'Project Hail Mary', 'The Magic Faraway Tree'

Source: Amazon MGM Studios / EFD

‘Project Hail Mary’, ‘The Magic Faraway Tree’

UK-Ireland top five, March 27-29
 Rank Film (origin) Distributor Mar 27-29 Total Week
1  Project Hail Mary  (US)  Sony  £4.7m  £15.1m  2
 The Magic Faraway Tree  (UK)
 EFD  £2.8m  £2.8m  1
 Hoppers  (US)  Disney   £1m  £10.8m  4
 Dhurandhar: The Revenge  (India)
 Moviegoers Entertainment  £664,346  £3.4m  2
 Reminders Of Him  (US)  Universal  £515,045  £3.4m  3

GBP to USD conversion rate: 1.32

Project Hail Mary posted a 3% increase on its second UK-Ireland box office weekend while The Magic Faraway Tree opened to a sturdy £2.8m.

Amazon MGM Studios’ Project Hail Mary brought in an estimated £4.7m on its second weekend session, with final figures still to come.

The film is now up to £15.1m and is already the highest-grossing Amazon MGM Studios production at the UK-Ireland box office, well ahead of 2024 Christmas comedy Red One (£8.2m). Sony handles distribution of the film in UK-Ireland.

Entertainment Film Distributors’ The Magic Faraway Tree started with a solid £2.8m from 700 cinemas, for a £4,051 average. It is only behind Hamnet (£3m) for opening weekends for UK-led productions in 2026. The film, starring Andrew Garfield and Claire Foy, will now look to grow beyond the £10m mark across its run, with £15m within reach with strong word-of-mouth.

Disney’s Hoppers posted a decent hold on its fourth weekend, falling just 17% for £1m, taking it to £10.8m total. It has now passed Disney animations including 2022’s Lightyear (£10.5m) and 2021’s Encanto  (£9m), with 1996’s The Hunchback Of Notre Dame (£10.9m) just ahead.

Last weekend’s number two Dhurandhar: The Revenge added £664,346 on its second session for Moviegoers Entertainment. That 59% drop brought it to £3.4m total, making it the second-highest-grossing Indian film of all time in the territory and with 2023’s Pathaan  (£4.4m) still in its sights.

Universal romantic drama Reminders Of Him added £515,045 on its third weekend – a 24% drop that brought it to £3.4m total.

Takings for the top five increased for a second successive weekend, up 12% to £9.8m, with the diverse range of films (sci-fi, family adventure, animation, non-English language, romantic drama) indicating a healthy box office. The figure is also up a substantial 139% on the equivalent weekend from last year. There is more good news to come for exhibitors, with The Super Mario Galaxy Movie starting previews from Wednesday, April 1.

Scream sets Paramount record

Horror sequel Ready Or Not 2: Here I Come dropped 34% on its second weekend for Disney, with £398,000 taking it to £1.4m total. It could still catch the £2m of the 2019 first film with another couple of weekends in cinemas.

Kirill Sokolov’s comedy-horror They Will Kill You opened to £287,791 from 490 sites at a £587 average for Warner Bros, with £325,911 including previews.

Bluey At The Cinema: Playdates With Friends, the latest cartoon collection released by Vue International, brought in £185,098 from 505 sites at a £367 average – slightly ahead of the previous two Bluey releases.

UK pub comedy Mother’s Pride added £148,852 on its fourth weekend for Entertainment Film Distributors. This 37% drop on the previous session brought the film to £3.3m total.

How To Make A Killing starring Glen Powell added £141,990 on its third weekend for Studiocanal - a 44% drop that brought it to £1.8m total.

Scream 7 Paramount update

Source: Paramount

‘Scream 7’

Scream 7 added £111,000 on its fifth weekend – a 44% drop that brought it to just below £7.8m. It is now the highest-grossing of the four Scream films distributed by Paramount; and the third-highest-grossing in the series overall, behind 1997’s Scream (£8.4m) and 1998’s Scream 2 (£8.3m), both distributed by Disney.

Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights has passed the £25m mark for Warner Bros, with a £96,026 seventh weekend marking a 50% drop on its previous session. It remains the highest-grossing release of 2026 in the territory.

UK crime drama The Good Boy added £91,800 on its second weekend for Signature Entertainment – a 25% drop that brought it to £386,467.

Now through a seventh weekend in cinemas, Sony animation GOAT added £80,603 on its latest session – a 36% drop that brought it to just shy of £13m.

Park Circus’s 30th anniversary re-release of Baz Luhmann’s Romeo + Juliet brought in £66,304, from 314 sites at a £211 average. The film made £7.4m on its original 1997 UK-Ireland release; with an additional £3.3m through its 2018 Secret Cinema premium experience release.

British-Asian crime drama Apnas posted a solid hold on its second weekend for Munro Film, falling just 9% with £50,338 taking it to £155,719.

Colin McIvor’s UK-Irish crime thriller No Ordinary Heist, based on the real events of the 2004 Northern Bank robbery in Ireland, opened to £50,058 from 65 locations including previews, at a £770 site average. Its overall opening landed in fifth place at the Irish box office.

UK-produced drama Midwinter Break added £43,242 on its second weekend for Universal - a 21% drop that brought the film to £193,647 overall.

Paolo Sorrentino’s La Grazia added £39,304 on its second weekend for Mubi – an 18% drop that brought it to £178,716 total.

US comedy-drama Splitsville opened to £38,144 from 162 sites at a £240 average for Universal, with £40,539 including previews.

On its fifth weekend in cinemas, concert film EPiC: Elvis Presley In Concert fell 32%, with £30,821 taking it to £3.7m overall.

Sergei Loznitsa’s Cannes 2025 title Two Prosecutors opened to £26,795 from 28 sites at a £957 average for Curzon, with final figures still to come in. The film has £38,679 in total.

Kleber Mendonça Filho’s The Secret Agent starring Wagner Moura added £25,594 on its sixth weekend in cinemas, and is up to almost £1.3m total for Mubi.

Chloe Zhao’s Hamnet is just shy of £19m for Universal, having added £21,618 on the 12th weekend of an excellent theatrical run.

Raoul Peck’s documentary Orwell: 2+2=5 started with £21,000 for Altitude, from 24 sites at an £875 average – a reasonable figure in the current theatrical climate for documentaries. The film has £39,000 including previews.

Vertigo Releasing’sDead Man’s Wire added £8,524 on its second weekend in cinemas, and is up to £71,207.

Baku Kinoshita’s anime The Last Blossom took £6,025 at the weekend for Anime Ltd, at a £114 average from 53 sites, and with £12,508 including preview screenings.

Event cinema release Exhibition On Screen: Turner & Constable added £3,190 on a second weekend for Seventh Art, and is up to £360,724 total.

Trafalgar Releasing’s event cinema title Bring Me The Horizon L.I.V.E. In Sao Paulo took £127,501 from Thursday to Sunday; and has £253,635 in total.