| Rank | Title (origin) | Distributor | July 25-27 | Total | Week |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Fantastic Four: First Steps (US) | Disney | £6.1m | £8.1m | 1 |
| 2 | Superman (US) | Warner Bros | £1.9m | £21.4m | 3 |
| 3 | The Bad Guys 2 (US) |
Universal | £1.6m | £1.6m | 1 |
| 4 | Jurassic World Rebirth (US) | Universal | £1.6m | £28.8m | 4 |
| 5 | F1: The Movie (US) | Warner Bros | £649,942 | £19.7m | 5 |
GBP to USD conversion rate: 1.34
The Fantastic Four: First Steps made a strong start at the UK-Ireland box office with a £6.1m opening weekend – the biggest for a Fantastic Four title by £2m.
Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) title took a £9,173 average from 665 sites. Having opened on Thursday, July 24, the film has £8.1m in total.
While only the 24th-biggest opening of 35 MCU films to date, it is the biggest opening for a film focused on new characters in the franchise since before the pandemic, when Captain Marvel started with a huge £12.8m.
Black Widow (£4.6m), Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings (£5.8m), Eternals (£5.5m), The Marvels (£3.5m) and Thunderbolts* (£5m) have all failed to start at such heights since then.
Comic book superheroes dominated the top of the chart, with Warner Bros Superman dropping to second place on its third weekend. The DC Comics reboot added £1.9m – a sizeable 61% drop that brought it to £21.4m total. It may still catch the £30m of 2013’s Man Of Steel; although the £36.6m of 2016’s Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice is likely beyond it.
Universal opened family animation The Bad Guys 2 to £1.6m from 642 sites, at a £2,553 average. This was 4% up on the £1.57m start of 2022’s The Bad Guys, which had a marginally lower site average of £2,538 from 617 sites.
Jurassic World Rebirth, a Universal stablemate, added £1.58m on its fourth session – a 52% drop that brought it to £28.8m total. It is currently the fifth-highest-grossing in the seven-film Jurassic Park franchise, with the £35.1m of 2022’s Jurassic World: Dominion, the next title ahead of it, now likely out of reach.
Warner Bros’ F1: The Movie rounded out the top five with a £649,942 session – a 48% drop across its fifth weekend, that brings it to £19.7m.
Takings for the top five rose 2% on last weekend; but are down 38% on the equivalent weekend from last year, when Deadpool & Wolverine boosted takings. After a strong first half to the year, July has been a tougher month for UK-Ireland cinemas, which will hope Paramount’s The Naked Gun reboot can raise a smile next weekend.
Saiyaara surges
Indian romance Saiyaara posted an astonishing 161% increase on its second weekend, with £506,773 for Yash Raj Films almost enough to break into the top five. Mohit Suri’s film stars Ahaan Panday and Aneet Padda as a couple navigating life and love; the film has over £1m in the bank already, an impressive figure for a film not in the English language.
Universal live-action title How To Train Your Dragon added £299,397 on its seventh weekend – a 57% drop that brought it to £21.4m, behind only the £27.6m of 2014’s animated How To Train Your Dragon 2 in the franchise.
On a weekend when many holdovers suffered drops of over 50%, Universal comedy The Ballad of Wallis Island continued its strong performance, dropping just 39% with £44,776 taking it to £2.1m total.
Matthias Glasner’s Berlinale title Dying started with £11,000 from 32 cinemas at a £344 average for Picturehouse Entertainment, and has £16,000 including previews.
More to follow.