La La Land lands at number one in the UK, should beat Hunger Games opening

The UK box office has embraced the revivalist song and dance numbers of the Oscar-tipped musical ‘La La Land’.

Director Damien Chazelle’s movie has landed at number one on its opening weekend, and distributor Lionsgate is reporting a haul of £6 million expected from the UK market alone.

That’s more than the opening box office for the first ‘Hunger Games’ movie, which made £4.9 million for the studio.

Zygi Kamasa, the CEO of Lionsgate’s European office said: “La La Land has touched audiences in a way that no one could see coming. With sell-out screens country wide, 5-star reviews across the board and unprecedented exhibitor support, our results show that this weekend everyone wanted to escape to the ‘city of stars’ that Damien Chazelle and his filmmaking team created so superbly.

“We couldn’t be happier with what the film has delivered and how UK cinema-goers have responded.”

The movie has indeed arrived to almost universal acclaim, with a sturdy 93% approval rating on reviews aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes.

Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian called it ‘a sun-drenched musical masterpiece’, while Sight & Sound said: “Chazelle has crafted that rare thing, a genuinely romantic comedy, and as well, a rhapsody in blue, red, yellow and green.”

So far it’s made $128 million (£106 million) internationally, after being given a wide release in the US on Christmas Day.

It finds Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone as a musician and an aspiring actress who fall in love to the backdrop of Los Angeles.

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