British Box Office: 26-28 May 2025

Welcome to the start of a weekly series where we break down the British Box Office data from the past week, and look to the future to see what could be in store for the British Film Industry going forward.

It's been a rocky start to the year, with some highs and a lot of lows, so here's hoping for a strong summer movie season that has kicked off in earnest over the last couple of weekends.

This weekend saw the top two spots go to 'Lilo & Stitch' and 'Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning', which, between the two of them, managed to accrue over £18million between them, which has dwarfed the total box office gain of the last two months. Between that, and some decent performances from long-stays 'A Minecraft Movie', 'Sinners' and a surprising hold from 'Final Destination: Bloodlines' we have our highest earning weekend of the year so far.

Lilo & Stitch has also rocketed into the top 10 highest grossers of the year so far, settling in at number 9 for now, Just in front of 'We Live In Time', although that movie will be knocked off the podium with 'Missions' performance next weekend for it to claim that spot. In fact, it's looking likely that Mission and Stitch will hold well. If they hold like they have done in the States, then Stitch could likely claim number 6, coming ahead of Dogman's current £13.4million gross, and likely behind Disney's other tentpole release at the moment with Thunderbolts* (currently at £14.9mil). Mission could also see similar success, likely falling into number 8 or 9, between January releases Nosferatu and A Complete Unknown, again if it holds like the states.

The Duo also put up the third and fourth best openings of the year so far, behind current highest grossers Minecraft and 'Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy', clearing previous holder 'Captain America: Brave New World' by about £2million.

'Mission' shouldn't be eclipsed by Stitch, however. The eighth film in the Cruise-tries-more-elaborate-ways-to-die franchise sees the second best opening in the UK behind last years Dead Reckoning, and despite mixed reviews, promises of it being the last in the near thirty year old franchise has people going to check out the latest installment. Historically, Mission films have held quite well in the UK, as we seem to have a taste for spy films as evidenced by the performance of Black Bag earlier in the year, so we shall have to see who emerges on top.

If I were a betting man, I'd put out Stitch having the higher total, but Mission will overtake it in the top 10 in 3 weeks or so time. Disney pictures tend to be front-loaded at the box office, and the US shows a slightly deeper decline for stitch than mission (albeit lesson than a percent, so who knows).

Over in Marvel land, Thunderbolts* continues to underperform. Despite better critical reception than Feb's Captain America release, the film is falling behind it's predecessor financially, thanks to the saturated market. It's looking likely that Thunderbolts will come in as one of the worser grossing marvel movies. There's a good chance that it beats Eternals previous £16mil gross if it continues to stay in cinemas, but it's unlikely to catch up to Brave New World. Hopefully Fantastic Four sets the world on fire in July. It's struggling to catch up to 'Sinners', which is putting up incredible holds week on week. The original vampire movie was the subject of much critical acclaim upon release, and it seems the positive word of mouth is helping it to stay in the public conscious, enough to add £80k to it's overall total in its sixth week of release.

Minecraft continues its domination of the box office, extended its lead on Bridget Jones to be nearly at £56million in the UK. As viewership begins to decline, it will be a case of wait and see if Lilo & Stitch can leg out the movie to overtake it. Despite poor reviews and audience reception, the social media culture surrounding Minecraft helped bolster it to be the highest grossing movie of the year in the UK so far.

Just because Bridget Jones is in second place doesn't mean she's out however, as the movie is still in a handful of second run cinemas 14 weeks after its release. Having not had a cinematic release in the states, this feels like a smug point of pride for this brit over the US Box Office.

When the figures come out for this weekend, we'll be looking at how the performance of 'Karate Kid: Legends' has faired up against 'Mission: Stitch'. As the latest entry in the franchise, and blending the remake from 2011 into the canon, it'll be interesting to see if that can bring audiences in. My money is on stitch keeping number one, but it depends how Mission can stack up against the competition.