Sony’s Resident Evil reboot went straight to the top of the U.K. and Ireland box office with a £4.2 million ($5.6 million) opening weekend, according to data reported by Variety. The result put the franchise ahead of a crowded field where a new family animation, a live-event documentary and a long-running Christopher Nolan film each pulled a different audience segment.
The top 10, at a glance
The weekend leaderboard shows the breadth of product currently holding screens:
- 1. Resident Evil — $5.6 million opening
- 2. Practical Magic 2 — $2.03 million weekend; $7.5 million cume
- 3. Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom — $2.2 million opening
- 4. Pressure — $1.4 million weekend; $5.8 million cume
- 5. The Odyssey — $794,765 weekend; $116.1 million cume
- 6. Spider-Man: Brand New Day — $772,975 weekend; $133.9 million cume
- 7. Oasis: Don’t Look Back in Anger — $659,899 weekend; $5.1 million cume
- 8. Bad Apples — $658,468 opening
- 9. Transformers: 40th Anniversary Event — $585,683
- 10. Insidious: Out of the Further — $263,374 weekend; $10.5 million cume
Marvel’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day added another milestone in its eighth week, moving to $133.9 million and taking third place on the all-time U.K.-Ireland chart, just behind Skyfall. That endurance matters for local distributors because it shows superhero titles can continue to deliver meaningful late-run revenue even after digital and home-entertainment windows are active.
What the numbers mean for buyers
For entertainment marketers and planners, the weekend offers three signals worth tracking.
First, a franchise relaunch opening at No. 1 is only the first data point. The more useful metric for Resident Evil will be its second-weekend hold, because genre titles can be front-loaded. If the drop is steep, the opening may be less about broad acceptance and more about fixed fan demand.
Second, Aardman’s Shaun the Sheep debut at $2.2 million suggests family animation can still carve out space against horror, thriller and superhero product. That is useful for buyers looking at holiday or weekend family slots, especially with several upcoming family and international releases arriving on Friday.
Third, event cinema continues to show disproportionate value for limited titles. Mubi’s one-night-only live Q&A for Pulp: What Do You Do for an Encore? generated $98,392 from 51 locations, while weekend encore screenings lifted the title’s total to $150,455. That works out to roughly $1,929 per location, reinforcing that live broadcast events can serve as high-engagement, premium-priced inventory even on a single night.
The next frame
Midweek, National Theatre Live presents The Misanthrope, followed by Paramount launching David Ayer’s action thriller Heart of the Beast, starring Brad Pitt and J.K. Simmons, across more than 300 locations.
Friday’s additions include Universal’s Sense and Sensibility, Neon’s thriller Hope across 100+ locations, Mubi’s Her Private Hell, and a 40th anniversary release of Michael Mann’s Manhunter from Studiocanal. Indian-diaspora planners should note Dreamz Entertainment’s Meesaya Murukku 2 among the international titles entering the market, along with The Vvaan and Mitrata from Bakrania Media.
Source: Variety
