Pixar’s Onward Led U.K. Box Office Last Weekend with £49K

Pixar’s Onward topped the U.K. box office last weekend, July 17-19, for the second time in the three weekends that cinemas had been allowed to reopen.

The film led on the July 3-5 frame — the first weekend U.K. cinemas could open their doors after the Covid-19 shutdown — with £21,626. It then rose +62.2 percent to £35,086 from July 10-12, despite falling to second place behind a re-release of 1980’s Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back with £50,406.

In its third weekend back in U.K. cinemas, Onward regained the lead with another +40.4 percent increase to £49,271. Empire fell to second place, declining -33.8 percent to £33,343. 

For comparison, Onward led the U.K. box office over its original March 6-8 debut with £3,419,500 and again on March 13-15 with £1,272,748. The latter weekend was the last in which the nation’s cinemas were still largely open.

Onward is gradually increasing its presence in the market after the restart, reopening at 47 sites, followed by 95 in last weekend’s tally, to 123 in the July 17-19 frame. The animated title had played across 632 and 636 sites in its two March weekends before Covid-19 closures. Empire similarly increased from 101 to 115 cinemas.

The July 17-19 weekend’s top 15 films actually declined -10.5 percent versus last weekend, from £264,645 to £241,931. The top 15 films were down -99 percent versus this same weekend last year, when The Lion King led with £16,671,765.

Of the top 15 films on the July 17-19 weekend, seven were originally released within the past year, while eight were older.

Of the top 15 films on the July 17-19 weekend, 13 were from the U.S, one was from Australia (action thriller Black Water: Abyss, ranking fourth), one was from Denmark (animated fantasy Dreambuilders, ranking sixth).

The three The Lord of the Rings films will be re-released in the U.K. next weekend.