Oz is Great and Powerful at the UK box office

UK box office top ten and analysis for the weekend of Friday 8th to Sunday 10th March 2013...

Sam Raimi's Oz the Great and Powerful topped the UK box office this past weekend, although its £3,712,948 opening haul was far from spectacular, especially considering its $80 million dollar bow across the pond. Nevertheless, it was more than four times that of its nearest rival, with Steven Soderbergh's Side Effects pulling in a decent £904,746 to knock Wreck-It Ralph down into third in its fifth weekend. The Jason Statham crime thriller Parkertook fourth place with an uninspiring £568,777, continuing a run of dwindling box office returns for The Stath on both sides of the Atlantic, while the Guillermo del Toro-produced horror Mamaslipped two spots to fifth in its third weekend.

Having topped the chart last time around, the Jeremy Renner / Gemma Arterton fairytale reimagining Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters plummeted out of the top five in its second weekend, taking sixth ahead of the Seth Rogen / Barbra Streisand comedy The Guilt Trip, which opened with £432,068. As a result of all the newcomers, Safe Haven fell three to ninth, followed by A Good Day to Die Hard, which matched Hansel & Gretel's steep decline to finish up in ninth. Meanwhile, Tom Hooper's Les Misérables slipped four positions to round out the chart in tenth, with the acclaimed musical looking likely to finish up its UK run with an impressive haul of just over £40 million.


1. Oz the Great and Powerful - £3,712,948 weekend (New)
2. Side Effects - £904,746 weekend (New)
3. Wreck-It Ralph - £744,683 weekend; £21,459,657 total (5 weeks)
4. Parker - £568,777 weekend (New)
5. Mama - £525,672 weekend; £4,530,295 total (3 weeks)
6. Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters - £507,759 weekend; £2,651,393 total (2 weeks)
7. The Guilt Trip - £432,068 weekend (New)
8. Safe Haven - £407,293 weekend; £1,689,566 total (2 weeks)
9. A Good Day to Die Hard - £342,415 weekend; £10,401,957 total (4 weeks)
10. Les Misérables - £293,893 weekend; £39,552,600 total (9 weeks)

Incoming...

There's plenty to choose from in terms of new releases this Friday, including comedies The Incredible Burt Wonderstone (cert. 15) and Vinyl (cert. 15), thrillers The Paperboy (cert. 15) and Maniac (cert. 18), actioners Welcome to the Punch (cert. 15) [read our review here] and Red Dawn (cert. 15) [read our review here], and documentaries The Spirit of '45 (cert. U) and Michael H - Profession: Director (cert. TBC) [read our review here].