With school holidays underway in every state and territory, DC League of Super-Pets pulled into pole position over Ticket to Paradise at the box office last weekend, with new releases Smile, Ponniyin Selvan: I and See How They Run trailing behind.
The animated adventures of Superman’s Krypto the Super Dog had a 5 per cent boost to reach $2.8 million through Sunday, easily toppling the Julia Roberts and George Clooney rom-com’s $1.9 million, a decline of 33 per cent. Both films have been in the market now for three weekends.
With a cume of $13 million, Australia is now the second highest grossing international territory for DC League of Super-Pets behind the UK, with the film having earned $193.3 million worldwide.
Universal’s Ticket to Paradise, which had Queensland stand in for Bali, has amassed $10.9 million so far locally.
Numero data puts the top 20 titles at $10.7 million across the four day weekend, up 3 per cent on the previous. It was a long weekend in NSW, the ACT, South Australia and Queensland, with total figures on Monday rising to $12.6 million.
Of the new releases, Smile – starring Aussie Caitlin Stasey – had the best opening, landing at $1.11 million for Paramount from 220 screens, earning on average a healthy $5,057. With previews, the result climbs to $1.2 million.
In the US, the horror, which cost just $US17 million to produce, exceeded expectations by opening at no. 1, grossing $US22 million and outpacing other new fare such as gay rom-com Bros.
Just behind Smile was Vansan Movies’ Ponniyin Selvan: I , bowing to $1.09 million from 114 screens. The Tamil-language epic, set in the 10th century, easily boasted the highest screen average in the top 20 at $9,535.
The weekend’s next best was Disney-distributed whodunnit See How They Run, starring Sam Rockwell, Saoirse Ronan and Adrien Brody, which opened at $699,664, or $776,761 with previews.
The weekend’s other new release, MKS Retail’s Vikram Vedha, opened further down the top 10 at no. 9, garnering $299,864 from 81 screens for an average of $3,702.
Even though Smile was down pro-rata on the US in Australia, Village Cinemas national programming manager Geoff Chard tells IF it was impressed with the opening of Smile.
“For a non-franchise, unique horror film it’s solid result that should put the film north of $4m lifetime. See How They Run was softer than hoped, but not too far of our estimates. Ponniyin Selvan: I was the standout success though for the weekend, taking $1.1m over 3 days. This easily puts it in the top-grossing Tamil films of all time in Australia. Unfortunately it doesn’t appear to be breaking outside of its original language though, with the ticket sales for the Hindi and Telugu sessions trailing far behind the Tamil sessions,” he says.
Chard reflects the holiday period, which ended yesterday in Victoria, has been reasonably successful, with most films tracking close to estimates.
“DC League of Super-Pets was the clear winner, miles ahead of any other kids title, and will ultimately be one of the most successful Warner Animation Group titles in Australia, behind only The Lego Movie from 2014.”
However, Majestic Cinemas CEO Kieren Dell muses to IF that it has been an average overall period so far.
“But then September holidays often are with lesser product – and that is certainly the case this time,” he says.
“DC League of Super-Pets and Ticket to Paradise have been the standouts, the Avatar re-release was reasonable but not huge, although it did re-ignite a spark of interest in 3D, and not much else has done a lot.”
David Simpson, programming manager of South Australia’s Wallis Cinemas, agrees it has been a “slow-moving” start for family product. However, he believes things may pick up this week with numerous closed bookings for DC League of Super-Pets. Elsewhere he was pleased with See How They Run, and looking ahead to this weekend, is encouraged by previews for Don’t Worry Darling.
Hayden Orpheum Picture Palace GM Alex Temesvari echoes that school holidays haven’t been as impactful as usual, though felt the cinema had a good long weekend.
“See How They Run opened well for us, more than tripling the national screen average, while Ticket To Paradise has continued to hold well and we also had encouraging results on advance screenings of Don’t Worry Darling,” he tells IF. “October is certainly looking stronger than September thanks to a better line up of films.”
Of other holdovers, the sophomore weekend of Paramount’s Paws Of Fury: The Legend of Hank scored a school holiday boost of 19 per cent, seeing receipts tally $664,664. In total, the film has collected $2.4 million so far.
The re-release of Disney’s Avatar fell 54 per cent in its second frame, ringing up $634,742 to advance to $2.6 millions.
Also in its second, Roadshow’s Fall fell 44 per cent to $424,689, bringing its tally to $1.6 million.
Rounding out the top 10 was Bullet Train, which after nine weekends stands at $12.4 million, gaining another $204,027.
A number of Australian releases stand just outside the top 20. George Miller’s Three Thousand Years of Longing has reached $1.2 million for Roadshow after five weeks, while Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis is on $33.4 million after 15.
Gusto Films’ documentary The Lost City of Melbourne – playing on just five screens -continues to hold, dropping only 21 per cent in its fifth week to $16,802, meaning it has earned $155,275 so far.
Fellow doc Franklin has also had a successful life for Bosnai, now at $217,582 after earning $14,564 in its fourth.
Goran Stolevski’s acclaimed debut You Won’t Be Alone, playing on just seven screens via Madman, earned $5,968 in its second to move to $75,823.
All figures in this story are through Sunday.