Black Panther gobbles up Red Sparrow at snow-disrupted UK box office

Freezing snow and disrupted transport across the UK saw box office takings plummet at the back end of last week, with film fans instead opting for the comfort of their sofas. But the big thaw on Saturday and Sunday saw audiences return to cinemas.

Given this context, Disney and Marvel will probably be sanguine about a 46% drop for Black Panther from the previous session. Third-weekend takings of £3.74m push the total after 20 days to £35.4m. For comparison, after three weekends, Captain America: Civil War had reached £32.2m, Avengers: Age of Ultron had achieved a sturdy £40.4m and Iron Man 3 had clocked up £31.1m.

Although the character Black Panther was introduced in Captain America: Civil War, the film essentially rests on the shoulders of a figure largely unfamiliar to film audiences. Compared with other Marvel franchise launches, such as Iron Man, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger, Ant-Man and Doctor Strange, it has scored far higher takings, more in keeping with the mega-hit sequels mentioned above.

 Among new releases, top for box office is Red Sparrow, starring Jennifer Lawrence as a Russian ballerina-turned-spy. The lurid espionage thriller began with a solid £1.68m from 531 cinemas at the weekend, and £1.84m including previews. That’s a stronger start than was the case for Lawrence’s previous film, Mother!, which began last summer with £832,000 from 468 venues. Before that, the sci-fi Passengers, co-starring Chris Pratt, launched over Christmas weekend 2016 with £2.42m, including previews of £1.22m.

Source: theguardian