The first and second week of the year in cinemas is always a tough one for films to break out.
Very often, there's big blockbusters hanging over from the Christmas period and you've got the Oscar prestige films coming in as well. Not only that, you've got schlocky horrors like The Bye Bye Man interloping with a few other outliers in there as well. This week's box office report should make for good reading for La La Land's producers, as the film danced its way to the top of the Irish box office with €455,097 on its opening weekend.
Live By Night, Ben Affleck's crime saga set in the '30s, came in second with €118,128. Disney own the third and fourth places, with Christmas leftovers Moana and Rogue One now with totals of €1.7 million and €3.5 million respectively. Rogue One accumulated that sum in five weeks, compared to Moana's seven weeks.
Further down the list, Manchester By The Sea took in €72,641 - but it's worth keeping in mind that it had a much, much smaller release than the likes of La La Land or Live By Night. Assassin's Creed, meanwhile, suffered a 53% drop in takings on its second week, earning €79,413 this time out.
The Bye Bye Man, meanwhile, managed to scare up a paltry €54,417 whilst Passengers comes in 10th place with €50,848 for a total so far of €838,490.
Overall, it's largely as expected. Many cinemas were sold out of screenings for La La Land and it's likely that the positive word-of-mouth will stave off the dreaded second week drop.
