By Emma Brown and Brendan Swift
Award-winning psychological drama Animal Kingdom has taken $604,139 at the box office in its national opening weekend.
The debut film from director David Michôd posted an impressive screen average of $12,586 across 48 screens. Only indigenous drama Samson & Delilah has posted a higher opening weekend screen average over the past 18 months ($16,596 across 12 screens) among local films.
The psychological drama inspired by Melbourne's underworld was the fourth highest grossing film over the weekend behind Sex and the City 2; Prince of Persia: Sands of Time and Robin Hood. The Australian film won the 2010 Sundance World Cinema dramatic jury prize earlier this year and has received much critical acclaim.
Madman theatrical distribution manger James Hewison said a handful of extra screens will be added to its theatrical run over the long weekend while an estimated 10 further screens will be added the following weekend.
“David Michôd has delivered above expectation, as has the film,” Hewison told INSIDEFILM. “Animal Kingdom demonstrates that it can change the way the media and audiences perceive the quality of Australian film and their ability to hold audiences in Australia."
Meanwhile, Kings of Mykonos: Wog Boy 2 has passed the $4.1 million mark after adding $556,565 across 182 screens. Its weekend gross dropped 48 per cent in its third week.
The sequel to The Wog Boy is now the 51st highest grossing Australian film of all time.
Film
|
Budget
|
Distributor
|
Opening w/e
|
Box Office
|
Bran Nue Dae
|
$6.5m
|
Roadshow
|
$1,612,102
|
$7,509,061
|
The Kings of Mykonos…
|
$6m est.
|
Paramount/Transmission
|
$1,828,902
|
$4,180,609
|
Beneath Hill 60
|
$9.5m
|
Paramount/Transmission
|
$548,694
|
$3,115,513
|
Daybreakers
|
$20m est.
|
Hoyts
|
$1,064,244
|
$2,448,050
|
I Love You Too
|
$6m
|
Roadshow
|
$113,483
|
$2,358,853
|
Bright Star
|
$16.7m est.
|
Roadshow/Hopscotch
|
–
|
$2,157,601
|
Animal Kingdom
|
$5m est
|
Madman
|
$604,139
|
$721,206
|
Accidents Happen
|
–
|
Hopscotch
|
$39,721
|
$147,794
|
Love, Lust & Lies
|
–
|
Beyond Entertainment
|
$20,674
|
$106,137
|
Girl Clock!
|
$1m
|
Self-distributed
|
$8,857
|
$43,434
|
Separation City
|
$4.8m
|
Hoyts
|
$15,278
|
$32,159
|
Triangle
|
$8m est
|
Icon
|
$6,081
|
$11,282
|
Going Vertical
|
–
|
The Pack/Blue Sea Films
|
$3,879
|
$9,699
|
Savages Crossing
|
$3.5m
|
MediaKin/GAP
|
$4,432
|
$8,651
|
Playing For Charlie
|
–
|
The Pack
|
$2,665
|
$5,867
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total
|
|
|
|
$22,855,916
|