As the mercury soared, collections plummeted as the heatwave across England took its toll on the U.K. and Ireland box office over the weekend.
Russell Crowe’s “Unhinged,” released by Altitude Film Distribution, retained the box office crown with a weekend gross of £117,633 ($154,000), a decline of 34% from last week, despite increasing screen count from 243 to 270, according to final numbers from Comscore.
Meanwhile, Disney holdover “Onward” dropped 21%, earning £46,576 ($61,000) from 245 sites. In third place, Vertigo’s Australian animation “100% Wolf” surged 28% to collect £42,500 ($55,650) from 259 sites.
Seth Rogen’s “An American Pickle,” released by Warner Bros, debuted in fourth position with £27,732 ($36,300) from 162 sites.
Vertigo’s supernatural title “The Vigil” dropped from fifth to ninth place with £16,012 ($21,000) from 177 sites. The rest of the chart was dominated by re-releases, including “Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back,” “The Greatest Showman,” “Jurassic Park” and the extended version of “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.”
Midweek this week sees the 10th anniversary re-release of Christopher Nolan’s “Inception,” ahead of the Aug. 26 debut for “Tenet.” Another Nolan film, “Interstellar,” is also on the re-release roster, and has collected £12,751 ($16,470) in 11th position.
The upcoming weekend sees a spate of new releases including Shannon Murphy’s Venice, Pingyao, Marrakech, Palm Springs, Sao Paolo and Zurich winner “Babyteeth,” from Picturehouse Entertainment; and Oeke Hoogendijk’s IDFA documentary “My Rembrandt,” from Dogwoof; Vertigo has three releases – Matteo Garrone’s David di Donatello award winner “Pinnochio“; Eugene Kotlyarenko’s Sundance title “Spree”; and Egor Abramenko’s horror-sci-fi “Sputnik.”
In addition, Universal is re-releasing “The Fast and the Furious.” Temperatures are expected to fall closer to the weekend, which could help cinemas.