A perfect storm of factors combined to depress UK box office to its worst weekend in recent years.
Paddington 2 topped the box office again in its fifth week of play, with £1.69m pushing its tally to a sturdy £29.3m.
Omitted from the official box office chart, Sony’s franchise reboot Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle in fact was the highest-grossing title at the weekend, with box office in the region of £2.1m.
The weekend was not only the worst grossing of 2017, but the worst since mid-October 2013, when the top new release was flop Wikileaks drama The Fifth Estate.