Robert Eggers’ vampire horror Nosferatu opens in 624 UK-Eire cinemas this weekend via Common, having made a wonderful begin since New 12 months’s Day.
Nosferatu took £1.3m on Wednesday, January 1 from 574 websites at a £2,247 location common; with an extra £870,000 on Thursday for £2.2m already banked in previews. It may turn out to be Eggers’ highest-grossing movie by the top of the weekend, forward of the totals of 2022’s The Northman (£4.7m), 2020’s The Lighthouse (£1.4m) and 2016’s The Witch (£1.2m).
The £1.3m Wednesday determine was the highest-grossing single day for a horror title within the territory since Disney’s Alien: Romulus opened with £1.4m in August 2024; and the second-highest within the final 12 months.
Impressed by F.W. Murnau’s 1922 horror basic Nosferatu: A Symphony Of Horror – itself primarily based on Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula – Eggers’ Nosferatu refreshes the story of a haunted younger girl and the terrifying vampire infatuated together with her.
Lily-Rose Depp, Invoice Skarsgard, Nicholas Hoult, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Willem Dafoe, Emma Corrin, Ralph Ineson and Simon McBurney lead the forged.
The very best-grossing horror of all time within the UK and Eire is Andy Muschetti’s It, which made £32.3m after an enormous £10m opening weekend in 2017; adopted by M. Evening Shyamalan’s The Sixth Sense, which began with £1.4m and ended on an enormous £25.8m in 1999. Publish-pandemic, Alien: Romulus is the highest horror with £14.2m (if Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, which made £26m, is classed as horror-comedy).
Nosferatu is a breakthrough lead movie position for Depp, who has indie credit together with Nathalie Biancheri’s Wolf reverse George Mackay, 2021 horror Silent Evening, and starred in HBO sequence The Idol final yr. Hoult is within the midst of a busy run, with Justin Kurzel’s The Order and Clint Eastwood’s Juror #2 in the previous couple of months, and James Gunn’s Superman, the place he performs Lex Luthor, in July.
Time for love
Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh, named Display screen Stars of Tomorrow in 2007 and 2016 respectively, lead John Crowley’s romantic drama We Stay In Time in 691 websites via Studiocanal.
The movie took £1.2m from two days of previews, setting it up for a full opening previous the £2.5m mark.
Written by Nick Payne, the movie follows an up-and-coming chef and up to date divorcé introduced collectively by an opportunity encounter. It debuted at Toronto, earlier than enjoying at San Sebastian, Rio, Athens and London movie festivals.
Crowley scored his largest hit thus far with one other romantic drama – 2015’s Brooklyn starring Saoirse Ronan, which made £6m via Lionsgate.
It’s a first collaboration for Garfield and Pugh; the previous returns to movie for the primary time since a cameo in 2021’s Spider-Man: No Approach Residence, whereas Pugh appeared in Dune: Half Two earlier this yr, and award-winner Oppenheimer in 2023.
Curzon is opening Ramell Ross’ Nickel Boys in 76 websites this weekend. Tailored by Ross and Joslyn Barnes from Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the identical identify, the movie follows the friendship between two younger African-American males navigating the trials of reform college collectively in Florida.
Having launched at Telluride in August then performed New York, Chicago, London and Stockholm movie competition, Nickel Boys is already an awards favorite. It’s nominated for greatest movement image – drama at this weekend’s Golden Globes, received film of the yr from the US’ AFI Awards and greatest director on the Gotham Awards, and has additional nominations from the Movie Impartial Spirit Awards and quite a few critics circles.
Altitude is releasing Asif Kapadia’s documentary-fiction hybrid 2073 throughout the following few weeks, having held an occasion launch with recorded Q&A with Kapadia on Wednesday and Thursday.
Impressed by Chris Marker’s 1962 featurette La Jetée, the movie analyses a world falling into authoritarianism, via the prism of dystopian sci-fi mixed with state-of-the-world documentary. It debuted out of competitors at Venice in September, occurring to play Sitges, DOC NYC and London amongst others.
Kapadia has scored robust outcomes together with his documentaries about celebrities who died younger, together with Diego Maradona (£974,552), Amy (£3.8m) and Senna (£3.2m).
Movies not within the English language launching this weekend embody S. Shankar’s Bollywood thriller Recreation Changer via Dreamz Leisure; Bala’s drama Vanangaan via DJ Tech; and Blazej Jankowiak’s Polish motion title Diabel via Magnetes Footage. BFI Distribution is placing Luchino Visconti’s crime title Rocco And His Brothers in 5 cinemas on its 65th anniversary.
Nosferatu could have sufficient to displace a powerful slate of holdovers this weekend, together with Disney’s Mufasa: The Lion King, Paramount’s Sonic The Hedgehog 3 and Common’s long-running Depraved.
