Weekend box-office – 20th to 26th of June 2015 – Is it a walk in the (Jurassic) park for Chris Pratt?

Starring Jeff Goldblum, Sam Neill, Laura Dern and Richard Attenborough, Steven Spielberg’s 1993 sci-fi smash hit Jurassic Park had everything: critical and fan adoration and box-office phenomenon status with over $1 billion in ticket sales. The sequels however didn’t hit the mark with Spielberg’s 1997 follow up The Lost World taking $618 million and Joe Johnston’s 2001 effort Jurassic Park III receiving $368 million, despite additions such as Pete Postlethwaite and Julianne Moore. Jurassic World has taken an unorthodox approach by ditching the original cast for new blood such as underdog actors Chris Pratt (Guardians of the Galaxy), Bryce Dallas Howard (The Help), Jake Johnson (TV’s New Girl) and Vincent D’Onofrio (Netflix’s Daredevil) as well as indie director Colin Trevorrow (Safety Not Guaranteed). Last week we predicted it’d be number one but it hardly seems like to team to bring a record breaking smash hit.

US:

1. Jurassic World – Director: Colin Trevorrow – $208.8 million
2. Spy – Paul Feig – $15.6 million
3. San Andreas – Brad Peyton – $10.8 million
4. Insidious Chapter 3 – Leigh Whannell – $7.3 million
5. Pitch Perfect 2 – Elizabeth Banks – $6.4 million

UK:

1. Jurassic World – Colin Trevorrow – £19.4 million
2. Spy – Paul Feig – £1.5 million
3. San Andreas – Brad Peyton – £0.8 million
4. Insidious Chapter 3 – Leigh Whannell – £0.7 million
5. Pitch Perfect 2 – Elizabeth Banks – £0.4 million

While we had expected Jurassic World to be successful, we didn’t anticipate it stealing box-office records from Avengers Assemble and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. At the beginning of the year, we predicted that Age of Ultron, Spectre and Star Wars: The Force Awakens would be the big hitters with Jurassic World, Ant-Man, Terminator 5, Mission Impossible 5 and others lagging behind but this is just one in a series of upsets including the flops of Tomorrowland and Jupiter Ascending and the successes of Furious 7, Mad Max: Fury Road and Fifty Shades of Grey. This week I’ve scored 8/10.

US:

1. Jurassic World – Colin Trevorrow
2. Inside Out – Pete Docter, Ronaldo Del Carmen
3. Dope – Rick Famuyiwa
4. Spy – Paul Feig
5. San Andreas – Brad Peyton

UK:

1. Jurassic World – Colin Trevorrow
2. Mr Holmes – Bill Condon
3. Spy – Paul Feig
4. The Longest Ride – George Tillman Jr
5. Entourage – Doug Ellin

Chris Pratt in Jurassic World, This week’s US and UK number one.

Weekend box-office – 25th of April to 1st of May 2015 – will Furious 7 win its third lap?

The star studded action sequel Furious 7 has broken the record for the quickest film to surpass the billion dollar mark and is now entering its third weekend box office. The competition this week includes comedy sequel Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 and horror flick Unfriended. Last week, we predicted that Furious 7 would win but let’s find out what’ll really go down.

US:

1. Fast & Furious 7 – Director: James Wan – $29.2 million
2. Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 – Andy Fickman – $23.8 million
3. Unfriended – Levan Gabriadze – $15.8 million
4. Home – Tim Johnson – $10.6 million
5. The Longest Ride – George Tillman Jr – $7 million

UK:

1. Fast & Furious 7 – James Wan – £3 million
2. Cinderella – Kenneth Branagh – £1.1 million
3. Home – Tim Johnson – £0.9 million
4. Child 44 – Daniel Espinosa – £0.5 million
5. Woman in Gold – Simon Curtis – £0.4 million

Fast & Furious’ reign continues while the week’s biggest loser is Child 44, a Soviet-set thriller starring Tom Hardy and Gary Oldman. It was one of the year’s most anticipated and yet it’s already been deemed a commercial and critical bomb. This week we’ve scored 4/10. Here’s next week’s predictions as what may be the year’s biggest financial hits

US:

1. The Age of Adaline – Lee Toland Krieger
2. Fast & Furious 7 – James Wan
3. The Water Diviner – Russell Crowe
4. Paul Blart: Mall Cop – Andy Fickman
5. Unfriended – Levan Gabriadze

UK:

1. The Avengers: Age of Ultron – Joss Whedon
2. Fast & Furious 7 – James Wan
3. Cinderella – Kenneth Branagh
4. Home – Tim Johnson
5. Child 44 – Daniel Espinosa

Ludacris, Paul Walker, Tyrese Gibson and Vin Diesel in Fast & Furious 7, this week’s US and UK number one.

Weekend box-office – 18th to 24th of April 2015 – can Furious 7 speed ahead again?

Furious 7’s mega opening in the US last week is already the biggest since 2013’s The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. This week, the all star action sequel faces a clear week with little opposition besides the Nicholas Sparks’ (The Notebook, Dear John) romantic drama The Longest Ride. Meanwhile in the UK there’s a rush more small openers like legal drama Woman in Gold, war thriller Good Kill, comedy sequel Hot Tub Time Machine 2 and action flick John Wick ahead of the Avengers’ behemoth release. Find last week’s predictions here.

US:

1. Fast & Furious 7 – Director: James Wan – $59.6 million
2. Home – Tim Johnson – $18.5 million
3. The Longest Ride – George Tillman Jr – $13 million
4. Get Hard – Etan Cohen – $8.2 million
5. Cinderella – Kenneth Branagh – $7.1 million

UK:

1. Fast & Furious 7 – James Wan – £5.4 million
2. Cinderella – Kenneth Branagh – £1.8 million
3. Home – Tim Johnson – £1.5 million
4. The Duff – Ari Sandel – £0.9 million
5. The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water – Phil Tibbitt – £0.7 million

Furious 7 wins again while the UK’s only new entry is high school comedy The Duff. This week I’ve scored 6/10.

US:

1. Fast & Furious 7 – James Wan
2. Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 – Andy Fickman
3. Child 44 – Daniel Espinosa
4. Home – Tim Johnson
5. Unfriended – Levan Gabriadze

UK:

1. Fast & Furious 7 – James Wan
2. Child 44 – Daniel Espinosa
3. Cinderella – Kenneth Branagh
4. Home – Tim Johnson
5. A Little Chaos – Alan Rickman

Paul Walker, Dwayne Johnson and Vin Diesel in Fast & Furious 7, this week’s US and UK number ones.