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This article is more than 2 years old

The winner: Black Panther

Having already impressed with its £10.5m UK opening, plus previews, Black Panther signals its likelihood for sustained success with second-weekend takings of £6.86m – a relatively slim 35% decline from the opening session. After 13 days, the Marvel film has notched up £29.5m.

For comparison, Marvel’s Avengers Assemble fell 39% in its second session, by which time it had reached £29.9m. Captain America: Civil War plunged 67% with its second frame, reaching £27.4m – although it’s worth considering that this was just a 10-day figure, since there had been no preview play for that title. The biggest tally for a Marvel film after two weekends of release was achieved by Avengers: Age of Ultron. It fell by 41% on the second weekend, reaching £32.3m at that time.

Globally, Black Panther is at $709m, with $404m from the US and the rest in foreign markets. The UK is currently the top territory for the film outside the US, with South Korea in second place.

The phenomenon: The Greatest Showman

Boosted by its release in a singalong version, The Greatest Showman saw box office rise again at the weekend – up 4% on the previous session. The film managed an impressive second place in the UK box office chart. That lofty chart position, and also a weekend box office above £2m, are both almost unprecedented for a film in its ninth week of release.

Long-running hits include Frozen (£778,000 and fifth place in its ninth weekend of play), Skyfall (£555,000 and sixth place for its ninth session), The King’s Speech (£1.08m and fifth place at this stage of its run) and Toy Story 3 (£583,000 and fourth place in its ninth weekend).

To find a film doing better than The Greatest Showman at this stage of its run, you’d have to go all the way back to February 2010 and Avatar. James Cameron’s groundbreaking film grossed £3.32m in its ninth session. At that stage sitting in second place, the film then returned to the top spot for its 10th and 11th weeks of release.

The Greatest Showman, which has reached £33.6m, has achieved extraordinarily consistent UK box office throughout its run. Its maximum for a single weekend so far is £2.58m, and its minimum £1.93m.

The indie hit: Lady Bird

Expanding from its initial tiny platform of 10 cinemas to 190 sites, Lady Bird delivered an impressive £942,000 for its first weekend of relatively wide play. Its site average of £4,959 is beaten only by Black Panther – although the Marvel film benefits from multiple screen occupancy in multiplexes.

Despite appearing in our Other Openers chart last week, Greta Gerwig’s coming-of-age comedy-drama has now been reclassified as a new release for the current session – and any previous box office now counts as preview takings. Including previews, the film opened with £1.23m.

Lady Bird was the highest-grossing title at the weekend among the major awards contenders, ahead of The Shape of Water (£900,000). I, Tonya, starring Margot Robbie as US ice skater Tonya Harding, grossed £835,000 from 318 cinemas at the weekend, but previews push its opening tally to £1.05m.

Among the major awards contenders, Paul Thomas Anderson’s Phantom Thread fell by a troubling 66% at the weekend, dropping to 21st place in its fourth week. The film has its enthusiastic champions, but naysayers include Oscar voter Jennifer Lawrence, who apologised for failing to last more than a few minutes when watching her awards screener.

The Baftas bounce: Three Billboards

Major wins at the Bafta film awards the previous Sunday, including for film and actress, saw a spike in attendance for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. Box office for Martin McDonagh’s film rose 24% from the previous session, for seventh-weekend takings of £514,000. Total so far is £12.5m, which compares with £4.9m lifetime for McDonagh’s previous biggest hit, In Bruges. Big wins at this Sunday’s Oscar ceremony could prolong its life.

The market

Thanks to the relative dearth of commercially potent new films, UK box office fell by 43% from the previous frame, but the market was nevertheless an encouraging 33% up on the equivalent weekend from 2017, which was similarly light on strong new releases. Cinema bookers now have hopes pinned on the coming weekend’s new titles, which include Jennifer Lawrence as a Russian spy in Red Sparrow and well-received US comedy Game Night.

Top 10 films, 23-25 February

1. Black Panther, £6,859,230 from 599 sites. Total: £29,540,019 (two weeks)

2. The Greatest Showman, £2,000,922 from 554 sites. Total: £33,563,952 (nine weeks)

3. Lady Bird, £1,233,508 from 190 sites (new)

4. Fifty Shades Freed, £1,190,524 from 512 sites. Total: £16,195,582 (three weeks)

5. I, Tonya, £1,049,551 from 318 sites (new)

6. Finding Your Feet, £923,220 from 489 sites (new)

7. The Shape of Water, £900,402 from 533 sites. Total: £4,427,458 (two weeks)

8. Coco, £759,419 from 590 sites. Total: £16,626,169 (six weeks)

9. Early Man, £563,868 from 607 sites. Total: £9,625,584 (five weeks)

10. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, £514,101 from 401 sites. Total: £12,456,741 (seven weeks)

Other openers

La Bohème – Met Opera, £309,799 from 207 sites (live event)

Dark River, £41,800 (including £25,682 previews) from 28 sites

Monster Hunt 2, £41,106 from 20 sites

Welcome to New York, £35,025 from 22 sites

Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety, £33,586 from 25 sites

Klases Susitikimas. Berniukai Sugrizta!, £16,065 from 14 sites

GujjuBhai – Most Wanted, £7,353 from seven sites

The Ice King, £6,178 from five sites

The Touch, £4,616 from two sites (rerelease)

Birth of the Dragon, £2,275 from 35 sites

Hey Jude, £601 from two sites

Native, £174 from two sites

• Thanks to comScore. All figures relate to takings in UK and Ireland cinemas.