Weekend box-office – 21st to 26th of September 2014 – will Guardians find No Good Deed?

Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy have become the undisputed kings of the summer, as oppose to last year’s equally brilliant The Kings of Summer. This week its reign may come to an end as its faces thriller No Good Deed and family sequel Dolphin Tale 2, the first real competition for the top spot since last month’s action comedy Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Meanwhile in the UK, miners strike drama Pride and animated fantasy The Boxtrolls are going head to head. Last week, we predicted that the aquatic drama would triumph but lets find out what really went down.

US:

1. No Good Deed – Director: Tim Miller – $24.5 million
2. Dolphin Tale 2 – Charles Martin Smith – $16.5 million
3. Guardians of the Galaxy – James Gunn – $8 million
4. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – Jonathan Liebesman – $4.8 million
5. Let’s Be Cops – Luke Greenfield – $4.3 million

UK:

1. The Boxtrolls – Graham Annable, Anthony Stacchi – £2 million
2. Lucy – Luc Besson – £0.8 million
3. Pride – Matthew Warchus – £0.7 million
4. Sex Tape – Jake Kasdan – £0.7 million
5. A Most Wanted Man – Anton Corbijn – £0.6 million

Idris Elba’s thriller vehicle No Good Deed has overcome a generally negative critical response for a decent box office debut. Dolphin Tale has regressed from the first films takings although its hardly a flop. Guardians of the Galaxy has of course slipped up from its place atop the box office but it was certainly fun while it lasted. The Boxtrolls has made a sizeable stab at success in the UK although it’ll be hoping for better in the US. Pride hasn’t won any great financial gains but it is delighting its audiences. I wouldn’t be surprised to see it creep back around by next year’s (UK based) awards season. The late great Philip Seymour Hoffman’s final lead performance in spy drama A Most Wanted Man rounds off the top 5. This week I’ve scored 4/10.

US:

1. The Maze Runner – Wes Ball
2. A Walk Among the Tombstones – Scott Frank
3. No Good Deed – Tim Miller
4. Dolphin Tale 2 – Charles Martin Smith
5. Guardians of the Galaxy – James Gunn

UK:

1. The Boxtrolls – Graham Annable, Anthony Stacchi
2. The Riot Club – Lone Scherfig
3. A Walk Among the Tombstones – Scott Frank
4. Magic in the Moonlight – Woody Allen
5. Pride – Matthew Warchus

Idris Elba in No Good Deed, this week’s US number one.

Isaac Hempstead Wright in The Boxtrolls, this week’s UK number one.

Weekend box-office – 13th to 19th of September 2014 – can Guardians continue box-office reign?

Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy completely conquered the fairly barren month of August and is now continuing its run into the early autumn. This week the sci-fi phenomenon is competing for its fourth week on top of the box office and once more there’s very little competition. To its credit it’s capitalising on a surprising financial slump. Meanwhile in the UK, comedic box-office disappointment Sex Tape makes its debut, hoping for a much needed recovery. Find last week’s predictions here.

US:

1. Guardians of the Galaxy – Director: James Gunn – $10.2 million
2. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – Jonathan Liebesman – $6.5 million
3. If I Stay – RJ Cutler – $5.7 million
4. Let’s Be Cops – Luke Greenfield – $5.4 million
5. The November Man – Roger Donaldson – $4.2 million

UK:

1. Sex Tape – Jake Kasdan – £1.4 million
2. Lucy – Luc Besson – £1.2 million
3. Before I Go to Sleep – Rowan Joffe – £0.8 million
4. The Hundred Foot Journey – Lasse Halstrom – £0.7 million
5. Guardians of the Galaxy – James Gunn – £0.7 million

The Guardians have done what no film this year has done: four weeks at the number one spot at the US box office, defying the worry that it’d be Marvel’s undoing. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is continuing impressive form while Let’s Be Cops is proving to be a sleeper hit. Pierce Brosnan’s spy thriller The November Man was intended to be a franchise starter but these numbers go against its favour. The UK saw three new entries, of which Sex Tape is number one. The film’ll be pleased with these statistics but it’ll hardly lift the spirits of a dismal box-office run. Star studded drama thriller Before I Go to Sleep has received a fairly mediocre reception also. This week I’ve scored a disappointing 3/10.

US:

1. Dolphin Tale 2 – Charles Martin Smith
2. No Good Deed – Sam Miller
3. Guardians of the Galaxy – James Gunn
4. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – Jonathan Liebesman
5. If I Stay – RJ Cutler

UK:

1. The Boxtrolls – Graham Annable, Anthony Stacchi
2. Pride – Matthew Warchus
3. Sex Tape – Jake Kasdan
4. Lucy – Luc Besson
5. A Most Wanted Man – Anton Corbijn

Zoe Saldana and Benicio Del Toro in Guardians of the Galaxy, this week’s US number one.

Cameron Diaz and Jason Segel in Sex Tape, this week’s UK number one.

Weekend box-office – 6th to 12th of September 2014 – will the Guardians rescue end of summer showdown?

It’s no secret that this summer’s American box office takings have been sub par. The pre-summer period was booming with X-Men: Days of Future Past, Godzilla, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Maleficent raking in the cash. Edge of Tomorrow had initial difficulty but eventually made back its budget. However, one or two of the summer’s surefire (The Hobbit 3, The Good Dinosaur) hits were delayed leaving a summer period with only one opening north of $100 million, Transformers: Age of Extinction. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Lucy, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and How to Train Your Dragon 2 attempted to capitalise but weren’t quite as successful as Bay’s explosion-fest. Despite this, the year’s riskiest film is storming ahead in the charts and has becoming the highest grossing domestic release of the year so far. As predicted, Guardians of the Galaxy is wrapping up the summer in style.

US:

1. Guardians of the Galaxy – Director: James Gunn – $17.1 million
2. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – Jonathan Liebesman – $11.9 million
3. If I Stay – RJ Cutler – $9.3 million
4. As Above So Below – John Erick Dowdle – $8.6 million
5. Let’s Be Cops – Luke Greenfield – $8.3 million

UK:

1. Lucy – Luc Besson – £2 million
2. Let’s Be Cops – Luke Greenfield – £1.7 million
3. The Inbetweeners 2 – Damon Beesley, Iain Morris – £1.3 million
4. Sin City: A Dame to Kill For – Robert Rodriguez, Frank Miller – £1.1 million
5. Guardians of the Galaxy – James Gunn – £1 million

$17 million may not seem particularly impressive, and on most weeks it wouldn’t be, but Guardians has retained its top position for the third time on this, its fifth, week of release. It’s fallen less that 1% from last week. Paris-set horror As Above So Below has made a fairly hefty debut for its kind while Pierce Brosnan spy thriller The November Man hasn’t scratched the top five, landing in sixth. In the UK, sci-fi thriller Lucy has only dropped a third rather than the predict 50%. Crime comedy Let’s Be Cops has made a surprisingly decent entry, despite Jake Johnson’s lack of star appeal this side of the Atlantic. Sin City’s sequel A Dame to Kill For has faired remarkably better here than in the States but it’ll still have to go down as a huge flop. This week I’ve scored a rather embarrassing 1/10.

US:

1. Guardians of the Galaxy – James Gunn
2. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – Jonathan Liebesman
3. Forrest Gump (20th Anniversary re-release) – Robert Zemeckis
4. If I Stay – RJ Cutler
5. Let’s Be Cops – Luke Greenfield

UK:

1. Before I Go To Sleep – Rowan Joffe
2. Lucy – Luc Besson
3. Let’s Be Cops – Luke Greenfield
4. The Inbetweeners 2 – Damon Beesley Iain Morris
5. Sex Tape – Jake Kasdan

Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, Bradley Cooper, Zoe Saldana and Vin Diesel in Guardians of the Galaxy, this week’s US number one.

Scarlett Johansson in Lucy, this week’s UK number one.

Weekend box-office – 30th of August to 5th of September 2014 – will Jessica Alba redeem Sin City?

Released in 2005, Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez’s Sin City not only became a cult hit, praised for its unique comic book styling, but raked in box office goods with $160 million from a $40 million budget. Nine years on, Miller and Rodriguez are back with Sin City’s sequel A Dame to Kill For with the first film’s ensemble of Mickey Rourke, Jessica Alba, Rosario Dawson, Powers Boothe and Bruce Willis as well as the huge additions of Joseph Gordon Levitt, Eva Green, Ray Liotta and Josh Brolin. The production cost has been upped to $70 million this time around so big things are expected for this film to lift the spirits of a relatively deadbeat summer. It ought to succeed seeing as the only heavyweights have been kicking around for nearly a month. Last week we predicted that it’d enter the chart in second but let’s find out where it did finish. 

US:

1. Guardians of the Galaxy – Director: James Gunn – $17.2 million
2. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – Jonathan Liebesman – $16.7 million
3. If I Stay – RJ Cutler – $15.7 million
4. Let’s Be Cops – Luke Greenfield – $10.8 million
5. When the Game Stands Tall – Thomas Carter – $8.4 million

UK:

1. Lucy – Luc Besson – £3.1 million
2. The Inbetweeners 2 – Damon Beesley, Iain Morris – £2.4 million
3. Guardians of the Galaxy – James Gunn – £1.3 million
4. Into the Storm – Steven Quale – £1.2 million
5. Deliver Us From Evil – Scott Derickson – £0.6 million

That’s right, Sin City 2 didn’t scratch the top 5 and in fact landed in eighth and will have to go down as perhaps the year’s biggest mainstream flop. It was beaten into submission by teen weepie If I Stay and sports drama When the Game Stands Tall. It’s R/18 rating may have been its undoing. Marvel’s space opera Guardians of the Galaxy is back on top of the box office in its fourth week of release, a new property overtaking behemoth sequel Transformers: Age of Extinction to become the biggest domestic hit of the summer. Sci-fi thriller Lucy has made a solid entry in a packed week in the UK. Disaster thriller Into the Storm and horror Deliver Us From Evil both made mediocre debuts while Daniel Radcliffe rom com What If failed to chart. This week’s shocks meant I scored a dismal 3/10.

US:

1. The November Man – Roger Donaldson
2. Guardians of the Galaxy – James Gunn
3. As Above So Below – John Erick Dowdle
4. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – Jonthan Liebesman
5. If I Stay – RJ Cutler

UK:

1. Lucy – Luc Besson
2. The Inbetweeners 2 – Damon Beesley, Iain Morris
3. Sin City: A Dame to Kill For – Frank Miller, Robert Rodriguez
4. Guardians of the Galaxy – James Gunn
5. Let’s Be Cops – Luke Greenfield

Zoe Saldana and Chris Pratt in Guardians of the Galaxy, this week’s US number one.

Morgan Freeman and Scarlett Johansson in Lucy, this week’s UK number one.

Weekend box-office – 16th to 29th of August 2014 – will TMNT deem Stallone and co Expendable?

As you may know, we’ve been away a little while so for this week’s box-office scoop we’ll have to cover the past two weeks of ticket sales.

The beginning of the summer season of film produced hit after hit: Captain America 2, Spider-Man 2, Maleficent, Transformers: Age of Extinction, Godzilla and X-Men 7 all greatly impressed. The second half of it has had the odd exception such as Guardians of the Galaxy or Dawn of the Planet of the Apes but has generally underperformed. This week’s attempt at ending a disappointing summer is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, dim in prospect but the fans of the cartoon are in legion. Last week we predicted it’d top the chart but let’s find out how it really did.

US:

1. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – Director: Jonathan Liebesman – $65.6 million
2. Guardians of the Galaxy – James Gunn – $42.1 million
3. Into the Storm – Steven Quale – $17.3 million
4. The Hundred-Foot Journey – Lasse Halstrom – $11 million
5. Lucy – Luc Besson – $9.5 million

UK:

1. The Inbetweeners 2 – Damon Beesley, Iain Morris – £12.5 million
2. Guardians of the Galaxy – James Gunn – £3.3 million
3. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes – Matt Reeves – £1.7 million
4. Planes: Fire and Rescue – Roberts Gannaway – £1 million
5. How to Train Your Dragon 2 – Dean DeBlois – £9 million

TMNT hasn’t quite been the smash to elevate this summer from its sunken spirits but it’s still a very impressive debut, similar to this year’s 22 Jump Street and Maleficent. However, it might not have the same legs internationally. Anything over $500 million worldwide may be unlikely. Marvel’s interstellar Guardians have decreased drastically but a half-a-billion gross appears to be on the cards. Disaster thriller Into the Storm has made a fairly modest $20 million while Lasse Halstrom’s latest, The Hundred-Foot Journey, has made a surprise entry in this week’s top 5. In the UK, fans of the hit comedy show The Inbetweeners will likely be thrilled to hear that the second feature spin off of the series now has the title of this year’s highest UK opening weekend, ahead of Transformers: Age of Extinction. This week I’ve scored 8/10.

US:

1. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – Jonathan Liebesman
2. Guardians of the Galaxy – James Gunn
3. The Expendables 3 – Patrick Hughes
4. Let’s Be Cops – Luke Greenfield
5. The Giver – Phillip Noyce

UK:

1. The Inbetweeners 2 – Damon Beesley, Iain Morris
2. The Expendables 3 – Patrick Hughes
3. Guardians of the Galaxy – James Gunn
4. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes – Matt Reeves
5. How to Train Your Dragon 2 – Dean DeBlois

For the next week of releases, we’re trying to place three new releases in the US box office, no mean task. The Expendables 3, a sequel to a pair of greatly high grossing films and starring one of the year’s biggest ensembles (Stallone, Snipes, Statham, Schwarzenegger, Gibson, Ford, Banderes, Grammer, Li, Crews, Lundgren, Couture), may be set to flop giving a fighting chance to comedy Let’s Be Cops or drama The Giver.

US:

1. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – Jonathan Liebesman – $28.5 million
2. Guardians of the Galaxy – James Gunn – $25.1 million
3. Let’s Be Cops – Luke Greenfield – $17.8 million
4. The Expendables 3 – Patrick Hughes – $15.9 million
5. The Giver – Phillip Noyce – $12.3 million

UK:

1. The Inbetweeners 2 – Damon Beesley, Iain Morris – £4.3 million
2. Guardians of the Galaxy – James Gunn – £2.1 million
3. The Expendables 3 – Patrick Hughes – £1.7 million
4. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes – Matt Reeves – £1.1 million
5. How to Train Your Dragon 2 – Dean DeBlois – £0.6 million

Considering that previous instalments have taken $300 million plus, The Expendables 3 will have to go down as a huge flop. Well publicised pirating may have been its downfall but I’d think the fact that none of the Expendables have had a non-franchise commercial hit in years. The new TMNT instalment has dropped greatly from its opening weekend but that’ll be no worry to an already impressive domestic tally. On both sides of the Atlantic, Marvel’s space opera Guardians of the Galaxy is continuing to impress. British comedy sequel The Inbetweeners 2 has decreased two thirds of its debut taking of £12 million so the first film’s total of £50 million bay be out of reach. This week I’ve scored 6/10.

US:

1. Guardians of the Galaxy – James Gunn
2. Sin City: A Dame to Kill For – Frank Miller, Robert Rodriguez
3. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – Jonathan Liebesman
4. If I Stay – RJ Cutler
5. The Expendables 3 – Patrick Hughes

UK:

1. Lucy – Luc Besson
2. The Inbetweeners 2 – Damon Beesley, Iain Morris
3. Sin City: A Dame to Kill For – Frank Miller, Robert Rodriguez
4. Guardians of the Galaxy – James Gunn
5. What If – Michael Dowse

Megan Fox and Pete Ploszek in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, this week’s US number one.

Joe Thomas, James Buckley, Blake Harrison and Simon Bird in The Inbetweeners 2, this week’s US number one