ cinema opening since 2015’s Jurassic World; it was the widest opening for Black Bear and Laika.

Stop-motion dark fantasy Wildwood, it’s the first Laika animated film since 2018’s Missing Link but plays to an older audience being 12A, received positive reviews, the question was always will audiences see it, despite the trailer having 179m views in May, the biggest trailer launch ever for a fully stop-motion animated film.

2019’s Missing Link opened £644,649 taking £3.2m

2009’s Coraline opened £2,427,244 taking £7,244,992

2012’s ParaNorman opened £1,393,123 taking £6.3m

2014’s The Boxtrolls opened £2,000,597 (including £689,434 previews) taking £8.4m

2016’s Kubo and the Two Strings opened £844,027 taking £2.9m

It is targeting the older tween/teen audience who enjoy fantasy films like The Golden Compass, The Spiderwick Chronicles, and Mortal Engines all of which struggled to find their target audiences. Because it plays to the in-between demographic between tweens and teens, it will be too old for some and too young for others.

Opened similar to 2005’s Corpse Bride £1,150,464 taking £5m.

Despite receiving widespread critical acclaim Wildwood was always going to struggle to find its audience over opening weekend, the hope is with half-term word of mouth will help it hold over its second weekend before exhibitors dump it for the net batch of films opening.

• 5. Street Fighter £1,009,598 – £4,282,556

Dropped 56.4% in its second weekend.

£266k 26.4% (-63.5% £729k) Fri; £417k 41.3% (-54.7% £920k) Sat; £326k 32.3% (-80% £665k) Sun.

1,151^st biggest second weekend between The Nutty Professor II: The Klumps and Heretic (close to This Means War, Five Nights At Freddy’s 2, The Exorcist: Believer and Men In Black International) and 1,729^th biggest inflated second weekend between The Rising Sun and Platoon (close to Assassin’s Creed, Spy Kids 3D Game Over, Jackass Forever and Paranormal Activity 4).

36^th biggest second weekend over the last 52 weeks between Now You See Me: Now You Don’t and Pressure (close to 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, Scream 7, Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 and Other Mommy)

Mortal Kombat II dropped 62.5% £603,111 and £2,854,242 of £3,256,212

Capcom’s Resident Evil opening £4,211,819 taking £13,644,200 to date and Masters Of The Universe opening £2,654,783 taking £5,314,682.

Street Fighter played to the similar FOMO audience of last year’s Five Nights At Freddy’s 2 dropped 68.8% £1,016,400 and £5,280,982 78.3% of £6,743,068 losing interest with the film before the end of its opening weekend. Despite Street Fighter having a strong marketing campaign, which had little impact on the film and will outlast it in cinemas.

2017’s Assassin’s Creed dropped 82% £950,168 and £6,949,314 86.9% of £7,996,695

2016’s Warcraft dropped 79.9% £728,168 and £5,022,284 84.5% of £5,947,228

(these two had biggest second weekend drops as they had extended previews)

1995 film starring Jean-Claude Van Damme (dropped 43.4% £350,320/£806,340 and £1,185,190 51.9% of  £2,280,880/£5,249,957) and 2009’s Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li, both were critical and box office flops.

Its interesting that despite the FOMO factor of recent films opening over recent weeks they have all dropped far bigger in their second weekends in the US than the UK including Street Fighter

Also opened

• Klara And The Sun –  £175,485 #17 from 365 screens

Dystopian sci-fi starring Jenna Ortega, Amy Adams, Steve Buscemi, and Natasha Lyonne and directed by Taika Waititi based on Kazuo Ishiguro novel; received its world premiere at the London Film Festival to poor reviews.

Kazuo Ishiguro won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2017 writing several novels previously adapted for films including 1993’s The Remains of the Day and 2005’s Never Let Me Go and wrote the screenplay to 2022’s Living.

Taika Waititi previously directed Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Thor: Ragnarok, Jojo Rabbit and What We Do In the Shadows.

The trailer had the sentimental of Bicentennial Man, A.I.: Artificial Intelligence and the mess that was A Big Bold Beautiful Journey, but it is the type of film only Sony Pictures would take the risk to make anymore.

• Scream (30th Anniversary 4K Restoration) £34,029 #33 139 screens.

As with many anniversaries Scream is celebrating its UK 30^th anniversary a year earlier originally opened in May 1997 £1,070,532/£2,106,870 from 214 screens taking £8.3m/£16.3m. two sequels immediately followed, with a fourth film that was originally planned to be the start of a new trilogy in 2011, before it was rebooted in 2022 with further sequels released in 2023 and this year.

—-

2026 BO is currently up 22% from 2025.

The weekend’s top 10 box office took £10,477,671 up 13.3% from last weekend’s £9,250,120:  1,308,074 admissions, up 13.3% from 1,112,582 admissions.

36^th biggest weekend of the last 52 weeks between 11 September 2026 #1 Practical Magic 2 £2,798,771 (25.58%) and 02 October 2026 #1 Verity £3,396,610 (32.88%)

136^th biggest since cinemas reopened out of 310 weeks between 23 August 2024 #1 Alien: Romulus £2,021,921 (19.18%) and 05 September 2025 #1 The Conjuring: Last Rites £6,777,552 (64.81%)

642^nd biggest top 10 of the last 25 years (out of 1,280) between 19 February 2016 #1 Deadpool £5,694,280 (54.33%) and 27 June 2014 #1 Mrs Brown’s Boys d’Movie £4,301,306 (41.09%) and 1.001^st biggest inflated between 14 September 2012 #1 The Sweeney £1,545,294 (19.91%) and 06 September 2013 #1 About Time £1,761,079 (22.17%)

The top 3 took £5,815,632 (55.5%) of the top 10; Ghosts: The Possession Of Button House 23.47% (£2,458,995); Clayface 19.20% (£2,011,764); Ali G: Who Iz I? 12.84% (£1,344,873)

1,043^rd biggest percentage share #1 (23.47%) between 31 July 2009 #1 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince £2,917,786 (23.50%) and 11 June 2010 #1 Sex and the City 2 £1,272,405 (23.45%)

1,062^nd biggest admissions (306,991) between 02 November 2007 #1 Ratatouille £1,551,332 (307,194) and 14 September 2007 #1 Run, Fat Boy, Run £1,543,836 (305,710)

Up 41.7% from 2025; (£7,393,984); Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere (£1,306,626); Regretting You (£1,275,980); Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc (£1,110,945); Pets On A Train (£443,107); Mrs. Warren’s Profession – NT Live 2025 (£150,043); Disney Junior Cinema Club 2025 (£80,883); The Descent (20th Anniversary) (£45,386); #1 Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere £1,306,626 1st week 690 screens (17.67% of top 10)

Up 14.18% from 2024; (£9,176,580); Venom: The Last Dance (£4,299,477); The Room Next Door (£239,043); A Nightmare On Elm Street (40th Anniversary) (£117,454); Hocus Pocus (30th Anniversary) (£91,004); The Front Room (£56,665); #1 Venom: The Last Dance £4,299,477 1st week 623 screens (46.85% of top 10)

Down 16.3% from 2023; (£12,520,974); Five Nights at Freddy’s (£5,379,587); Beetlejuice (35th Anniversary) (£98,845); #1 Five Nights at Freddy’s £5,379,587 1st week 607 screens (42.96% of top 10)

Up 4.9% 2022 (£9,985,348); Prey for The Devil (£859,717); Coldplay Music of the Spheres Live Broadcast from Buenos Aires (£859,717); Harry Potter and the Chamber Of Secrets (20th Anniversary) (£454,250); Barbarian (£380,812); Triangle of Sadness (£308,950); Bros (£215,612); ParaNorman (10th Anniversary) (£39,184); Trick ‘R Treat (Re: 2022) (£24,116) #1 Black Adam £3,488,800 2nd week 38% drop (34.94% of top 10)

Down 28.9% 2021 (£14,743,119); Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (20th Anniversary) (£965,008); Last Night In Soho (£731,950); Antlers (£251,100); My Hero Academia: World Heroes’ Mission (£218,956); Cliff Richard – The Great 80 Tour (£157,345); Blade (4K Restoration) (£20,342); #1 No Time to Die £3,514,308 5th week 4th split #1 (23.8% of top 10)

Up 703.6% 2020; (£1,303,830); Two By Two: Overboard! (£329,265); Honest Thief (£254,267); The Secret Garden (£154,087); Pixie (£116,517); All My Life (£50,489); Cinema Paradiso (30th Anniversary 4K Restoration) (£28,320); #1 Two By Two: Overboard! £329,265 1st week 339 screens (25.25% of top 10)

Down 26.1% 2019; (£14,176,042); Terminator: Dark Fate 19.5% (£2,864,941); The Addams Family (£2,117,740); Countdown (£390,873); Black And Blue (£25,840); #1 Joker £3,464,682 37% drop 4th weekend 657 screens

Down 48.7% 2018: (£20,418,070); Bohemian Rhapsody (£9,530,463); The Hate U Give (£911,309); La Fanciulla Del West – Met Opera 2018 (£186,621); Die Walkure – ROH, London 2018/19 (£185,066); Beetlejuice (30th Anniversary) (£33,825); #1 Bohemian Rhapsody £9,530,463 1st week 659 screens (46.6% of top 10)

Down 45.6% 2017: (£19,248,577); Thor: Ragnarok (£12,375,804); Jigsaw (£1,851,249); Breathe (£535,675); Call Me by Your Name (£235,760); The Shining (Re: 2017) (£1,448); #1 Thor: Ragnarok £12,375,804 1st week 611 screens (64.3% of the top 10)

Down 43.9% 2016: (£18,662,678); Doctor Strange (£9,288,898); Ethel & Ernest (£19,202); #1 Doctor Strange £9,288,898 1st week 602 screens (49.7% of the top 10)

Down 3.5% from 2015; (£10,858,414); Paranormal Activity: Ghost Dimension 3D (£1,472,427); #1 Hotel Transylvania 2 £2,275,612 588 screens down 64% 2nd week (18.42% of top 10)

Down 3.2% 2014: (£10,824,678); Fury (£2,692,786); The Book of Life (£981,432); Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (expansion) (£571,581); Love, Rosie (£482,535); The Babadook (£347,512); This Is Where I Leave You (£109,441); Serena (£95,109); #1 Fury £2,692,786 1st week 462 screens (24.8% of top 10)

Down 16.4% 2013: (£12,528,593); Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 (£3,658,618); Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa (£1,940,476); Ender’s Game (£1,158,548); One Chance (£717,857); The Selfish Giant (£81,737); Reef 2: High Tide (£26,910); Closed Circuit (£19,998); #1 Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 £3,658,618 1st week 510 screens (29.2% of top 10)

Down 60.6% 2012: (£26,591,268); Skyfall (£20,180,369); #1 Skyfall £20,180,369 1st week 587 screens (75.9% of top 10)

Down 33.8% 2011; (£15,727,396); The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn (£6,758,724); The Help (£896,597); The Ides Of March (£665,387); Anonymous (£183,194); Ghostbusters (Re: 2011) (£55,934); #1 The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn £6,758,724 1st week 512 screens (42.9% of top 10)

Up 0.2% from 2010: (£12,911,776); Saw 3D (£3,600,083); Burke and Hare (£942,894); The Kids Are All Right (£411,960); #1 Saw 3D £3,600,083 1st week 382 screens (27.8% of top 10)

Down 29.28% 2009; (£10,454,829); Saw VI (£1,736,287); Fantastic Mr. Fox (£1,517,312); Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant (£798,641); The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard (£35,362); #1 Up £3,807,003 3rd week 549 screens 26% drop (31.1% of top 10)

Down 33.8% 2008; (£15,824,329); High School Musical 3 (£8,409,375); Saw V (£2,436,817); Ghost Town (£1,347,678); Incendiary (£18,964); #1 High School Musical 3 £8,409,375 1st week 493 screens (53.1% of top 10)

Down 2.2% 2007: (£10,717,468); Saw IV (£2,482,889); Eastern Promises (£623,491); Sicko (£156,173); #1 Ratatouille £3,589,762 3rd week up 19% 525 screens (33.5% of top 10)

Up 16.8% 2006; (£8,965,508); Saw III (£2,522,521); Step Up (£1,212,725); A Good Year (£376,962); #1 Saw III £2,522,521 1st week 373 screens (28.1% of top 10)

Down 20.3% 2005: (£13,142,985); Saw II (£2,189,212); The Legend of Zorro (£1,899,689); #1 Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit £3,593,266 3rd week 495 screens 23% drop (27.3% of top 10)

Up 8.59% 2004; (£9,648,812); Alien vs Predator (£2,003,663); Alfie (£1,314,156); The Princess Diaries 2 (expansion) (£807,008); #1 Shark Tale £3,199,963 2nd week 504 screens 58% drop (33.1% of top 10)

Up 2.1% from 2003 (£10,261,167); Intolerable Cruelty (£1,555,684); Second-hand Lions (£200,851); #1 Finding Nemo £3,887,996 4th week 3rd #1 501 screens 34% drop (37.9% of top 10)

Up 43.9% from 2002: (£7,277,320): Halloween Resurrection (£520,171); K-19 (£352,163); High Crimes (£208,727); Donnie Darko (£191,348); Simone (£147,372); Possession (£85,004); The Magdalene Sisters (£78,151); #1 XXX £2,044,850 2nd week 40% drop 435 screens (28.1% of top 10)

Up 32.2% from 2001 (£7,926,562); Legally Blonde (£1,453,148); The Man Who Was not There (£419,609); #1 American Pie 2 £1,626,438 3rd week 417 screens 42% drop (20.5% of top 10).

As with the UK, the US box office is up 20% from last year taking $8.36bn up from $6.954bn from last year, but the question how much of this increase is from IMAX/PLF as its having a massive impact on BO with films like Street Fighter opening with 60% last weekend and The Odyssey and Spider-Man Brand New Day taking a large percentage of their box office from IMAX/PLF.

It will be similar with Avengers Doomsday and Dune Part 3 in December with IMAX/PLF/Infinity Vision tickets all a third more than regular tickets, as it was more than a decade ago with 3D BO artificial inflating box office. So, the key stat is more how much are admissions really growing, if at all?

US Box Office

• Clayface – Warner Bros

Opened $24m; received positive reviews (76% Rotten Tomatoes) and A- CinemaScore.

Took $3.5m from Thursday previews; Joker: Folie à Deux $7m; The Suicide Squad $4.1m; Birds of Prey $4m; Green Lantern $3.35m.

932^nd biggest opening between The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and Monster-in-Law (close to White Noise, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, Fahrenheit 9/11 and Resident Evil: Extinction).

Opened similar to 2022’s Smile $22.6m taking $105.93m and $217.4m worldwide and 2020’s The Invisible Man $28.2m taking $70.41m and $144.49m worldwide (COVID affected)

While DC’s last release Supergirl opened $37.1m taking $72.36m and $126.46m worldwide in the summer. Upcoming DC films include Man of Tomorrow next summer and The Batman Part 2 and animated film Dynamic Duo both in 2028.

It took about 50% from PLF had no IMAX as Street Fighter had IMAX screens for two weeks.

Ahead of opening it was expected to open between $25m-$30m and $20m-$25m internationally; Clayface had a $44m budget much lower than recent DC films.

Social media was over 363m across TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook

On Monday Paramount/Warner Bros combined 2026 slates took $1bn in the US after Universal, Disney and Sony, it shows again how both studios have declined over the year, while they combined have a lot of films over the next two years will that be enough to compete directly with either Disney or Universal?

Opened with $19m internationally from 73 territories; UK $2.6m; Mexico $1.4m; Australia $1.3m and France $1.2m

Worldwide opening was similar to Other Mommy $45.6m from 50 territories. DC films regularly struggle internationally, while 2016’s Batman Vs Superman took 60% internationally both superman and Supergirl both took about 40% and Clayface will likely do similarly. Beyond Batman DC characters face similar issue Captain America originally had with its first MCU film, but as Captain America’s image became less patriotic the films connected stronger internationally.

• Street Fighter – Paramount Pictures

Dropped 72% in its second weekend $8.58m and $46.92m.~

654^th biggest opening between Little Fockers and Star Trek: First Contact (close to Space Jam: A New Legacy, Pokémon: The First Movie – Mewtwo Strikes Back, John Wick: Chapter 2 and M3GAN).

Took 21% of its second weekend from IMAX $1.8m.

Took $2.5m worldwide from IMAX and $12m total.

2026’s Mortal Kombat II dropped 65.2% $13.4m and $62.23m of $79.77m and $129.57m worldwide

2021’s Mortal Kombat (COVID) dropped 73.3% $6.22m and $35.47m of 2.32m and $84.42m worldwide

1995’s Mortal Kombat dropped 55.7% $10.3m and $43.06m of $51.74m and $122.19m worldwide

1997’s Mortal Kombat: Annihilation dropped 59.5% $6.78m and $27.78m of $35.92m and $51.37m WW

2026’s Masters of the Universe dropped 69.7% $8.92m and $46.98m of $64.83m and $113.79m WW

1994’s Street Fighter dropped 18.9% $5.63m/$17.1m and $19.67m/$60.3m of $33.4m/$96m and $99.4m/$286m worldwide

2026’s Warcraft dropped 70% $7.24m and $38.43m of $47.36m and $439.0.4m worldwide

Took $8.2m from 65 territories $32.7m total and $76.3m worldwide;  UK $5.6m; Australia $2.6m; France $2.2m; Mexico $3m; Germany $1.6m.

• You Can See Everything – A24

Up 25% in its second weekend $19.5m adding 1,800 screens taking $45.14m

Obsession increased 39.5% in its second weekend $23.96m adding only 40 screens taking $54.46m of $263.45m; so was very different to You Can See Everything increasing 25% in its second weekend adding 1,800 screens, but of course this is ignored  by analysts who get caught up in the hype.

As adding so many screens its changed its momentum which is often the case when films expand far too quickly, of course its understandable A24 went OTT as exhibitors must have been desperate to add screens. The key weekends will be the next coupe if it can maintain its momentum as its surely not going to expand much further.

520^th biggest second weekend between Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (close to Knocked Up, Apollo 13, Inglourious Basterds and The Sum of All Fears).

You Can See Everything was a surprise when it opened last week, its hold was not, as it became the most talked about film and became the must-see film, that said tripling screens from opening weekend but only increased 25%, showing it expanded far too wide too quickly.

A24 originally planned to expand far slower in its second weekend adding only 200 screens, as surely adding 1,800 screens meant it must have had far fewer sold out shows in its second weekend.

Social media dramatically increased in its second weekend with the film generating many popular memes.

was far more limited only 13k on Instagram and 42m views on YouTube from two videos; share-reposting at 61:1; awareness of 102m; Nathan Fielder Instagram has 1M fans with 30m video views.

Th question is You Can See Everything a documentary as it is a staged film so if it pushes out real documentaries that really need award nominations to find their limited audience it will surely anger many filmmakers.

It follows recent success for A24 with Backrooms, The Drama, The Invite and last years Marty Supreme all had strong marketing campaign.

Ever since You Can See Everything received its world premiere as the secret screening at the Telluride Film Festival it has been strong buzz as the film came out of nowhere as no one knew what the documentary Nathan Fielder had made. Elizabeth Holmes invited him to follow her in the weeks before she began her prison sentence after defrauding investors with her company Theranos.

In 2022 Disney released a biographic drama TV series about Theranos, it ended in 2015 after the Wall Street Journal exposed the Theranos’ fraud, Elizabeth Holmes was convicted in January 2022 reporting to prison in May 2023.

Starts its international opening in Australia and the UK with advance sales very strong.

• Wildwood – Fathom

Opened $12.27m; received critical acclaim (100% Rotten Tomatoes) and A CinemaScore 

Took $1m from Thursday previews.

Took 15% from PLFs

It was Laika’s sixth stop motion animated film and first for seven years since Missing Link. The first trailer was launched at a Cannes Film Festival event in May receiving 115m global views within its first 24 hours online.

Ahead of opening social media was 418m more than Forgotten Island‘s 382.8m

2019’s Missing Link opened $5.94m taking $16.64m and $26.56m worldwide

Fathom acquired the Wildwood they handled the 2024 re-release of Coraline taking $52.3m worldwide.

Previous Laika animated films were released by Universal Pictures/Focus Features

2009’s Coraline opened $16.84m taking $116.89m and $188.82m worldwide.

2012’s ParaNorman opened 414.08m taking $56m and $107.42m worldwide.

2014’s The Boxtrolls opened $17.27m taking $50.83m and $108.25m worldwide.

2016’s Kubo and the Two Strings opened $12.6m taking $48.02m and $76.25m worldwide.

Laika opted to end their distribution deal with Universal Pictures in 2016 as they wanted more creative control of marketing, while for Universal Pictures having both Illumination and Dreamworks did not need Laika. But for Laika with great power comes great responsibility and have struggled since making only two films over the last decade after 4 films in six years.

Much has been made that Wildwood was a massive flop, but it was financed by FilmNation selling global rights while as Laika Studio is owned by a billionaire and co-owner of Nike, his son Travis Knight directed Wildwood (also directed Masters of the Universe and Kubo and the Two Strings). So, all the negativity surrounding its box office means very little.

The budget for Wildwood has been reported to be $100m, but some have reported the budget was much higher over $400m, but do we ever really know the real budget of films, as seen with Company House UK tax fillings that had budgets for many films shot in the UK much higher than their reported budgets; Deadpool and Wolverine Disney’s Richmond Street Productions, spent £418.1m ($534 million).

Opened $3m internationally from 11 territories; UK $1.4m.

• Wicker – Black Bear

Opened $5.74m; received positive reviews (94% Rotten Tomatoes) and received strong word of mouth.

Took $620k from Thursday previews.

Wicker opened in 97 Dolby Cinemas and 76 4DX cinemas.

Opened similar to 2024’s Conclave $6.6m taking $32.58m and $127.9m worldwide.

As with You Can See Everything a lot of the social media was organically generated with female driven brands connecting with the film, IKEA Australia tagged the film, and female customers took pictures in shops saying they were looking for wicker husbands, and then Black Bear built on it with Wicker Husband being a key part of its marketing campaign.

• La Bola Negra – Netflix

Dropped 8.5% in its second weekend $253,930 (from 9 screens adding 5) and $659,034.

Netflix acquired La Bola Negra for $5m at Cannes and Netflix see it as their leading film for awards.

It is the first time Netflix has reported its box office figures officially, previously they were rumoured or estimated by exhibitors and analysts.

UK Box Office Top 10

Box Office Preview

Could be the first time in eight weeks since Spider-Man Brand New Day #1 will hold for a second weekend as with strong world of mouth, Halloween and half-term Ghosts will drop about 25%-35% in its second weekend taking between £1.5-£1.9m in its second weekend.

Clayface down 40%-50% in its second weekend taking £1m-£1.3m; both films will benefit from being Halloween weekend and being very different films play to very different demographics.

Being half-term Wildwood and Forgotten Island should hold in third and fourth weekends with minimal drops.

Opening fifth and sixth could be the two new releases Wicker and Primetime, both again playing to two very different demographics.

Wicker romantic fantasy comedy starring Olivia Colman, Alexander Skarsgård has received positive reviews and receiving strong media and social coverage with the quirky wicker husband storyline. This has generated UGC content on social media as the falling in love with man-made of willow has the modern-day version of people marrying their AI Chatbots, but it could be too quirky for mainstream audiences.

1991’s Edward Scissorhands opened £1,341,367/£3,545,990 240 screens taking £4,299,657/£11,366,420

1987’s Mannequin opened £144,021/£536,562 65 screens taking £2,055,913/£7,659,471

2018’s The Shape of Water opened £2,466,217 (including £918,894 previews) taking £7,312,082

2024’s Poor Things opened £1,819,563 taking £7,566,251

Other similar films include The Lobster (opened £230k from 75 screens taking £1.52m), Lars and the Real Girl, Bicentennial Man.

Wicker had its UK premiere at the London Film Festival with Olivia Colman, Alexander Skarsgård and Richard E. Grant promoting it over the last few weeks.

Primetime is a psychological thriller starring Robert Pattinson, it has received positive reviews, but as Catch a Predator is not as well known in the UK its very much about Robert Pattinson star power audiences will embrace it.

Robert Pattinson has already starred in The Drama opening £2,144,798 and The Odyssey opening £12,566,300 and will star in Dune Part 3 in December, but Primetime is all about Robert Pattinson. It has been compared to 2014’s Nightcrawler (opened £1,003,822 taking £2,777,529) and 2016’s Money Monster opened £820,829 taking £2,387,743.

Dropping out of the chart and straight to Prime within a week Ali G: Who Iz I?

Also opening Everest: The Other Side documentary directed by Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin (Free Solo)  in selected IMAX screens but unlikely to break into the top 15.

Coming Soon

• Ebenezer – Paramount Pictures

Fantasy starring Johnny Depp, Rupert Grint, Andrea Riseborough, Sam Claflin, Daisy Ridley, and Ian McKellen, directed by Ti West based on the 1843 novella A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.

The trailers has darker tone to other film adaptations of A Christmas Carol including 1992’s The Muppets Christmas Carol opened £1,150,000/£2,869,626 taking £2,457,486/£6,132,231) and modern versions 1988’s Scrooged (opened £548,212/£1,909,208 taking £2,698,406/£9,397,492) and 2009’s Disney’s A Christmas Carol (opened £1,917,539/£2,823,435 taking £20,371,281/£29,995,213). There have been many other adaptations made over the last 125 years.

From the trailers Ebenezer looks like its going with the Sleepy Hollow vibe. (opened £2,848,933/£5,186,353 taking £10,046,249/£18,288,740).As it has a PG-13 in the US will likely be a 12A, so not family friendly Christmas film as other adaptations have been.

Johnny Depp has not had an original leading role box office hit for many years, starring in many reimaginations like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Alice in Wonderland and Murder on the Orient Express. His last studio film was 2018’s Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, but he was not the reason why audiences saw it, as they came as tit was a Harry Potter prequel.

In August it was reported Ebenezer test screened very positively but many films have tested positively but then underperformed as test screenings often happen in highly controlled environments.

While it is a big jump up from micro budget horror films Pearl and MaXXXine for director Ti West.

• How To Rob A Bank – Sony Pictures

Action-comedy heist film starring Nicholas Hoult, Zoë Kravitz, Anna Sawai, and John C. Reilly and directed by David Leitch. The screenwriter descried it as Point Break meets Fast and Furious.

David Leitch most recently directed 2924’s The Fall Guy and also 2022’s Bullet Train and 2017’s Atomic Blonde along with Deadpool 2 and Hobbs & Shaw all high-octane action films.

It was original set for release at the start of September when Transporter film would regularly open but moved to a higher=profile November slot in July.

• Prima Facie – Sony Pictures

Legal drama starring Cynthia Erivo, Daniel Ings, Simon Russell Beale, and Elizabeth Dulau and directed by Susanna White, based on Suzie Miller’s 2019 stage play.

Premiered at the Toronto Film Festival receiving mixed reviews saying its expansion into a film lost its single actor intensity the stage play did, this is often the problem when stage shows are adapted into films as they lack the claustrophobic tightness that can be done in a stage play as seen recently with the film Pressure, built out the film to make it feel more cinematic.

Sony Pictures acquired UK rights in November 2025.

Prima Facie starring Jodie Comer NT Live was hugely popular in cinemas when it was released in 2022 opening £447,014 347 screens but played for many weeks unlike normal NT Live screenings that last a week or two, taking £5,166,715 and was re-released in cinemas in 2024.

Surely if there was going to be a film based on the stage play it should have been with Jodie Comer in the lead as it surely was a poisoned chalice for Cynthia Erivo to take over a role that Jodie Comer made her own.