World Movie News: The Last 24 Hours
Ramayana’s historic UK opening, Godzilla’s Japanese record, Jonathan Bailey & Bill Nighy as Hayes and Sacks, the AFM opens & Shaji Kumar is mourned.
Morning, all. Yesterday I promised you the UK-Ireland chart, and it has landed with a historic result, and Tuesday also means our weekly lap of the world’s other film industries.
UK and Ireland box office: For the first time ever, Asian films took the top two places at the UK-Ireland box office. Sony’s Ramayana: Rise of a Legend opened at number one with £1.7 million from 364 cinemas, a £4,749 average, and £2.2 million including previews. That’s the biggest opening ever for an Indian film in the UK and Ireland, beating the £1.6 million of Dhurandhar: The Revenge earlier this year. Anime Limited’s Godzilla Minus Zero was second with £1.1 million from 474 cinemas, a £2,396 average, and £1.4 million including previews. The concert film George Michael: The Faith Tour opened fourth with £1 million from 592 cinemas, and Wild Horse Nine was fifth with £1 million, taking it to £1.5 million including previews. Further down, I Play Rocky started with £566,000 for Entertainment Film Distributors, and the Park Circus re-release of Rocky took £56,500 at the weekend, with £72,200 including previews. Ramayana is also the widest release ever for an Indian film in North America, where it played at 1,433 cinemas and took $8.6 million over the weekend, and $12.1 million since Thursday.
The Far East: Godzilla’s Japanese record: In Japan, Godzilla Minus Zero has grossed about $17 million since it opened on Tuesday, according to Deadline. Its opening day, 3 November, took ¥910 million ($5.7 million), which is a record for a live-action film in Japan, beating the ¥840 million of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. In mainland China, though, there’s no Japanese film to compete with it, as Screen reports that no Japanese films have been imported to China this year, because of a ban announced roughly a year ago. The crime drama Traces of Justice reclaimed the top spot in its sixth weekend with RMB 21.5 million ($3.2 million), ahead of Resident Evil, which took $3 million in its fifth weekend, taking it to $76 million in China since 5 October. The wider market had its second-worst weekend of the year, with $16.4 million, and the year-to-date total of $4.75 billion is down 29% on 2025.
Jonathan Bailey and Bill Nighy to star in Insomniac City: The American Film Market, the trade event where producers and sales agents sell films to distributors around the world, opens its 47th edition in Los Angeles today, and runs until 15 November, with a new summit on the changing business and a heavy focus on the impact of AI. Fjord director Cristian Mungiu, whose Palme d’Or winner is Romania’s Oscar submission, is among the featured participants. Ahead of it, Jonathan Bailey of Bridgerton and Wicked and Bill Nighy of About Time and Joy have been cast in Dominic Cooke’s Insomniac City. It’s a love story about the writer and photographer Bill Hayes, played by Bailey, and the neurologist Oliver Sacks, played by Nighy, based on Hayes’s memoir. Altitude is selling worldwide and will take the project to buyers at the market. Elsewhere, Vera Farmiga will star in and executive produce Inferno, a supernatural thriller about Scotland Yard’s rumoured occult division, which Manifest Pictures is selling at the market ahead of a spring 2027 shoot.
Shaji Kumar: The Malayalam cinematographer, who shot the Mohanlal blockbusters Pulimurugan, Naran and Thudarum, has died at the age of 57, industry sources confirmed on Tuesday. He was working in Alappuzha on an upcoming film starring Dileep when he felt unwell at his hotel on Saturday night, and was taken to hospital. He seemed to improve, but his health deteriorated again on Sunday night. The FEFKA Directors’ Union paid tribute to him, and Malayalam cinema remembers him as a leading cinematographer who adapted successfully from film to digital. Rest in peace.
Birthdays: Taron Egerton, the Welsh star of Rocketman and Kingsman: The Secret Service, turns 37 today, and Sir Tim Rice, the lyricist of The Lion King, turns 82. The great Richard Burton would have been 101.
That’s all for today.
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