‘Calvary’ goes straight to the top of the box office, grossing €1.5m

It’s the home-spun box office draw of the year, grossing almost €1.5m in just over a month — but then it does have the Gleeson factor.

Against a backdrop of glowing reviews and the ultimate five-star rating from Empire magazine, Calvary is not only the biggest Irish film hit to date in 2014, it also recorded the highest opening weekend figures for any Irish movie released so far this year.

It’s fared pretty well too against non-Irish productions, coming in behind four other films that went on general release, including, in the top spot, The Lego Movie, followed by The Wolf of Wall Street, 12 Years a Slave, and The Amazing Spiderman 2.