All-conquering Star Wars can’t deflect 5% year-on-year dip at UK box office

Still burning bright … Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Photograph: Film Frame/AP

Posting a third weekend at £10m-plus, Star Wars: The Force Awakens continues to shatter records at the UK box office. JJ Abrams’s film has grossed a phenomenal £97.4m in 17 days, setting a pace faster than any previous film. It has also passed the cumulative totals of Avatar (£94m) and Spectre (£94.3m so far) to become the second-biggest film ever in the UK, behind Skyfall (£102.9m). Daily average is a stunning £5.7m.

After 17 days of release, Skyfall stood at £72m, which means that The Force Awakens is running 35% ahead of the pace set by the UK’s biggest cinema hit. Skyfall benefited from an exceptionally long tail, staying in the UK box-office Top 10 for 11 weeks. The audience for The Force Awakens was keen to see the film as soon as possible, so it remains to be seen whether it has similarly long legs. On the other hand, repeat business should be substantial.

The UK is so far the international (ie non-US) territory that’s earning the gold star from Disney. At Box Office Mojo, which has data up to 1 January, the UK is far ahead of the pack, with $133m. Germany is in second place with $74m, then France on $61m, Australia $51m and Japan $46m. The Force Awakens opens in China on 9 January.

Daddy’s Home and good for a laugh

Excluding animation, 2015 proved lacklustre for comedy releases, with only Pitch Perfect 2 (£17.39m) a notable hit. The many underperformers included Trainwreck (£3.24m), Sisters (£2.37m so far), The Wedding Ringer (£2.33m) and Vacation (£1.68m). So Paramount will be pleased by the performance of its Will Ferrell/Mark Wahlberg comedy Daddy’s Home, which grossed a nifty £8.14m after nine days of play.

An obvious comparison point is The Other Guys, which also starred Ferrell and Wahlberg. That film stood at £4.41m at the same stage of its run, on the way to an £8.19m total. Ferrell’s last comedy outing was Get Hard, co-starring Kevin Hart. Released last March, it had grossed £3.31m at this stage of its run, ending up with £5.38m.

Joy – video review

Joy jostles with The Danish Girl

The first Friday of the year is usually considered a plum release date for awards contenders. Last year, Universal plonked The Theory of Everything on to the date, going on to achieve the biggest UK gross (£21.5m) of any best picture Oscar nominee. Fox also picked it for the eventual best picture Oscar winner, Birdman. In 2014, the date was won by American Hustle. If you have the heft, the theory goes, weaker competitors will stay away, you can connect with cinemagoers looking for more challenging fare after the holiday period, and you get a longer run at audiences throughout the awards season.

This year, the release of The Force Awakens on 17 December may have given distributors pause when considering 1 January, and The Hateful Eight, The Revenant, Room, Creed, The Big Short and Spotlight were all slated for later in January. However, Universal and Fox both once again opted for New Year’s Day with their awards hopefuls The Danish Girl and Joy. The result is honours shared, at least going by the 1-3 January weekend period: Joy grossed £1.41m from 507 cinemas, and The Danish Girl is right behind with £1.38m from 508. Previews push Joy to a healthier looking £1.52m.

David O Russell’s previous film, American Hustle (which likewise featured Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper, plus an uncredited Robert De Niro), kicked off with £2.36m plus £1.11m in previews. Silver Linings Playbook (also starring the trio) began in November 2012 with just under £1m plus £292,000 in previews.

The Danish Girl – video review

As for The Danish Girl, Eddie Redmayne started a lot stronger in The Theory of Everything (£2.95m plus £803,000 in previews). Director Tom Hooper likewise enjoyed much bigger openings with both The King’s Speech (£3.29m plus £227,000 in previews) and Les Misérables (£8.13m). Universal will be hoping that the older/upscale audience will come out for The Danish Girl midweek and steadily throughout January.

Branagh and Sherlock go head to head

Two examples of the burgeoning event cinema category both went out at the weekend, achieving very similar box office. BBC Worldwide offered Sherlock: The Abominable Bride on New Year’s Day, concurrent with the TV broadcast, grossing £224,000 from 127 cinemas. On Sunday, there were encore showings of Kenneth Branagh’s The Winter’s Tale in 184 cinemas, yielding receipts of £230,000. That’s a solid number given that the vast majority of the encore shows were early in the afternoon. Cume to date on The Winter’s Tale is a rosy £1.65m.

The Hateful Eight – trailer

The future

Thanks to a £10m-plus contribution from The Force Awakens, you’d expect UK box office to be well up on a year ago, but in fact takings are 5% down on the equivalent session from 2015, in which eight films – The Theory of Everything, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, Paddington, The Woman in Black: Angel of Death, Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, Exodus: Gods and Kings, Birdman and Annie – all achieved more than £1m. That’s an object lesson in how a spread of popular films can deliver better value for cinemas than one runaway winner.

This Friday, cinema bookers have hopes pinned on Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight, although not in the case of Cineworld and its arthouse partner Picturehouse. Neither chain is playing the film; nor is arthouse rival Curzon. The exact nature of the dispute may involve the limited access to the 70mm “roadshow” version that is so far playing only at Odeon Leicester Square. Cineworld said: “Unfortunately we were not able to reach an agreement with the movie’s distributor.”