UK Box Office This Week: Top 15 Films and Weekend Analysis

In a week of shifting momentum ahead of the Christmas period, the top five at the UK box office remained intact overall, while The Grinch made the most notable upward move over the weekend of 7–9 December 2018. The following summary highlights the current chart, weekend performance, and broader market trends, offering a concise look at how films are tracking as the holiday season approaches.

Weekend highlights: Ralph Breaks the Internet held the number one spot in its second weekend despite a 39% decline in box office receipts, reinforcing its solid family-audience pull. Meanwhile, The Grinch rose to number two after dropping only 14% from the previous weekend, demonstrating strong longevity and continued appeal for holiday crowds. As of this weekend, The Grinch has grossed £19.5 million, while Ralph Breaks the Internet sits at £7.4 million.

These results also underscore Disney’s dominance this year: with Ralph Breaks the Internet retaining top position, Disney has now spent a total of 17 weeks at number one on the UK box office chart in 2018.

Below is the full UK box office chart top 15 for the current week, including weekend grosses and cumulative totals.

1. Ralph Breaks the Internet (2) – £2.5million (£7.4m)
2. The Grinch (5) – £2million (£19.5m)
3. Creed II (2) – £1.7million (£6m)
4. Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (4) – £1.5million (£29.3m)
5. Bohemian Rhapsody (7) – £978k (£44m)
6. Nativity Rocks! (3) – £331k (£1.9m)
7. The Old Man and the Gun (1) – £318k (£318k)
8. Sorry to Bother You (1) – £250k (£250k)
9. Nutcracker – Ballet (Event Cinema) – £192k (£192k)
10. Robin Hood (3) – £147k (£2.6m)
11. The Nutcracker and the Four Realms (6) – £140k (£5.3m)
12. A Star Is Born (10) – £115k (£28.9m)
13. Widows (5) – £114k (£6m)
14. 2.0 (2) – £89k (£692k)
15. Die Hard – 30th Anniversary (1) – £87k (£87k)

Notes of interest

• The market was up 75% this weekend compared with the same weekend in 2017, even though there were no major new releases. That increase reflects stronger audience turnout and a positive environment for existing titles heading into the festive period.
• November overall finished 8% higher in 2018 than in 2017, indicating healthy month-on-month growth during a crucial pre-Christmas window for cinemas.
• On a year-to-date basis, 2018 is tracking approximately 3% ahead of 2017, pointing to a steady recovery for UK box office revenue compared with the previous year.

Looking ahead to the next weekend, several high-profile releases are set to arrive and are likely to reshape the box office chart. DC Comics’ action-adventure Aquaman and Sony Animation’s family-oriented Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse will both debut, offering fresh blockbuster options for different audience segments. Peter Jackson’s big-budget fantasy Mortal Engines is also scheduled to open.

Alongside these studio tentpoles, a number of documentary and specialty films are due to expand the programme mix. Notably, the acclaimed climbing documentary Free Solo and the intriguing true-story documentary Three Identical Strangers are both set to debut, providing alternative viewing choices for audiences seeking non-fiction cinema.

With the holiday season just around the corner, family-friendly titles and franchise films typically benefit from increased attendance, while prestige and specialty releases can find strong niche audiences. The coming weeks will be an important test for how new releases and holdovers compete for seasonal box office share in the UK.

For industry observers and cinema-goers alike, the current chart reflects a mix of mainstream crowd-pleasers and distinctive limited-release titles, demonstrating the varied tastes of UK audiences as cinemas ramp up for the festive period.