- Hamnet £1,412,612 – £14,841,238
Dropped 28.1% in its fourth weekend
£370k 26.2% (-27.45% £510k) Fri; £575k 40.7% (-30.8% £831k) Sat; £467k 33.1% (-25% £623k) Sun
214th biggest fourth weekend between Night At The Museum and Four Weddings and a Funeral (close to Saving Private Ryan, Downton Abbey, Shakespeare In Love and Murder on the Orient Express) and 398th biggest inflated fourth weekend between Dumb and Dumber and Sleepy Hollow (close to Good Will Hunting, Black Swan, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and Atonement).
After four weeks in the shadows of The Housemaid, the BAFTA nominations saw Hamnet squeeze past, taking £13,351 more. But the 8 Oscar nominations (including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actress (Jessie Buckley) and 11 BAFTA nominations (including Best Film, Best British Film, Best Director, Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor), will give Hamnet long legs to play through to the Oscars in March.
1999’s Shakespeare in Love dropped 26.2% £1,379,489/£2,624,633 and £10,624,584 51.04% of £20,814,996/£39,157,902
Hamnet’s fourth weekend was similar to other female-focused dramas, including.
2025’s Marty Supreme dropped £1,478,246 and £11,911,144 of £14,806,423 (to date)
2019’s Little Women dropped 26.7% £1,480,139/£1,642,093 and £16,355,697 76.85% of £21,283,939/£23,612,791
2019’s Downton Abbey dropped 45.5% £1,461,074/£1,620,942 and £23,109,145 81.82% of £28,242,871/£31,333,157
2015’s The Theory Of Everything dropped £1,588,737/£1,765,018 and £14,739,154 68.55% of £21,502,825/£23,888,714
2011’s Black Swan dropped 38% £1,069,931/£1,414,216 and £12,779,283 81.35% of £15,708,154/£20,762,758
2005’s Pride And Prejudice dropped 38.4% £906,679/£1,541,932 and £11,366,489 78.05% of £14,562,448/£24,765,437
2024’s It Ends With Us dropped 38.2% £1,142,288 and £18,639,856 86.7% of £21,500,000
491st biggest between Stardust and The Good Dinosaur (close to Christopher Robin, Eternals, Cast Away and Pride and Prejudice) and 810th biggest inflated between The Hand That Rocks the Cradle and Lethal Weapon 4 (close to Labyrinth, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Romeo and Juliet and Dirty Dancing).
- 2. The Housemaid £1,399,261 – £28,480,667
Down 31.3% in its sixth weekend
£381k 27.23% (-32.8% £567k) Fri; £617k 44.1% (-33.4% £926k) Sat; £401k -26.42% (28.7% £545k) Sun.
42nd biggest sixth weekend between Bridget Jones’s Diary and The Dark Knight Rises (close to Bohemian Rhapsody, Die Another Day, A Star Is Born and Spectre) and 108th biggest inflated sixth weekend between The Dark Knight and A Bug’s Life (close to Inception, Life of Pi, Meet the Parents and Sliding Doors).
Helping The Housemaid over the last six weeks has been the continued media coverage Sydney Sweeny has received, last week she received huge media coverage launching her lingerie brand she launched Syrn, in an interview for Elle she said “I wanted to create a world and a feeling, I wanted to build a lingerie brand that feels like it understands women instead of talking to them”. She also featured in a sing-through of Sabrina Carpenter’s Manchild for W Magazine.
The Housemaid has become Paul Feig’s biggest film ahead of Bridesmaids (£23.05m). It is also Sydney Sweeney’s biggest film in the UK, ahead of Anyone But You (£11.71m) and has overtaken It Ends With Us (£21.91m), Gone Girl (£22.61m), Fifty Shades Darker (£23.15m) and The Girl On The Train (£24.01m).
2016’s The Girl on the Train dropped 23.6% £477,110/£515,742 and £22,897,010 98% of £24.1m
2014’s Gone Girl dropped 34.3% £696,874/£753,301 and £20,634,368 93.3% of £22.61m/£26,365,105
2000’s What Lies Beneath dropped 33.4% £540,882/£1,019,403 and £9,711,826 70.2% of £13,827,135/£24,888,844
1992’s The Hand That Rocks the Cradle dropped 6.2% £250,265/£624,493 and £4,844,896 81.4% of £5,950,847/£14,682,464
1988’s Fatal Attraction dropped 27.3% £526,317/£1,832,956 and £10,684,844 69.2% of £15,441,564/£53,172,690
2018’s A Simple Favour took £4,930,383
While 2011’s Bridesmaids dropped 28.4% £732,049/£967,609 and £20,137,833 87.4% of £23,050,000/£30,467,079
The Housemaid previously held similar to 2012’s Life of Pi (opened the same day 13 years earlier), dropped 6.8% £1,119,570/£1,407,811 and £25,957,044, 90.4% of £28,726,668/£34,859,834.
8th biggest 2025 between Zootropolis 2 and Superman (close to Jurassic World Rebirth, Zootropolis 2, The Fantastic Four and How To Train Your Dragon).
After a disappointing year for Lionsgate, their final two films, The Housemaid and Now You See Me: Now You Don’t, have taken over E35m. The Housemaid is Lionsgate’s biggest film since 2017’s La La Land, with £29,816,588 and will overtake it by next weekend.
The 5th biggest Lionsgate film between THG Mockingjay Part 2 and The Hunger Games, will overtake both La La Land and THG Mockingjay Part 2 by next weekend. The question is, with Wuthering Heights opening in two weeks, could it top THG: Catching Fire (£33,492,985) to become their biggest film in the UK?
Lionsgate were going to release the Michael Jackson biopic Michael, but Universal Pictures acquired international rights in October 2023. The first trailer was released this week, and it feels very similar in style to Bohemian Rhapsody. Lionsgate will still release it in the US. They will release musical comedy Power Ballad directed by John Carney, who previously directed the wonderful Once and also Sing Street and Begin Again, so it could be a summer sleeper hit, and The Hunger Games: Sunrise On The Reaping in November.
206th biggest between The Golden Compass and The Lost World: Jurassic Park (close to The Twilight Saga: New Moon, Sex and the City, Sherlock Holmes and The Sixth Sense) and 415th biggest inflated between Bolt and Rocketman (close to Enchanted, The Martian, Murder on the Orient Express and The Beach).
Following the combined £50m+ success of The Housemaid and Hamnet, the next major test for the female audience arrives with Wuthering Heights in two weeks. It headlines an unusual mix of upcoming female-targeted films—from legacy sequels (The Devil Wears Prada 2, Practical Magic 2) to fantasy (Supergirl, Narnia) and period pieces (Sense and Sensibility). Crucially, a sustained pipeline has been built for audiences who discovered Hamnet via The Housemaid are now seeing Wuthering Heights trailers with Hamnet. This cross-pollination is designed to build success throughout the year.”
This slate presents a fundamentally different challenge than the breakout success of The Housemaid. Where that film was a word-of-mouth phenomenon, these upcoming releases come with the heavy burden of expectation. Films like The Devil Wears Prada 2, Practical Magic 2, Moana, and Sense and Sensibility must fill the shoes of beloved originals. The first trailer for The Devil Wears Prada 2, released this week, highlights this peril—its tone felt strikingly similar to last year’s legacy sequel Freakier Friday, suggesting a safe, possibly repetitive, formula rather than a bold new chapter.
This raises a broader, critical question for studios: can female-targeted franchises demonstrate the same iterative loyalty as male-skewing superhero or action series? Historically, the playbook for sequels has been written by and for a male audience. What will be fascinating to watch is whether these films can play as strongly and as repeatedly to women. The Bridget Jones series succeeded in this, but it did so by allowing its protagonist and her story to evolve dramatically across two decades—from singleton to mother to widow, each film reflecting a new, defined chapter of life.
The industry’s instinctual, often lazy, alternative to this genuine evolution is the generational handoff: the daughter now faces the same challenges her mother did 20 years prior. While this can work as a premise (see Freaky Friday), it often functions as a narrative retreat—a way to rehear the original’s plot under the guise of legacy, rather than boldly advancing the story of the original, now-complex woman audiences loved. It exchanges midlife complexity for a repackaged coming-of-age tale.
The central question for The Devil Wears Prada 2 or Practical Magic 2, therefore, is not just ‘can they repeat the magic?’ but ‘what meaningful progression are they offering?’ Are they giving us Miranda Priestly, navigating the collapse of print media and the rise of TikTok influencers, or are we following her daughter interning at Runway? The former is a risky, compelling next chapter. The latter is a nostalgic product—the very ‘processed IP’ that sparked this market correction. Without a brave answer, these sequels will struggle to match the cultural impact of the originals they seek to emulate.
This is the same problem that will confront the already-announced sequel to The Housemaid itself. Despite being based on a best-selling novel and starring returning star Sydney Sweeney and director Paul Feig, replicating the magic of a cultural surprise is notoriously difficult. Of course, like The Devil Wears Prada 2, it will garner massive media coverage, but that very buzz risks inflating expectations to unsustainable levels.
And this gets to the heart of the matter. The Housemaid felt like a ‘surprise’ not due to any inherent unpredictability in the audience, but because the industry is structurally and psychologically incapable of serving that audience consistently. Its success is less an isolated event and more a microcosm of a larger crisis. This isn’t merely a ‘women in film’ issue; it’s 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 creative diet has always been most meagre: in films for women.
- 3. Shelter £964,903 – NE
Took £279k 28.94% Friday; £407k 42.22% Saturday; £278k 28.84% Sunday
1,839th biggest opening between Blinded By The Light and Die Hard 2 Die Harder (close to Knock at the Cabin, Volcano, Transporter 3 and The Beekeeper) and 2,474th biggest inflated biggest opening between Movie 43 and Taxi (close to Thelma & Louise, The Hard Way, A Man Apart and Billy Bathgate).
55th biggest opening over the last 52 weeks between Elio and I Know What You Did Last Summer (close to The Monkey, Bugonia, Black Bag and The Accountant 2).
Shelter opened similarly to Jason Statham’s 2024’s The Beekeeper, £956,380 (£250k Friday; £409k Saturday and £262k Sunday), taking £3,830, 079. and better than his last film, 2025’s A Working Man, £658,134 (£201k Friday; £273k Saturday; £384k Sunday), taking £1,362,371.
Jason Statham’s first films were Guy Ritchie’s Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels in 1998 and 2000’s Snatch. since starred in many action films, including The Transporter, The Italian Job, Cellular, Crank, The Expendables, The Mechanic, several Fast & Furious sequels, Spy and The Meg and its sequel. Will star next in Fast X Part 2 and The Beekeeper 2.
The Transporter (opened £338,420, taking £623,493, The Mechanic opened £921,554, taking £2,445,760, Crank opened £450,141, taking £1,279,643. Started with Guy Ritchie’s Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels in August 1998, with £941,638, taking £11,399,953.
- 4. Iron Lung £948,731 – NE
Includes £115k from Thursday previews
Took £287k 30.24% Friday; £311k 32.77% Saturday; £236k 24.87% Sunday
1,860th biggest opening between TMNT and Dude, Where’s My Car? (close to Serenity, Final Fantasy: The Spirits, Ready Or Not and The Avengers (1998) and 2,491st biggest inflated opening between Billy Bathgate and What About Bob (close to Project Almanack, Street Kings, Wolf Creek and The Living Daylights).
56th biggest opening over the last 52 weeks between I Know What You Did Last Summer and Song Sung Blue (close to The Monkey, Warfare, Heart Eyes and A Working Man).
Comparisons could be made with 2024’s Terrifier 3 opening £1,049,415 (£395k Friday; £360k Saturday; £294k Sunday), taking £2,825,152. While it was a sequel, the previous films were seen by far fewer people in the cinema, and the film found its audience unexpectedly.
Iron Lung was made by YouTube creator Markiplier, who had 38.2m subscribers, and the final trailer was seen 5.9m times.
It was acquired by Shear Entertainment in the UK previously releasing similar surprise After We Collided in September 2020 with £65,797 #6 from 22 screens: expanding second weekend £442,661 #2 into 386 screens taking £3,871,673; the difference was this was weeks after cinemas reopened the first time after COVID. Shear Entertainment have released several films since, but none have found an audience.
Iron Lung feels less like an anomaly and more like a canary in the coal mine. It’s a reminder that audiences increasingly follow creators, not studios. Distribution is democratised. Windows are porous. The old certainties are gone. Netflix has been warning the industry about this for years. YouTube is now proving it in real time.
Legacy media still believes it can buy its way out of the past — through libraries, consolidation, and IP hoarding — but history suggests otherwise. The Kevin Smiths of today aren’t coming through Sundance or Miramax; they’re building audiences directly on YouTube. The studios that recognise that shift and collaborate with these creators will survive. The ones that don’t risk becoming little more than content suppliers for platforms they don’t control.
Audiences embracing work made by YouTube creators underlines a deeper truth: Netflix’s biggest competition isn’t other streamers, but YouTube and TikTok. Their scale, data access, and algorithmic influence dwarf anything legacy media could achieve — even through acquisition. Buying Warner Bros. wouldn’t buy attention. It would only buy history.
While Paramount, Warner Bros. and Disney continue playing “who owns the library?”, Netflix, YouTube and TikTok are playing “who owns the attention?” And when you own attention, you don’t need to own the content — you just need to be the place where it lives.
Measured against the daily viewing figures of YouTube and TikTok, cinema admissions and streaming hours don’t just look smaller, they look like artefacts from a different era.
- 5. Zootropolis 2 £855,208 – £32,609,792
Down 17.4% in the tenth weekend
8th biggest tenth weekend between Skyfall and Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (close to Minions: The Rise of Gru, Top Gun: Maverick, Slumdog Millionaire and Mamma Mia!) and 26th biggest inflate tenth weekend between Gladiator and LOTR: Two Towers (close to Star Wars: Phantom Menace, Chicken Run, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Home Alone).
The biggest 10th weekend for a Disney animated film ahead of Frozen, Moana 2 and Frozen 2; this is due to there not being another major animated film released since, normally by the end of January, another animated film is released ahead of half-term holidays.
Has overtaken Sing (£29.51m) and Monsters University (£30.76m) and is just behind The Incredibles (£32.39m), Shrek Forever After (£32.65m) and Sing 2 (£33.00m).
Zootropolis 2 will be released on VOD shortly, but like other VOD releases of animated films, its release won’t have much impact on its BO over the coming weeks.
The 4th biggest Disney animated film has taken £8m more than 2016’s Zootropolis and £11m less than 2024’s Moana 2. Whilst it’s become the biggest animated film in China and France. As with Avatar: Fire and Ash, Zootropolis 2 has taken far less in the UK. Normally, the UK is one of the highest international territories, but with these two films its below several others, despite the popularity of Zootropolis and the last two Avatar films.
143rd biggest between POTC: On Stranger Tides and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (close to The Lego Movie, Sing 2, Incredibles and Shrek Forever After) and 294th biggest inflated between Hook and A Star Is Born (close to The BFG, Night at the Museum, Stuart Little and The Croods).
Also opened
As with last weekend, several wide releases struggled to find an audience, and last weekend’s new releases all dropped heavily in their second weekend: No Other Choice, Mercy, Return To Silent Hill, H Is For Hawk and The History Of Sound.
- Primate – opened £659,256 #8
- Is This Thing On? Opened £601,828 #10
- Kangaroo – opened £292,207 #12
But the one film that received the most media coverage due to its soft opening was the Melania documentary, opening £32,974 #29 from 155 screens.
It received a lot of social media coverage with people showing empty cinemas, but it was never expected to open any bigger, and all the negative coverage probably saw it take much more than it was expected to take. Similar to films that aren’t screened for press, the audience for Melania was probably made up of journalists who wanted to write articles about how empty the screenings were, but then it sold out the afternoon show on Friday at Vue Islington.
Melania was the 9th biggest new release of the weekend, and there were 12 new releases last weekend.
As with two weeks ago, all of these releases will likely drop heavily in their second weekend if they keep their screens as 15 films open along with Send Help this weekend.
As with Saipan and No Other Choice last weekend, Is This Thing On? Is a film that deserves a chance to find its audience.
This Thing On received a lot of media coverage with Will Arnett and Laura Dern in promoting the film in December, and was loosely based on comedian John Bishop’s life.
It premiered at the New York Film Festival and the UK premiere at the London Film Festival, receiving positive reviews for different reasons, in the US, about it being the story of mid-life marriage struggles, while in the UK being also loosely about comedian John Bishop, but it failed to receive any Oscar or BAFTA nominations which would have helped it find an audience, but without award recognition it struggled to be found by audiences, and when they do go looking to see it next week it won’t be playing.
Films about comedians, including 1988’s Punchline, 1992’s Mr Saturday Night, 2019’s Late Night, 2009’s Funny People, 1999’s Man on the Moon and 2024’s Saturday Night, despite receiving positive reviews, struggle to connect with audiences. While films about mid-life marriage struggles also often struggle to find an audience, 2019’s Marriage Story, 2010’s Blue Valentine, 1989’s War of the Roses, 2012’s Hope Springs, 2008’s Revolutionary Road and 1999’s American Beauty.
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BO is currently 23% ahead of 2025; January BO was about £106m with about 13.2m admissions, the highest since 2020, but still 3.3m down from 2020. Its hard to see Wuthering Heights to match the BO of Bridget Jones 4 last year and Goat to match Dog Man so February is likely to be softer than last year.
The weekend’s top 10 box office took £8,886,321, down 19% from last weekend’s £10,969,807: 1,109,403 admissions, down 19% from 1,369,514 admissions.
33rd biggest weekend of the last 52 weeks between 03 October 2025 #1 Taylor Swift: Party Of A Showgirl £3,471,544 (38.14%) and 21 March 2025 #1 Snow White £3,856,173 (44.74%)
149th biggest since cinemas reopened out of 272 weeks between 21 April 2023 #1 Super Mario Bros £4,271,315 (47.72% and 13 August 2021 #1 Free Guy £2,477,891 (27.89%)
799th biggest top 10 of the last 24 years (out of 1,243) between 15 November 2019 #1 Last Christmas £2,654,354 (29.87%) and 13 August 2021 #1 Free Guy £2,477,891 (27.89%) and 1,059th biggest inflated between 10 September 2010 #1 Resident Evil: Afterlife £1,690,655 (25.58%) and 17 December 2010 #1 Tron Legacy £1,970,692 (29.86%)
The top 3 took £3,776,776 (42.5%) of the top 10; Hamnet 15.9% (£1,412,612); The Housemaid 15.75% (£1,399,261); Shelter (£964,903) 10.86%
1,230th biggest percentage share #1 (15.90%) between 18 August 2006 #1 Snakes on a Plane £1,069,608 (15.90%) and 11 August 2006 #1 Cars £1,340,219 ( 15.73%
1,189th biggest admissions (176,356) between 18 June 2010 #1 Killers £1,053,074 (25.17%) and 30 September 2011 #1 Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy £1,064,901 (20.49%)
Up 37.38% from 2025; (£6,468,250); Companion (£739,553); Les Miserables: The Staged Concert (Re: 2025) (£549,548); Hard Truths (£327,633); Saturday Night (£113,463); The Apartment (4K Restoration) (£3,828); #1 A Complete Unknown £1,236,908 3rd week 26% drop 729 screens (19.12% of top 10)
Down 12.65% from 2024; (£10,173,023); Migration (£3,577,676); Argylle (£2,014,521); The Zone Of Interest (£585,855); American Fiction (£389,375); 10 Things I Hate About You (25th Anniversary) (£23,105); #1 Migration £3,577,676 1st week 601 screens (35.17% of top 10)
Down 18.98% from 2023; (£10,968,696); Puss In Boots: The Last Wish (£4,950,495); Knock at the Cabin (£985,027); The Whale (£690,026); BTS: Yet to Come in Cinemas (£535,337); #1 Puss In Boots: The Last Wish £4,950,495 1st week 626 screens (45.13% of top 10)
Down 26.37% 2022 (£12,068,383): Jackass Forever (£2,091,017); Moonfall (£1,163,114); BELLE (£152,287); The Souvenir Part II (£93,044); Beauty And The Beast (1991) (Re: 2022) (£4,409); Jumanji (Re: 2022) (£4,001); #1 Sing 2 £5,149,645 2nd week 640 screens 25% drop (42.7% of top 10)
2021 Lockdown
Down 4.74% 2020; (£9,319,783); Queen & Slim (£507,302); A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (£493,770); Porgy and Bess – Met Opera 2020 (£409,359); The Lighthouse (£384,284); The Rhythm Section (£171,837); Richard Jewell (£158,868); La Boheme – ROH, London 2019/20 (£58,051); #1 1917 £2,798,457 4th week 38% drop 721 screens (30.1% of the top 10)
Down 25.93% from 2019: (£11,997,508); How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (£5,323,448); Green Book (£1,672,562); Escape Room (£820,218); Can You Ever Forgive Me? (£518,230); Carmen – Met Opera 2019 (£293,456); #1 How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World £5,323,448 1st week 556 screens (44.3% of top 10)
Down 30.98% from 2018; (£12,874,783); Den of Thieves (£1,082,560); Phantom Thread (£727,104); Winchester (£373,550); Journey’s End (£123,961); Roman J. Israel, Esq. (£22,193); #1 The Greatest Showman £2,201,523 6th week 1st #1 531 screens op 8% (17.1% of top 10)
Down 30.38% 2017: (£13,491,421); Rings (£812,267); Resident Evil 6 (£463,691); Gold (£406,399); Loving (£236,147); Swan Lake – Bolshoi 2017 (£189,737); Toni Erdmann (£157,688); Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back (£58,266); #1 Sing £3,800,408 2nd week 554 screens 64% drop (28.1% of top 10)
Down 13.59% 2016: (£10,312,748); Goosebumps (£2,686,105); Dad’s Army (£2,077,942); Point Break (£421,818); Trumbo (£146,105); #1 Goosebumps £2,686,105 1st week 510 screens (26.1% of top 10)
Down 37.18% 2015; (£14,145,093); Big Hero 6 (£4,293,286); Kingsman: The Secret Service (£4,241,292); Inherent Vice (£363,133); Les Contes D’Hoffmann – Met Opera 2015 (£238,597); Trash (£79,178); Son of a Gun (£21,065); #1 Big Hero 6 £4,293,286 1st week 501 screens (30.3% of top 10)
Down 2.05% 2014: (£9,072,053); That Awkward Moment (£961,167); I, Frankenstein (£811,365); Lone Survivor (£751,564); Out of the Furnace (£191,011); Lost Illusions – Bolshoi 2014 (£58,510); #1 The Wolf of Wall Street £2,385,585 3rd week 515 screens 34% drop (26.3% of top 10)
Down 17.98% 2013: (£10,437,105); Flight (£1,401,214); Bullet to the Head (£429,317); Hyde Park on Hudson (£136,783); Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away (£78,747); #1 Les Misérables £2,785,143 4th week 562 screens 31% drop (26.6% of top 10)
Up 3.18% 2012: (£8,612,269); Chronicle (£2,193,072); Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (Journey 2: The Mysterious Island); Jack and Jill (£848,814); Man on a Ledge (£697,394); Carnage (£298,733); Young Adult (£137,736); Martha Marcy May Marlene (£110,156); #1 Chronicle £2,193,072 1st week 397 screens (25.4% of top 10)
Down 36.70% 2011; (£14,039,027); The Fighter (£2,118,140); James Cameron presents Sanctum (£859,064); A Little Bit of Heaven (£443,156); Brighton Rock (£352,815); #1 Tangled £4,569,135 2nd week 448 screens 11% drop (32.5% of top 10)
Down 30.50% 2010: (£12,786,495); Edge Of Darkness (£1,172,927); Precious: A Novel By Sapphire (£260,921); The Princess And The Frog (platform) (£15,651); #1 Avatar £4,865,081 7th week 424 screens 6% drop (41.7% of top 10)
Down 4.89% 2009; (£9,343,240); Revolutionary Road (£1,013,548); Nick & Nora’s Infinite Playlist (£398,194); #1 Slumdog Millionaire £2,359,854 4th week 3d #1 416 screens 16% increase (25.2% of top 10)
Down 7.90% 2008; (£9,648,055); Cloverfield (£3,485,956); Over Her Dead Body (£995,690); Penelope (£769,840); Underdog (£330,914); Things We Lost in the Fire (£42,438); Asterix at the Olympic Games (£9,969); #1 Cloverfield £3,485,956 1st week 386 screens (36.1% of top 10)
Up 16.81% 2007: (£7,607,816); Dreamgirls (£1,329,817); Arthur and the Invisibles (£1,185,603); Notes on a Scandal (£1,141,364); #1 Dreamgirls £1,329,817 1st week 270 screens (17.5% of top 10)
Up 25.82% 2006; (£7,062,485); Zathura (£1,317,391); Walk the Line (£1,111,142); Derailed (£693,669); #1 Zathura £1,317,391 1st week 400 screens (18.6% of top 10)
Down 22.81% 2005: (£11,511,558); Ocean’s Twelve (£3,394,100); Racing Stripes (£1,145,965); #1 Meet the Fockers £4,588,360 2nd week 456 screens 42% drop (39.9% of top 10)
Up 7.01% 2004; (£8,304,070); Big Fish (£1,644,011); Cold Creek Manor (£136,556); Sylvia (£123,981); The Emperor’s New Clothes (£5,656); #1 Scary Movie 3 £1,894,077 2nd week 417 screens 46% drop (22.8% of top 10)
Down 12.95% 2003 (£10,207,853); Catch Me If You Can (£3,720,957); Banger Sisters (£201,731); #1 Catch Me If You Can £3,720,957 1st week 459 screens (36.4% of top 10)
Up 10.28% from 2002: (£8,058,230); Shallow Hal (£1,277,183); Gosford Park (£837,169); Training Day (£739,718); #1 Vanilla Sky £1,743,556 2nd week 427 screens 41% drop (21.6% of top 10)
2025 Next week: (£7,787,566); Dog Man (£3,252,536); Macbeth: David Tennant And Cush Jumbo (£691,142); September 5 (£638,912); Becoming Led Zeppelin (£417,768); Love Hurts (£140,082); #1 Dog Man £3,252,536 1st week 608 screens (41.77% of top 10)
US Box Office
- Send Help – 20th Century Studios.
Opened $19.1m; received positive reviews (94% Rotten Tomatoes) and a B+ CinemaScore.
Took $2.2m from Thursday previews; 2023’s Evil Dead Rise $2.5m; A Knock at the Cabin $1.5m.
Premium formats had 46% of the BO with 3D taking 8%.
It has been described as Castaway meets Misery.
Similar films include Sam Raimi’s underrated 1998 film A Simple Plan, which flopped at the box office, finding an audience on home video.
Others include Evil Dead, The Ruins, The Shallows, Open Water, Drag Me to Hell and Triangle of Sadness.
Opened with $8.1m from 47 territories
- Iron Lung – Markiplier
Opened $17.8m; received mixed reviews (47% Rotten Tomatoes) but positive audience score
Took $3.5m from Thursday previews (including Tues/Weds)
Ahead of opening, it had taken about $6m from presales and was expected to open with $9m-$10m; the film had a $3m budget.
The marketing for Iron Lung included Instagram and a trailer seen by Markiplier’s 74 million YouTube fans. It didn’t need to do anything more as that was the film’s target audience. Once the media discovered the Iron Lung, it generated a life of its own and attracted a wider audience.
Once the media discovered the Iron Lung, it generated a life of its own and attracted a wider audience. Yet this broader conversation obscures a more revealing truth about the state of moviegoing. Much has been made about the surprise opening of Iron Lung, but if you delve deeper, it shows how low expectations are with cinema, as Markiplier has 74m fans on YouTube, but with an average ticket price of $11.51, had about 1.5m admissions, which is only 1% of Markiplier’s fans.
A similar comparison can be made with the two Taylor Swift films, when only a tiny percentage of fans saw her films in the cinema. It shows how massive the audiences are for YouTube and TikTok over cinema, and that these films should be attracting a much wider audience in cinemas.
Not taking anything away from Iron Lung’s opening, but surely it’s a failure of the cinema industry to understand the size and value of YouTube and TikTok, as they have previously done with video games, while also recalibrating expectations and changing their definition of what a success is.
There have been other attempts to bring YouTubers to the cinema, but they never found an audience. The difference between them is that Iron Lung was based on a video game, while these other films were just a feature-length version of their YouTube content, and why would they pay $20 to see something they subscribe to see on their YouTube channel?
Opened $3.9m internationally; UK $1.2m; Australia $1.67m.
- Avatar: Fire and Ash – 20th Century Studios
Down 12% in its seventh weekend, $5.64m and $386.27m
150th biggest seventh weekend between Wonka and Knives Out (close to Oppenheimer, Independence Day, Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Gremlins); Avatar #1 $31.28m and Avatar: The Way of Water #6 $15.96m.
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.
57th biggest between Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King; 220th biggest inflated between Jerry Maguire and A Few Good Men; 4th biggest 2025 between Zootopia 2 and Superman; 18th biggest sci-fi film between Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and Jurassic World: Dominion.
Taken $181.1m from IMAX worldwide
Seventh weekends
2009’s Avatar dropped 10.5%, taking $31.28m and $595.75m, 65.8% of $749.76m of $749.76m/$1.25bn and $2.93bn/$4.5bn worldwide; #1 for 7 weeks; The Book of Eli #2, $32.78m
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.
2022’s Avatar: The Way of Water dropped 20.7% $15.96m and $620.84m of $688.45m/$748m and $2.32bn/ $2.54bn worldwide; #1 for 7 weeks.
Internationally seventh weekend
Avatar 2 took $42.4m (28% drop) from 52 territories, $1.496bn total and $2.117bn worldwide; China $ $237.1m; France $137m; Germany $124.4m; Korea $103.3m; UK $85.7m.
Europe $667m (72% 3D/PLF); Asia-Pacific $598m (75% 3D/PLF); Latin America $161m (54% 3D/PLF); IMAX $239m (11.3% from 1,453 screens), taking $156.1m internationally (7.3%)
Avatar took $95m (12% drop) in its seventh weekend internationally from 52 territories, $1.443bn total ($153m from IMAX worldwide and $595.75m US) and $2.039bn, 74.3% of $2.743bn
Avatar: Fire and Ash is expected to take about $1.6bn
Avatar 3 took $19.3m internationally from 52 territories, $1.028bn total and $1.414bn worldwide.
18th biggest worldwide between Barbie and Avengers: Age of Ultron (close to Top Gun: Maverick, Furious 7, Deadpool & Wolverine and The Super Mario Bros. Movie).
- Zootopia 2 – Disney
Up 12% in its ninth weekend, $5.92m and $409.08m.
26th biggest tenth weekend between Beverly Hills Cop and Ghost (close to The Sixth Sense, Avengers: Endgame, Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle).
11th biggest animated film between Toy Story 3 and Frozen; 47th biggest between Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Iron Man 3; 193rd biggest, inflation-adjusted between War of the Worlds and True Lies; 3rd biggest 2025 between Lilo & Stitch and Superman; 26th biggest Disney between Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Iron Man 3.
EntTelligence said the average ticket price was $14.42; the average PLF ticket was $18.
2016’s Zootopia dropped 39.7% $3.21m and $328.16m of $341.3m/$454.1m and $1.025bn/$1.4bn worldwide
2016’s Moana dropped 8% $2.47m and $240.17m of $248.75m/$331m and $643.33m/$856.1m worldwide
2024’s Moans 2 dropped 31.8%b $2.86m and $453.92m of $460.4m and $1.059bn WW
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 $17.3m from 52 territories, $1.368bn total and $1.777bn worldwide; China $631.2m; France $74.6m; Korea $56.2m; Germany $48.5m; UK $43.5m; Mexico $40.2m; Australia $27.9m; Brazil $24.6m.
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.
- Melania – Amazon/MGM
Opened $7.16m; received poor reviews (7% Rotten Tomatoes) and A CinemaScore
It was tracking to open with $5m
Amazon acquired the documentary for $40m after several studios bid to acquire it, including Disney, Netflix and Paramount Pictures, as they saw the positive political aspect of acquiring the documentary. As for Disney, Netflix and Paramount Pictures, it would benefit them politically; it was never about BO.
As a faith film, Melania was always going to attract a loyal audience, no matter the coverage generated against it, as seen by the audience breakdown: females 55+, 72% of the opening-day audience; 78% 55+.While it predictably played strongly in the South and South-central states, this is similarly the case with faith-based films. Amazon paid $40m to acquire the documentary and other $35m to market it, but it was never about it being profitable; it was just about having it over their rivals.
The negative social media coverage probably saw it opening bigger than it was expected, as in the UK, journalists and social media influencers were probably paid to see it to write about it, and all media coverage is good, as it builds awareness.
In comparison, Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 opened $23.92m in 2004, taking $119.189m and $222.44m worldwide.
It opened internationally in 20 territories, taking very little, but that was always expected.
- Shelter- Black Bear
Opened $5.53m; received mixed reviews (65% Rotten Tomatoes) and B+ CinemaScore
Took $385k from Thursday previews; A Working Man $1.1m; The Beekeeper $2.4m; John Wick: Chapter 2 $2.2m
Opened fat lower than Jason Statham’s last film, 2025’s A Working Man (opened $15.51m, taking $37m and $89.2m worldwide) and 2024’s The Beekeeper (opened $16.57m, taking $66.22m and $162.61m worldwide; The Beekeeper 2 is set for release next January.
2002’s The Transporter opened with $9.1 m, taking $25.29m and $43.92m worldwide
2005’s Transporter 2 opened $16.54m, taking $43.09m and $89.08m worldwide
2008’s Transporter 3 opened $12.06m, taking $31.71m and $108.97m worldwide
2006’s Crank opened $10.45m, taking $27.83m and $42.93m worldwide
2011’s The Mechanic opened $11.42m, taking $29.12m and $76.13 worldwide
Jason Statham’s films have taken over $750m in the US and over $2bn worldwide.
Despite receiving positive reviews, Shelter struggled to find an audience, as Send Help and Iron Lung, they likely cannibalised Jason Statham’s audience.
Opened in MENA $2.23m; China $2.1m; UK $1.3m
A Working Man opened with $15m from 63 territories ($8.8m Warner Bros); China $2.9m; Germany $1.4m; Australia $1.1m; Mexico $1.1m; UK $867k.
The Beekeeper opened $20.4m from 49 territories and $37.2m worldwide, including $8.1m from IMAX; China $4.4m; Germany $2.8m; Australia $1.4m; Mexico $1.3m; UK $1.2m; Ukraine $919k; Italy $780k; Spain $729k.
- The Housemaid – Lionsgate
Dropped 54% in its sixth weekend, taking $3.94m and $115.19m
35th biggest sixth weekend between The Matrix Reloaded and The Game Plan (close to Phenomenon, Blue Jasmine, Saving Mr Banks and The Secret of My Success).
688th biggest between Peter Rabbit and Girls Trip (close to Notting Hill, You’ve Got Mail, Fifty Shades Darker and Maleficent: Mistress of Evil); 1,582nd biggest inflated between Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome and Ali; 20th biggest 2025 between Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 and Dog Man; 34th biggest thriller between District 9 and The Village; 16th biggest Lionsgate between Now You See Me and The Expendables.
Paul Feig directed 2018’s A Simple Favour, which dropped 72.9% $359,889 and $52.9m in its sixth weekend, $1.32mof $53.64m and $97.64m world and directed a sequel this year that was released straight to Amazon. 2011’s Bridesmaids dropped 29.5% $7.09m and $136.45m of $169.1m and $288.38m worldwide.
Sixth weekends
2023’s Anyone, But You dropped 14.4% $4.62m and $71.02m of $88.31m (14.7x opening) and $220.33m WW
Similar films include.
2016’s The Girl on the Train dropped 39.1% $1.63m and $73.34m of $75.39m/$100.5m and $173.18m#$230.5m worldwide
2014’s Gone Girl dropped 26..8% $6.2m and $145.35m of $167.76m/$236.4m and $370.89m/$520.5m worldwide
2000’s What Lies Beneath dropped 31.7% $4.61m/$9.9m and $130.91m/$280m of $155.5m/$332m and $291.4m/$622.3m WW
1992’s The Hand That Rocks the Cradle up 2% $6.88m/$19m and $59.8m/$165.9m of $88.1m//$244.2m
1987’s Fatal Attraction up 4.7% $8.04m/$23.7m and $66.55m/$196m of $156.64m/$462m
Took $21.3m from 74 territories, $115.1m total, and $294.5m worldwide; UK $30.4m
UK Box Office Top 10
Box Office Preview
After the last two weeks of new releases struggling to find an audience, Send Help should open #1 over a quiet weekend. It’s Sam Raimi’s first horror film since 2009’s Drag Me to Hell (opened £1,907,731/£2,808,994 taking £6,332,690/£9,324,420). Send Help has received positive reviews and had its UK premiere last week, with Rachel McAdams promoting the film, which included appearing on the Graham Norton Show last Friday.
Being a horror targeting female audiences, it could be helped with the success of The Housemaid as the trailer was playing with it, and both films are 15s, but of course, Send Help is a far bloodier 15.
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’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and the Spider-Man trilogy.
Send Help will likely open similarly to 2013’s Evil Dead, £1,375,842/£1,687,671 taking £3,355,676/£4,116,227 and 2021’s Evil Dead Rises (opened £1,477,840, taking £5,288,972.
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
The other new releases aren’t likely to have much impact, which will see the little change on last weekend’s BO with Hamnet dropping #2, dropping about 30%, taking about £1m, and The Housemaid dropping #3, taking about £900k.
Shelter and Iron Lung will both drop 50%-60% in their second weekends, which could see Zootropolis 2 climb up the chart, but it’s likely to be affected by weekend previews of the new animated film, Goat.
The Strangers – Chapter 3 could squeeze into the top 10 as last year’s 2025’s The Strangers: Chapter 2 opened £331,535 #7, taking £663,111; while 2024’s The Strangers: Chapter 1 opened £452,506; £190k Friday; £165k Saturday; £97k Sunday; taking £1,772,602.
But of course, with Send Help, Iron Lung, Primate and 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, it will likely be cannibalised as there is little interest in the film series, but of course, the trailer would have played with The Housemaid, so that might spark some interest.
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
Lionsgate originally planned to release the three films in 2024, but after the first film underperformed decided to split them up over three years.
Coming Soon
- Wasteman – Lionsgate
Prison thriller starring David Jonsson and Tom Blyth and directed by Cal McMau.
Received world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival; reviews described it as raw and brutal, but it is nothing much else, so unlikely to find an audience in cinemas.
- The Secret Agent – MUBI
Brazilian historical political thriller starring Wagner Moura, Carlos Francisco, Tânia Maria, Robério Diógenes, Maria Fernanda Cândido and Gabriel Leone and directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho.
Had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, having a 13-minute standing ovation and widespread acclaim and won Best Actor, Best Director and Best Film.
Received two BAFTA nominations for Best Foreign Film and Best Original Screenplay, and four Oscar nominations for Best Film and Best Foreign Film. Best Casting and Best Actor.
Opened in the US in November on limited release, taking $2.9m to date over 10 weeks playing in 145 screens, the widest so far and $6.9m internationally. Being released by MUBI, it will likely open in about 150 screens.
- Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die – Entertainment Films
Sci-fi action-adventure comedy starring Sam Rockwell, Haley Lu Richardson, Michael Peña, Zazie Beetz, Asim Chaudhry, Tom Taylor, and Juno Temple and directed by Gore Verbinski.
Gore Verbinski. previously directed 1997’s Mouse Hunt, 2001’s The Mexican, 2002’s The Ring, 2003’s Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, 2005’s The Weather Man, 2006’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, 2007’s Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, and 2011’s Rango. But then directed the flop 2013’s The Lone Ranger and has only directed one film since the 2016 horror A Cure for Wellness.
When a studio has a massive flop, the actors quickly move on, as does the studio, but it’s the director who takes the blame and struggles to make another film, as was also the case with Andrew Stanton, who directed several Pixar films, including the upcoming Toy Story 5, but his two live-action films, 2012’s John Carter and 2025’s In the Blink of an Eye made three years ago premiered at Sundance Film Festival in January and is being released straight to streaming after being made for a cinema release.
Premiered at the Fantastic Fest, receiving positive reviews and had an international premiere at the Berlin Film Festival
From the trailers of both Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die and Cold Storage, feel like they should be a double bill, and in comparison to other films released, feel like b-movies reminding me of Joe Dante’s 1993 film Matinee. The question is, will audiences come out to see such quirky films, completely outlandish, similar to 2023’s Cocaine Bear and films like Tremors?
Over the years, there have been Snakes on a Plane, Sharknado, Attack the Block, Lake Placid, Arachnophobia, Anaconda, Eight-Legged Freaks, The Relic, The Puppet Masters, Piranha 3D, Grindhouse and Colossal.
- The Moment – Universal Pictures
Mockumentary starring Charli XCX, Rosanna Arquette, Kate Berlant, Jamie Demetriou, Hailey Benton Gates, Isaac Powell, and Alexander Skarsgård and directed by Aidan Zamiri.
Had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, receiving mixed reviews.
- Cold Storage – Studiocanal
Sci-fi virus comedy horror starring Georgina Campbell, Joe Keery (Stranger Things), Sosie Bacon, Vanessa Redgrave, Lesley Manville, and Liam Neeson and directed by Jonny Campbell, based on a novel by David Koepp.
David Koepp described it as “has everything I’d want to see in a movie; it’s scary, funny, exhilarating, surprising, and riotously entertaining”. This is certainly the case from the trailer.
Gut-wrenching alien parasite films include The Puppet Masters, Shivers, Splinter, The Faculty and Dreamcatcher,