BOX OFFICE SUCCESS NOT SEEN SINCE TITANIC

GIVEN its relatively modest £74 million marketing budget and poor reviews it is perhaps unsurprising The Greatest Showman got off to a poor start. What is surprising is how quickly it recovered — and, indeed, that it recovered at all.

In the States, the film doubled its takings from £5 million to £10 million between the first and second weekend of its release, while in Britain, where it opened on Boxing Day, it came in third behind Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle, before steadily gaining traction and taking over £1 million on 12 consecutive weekends — staying power not seen in UK cinemas since 1997’s Titanic and The Full Monty.

Instead of its audiences steadily fizzling out, as is par for the course, the number of cinemagoers rose several times throughout that three-month period. Clare Binns of the Picturehouse chain, says: ‘Its audiences know they’re going to have a good time. It’s Mamma Mia!, not Birdman.’