By Brendan Swift
Local action-thriller Tomorrow, When the War Began has posted the third biggest ever box office opening weekend for an Australian film behind Happy Feet and Australia.
Stuart Beattie's directorial debut grossed $3.86 million in its first four days across 342 screens. That ranked it as the most popular film over the weekend and also gave it the highest screen average ($11,293) of any widespread release.
The film was also the highest grossing in New Zealand where it took $NZ358,653 over the weekend, making it the second biggest ever four-day result for an Australian film.
Paramount Pictures Australia managing director and vice president Australia/New Zealand Mike Selwyn said: "We are particularly pleased with the strong regional and country results to go with the excellent figures in metro and city areas and we are looking forward to the word of mouth reaching out to all audiences and strong results right through into the school holidays to help set up the franchise."
The film is based on the John Marsden classic and tells the story of a group of teenagers who, returning from a holiday in remote Australia, find their country has been invaded. They are forced to band together and defend their country against an unknown force.
Meanwhile, New Zealand film Boy has continued its strong run, dropping just 9 per cent in its second weekend with $250,413. The film, which is already the highest grossing NZ film in history, was shown across 41 screens resulting in a screen average of $6108.
The Tumbler, which opened at Sydney's Chauvel cinema over the weekend, took just $203. The film, which stars Gary Sweet, is being distributed by Peter Castaldi's Pack Screen simultaneously in cinemas, online and on DVD.
In North America, last year's top grossing Australian film Mao's Last Dancer has reached almost $US1.79 million while Animal Kingdom has taken $US573,000, according to Box Office Mojo.
Australasian films at the local box office 2010
|
Film
|
Budget
|
Distributor
|
Opening w/e
|
Box Office
|
|
Bran Nue Dae
|
$6.5m
|
Roadshow
|
$1,612,102
|
$7,565,476
|
|
The Kings of Mykonos
|
$6m est.
|
Paramount/Transmission
|
$1,828,902
|
$4,896,679
|
|
Animal Kingdom
|
$5m est.
|
Madman
|
$604,139
|
$4,870,107
|
|
Tomorrow …
|
$27m est.
|
Paramount
|
$3,862,193
|
$3,898,547
|
|
Beneath Hill 60
|
$9.5m
|
Paramount/Transmission
|
$548,694
|
$3,209,471
|
|
Daybreakers
|
$20m est.
|
Hoyts
|
$1,064,244
|
$2,448,050
|
|
I Love You Too
|
$6m
|
Roadshow
|
$113,483
|
$2,361,411
|
|
Bright Star
|
$16.7m est.
|
Roadshow/Hopscotch
|
–
|
$2,157,601
|
|
The Waiting City
|
$2m est.
|
Hopscotch
|
$136,892
|
$658,236
|
|
Matching Jack
|
$5m est.
|
Fox
|
$258,011
|
$764,389
|
|
South Solitary
|
$6.5m
|
Icon
|
$132,240
|
$561,386
|
|
Boy
|
–
|
Paramount/Transmission
|
$275,026
|
$725,584
|
|
Accidents Happen
|
$6.5m est.
|
Hopscotch
|
$39,721
|
$157,131
|
|
Love, Lust & Lies
|
–
|
Beyond Entertainment
|
$20,674
|
$136,595
|
|
Second Hand Wedding
|
–
|
Potential/Arkles
|
$13,680
|
$79,967
|
|
Lou
|
–
|
Kojo Pictures
|
$27,371
|
$59,505
|
|
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
|
|
The Nothing Men
|
Anchor Bay Films
|
$4,518
|
$6,679
|
|
|
Playing For Charlie
|
$1.2m
|
The Pack
|
$2,665
|
$5,867
|
|
The Horseman
|
$500,000
|
Umbrella Entertainment
|
$2,270
|
$3,328
|
|
The Tumbler
|
–
|
The Pack
|
$203
|
$203
|