‘Transformers One’ dethrones ‘Joker: Folie À Deux’ at UK-Ireland box office with £1.6m start

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Paramount animation Transformers One dethroned Joker: Folie À Deux at this weekend’s UK-Ireland box office, as the Warner Bros blockbuster suffered a significant 75% drop.

Transformers One opened to £1.6m in 583 sites at a £2,744 average – down on the stellar £8.7m of 2007’s Transformers and £8.3m of 2009’s Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen, but still a decent opening for an animated feature. It has £1.7m including previews.

Joker: Folie À Deux suffered a disappointing second weekend after its flat opening, with just £1.4m, bringing it to a £8.7m total. For comparison, the 2019 first film dropped just 22% on its second session, and had £30m by this point in its run. Folie À Deux’s 74.7% fall was slightly better than its 81% drop in North America, but still represents a poor result, with cinemas now needing to make up the shortfall from an expected popular title.

By contrast, Signature Entertainment’s Terrifier 3 scared up an impressive £1m opening weekend, from 429 sites at a £2,403 site average. Damien Leone’s low-budget horror title has benefitted from a strong social media and word-of-mouth campaign since launching at Fantastic Fest in the US last month, and should now make back its $2m (£1.5m) production budget in the UK and Ireland alone.

Warner Bros’ Beetlejuice Beetlejuice continues an impressive autumn run, and fell 32.% across its sixth session with £769,143 taking it to £23.9m.

Gary Dauberman’s horror Salem’s Lot opened to £359,911 from 467 sites at a £771 average, giving Warner Bros three of the top five titles despite Joker: Folie À Deux’s underperformance.

Takings for the top five came in at £5.2m – 34.2% down on last time out, and a worrying drop for exhibitors heading towards the Halloween period. Paramount’s seasonal title Smile 2, Universal’s family animation The Wild Robot and Studiocanal’s Donald Trump film The Apprentice will aim to fill out cinemas from next weekend.

Powerful Substance

Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance posted another excellent weekend for Mubi, falling just 16% – the best hold in the top 15. The Cannes 2024 title added £300,000, and is up to £2.7m, with the £3.3m of 2024’s Priscilla firmly in its sights to become Mubi’s highest-grossing release of all time in the UK and Ireland.

DJ Tech release Vettaiyan opened to £291,655, from 170 sites at a £1,746 average. Including previews, T.J. Gnanavel’s Indian crime drama starring Amitabh Bachchan has £485,994 and is building towards another seven-figure Indian hit.

Blumhouse horror Speak No Evil posted another decent weekend for Universal, adding £235,684 on its fifth session with a strong £5.2m to date.

Studiocanal’s The Outrun starring Saoirse Ronan continues to play well, adding £222,953 on its third session to hit an admirable £1.6m total.

Family animation Buffalo Kids opened to £210,134 from 555 sites at a £379 average for Warner Bros, and has £345,411 including previews.

Despicable Me 4 dropped just 33% on its 14^th weekend in cinemas for Universal, adding £198,233 to hit £47.7m. It has now passed Despicable Me 2 (£47.5m) and Minions: The Rise Of Gru (£47m), and should overtake Minions (£47.8m) and Despicable Me 3 (£47.9m) within the next fortnight.

Lee starring Kate Winslet added £180,599 on its fifth session, with the Sky Cinema film – released by Studiocanal – now up to £3.8m.

Moviegoers Entertainment opened Indian action title Jigra starring Alia Bhatt to £113,422 from 117 sites at a £986 average, suggesting the UK-Ireland box office is capable of opening two Indian features on the same weekend to decent results.

With Paramount’s sequel blockbuster coming next month, Park Circus’ re-release of Ridley Scott’s Gladiator took £95,913, in addition to the £31.3m of the film’s original 2000 run.

Rakesh Dhawan’s Indian comedy Mittran Da Challeya Truck Ni started with £79,090 for RBE from just 32 sites, at an outstanding £2,551 site average.

Concert title Sabaton – The Tour To End All Tours about Swedish heavy metal rockers Sabaton took £60,083 across the three days for CinemaLive.

Signature Entertainment animation 200% Wolf added £56,332 on its fourth weekend, and is up to a decent £664,964.

Alice Lowe’s Timestalker opened to £42,261 from 84 sites at a £503 average for Vertigo Releasing. Including previews, the fantasy-comedy-drama has £53,227.

The re-release of National Theatre Live event cinema title Prima Facie starring Jodie Comer rolled through a fourth weekend in cinemas, with £35,763 taking it to £2.7m. Including the original 2022 run, the title has now made over £8.1m.

An event cinema release of music documentary In Restless Dreams: The Music Of Paul Simon made £35,524 on Sunday, October 13 for Altitude.

Indian comedy Vicky Vidya Ka Woh Wala Video started with £34,172 for AA Films, at a £512 site average.

Aaron Schimberg’s A Different Man starring Sebastian Stan fell 64% on its second session, adding £32,110 to hit £214,051 for Universal.

Still in cinemas after 12 weekends, Disney’s Deadpool & Wolverine added £30,370 – a 54% drop – and is up to £57.6m, as the second-highest-grossing film of the year.

Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis added £25,412 on its third weekend in cinemas for Entertainment Film Distributors, and is up to £786,135.

Still in cinemas after 10 weekends, domestic abuse drama It Ends With Us added £22,767 and is up to £21.6m for Sony.

The Critic starring Ian McKellan added £20,852 on its fifth weekend, taking it beyond the £1.5m mark for Lionsgate.

Zoe Kravitz’s Blink Twice has found a lengthy tail after a moderate start, adding £20,814 on its eighth weekend in cinemas to hit £3.3m for Warner Bros.

Vertigo Releasing’s Dragonkeeper added £19,688 on its third session, and is up to a £239,251 total.

Japanese anime Bocchi The Rock took £15,218 for Sony across the week, having opened on Monday, October 7.

Religious drama Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot took £12,713 for Kova PR from 67 sites, with midweek early evening or matinee screenings to come.

Alien: Romulus added £11,593 on its ninth session for Disney, and is up to £13.4m. The distributor is also closing out animation Inside Out 2 after a lengthy 18-week run with £10,082, and £59.2m as the highest-grossing 2024 release to date.

Lionsgate’ horror Never Let Go added £10,313 on its third session for a £578,070 cume.

Warner Bros’ Interstellar re-release added £6,809 on its fourth session, bringing it to £1.1m in addition to the £21.8m of the 2014 original run.

Hong Kong action film Stuntman started with £6,777 for Trinity/CineAsia.

The Shaun Of The Dead 20^th anniversary release added £5,776 on the third weekend of its re-run for Universal, taking it to £478,018 in addition to the £6.8m of its 2004 outing.

Indian blockbuster Devara Part 1 added £2,861 on its third session, and is up to £548,134 for Dreamz Entertainment, which also had action title Viswam opening to £2,585 with £6,819 including previews.