Further Deatils Of Nativity 2's Opening Weekend At The Box Office


As we revealed on Monday, David's latest film,  Nativty 2 Danger In The Manger, had a brilliant opening weekend at the UK Box Office. It is No.3 in the charts and was the UK's best selling opening release of the weekend.

The Guardian say:

It may not have been a hit with the nation's critics, but Nativity 2: Danger in the Manger! proved comfortably the top new release at the UK weekend box-office, beating bigger-budget offerings starring Hollywood A-listers Cameron Diaz, Bradley Cooper and Jake Gyllenhaal. With an impressive opening of £1.61m, that's more than double the debut of the original Nativity! (£794,000) three years ago. Nativity! went on to accumulate £5.2m during its 2009 run, 6.5 times its opening, thanks to positive word-of-mouth among its target audience of families, and the natural tendency of Christmas-themed movies to sustain and build as the holiday approaches. A similar multiple would deliver a total above £10m for Nativity 2.
Debbie Isitt's original Nativity! flew relatively under the radar – the big festive movie that year was Disney's A Christmas Carol. But a 6 November release date for Robert Zemeckis's performance-capture animation meant many families were looking for fresh festive entertainment by December, creating a great opportunity for Nativity!. This year it's a different scenario, with Nativity 2 getting out a week ahead of the big Hollywood competition, DreamWorks Animation's Rise of the Guardians.
UK distributor eOne reports particularly strong results in Isitt's home town of Coventry, where the Nativity! films' fictional St Bernadette's primary school is located, and across the regions of Gateshead, Basildon, Trafford, Ashford, Sheffield, Didsbury and Milton Keynes. The original Nativity! is meanwhile riding high in the DVD charts, and has now sold a hefty 500,000 copies, despite being available only in limited windows for Christmas 2010, 2011 and again this year.
At Rotten Tomatoes, there is a notable disconnect between top critics (0% fresh), all critics (33% fresh) and site users (100% fresh, from 119 user ratings) on Nativity 2. Among newspaper critics, the London Evening Standard's Charlotte O'Sullivan and the Star on Sunday's Andy Lea are rare balanced voices in a sea of negativity.


BFI have full details of the weekend's stats:
ankTitleCountry of OriginWeekend GrossDistributor% change on last weekWeeks on releaseNumber of cinemasSite averageTotal Gross to date 
1The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2USA\£5,344,508eOne Films-662559\£9,561\£26,979,458 
2SkyfallUK/USA\£3,809,893Sony Pictures-325550\£6,927\£89,620,677 
3Nativity 2: Danger in the Manger!UK\£1,614,675eOne Films-1435\£3,712\£1,614,675 
4Silver Linings PlaybookUSA\£1,260,979Entertainment-1393\£3,209\£1,260,979 
5GambitUSA\£689,042Momentum-1380\£1,813\£689,042 
6Madagascar 3: Europe's Most WantedUSA\£637,130Paramount-346504\£1,264\£21,405,074 
7End of WatchUSA\£618,546StudioCanal-1278\£2,225\£618,546 
8ArgoUSA\£495,689Warner Bros-393290\£1,709\£3,869,361 
9The MasterUSA\£201,844Entertainment-464124\£1,628\£1,002,270 
10Jab Tak Hai JaanInd\£198,671Yash Raj-78264\£3,104\£1,302,581 
11Hotel TransylvaniaUSA\£123,159Sony Pictures-477317\£389\£7,722,310 
12AmourAut/Fra/Ger\£91,169Artificial Eye-21240\£2,279\£287,839 
13Dr. Seuss' The LoraxUSA\£63,648Universal39718163\£390\£7,693,671 
14Taken 2Fra\£48,58620th Century Fox-64879\£615\£23,458,794 
15Son of SardaarInd\£33,828Eros-84224\£1,410\£306,468

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