‘Scary Movie’ tops UK-Ireland box office; ‘Backrooms’ holds off ‘Masters Of The Universe’, ‘Obsession’ passes £10m

GBP to USD conversion rate: 1.34

Horror of various shades dominated this weekend’s UK-Ireland box office, as Scary Movie set a franchise record opening and both Backrooms and Obsession continued their strong performances.

Scary Movie opened to £4.2m for Paramount, from 576 sites at a £7,274 average. The sixth title in the horror parody series has recorded comfortably the biggest UK-Ireland opening for the franchise, ahead of the £3.5m full opening of 2004’s Scary Movie 3.

It has also overtaken the £2.5m total of the most recent title, 2013’s Scary Movie 5, will catch the £4.5m of 2001’s Scary Movie 2 this week, and is a good bet to overtake the £10.5m of the 2000 first film Scary Movie before the end of its run to become the highest-grossing title in the franchise.

Backrooms, the debut horror sensation from US filmmaker Kane Parsons, added £2.3m on its second weekend. This was a 47% drop from its opening weekend, but still enough for second place, and to hold off Amazon MGM Studios’ blockbuster Masters Of The Universe. Backrooms is up to an excellent £8.7m from two weekends for A24, with the UK release managed by Hamish Moseley’s Holdover and Ireland rollout from Dave Reid’s Beach Pictures.

Backrooms has passed the totals of horror titles including Saw 3D  and Saw III  (both £8.6m), Annabelle: Creation (£8.3m) and Longlegs  (£8.1m).

Masters Of The Universe started with £2.1m, from 610 sites at a £3,483 average. Including previews the Amazon MGM Studios title is up to £2.6m, with distribution handled by Sony.

Curry Barker’s horror Obsession posted another outstanding weekend for Universal, increasing its takings for a second consecutive session on its fourth weekend – a rarely achieved box office feat. The film went up 22% across the weekend with £1.9m, including an excellent 48% Saturday-to-Saturday uptick. Its £10.3m cume is more than 18 times its reported $750,000 budget, in UK-Ireland takings alone. The film also scored a £3,710 location average – higher than those for Backrooms and Masters Of The Universe.

It will top the £10.5m total of Jordan Peele’s 2017 horror sensation Get Out, £10.6m of 2023’s Five Nights At Freddy’s, and £11 of Paranormal Activity 2 – the highest-grossing film in that franchise – this week. At current rates Obsession will be looking to go well beyond £15m for its final cume.

Horror-related titles took up four of the top five spots this weekend, with new opener The Amazing Digital Circus: The Last Act landing in fifth place with an impressive £1.8m. The feature-length conclusion to the web series about people trapped in a virtual circus took a £3,082 average from 572 sites; and brought in a strong £2.7m total, having opened on Thursday, June 4 through Piece Of Magic Entertainment.

Takings for the top five titles increased 10% to £12.2m, with all five titles taking over £1.5m despite four being in or related to the horror genre. The top five figure was also up 27% on the equivalent weekend from last year, as June so far continues the positive box office movement from the first five months of the year. Contending with the horror holdovers from Wednesday, June 11 is Steven Spielberg’s sci-fi blockbuster Disclosure Day from Universal.

Michael  milestone

Star Wars: The Mandalorian And Grogu dropped 48% on its third session for Disney, with £1.4m bringing it to just shy of £14m total. It will pass the £14.4m box office total of the original 1977 Star Wars release this week, although given changing currency rates in the 49 years since then, a more useful yardstick is the £19.4m of 2018’s Solo: A Star Wars Story.

Michael has passed £50m after adding £1.4m on its seventh weekend in cinemas for Universal – a slim 23% drop on its previous session. It is up to £50.4m total, and now stands a decent chance of catching the £55.4m of 2018’s Bohemian Rhapsody to become the highest-grossing music biopic ever in the UK and Ireland.

The Sheep Detectives was shorn of 22% on its fifth weekend, adding £552,598. The Amazon MGM Studios, distributed by Sony, is up to a £9.2m total.

The Devil Wears Prada 2 added £541,735 on its sixth weekend for Disney – a 39% drop that brought it to £33.3m, overtaking Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides  (£33m) and Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes  (£32.9m).

Daniel Roher’s Tuner starring Leo Woodall and Dustin Hoffman experienced a 54% uptick on its second weekend, boosted by increasing its sites from 180 to 396. The film added £432,000 on its second session, keeping its location average above £1,000-per-venue, and is up to a healthy £1.1m.

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie added £144,436 on its 10^th weekend for Universal. This 36% drop brought the film to £38.3m total, ahead of Paddington (£38.1m) and Monsters, Inc. (£37.9m).

UK-Canadian comedy satire Savage House started with £125,000 from 308 sites at a £406 average for Paramount. Including previews, the film, starring Claire Foy and Richard E Grant, has £126,000.

Bollywood romantic comedy Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai opened to £54,721 for Bakrania Media, from 66 sites at an £883 site average.

The Christophers is now the second-highest grossing release of all time for Picturehouse Entertainment with £1.2m, having overtaken Pillion and The Party  (both £1.1m). It added £49,407 on its fourth weekend, falling just 16%, and is behind only The Wife  (£1.7m) among Picturehouse releases.

The Magic Faraway Tree continues growing through an 11^th weekend in cinemas for Entertainment Film Distributors. It dropped just 12% on its latest session, with £45,050 taking it to £15.1m total, above the likes of Disney’s Christopher Robin  (£14.9m).

John Carney’s Power Ballad starring Paul Rudd and Nick Jonas added £44,114 on its second session – a 76% drop that brought it to £446,212 for Lionsgate.

Shea Wageman’s animated Charlie The Wonderdog chased down £37,000 on its third session for Altitude, for a £385,000 lifetime to date.

Paramount thriller Passenger added £31,000 on its third weekend – a 76% drop that brought it to £874,000 total.

UK romantic comedy Finding Emily suffered a 68% drop on its third session for Universal, with £19,601 and a £585,634 total.

My Mother’s Wedding, the directorial debut of actress Kristin Scott Thomas, added £15,895 on its second session, and is up to £107,284 total for Universal.

BFI Distribution’s re-release of John Huston’s The Misfits, Marilyn Monroe’s final film role, took £15,233 at the weekend and has £18,043 including previews.

Still in cinemas after 12 weekends, Amazon MGM Studios’ Project Hail Mary added £14,995, and is up to £34.6m total. It is comfortably the Studios’ highest-grossing title to date, and has passed the totals of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (£34.4m) and The LEGO Movie  (£34.4m).

Pete Ohs’ Erupcja starring Charli XCX and Lena Gora opened to £11,921 from 46 sites at a £259 average for Vertigo Releasing. Including previews, the film’s full opening is £22,334.

Robin Campillo’s Cannes 2025 title Enzo opened to £10,354 for Curzon from 21 sites at a £493 average, and has £21,739 including previews.

A 15^th -anniversary re-release of comedy favourite Bridesmaids brought in £9,834 for Park Circus, with the film having made 23.1m on its original 2011 release.

Mortal Kombat II added £7,460 on its fifth weekend for Warner Bros, and is up to £3.4m total – the highest-grossing of four Mortal Kombat films to date.

Herman Yau’s Hong Kong crime drama We’re Nothing At All put on £4,667 on its second weekend for Trinty Film, and is up to £39,328.

Artificial intelligence documentary Ghost In The Machine took £1,030 for Miracle Comms.

Sicheng Chen’s comedy Being Towards Death took £745 from eight sites at a £93 average for Trinity Film on opening.

The Legally Blonde re-release added £656 on its second weekend for Park Circus, and is up to £47,653.

Kevin Short’s UK roadtrip romance Bonnie & Clive brought in £531 from a limited release for Miracle Comms.

• Scary Movie tops global box office with over $100m, Masters Of The Universe in second; Backrooms, Obsession both pass $200m