With Justin Timberlake’s latest, the sci-fi thriller In Time, debuting below par in the US, audiences in Australia delivered good news for Fox. With a $A10,800 screen average and a $A2.4 million total, In Time easily took the number one position for the weekend.
Directed by Andrew Niccol (Lord of War, Gattaca) and co-starring Amanda Seyfried and Cillian Murphy, In Time has received generally poor reviews. Yet Australian audiences flocked to the multiplexes to see the feature set in the not-too-distant future and Will Salas (Timberlake) on the run from corrupt police.
Top 5 films
Last week’s number one, Paranormal Activity 3, dropped to second, falling a respectable 38% in its second week to $A1.8 million. Arthouse darling Woody Allen and his star-laden Midnight in Paris moved up one position into third with the unusual feat of increasing its takings by 4% to $A1.1 million.
Only three films passed the million dollar mark, although fourth placed Contagion missed the benchmark by less than $A10,000. Dropping 37%, the spread of Stephen Soderbergh’s feature has been surprisingly contained to $A3.1 million.
New entry number two punched its way to fifth spot. The tough, violent Warrior with local hero Joel Edgerton took on all-comers and did not fare so well, struggling to $700,000. Excellent reviews failed to encourage audiences to take the risk to see the bloody film.
Holdovers, local films and limited releases
Former number one film Real Steel passed the $A10 million mark in its fourth week, as did Crazy Stupid Love in its fifth. The Smurfs moved into ninth position for the year with $A19.7 million but is destined to drop out of the top 20 in the next few days. After 13 weeks, Red Dog is still hanging on, falling just 16% on last weekend and has now notched up $20.8 million. Only seven other Australian films have achieved such a milestone.
Top of the screen average charts is Ra. One – the second most expensive Indian film ever made. The science fiction super hero feature was released at the end of October in India where, in spite of mixed reviews, it took more than $37 million in just five days. The Australian release was a little quieter - $A300,000 in its debut weekend. But with an average of more than $A11,200 per screen, the feature starring ‘the King of Bollywood’, Shahrukh Khan, easily topped the Australian screen averages for the weekend.
Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer came and almost went, failing to record $A1,500 in its first weekend, whilst the Ryan Gosling actioner Drive barely got out of second gear. Half a million dollars on 81 screens is not a disaster, but a $A5,800 screen average is well below expectations.
The Cup became the fourth local film of the year to pass $A2 million, whilst The Hunter will fail to reach $A1 million – in spite of Oscar-nominee Willem Defoe in the lead.
Top 5 films of the weekend, 27-30 October
- In Time (Fox), $A2.4 million ($A2.4 million)
- Paranormal Activity 3 (Paramount), $A1.8 million ($A5.5 million)
- Midnight in Paris (Hopscotch), $1.1 million ($A2.6 million)
- Contagion (Warner Bros), $A1 million ($A3.1 million)
- Warrior (Roadshow), $A0.7 million ($A0.8 million)
Top 10 Australian films of all time at the local box-office
- Crocodile Dundee (1986), $A47.7 million
- Australia (2008), $A37.6 million
- Babe: the Gallant Pig (1995), $A36.8 million
- Happy Feet (2006), $A31.8 million
- Moulin Rouge! (2001), $27.7 million
- Crocodile Dundee 2 (1988), $A24.9 million
- Strictly Ballroom (1992), $A21.8 million
- Red Dog (2011), $A20.8 million
- The Dish (2000), $A18 million
- The Man From Snowy River (1982), $A17.2 million
Keith Lawrence - Published writer of articles in magazines, newspapers and websites, predominantly on culture, alongside ghostwriter/editor/copywriter.
