1. 1. Star Wars: The Mandalorian And Grogu £5,291,385 -NE

Took £2.1m 39.50% Friday; £1.86m 35.15% Saturday; £1.34m 25.34% Sunday; Monday £1.16m

306^th biggest opening between Zootropolis and The BFG (close to Rocketman, Tenet, Pirates of the Caribbean 5 and Aquaman) and 459^th biggest inflated opening between Paranormal Activity and Ghostbusters (1984) (close to The Devil Wears Prada, Apollo 13, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and True Lies).

17^th biggest opening over the last 52 weeks between Zootropolis 2 and 28 Years Later (close to F1, Superman, Hoppers and The Housemaid).

56^th widest opening (697 cinemas), similar to The Fall Guy, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and Dumbo and only one less than Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (698); 308^th 600+ cinema opening since 2015’s Jurassic World.

Opening was only 6.48% of the US opening, hard to compare with other Star Wars films, as it didn’t have Thursday previews; 6.48% was similar to 2025’s Lilo & Stitch, Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes, Weapons and John Carter. Disney films over recent years don’t seem to open as strongly in the UK as the US, but normally have much longer legs; it’s unlikely to be the case. The Mandalorian and Grogu will have legs.

It’s only in recent years that the industry has blamed the weather on films’ poor performance. The first time I remember it being mentioned was for Men in Black 3 in 2012, opening less than half of the first two films and in the years since, it has been the excuse used when a film underperforms. Monsters University’s opening weekend a year later was also a hot one, but it found its audience for the remainder of the summer as it was a film audiences wanted to see.

Many will blame the weather in the UK, but the films in positions 2-6 collectively took more than The Mandalorian & Grogu. The simple truth is that this wasn’t a Star Wars film for fans who have only seen the movies – you needed to do 250 hours of homework. In the US, 68% of the film’s opening‑night audience were Disney+ subscribers – proof that the film never expanded beyond the existing fanbase. Disney already learned this lesson the hard way with MCU spin-offs of TV shows, yet they repeated the same mistake.

Can see this in the daily BO percentage compared to the other films in the top 5, opening day was almost 40% fan led, similarly high as Passenger (37%). It dropped off on Saturday to 35%, with Michael, Obsession, The Devil Wears Prada, and The Sheep Detectives taking a higher percentage. On Sunday, it was again lower than Michael, Obsession, The Devil Wears Prada and The Sheep Detectives. If there was an interest in Grogu beyond those who watched the TV, Sunday would have been over 30%.

This is why it should have remained the fourth series as originally planned. But a fourth series wouldn’t have generated the same media attention or attracted the same promotional partners – because this was never about the film. It was always a two-hour advert to sell merchandise.

More than 13 million Grogu dolls were sold in the first two years after The Mandalorian debuted on Disney+. On the back of this theatrical “promo reel”, Disney will sell many more times than this year.

The hot weather is often used as an excuse for soft openings. But if a film is something people genuinely want to see, they will see it regardless of the weather. I’ve lost count of the times I’ve been at the Odeon Leicester Square when the air conditioning wasn’t working, yet still 1,800+ people filled every seat, drinking the free room-temperature water they gave to the audience. Cinemas are an escape from the heat. While mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun, I had my windows and curtains closed.

The Mandalorian & Grogu is a sequel to the Disney+ TV series, which ran for three seasons between 2019 and 2023. It is the first Star Wars film released since the polarised Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker in 2019. After not releasing a Star Wars film for seven years, Disney will release two within twelve months, along with re-releasing the original Star Wars film in cinemas in February for its 50th anniversary (similar to 20th Century Fox’s 25th anniversary re-release in 1997).

Normally, a Star Wars film is surrounded by massive hype and excitement. But there feels like very little for The Mandalorian & Grogu. It feels similar to the build-up to 2018’s Solo: A Star Wars Story.

Bringing Disney back to Sky TV in March, they had an opportunity to build the show’s fanbase ahead of the film’s release by licensing the first three seasons of The Mandalorian to Sky TV rather than Andor. This would have given many more people the chance to watch the show.

The problem is that The Mandalorian & Grogu have always felt less like a film than a two-hour marketing promotion to sell millions of Grogu toys. Last year, the live-action Lilo & Stitch took $1bn worldwide at the box office and sold many more times that in merchandising. As with Toy Story 5, these films are less about box office revenue than about merchandising and theme park rides.

It’s Disney’s sixth Star Wars film since 2015, and they have also made over 10 Star Wars spin-off TV shows since 2019. This has led many to compare Disney’s Star Wars films to the MCU: you have to do hundreds of hours of homework before seeing the film, which alienates the many who just liked Star Wars films that were once accessible to new audiences.

When Disney acquired Lucasfilm in 2012, they immediately announced plans to make Star Wars films. Originally, they were to be split two or three years apart, but then it was later announced that they would have yearly Star Wars films indefinitely.

The Mandalorian & Grogu also feel like it arrived a few years too late. Lucasfilm originally had plans for a fourth series in 2024, but opted to develop a film instead, with a fourth series to follow.

The first teaser trailer was released in September. It should have been a massive event – the first Star Wars film since 2019 – but the reaction was underwhelming. A TV spot followed at the Super Bowl, which was similarly received. A later trailer in February got a slightly better reaction. The first 17 minutes were shown at CinemaCon in April.

In 2019, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker opened with £20.9m, driven by massive hype and expectations. The Mandalorian & Grogu opened similar to 2018’s Solo: A Star Wars Story (£6.1m). But as with most Disney films, it exists to sell merchandising. Hundreds of millions of Grogu dolls will be sold. The film has the advantage of half-term holidays and being the only film targeting males under 35, but it is likely to be front-loaded.

2018’s Solo: A Star Wars Story opened £6,061,231 (including £1,214,917 Thursday previews); 2D took £4,745,889 (78.5%), 3D took £710,299 (11.75%), IMAX did £584,228 (9.67%); it took an additional £1.55m from Bank Holiday Monday, half of £3m The Last Jedi took on its first Monday in December.

As with The Devil Wears Prada 2, The Mandalorian, and Grogu is an enjoyable but completely forgettable film. This reaction is similar to many who have seen it; they enjoyed it, but it’s like eating at a McDonald’s an hour later, you’re hungry again. As with the other three Disney Star Wars films, there is no substance to the film. I always go back to South Park’s memberries.

It’s the Disneyfication of acquired blockbusters, Disney have done with Star Wars, as they did also with an Indiana Jones, Marvel and Avatar. As Dr Ian Malcolm said, “the problem with the scientific power that you’re using here, it didn’t require any discipline to attain it. You read what others had done, and you took the next step. You didn’t earn the knowledge for yourselves, so you don’t take any responsibility for it. You stood on the shoulders of geniuses to accomplish something as fast as you could, and before you even knew what you had, you patented it, and packaged it, and slapped it on a plastic lunchbox, and now”.

While the Star Wars prequels were maligned when they were originally released, they are still more rewatchable than all of Disney’s Star Wars films. The only Rogue One that is as seen by the footage in the trailers was meant to be a very different film, and it was meant to have a very different ending, only adding the Darth Vader end scene months before the film opened. It feels like Disney Star Wars films, the director is more of a figurehead, similar to Marvel films with Lucasfilm pulling the strings, as it is with Marvel with Kevin Feige, which means you get very similar films all the time that feel quite hollow once the hype and pixie dust have faded away. Disney Star Wars films get five-star films, but three stars are hype, nostalgia and FOMO and only two stars for the films themselves.

• 2. Michael £1,781,990 – £44,292,051

Down 59.8% in its fifth weekend

£519k 29.14% (-51.5% £1.1m) Fri; £724k 40.65% (-61.7% £1.89m) Sat; £538k 30.2% (-83.1% £1.47m) Sun; Monday £537k

58^th biggest fifth weekend between Harry Potter Chamber Of Secrets and Deadpool and Wolverine (close to The Sixth Sense, A Star Is Born, Men In Black and Paddington 2) and 140^th biggest inflated fifth weekend between Tangled and Deadpool and Wolverine (close to Home Alone, Toy Story, Dances with Wolves and Shrek 2).

Michael took almost 20% less than Bohemian Rhapsody (£2,211,454) in its fifth weekend; Bohemian Rhapsody’s fifth weekend, it was the second weekend of Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (£5,622,755) and the third weekend for The Grinch (£3,283,072), with A Star is Born’s 8^th weekend being £421,692. Michael has taken 13.5% more than Bohemian Rhapsody after five weeks.

Michael’s end credits start with “is story will continue”, that ending is surely more optimistic for fans, highlighting the death of Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody as he will live on in the sequel. The ending is open, optimistic, and sequel-baiting and why it’s seen fans dancing during the end credits as their icon lives on to be in the sequel.

Critics will have the same issues with the sequel to Micheal as it won’t include the allegations, they did feature in the original four hour cut of the film, but filmmakers didn’t have legal permission, so they had to reshoot the ending of the film, in the process have the film a much more positive ending to fans, as it was all about the Micheal Jackson they loved. The fans don’t want the truth. They want the hits. And the sequel will give them more of the same. That’s not a biopic. It’s a brand. And the brand is immortal. The man is optional.

Michael is the latest biographical musician drama after Bohemian Rhapsody (Queen), Walk the Line (Johnny Cash), Ray (Ray Charles), Elvis, Straight Outta Compton (N.W.A), A Complete Unknown (Bob Dylan), Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere and Rocketman (Elton John); Upcoming musician biopics include Sam Mendes’s four Beatles films, and Ridley Scott directed Bee Gees biopic. It will be interesting to see how the four Beatles films will play. Some will be more popular than others, but four in a year surely too many even for the music fanatics, cinemagoers?

3^rd biggest film over the last 52 weeks between Wicked – Part 2 and The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (close to Lilo & Stitch, Zootropolis 2, Project Hail Mary and Jurassic World Rebirth).

74^th biggest between Toy Story 2 and 1917 (close to Wicked: For Good, Mary Poppins Returns, Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe and Alice In Wonderland) and 166^th biggest inflated between Cats and Dogs and 101 Dalmatians (close to Batman Forever, The Silence of the Lambs, Austin Powers in Goldmember and The Mask).

Michael Jackson songs have climbed into the singles chart this week: Billie Jean #4; Beat It #9; Human Nature #8; I Want You Back Jackson 5 #26; The Essentials #2; Thriller #4; Bad #8; Off The Wall #37; Dangerous #71; soundtrack album #1 on soundtrack album chart.

Michael will have a similar sixth weekend as Bohemian Rhapsody’s £1,534,249, down 31%.

• 3. Obsession – £1,284,749 – £3,953,954

Dropped 4.3% in its second weekend.

£401k 31.23% (-0.2% £402k) Fri; £472k 36.76% (-1.05% £477k) Sat; £411k 32% (-12.4% £463k) Sun; Monday £353k

867^th biggest second weekend between Ad Astra and Cruella (close to It’s Complicated, The Bodyguard, Just Friends and Cape Fear) and 1,397^th biggest inflated second weekend between The Happening and Stormbreaker (close to The Untouchables, Misery, Shallow Grave and Crazy Rich Asians)

31^st biggest second weekend over the last 52 weeks between The Bad Guys 2 and 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (close to Weapons, The Roses, Scream 7, and Now You See Me: Now You Don’t).

Obsession isn’t a traditional horror like the others released this year. It has more in common with Get Out; it’s a social horror. The magic might be fantasy, but it’s based on the dark reality of toxic relationships and how men and women interact.

2017’s Get Out dropped 36.7% £1,366,829/£1,461,722 and £4,864,838 48.4% of £10,053,463

2020’s The Invisible Man dropped 28.9% £1,538,985 and £5,002,167 of £6,841,147 (COVID)

2025’s Weapons dropped 44.7% £1,557,828 and £6,254,095 of £11,231,965

And this year’s Send Help dropped 50.4% £790,136 and £2,959,861 of £4,128,157

It’s horror that plays to audiences who don’t normally like horror, as it might have a fantasy element with the monkey’s paw. It’s a very human, real horror that women have to deal with daily. As a man, I can never understand how my actions might be seen badly by women. Obsession plays on that “nice guy” persona; it reminded me of Bournemouth FC’s excellent safety video from two years ago, showing the difference between a man walking home at night in the dark from a football game and a woman. Things men do without thinking that seem to us as being just a “nice guy” to a woman who doesn’t know us could be seen very differently.

Obsession also plays strongly to the female audience who have recently enjoyed The Housemaid, Send Help, Wuthering Heights and The Drama. Those films feature women stuck in toxic situations, finding ways to escape. But Obsession goes a step further: it shows the man as the architect of his own nightmare, wishing for love but unable to receive it because he cannot be vulnerable.

Obsession opened three weeks after The Devil Wears Prada 2. The two films might seem very different, but if you believed Miranda Priestly were really the devil – if her power were literal, her cruelty intentional, her goal destruction – she would be the antagonist of Obsession. This is a social horror story about toxic relationships, manipulation, and the terrifying gap between what we wish for and what we actually get.

In the original Devil Wears Prada, Andy is told that a million girls would kill for her job. Obsession literalises that metaphor. It takes the casual hyperbole of office politics and turns it into a supernatural nightmare. The girl who would kill for Andy’s job doesn’t just want it – she wants Andy’s life, her partner, her existence. And she gets it. That’s the horror.

We see this plot often in rom‑coms – the man manipulating the woman – but it’s not obvious until you step back. Finding Emily, which opened last week, looks like a sweet rom‑com on paper: a lovable man goes to extreme lengths to find a woman he had a brief conversation with in a bar. It’s charming, but is it? Consider:

Groundhog Day (1993) – Phil Connors uses his infinite loop to manipulate Rita into falling for him, learning her secrets, her preferences, her fears. He becomes the perfect partner by cheating the system. It’s charming, but also deeply unsettling.

About Time (2013) – Tim uses time travel to win Mary’s affection, resetting moments until he says the right thing. The film frames it as romantic. But strip away the whimsy, and it’s a story about a man who cannot trust that he is enough.

You’ve Got Mail (1998) – Joe Fox knows that Kathleen Kelly is his online romantic interest, but he hides his identity, using her trust against her while secretly planning to destroy her bookshop. A rom‑com? The premise is stalker‑adjacent.

Obsession could be seen as a darker version of the 2000s Bedazzled. In that film, Elliot Richards sells his soul to the Devil for seven wishes, hoping to win the affection of his crush, Alison Gardner. Each wish is twisted, revealing the shallowness of his desires. But Elliot eventually learns that he cannot force Alison to love him. In his final wish, he hopes she has a happy life, with or without him. It’s a rare moment of genuine selflessness in a genre built on selfish wishes.

Obsession offers no such redemption. The man’s wish is granted, and it destroys them both. There is no lesson learned. There is no happy ending. There is only the nightmare made flesh.

Of course, there was a more innocent culture 30 years ago; the darker elements of this behaviour weren’t realised. It’s like looking back at films from the 70s and 80s – the way people are portrayed wouldn’t be allowed today.

Obsession takes these hidden dynamics and makes them explicit. There is no whimsy, no time travel, no secret identity played for laughs. Just the raw, terrifying reality of a man who wants to control the woman he claims to love.

Obsession joins a long tradition of “be careful what you wish for” stories: The Monkey’s Paw, Bedazzled, Bruce Almighty, Liar Liar, The Craft, Wishmaster. To be given the chance to have what you dreamed about is the ultimate fantasy. But as The Monkey’s Paw taught us a century ago, and Obsession reminds us today, the nightmare is usually hiding inside the wish. (The exception, of course, is Aladdin – though even he had to deal with Jafar.)

Most of these stories are told from the male perspective. Taylor Swift’s short film for her song All Too Well sees it from the woman’s perspective. It looks very different from the other side.

It will be interesting to see how Obsession holds against the new horror Backrooms opening on Friday, which is generating strong buzz, but as I’ve said, Obsession plays to non-horror fans while Backrooms will only play to horror fans.

• 4. The Devil Wears Prada 2 £1,149,500 – £30,209,206

Down 63.8% in its fourth weekend

£378k 32.9% (-60.7% £962k) Fri; £432k 37.6% (-65.16% £1.24m) Sat; £338k 29.4% (-85.72% 975k) Sun; Monday £298k

292^nd biggest fourth weekend between Early Man and Smallfoot (close to American Beauty, Ghost, Crocodile Dundee, and It Ends With Us) and 527^th biggest inflated fourth weekend between Lethal Weapon 3 and Superman Returns (close to 50 Shades of Grey, Father of the Bride, It’s Complicated and Maleficent: Mistress of Evil).

10^th biggest film over the last 52 weeks between The Housemaid and Superman (close to Wuthering Heights, The Fantastic Four, How To Train Your Dragon and F1).

165^th biggest between Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse and Twilight: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 (close to Slumdog Millionaire, Notting Hill, Man of Steel and La La Land) and 335^th biggest inflated between Kung Fu Panda and Rambo: First Blood Part II (close to Prometheus, The Living Daylights, The Hunger Games and Indecent Proposal).

While the original stays long in the memory, with quotable lines, the sequel might be a fun film to watch, but it’s a sugar rush. A Big Mac. Enjoyable in the moment, 20 minutes later, hungry again, they were just empty calories, making you crave the original film again. To quote Mark Kermode, “I’m not angry, but disappointed”.

As with all of Disney’s reimaginations, sequels, and reboots, once the hype and pixel dust fade away, audiences see them for what they are, as South Park said in 2015, Star Wars: The Force Awakens was a memberberries. Randy said, “Star Wars: The Force Awakens was ‘not as good as everyone thought it was ‘”. “It may be fun to go back and recycle the past we loved, but we end up with no sustenance.”

Fourth weekends

2006’s The Devil Wears Prada dropped 33..7% £900,618/£1,481,304 and £11,659,069 85.22% of £13,681,185/£22,502,319

2008’s Sex and the City dropped 32.3% £1,210,550/£1,864,713 and £23,143,851 88.2% of £26,232,557/£40,408,227

While The Devil Wears Prada 2 opened much bigger than the original film, it is having similar legs as 2025’s Wicked Back For Good and Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy.

Its fourth weekend was similar to 2024’s It Ends With Us, which dropped 38.1% £1,142,288   and £18,639,856, 86.7% of £21,500,000, despite opening almost double that of It Ends With Us.

So, despite all the hype, The Devil Wears Prada 2 is doing exactly as it was expected to take, as all other legacy sequels, as Miranda Priestly would say, “that’s all”. As with all legacy sequels, this is the difference, while in 2006 the original Devil Wears Prada was a surprise and has beloved audiences ever since, legacy sequels feel like wearing your favourite sweater 20 years later, as Andy does in the end scene.

As with Sex and the City, younger audiences grew up with many similar TV shows, from The Bold Type, Younger and Unreal. Why the Sex and the City spinoff show, And Just Like That, didn’t connect with fans who didn’t grow up with the Sex and the City TV show.

• 5. Drishyam 2 – £835,968 – NE

Included £334,350 from previews.

Opened with almost double that of the last film, 2022’s Drishyam 2, £454k and is already the highest-grossing film of the series.

Also opened

• Finding Emily – opened £212,752 #8 from 470 screens.

Despite positive reviews, the Manchester-based teen rom-com struggled to find an audience; those who saw it scored the film positively. The question is, will audiences find it before it gets pulled from screens, as there are three new wide releases this weekend: Backrooms, Power Ballad and Tuner.

The Working Title British rom-com was originally called CC: Emily, which would have been a better title for it, as Finding Emily feels like a much more generic title that doesn’t make it stand out from so many other titles.

——————–

BO is currently up 15% from 2025.

The weekend’s top 10 box office took £11,666,871, down 8.2% from last weekend’s £12,714,732:  1,355,037 admissions, down 8.2% from 1,473,818 admissions.

27^th biggest weekend of the last 52 weeks between 06 June 2025 #1 Lilo & Stitch £3,528,384 (30.2%) and 01 August 2025 #1 The Fantastic Four – First Steps £3,098,336 (26.74%)

97^th biggest since cinemas reopened out of 288 weeks between 06 June 2025 #1 Lilo & Stitch £3,528,384 (30.2%) and 18 February 2022 #1 18 February 2022 #1 Uncharted £3,775,360 (32.37%)  

504^th biggest top 10 of the last 25 years (out of 1,259) between 06 June 2025 #1 Lilo & Stitch £3,528,384 (30.2%) and 18 February 2022 #1 18 February 2022 #1 Uncharted £3,775,360 (32.37%) and 879th biggest inflated between 23 April 2004 #1 Kill Bill – Volume 2 £2,768,832 (45.46%) and 13 April 2007 #1 Wild Hogs £1,691,797 (24.72%)

The top 3 took £8,358,124 (70.6%) of the top 10; Star Wars: The Mandalorian And Grogu 45.3% (£5,291,385; Micheal 15.27% (£1,781,990); Obsession 11% (£1,284,749).

368^th biggest percentage share #1 (45.35%) between 21 July 2017 #1 Dunkirk £10,023,720 (45.43%) and 16 February 2007 #1 Hot Fuzz £5,918,149 (45.27%)

578^th biggest admissions (614,563) between 25 January 2013 #1 Les Miserables £4,016,611 (615,101) and 24 December 2021 #1 Spider-Man No Way Home £4,619,518 (614,298)

Down 46.81% from 2025; (£21,932,424); Lilo & Stitch (£9,568,923); Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning (£8,579,185); The Phoenician Scheme (£770,562); Ballet To Broadway: Wheeldon Works – ROH, London 2025 (£42,367); #1 Lilo & Stitch £9,568,923 1st week 685 screens (43.63% of top 10)

Up 30.09% from 2024; (£8,968,008); The Garfield Movie (£2,121,270); Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (£1,969,140); Twilight Of The Warriors: Walled In (£106,919); Trainspotting (4K Restoration) (£40,500); #1 The Garfield Movie £2,121,270 1st week 670 screens (23.65% of top 10)

Up 18.94% from 2023; (£9,809,374); The Little Mermaid (£5,012,929); Hypnotic (£217,252); Sisu (£144,567); TOMORROW X TOGETHER WORLD TOUR – ACT: SWEET MIRAGE – LIVE (£66,961); The Sleeping Beauty – ROH, London 2023 (£64,370); #1 The Little Mermaid £5,012,929 1st week 724 screens (51.1% of top 10)

Down 39.51% from 2022 (£19,286,684); Top Gun Maverick (£15,931,497); The Bob’s Burgers Movie (£346,592); #1 Top Gun Maverick 1st week £15,931,497 741 screens (82.6% of top 10)

Up 51.66% from 2021 from (£9,347,953); Peter Rabbit 2 (£4,605,673); Nomadland (£874,785); Spiral: From The Book Of Saw (£779,107); The Unholy (£405,391); Mortal Kombat (£319,313); Those Who Wish Me Dead (£302,653); Raya And The Last Dragon (£235,994); Ammonite (£130,324); Sound Of Metal (£84,570); #1 Peter Rabbit 2 £4,605,673 1st week 496 screens (49.27% of top 10)

2020 Lockdown

Down 41.16% from 2019; (£19,827,784); Aladdin (£7,066,773); Rocketman (£5,381,904); The Secret Life of Pets 2 (£3,490,598); #1 Aladdin 1st week £7,066,773 642 screens (35.64% of top 10)

Down 11.56% from 2018: (£13,192,041) Solo: A Star Wars Story (£6,061,231); Show Dogs (£546,405); The Breadwinner (£79,329); McKellen: Playing the Part Live 2018 (£41,110); #1 Solo: A Star Wars Story £6,061,231 1st week 680 screens (45.9% of top 10)

Up 20.52% from 2017: (£9,718,848); Pirates of the Caribbean: Salazar’s Revenge (£5,238,049); Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul (£1,444,092); The Red Turtle (£91,997); The Other Side of Hope (£66,501); #1 Pirates of the Caribbean: Salazar’s Revenge £5,238,049 634 screens 1st week (53.9% of top 10)

Up 33.49% from 2016: (£8,876,599); Alice Through the Looking Glass (£2,229,399); Money Monster (£820,829); Love and Friendship (£263,094); Minuscule: Valley of the Lost Ants (£97,647); Top Cat Begins (£69,784); Bobby (£1,061); #1 X-Men: Apocalypse £2,543,481 590 screens 2nd week 65% drop (28.6% of top 10)

Up 12.74% from 2015; (£10,348,193); Tomorrowland – A World Beyond (£1,482,178); Poltergeist (£1,463,014); The New Girlfriend (£94,839); Moomins on the Riviera (£84,595); #1 Pitch Perfect 2 £2,665,428 534 screens 2nd week 47% drop (25.7% of top 10)

Down 27% from 2014: (£15,982,308); X-Men: Days of Future Past (£9,144,971); Postman Pat (£774,750); Blended (£688,547); Fading Gigolo (£160,781); The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time – NT Live 2012 (£40,484); Driving Miss Daisy – Melbourne 2013 (£65,389); #1 X-Men: Days of Future Past £9,144,971 537 screens 1st week (57.2% of top 10)

Down 33.4% from 2013: (£17,517,641); The Hangover Part III (£5,964,619); Epic (£3,190,574); The Moth Diaries (£103,228); Something in the Air (£20,948); #1 The Hangover Part III £5,964,619 474 screens 1st week (34.1% of top 10)

Up 70.97% from 2012 (£6,824,026); Men in Black 3 (£2,935,736); What to Expect When You’re Expecting (£661,617); Moonrise Kingdom (£251,760); Iron Sky (£66,076); #1 Men in Black 3 £2,935,736 1st week 532 screens (43.1% of top 10)

Down 36% from 2011; (£18,230,336); The Hangover Part II (£10,409,017); Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules (£1,476,720); #1 The Hangover Part II £10,409,017 1st week 469 screens (57.1% of top 10)

Down 14.4% from 2010: (£13,625,923); Sex and the City 2 (£6,142,718); The Tooth Fairy (£844,889); Space Chimps 2 (£434,883); The Losers (£391,938); Rec 2 (£70,367); #1 Sex and the City 2 £6,142,718 1st week 530 screens (45.1% of top 10)

Up 11.9% from 2009; (£10,425,478); Night at the Museum 2 (£4,160,496); Tormented (£284,757); Awaydays (£39,045); Everlasting Moments (£9,530); #1 Night at the Museum 2 £4,160,496 515 screens 1st week (39.9% of top 10)

Down 22.7% from 2008; (£15,095,445); Indiana Jones & The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (£12,227,799); Cassandra’s Dream (£47,359); #1 Indiana Jones & The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull £12,227,799 1st week 538 screens (81% of top 10)

Down 30.26% from 2007: (£14,816,587); Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (£11,634,860); Blitz (£266,148); Win Win (£155,463); Fire in Babylon (£107,312); Julia’s Eyes (£49,142); #1 Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides £11,634,860 1st week 569 screens (78.5% of top 10)

Down 22.3% from 2006; (£15,005,037); X-Men: The Last Stand (£7,091,820); The Wild (£1,033,153); Curious George (£330,232); Friends with Money (£95,092); Down in the Valley (£39,803); Thief Lord (£38,737); #1 X-Men: The Last Stand £7,091,820 1st week 446 screens (47.2% of top 10)

Up 32.1% from 2005: (£8,828,190); House of Wax (£765,008); The Pacifier (£729,070); Millions (£293,032); It’s All Gone Pete Tong (£261,208); #1 Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith £5,427,091 2nd week 490 screens 62% drop (61.5% of top 10)

Up 29.7% from 2004 (£8,995,085); Troy (£6,017,523); Bad Education (£202,324); #1 Troy £6,017,523 1st week wide (2-week release) 504 screens (66.90% of top 10)

Down 21.7% from 2003 (£14,900,979); The Matrix Reloaded (£12,165,276); The Hot Chick (£169,452); #1 The Matrix Reloaded £12,165,276 1st week 481 screens (81.6% of top 10)

Up 21.3% from 2002 (£9,615,592); Not Another Teen Movie (£635,805); Thunderpants (£430,913); Hart’s War (£129,484); #1 Star Wars Ep II – Attack of the Clones £5,955,017 468 screens 2nd week 48% drop (61.9% of top 10)

2025 Next week: (£16,985,780); Karate Kid: Legends (£2,592,601); The Salt Path (£1,479,569); Peppa Meets The Baby Cinema Experience (£1,065,856); Doctor Who – The Two Episode Finale (Wish World & The Reality War) (£381,725); The Ballad Of Wallis Island (£142,542); #1 Lilo & Stitch £6,139,573 2^nd week down 36% 688 screens (36.15% of top 10)

US Box Office

• Star Wars: The Mandalorian And Grogu – Disney

Opened $99.09m 4 days and $81.67m 3 days; received mixed reviews (63% Rotten Tomatoes) and A- CinemaScore

Took $12m from Thursday midnights; Solo: A Star Wars Story $14.1m; Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker $40m; Star Wars: The Force Awakens $57m; Star Wars: The Last Jedi $45m; Rogue One: A Star Wars Story $29m; it was close to recent openings Michael $12.6m; Avatar: Fire and Ash $12m; Project Hail Mail $12m, but impossible to compare with any of those films as it’s a Star Wars film opening over Memorial Weekend the holy grail as next year Star Wars: Starfighter opens the same weekend and anything less than $40m previews would be seen as a massive disappointment.

133^rd biggest opening between Twisters and Project Hail Mary (close to Dune: Part Two, Monsters University, Black Widow and Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones).

It used to be Disney would lowball tracking and estimates, but estimates for The Mandalorian and Grogu were very close to opening; this could be taken the opposite way, that it was expected to open far more, but lowered the estimate to make it look like it’s opened as expected.

53% came from PLF, including 15% IMAX; 16% 3D, including 3% 3D IMAX; EntTelligence said average ticket price was $16.01, and PLF $19.43; 22% of ticket sales came from showtimes before 1 pm; 36% between 1 pm – 5 pm; 30% from showtimes between 5 pm – 8 pm; and 12% after 8 pm.

Ahead of opening, many expected an $95m-$100m opening over the 4-day Memorial Day weekend, as historically this weekend was the start of the summer with a massive opening. Last year, over 4 days, Lilo & Stitch opened $182.6m and Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning $79.1m with holdovers Final Destination: Bloodlines $21.14m, Thunderbolts $12.21m and Sinners $10.98m.

12^th biggest 4-day Memorial weekend between Solo: A Star Wars Story and The Lost World: Jurassic Park (close to X-Men: Days of Future Past, The Hangover Part II, The Day After Tomorrow and Bruce Almighty).

While Disney have had huge openings all over the year, they have had limited success opening over Memorial Day weekend, with only 7 of the 40 biggest Memorial weekend openings from Disney.

2007’s Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End opened $139.8m, taking $309.42m

2023’s The Little Mermaid opened $118.81m, taking $298.17m

2019’s Aladdin opened $116.8m, taking $355.55m

2018’s Solo: A Star Wars Story opened $84m 3 days/$103.16m 4 days, taking $213.76m

2017’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales opened $78.47m, taking $172.55m

2001’s Pearl Harbour opened $75.17m, taking $198.54m

2011’s Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides opened $50.01m, taking $241.07m

It was expected to open with $160m globally and took $163m; normally, Disney’s estimates aren’t as close to final figures, showing that it took exactly as expected.

Took $24.4m worldwide from IMAX; $14.8m US and $9.6m international.

Opened with $63m internationally from 62 territories and $163m worldwide; UK $7.1m; Germany $6.5m; China $4.6m; Japan $4.9m; Australia $4.6m; Mexico $3.9m; France $3.8m; Spain $2.4m; Italy $2m; Brazil $1.3m

• Michael – Lionsgate

Dropped 21% in its fifth weekend, $20.62m and $314.86m

EntTelligence Michael’s basic price was $15.01, and the average PLF price was $18.56.

12^th biggest fifth weekend between Barbie and Project Hail Mary (close to Black Panther, The Sixth Sense, The Avengers and Zootopia 2).

After five weeks, it’s impossible to compare Michael with any musician biopics, as it’s a unique film, and despite many making the comparison with Bohemian Rhapsody, they are very different films, as the fanbase of the two films is very different.

2018’s Bohemian Rhapsody dropped 12.7% $14m and $152.15m of $216.66m and $910.81m WW.

The one thing Bohemian Rhapsody has in common with Micheal and all other musician biopics it was made for their fans who just wanted to see him as they still do, as he was in 1996; they don’t believe the allegations or controversy that have surrounded him ever since, they just love him for his music and how it made them feel 30 years ago, which is how it makes them feel today.

2009’s Michael Jackson: This Is It took $72.09m and $267.98m worldwide; the documentary was the biggest musician film in the US until 2023’s Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour took $180.75m and $261.65m worldwide.

Has taken $60.4m worldwide from IMAX worldwide; $30.1m US and $30.3m internationally.

Took $28.5m from 83 territories, $468.1m total, and $789.4m worldwide; UK $60m; France $44.4m; Mexico $29m; Spain $24m; Germany $29.6m; Australia $26.7m

• The Devil Wears Prada 2 – 20^th Century Studios

Dropped 29% in its fourth weekend, taking $12.7m and $196.23m

EntTelligence average price of $14.56 and an average PLF of $17.91.

203^rd biggest fourth weekend between The Boss Baby and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 (close to The Pursuit of Happyness , We’re the Millers, Bringing Down the House and The Greatest Showman).

After opening twice as big as 2006’s The Devil Wears Prada, the sequel inflation inflated weekend BO is more than the sequel showing the sequel hasn’t had the legs of the original.

Fourth weekends

2006’s The Devil Wears Prada dropped 29.1% $7.36m and $97.5m of $124.74m/$237.9m and $326.72m/$623.1m worldwide

2008’s Sex and the City dropped 33.3% $6.52m and $132.46m of $152.64m/$265.6m and $418.76m/$728.5m worldwide

2015’s Fifty Shades of Grey dropped 47.7% $5.52m and $156.36m of $166.2m/$246.2m and $570m/$844m WW

These were very different films, as they received poor reviews while The Devil Wears Prada 2 received far more positive reactions, again showing there are no comparisons, as other female-led legacy sequels haven’t had the same media attention and audience excitement, as it’s unlikely Practical Magic 2 will get this kind of excitement and media attention.

Took $21.2m from 82 territories, $408m total, and $608m worldwide; Italy $35.95m; Brazil $30.1m; UK $41m.

• Obsession – Focus Features

Up 39% in its second weekend, $23.96m and $81.67m

Interestingly, Obsession opened three weeks after The Devil Wears Prada 2, as it could be seen as a darker version of Miranda Prestley, who was really the devil, and it would be a dark social horror of toxic relationships and manipulation.

Its opening audience was 60% male, but the increase in its second weekend was due to an increase in the female audience, as they realised it wasn’t a gory horror, more psychological social horror about toxic masculinity, playing to the same audience who recently saw The Housemaid and Send Help.

It will be interesting to see how Obsession holds in its third weekend against horror Backrooms, which has been generating strong buzz, while Obsession was due to be released on PVOD in the first week of June.

Comparisons include.

2026’s Send Help dropped 52.6% $9.04m and $34.88m of $64.73m and $94.04m worldwide

2020’s The Invisible Man dropped 46.3% $15.13m and $52.67m of $70.41m and $144.49m

2022’s Smile dropped 18% $18.54m and $50.83m of $105.93m and $217.4m worldwide

2024’s Heretic dropped 54.1% $4.96m and $20.23m of $27.98m and $59.77m worldwide

2022’s Talk to Me opened $10.43m, taking $48.29m and $92.2m worldwide

There have been many different films using the “be careful what you wish for” plot, often used with comedies including Bedazzled, Bruce Almighty and Liar Lair and horrors The Monkey’s Paw, Wishmaster and The Craft. To be given the chance to have what you dreamed about is the ultimate fantasy, but it normally never ends well, apart from Aladdin, though even Aladdin had to deal with Jafar trying to steal the lamp.

Took $8.9m from 46 territories and $81.9m worldwide; UK $5.2m

• The Sheep Detectives- Amazon/MGM

Down 4% in third weekend, $9.2m and $43.74m

The Sheep Detective feels very similar to Babe, while it was never going to be as successful as Babe its delighting audiences globally in cinemas before finding a much bigger audience when it will be released on Amazon later this year.

Took more in its third weekend than 2024’s Paddington in Peru dropped 30.5% $4.51m and $31.37m of $45.8m, taking $211m worldwide.

21 years ago, Babe dropped 23.4% $5.14m and $30.18m of $63.65m/$182.8m and $254.1m/$729.7m WW.

Took $5.6m internationally from 75 territories, $38.7m total and $86m worldwide; UK $8.8m; Germany $4.7m and Australia $4.8m: China $2.4m

• Passenger – Paramount Pictures

Opened $8.74m; received poor reviews (46% Rotten Tomatoes) and B+ CinemaScore.

While low-budget Obsession connected with audiences, and this weekend’s Backrooms is also expected to find audiences, most other low-budget horrors this year have struggled to find a wide audience, as they have lacked the USP that sets them out from so many horrors that have been released this year.

With poor reviews and a low CinemaScore, Passenger will drop 60%+ in its second weekend.

Opened $4.5m internationally from 50 territories; Mexico $785k; UK $440k; France $420k; Australia $372k; Brazil $225k; Italy $240k; Spain $204k.

UK Box Office Top 10

Box Office Preview

The Mandalorian & Grogu

Will have a second weekend similar to 2018’s Solo: A Star Wars Story, down 48% to £3.15m and £13.9m (71.5% of its final total).

Backrooms

This supernatural sci-fi horror has been generating strong buzz for weeks and has received positive reviews. It could open bigger than 2026’s Iron Lung (£949k, final £1.69m) and similar to 2024’s Longlegs (£1.37m, final £7.84m). However, it will polarise cinemagoers – the same atmospheric dread that critics praise may leave mainstream audiences cold.

The trailer was received very positively when it was released in March. Backrooms is based on Kane Parsons’ web series and inspired by YouTube’s “Backrooms” creepypasta.

Made for under $10m, Backrooms has already turned a profit before it opens – its success will be measured by how deeply it burrows into the cultural conversation, not by competing with blockbusters.

Michael

Will drop to third, similar to the sixth weekend of 2018’s Bohemian Rhapsody (£1.53m, down 31%).

Obsession vs. Backrooms – Tiny Budgets, Big Returns

Obsession is playing beyond the normal horror fanbase, attracting audiences interested in social horror and toxic relationship dynamics. Backrooms will target more traditional horror fans. The two may not cannibalise each other – they could simply split the horror audience between different sub-genres.

What they share is more important than what separates them. Both were made for tiny budgets – Obsession for under 10m, *Backrooms* for even less. Both were already profitable before their second weekend. Both are succeeding against mega budget behemoths like The Mandalorian & Grogu, and Michael. They don’t need to win the weekend. They just need to survive it, and they already have.

Power Ballad

The latest from director John Carney (Once, Begin Again, Sing Street, Flora and Son). All of his films have received positive reviews, but he has struggled to find a wide audience. The cast includes Paul Rudd, Nick Jonas, Havana Rose Liu, and Jack Reynor. Like Tuner, Power Ballad is a word-of-mouth film – audiences don’t rush out to see it. The problem is whether these films will get a chance, with Scary Movie and Masters of the Universe taking over screens next weekend.

Tuner

A crime thriller starring Leo Woodall, Jean Reno, and Dustin Hoffman, directed by Daniel Roher. It had its world premiere at last year’s Telluride Film Festival, receiving positive reviews, and was the surprise film at last year’s London Film Festival. Opening eight months later, it has lost all the momentum and buzz it received between September and October after the Telluride, Toronto, and London festivals.

Tuner is Dustin Hoffman’s first major screen role since 2010’s Little Fockers, so this is one of his last leading film roles. Leo Woodall starred recently in Netflix’s Vladimir, but is best known for playing Roxster in Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy and Jack in The White Lotus.

My Mother’s Wedding

A comedy drama starring Scarlett Johansson, Sienna Miller, Emily Beecham, Freida Pinto, and Kristin Scott Thomas, directed by Kristin Scott Thomas (her directorial debut). The film premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in 2023, receiving mixed reviews. Opening almost three years later, it will struggle to find an audience despite its strong cast.

Legally Blonde (25th Anniversary 4K Restoration)

Re-released in cinemas. The film has been beloved by audiences for 25 years. It originally opened to £1.45m (three-day) and £2.81m (including previews), eventually taking £6.02m (three-day) and £11.6m (with previews).

The Devil Wears Prada 2

Will continue to drop off in its fifth weekend, down around 50%. The pixie dust has begun to fade – the empty calories are finally showing.

External Events – Champions League, BGT, Soccer Aid

If the box office is down again this weekend, it will be blamed on Arsenal playing PSG in the Champions League Final, the BGT Finals, and Soccer Aid on Sunday.

But in 2012, when Chelsea played Bayern Munich, The Dictator opened with £4.96m, and Marvel’s The Avengers took £2.81m in its second weekend. The year before, when Barcelona played Manchester United at Wembley, The Hangover Part II opened with £10.4m and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides took £4.76m in its second weekend.

Strong films hold, regardless of what else is on TV. The excuses are predictable. The patterns are not.

Coming Soon

• Disclosure Day – Universal Pictures (Wednesday)

Sci‑fi drama starring Emily Blunt, Josh O’Connor, Colin Firth, Eve Hewson, and Colman Domingo, directed by Steven Spielberg from a screenplay by David Koepp (who has written many Spielberg scripts).

In April 2024, it was reported that Spielberg’s next film would be about UFOs. Amblin has a first‑look deal with Universal Pictures, and when Spielberg signed the deal in 2023, he said, “Universal is my ancestral studio home,” having made many films there over the last 50 years.

Disclosure Day is Spielberg’s first film since 2022’s The Fabelmans and his first sci‑fi since 2018’s Ready Player One. It is also his first fully Universal‑financed film as director since 1997’s The Lost World: Jurassic Park (he has directed several films since that Universal released through distribution deals).

The film has been described as a spiritual successor to Close Encounters of the Third Kind, but with a darker, more paranoid tone. Runtime is estimated at 148 minutes, which will limit daily showtimes and push evening business.

Like Project Hail Mary, Disclosure Day benefits from real‑world space news: ahead of its opening, the Pentagon has released declassified UFO files. It is aiming for a similar five‑day rollout, with Universal surely hoping to replicate Project Hail Mary’s £7.4m opening (including £2.8m previews).

Growing up in the 80s, a Spielberg film was an event. Over the last decade, his films have been overshadowed by the likes of Christopher Nolan. Disclosure Day is the lead‑in for Universal’s summer slate, ahead of the more highly anticipated The Odyssey in July. But I have more interest in Disclosure Day, it’s a return to sci‑fi for Spielberg.

It’s 21 years since Spielberg directed his biggest film this century, War of the Worlds, which opened to £8.64m/£14.7m and took £30.4m/£51.6m.

The film is targeting adults and older audiences, and will rely on IMAX and PLF screens for a significant portion of its gross. With strong reviews, a five‑day opening of £6.5-8m is realistic, it depends on how m The Mandalorian & Grogu and Masters of the Universe hold.

• Solo Mio – Entertainment Films

Rom-com drama starring Kevin James, Nicole Grimaudo, Alyson Hannigan, Andrea Bocelli and Kim Coates and directed by Chuck Kinnane and Dan Kinnane.

The film performed well for Angel Studios in the US in February, taking over $26m with a $4m budget and received positive reviews, but is unlikely to find a wide audience in the UK.