UK Box Office 25-27 March

Replicating its debut in the US, LIMITLESS takes the number one spot with a healthy screen average. Although out of the Top 10, Herzog's CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS (distributed by Picturehouse Entertainment, the Dukes' sister company) opened with the second largest screen average (over £3k) of any film out. With only 23 sites, it grossed over £100K. Not a bad beginning to the 3D arthouse revolution.

1- LIMITLESS (£2,078,211)(New)
2- THE EAGLE (£1,036,688)(New)
3- A TURTLE'S TALE (£1,119,577)(New)
4- RANGO (£669,250) (4 weeks, total £5,890,532)
5- UNKNOWN (£476,260)(4 weeks, total £5,358,987)
6 -BATTLE: LOS ANGELES (£427,388)(3 weeks, total £4,270,480)
7- ANUVAHOOD (£391,812)(2 weeks, total £1,207,454)
8- CHALET GIRL (£339,328)(2 weeks total £1,305,404)
9- THE LINCOLN LAWYER (£323,163) (2 weeks, total £1,273,691)
10-HALL PASS (£303,699)(£2,609,822)

UK Box Office 18-20 Mar

The overall box office is significantly down as spring kicks in, scaring the hell out of exhibitors who've had a great first quarter. All the new entries failed to ignite ticket sales, including high profile Matthew 'shirtless' McCougnaghey vehicle THE LINCOLN LAWYER which was outgrossed by CHALET GIRL.

1-RANGO (£1,044,696)(3 WEEKS, TOTAL £5,020,115)
2-BATTLE: LOS ANGELES (£874,199) (2 WEEKS, TOTAL £3,453,441)
3-UNKNOWN (£775,258)(3 WEEKS, TOTAL £4,492,646)
4-CHALET GIRL (£681,405)(NEW)
5-THE LINCOLN LAWYER (£571,833)(NEW)
6-HALL PASS (£554,444)(2 WEEKS TOTAL £1,991,478)
7-ANUVAHOOD (£536,815)(NEW)
8-THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU (£532,655)(11 WEEKS, TOTAL £4,094,452)
9-THE KING'S SPEECH (£349,836) (11 WEEKS, TOTAL £44,011,080)
10- A TURTLE'S TALE (£324,545)(NEW)

UK Box Office 11-13 March

New entry WAR OF THE WORLDS-esque BATTLE: LOS ANGELES takes the top spot with a solid if unimpressive 1.7 million. The other two new releases in the top 10, HALL PASS & FAIR GAME fail to attract much of an audience. THE KING'S SPEECH, at its lowest position ever on this chart, clocks another 700K into its mountain of cash.

1- BATTLE: LOS ANGELES (£1,790,894)(NEW)
2- RANGO (£1,536,888)(2 WEEKS, TOTAL £3,612,765)
3- UNKNOWN (£1,037,502) (2 WEEKS, TOTAL £3,157,009)
4- THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU (£910,729)(2 WEEKS, TOTAL £3,080,931)
5- HALL PASS (£899,280)(NEW)
6- THE KING'S SPEECH (£689,299)(10 WEEKS, TOTAL £43,256,669)
7- PAUL (£559,411) (4 WEEKS, TOTAL £13,230,514)
8- GNOMEO AND JULIET (£551,802)(4 WEEKS, TOTAL £14,744,764)
9- FAIR GAME (£302,704)(NEW)
10- WEST IS WEST (£248,424)(3 WEEKS, TOTAL £2,091,615)

UK Box Office 4-6 March

PIRATES collaborators Gore Verbinski and Johnny Depp took top spot with animated (and 2D) flick RANGO, with solid but not spectacular results. Matt Damon, in one of two films out bearing his name (the other being INSIDE JOB, no. 25 on the chart) hit the second spot with the hard-to-market BUREAU. Incredibly, THE KING'S SPEECH is still within the top 5, and has now a lifetime gross of £42 million. This exceeds Charles Gant's predictions - could it become the no. 2 film of all time at the UK box office?

1- RANGO (£1,629,345) (New)
2- THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU (£1,392,625)(New)
3- UNKNOWN (£1,350,247)(New)
4- PAUL (£1,107,407)(3 weeks, total £12,204,690)
5- THE KING'S SPEECH (£1,072,130)(9 weeks, total £41,924,349)
6- GNOMEO & JULIET (£834,888)(4 weeks, total £14,067,243)
7- I AM NUMBER FOUR (£498,352)(2 weeks, total £2,590,583)
8- TRUE GRIT (£461,697)(4 weeks, total £7,472,755)
9- WEST IS WEST (£453,493) (2 weeks, total £1,620,958)
10- YOGI BEAR (£433,748)(4 weeks, total £8,215,536)

Uk Box Office 25-27 Feb

Half term holidays meant that GNOMEO & JULIET climbed back to the top of the charts, wiht other family titles still playing strong. Eight weeks after release, and with four Oscars in the bag, THE KING'S SPEECH is the film playing in most theatres across the UK. New openers failed to ignite interest.

1- GNOMEO AND JULIET (£2,497,665) (3 WEEKS, TOTAL £12,885,321)
2- PAUL (£2,079,226) (2 WEEKS, TOTAL £10,146,390)
3- YOGI BEAR (£1,463,297)(3 WEEKS, TOTAL £7,630,225)
4- TANGLED (£1,351,039)(5 WEEKS, TOTAL £19,150,591)
5- THE KING'S SPEECH (£1,207,962)(8 WEEKS, TOTAL £39,850,418)
6- I AM NUMBER FOUR (£1,628,522)(NEW)
7- BIG MOMMAS: LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON (£993,484)(2 WEEKS, TOTAL £4,079,795)
8- TRUE GRIT (£862,259)(3 WEEKS, TOTAL £6,426,423)
9- NO STRINGS ATTACHED (£978,974) (NEW)
10- WEST IS WEST (£753,698)(NEW)

UK Box Office 18-20 Feb

UNIVERSAL will be pleased with the very strong opening of PAUL, which despite a terrible poster and trailer scooped up £5.5 million, in an incredibly competitive chart. The overall box office is very healthy and will only get better as we approach half-term, with lots of family-friendly fare on offer. Bieber-mania fails to make a splash. The King's Speech continues its inexorable march towards world domination (and after winning all the Oscars, we'll be talking about it here for weeks to come.)

1- PAUL (£5,511,325) (NEW)
2- GNOMEO & JULIET (£2,216,219) (2 WEEKS, TOTAL £6,355,211)
3- THE KING'S SPEECH (£1,679,683) (7 WEEKS, TOTAL £37,122,370)
4- TRUE GRIT (£1,463,170) (2 WEEKS, TOTAL £4,553,805)
5- YOGI BEAR (£1,366,965)(2 WEEKS, TOTAL £3,858,744)
6- TANGLED (£1,291,618) (4 WEEKS, TOTAL £15,343,329)
7- BIG MOMMA'S: LIKE FATHER LIKE SON (£1,430,789)(NEW)
8- JUST GO WITH IT (£1,236,916) (2 WEEKS, TOTAL £3,766,221)
9- JUSTIN BIEBER: NEVER SAY NEVER (£817,894)(NEW)
10- BLACK SWAN (£692,531)(5 WEEKS, TOTAL £14,277,888)

Berlinale Roundup

Yesterday I returned from Berlin where I spent a week at the Berlinale, my second visit. Last year I blogged that the festival was a real downer in both tone and content, with a dominance of slow cinema, and frankly, unremarkable films. I thought it might have been an off year, but 2011 was yet another collection of mostly dour movies (with some exceptions, which I will talk about further ahead.)

This year I was there with two colleagues from the cinema, Rob Beames (Dukes staff member and writer for Obsessed with Film, Picturehouse Blog and his own, Beames on Film) and with Duty Manager Carina Volkes. You can listen to a podcast we all recorded together in Berlin at iTunes or at the Picturehouse website. Another podcast shall be recorded next week with a roundup of the festival.

One of the biggest stories at this year's festival is the presence of so many 3D features, many by acclaimed arthouse filmmakers: Wim Wenders' PINA, Herzog's CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS and Ocelot's TALES OF THE NIGHT being the three highest profile ones. This festival may mark a new beginning in the use of 3D outside of the blockbuster genre, as acclaimed filmmakers take on this new tool and apply it in unusual ways. Wenders has created a revolutionary performance piece with PINA, pushing the medium to maximum effect - I still haven't seen the Herzog, but we're installing 3D at The Dukes in order to screen it. Picturehouse Entertainment, a division of City Screen, our parent company, is distributing it in the UK and many of the cinemas in the group are installing 3D equipment ahead of this release. I believe this is a game-changing moment for the arthouse scene and 3D in this country, and eventually, in Europe.

Other highlights in the festival included THE GUARD, a hilarious comedy with Brendan Gleeson as a corrupt, perverse Irish cop; MAMA AFRICA, a documentary about Miriam Makeba, and THE DAY IS DONE, an experimental moving image project from Switzerland; and sitting next to Isabella Rossellini at the Bergman reception.