I have recently taken a break from the box office for the past few weeks to focus on reviews and other content. Before we dive into this weeks box office, over the past few weeks, Grimsby opened solidly, The Forest disappointed, London Has Fallen topped the chart and Hail, Caesar! saw a solid debut. Right, you're all caught up so lets get into this weekends box office!

Kung Fu Panda 3 opened at number 1 and Allegiant came in at a distant second place. The Witch and Anomalisa both saw strong debuts further down the chart.



The Winner
Kung Fu Panda 3 took the box office crown this weekend with a solid $6.86 million opening. However, this number does include a previous weekend of previews which makes this a little less impressive. In comparison to the other Kung Fu Panda films, this is half of the opening that the first film had and around 40% less than the second film. This suggests that the audience may have grown out of the film - it has received generally good reviews so it isn't clear why the franchise saw such a big drop for the third films opening. It has just been half term and another one is fast approaching so maybe audiences are saving their money for big film events and of course, there is Zootopia. Family films generally hold out quite well though which suggests Kung Fu Panda 3 may make up this lacklustre debut in the long run - it should easily be able to crack $18 million. In comparison to last year, Dreamworks released Home which is an original property - that saw a debut of $9 million in the UK - how can an original property beat out a franchise...that doesn't happen in Hollywood anymore!?! ;) Home stayed in the top 10 for a whopping 11 weeks - however, Kung Fu Panda 3 may not be as lucky with Zootopia just around the corner and the big movie season about to begin at the end of the month. This franchise has been kicked down.

The New Entries (Top 10)
Kung Fu Panda 3 wasn't the only film from an existing franchise to see a disappointing debut, Allegiant, the third film in the Divergent series, opened very poorly. Insurgent saw a $4.4 million opening around this time last year - that is almost a 50% drop between the two movies - what went wrong? Allegiant also wasn't able to top the original films $2.9 million opening. Allegiant has received the poorest reviews of the series to date with just 21% of critics approving it. Allegiant's marketing campaign has also been quite weak - the trailers were never that good and it hasn't gone unnoticed that this is a Part 1, even though Lionsgate did try to manipulate audiences by renaming the final film. Insurgent saw a 56% drop last year and didn't hold very well in general - fait seems to be similar for Allegiant, its $2.6 million opening doesn't forecast it being able to reach $10 million. Also, if this series follows in the footsteps of The Hunger Games, next years Ascendant may open even lower!

That's enough negativity from new entries as The Witch and Anomalisa both saw strong debuts, opening at number 7 and number 10 respectively. The Witch opened with $640,000 which is higher than The Forest - that film opened in around 150 more locations than The Witch so it just shows how strongly this film has performed. The Witch has received major acclaim from critics and the horror community. However, general word of mouth has been pretty weak. The film had a per location average of $3,600 which is the 4th highest on the chart - if this had a wider release, it is likely it would have made much more money! However, horror films - no matter whether they are acclaimed or not - never see great runs so it is likely this will close with around $2.5-3 million.

Closing out the top 10 is Anomalisa which debuted with a remarkable $320,000 from just 80 locations. This gives the film a $4,000 location average - the third highest on the chart. It wouldn't surprise me if Anomalisa sees an expansion next weekend. The film is Oscar nominated and has been universally acclaimed by critics - the future looks good for this film!

The Best Holdover
The best holdover this week was Deadpool which saw just a 34.3% drop in its 5th weekend. The top 10 all saw generally strong holds in general this weekend but Deadpool sees the strongest one. This is likely down to positive word of mouth which has helped the film reach $51.5 million in the UK and it is still going! Deadpool has a shot at $60 million but will likely close with just below that.

The Biggest Drop
Despite seeing great holds originally, Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip sees the biggest drop this weekend - 44.5%. That definitely isn't a bad hold for a film in its 5th weekend and a hold like that wouldn't usually find itself in this category. The Road Chip likely saw a bigger drop due to Kung Fu Panda 3 taking up its screens - expect Kung Fu Panda and The Road Chip to both see similar drops when Zootopia is released in a couple of weeks. The film has so far made $22.6 million in the UK - The Road Chip isn't far at all from passing the first or third film but it is unlikely it will reach the second films $35 million. The Road Chip will probably close with around $25-27 million.

Outside the Top 10
Despite an interview on one of the UK's biggest weekend talk shows - Fifty Shades of Black was unable to gain enough mainstream appeal to crack the top 10. The film opened with just below $120,000 which isn't that impressive - a $1,016 per location average. Fifty Shades of Black definitely won't be around much longer at all and it is likely that it will be off of the chart next week - oh wait, it was never on the chart...

Source: Box Office Mojo