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Daybreakers opens with $US15m

By Brendan Swift

Australian vampire flick Daybreakers has posted a solid US box office debut taking $US15 million in its opening weekend.

The result placed the film in fourth place at the US box office behind Avatar, Sherlock Holmes and Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, according to Box Office Mojo.

James Cameron’s 3D sci-adventure Avatar, which stars Sam Worthington, this week became Australia’s all time biggest film at the box office. The film has now grossed $63,240,995, surpassing Cameron’s last film, Titanic, which took $57,645,927.

Daybreakers, which was shot in Queensland and stars Ethan Hawke and Willem Dafoe, is released in Australia on February 4. The film paints a futuristic world where vampires rule, harvesting a dwindling supply of humans for food and desperately searching for a cure. 

The $20 million film counts Screen Australia and Screen Queensland among its investors ($5 million and more than $1 million respectively).

US distributor Lionsgate is the other major investor and released the film across more than 2,500 screens in the US. Hoyts is distributing the film locally.

Meanwhile, Jane Campion’s love story Bright Star returned a further $284,133 across 66 screens over the weekend. It has now grossed $1,921,805 in three weeks, according to the Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia.