The latest Planet of the Apes ruled the Australian B.O. last weekend while Aussie documentary All This Mayhem had an impressive debut at just two cinemas.
The Matt Reeves-directed Dawn of the Planet of the Apes grabbed $6.1 million from Thursday to Sunday and $7.1 million including its opening day last Wednesday.
That eclipsed Rupert Wyatt’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes, which clocked up $4.7 million in its first four days in 2011, and finished with $14.7 million.
Fox's action drama starring Aussie Jason Clarke, Keri Russell, Gary Oldman and Andy Serkis as Caesar, king of the forest, raked in $US72.6 million in the US, and looks capable of surpassing $200 million.
In Australia, the apes propelled weekend takings by 8% to $20.3 million as six titles each earned more than $1 million, according to Rentrak’s estimates.
How to Train Your Dragon 2 and Transformers: Age of Extinction both grossed about $2.7 million, boosting their totals to $22.8 million and $23.5 million in their fourth and third frames respectively. Fox’s animated comedy/adventure Rio 2 eased by a mere 2% to $2.5 million in its second outing, scoring $9.5 million to date.
Clint Eastwood’s Jersey Boys fell by 27% to $1.4 million, whistling up a dandy $4.2 million in 11 days.
Word- of- mouth sustained Irish drama Calvary, which pocketed $337,000 in its second weekend, off just 8%, taking its total to $940,000, one of the few specialty hits of the year, along with The Trip to Italy, which has banked $2.6 million.
Glowing reviews helped ensure a strong start for Ritesh Batra's The Lunchbox, a comedy-drama about a neglected, middle-class Mumbai housewife and her interaction with a widower, which took a hearty $206,000 on 25 screens, and $251,000 with previews.
All This Mayhem, Eddie Martin’s searing examination of the rise and spectacular fall of the skateboarding brothers Tas and Ben Pappas, rolled into two cinemas, Cinema Nova Melbourne and Dendy Newtown, earning $24,000, the highest per-screen average of any limited release.
The stand-out niche performer in the US last weekend was Boyhood, Richard Linklater’s film shot over 12 years as its star Ellar Coltrane grew up, which pulled in $US388,000 at five cinemas, a per-screen of nearly $77,500, the second best this year behind The Grand Budapest Hotel.
Universal will launch the film here in September.
WEEKEND BOX OFFICE July 10-13
|
|
Title |
Week/ Screens |
Box Office |
% +- |
Total
|
|
1 |
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes |
1/579 |
$6,132,919 |
NA |
$7,096,004 |
|
2 |
How to Train Your Dragon 2 |
4/445 |
2,708,546 |
-8 |
22,878,807 |
|
3 |
Transformers: Age of Extinction |
3/468 |
2,704,149 |
-44 |
23,492,235 |
|
4 |
Rio 2 |
2/411 |
2,496,403 |
-2 |
9,574,048 |
|
5 |
22 Jump Street |
4/280 |
1,695,221 |
-36 |
20,032,982 |
|
6 |
Jersey Boys |
2/298 |
1,380,689 |
-27 |
4,262,121 |
|
7 |
Tinkerbell: The Pirate Fairy |
3/215 |
762,112 |
+15 |
2,919,196 |
|
8 |
Maleficent |
7/128 |
483,960 |
-22 |
15,888,698 |
|
9 |
Calvary |
2/38 |
336,946 |
-8 |
939,885 |
|
10 |
The Fault in our Stars |
6/144 |
296,197 |
-40 |
12,779,510 |
Source: Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia