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, did audiences scale the Himalayas, or continue running the Scorch Trials?
AUSTRALIAN BOX OFFICE – SEPT 17-20
| # | Film Title | Distributor | Weekend Gross | Total Gross |
| 1 | EVEREST | UNIVERSAL | $3,202,094 | $3,277,030 |
| 2 | MAZE RUNNER: THE SCORCH TRIALS | FOX | $2,450,837 | $7,104,766 |
| 3 | PIXELS | SONY | $1,642,796 | $4,035,081 |
| 4 | STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON | UNIVERSAL | $1,230,583 | $10,218,710 |
| 5 | ODDBALL | ROADSHOW | $984,958 | $1,071,513 |
| 6 | SICARIO (PR) | ROADSHOW | $407,106 | $407,106 |
| 7 | BLINKY BILL: THE MOVIE | STUDIOCANAL | $253,148 | $335,015 |
| 8 | A WALK IN THE WOODS | ENT. ONE | $225,764 | $1,503,517 |
| 9 | THE GIFT | ROADSHOW | $163,702 | $2,302,040 |
| 10 | RICKI AND THE FLASH | SONY | $130,683 | $2,890,019 |
Source: Urban Cinefile
Climb Every Mountain: Universal’s true survival tale surged to the summit this weekend, as audiences flocked to get their adrenalin fix to the tune of $3.2 million. Presumably a good chunk of that total would have come from the higher priced large format IMAX and VMAX screens, the best way to take in the visually stunning disaster pic.
Watch You Don’t Get Burned: Down a rung, but by no means out of the race, Fox’s Maze Runner sequel continues to heat up theatres, adding another $2.4 million to it’s total. It’s running about 8% behind the original at the same point in it’s run last year, but is more than making up for that with a huge debut worldwide.
Oddly Charming: It was no Red Dog, but the latest family friendly canine feature proved somewhat popular with the family audience out on school holidays. Oddball chewed up about $984K worth of tickets for a 5th place debut. Not bad, but no blockbuster performance. We’ll see if movie-goers continue to pay attention as the holidays go on.
Blinky And You’ll Miss It: Barely registering in 7th place, Blinky Bill: The Movie failed to find the audience that it was looking for, stumbling on a $253K weekend gross. Things do look good for the little Aussie icon.
Surprise Surprise: After a less than stellar debut last week, audiences have continued to level up with Pixels this weekend, and it dropped a minuscule 18% to $1.6 million. I may have written off the Sandler movie too soon it seems.
Over in the U.S of A, Johnny Depp lead the mob against the Maze Runners, but who got scorched when the dust settled?
U.S BOX OFFICE – SEPT 18-20
| # | Film Title | Distributor | Weekend Gross | Total Gross |
| 1 | MAZE RUNNER: THE SCORCH TRIALS | FOX | $30,316,510 | $30,316,510 |
| 2 | BLACK MASS | WARNER BROS | $22,635,037 | $22,635,037 |
| 3 | THE VISIT | UNIVERSAL | $11,566,400 | $42,564,720 |
| 4 | THE PERFECT GUY | SCREEN GEMS | $9,751,801 | $41,462,273 |
| 5 | EVEREST | UNIVERSAL | $7,222,035 | $7,222,035 |
| 6 | WAR ROOM | TRI STAR | $6,215,991 | $49,054,653 |
| 7 | A WALK IN THE WOODS | BG | $2,808,717 | $24,868,233 |
| 8 | MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: ROGUE NATION | UNIVERSAL | $2,213,360 | $191,695,570 |
| 9 | STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON | UNIVERSAL | $1,907,980 | $158,859,240 |
| 10 | GRANDMA | SPC | $1,501,101 | $3,694,820 |
Source: Box Office Mojo
This Trial’s On Fire: Although not quite reaching the $32.5 million debut of it’s predecessor, Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials still managed a decisive victory this weekend, topping all others to run up a $30.3 million weekend gross. Their reign at the top will probably be brief however, as Everest expands wide next weekend and a flood of other releases hits theatres.
Second With A Bullet: Riding a wave of good reviews and Depp love, Black Mass fires into 2nd place with a strong $22.6 million gross. For an adult-skewing crime drama, this is a great start, and if audiences buy what they’re selling (and the award noms come rolling in), expect this to play well through the awards season.
Ain’t No Mountain High: Debuting solely in IMAX and other large screen formats, Everest thunders into the top 5 with a $7.2 million gross from under 600 screens. This bodes very well for the expansion next week, as more and more audiences (that may be adverse to paying the higher IMAX ticket prices) discover the against-the-odds survival tale.
Up next week, Hugh Jackman searches for the magic in Pan, M Night Shyamalan makes us scared of old people in The Visit, and Emily Blunt hunts down a drug cartel in Sicario.
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!