- 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple £3,376,384 – NE
Included £955k from Wednesday/Thursday previews.
Took £724k 21.45% Friday; £990k 29.32% Saturday; £707k 20.94% Sunday.
528th biggest opening between The Matrix and What Women Want (close to Scary Movie 3, Paranormal Activity 3, The Mummy (2017) and Five Nights At Freddy’s 2) and 791st inflated opening between The Addams Family (1991) and The Wild Robot (close to Total Recall (1990), Sleeping With The Enemy, Cliffhanger and Face/Off).
21st biggest opening over the last 52 weeks between Snow White and Dog Man (close to Downtown Abbey 3, Final Destination: Bloodlines, Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 and Weapons).
18th biggest horror opening between Paranormal Activity 3 and Five Nights At Freddy’s 2 (close to Paranormal Activity, A Quiet Place Part II, The Woman in Black and Scream VI) and 40th biggest inflated horror opening between The Omen and Five Nights At Freddy’s 2 (close to The Ring Two, Dawn of the Dead, White Noise and Final Destination 2).
3rd biggest 18 rated horror film opening after2001’s Hannibal (£6.40m) and 2010’s Saw 3D (£3.60m)
28 Years Later: The Bone Temple sequel to last year’s 28 Years Later. Early social media reactions were very positive, as were the test screenings in August, and reviews were better than those of 28 Years Later, but audience reaction has been far more mixed.
28 Years Later £4,780,374 4-day opening (including £902,825 Thursday previews); £1.23m Friday; £1.38m Saturday; £1.27m Sunday. Taking £15,567,482, The Bone Temple is an 18, while 28 Years Later was a 15.
The audience was 68% male and over half aged 25–44; it would be interesting to see if the audience was much different to 28 Years Later, as The Bone Temple was an 18, that said, being a 24-year-old film series and the original films were also 18s, wouldn’t expect a high percentage of 15-17 cinemagoers.
While The Bone Temple opened close to 28 Years Later in the UK, it opened with less tan half 28 Years Later opened in the US as American audiences probably didn’t understand the significance of the ending of 28 Years Later with Spike saved from the infected by a group of men wearing different coloured track suits, their leader is Sir Jimmy Crystal, looking like Jimmy Savile. Having A Clockwork Orange feel to it. Sir Jimmy says to Spike, “Let’s be friends. In the end credits the Jimmy’s all have surnames. As with the original film, the introduction of the Jimmy’s show, there are worse things than being infected.
As the Rage Virus happened in 2002, the world never found out about Savile’s crimes (they were first made public in 2011), so in 28 Years Later, he is still the national treasure the UK thought he was.
Alex Garland talked about the deceptive power of nostalgia: “The thing about looking back is how selective memory is” .. “It cherry picks, and it has amnesia, and crucially, it also misremembers. We are living in a time right now which is absolutely dominated by a misremembered past.”
28 Years Later performed similarly to T2 Trainspotting, also made over 20 years after the original film.
1996’s Trainspotting opened £1,422,906/£2,786,379 taking £12,431,663/£24,344,067
2017’s T2 Trainspotting opened £5,146,791/£5,476,625 (no previews) taking £16,956,434/£18,043,095
2002’s 28 Days Later opened £1,500,079/£2,786,860, taking £6,238,016/£11,589,041
2007’s 28 Weeks Later opened £1,575,620/£2,486,672, taking £5,309,160/£8,379,011
While 28 Years Later was directed by Danny Boyle, The Bone Temple was directed by Nia DaCosta. She previously directed 2021’s Candyman, which opened £1,112,674, taking £5,128,058 and 2023’s The Marvels, which opened £3,465,783, taking £7,095,634
Sony Pictures officially announced in December that they would make a third film. Danny Boyle has previously said he would direct the third film if it made.
28 Years Later dropped 50% (39% without previews) last year, taking £2,379,964 #2 and £7,071,647 62.5% of £15,527,027; The Bone Temple will likely drop 60% (45% without previews). As last year, it has another horror film opening the weekend after (last year, M3GAN 2.0 opened £508,947)
- 2. The Housemaid £2,827,934 – £22,630,490
Down 19.7% in its fourth weekend
£813k 28.76% (-16.3% £971k) Fri; £1.21m 42.8% (-17.7% £1.47m) Sat; £804k 28.4% (-46.4% £1.08m) Sun.
50th biggest fourth weekend between Finding Dory and Avengers: Age of Ultron (close to Bridget Jones’s Baby, Quantum of Solace, 1917 and Les Misérables) and 112th biggest inflated fourth weekend between The Inbetweeners Movie and Dunkirk (close to Life of Pi, Fatal Attraction, The Mask and Forrest Gump).
Showing why BO is so strong at the moment, while The Bone Temple audience had a high percentage of male audiences, The Housemaid continues to play strongly to female audiences 65%+ with almost half of its audience aged 12–24 (a surprising audience was as young as 12, as it has a 15 certificate).
Not to dismiss the BO performance of The Housemaid was its BO such a surprise as the many have claimed but comparisons could be made with 2014’s Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn’s novel sold about 6m copies ahead of the release of the David Fichr film while Freida McFadden’s novel sold over 4.5m copies (including over 750,000 in the UK) and was on the Amazon best-seller list for 83 weeks and generated a lot of attention on social media, including TikTok.
While the industry often underestimates films that play strongly to the female audience, as they undervalue the audience, with fewer films
The trajectory of The Housemaid underscores a critical flaw in modern Hollywood: its over-reliance on algorithmic forecasting. The ‘surprise’ hit is a symptom of models that cannot quantify community buzz or patient audience growth.
Comparisons to The Housemaid are also with 2016’s The Girl on the Train, and the recent BBC TV drama The Guest (had over 3.5m+ viewers in September on BBC One).
The Housemaid has become Paul Feig’s second biggest film ahead of 2016’s Ghostbusters (£10.75m), Last Christmas (£18.11m), and Bridesmaids (£23.05m). It is also Sydney Sweeney’s biggest film in the UK, ahead of Anyone But You (£11.71m)
The Housemaid has overtaken It Ends With Us (£21.91m) and is just behind Gone Girl (£22.61m).
2016’s The Girl on the Train dropped 59.1% £1,215,472/£1,313,891 and £20,427,279, 87.4% of £23,372,415
2014’s Gone Girl dropped 32.3% £1,597,962/£1,727,352 and £17,064,765 77.1% of £22.61m/£26,365,105
2000’s What Lies Beneath dropped 21.3% £1,055,753/£1,989,784 and £8,063,221 58.3% of £13,827,135/£24,888,844
1992’s The Hand That Rocks the Cradle dropped 40.9% £383,047/£955,828 and £4,506,552, 75.7% of £5,950,847/£14,682,464
1988’s Fatal Attraction dropped 18.9% £818,556/£2,850,710 and £6,922,549 44.8% of £15,441,564/£53,172,690
2018’s A Simple Favour dropped 68.4% £153,247/£170,015 and £4,930,383
Interestingly, The Housemaid is holding similar to 2012’s Life of Pi (opened the same day 13 years earlier), dropped 30.2% £2,339,593/£2,941,937 and £21,918,556 76.3% of £28,726,668/£34,859,834.
11th biggest 2025 between The Fantastic Four and How To Train Your Dragon (close to Superman, Mission Impossible 8, F1 and Captain America: Brave New World).
After a disappointing year for Lionsgate, their final two films, The Housemaid and Now You See Me: Now You Don’t, have taken almost E30m. The Housemaid is Lionsgate’s biggest film since 2017’s La La Land, with £29,816,588.
6th biggest Lionsgate film between The Hunger Games and The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes (close to La La Land, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2, John Wick: Chapter 4, and London Has Fallen). If The Housemaid continues to hold as it has done, it could become Lionsgate’s biggest ever film, topping Catching Fire, Mockingjay Part 1, La La Land and Mockingjay Part 2.
255th biggest between High School Musical 3 and Fifty Shades Darker (close to Ghost, The Wolf of Wall Street, Gone Girl and Bridesmaids) and 501st biggest inflated between Shang-Chi and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (close to Back To The Future Part III, Mr and Mrs Smith, The Others and The Devil Wears Prada).
It’s no surprise Lionsgate has already announced plans to film the sequel, The Housemaid’s Secret, with Sydney Sweeney and director Paul Feig returning. It’s not yet known if Amanda Seyfried will return as her character didn’t appear in the Freida McFadden novel, but the film has many changes from the novel.
The Housemaid will shortly overtake Bridesmaids to become Paul Feig’s biggest film in the UK. All of his films have had major female roles, he said in an interview, “I’m never looking for strong female characters, because I don’t like that term, it feels two-dimensional. I like women who are strong and weak and funny and vulnerable and scared.” A decade ago, he received massive negativity from the poorly conceived Ghostbusters reboot with female leads.
Despite the cinema audience being 50/50 male/female the focus is always on male focussed films and it’s always a “surprise” when a film targetting female audiences performs strongly, the problem is that studios don’t make enough films for female audiences, opting to make female versions like Ghostbusters, Furiosa and Ocean’s Eight rather than films like Barbie and The Housemaid. When female audiences see these films, their success is a “surprise”.
Studios saw Bridesmaids as “The Hangover for women.” But it was a success because it worked. As it was a hilarious, raw film about friendship and failure, while Rough Night was “The Hangover for women” and flopped.
The problem is that the rest of the films being released this year for female audiences (Practical Magic 2, Devil Wears Prada 2, Wuthering Heights, Narnia, and Sense and Sensibility) rely on mining the past (legacy sequels, public domain IP) as they are the easy options. No singling out female-targeted films, as of course it’s the same for men and children, a diet of sequels, reboots, remakes and MCU that will be all hype, no sustenance.
The Housemaid feels like a “surprise” not because of anything inherent to the audience, but because the industry is structurally and psychologically incapable of serving that audience effectively. This failure is a microcosm of the industry’s larger crises. This is not a “women in film” issue, but as a whole-market correction. The industry has bet everything on a diet of nothing but sugary, processed franchise IP for all demographics. The audience is getting sick of it, and the symptoms are showing up first where the diet has always been most meagre: in films for women.
The Housemaid isn’t stealing an audience; it’s accepting an audience that the franchise films have abandoned. It’s providing sustenance in a landscape of hype. And until studios realise that all audiences—male, female, young, old—are craving the same thing (a great, memorable, necessary film), they will keep being “surprised” when the small, specific film outruns the lumbering giant. The problem isn’t the audience’s taste. It’s the kitchen serving nothing but reheated leftovers and calling it a feast.
- 3. Hamnet £2,608,944 – £8,396,010
Down 19.7% in its second weekend
£715k 27.42% (-14.17% £833k) Fri; £1.07m 41.03% 41% -6.14% £1.14m) Sat; £823k 31.56% (-17.4%) Sun
319th biggest second weekend between Fast Five and Maleficent (close to Slumdog Millionaire, Little Fockers, Little Women and Black Swan) and 596th biggest inflated second weekend between The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Mrs Brown’s Boys d’Movie (close to Jerry Maguire, Shakespeare In Love, Good Morning Vietnam and The Greatest Showman).
14th biggest second weekend over the last 52 weeks between Captain America: Brave New World and How To Train Your Dragon (close to The Fantastic Four, F1, Marty Supreme and Sinners).
Hamnet won two Golden Globes for Best Drama Film and Best Actress (Jessie Buckley) after receiving six nominations. It received 14 longlist BAFTA nominations and will likely receive many of them next week when the BAFTA nominations are announced.
Steven Spielberg produced Hamnet, said at the US premiere in November, “Directors are always searching for stories to tell, but sometimes the story tells us which director it wants to belong to. Chloé Zhao was the director that Maggie O’Farrell’s book Hamnet found its way to and there was no other choice that could have been made in the world.” … “the kinds of screens that we are fighting the tides to keep filled with not just blockbuster, epic, escapist movie rides, but sensitive and intimate portraits of marriage and family and life-altering epiphanies that spring from heartache and heartbreak, like the film you’re about to see. There needs to be room for films like Chloé’s on screens like these.”
Chloé Zhao previously directed the Oscar-winning 2020’s Nomadland and 2021’s Eternals.
27 years ago, Shakespeare In Love took $100m in the US ($230m inflated) and $289m ($660m inflated) worldwide and received 13 Oscar nominations.
1999’s Shakespeare in Love dropped 24.2% £1,379,489/£2,624,633 and £4,827,618 23.2% of £20,814,996/£39,157,902
- 4. Avatar: Fire And Ash £1,702,004 – £38,439,770
Down 34.5% in its fifth weekend
£317k 18.63% (-35.83% £494k) Fri; £768k 45.1% (-34.9% £1.18m) Sat; £617k 36.25% (-59.27% £926k) Sun
62nd biggest fifth weekend between Men In Black and Jumanji: The Next Level (close to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Inception and Dune Part 2) and 149th biggest inflated fifth weekend between Scooby Do and The Flintstones (close to Basic Instinct, War of the Worlds, Batman, and Tomorrow Never Dies).
Fifth weekends
Avatar: The Way of Water dropped 29% £4,172,161 #1 and £63,733,634 of 83.1% of £76,725,041; took Friday (£821k); Saturday (£2m) and £1.34m Sunday.
Avatar up 15.8% £5,527,039/£8,138,159 and £49,374,516 52.8% of £93,442,625/£136,900,316.
4th biggest 2025 between Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy and Lilo & Stitch (close to Jurassic World Rebirth, Zootropolis 2, Superman and Mission Impossible 8).
97th biggest between Fifty Shades of Grey and Fast & Furious 7 (close to Indiana Jones …The Crystal Skull, Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, The Simpsons and Deadpool) and 224th biggest inflated between Basic Instinct and Aladdin (1993) (close to The Lego Movie, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Gremlins and A View to A Kill).
The lower-than-expected final BO for Avatar: Fire and Ash wasn’t a one-off from last year’s films, as it affected all the tentpoles, starting with Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy, after opening, was expected to take £50m+ but instead squeezed past £46m.
This was repeated by all those that are beneath it Wicked Part 2 £47m (expected £60m+), Lilo & Stitch £36m (expected £40m+), Avatar: Fire And Ash £43m (expected £65m), Jurassic World Rebirth £33.5m (expected £40m+), Zootropolis 2 £33m (expected £40m), Superman £28m (expected £35m+), Mission Impossible 8 £26m (expected £30m+) and The Fantastic Four £23m (expected £30m).
This raises the question if Super Mario Brothers 2, Star Wars Mandalorian and Grogu, Toy Story 5, Minions 3, Moana, The Odyssey, Spider-Man Brand New Day, Avengers: Doomsday, Jumanji 3 and Dune Part 3 will also meet their even bigger expectations. The problem will be, of course, the industry will get caught up in the hype, and all of them will have the predictable huge openings, but will they have the legs of those that came before?
The BFI IMAX was the highest-grossing UK cinema for Avatar: Fire and Ash. The spiritual home of UK cinema was Leicester Square for over 60 years. But over the last 15+ years, that title has decisively moved to the BFI IMAX, despite it having fewer seats, lower prices, and over 60 new IMAX retro-fitted cinemas opening across the country.
James Cameron said in 2006 he would like to make sequels if the first film was successful; now he has said something similar about making more than four Avatar films. While Avatar 3 will take less than previous two films, it’s more about merchandising and theme park opportunities for Disney, as they might have taken $32bn worldwide over the last 20 years, they will have taken double this in 2025 for merchandising sales, as Yoghurt said in Spaceballs “Merchandising, merchandising, where the real money from the movie is made”. The has been seen by Disney’s recent reshuffle has seen a chief marketing and brand officer bringing together Disney Entertainment, Disney Experiences and ESPN, as theatrical is only a tiny part of the lifespan of the properties Disney makes. As it’s not about the global BO of their films its about the next decade after a film’s cinema release. This is why Disney no longer makes films.
- 5. Marty Supreme £1,478,246 – £11,911,144
Down 27.6% in its fourth weekend
£390k 26.39% (-28.57% £546k) Fri; £626k 42.35% (-26.6% £853k) Sat; £462k 31.26% (-54.97% £643k) Sun
200th biggest fourth weekend between Little Women and Harry Potter Order of the Phoenix (close to The Hunger Games, Enchanted, Saving Private Ryan and Downton Abbey) and 370th biggest inflated fourth weekend between Deep Impact and Lilo & Stitch (2025) (close to Pulp Fiction, Erin Brockovich, Murder on the Orient Express and The Living Daylights).
It’s the 6th highest film starring Timothée Chalamet, ahead of A Complete Unknown (£11.9m); but Marty Supreme is very much a Timothée Chalamet film, whereas films like Wonka, Dune Part 1 and Part2, Interstellar and Little Women he is part of a bigger cast.
The highest-grossing A24 film, ahead of We Live In Time (£8.76m), Civil War (£6.44m), Heretic (£6.06m) and Everything Everywhere All At Once (£6.01m
22nd biggest 2025 between Downton Abbey 3 and One Battle After Another (close to The Bad Guys 2, Dog Man, A Complete Unknown and Final Destination: Bloodlines).
616th biggest between The Wolverine and Braveheart (close to Ocean’s Twelve, Parasite, Indecent Proposal and Lethal Weapon 3) and 1,032nd biggest inflated between The Guru and It’s Complicated (close to Road to Perdition, Shadowlands, Moonwalker and 28 Days Later).
Timothée Chalamet’s global tour came to the UK on December 13, with thousands of his fans queued up overnight outside a pop-up store to try to get hold of the Marty Supreme orange jacket and other film merchandise.
Robert Downey Jr said at a BAFTA event, “To me, this is a decade-defining film, and I think it is a generation-defining performance.” In response, Timothée Chalamet said, “I’m so grateful. And it happened totally organically, and by organically, I mean, out of the blue.”
Timothée Chalamet and Robert Downey Jr could be battling out against each other if Warner Bros hold Dune Part 3 to its current release date of December 18th, as it is the day Avengers: Doomsday opens. Warner Bros have said they dated Dune part 3 first on that date and have IMAX screens for three weeks. It will be interesting to see if Warner Bros stick to their guns, as it would be great to see how the two films performed against each other, given that most MCU films have underperformed since Avengers: Endgame.
Timothée Chalamet and Robert Downey Jr have said they want to see Dunesday with the two films opening against each other. Barbenheimer worked well in 2023 as Barbie and Oppenheimer played to different demographics. Dune Part 3 and Avengers: Doomsday play to similar audiences, and both will be over 3 hours long.
Timothée Chalamet could be seen as Generation Z’s Tom Hanks, as through his blend of preternatural talent, discerning project choices, and transgressive yet relatable charisma, is following the award-winning, audience-unifying blueprint of a Tom Hanks. He is becoming the defining and most trusted cinematic presence for his generation, turning every film—whether about love, war, space, or ping-pong—into a must-see event centred on his extraordinary ability to connect.
To promote the film, Timothée Chalamet had a Zoom call with the A24 marketing team, presenting marketing ideas for the film.
Timothée Chalamet has recently starred in A Complete Unknown, Dune Part 2, Wonka and will star in Dune Part 3 next year. A Complete Unknown dropped 36.2% £1,667,821 and £5,916,730, 49.8% of £11,887,982.
Also opened
- Rental Family – Disney
Opened £521,717 #7 from 405 screens
The film generated strong buzz since premiering at the Toronto Film Festival, but as with so many adult dramas, it has struggled to find a wide audience despite positive reviews. This has been the case with the other two Searchlight Pictures potential award contenders, The Testament of Ann Lee and Is This Thing On?
Deadline said, “Brendan Fraser delivers a truly Oscar-worthy performance in a heartwarming crowd-pleaser with depth.” Brendan Fraser won the Best Actor Oscar for 2022’s The Whale.
2004’s Lost in Translation opened £797,071/£1,405,969 taking £9,865,162/£17,401,355
2001’s Amelie opened £559,747/£1,070,820 taking £4,320,466/£8,265,239
Warner Bros re-released the Lord of the Rings trilogy
The Fellowship Of The Ring opened £473,377 #8
The Two Towers opened £153,267 #15
Despite being released 25 years ago, The Fellowship Of The Ring is still the 25th biggest film in the UK (9th biggest inflated), The Return of the King #27 (13th inflated) and The Two Towers #33 (15th inflated)
The Fellowship Of The Ring took £63,009,288/£121,909,275 inflated
The Two Towers took £57,062,828/£106,543,882 inflated
The Return of the King took £60,666,284/£109,445,256 inflated
The three films took over £180m at the UK BO (£340m+ inflated)
The Lord of the Rings trilogy were originally released by Entertainment Films and is still the biggest independent film in the UK; this record is unlikely to ever overtaken.
—-
BO is currently 20% ahead of 2025; February will likely see BO drop below 2025 as it’s unlikely Wuthering Heights and Scream 7 will get close to the BO of Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy, Captain America: Brave New World and Dog Man.
The weekend’s top 10 box office took £14,738,163, down 1.2% from last weekend’s £14,913,249: 1,839,970 admissions, down 1.2% from 1,926,776 admissions.
13th biggest weekend of the last 52 weeks between 09 January 2026 #1 The Housemaid £3,523,229 (23.62%) and 27 June 2025 #1 F1 £7,071,647 (50.25%)
47th biggest since cinemas reopened out of 270 weeks between 16 February 2024 #1 Bob Marley: One Love £6,950,773 (47.15%) and 29 March 2024 #1 Kung Fu Panda 4 £5,020,600 (34.15%)
265th biggest top 10 of the last 24 years (out of 1,241) between 16 February 2024 #1 Bob Marley: One Love £6,950,773 (47.15%) and 17 May 2002 #1 Star Wars Ep II – Attack of the Clones £11,386,209 (77.31%) and 536th biggest inflated between 06 June 2014 #1 22 Jump Street £4,854,991 (39.26%) and 10 March 2017 #1 Kong: Skull Island £6,230,997 (45.23%)
The top 3 took £8,813,262 (59.1%) of the top 10; 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple 22.91% (£3,376,384); The Housemaid 19.19% (£2,827,934); Hamnet 17.70% (£2,608,944)
1,020th biggest percentage share #1 (22.91%) between 04 April 2014 #1 Rio 2 £2,882,680 (22.98%) and 09 March 2012 #1 John Carter £1,960,414 (22.91%)
816th biggest admissions (421,521) between 17 April 2015 #1 Fast & Furious 7 £3,039,720 (421,598) and 18 October 2024 #1 The Wild Robot £3,256,572 (421,290)
Up 44.11% from 2025; (£10,227,116); A Complete Unknown (£2,616,302); Wolf Man (£654,326); Here (£52,737); #1 A Complete Unknown £2,616,302 1st week 696 screens (25.58% of top 10)
Up 43.66% from 2024; (£10,259,086); Mean Girls (£3,251,159); The Holdovers (£689,771); Queen Rock Montreal (Re: 2024) (£285,110); The End We Start From (£170,993); #1 Mean Girls £3,251,159 1st week 648 screens (31.69% of top 10)
Up 74.29% from 2023; (£12,465,200); M3gan (£2,356,357); Empire Of Light (£1,721,921); Varisu (£648,230); Tar (£394,649); #1 Avatar: The Way of Water £4,172,161 5th week 659 screens down 29% (33.47% of top 10).
Up 82.14% 2022 (£8,091,793); Belfast (£2,322,572); Nightmare Alley (£550,868); A Journal For Jordan (£50,511); Jewels – Bolshoi Ballet 2022 (£48,195); #1 Spider-Man No Way Home £2,335,488 6th week 27% drop 655 screens (28.9% of top 10)
2021 Lockdown
Down 13.1% 2020; (£16,951,901); Bad Boys For Life (£3,781,233); Bombshell (£742,085); Just Mercy (£529,435); A Hidden Life (£63,375); Waves (£62,943); #1 1917 £6,190,049 2nd week 714 screens 17% drop (36.5% of top 10)
Up 10.67% from 2019: (£13,317,271); Glass (£3,423,380); Mary, Queen of Scots (£2,082,160); Beautiful Boy (£361,382); La Bayadere – Bolshoi Ballet 2019 (£136,621t); Hey Duggee at the Cinema (£67,672); #1 Glass £3,423,380 1st weeks 559 screens (25.7% of top 10)
Down 42.91% from 2018; (£20,087,765); Coco (£5,209,214); The Post (£2,152,977); The Commuter (£1,602,680); Romeo and Juliet – Bolshoi 2018 (£181,834): #1 Coco £5,209,214 1st week 575 (25.9% of the top 10)
Up 13.62% 2017: (£12,971,749); Split (£2,548,516); xXx: The Return of Xander Cage (£1,620,811); Lion (£1,265,282); Jackie (£662,900); Romeo et Juliette – Met Opera 2017 (£228,384); The Sleeping Beauty – Bolshoi 2017 (£218,668); Goodfellas (Re: 2017) (£27,226); #1 La La Land £4,373,249 2nd week 674 screens 43% drop (33.7% of top 10)
Up 37.86% 2016: (£13,620,775); Ride Along 2 (£2,141,341); The Big Short (£1,302,205); The 5th Wave (£497,568); The Taming of the Shrew – Bolshoi 2016 (£160,323); The Assassin (£76,542); Our Brand Is Crisis (£27,723); Dark Places (£625); #1 The Revenant £3,856,489 2nd week 623 screens 26% drop (28.3% of top 10)
Up 6.42% 2015; (£13,848,440); American Sniper (£2,530,473); Whiplash (£573,546); Wild (£524,941); The Merry Widow – Met Opera 2015 (£463,195); Testament of Youth (£417,486); #1 Taken 3 £3,295,309 2nd week 500 screens 51% drop (23.8% of top 10)
Down 1.97% 2014: (£15,034,724); The Wolf of Wall Street (£4,655,984); Devil’s Due (£1,002,627); The Night of the Hunter (Re: 2014) (£15,270); #1 The Wolf of Wall Street £4,655,984 1st week 500 screens (30.9% of top 10)
Up 17.75% 2013: (£12,516,225); Django Unchained (£2,801,312); Monsters, Inc. 3D (£681,247); The Sessions (£84,899); #1 Les Misérables £4,406,828 2nd week 599 screens 46% drop (35.2% of top 10)
Up 33.33% 2012: (£11,054,100); Haywire (£1,197,866); Underworld: Awakening (£1,114,327); The Sitter (£910,382); J. Edgar (£413,210); W.E. (£182,914); Coriolanus (£169,308); #1 War Horse £3,202,493 2nd week 513 screens 19% drop (29% of top 10)
Up 14.11% 2011; (£12,916,152); Black Swan (£2,762,429); The Dilemma (£1,102,798); Morning Glory (£524,356); N.E.D.S. (£283,210); Breakfast at Tiffany’s (50th Anniversary) (£10,498); Get Low (£4,608); #1 The King’s Speech £4,226,074 3rd week 502 screens 4% drop (32.7% of top 10)
Up 9.80% 2010: (£14,882,462); Up In The Air (£1,298,023); The Book Of Eli (£1,232,001); All About Steve (£275,083); 44 Inch Chest (£152,171); #1 Avatar £5,527,039 5th week 441 screens 16% increase (37.1% of top 10)
Up 22.44% 2009; (£12,037,268); Seven Pounds (£1,565,949); My Bloody Valentine (£1,337,613); Beverly Hills Chihuahua (£1,028,983); The Wrestler (£802,046); #1 Slumdog Millionaire £2,630,820 2nd week 1st #1 330 screens 44% increase (21.8% of top 10)
Up 57.66% 2008; (£9,348,113); Alien vs. Predator 2 (£1,970,363); No Country for Old Men (£1,257,183); Walk Hard (£240,833); The Good Night (£25,985); #1 Alien vs. Predator 2 £1,970,363 1st week 399 screens (21.1% of top 10)
Up 37.25% 2007: (£10,737,948); Rocky Balboa (£3,639,339); The Return (£277,457); #1 Rocky Balboa £3,639,339 1st week 405 screens (33.9% of top 10)
Up 52.43% 2006; (£9,668,855); Fun with Dick and Jane (£1,957,060); Underworld: Evolution (£1,146,779); Get Rich or Die Tryin’ (£803,489); A Cock and Bull Story (£332,582); #1 Fun with Dick and Jane £1,957,060 1st week 422 screens (20.2% of top 10)
Up 85.37% 2005: (£7,950,505); Elektra (£791,914); Ray (£485,005); A Very Long Engagement (£312,042); Dear Frankie (£57,214); #1 Closer £1,587,136 2nd week £1,568,526 332 screens 1% increase (19.9% of top 10)
Up 51.48% 2004; (£9,729,138); Paycheck (£927,212); Runaway Jury (£583,367); Girl with a Pearl Earring (£384,498); A Mighty Wind (£62,657); #1 Lord of the Rings: Return of the King £2,377,268 5th week #1 483 screens 36% drop (24.4% of top 10)
Up 11.51% 2003 (£13,216,953); 8 Mile (£4,440,334); Chicago (expansion) (£1,983,505); The Transporter (£338,420); The Master Of Disguise (£60,077); #1 8 Mile £4,440,334 1st week 423 screens (33.6% of top 10)
Up 65.93% from 2002: (£8,882,363); Black Hawk Down (£1,772,920); Long Time Dead (£580,487); Iris (£378,749); #1 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring £3,276,912 5th week #1 489 screens 25% drop (36.9% of top 10)
2025 Next week: (£7,840,790); Flight Risk (£811,232); The Brutalist (£754,678); Presence (£365,390); #1 A Complete Unknown £1,667,821 2nd week 707 screens down 36% (21.27% of top 10)
US Box Office
- Avatar: Fire and Ash – 20th Century Studios
Down 33% in its fifth weekend, $14.49m and $364.69m
While Avatar: Fire and Ash held #1 against 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, it squeezed past it, holding on to IMAX screens and many PLF, 3D and other premium screens.
46th biggest fourth weekend between The Blair Witch Project and Spider-Man (close to Sinners, The Hunger Games, Jumanji: The Next Level and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story); Avatar #1 $42.78m and Avatar: The Way of Water #2 $32.82m.
EnTelligence said Fire and Ash 2D standard $16.66 and IMAX/PLF/3D $19.82; this compares to the average ticket price for a 3D/PLF $18.28 compared to $12.53 for 2D for Avatar 2.
Avatar 3 plays still played in IMAX, 3D, 4DX and Screen-X, it will lose many of those screens this weekend to 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple.
68th biggest between Despicable Me 2 and The Jungle Book; 242nd biggest inflated between Pocahontas and Apocalypse Now; 4th biggest 2025 between Zootopia 2 and Superman; 19th biggest sci-fi film between Jurassic World: Dominion and Transformers: Dark of the Moon.
Taken $173.3m from IMAX worldwide; $52.9m US and $120.4m internationally
Fifth weekends
Avatar 2 dropped 32% in comparison with Avatar, which dropped 14.9% in the fifth weekend, The Force Awakens, 37.8%, Rogue One, 39%, The Last Jedi, 50%, and The Rise of Skywalker, 45.4%. That said, with a third BO from 3D has taken far more from 3D than all of these films apart from Avatar.
2009’s Avatar dropped 14.9% $42.78m/$62.5m and $493.24m/$719.6m of $749.76m/$1.25bn and $2.93bn/$4.5bn worldwide; #1 for 7 weeks.
After 45 days of release, Avatar overtook Titanic to become the biggest film globally $ with 2.039bn and went on to take $749.76m in the US (held #1 for 7 weeks; Titanic was #1 for 15 weeks), $1.99bn internationally and $2.743bn worldwide. It remained the biggest film globally until Avengers: Endgame overtook it.
2022’s Avatar: The Way of Water dropped 28.4% $32.84m/$35.9m and $564.62m/$617.2m of $688.45m/$748m and $2.32bn/ $254bn worldwide; #1 for 7 weeks.
Took 18 days to take $1bn worldwide, slower than Avatar: The Way of Water, 14 days and Avatar, 17 days. The first two films both took over $2bn, but Avatar: Fire and Ash is unlikely to take over $2bn.
Internationally
Avatar 2 took $88.6m (36% drop) from 52 territories $1.331bn total and $1.894bn worldwide; China’s $211.4m; France at $120.5m; Germany’s $106.9m; Korea’s $92.7m; UK $76.8m; India $56.7m; Australia $50.9m; Mexico $48.8m; Spain $43.7m; Italy $43.1m.
Europe (70% 3D/PLFs); Asia (74% 3D/PLFs); Latin America (53% 3D/PLFs).
IMAX has taken $214m (11.3% from 1,453 screens), taking $138.8m internationally (7.3%)
Avatar took $125m in its fifth weekend internationally from 52 territories, $1.115bn total and $491.8m US and $1.606bn worldwide; it was then the 2nd biggest film worldwide after Titanic ($1.84bn)
Avatar: Fire and Ash is expected to take about $1.7bn
Avatar 3 took $44.5m internationally from 52 territories, $955.3m total and $1.312bn worldwide; China $155.4m; France $98.9m; Germany $80.3m; UK $51.4m; Korea $51.1m.
23rd biggest worldwide between Star Wars Episode. VIII: The Last Jedi and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II (close to Deadpool & Wolverine, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Star Wars Ep VIII: The Last Jedi, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and The Fate of the Furious).
- 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple – Sony Pictures
Opened $12.52m; received positive reviews (94% Rotten Tomatoes) and A- CinemaScore (better than 28 Years Later B)
Took $2.1m from Thursday previews; 28 Years Later $5.8m; A Quiet Place: Day One $6.8m; Final Destination Bloodlines $5.5m; A Quiet Place Part II $4.8m; Sinners $4.7m
Ahead of opening, The Bone Temple was expected to open with $20m+, but after taking less than half, 28 Years Later took from previews, estimates dropped across the weekend. Sunday estimates where $15m, but rival studios had it opening closer to $13m.
36% came from PLF compared to 24% for 28 Years Later; was also showing in 4DX screens.
Audience demographic was similar to 28 Years Later, but fewer men 25+ 49%, women 25+ 26%, slightly more men under 25 (17% Vs 13%), but fewer women under 25 (9% Vs 12%).
2025’s 28 Years Later opened $30m, taking $70.44m and $151.3m worldwide
2002’s 28 Days Later opened $10.61m/$19.9m taking $45.06m/$89.3m and $74.94m/$148.5m WW
2007’s 28 Weeks Later opened $9.8m/$16.5m taking $28.63m/$48m and $72.3m/$121m worldwide
28 Years Later: The Bone Temple had a budget of $63m, slightly more than 28 Years Later $60m.
The Bone Temple had a $63m budget and another $70m+ marketing. While 28 Years Later performed well in the US last year, Son Pictures have had mixed success from their films last year, with I Know What You Did Last Summer, Caught Stealing, A Big Bold Beautiful Journey, Karate Kid: Legends and Anaconda coming short of expectations. But as Sony Pictures has signed multi-billion dollar output deals with Netflix and Disney+ for streaming their slate, it is still profitable; this, of course, is the failure of legacy studios launching rival services to Netflix, as the output deals studios used to make would give them a safety net from box office flops.
But as with the first two films of the series, it’s a very English horror, so it was never going to perform as strongly. In the US, it was like Sony Pictures acquired global rights for 2017’s T2 Trainspotting, but it was never going to find a huge audience in the US.
28 Years Later trailer was viewed 60.2m times globally within the first 24 hours ahead of A Quiet Place: Day One (46.6m views), Smile 2 (33.1m views) and Nosferatu (26.4m views).
RelishMix reported 28 Years Later ‘s social media universe of 225.5m across TikTok, Facebook, X, YouTube and Instagram.
28 Years Later opened internationally with $30m internationally from 59 territories and $60m worldwide; UK $6.4m; Mexico $2.7m; Australia $1.7m; S. Korea $1.5m; France $1.3m; Germany $1.3m; Spain $1.2m
Opened $16.2m internationally from 61 territories in over 10k screens; UK $4.6m and Mexico $1.5m.
- Zootopia 2 – Disney
Down 8% in its eighth weekend, $9.17m and $390.43m.
18th biggest eighth weekend between Spider-Man: No Way Home and There’s Something About Mary (close to Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, Beauty and the Beast (1991), Black Panther and Captain Marvel).
12th biggest animated film between Frozen and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse; 55th biggest between Spider-Man: Far From Home and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2; 214th biggest inflated between The Matrix and The Amityville Horror; 3rd biggest 2025 between Lilo & Stitch and Superman; 29th biggest Disney between Frozen and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2.
EntTelligence said the average ticket price was $14.42; the average PLF ticket was $18.
2016’s Zootopia dropped 19.2% $6.57m and $316.4m of $341.3m/$454.1m and $1.025bn/$1.4bn worldwide
2016’s Moana dropped 32.5% $4.31m and $231.61m of $248.75m/$331m and $643.33m/$856.1m worldwide
2024’s Moans 2 dropped 8.3% $5.99m and $442.72m of $460.4m and $1.059bn WW
While many were “surprised” by Zootopia 2 its performing exactly as expected, very similar to previous Disney animated sequels. The only difference is similar to Frozen being huge in Japan, Zootopia 2 was huge in China, and in all other countries, it has performed exactly as expected.
Social media for Zootopia 2 across X, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube before opening was 518m, above Kung Fu Panda 4‘s 353mn, but below Minions: Rise of Gru ‘s 668m.
Took $56.6m worldwide from IMAX; $10.9m US and $45.7m international, including $34m from China.
The 36 Disney animated films since 1988’s Oliver & Company have taken over $6bn and over $11bn inflated in the US.
Took $24.3m from 52 territories $1,313bn total and $1.703bn worldwide; China $611m; Japan $76.7m; France $69.4m; S. Korea $54.6m; Germany $43.6m; UK $39m; Mexico $37.5m; Australia $22.8m; Taiwan $22.1m; Italy $21.6m; Brazil $20.1m; Spain $19.7m.
Last year, Moana 2 took $11.1m from 52 territories and $554.9m total and $990.3m worldwide; France $59.4m; UK $48.1m; Germany $39.5m; Mexico $29.6m; Australia $27.6m.
2nd biggest animated film worldwide between Ne Zha 2 and Inside Out 2; 9th biggest worldwide between Spider-Man: No Way Home and Inside Out; 4th biggest Disney between Avengers: Infinity War and Inside Out.
Much has been made of Zootopia 2 overtaking Inside Out 2 global BO, but that was always expected due to the huge BO from China. Deadline listed the 60 films that have taken over $1bn worldwide, but not all $1bn films are the same. $1 bn was cool 20-30 years ago (similar to the industry celebrating $100m BO films in the 80s and 90s), but now these films should be taking $3bn-$5bn+. Titanic inflated BO $5.6bn, Avatar $4.5bn, and even Avengers: Endgame is $3.5bn. To paraphrase Sean Parker, “A billion dollars isn’t cool. You know what’s cool? Four billion dollars”. You can’t compare the current BO with the BO films that took a decade or more ago.
- Marty Supreme – A24
Down 27% in its fifth weekend, taking $5.47m and $79.65m.
524th biggest fifth weekend between The Wolf of Wall Street and The Nightmare Before Christmas (close to Ransom, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Italian Job and Everything Everywhere All at Once).
Marty Supreme is now A24’s biggest film ahead of Oscar-winning Everything Everywhere All at Once ($77.1m).
1,137th biggest between Earthquake and Hannah Montana: The Movie; 2,271st biggest inflated between The Tale of Despereaux and Windtalkers; 26th biggest 2025 between The Bad Guys 2 and David.
2024’s A Complete Unknown dropped 37.4% $5.12m and $50.96m of $75m and $140.5m worldwide
Marty Supreme is all about Timothée Chalamet’s screen charisma that connects with the audience, transcending gender lines.
Timothée Chalamet won Best Actor Comedy at the Golden Globes and is now the favourite to win Best Actor BAFTA and Oscar next month.
Took $4.36m from 20 territories, $21.5m total, and $102.3m worldwide; UK $16m; expands wider internationally this weekend.
Marty Supreme has become A24’s fourth film to take $10m+ worldwide after Everything Everywhere All at Once ($142m), 2024’s Civil War ($127m) and 2025’s Materialists ($107m)
- The Housemaid – Lionsgate
Dropped 22% in its fifth weekend, taking $8.54m and $107.16m
214th biggest fifth weekend between The Little Mermaid (2023) and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (close to Wild Hogs, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, Gone Girl and Maleficent).
759th biggest between Batman & Robin and Captain Phillips (close to Baby Driver, Black Swan, Miss Congeniality and Indecent Proposal); 1,704th biggest inflated between Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows and Soul Food; 20th biggest 2025 between Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 and Dog Man; 39th biggest thriller between Black Swan and Bullet Train); 16th biggest Lionsgate between Now You See Me and The Expendables.
Paul Feig directed 2018’s A Simple Favor dropped 61.2% in its fifth weekend, $1.32m, and $51.98m of $53.64m and $97.64m world and directed a sequel this year that was released straight to Amazon.
The trailers generated a lot of buzz as they featured a spooky version of Sabrina Carpenter Please, Please, Please and the novel the film was based on has sold almost 4m copies in the US. Since starring in 2023’s Anyone But You, Sidney Sweeney has generated a lot of media coverage; that said, a lot of it this year was negative due to the controversy generated after her American Eagle “great jeans” campaign.
Fifth weekends
2023’s Anyone, But You dropped 24.2% $5.4m and $64.22m of $88.31m (14.7x opening) and $220.33m WW
Similar films include.
2016’s The Girl on the Train dropped 38.7% $2.69m/£3.6m and $70.64m/$94m of $75.39m/$100.5m and $173.18m#$230.5m worldwide
2014’s Gone Girl dropped 23.2% $8.48m/$11.6m and $136.28m/$186.1m of $167.76m/$236.4m and $370.89m/$520.5m worldwide
2000’s What Lies Beneath dropped 30.6% $6.75m/$14.5m and $130.91m/$279.6m of $155.5m/$332m and $291.4m/$622.3m WW
1992’s The Hand That Rocks the Cradle dropped 20.3% $6.46m/$17.9m and $51.45m/$142.8m of $88.1mal /$244.2m
1987’s Fatal Attraction dropped 17.8% $7.68m/$22.7m and $55.48m/$163.5m of $156.64m/$462m
Took $26.6m from 71 territories, $108.8m total, and $247.6m worldwide; UK $30.4m
UK Box Office Top 10
Box Office Preview
Five new releases open wide this weekend, but The Housemaid could return to #1 as they will struggle to beat it in its fifth weekend, and 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple will likely drop 50%+ after its 5-day opening.
The Housemaid will drop 20%-30% in its fifth weekend, taking £2m-£2.5m, and Hamnet will have a similar third weekend drop, taking £1.7m-£2.1m
28 Years Later: The Bone Temple will drop 60% (45% without previews) £1.4m-£1.7m
The new releases are harder to predict as Return To Silent Hill is the third instalment of the Silent Hill film series, but the last film was released 14 years ago, and the video game it’s based on is still popular. Silent Hill 2 Remake, in October, sold over 2.5m copies.
2012’s Silent Hill: Revelation 3D opened £1,043,068/£1,296,876 taking £1,661,279/£2,065,515
2006’s Silent Hill opened £991,687/£1,612,764 taking £3,537,755/£5,753,392
Sci-fi thriller Mercy trailers have made it look like Minority Report meets Dark City and will likely open similarly to 2018’s Searching (opened £765,050, taking £2,023,281).
Watching the trailer for Mercy, it reminded me of many 90s thrillers like 1995’s Virtuosity and Nick of Time. Most of Amazon/MGM’s original films feel similar to these high-concept 90s action thrillers; these films barely found an audience 30 years ago, so they are unlikely to do so now. Mercy now feels more like a Netflix action film like Carry-On, Heart of Stone, The Grey Man, Triple Frontier and Red Notice that will be seen by 100m on Netflix but will struggle to find an audience in cinemas.
It is films like Mercy that are affected by theatrical windows as it with be out of cinemas in a couple of weeks and they are films that people will wait to see on streaming, why rather than having a fixed window of whatever length (31 days to 100) it needs to be a flexible window, so films like The Housemaid and Marty Supreme that will play strongly in cinemas beyond 45 days the window can be longer, but then for Mercy it can be 17 days.
No Other Choice is the latest film from the director of Stoker, Lady Vengeance, The Handmaiden, and Decision to Leave. The film has received critical acclaim since premiering at the Venice Film Festival.
Likely to open similar to 2022’s Decision To Leave, £410,107 #6 from 114 screens, as it will open in a similar number of screens.
H Is For Hawk and The History Of Sound are likely to find more limited audiences.
These new releases will unlikely affect the top five from last weekend, with Avatar: Fire And Ash dropping about 40% in its sixth weekend, taking £1m-£1.2m and Marty Supreme dropping 30%-40% in its fifth weekend, £800k-£1.1m.
Coming Soon
There are two horrors and two different versions of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, and all of them will likely struggle to find a wide audience, both likely to take less than NT Live’s Hamlet showing in cinemas this weekend.
- Send Help – Disney
Horror-thriller starring Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien and directed by Sam Raimi.
The film was originally developed at Sony Pictures in 2019, described as “Misery meets Cast Away” The trailer starts with Rachel’s character being mistreated by her boss, but then the tables are reversed when their plane crashes and they land on an island. The film moved to 20th Century Studios in 2024
It’s a return to horror for Sam Raimi, who hasn’t directed one since 2009’s Drag Me to Hell, instead directed 2013’s Oz the Great and Powerful, 2022’a Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and the Spider-Man trilogy.
- The Strangers – Chapter 3 – Lionsgate
Horror starring Madelaine Petsch, Gabriel Basso, Ema Horvath and Richard Brake and directed by Renny Harlin, is the fifth film in The Strangers film series and the third part of a trilogy of films that was originally set to be all released in 2024. After the first film struggled to find an audience, the three films were split over three years.
2024’s The Strangers: Chapter 1 opened £452,506; £190k Friday; £165k Saturday; £97k Sunday; taking £1,772,602
2025’s The Strangers: Chapter 2 opened £331,535 #7, taking £663,111
It is a remake of 2008’s The Strangers, directed by action director Renny Harlin (previously directed Die Hard 2, Cliffhanger, The Long Kiss Goodnight, and Deep Blue Sea. While he is best known for directing action films, 1998’s A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master was his first US film (opened £504,930 on 270 screens (£1,716,329 inflated), taking £1,931,565 (£6,565,663 inflated).
The original film 2008’s The Strangers opened £1,250,624 (£1,904,797 inflated) taking £4,025,916 (£6,131,780 inflated)
2018’s The Strangers: Prey At Night opened £205,325 #7 299 screens, taking £431,218
Opening against Send Help, The Strangers – Chapter 3 will probably open similarly to the second film.
- Scarlet – Sony Pictures
Anime fantasy action inspired by Shakespeare’s Hamlet, directed by Mamoru Hosoda.
Had its premiere at the Venice Film Festival, receiving mixed reviews
Mamoru Hosoda previously directed 2022’s BELLE, which opened £152,287 #9 from 147 screens
- Hamlet – Universal Pictures
Drama reimagining of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet set in contemporary London, starring Riz Ahmed, Morfydd Clark, Joe Alwyn, Sheeba Chaddha, Avijit Dutt, Art Malik, and Timothy Spall and directed by Aneil Karia.
Had its premiere at the Telluride Film Festival, receiving positive reviews.
It was originally announced in 2017 with Netflix attached, but Focus Features acquired international rights in 2024.