‘The Invisible Man.’
Universal’s The Invisible Man is getting a second lease of theatrical life thanks to drive-ins and newly re-opened cinemas in Western Australia, Adelaide and Alice Springs.
Leigh Whannell’s psychological thriller was the top grosser last weekend as the top 20 titles rang up $456,000, a whopping 148 per cent up on the previous frame, according to Numero.
Including the Queen’s Birthday holiday in most states, nationwide takings totaled $514,000.
Whannell’s film starring Elisabeth Moss, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Aldis Hodge, Storm Reid, Harriet Dyer and Michael Dorman earned $66,000 on 10 screens over those five days in week 15, lifting the total to $8.06 million.
That means the movie co-produced by Blumhouse Productions’ Jasom Blum and Goalpost Pictures’ Kylie du Fresne has grossed $160,000 since cinemas shuttered in March, although it was released on Premium VOD on April 1.
Seven drive-in cinemas in Melbourne, Adelaide, Sydney, Heddon Greta near Newcastle and Yatala in South-East Queensland are generating tidy sums.
Palace Nova’s Eastend and Prospect in Adelaide, Wallis’ cinema in Port Lincoln, the Alice Springs Cinema and the Orana chain in WA – Busselton, Kalgoorlie, Geraldton and Albany – resumed trading last weekend.
The Gold Coast Arts Centre also opened its doors, screening such titles as Ben Lawrence’s Hearts and Bones, Maya Newell’s In My Blood It Runs and Michael Winterbottom’s The Trip to Greece.
Among other titles still in release, Paramount’s Sonic the Hedgehog has collected $12.2 million, Sony’s Bad Boys for Life $19.3 million and Jumanji: The Next Level $45.8 million and Universal’s Dolittle $11.1 million.
Business at Wallis’ Adelaide drive-in was “sensational, like having Boxing Day in the middle of winter,” according to senior advisor Bob Parr, while Port Lincoln ticket sales weren’t as strong as he’d hoped.
“It is obvious at this early stage that people feel safer in a drive-in,” Parr tells IF. “More recent titles were good but even older films like Space Jam and Back To The Future cleaned up.”
In WA, the government is allowing occupancy of 100 people per screen and a cap of 300 for each complex. Grand Cinemas’ five locations will re-start on July 2, with staff supported by JobKeeper.
Grand Cinemas MD Allan Stiles says there will be limited sessions to allow time for cleaning and trading won’t be viable until the arrival of Hollywood tentpoles.
Meanwhile distributors are booking more films in the June-July corridor. Madman Entertainment has dated Brazilian director Alejandro Landes’ adventure drama Monos for June 22, D. W. Young’s The Booksellers, a feature documentary on New York’s rare book world on July 2, and Josephine Decker’s Shirley, a thriller starring Elisabeth Moss and Odessa Young, on July 9.
Palace Films’ first release since the shutdown, Scandinavian drama A White, White Day, will open on July 9.
Limelight Distribution will launch Mehdi M. Barsaoui’s Tunisian-set drama A Son, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival, on July 2 with previews starting on June 26.