Prequel Magazine

Which films performed best in UK cinemas this year?

This was a year of remakes, live action films and CGI. However, F1: The Movie raced to the top 10 with over 22 million in domestic box office numbers. It also scored a very respectable 7.7 on IMDb. Perhaps most notably, it is the only film in the list to be an original film – one that is not based on existing intellectual property.

Critics at the time called this a “spectacular macho melodrama” (Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian). But it also drew controversy when Bridgerton star Simone Ashley got her speaking scenes cut from the finished film. This can sometimes happen when the director and editors feel a storyline is hindering the narrative. Still, was it too “brutal” to cut her character completely? Maybe if they cut the scenes from the script before production, they could have spent less on the film and F1 would have been closer to winning…

How to Train Your Dragon: a familiar story and legendary soundtrack. The live action film was pretty much a scene-for-scene remake to the original 2010 animation by DreamWorks. Perhaps we should have expected that, since the original and remake share the same director.

The mythical Isle of Berk was filmed extensively in Northern Ireland, with key locations including the Giant’s Causeway, Dunseverick Castle, Tollymore Forest Park, and studios in Belfast. 

The Fantastic Four: First Steps is – quite ironically – the fourth time we have seen the superpowered family on TV. The first was a 1994 film, which received low reviews. Then there was the 2005-2007 films directed by Tim Story, which became fan favourites to some. After that, there was a failed attempt to rejuvenate the Fantastic Four story with a not-so-fantastic reboot.

Now, this seems to be the most popular iteration of the saga, with a score of 6.9 on IMDb. it is also number 8 on the list of box office hits this year.

The latest Mission Impossible film is the longest yet at 2 hours and 50 minutes long. Packed with more Tom Cruise montages, more dangerous flight scenes, and more drowning (after Rogue Nation, Ethan Hunt is two-for-two with being resurrected by a beautiful woman), it’s a familiar film we’ve seen plenty of times before.

Described as “a miserable, apocalyptic tract” by some critics (Nicholas Barber, BBC) and a “wildly entertaining adventure” by others (Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian), you’ll have to make your own mind up on Tom Cruise’s latest.

James Gunn’s colourful version of Superman is number 6 on the list, being a popular summer film suitable for the family. With gosh-darn-it sprinkled in as the go-to explicative, it takes a different approach to more broody versions of the well-known hero.

The slutty glasses makes it to the top ten with over 35 million at the box office. Jurassic World: Rebirth has made a killing, despite continuity errors, average reviews, a lack of familiar characters, and an overall mid story.

Ohana means family, and also great profits for Disney. Their CEOs must have been sighing in relief when this film made its millions back. After the Snow White flop, this film brought back a surge in interest for live action remakes. For better or for worse.

Unsurprisingly, this film made it high on the list. Wicked flooded people’s social media, becoming something of a phenomenon. Whether it was holding fingers and “holding space”, Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande gave us plenty of viral moments when promoting this film.

Bridget Jones was a high-performer in the box office, after 9 years since the last instalment in the series. However, it’s not number one…

(Un)fortunately – it depends on who you ask – the first place belongs to A Minecraft Movie, with over 56 million in the domestic box office. Arguably the most meme-worthy film of the year, it confused audiences with its utter ridiculousness and random trends. Shouting “chicken jockey” while simultaneously throwing popcorn at the screen being the most infamous. In our opinion, it was one flush from being full skibidi toilet and a few numbers short of 67.