Paul Mescal as William Shakespeare in Hamnet / Focus Features
William Shakespeare film Hamnet made a strong opening at the UK and Ireland Box Office but was unable to beat The Housemaid to the top.
The movie, which stars Paul Mescal as The Bard and Jessie Buckley as his wife, pulled in £3.25m across its opening weekend for second place on the chart.
Meanwhile in its third week of release, The Housemaid – an erotic thriller with Sydney Sweeney – added an extra £3.52m for a total to date of £17.88m.
Avatar: Fire and Ash dropped from first to third with £2.6m for a gross of £35.81m, while Timothee Chalamet’s star turn in Marty Supreme was fourth with £2.04m.
Giant – a biography of boxer Prince Naseem Hamed featuring Pierce Brosnan – opened at nine with receipts of £371k, while a re-release of the David Bowie classic Labyrinth pulled in £321k for tenth.
UK and Ireland Box Office (January 9-11):
1. (2) The Housemaid – £3.52m
2. (-) Hamnet – £3.25m NEW
3. (1) Avatar: Fire and Ash – £2.60m
4. (3) Marty Supreme – £2.04m
5. (4) Zootropolis 2 – £1.23m
6. (5) The Spongebob Movie: The Search for Squarepants – £618k
7. (6) Anaconda – £526k
8. (7) Song Sung Blue – £436k
9. (-) Giant – £371k NEW
10. (-) Labyrinth (40th Anniversary) – £321k NEW
