Carl Roberts 
Join Carl for his rundown of what’s hot and what’s not in the Official Film Charts this week
‘This is the greatest show!’. And so it has proven as I welcome you once more to the weekly chart rundown of what the viewing public has been grabbing while we are still in lockdown. This week has seen ‘The Greatest Showman‘ surpass 1,000,000 digital download transactions, the first film in UK Chart history to have managed to reach this incredible milestone. The Hugh Jackman musical film, based on the life of P.T Barnum currently sits on a total of 1,014,000 digital sales in total which puts it 500,000 sales ahead of its closest rival, the Oscar-winning Queen biopic ‘Bohemian Rhapsody‘. The film has spent an incredible 78 weeks inside the top 40 of home entertainment ever since it was released for viewing inside our own homes and on our devices. It even managed to beat ‘Avengers: Infinity War‘ to the title of the UK’s biggest home entertainment release of 2018 by double the amount of sales. Our congratulations go to Hugh Jackman and the entire cast and crew for hitting this fantastic achievement and I have to say, it will take some going to get remotely close to matching or exceeding the success the film has attained.
As for the top ten for the past seven days, we see a total of three new entries into the chart, one of which has finally broken the monopoly of ‘Bad Boys For Life‘ and ‘1917′ by storming its way to the top of the chart. The others are this year’s biggest Oscar-winning film and a horror/thriller from earlier this year before the Uk went into lockdown. Making way to accommodate these new titles, we say goodbye to the ‘Bad Boys Triple Boxset’, ‘A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood‘ and after lasting longer than I expected after its debut on Disney+ and Sky Movies, the force has faded from ‘Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker‘. So, what is the film that has dethroned those ‘Bad Boys‘ from the top spot and defeated ‘1917’ in the battle for chart domination? The answer may surprise you.
Despite awful reviews and terrible box office, our brand new number one is Robert Downey Jr’s ‘Dolittle‘. The first film from the ‘Avengers‘ actor since his departure from the Marvel universe has hit the top spot based on digital downloads alone. It has managed to sell 45,000 copies to swoop in. It seems that the viewing public and especially those with small children have grabbed the film to watch as a family or to entertain the children. This is even more important now that the government has done a U-turn on the return to school after the Covid-19 crisis. Although I still haven’t seen the film, it appears that despite what the critics have to say, the film is entertaining with fantastic special effects and Downey Jr is always watchable. As we continue with lockdown and are well on our way towards the summer holidays, it wouldn’t be a surprise if the film held onto a top-three place for a while.
Rising up two places to become this week’s second best selling release, once more those cuddly and lovable Lightfoot brothers have reached their highest chart position as ‘Onward‘ continues to sell, rent, and download well. The Disney film is also scheduled in several parts of the world to return to cinemas once they have re-opened again so the public can see the film on the big screen which they were denied when the world went into lockdown. Of course, its easier to watch the film in the leisure of your own home but, as I have always said, you can’t beat the cinematic experience and so the film will see a boost when it opens once again.
Finally conceding defeat in its battle to return to the top of the chart and falling by a single place, we find ‘1917‘ residing in the third place this week. The Sam Mendes masterpiece has been battling it out for chart supremacy ever since it first emerged onto the home formats and has been swapping places with ‘Bad Boys For Life‘ regularly. Now, however, it seems the battle is over between the pair of them and will now take place in the lower positions instead of at the very top.
Coming into the chart as our second new entry this week, we find this year’s biggest Oscar winner as ‘Parasite‘ enters the chart. The South Korean film, written and directed by Bong Joon-Ho struck a massive chord with the Academy voters, landing it with four awards with Joon-Ho taking home four statuettes for himself for directing, screenplay, best international feature film and of course, as one of the producers as the film took the best picture award. The black comedy thriller cost $11.4million to produce but went on to take a staggering $266million worldwide. It appeared on many critics lists as one of the best films of 2019, leading to many of Joon-Ho’s previous works being requested on all formats including cinematic re-releases of his former films and seasons of his work running at arthouse cinemas around the world. I haven’t seen it as yet but it is on my list of films that I must watch and appraise.
After trading places and blows at the top of the chart for the past few weeks with ‘1917‘, this week sees ‘Bad Boys For Life‘ take a four-place tumble to become this week’s fifth-placed title. The Will Smith and Martin Lawrence threequel has seemingly run extremely low on ammunition as it starts its slide down the placings. It still should hold onto a top ten place for a while longer yet though. You can’t get rid of the pair that easily!
We start our look at the bottom half of the charts with a surprise move up the chart, although only by a single place as ‘Cats‘ decides to claw its way out from the seventh position where it has left its litter tray for the past two weeks. Whereas ‘Dolittle‘ gained terrible reviews and box office but has managed to hit the top of the chart, ‘Cats‘ hasn’t made its way out of the bottom half of the chart even though its reviews are (slightly) better than the Downey Jr film. The box office was about the same though, very poor.
Sliding down the chart by four places from last week’s third position to end the week all the way down in seventh is Greta Gerwig’s acclaimed and unfairly awards season overlooked adaptation of ‘Little Women‘. However, the film has seen tremendous success in both the cinema and the home entertainment environments and can be considered a triumph.
Once more freezing itself into the eighth-placed position for another week, we find Elsa, Olaf, and friends in the Disney sequel ‘Frozen II‘. The film has GOT to be one of the years biggest selling titles already as it hasn’t been out of the top ten ever since it was released to view at home.
The final new entry of the week debuts on the chart all the way down in the watery pits of ninth position as ‘Underwater‘ swims its way into the top ten. The Kristen Stewart headlining sci-fi horror opened to mixed reviews when it hit multiplexes around the world and wasn’t a great success, pulling in $40.9million against a budget of $50-$80million. Depicting events onboard a drilling and research station at the bottom of the Mariana Trench which is struck by an underwater earthquake, releasing previously unknown and unseen sea beasties (as they always do in these movies), the film has the distinction of being the last film to be released under the 20th Century Fox name before new owners, The Walt Disney Company, re-named them 20th Century Studios. Still, it is entertaining enough and the strong performances and direction just about manage to keep the film from sinking to the depths.
And it just goes to show how much I know as last week, I said we would be saying goodbye this week to ‘Jumanji: The Next Level‘. Well, guess what? The film is a non-mover down at the foot of the top ten once again for another week. I’ve learned my lesson and am not going to predict its fate for next week.
Hitting download and keep from this coming Monday, we welcome Dev Patelalongside an all-star cast as ‘The Personal History Of David Copperfield‘ becomes available. The film is a comedy-drama film based on the 1850 Charles Dickens novel. Although boasting a top-notch cast and gaining respectable reviews, the film didn’t set the box office on fire when it hit screens back at the end of January. But to be honest and fair to the film, it came out just as the Coronavirus was starting to hit the world and that curtailed its financial prospects somewhat. But as we are soon to be afforded the chance to return to the cinemas worldwide, the film still has markets to open in and will be able to add to its box office haul as and when it hits screens around the globe.
Although it has made an impact on download and keep already as well as the home cinema one-off rental facility, this past Monday has seen Vin Diesel’s comic-book movie ‘Bloodshot‘ emerge onto the disc format, granting the film another chance at making an impression on the top ten and being able to physically own.
Another film that has seen a huge amount of success on download and keep already is ‘Birds Of Prey: And The Fantabulous Emancipation Of One Harley Quinn‘ starring the incredible Margot Robbie in the role that she was born to play. The film, despite rumors to the contrary, was a success at the box office when it was released back in February and Ms. Robbie will again play the role in the upcoming ‘The Suicide Squad‘ movie as well as being in talks currently to play her once again in a follow up to ‘Birds Of Prey‘. I mention this as ‘Birds Of Prey‘ finally hits the disc format this coming Monday, the 15th of June. Now, my copies (and yes, I meant copies, plural) of the film are already on pre-order to add to my collection as I have come to completely enjoy the film during the lockdown. I enjoyed it when I saw it at the cinema but I have to admit, I’ve watched it several times over during the crisis and can’t seem to get enough of it. It’s not only Ms. Robbie that impresses during proceedings but also Jurnee Smollett-Bell in the role of Black Canary. Surely, Ms. Smollett-Bell has to be granted her own solo movie as the character after her fantastic showing here. I highly recommend grabbing the film if you haven’t already got a digital copy.
So, what will be making the grade next week? Will ‘Dolittle‘ work his magic and stay as the UK’s number one movie? Will ‘Parasite‘ crawl its way into becoming a surprise chart-topper? Will ‘Underwater‘ manage to swim up the chart and surface on top? Will ‘1917‘ go to war against them all and grab its former place back again? Or will ‘Bloodshot‘ shoot his way into the chart again and claim the summit for himself?
Whatever you decide, whatever you buy, stay safe, be kind to each other, look after each other, and happy viewing!
Anyone wishing to buy any of the titles featured in the chart can do so via FindAnyFilm.com
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Carl Roberts is a Senior Staff Writer and Books and Literature Correspondent for Future of the Force. Aside from being our horror genre aficionado, he is also passionate about Star Wars, Marvel, DC, and the Indiana Jones movies. Follow him on Twitter @CarlRoberts2 where he uses the force frequently!
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Editor’s Note | All videos and information have been supplied by Find Any Film and used under authorization.
Future of the Force News Editor,Liverpool F.C fan,Halloween Movie Fan, Friday The 13th movies fan, Star Wars Fan, Star Trek Fan.
