With few splashy studio releases until mid-September, exhibitors are bracing through a quiet period at the box office: Last weekend was the slowest yet in 2022.
Bullet Train and Nope were the top two titles once again, with new entrant Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero clocking in at third position.
The 21st Dragon Ball film proved less popular here than in the US, where it debuted at no. 1 to $US21 million, outpacing Universal’s Idris Elba-starrer Beast (which opens here this weekend).
The anime follows Piccolo and former student Gohan as they go on a mission to save the world from the newly reformed Red Ribbon Army.
Distributed locally by Madman, it opened to $770,134 from 217 screens. On screen average, it was the highest earner in the top 20 with $3,549 per session.
While a respectable opening, it is less than half of 2019’s Dragon Ball Super: Broly, which bowed to $1.5 million.
The second best performing new release of the weekend was the sex-positive Emma Thompson-starrer Good Luck To You, Leo Grande, helmed by Australian director Sophie Hyde.
Thompson plays a 55-year-old widow who hires a young sex worker, Leo Grande (Daryl McCormack), having only had unfulfilling sex previously.
The two-hander boasts extremely strong reviews – 93 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes – with early Oscar buzz around Thompson (the film successfully lobbied to be included in the Academy Awards in the US, despite premiering on Hulu).
Jointly distributed by Roadshow and the Reset Collective, it bowed here in sixth position to $544,142 from 260 screens, and with previews, stands at just over $1 million.
Sydney’s Hayden Orpheum Picture Palace is the highest grossing location nationally for the film so far, following on from sold out premiere screenings with Thompson present a few weeks ago.
However, GM Alex Temesvari tells IF the opening weekend was a little bit softer than he had hoped. “I’m hopeful the great reviews and lack of competition will help keep the film running well into September.”
The no. 2 location for the film is Carlton’s Cinema Nova, with CEO Kristian Connelly similarly positive about the film’s long-tail performance.
“Word of mouth on the film is terrific, delivering laugh out loud moments (along with something to say) in a market that’s been starved of comedy of far too long,” he says.
However, other exhibitors see the film’s broad reach as limited, with Village Cinemas national programming manager Geoff Chard noting it is “obviously skewed significantly to the older female market and is unlikely to branch out from that.”
Australian title Bosch & Rockit debuted at 13th, earning $76,636 for Madman from 152 screens ($101,781 with previews). Led by Luke Hemsworth and Rasmus King as father and son on the run, the film marks Tyler Atkin’s debut feature.
Majestic Cinemas CEO Kieren Dell noted “like many small Australian movies, Bosch & Rockit struggled to find its audience”, but noted the the audiences who did manage to find it, seemed to enjoy it.
Other new Australian films in the market over the weekend included Mark Hartley’s horror Girl at the Window, starring Ella Newton and Radha Mitchell, which Kismet introduced on 45 screens to $24,468. By screen average, it is a similar performance to Bosch & Rockit.
Overall the top 20 titles earned $7.1 million, down 20 per cent on the previous, according to Numero.
As Chard observes, there is little by way of major fare until later next month.
“It will be a little quiet on the cinema-going front until the September school holidays with the launch of DC League of Super-Pets, Paws of Fury and the Clooney/Roberts romantic comedy Ticket to Paradise,” he says.
Exhibitors like the Orpheum are using lessons from the pandemic and have planned events and alternate content screenings to tide the period over.
“We had somewhat seen it coming so had programmed a number of retro events including anniversary screenings of Cabaret, First Blood and Koyaanisqatsi. We also programmed encore screenings of Hallelujah and National Theatre Prima Facie which all paid off,” Temesvari says.
Connelly is looking forward to the titles that are entering the market post the Melbourne International Film Festival, including Fire Of Love, Crimes of the Future and Australian film Blaze, from director Del Kathryn Barton.
“With spring on the horizon, as well as much to celebrate as Cinema Nova celebrates its thirtieth year, we are looking for the business to rebound in the coming weeks.”
In terms of holdovers, Sony’s Bullet Train shows no sign of leaving the station, dropping only 28 per cent in its third frame to $1.3 million. The Brad Pitt-led film has overcome generally middling reviews to win over audiences, amassing $7.7 million so far.
Jordan Peele’s Nope, distributed by Universal, fell 46 per cent in its sophomore frame to $956,006. Peele’s third film as writer-director, the horror currently stands at $3.2 million.
Top Gun: Maverick is still in the top five after 13 weeks, with receipts of $693,392 putting the Paramount title at $88.5 million, while Where The Crawdads Sing also held well through its fifth, moving to $9.5 million for Sony after earning $601,985.
Disney’s Thor: Love and Thunder has reached $42.4 million after seven weekends in release, having gathered another $484,767.
Warner Bros.’ Elvis is a whisker away from taking over Happy Feet as the fourth highest grossing Australian film of all time (not adjusting for inflation), now at $31.7 million. The Baz Luhrmann film earned another $459,718 theatrically over the weekend, despite being on TVOD platforms.
Now nine weeks in, Minions: The Rise of Gru continues to benefit from being the only major title in the market aimed at a younger audiences, collecting another $378,995 to move to $42.3 million.
Rounding out the top 10 was Blumhouse horror The Black Phone, which is now on $5.2 million for Universal after five weekends in release, having made $255,043.
Australian-UK co-production Falling for Figaro, jointly distributed by Paramount and Umbrella Entertainment, remains in the top 20 after six weekends and is just shy of cracking $1 million ($986,705).