The school half-term holidays saw the release of family-friendly fare at the U.K. and Ireland box office and consequently Paramount’s animated sequel “Sonic The Hedgehog 2” claimed the box office crown. The film debuted with £4.9 million ($6.5 million), according to numbers released by Comscore.
The other big family targeted release, Universal’s “The Bad Guys,” debuted in third place with $2.2 million. Debuting in second place was considerably darker fare, Sony’s “Morbius,’ which collected £3.2 million.
After four weeks at the top, Warner Bros.’ “The Batman” dropped down to fourth position in its fifth weekend with £1.2 million and now has a total of £37.8 million.
Rounding off the top five was Universal’s “Ambulance,” which collected £273,015 in its second weekend for a total of £1.1 million.
The big release for the upcoming weekend is the latest film in J.K. Rowling’s Fantastic Beasts franchise, “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore,” which Warner Bros. is opening across more than 300 locations.
Universal is giving a large release to Graham Moore’s “The Outfit,” starring Oscar-winner Mark Rylance, which had its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival in February.
The weekend also sees a number of other festival favorites getting a limited theatrical release. Mubi is releasing Tatiana Huezo’s Cannes, Palm Springs, Pingyao, San Sebastián and Stockholm winner “Prayers For The Stolen,” while Curzon is opening Juho Kuosmanen’s Cannes, Göteborg, Jerusalem, São Paulo and Valladolid winner “Compartment Number 6.”
Modern Films is opening Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović’s Cannes, Sofia and São Paulo winner “Murina,” while Other Parties Film Company is releasing Laura Samani’s Dublin, London and Seville winner “Small Body.”
Also opening are music documentary “All I Can Say,” the video diary of Shannon Hoon, the late lead singer of alt-rock band Blind Melon, from Bulldog Film Distribution; Irish horror “You Are Not My Mother” from Signature Entertainment; and Indian boxing drama “Ghani” from Dreamz Entertainment.
Ahead of the Apr. 12 Sky Atlantic premiere of “Julia,” a series on American cooking icon Julia Child, Sony is releasing “Julia,” a feature documentary about Child.
