World Movie News: The Last 24 Hours
The confirmed UK chart lands with Resident Evil’s franchise-record £4.2m opening; Hanuman Ansh turns a ₹2 crore budget into a ₹300 crore phenomenon; Dear Ajayi wins big at Venice Days; Nordisk Panorama wraps in Malmö; and Happy Birthday to Tom Felton and Billie Piper.
Morning all — the promised UK figures are finally in, plus a proper weekly tour through Bollywood, Nollywood and the Nordics. Here’s what happened in the world of movies over the last day and the wider week.
Resident Evil confirmed as a UK franchise record too: As promised yesterday, the confirmed UK-Ireland weekend chart is now in, and Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil topped it with £4.2 million — the biggest opening of all eight films in the franchise, more than double 2010’s Resident Evil: Afterlife 3D and edging past Cregger’s own Weapons debut. Practical Magic 2 dropped 47% into second with £1.5 million, while Spider-Man: Brand New Day quietly cemented its position as the third-highest-grossing film of all time at the UK-Ireland box office, now closing in on Skyfall‘s long-standing record.
Hanuman Ansh turns pocket change into a phenomenon: Zooming out on the week in Indian cinema, the standout story remains Hanuman Ansh, a devotional drama shot on a shoestring budget of roughly ₹2 crore ($209K) that has now breached ₹300 crore worldwide in its sixth week — one of the more unusual box office runs Bollywood has seen in years. Elsewhere, Mirzapur: The Movie continues to perform strongly in its second week, while Haiwaan has bombed badly, closing its opening weekend at a paltry ₹5 crore.
Dear Ajayi wins big at Venice Days: In Nollywood news this week, Damilola Orimogunje’s Dear Ajayi picked up two Venice Days awards. (Venice Days – officially ‘Giornate degli Autori’ is an independent, parallel section of the Venice Film Festival modeled after the Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes.) This is a genuine feather in the cap for Nigerian cinema on the festival circuit. Closer to home, Apple TV officially launched in Nigeria as part of an expanded iCloud+ bundle starting at 1,300 naira (just under $1 USD) a month, and the Cinema Exhibitors Association of Nigeria has set the 26th as this year’s Nigeria Cinema Day, with tickets priced at 3,000 naira nationwide.
Nordisk Panorama wraps its 37th edition in Malmö: And in the Nordics, the short and documentary festival closes out today after a week of premieres including opening film In Cod We Trust, Guro Saniola Bjerk’s portrait of a Norwegian fishing village, alongside Tuesday’s industry-focused Town Hall summit on the shifting Nordic documentary funding landscape.
Happy birthday to Tom Felton and Billie Piper: Rounding things off, happy birthday today to Harry Potter and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes actor Tom Felton, who turns 39, alongside Doctor Who and Scoop actress Billie Piper, turning 44.
That’s your lot for today — until next time.
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