Ryan Coogler’s ‘Sinners’ starring Michael B. Jordan starts with £2.4m at UK-Ireland box office; ‘A Minecraft Movie’ holds lead, tops £47m

Ryan Coogler’s Sinners started with a robust £2.4m at the UK-Ireland box office, as A Minecraft Movie held top spot for a Warner Bros one-two.

A Minecraft Movie added £5.3m on its third weekend from Friday 18-Sunday 20 – a drop of 27%. Including takings on the Monday, April 21 Bank Holiday, the videogame adaptation is up to £47.4m, and has overtaken the £46.3m of Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy to become the highest-grossing 2025 release to date.

Minecraft should now catch the £54.9m of 2023’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie to become the highest-grossing videogame adaptation ever at the UK-Ireland box office; and is at 62^nd in the all-time chart, ahead of Minions: The Rise Of Gru (£47m) and Harry Potter & The Prisoner Of Azkaban  (£46.3m).

Sinners opened to £2.4m from 609 sites, at a £3,981 average; and has £3.3m through Monday. That marks a decent total for an original film; Coogler and lead actor Michael B. Jordan’s previous collaborations including Black Panther and Creed  have had long tails, so Warner Bros will hope Sinners can push beyond the £10m mark across its run.

Disney thriller The Amateur  starring Rami Malek and Laurence Fishburne added £903,139 on its second weekend – a slim 18% drop. The film has £3.3m to date.

Peter Cattaneo’s The Penguin Lessons starring Steve Coogan and Jonathan Pryce started with £772,196 from 551 sites at a £1,919 average. Including previews and a powerful Monday of over £300,000, the film has £1.4m in total.

A24’s Warfare started with £637,810, from 576 sites at a £1,307 average. The film had made £752,942 by Sunday, with final Monday figures still to come. It is down on the £1.6m opening of director Alex Garland’s Civil War from April last year; although up on the £315,950 opening of Garland’s film before that, Men, in June 2022. 

Takings for the top five dropped a slim 2% on last time out to £10m. However, the figures are still up 24% on the equivalent weekend from last year; and with several modern titles backing up Minecraft, April appears to be making up some of the ground lost during a sluggish March.

Kings rise

The live-action Disney Snow White remake starring Rachel Zegler saw a 14% escalate on its fifth session. An additional £471,275 brought the film to £10.8m, topping the £9.5m of 2021’s Cruella.

Six The Musical leads Universal’s slate, adding £409,909 on its third weekend in cinemas – a drop of 56%. The title, which started as an event cinema release but has now shown a decent tail, has £5.3m in total.

Universal’s Blumhouse Productions thriller Drop fell 47% on its second weekend, with £209,974 contributing to a £1m total through Monday 21.

Religious animation The King Of Kings saw a 100% escalate on Easter weekend, taking £169,889. Including powerful takings of £98,167 on Monday, it is up to £628,988 for Kova Releasing.

Indian biographical drama Kesari Chapter 2 opened to £123,800, from 119 sites at a £1,040 average for Moviegoers Entertainment. Including previews, the film has £157,842.

On its fifth weekend in cinemas, Curzon’s Flow saw a three percent escalate, with £122,415. The dialogue-free film has an impressive £1.9m to date, and should cross £2m within the next few days.

Trafalgar Releasing’s run of the first two episodes of the final season of religious historical series The Chosen added a further £91,937 on its second session – a 61% drop that brought it to £542,306 total through Sunday 20.

Entertainment Film Distributors’ Death Of A Unicorn added £67,782 on its third weekend, and is up to £1.3m as of Sunday 20.

A Working Man starring Jason Statham added £53,327 on its fourth weekend for Warner Bros, and is up to £1.9m.

A 20^th anniversary re-release of Wallace & Gromit: The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit made £44,650 from Friday through Monday for Park Circus; in addition to the £32m of the film’s original run in 2005.

Uberto Pasolini’s The Odyssey adaptation The Return starring Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche saw a 5% uptick on its second weekend for Modern Films with £38,153, and has £189,790 in total.

Animation Dog Man increased its weekend-on-weekend takings by 31% for Universal, with £26,661 bringing it to £13.6m from 11 sessions.

Bong Joon Ho’s former number one Mickey 17 added £24,898 on its seventh weekend for Warner Bros, and has £7.1m in total.

Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy added £23,465 on its 10^th session for Universal, for a £46.3m total.

Despite dropping five sites from its opening weekend, Louise Courvoisier’s French indie title Holy Cow saw a four percent uptick for Conic, with £22,689. The film has £98,204 and should cross the £100,000 mark shortly.

Steven Soderbergh’s Black Bag starring Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett added £22,636 on its sixth weekend, and is up to £3.8m for Universal.

Irish comedy-drama Four Mothers added £13,422 on its third weekend for BFI Distribution and Break Out Pictures, and has £219,039 in total.

Irish documentary Blue Road: The Edna O’Brien Story started with £12,096 for Modern Films, and has £22,439 including previews and Monday.

Daryl Hannah’s concert film Neil Young: Coastal took £11,062 at the weekend for Trafalgar Releasing, having made £128,575 on its Thursday 17 event release day. The film has £139,637, with music icon Young set to headline Glastonbury in June this year.

Paramount’s Novocaine added £5,600 on its fourth weekend, for a £1.2m total.

Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck’s Freaky Tales made £2,076 for Lionsgate, playing at London’s Prince Charles Cinema only.

Anime Kaiju No. 8: Mission Recon took £1,511 at the weekend for Sony, and has £31,962 having opened on Wednesday 16.