More horrible reviews by Australian critics than dung heaps, the so-called comedy Zookeeper upended the number one film of the last two weeks, Horrible Bosses, to take top spot at the weekend box-office.
From the stable of Adam Sandler’s new production company, the mirthless comedy starring Kevin James meandered its way to the top of the Australian box-office with a less-than-impressive $A1.8 million, one of the lowest totals of the year for the number one film.
Top 5 films
After spending two weeks in the top position, Horrible Bosses dropped one place and 32% on last weekend to $A1.5 million. Its $A8.7 million total is considerably higher than anticipated in a relatively poor year for comedies.
Red Dog continued its excellent run, dropping just 25% into third place after six weeks on general release, whilst The Help increased its takings by 14%. Making up for a generally underwhelming opening weekend, the record-breaking US civil rights film cleaned up $A1.2 million at the Australian box-office.
Rounding out the top five was The Change Up, the very film expected to take the number one spot, even though, like Zookeeper, it was savaged by local critics. Jason Bateman’s (Horrible Bosses) second top five film of the week hardly motored past $A1 million.
Arthouse and local films
With few new releases, the top 20 saw a weekend primarily of holdovers. Those blue cartoon characters, however, did give an indication of things to come as The Smurfs 3D, opening in Queensland alone, recorded more than half a million dollars. The Sony animation goes on general release throughout Australia this coming weekend and is likely to comfortably nab the top film position.
Irish comedy The Guard dropped just 10% in its third week and readily cantered past the $A1 million mark on just 65 screens, whilst Jane Eyre fared well in its fifth week, recording a mere 17% drop as the classic story passed $A3 million.
After last week’s sensational opening, Bollywood film Bodyguard disappeared from the top 20, to be replaced by another Hindi film – Mere Brother Ki Dulhan – at the top of the tree of screen averages. But at $A6,500 per screen and a $A91,000 total, the debut feature from writer/director Ali Abbas Zafar failed to come close to last weekend’s peak.
In spite of excellent reviews, British comedy Submarine failed to make much of a splash, submerged towards the bottom of the chart in seventeenth place with less than $5,000 screen average.
Five films scored more than $A1 million at the Australian box-office, but it was the first time since the beginning of May that the number one film failed to break the $A2 million mark when Fast & Furious 5 topped the charts in its third successive week in pole position.
Top 5 films at the Australian box-office, 8-11 September
- Zookeeper (Sony Pictures), $A1.8 million ($A1.9 million)
- Horrible Bosses (Warner Bros), $A1.5 million ($A8.7 million)
- Red Dog (Roadshow), $1.25 million ($A14.7 million)
- The Help (Walt Disney), $1.2 million ($A3.4 million)
- The Change-Up (Universal), $A1.1 million ($A1.1 million)
Keith Lawrence - Published writer of articles in magazines, newspapers and websites, predominantly on culture, alongside ghostwriter/editor/copywriter.
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