'King's Speech' and 'Black Swan' dominating British box office
"The King's Speech" and "Black Swan" are indie hits in the U.S., but in Great Britain, they're just plain hits.
The two low-budget specialty pictures took the No. 1 and No. 2 spots, respectively, at the British box office this weekend, beating such bigger-budget and seemingly more mainstream fare as "The Green Hornet" and "The Dilemma."
"The King's Speech," which stars Colin Firth as King George VI and Geoffrey Rush as his speech therapist, took the top spot for the third weekend in a row in the nation where it takes place. It raked in $6.5 million, down only 7% from the previous weekend, and has hit a total of $28 million, making it a major hit in the country.
The Natalie Portman psychological horror film set in the world of ballet, "Black Swan," debuted in Britain this weekend to a strong $4.2 million. Its first overseas weekend also saw a No. 1 bow of $3 million in Germany and a good but not as impressive third place start in Australia with $2.5 million.
"The King's Speech" and "Black Swan" have been breakout hits from the specialty films world in the U.S. and Canada but have not hit the top of the domestic box office charts as they have in Great Britain.
-- Ben Fritz
Photo: Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush in "The King's Speech." Credit: Laurie Sparham / Weinstein Co.
The reason The King's Speech and The Black Swan are No. 1 and 2 respectively in the UK is because the British have far better taste for movies than the Americans.
As a generalisation, Americans feed themselves with trash, The Green Hornet and The Dilemma, two movies with awfully overused plots and terrible ratings while we gorge ourself on culture and intellect.
Posted by: Steve Hansen | January 23, 2011 at 03:17 PM
It should be noted that although they're specialty hits in the States, Black Swan has earned $83.5M so far and should hit $100M within the next three weeks, while The King's Speech has earned $58.2M on far fewer screens so far and may conceivably hit $100M by Oscar weekend.
Given the money they're both making around the world, it is nice when art meets commerce every once in a while.
Posted by: Graham | January 23, 2011 at 10:27 PM
Really nice article. Thanks for sharing.
Posted by: Purchase Eyeglasses | January 24, 2011 at 01:25 AM
"The King's Speech" is a fantastic film and deserving of all the praise. "Black Swan, however is melodramatic nonsense. Expect it to drop out of the UK Top Ten when word of mouth gets out about it. I , myself have dissuading many people from seeing it. just terrible!
Posted by: griffin | January 24, 2011 at 05:54 AM
The King’s Speech to win the board! Colin Firth deserves to win Best Actor just like he deserved it last year too! Also think Helena Bonham Carter should be up for Supporting Actress, she is also amazing! But if Colin Firth doesn’t win, I will go mental! Come on Oscar, give it to KING Speech!I only recently saw it (downloaded from http://www.torrentoff.com )
Posted by: Merlin | January 25, 2011 at 05:50 AM