Paul Rudd’s turn as the miniscule hero of the latest Marvel adventure saw Ant-Man dominate Australian cinemas last weekend.
Meanwhile Jurassic World raced past The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the Ring, to rank as the sixth-highest grosser of all time.
Directed by Peyton Reed and co-starring Michael Douglas, Evangeline Lilly, Corey Stoll and Michael Pena, Ant-Man grabbed $5.4 million including $120,000 from the Wednesday night opening.
Pro-rata that’s in the ballpark of the US debut of $US57.2 million, which pundits rated as the second smallest opening weekend of all 12 films based on Marvel Comics, just $2 million ahead of The Incredible Hulk in 2008.
With the end of school vacation in the major States, Australian B.O. receipts fell by a moderate 19% to $17.1 million, according to Rentrak, but business is still tracking ahead of last year by about 14%.
WB/Roadshow’s Magic Mike XXL had the smallest drop of the holdovers, down 45% to $2.2 million, which brings the 11-day haul to $8.9 million.
Fox’s Paper Towns, a coming-of-age drama based on the best-selling novel by John Green (The Fault in Our Stars), starring Nat Wolff, Cara Delevingne, Justice Smith, Halston Sage and Austin Abrams, opened in third spot with a fine $1.9 million and $2 million with previews.
In the battle of the animated blockbusters Disney’s Inside Our advanced to $28 million and Universal’s Minions reached $30.6 million, both in their fifth frames.
Universal’s Jurassic World chomped up $1.08 million in its sixth outing, topping $51 million. Later this week the dino pic will cruise past Shrek 2 to rank at No 5 in all-time top 10.
The steady stream of Bollywood hits continues with Eros’ Bajrangi Bhaijaan, which stars Salman Khan as a former wrestler who, while shepherding a lost six-year-old, unites a family and builds bridges between India and Pakistan. The action-drama rang up $560,000 on 28 screens.
Sony’s Insidious: Chapter 3, directed and written by Leigh Whannell, scared up a fair $209,000 on 32 screens, a much more limited release than the second chapter which went out on 118 screens but finished up with just $1.5 million.