The Wolf Leads the Pack

The Wolf of Wall Street is the lone winner this week

Taking the top spot in impressive form with over £4.6m is Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street, knocking last week’s top spot winner, 12 Years a Slave, into a respectable second. Taking half a million more than 12 Years a Slave did in its first week is testament to the draws of Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio as well as the fact that some people are still not comfortable watching films about certain subjects, slavery being one of them.

Also new this week was fifth place horror film Devil’s Due which took just over £1m and knocked The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug out of the top 5, which for the first time took less than £1m. Last week we thought that Devil’s Due’s success would coincide with a drop in audience figures from Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones and it seems we were right as Paranormal Activity didn’t make the top 10.

Returning to the Top 10 in its 11th week is Alfonso Cuarón’s multi-Oscar nominated film Gravity; that shouldn’t be a surprise as it has had plenty of coverage with the release of the nominations. We think most of the audience for this release were people who haven’t seen it yet, but feel pressured by confirmation of high praise from much of the media and the staggering 10 Oscar nominations it achieved.

Coming Over the Next Week

For those who are looking for more action in their cinema visit this week, the opening of Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit could be the answer. This is the fifth Jack Ryan film and Chris Pine is the fourth actor to play him so it’ll be interesting to see the size of the audience this adaptation will draw; but we think it could be the top achiever of the new films next week.

Two films with four Oscar nominations already between them are available for the UK audience’s delectation, with both August: Osage County and Inside Llewyn Davis released on Friday the 24th January. August: Osage County tells the story of a reuniting family and stars the nominated Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts as well as an all star supporting cast including Ewan McGregor, Chris Cooper, Juliette Lewis and Benedict Cumberbatch. Inside Llewyn Davis doesn’t have a nomination for its actors but does have one for its cinematography so expect a visually stunning piece, and with a cast including John Goodman, Carey Mulligan and Justin Timberlake, as well as the Coen Brothers at the helm, it should be a strong draw and a mid table position next week wouldn’t be too surprising.

What are you looking forward to seeing the most this weekend? Let us know in the comments below.

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