The winner: the weather

A combination of sunny skies and a relatively weak set of new releases ahead of Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity War combined to lay waste to the UK box office. Takings overall tumbled 55% from the previous frame, delivering the third-worst weekend of the past 12 months in the UK market, and the worst since early December. Apart from A Quiet Place, which fell 46%, and Black Panther, which fell 48%, every film in the Top 25 fell by at least 50% from the weekend before. Top title Rampage fell 55%, earning £1.41m in its second session for a £6.48m total. With kids back at school after the Easter holidays, family films fell particularly hard, with Peter Rabbit, for example, dropping by 76%. Thursday, and Infinity War, can’t come soon enough for cinema operators.

Only one new arrival: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

The sole new entry in the UK Top 10 is The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, adapted from the Annie Barrows and Mary Ann Shaffer bestseller. The Mike Newell-directed romance, which is set in London and Guernsey during and just after the second world war, opened with an OK £811,000 from 499 cinemas, and £826,000 including previews.

The obvious comparison title is last year’s Their Finest, which like Guernsey has an intrepid female protagonist, was adapted from a bestselling novel (Lissa Evans’ Their Finest Hour and a Half) and had a second world war setting. Their Finest debuted exactly a year ago with a very similar £826,000 from 458 cinemas, and £850,000 including previews, on its way to a £4.05m total.

Guernsey faced competition for older audiences from The Leisure Seeker, a road movie starring Helen Mirren and Donald Sutherland. The film misfired, opening with a poor £105,000 from 374 venues.

The indie alternative: Funny Cow

Funny Cow, starring Maxine Peake as a woman breaking into the macho standup comedy world in pubs and working men’s clubs in the north of England in the 1970s and 80s, premiered at the London film festival last October. So it’s fair to assume that distributor eOne puzzled long and hard to find a release date that gave the film the best chance of catching the attention of audiences.

The film released into 62 cinemas, with a notable skew towards Yorkshire and the north, and a majority of indie cinemas. And it is in indie venues north of Watford that the film has flourished, including Home Manchester, Broadway Nottingham, Showroom Sheffield and Tyneside Cinema. Overall, Funny Cow debuted with an unspectacular £68,000 from its 62 sites, and £74,000 including previews.

The box office milestone: Black Panther

With £49.9m at UK cinemas so far, Black Panther should reach the £50m box-office milestone later this week. It will become the 30th film to manage the feat, joining an elite club populated by Star Wars, James Bond, Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings titles. The only Marvel film currently in the line-up is 2012’s Marvel Avengers Assemble, with £51.9m. Black Panther would need another big push from Disney to overtake it.

The Greatest Showman, now with £45.4m, is also creeping up the all-time blockbuster chart. It is currently in 42nd place, just ahead of The Inbetweeners Movie and The King’s Speech.

The market

The currently depressed market is a hefty 39% down on the equivalent weekend from 2017, when Their Finest provided the highest new entry, and an even steeper 52% down on the same session from 2016, which was led by The Jungle Book in its second week of play. Regardless of the weather – and, incidentally, rain is forecast for the coming weekend – the picture for cinemas should transform dramatically with the arrival of Infinity War. The opening is likely to set a record in the UK for Marvel. The question is whether it can match the enormous debut numbers achieved in the recent past by films in the Bond and Star Wars franchises.

Top 10 films 20-22 April

1. Rampage, £1,413,973 from 566 sites. Total: £6,483,777 (two weeks)

2. A Quiet Place, £1,024,722 from 582 sites. Total: £8,262,665 (three weeks)

3. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, £825,777 from 499 sites (new)

4. Ready Player One, £503,099 from 492 sites. Total: £15,439,019 (four weeks)

5. Peter Rabbit, £487,412 from 631 sites. Total: £38,892,842 (six weeks)

6. Truth or Dare, £401,031 from 446 sites. Total: £1,719,365 (two weeks)

7. The Greatest Showman, £304,478 from 425 sites. Total: £45,446,913 (17 weeks)

8. Love, Simon, £274,213 from 469 sites. Total: £3,265,492 (three weeks)

9. Black Panther, £235,388 from 230 sites. Total: £49,858,826 (10 weeks)

10. Blade Runner: The Final Cut – Secret Cinema, £228,962 from one site. Total: £1,743,320 (five weeks)

Other openers

The Leisure Seeker, £105,021 from 374 sites

Funny Cow, £74,142 (including £6,080 previews) from 62 sites

Let the Sunshine in, £48,544 (including £16,039 previews) from 22 sites

Every Day, £36,359 from 131 sites

Wildling, £20,111 from 133 sites

Matilda, £17,953 from 23 sites

Beyond the Clouds, £11,353 from 41 sites

The Cured, £10,138 from 20 sites (Ireland only)

Khido Khundi, £6,128 from 12 sites

The Outsider, £1,335 from one site

Never Steady, Never Still, £1,273 from four sites

Zer, £1,162 from one site

• Thanks to comScore. All figures relate to takings in UK and Ireland cinemas.