UK box office top ten and analysis for the weekend of Friday 10th – Sunday 12th September 2010.
Paul W. S. Anderson’s action-horror sequel Resident Evil: Afterlife takes the title of UK box office champ this past weekend with a debut haul of £1.69m giving it a record opening for the franchise. While the 3D surcharge certainly played a part the fourth instalment of the series managed to pull in over £750k more than predecessor Resident Evil: Extinction and with a $26m debut over in the States a fifth movie has already been confirmed by leading lady Milla Jovovich.
Along with Resident Evil: Afterlife there are three other new faces in the chart this week – in fifth with £615k is comic-strip adaptation Tamara Drewe from director Stephen Frears and starring Gemma Arterton, while the Drew Barrymore / Justin Long rom-com Going the Distance takes seventh and comedy Cyrus follows up in eighth.
It was a good weekend for both Toy Story 3 and Grown Ups, each moving up a spot to second and third respectively. Pixar’s animated hit continues to impress even after eight long weeks and pushes its overall tally to £71m, while at the opposite end of the scale the Paul Rudd / Steve Carell comedy Dinner for Schmucks plummets from second to ninth in just its second weekend. Also on the decline is the low-budget horror The Last Exorcism, which drops to fourth from its first-placed opening last weekend, along with Edgar Wright comic-book adaptation Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (falling one to sixth) and Sylvester Stallone action epic The Expendables (down three to tenth).
Number one this time last year: District 9
| Pos. | Film | Weekend Gross | Week | Total UK Gross |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Resident Evil: Afterlife |
£1,690,655 | 1 | £1,690,655 |
| 2 | Toy Story 3 | £756,575 | 8 | £71,015,148 |
| 3 | Grown Ups | £742,472 | 3 | £5,444,705 |
| 4 | The Last Exorcism | £730,395 | 2 | £2,491,536 |
| 5 | Tamara Drewe |
£615,553 | 1 | £615,553 |
| 6 | Scott Pilgrim vs. The World | £439,143 | 3 | £4,339,230 |
| 7 | Going the Distance |
£436,361 | 1 | £436,361 |
| 8 | Cyrus | £429,687 | 1 | £429,687 |
| 9 | Dinner for Schmucks | £401,567 | 2 | £1,867,209 |
| 10 | The Expendables | £366,663 | 4 | £9,243,382 |
Incoming…
Perhaps the most interesting of the newcomers this coming Friday is the documentary (or should that be mockumentary?) I’m Still Here (cert. 15), with first-time director Casey Affleck chronicling the bizarre career change of Joaquin Phoenix from actor to oddball rapper. Alternatives include the Will Ferrell / Mark Wahlberg buddy cop comedy The Other Guys (cert. 12A), horror Devil (cert. 15) and thriller Winter’s Bone (cert. 15), along with homegrown efforts F (cert. 18) and The Kid (cert. 15).