‘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.

Reviews have been positive, with The Guardian describing it as “a terrific black comedy that touches greatness”, while Empire’s verdict is that it is “gripping, moving, funny and troubling, down to an uncompromising yet uncynical finish”.

Indeed, Empire goes so far as to compare Calvary writer/director John Michael McDonagh and actor Brendan Gleeson as a director/star team on a par with Scorsese and De Niro.

The Telegraph was less enthusiastic, however, describing the film as “groping for a catharsis it never quite achieves”.

Regardless, the public are voting with their feet, making sure this religious whodunnit generates plenty at the box office.

Gleeson stars as Fr James Lavelle, a priest who has a week to put his affairs in order after being told during a confession that he is marked for murder. The threat comes from a member of his congregation who was abused as a child and had selected Fr James to exact retribution for the crime.

The film also stars Kelly Reilly and Irish actors Chris O’Dowd, Dylan Moran, and Brendan’s son, Domhnall Gleeson.