‘The Dark Tower’.
The US horror film starring Australians Miranda Otto and Anthony LaPaglia, Annabelle: Creation, has held the top spot at the local box office for the second consecutive week.
The latest chapter in Warner Bros’ successful horror franchise The Conjuring held out new release The Dark Tower, starring Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey.
The maligned adaptation of the Stephen King tale, which was anticipated to begin a blockbuster franchise, opened with $1.339 million behind Annabelle: Creation’s $1.526 million, which lifted its total box office to $4.588 million, according to the Motion Pictures Distributors Association of Australia (MPDAA).
WB’s WWII action film Dunkirk held third spot in another wan weekend for Australian exhibitors, its $1.109 million pushing its total box office beyond $20 million ($20.695 million).
It overcame two more new releases with differing results. Steven Soderbergh’s hick heist film staring Channing Tatum and Daniel Craig, Logan Lucky, opened with a relatively poor $914,343 while Entertainment One can be content with the first weekend for the English romantic comedy starring Diane Keaton and Brendan Gleeson, Hampstead. Its opening of $738,802 should see a strong run.
Among other new releases, the French comedy starring Toni Collette and Harvey Keitel, Madame, opened with $101,383 from 28 screens and the adaptation of Dave Eggers’ novel The Circle, starring Emma Watson and Tom Hanks, attracted approximately 300 customers across 11 screens for $5,766.
Luc Besson’s Valerian and the City of A Thousand Planets dropped 56 per cent in its second weekend, its $548,219 lifting its total to $2.272 million. Elsewhere, US rom-com The Big Sick threw up another $466,622 to move beyond $3.5 million and War of the Planet of the Apes should pass $10 million this week with its current total at $9.716 million. Record-breaking Chinese film, Wolf Warrior 2, added another $143,508 to lift its box office to $1.554 million.
The total weekend receipts of $8.8 million continued a weak winter cinema season.
In North America, Australian director Patrick Hughes has scored another hit with The Hitman’s Bodyguard topping the weekend. The action comedy starring Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L Jackson, which opens here August 31, trumped the other new release, Logan Lucky, earning $US21.6 million against $US8.1 million for Soderbergh’s film. Annabelle: Creation split the two with another $US15 million lifting its total to $US64 million. Hughes began directing in the US after the success of his Australian western, Red Hill, most recently helming The Expendables 3.