BOX OFFICE SHOWDOWN – AUG 27-30 – MERYL SINGS, SOUTHPAW SWINGS

Every week we dissect the good, the bad, and the bombs of the Aussie box office world. No talk of box office would be complete without mention of the US, so we’ll also take a look at what’s hitting big, what’s not, and where our refined Aussie movie palates differ from our blockbuster loving American brethren (Hot tip – probably not all that much). Let’s dig in…

The Challengers:

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The Hold-overs:

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This weekend four new releases tried to rival the one-two punch of Vacation and Southpaw. Did any of the newcomers score a knockout?

AUSTRALIAN BOX OFFICE – AUGUST 27-30

# Film Title Distributor Weekend Gross Total Gross
1 SOUTHPAW ROADSHOW $1,302,499 $3,388,686
2 VACATION WARNER BROS $1,095,981 $3,227,613
3 RICKI AND THE FLASH SONY PICTURES $939,333 $1,085,779
4 TRAINWRECK UNIVERSAL $792,457 $12,527,375
5 THE GIFR ROADSHOW $777,296 $778,390
6 MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: ROGUE NATION PARAMOUNT $729,436 $14,649,615
7 LAST CAB TO DARWIN ICON $657,765 $5,486,819
8 HITMAN: AGENT 47 FOX $593,174 $1,897,801
9 THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. WARNER BROS $479,830 $3,871,717
10 WAR ROOM CROSSROADS $260,947 $260,947

 

 

 

Source: Urban Cinefile

Knockout Punch: Southpaw knocked down last week’s champ Vacation in a convincing victory for the weekend title. Dipping a slim 16%, this prize fighter looks fighting fit heading into the start of the awards corridor of September/October. Look for it to hang in for a few more rounds yet.

No Flash In The Pan: Meryl Streep musical drama Ricki And The Flash makes a strong debut on the charts, settling into the 3rd spot behind Vacation. It seems that memories of Mamma Mia aren’t as strong, or as horrifying, for the general public as they are for me, go figure.

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Return To Sender?: A muted reception for Joel Edgerton’s directorial effort The Gift. In 138 theatres, it’s a smaller release than others in the top 10 and outside (*cough* We Are Your Friends *cough*), so it managed a decent $5600 per screen average. Still, for all the press that the movie got and the promotional push behind it (the poster seemed to be on every bus shelter I saw this week), I’m sure Roadshow was hoping for more.

Biggest Surprise: Faith-based film War Room fires into the top 10 with a $260K total from 32 screens for an $8800 average. It seems that movie studios are still surprised that religious films connect with their audience, when it should be well-known by now that, as Kevin Costner in Field Of Dreams learned, “if you build it, they will come” and in this case, come in droves.

Friend request declined: Coming in behind War Room and local entry Holding The Man (also in limited release), Zac Efron’s new EDM drama We Are Your Friends found none. Earning a dismal $229K from 161 theatres, there’s not much to celebrate here, but at least Efron has the Bad Neighbours sequel to fall back on. At least it beat She’s Funny That Way ($88k in 19th place), but that’s not saying a lot because it was in 4 times as many theatres.

Over in the U.S of A, Straight Outta Compton makes it 3-for-3 as it holds down the top spot on a slow weekend.

U.S BOX OFFICE – AUG 28-30

# Film Title Distributor Weekend Gross Total Gross
1 STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON UNIVERSAL $13,133,560 $134,019,735
2 WAR ROOM TRI STAR $11,351,389 $11,351,389
3 MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: ROGUE NATION PARAMOUNT $8,155,581 $170,242,111
4 NO ESCAPE WEINSTEIN CO $8,111,264 $10,172,124
5 SINISTER 2 FOCUS $4,665,341 $18,526,943
6 THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. WARNER BROS $4,431,136 $34,142,762
7 HITMAN: AGENT 47 FOX $4,224,446 $15,645,177
8 ANT-MAN WALT DISNEY $3,073,116 $169,205,642
9 JURASSIC WORLD UNIVERSAL $3,010,770 $642,978,555
10 THE GIFT STX $3,004,313 $35,830,756

 

 

 

 Source: Box Office Mojo

Not Outta The Top Spot: Compton three-peats in the top spot as audiences continue to embrace it over the new offerings. Hopefully this will lead distributors to see that if you release a good movie during the August period, instead of the regular dross that fouls up the last month of the American summer, the people will turn up.

Declaring War: War Room, the latest Christian faith-based movie from the director of Bulletproof and Courageous (both also faith-based dramas), continues the trend of religious movies doing well in the US. After this and God’s Not Dead, it’s still surprising to me that people are shocked when these movies do well. There’s obviously a fervent audience for them, and they’re not the audience that is taking in Vacation or Sinister 2. Regardless of what you think of the movie based on craft or content, you’ve got to appreciate that they know their audience well, and cater to them accordingly.

No Breakout: No Escape, funny-man Owen Wilson’s first return to action since Behind Enemy Lines, doesn’t really make the case for a change in genre any time soon with a 4th place finish on $8.11 million. Even teaming up with Bond himself, Pierce Brosnan, can’t elevate this actioner above the N.W.A, J.C, or M.I.

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Who Are Your Friends?: Barely making a blip, and registering one of the worst openings for a wide release of all time, Zac Efron-starrer We Are Your Friends realised too late that it had none, tripping into 14th place with a paltry $1.7 million. We’re in The Adventures Of Pluto Nash territory here folks, and the only saving grace for this dud is that the budget is probably minimal so the write-off for Warner Bros won’t be that bad.

Up next week, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube and the boys hit local shores, The Transporter gets Refueled (sans Jason Statham), War-time drama Little Boy aims for the adult heartstrings, and Robert Redford and Nick Nolte take A Walk In The Woods.

So there you go folks, any surprises? Everything pan out just as you suspected? Hit us up in the comments and let us know what you’re enjoying at the multiplex. Also, if there’s anything you’d like to see us cover in the world of box office, speak up and let your opinion be known!

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