Wolf pulls ahead

A week ago, contenders for the best picture Oscar American Hustle, 12 Years a Slave and The Wolf of Wall Streetstood more or less neck and neck with around £11m apiece. Now the Scorsese comedy has pulled ahead with just shy of £15m, compared with £13.69m for Slave and £12.2m for Hustle. The Wolf of Wall Street is already the ninth-biggest 18-certificate movie at the UK box-office, behind Hannibal (£21.6m), American Beauty (£21.3m), Seven (£19.5m), Silence of the Lambs (£17.1m), Bruno (£15.8m), Django Unchained (£15.7m), Basic Instinct (£15.5m) and Fatal Attraction (£15.4m). Wolf will very soon overtake the last four films on that list, and has a good shot at £20m lifetime. The Bruno figure includes some box-office for the 15-certificate version. Including Monday takings, Wolf is now at £15.17m.

With a 34% fall from the previous weekend, Wolf is demonstrating marginally better traction than Slave (down 36%), which benefited from a 13% expansion of screens. In contrast, Hustle is now shedding cinemas, and fell a heftier 43% in revenue. Speaking to the Times Magazine, Samuel L Jackson recently made wide-ranging comments about 12 Years a Slave, including one about its middling commercial performance: "Was the story worth telling? Yeah. Financially? The last count here was moderately OK." That assessment is more pertinent to the actor's home country, where it has taken $45.8m (£28.14m) to date – less than half of both Wolf of Wall Street and American Hustle. In contrast, Slave has played genuinely broadly in the UK, as director Steve McQueen acknowledged when accepting the Best Film prize at the London Critics' Circle Film awards on Sunday: "I have people in the street – builders, bus drivers – being so supportive to the movie. I've felt so much love for this film in this country and I'm so humbled and heartwarmed that it's from my own country."

The new arrivals

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For the first time since mid-November, no new release managed £1m at the UK box-office. Top of the heap proved to be dating comedy That Awkward Moment, starring Zac Efron. Local distributor eOne faced a tricky positioning challenge, since the film unfolds from the perspective of three male characters – which pushes it towards The Hangover or 21 and Over – but Efron is an actor more likely to appeal to a female audience, and his romance with Imogen Poots's character is the central storyline. Marketed as a ribald date movie with appeal to both genders, the film was maybe aiming for the crowd that embraced the Britcom I Give It a Year last February. An opening of £961,000 resulted, although this was boosted by Wednesday/Thursday previews of £184,000 – strip those out, and the weekend tally goes down to £777,000.

Having already flopped the previous weekend in the US, and toplined by second-tier star Aaron Eckhart I, Frankenstein never looked likely to perform well here. A debut of £811,000 may come as mild relief for local distributor Entertainment Films, although once again this figure was boosted by previews, without which the weekend tally dips to £648,000.

Down in sixth place, the Mark Wahlberg-starring Afghanistan war picture Lone Survivor, in fact did better than I, Frankenstein on a like-for-like comparison, since its £752,000 haul was achieved without previews. The number is not so far behind the three-day tally for That Awkward Moment, albeit on more screens (see Top 10 below).

The invisible winner

Tom Hiddleston as Coriolanus at the Donmar. Photograph: Johan Persson

Not included in the official weekend report since it occurred last Thursday, the Donmar's live transmission of Coriolanus was the real winner of the past week. The single showing on that date – as opposed to the typical 12 a regular film receives over the course of a three-day weekend play period – earned box-office takings of £754,000. With the odd repeat showing over subsequent days, the tally rises to £796,000, enough for fifth place in the weekend chart. Coriolanus stars Tom Hiddleston, and the sold-out run concludes on 13 February. The play was broadcast to cinemas in conjunction with National Theatre Live.

The loser

So far the 2014 awards race has produced few casualties, with even The Railway Man – which has failed to engage the attention of Oscar and BAFTA voters – powering its way to £4.65m to date. But Nebraska stumbled when it arrived in cinemas last December, and the film's significant nominations at the Oscars – including the key categories of best picture, director, original screenplay, actor and supporting actress – have arrived too late to help. Now Out of the Furnace – originally positioned as an awards contender – is the second of this year's crop to falter, with a weak debut of £191,000 from 211 screens, including Wednesday/Thursday previews of £36,000. The film is from director Scott Cooper, whose previous picture Crazy Heart won two Oscars in 2010, and stars Christian Bale, who is nominated this time for American Hustle.

The future

The February half-term holiday looms, and Warner Bros's The Lego Movie, officially arriving February 14, will be the one to beat. The film is playing paid previews this weekend, where it will doubtless pose a significant challenge to Friday's new arrival Mr Peabody & Sherman, the latest from DreamWorks Animation which is based on the 1960s US TV cartoon. There is far less awareness of the characters in the UK and Ireland though, so this could be a tough one for international distribution partner Fox. Also likely to pick up a half-term audience, perhaps surprisingly, is the RoboCop remake, since its 12A certificate makes it available to younger teens or children of any age when accompanied by an adult. The original Paul Verhoeven film was a certificate 18. Chasing slightly more niche audiences are Dallas Buyers Club, starring Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild award winners Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto, and Ralph Fiennes's second outing as a director, The Invisible Woman – in which he stars opposite Felicity Jones as Charles Dickens.

Top 10 films

1. The Wolf of Wall Street, £2,385,585 from 515 sites. Total: £14,964,390

2. 12 Years a Slave, £1,422,066 from 544 sites. Total: £13,693,375

3. That Awkward Moment, £961,167 from 345 sites (New)

4. I, Frankenstein, £811,365 from 384 sites (New)

5. Frozen, £777,670 from 507 sites. Total: £36,482,926

6. Lone Survivor, £751,564 from 392 sites (New)

7. Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, £665,007 from 440 sites. Total: £2,536,394

8. American Hustle, £572,485 from 378 sites. Total: £12,197,034

9. Inside Llewyn Davis, £437,532 from 228 sites. Total: £1,601,327

10. August: Osage County, £287,612 from 308 sites. Total: £1,269,680

Other openers

Out of the Furnace, £191,011 from 211 sites

Lost Illusions – Bolshoi Ballet, £58,510 from 148 sites (live event)

Eyyvah Eyvah 3, £14,125 from 4 sites

Enga Enna Solluthu, £5,649 from 7 sites

Journal de France, £4,767 from 5 sites

Salala Mobiles, £1,944 from 7 sites

Thanks to Rentrak