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:
The Hold-overs:
This weekend Straight Outta Compton took it to the streets. So did it get that cash money?
AUSTRALIAN BOX OFFICE – SEPT 3-6
| # | Film Title | Distributor | Weekend Gross | Total Gross |
| 1 | STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON | UNIVERSAL | $4,528,824 | $4,685,614 |
| 2 | SOUTHPAW | ROADSHOW | $712,667 | $4,472,476 |
| 3 | VACATION | WARNER BROS | $578,330 | $4,071,084 |
| 4 | RICKI AND THE FLASH | SONY PICTURES | $574,768 | $2,085,654 |
| 5 | THE GIFT | ROADSHOW | $525,463 | $1,546,553 |
| 6 | MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: ROGUE NATION | PARAMOUNT | $521,626 | $15,372,392 |
| 7 | A WALK IN THE WOODS | ENTERTAINMENT ONE | $500,880 | $540,735 |
| 8 | LAST CAB TO DARWIN | ICON | $442,056 | $6,210,469 |
| 9 | TRAINWRECK | UNIVERSAL | $332,232 | $13,073,099 |
| 10 | AMERICAN ULTRA | ROADSHOW | $294,098 | $294,098 |
Source: Urban Cinefile
Expressing Themselves: Compton blasts into the top spot, demolishing the competition with $4.5 million, and making almost as much as the rest of the top ten combined. That’s some serious green they’re throwing around, and speaks to the audience hunger for original, entertaining stories in the midst of sequels, prequels and reboots. Keep ’em coming.
A Walk To Forget: A Redford/Nolte team-up should have been catnip to certain right? Turn’s out not so much. A Walk In The Woods only filled their camp to less than half capacity, walking off with $500K in the 7th spot. Seems the cineplexes weren’t big enough for two older-skewing pics as Ricki And The Flash continues to sing a pretty tune in 4th place ($574K).
Ultra Dud: American Ultra didn’t fire with its notoriously picky demo audience, and only just snuck into the top ten in 10th place with $298K. With an cool premise, and pretty good trailers, I’m a bit surprised that this hasn’t done better. Vacation would be stealing some of the comedy audience, but maybe this is the same audience that went crazy for Compton.
On The Outer: Debuting outside the top ten – Me And Earl And The Dying Girl (13th place, $212K) and most surprisingly The Transporter Refueled (14th place, $175K). I expected Me And Earl‘s appeal to be limited to the indie crowd (maybe finding some of the Paper Towns audience too), but I thought name recognition alone would push The Transporter sequel into the top ten. I would’ve bet on it beating American Ultra too. Seems that audiences can smell a C-grade sequel coming a mile away, and wisely steered clear.
Over in the U.S of A, War Room battled Straight Outta Compton for the weekend title during the notoriously slow Labour Day long weekend.
U.S BOX OFFICE – SEPT 4-6*
*not including the holiday Monday
| # | Film Title | Distributor | Weekend Gross | Total Gross |
| 1 | WAR ROOM | TRI STAR | $9,450,000 | $24,763,458 |
| 2 | STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON | UNIVERSAL | $8,850,000 | $147,785,705 |
| 3 | A WALK IN THE WOODS | BGP | $8,250,000 | $10,309,000 |
| 4 | THE TRANSPORTER REFUELED | EUROPA | $7,220,000 | $180,386,692 |
| 5 | MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: ROGUE NATION | PARAMOUNT | $7,130,000 | $7,130,000 |
| 6 | NO ESCAPE | WEINSTEIN CO | $5,448,000 | $18,449,079 |
| 7 | THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. | WARNER BROS | $3,445,000 | $39,374,148 |
| 8 | SINISTER 2 | FOCUS | $3,432,000 | $23,766,803 |
| 9 | UN GALLO CON MUCHOS HUEVOS | LGF | $3,421,000 | $3,421,000 |
| 10 | INSIDE OUT | WALT DISNEY | $3,226,000 | $348,299,280 |
Source: Box Office Mojo
Going to War: War Room is proving to be a profitable little movie for parent company Sony. Following it’s surprisingly strong debut last week, it overpowers the N.W.A to take the top spot this week with $9.4 million. Made for a paltry $3.5 million, so far it’s pulled in over $24 million from the faithful. Expect to see more faith-based movies getting the greenlight.
Down, But Not Outta: It concedes the top spot for the week, but Compton nears in on the $150 million mark, banking another $8.8 million. This has certainly been the bright spot of the American market in the notoriously hard August months (when schools and colleges begin to go back), and should hopefully show distributors that if they have a movie that people want to see, there’s enough space in the summer months that they don’t have to jam them into the May-June-July corridor. We saw it last year with Guardians Of The Galaxy, and now Compton just proves it.
Newbies Fizzle: A Walk In The Woods and The Transporter Refueled both did OK business ($8.2 million and $7.2 million respectively), but couldn’t overcome movies in their 2nd or 4th weekend. Doesn’t bode well for their longevity as we hit awards season and the big Oscar swings flood the marketplace.
Que?: The biggest surprise of the week has to be the Spanish language animated Un Gallo Con Muchos Huevos (A Rooster With Many Eggs), which in very limited release (395 screens) racked up an impressive $3.4 million. Examples like this and War Room just goes to show how under served certain segments of the audience are, and when something tailored to them comes out, they show up in force.
Up next week, Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials takes on Adam Sandler and the Pixels gang. Who will level up, and who’ll call Game Over?
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!