Force of Nature, Robert Connolly’s much anticipated follow up to 2021’s The Dry, led the box office last weekend, marking the first time an Australian film has hit no. 1 since Elvis in June 2022.
Roadshow officially opened the film last Thursday on 455 screens, generating $1.6 million. Prior to, there were extensive preview screenings of the mystery drama around the country, including Q&As with Connolly and Bana, meaning its overall starting figure is a tidy $3.5 million.
Force of Nature: The Dry 2 is the first Australian film to have a wide release this year, and its result so far means it will quickly eclipse 2023’s two highest grossing local titles: John Farnham: Finding the Voice ($4.5 million) and Talk to Me ($4.3 million).
However, it has still started behind the original, which had an opening weekend of $2.6 million, or $3.7 million with previews.
The Dry opened on New Year’s Day 2021, which meant it played not only during a holiday period, but at a time when there were reduced US titles in the market due to COVID-19. It proved a strong word-of-mouth film, going on to earn more than $20 million, making it the 15th highest-grossing local title of all time.
Whether Force of Nature will have similar WOM to the original remains to be seen. Reviews so far for the sequel have been more mixed: Force of Nature has a 46 per cent critical rating on Rotten Tomatoes at the moment, while The Dry is certified fresh at 90 per cent. There is no audience rating for Force of Nature as yet; The Dry has a rating of 89 per cent.
The country’s leading venue for the film is Sydney’s Hayden Orpheum Picture Palace, which had two sold out Q&As with Bana, Connolly and Jane Harper, the author of the book on which the film is based.
Orpheum GM Alex Temesvari tells IF he is thrilled with the result, but curious to see how far it can go from here. He poses that is tough to compare Force of Nature to The Dry, because the original opened under “such unusual circumstances” during COVID.
“The film is overall getting great feedback from our audience. I believe even if it gets to just over half the result of the first film nationally, it should be viewed as a massive success,” he says.
Village Entertainment head of content Geoff Chard says Force of Nature: The Dry 2 opened very well its circuit, especially in Gold Class, with eight Village locations appearing in the top 20 sites nationally.
“It’s very difficult to compare to the release of The Dry though, given that film opened on New Years Day, in the middle of the COVID years, and the fact that Force of Nature had several weeks of advance screenings,” he says.
Majestic Cinemas CEO Kieren Dell tells IF while Force of Nature was “far and away” the leading film for his regional NSW and Queensland circuit last weekend, the opening figures were a “touch disappointing” given the strong previews it had enjoyed over the past two weekends.
“At $3.5 million, it seems a very hard task to match up to the original, which was released in different circumstances and in a holiday period, but having said that, given it is an older audience who don’t rush out, we do expect it to have long legs and possibly approach the $8-10 million mark over the coming month,” he says.
The overall box office continues to be quiet. According to Numero, the top 20 titles generated $7.2 million, down 7 per cent on the previous weekend. The slump is being felt globally; in the US it was the quietest Super Bowl weekend in three decades bar 2021, which was impacted by COVID.
Dell expects Bob Marley: One Love, which opens on Valentine’s Day, should have a solid result, but muses that Madame Web, also out this Wednesday, is harder to predict. He expects the box office will remain fairly quiet until the release of Dune: Part Two on February 29.
“February will, as always, be a slower month,” he says.
In anticipation of Dune: Part Two, Warner Bros’ re-released the original last weekend, which landed in fourth position behind Force of Nature, Argylle and Anyone But You. The Denis Villeneuve film played on 236 screens for $465,871, pushing its total to $16.3 million. Dune‘s original theatrical release in Australia in 2021 was impacted by COVID shutdowns, with local audiences seeing the film two months after North Americans.
Temesvari is expecting “a very strong result” for the upcoming sequel, particularly as the Orpheum will be of the few venues in the country to open it in 70mm.
Of other new releases, Bollywood romance Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya, distributed by Mindblowing Films, opened in ninth spot with $253,836 from just 82 screens.
In tenth position was Trafalgar Releasing’s Peppa’s Cinema Party, a special set of 10-episodes of Peppa Pig released for the cartoon’s 20th anniversary. Screening in 188 theatres, it earned $247,102.
Of the holdovers, Universal’s Argylle came in at no. 2 with $1.3 million, a decline of 45 per cent on its opening weekend. Gross box office stands at $4.2 million, meaning Australia continues to be a better market for the spy actioner, pro-rata, than in the US/Canada. There, the AppleTV+ film, which has a reported production budget of $US200 million, dropped some 63 per cent last weekend to just $US6.5 million, and has made $US28.1 million overall. Globally, ticket sales for Argylle are at $US60.1 million, with Australia is the second best international market after the UK.
Sony’s Anyone But You, now in its seventh weekend, continues to hold well: it dipped a mere 3 per cent last weekend to $737,225, putting it at $20.5 million overall. Globally, receipts for the Sydney-shot rom-com are at $US170 million, with Australia the leading international market.
The Beekeeper came in at no. 5 behind Dune, earning $400,354 across its fourth frame to move to $7.3 million for Roadshow.
WB’s Wonka has crossed $38 million after collecting $364,769 in its ninth frame, while Paramount’s Mean Girls is at $9.5 million after generating $292,096 in its fourth.
Universal animation Migration took $256,691 in its seventh weekend, advancing to $15.5 million.
Australian box office data is via Numero.
Correction: An original version of this story incorrectly stated ‘The Dry”s opening weekend was $4.8 million including previews. The correct figure is $3.7 million, with $4.8 million the film’s cumulative box office by the end of its first week.