'Spider-Man: Homecoming.'
Sony’s $US175 million bet on rebooting the flagging Spider-Man franchise looks like paying off as Spider-Man: Homecoming smashed opening records for the series in 56 international markets last weekend, including Australia.
The action-adventure starring 20-year-old Tom Holland as Peter Parker, alongside Robert Downey Jr and Chris Evans, rang up $10.1 million on 285 locations for a whopping screen average of $36,000.
That obliterates the $5.3 million debut of The Amazing Spider Man 2: Rise of Electro in 2014, which finished up earning just $16 million.
Just the second feature directed by Jon Watts, who made his debut with the obscure 2015 thriller Cop Car, the Marvel Studios/Pascal Pictures production raked in an estimated $116 million in the US, the studio’s second biggest opening behind Spider-Man 3’s $151.1 million in 2007, and $140 million on 23,400 screens internationally.
In Oz the top 20 titles’ receipts shot up by 58 per cent to $22.5 million, according to Numero, thanks to Spidey, an appealing bunch of family films and the school holidays.
Among the other new releases, Roadshow’s It Comes at Night, a horror movie starring Joel Edgerton, Carmen Ejogo and Kelvin Harrison Jr, scared up just $142,000 on 35 screens; no surprise because that genre generally struggles.
Fairfax Media’s Jake Wilson professed to being completely charmed by Chicken People, US TV journalist Nicole Lucas Haimes’ feature documentary on the world of competitive show chickens and their breeders. Audiences evidently did not share his enthusiasm as the film laid an egg for distributor Icon, taking $30,000 on 12 screens including previews.
Universal/Illumination Entertainment’s Despicable Me 3 collected $4.2 million in its fourth weekend at 325 cinemas, up 22 per cent. Directed by Pierre Coffin and Kyle Balda, the comedy voiced by Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig and Trey Parker has banked a lucrative $23.6 million.
Disney/Pixar’s Cars 3 is tracking well below the previous edition but progressed to $8.9 million after fetching $2 million in its third frame on 316, ticking up by 10 per cent.
Warner Bros’ blockbuster Wonder Woman is showing great stamina, easing by 31 per cent to $1.2 million in its sixth outing on 255, propelling the total to $28.7 million.
Paramount’s Transformers: The Last Knight staggered along to $10.4 million after taking $1.04 million in its third weekend on 273; a plunge of 52 per cent. Michael Bay’s action adventure isn’t a total disaster as the international gross of $375.7 million is a whole lot better than the domestic total of around $118 million.
After a slow start, Fox’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul got the school holiday-boost it needed, jumping by 57 per cent to $919,000 in its second weekend of national release to reach $3.7 million.
The House, the apparently unfunny comedy starring Will Ferrell and Amy Poehler, fell by 44 per cent to $902,000 in its second sojourn on 231, yielding a mediocre $3.2 million for Roadshow.
Sony’s clunker Rough Night is on its last legs, taking $185,000 in its fourth weekend on 142, down 57 per cent. Director-writer Lucia Aniello’s black comedy starring Scarlett Johansson, Kate McKinnon, Jillian Bell, Zoë Kravitz and Ilana Glazer has banked $4.6 million.
Paramount’s under-performer The Mummy reached $10.1 million after scraping up $174,000 in its fifth frame on 119, off by 54 per cent.