For the first time this year, a foreign language film has topped the box office: Brahmastra Part 1: Shiva.
Dubbed “Bollywood’s answer to the Marvel Cinematic Universe“, the film is written and directed by Ayan Mukerji and stars Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt and Amitabh Bachchan.
The first in a trilogy set within ‘The Astraverse’, it is an epic that follows a lovelorn young man, Shiva (Kapoor), who learns his destiny as the Divine Hero of the universe.
The fantasy actioner, produced by Dharma Productions, Starlight Pictures and Prime in association with the Disney-owned Star Studios, opened to $903,782 from 131 screens for Mindblowing Films, equating to a very healthy screen average of $6,899.
The film also opened in India over the weekend, where it reached no. 1 as the 10th highest grossing opener of all time, and in the UK, came in at no. 3.
Brahmastra Part 1: Shiva outpaced the weekend’s other significant new arrival, Roadshow’s After Ever Happy, which opened to $780,595 from 321 screens ($933,520 with previews).
The fourth film in the ‘After’ film series, the romance drama sees Aussie Josephine Langford and Hero Fiennes Tiffin reprise their roles as Tessa Young and Hardin Scott, whose relationship is now at a crossroads.
“Brahmastra performed very well for us, and was the #1 film at the Australian box office for 3 days straight,” Village Cinemas national programming manager Geoff Chard tells IF.
“We ran the film in both 2D and 3D, as well as some sessions in the additional Telugu and Tamil languages, so there was something for everyone. After Ever Happy didn’t quite open to our expectations, and was under the opening weekend of the 2nd film in the series, which didn’t actually open in Victoria until months later due to COVID restrictions. But perhaps with the school holidays commencing this weekend in several states that the numbers will hold well.”
Debuting outside the top 10 was Madman’s Irish coming-of-age drama The Quiet Girl, winner of a Crystal Bear in Berlin.
Written and directed by Colm Bairéad, the 1981-set film follows a withdrawn nine-year-old girl who experiences a loving home for the first time when she spends the summer on a farm with distant relatives.
It bowed to $90,776 from just 45 screens; a screen average of $2,017. With previews, it stands at $156,562. Cinema Nova was the no. 1 site for the film nationally, also ranking as the top location across Australia for Three Thousand Years of Longing, Nope, Good Luck to You Leo Grande and Fire of Love.
Australian documentary Franklin also cracked the top 20, with $51,809 from 35 screens, for a decent average of $1,480 – with Cinema Nova CEO Kristian Connelly noting it exceeded expectations.
The AACTA-nominated film, directed by Kasimir Burgess, looks back at the ’80s campaign to save the Franklin River via the eyes of OIiver Cassidy.
Narrated by Hugo Weaving, the doc follows Cassidy as he retraces his late father’s trip to down the Franklin River to attend the 1980s blockade that saved it from being turned into a hydroelectric dam. Alongside the film features archival footage and interviews with significant figures in the campaign, including former Greens leader Bob Brown and Tasmanian Aboriginal elder Uncle Jim Everett.
Overall it was yet another quiet weekend at the box office, with Numero figures putting the top 20 films at only $5.1 million, down 7 per cent on the previous.
This weekend should see a significant boost in numbers with the release of DC League of Superpets, Bodies Bodies Bodies, Moonage Daydream and Ticket to Paradise.
Wallis Cinemas programming manager David Simpson is excited for the latter, telling IF: “Ticket to Paradise is already ticking all the boxes for ‘Girls Night Out’ with sell out sessions for Wednesday evening.”
Majestic Cinemas CEO Kieren Dell is similarly optimistic about the rom com, saying: “The coming weekend is all about George and Julia, supported by DC League, especially in states like Queensland going into holidays.”
Connelly tells IF Bodies Bodies Bodies pulled sizeable crowds during advance screenings, and is also looking forward to Moonage Daydream; Australian documentary Clean, also AACTA-nominated; Amazon forest documentary The Territory, family film The Railway Children Return and the Italian Film Festival, which starts tomorrow around the country.
“It would appear that with the larger blockbusters held over during lockdowns now all but exhausted that we are in a softer period product-wise,” Connelly says.
“The news coming out of the Northern Hemisphere festivals is extremely promising but we’ll have a few months to wait for those features to land locally. Until then we are upping our game with some innovative retrospective and back catalogue programming in addition to ensuring that holdover titles can reach their maximum potential. A great example of this approach is Everything Everywhere All At Once, which is in its 22nd week of release and narrowing in on a stellar half-million box office result at Nova. With the film figuring strongly in awards chatter, we are anticipating that the film will screen all the way through to the March Academy Awards.”
Of the weekend’s holdovers, Sony’s Bullet Train was the best performer in third position, earning $600,547 in its sixth frame to move to $11 million.
Studiocanal’s Orphan: First Kill fell just 22 per cent in its sophomore frame, collecting $572,938 to move to $1.6 million. Already the film has made significantly more than the 2009 originally, which finished just shy of $1 million.
Top Gun: Maverick has passed the $91 million mark for Paramount, earning another $472,888 in its 16th week on screens.
George Miller’s Three Thousand Years of Longing fell 42 per cent in its second weekend, with receipts of $245,853 pushing the Roadshow title to $837,625.
The Sophie Hyde-directed Good Luck to You, Leo Grande continues to hold decently, dropping only 29 per cent in its fourth to $224,067. So far the film has made $2.7 million for joint distributors Roadshow and Reset Collective.
Where the Crawdads Sing continues to stick around for Sony, earning $216,440 in its eighth to cross the $11 million mark.
Twelve weekends in, Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis, distributed by Warner Bros., is now just shy of $33 million, having earned another $195,416.
Rounding out the top 10 was Jordan Peele’s Nope. In its fifth frame, the film has made $4.6 million so far, having collected $175,465 over the weekend.
Of the other Australian films in release, Gusto Films’ The Lost City of Melbourne boosted its numbers in its second frame, up 48 per cent with $34,000 – meaning its cume is now $67,458.
Now nine weekends in, UK-Australian co-production Falling for Figaro is still playing on 24 screens, now standing at $1.1 million after nine weekends in release (it pocketed another $15,141).
Transmission Films’ body image documentary Embrace: Kids made $10,217 in its second to move to $55,394, while Madman’s Bosch & Rockit earned $7,159 in its fourth, moving to $249,134.
AACTA-nominated documentary Everybody’s Oma, now in cinemas five weekends via Bonsai Film, stands at $129,720 overall after earning $2,058. Stablemate Blaze, the feature debut from artist Del Kathryn Barton, has made $81,422 after three, with weekend figures at $2,025.