Warner Bros’ Magic Mike’s Last Dance has finally ended Avatar: The Way of Water‘s eight week run at the top of the box office.
The third instalment in the Channing Tatum-led stripper franchise, this time co-starring Salma Hayek, drew $1.7 from 292 screens ($2.4 million with previews).
Despite topping the box office, the film is behind the start of its predecessors; the 2012 original film opened to $5.38 million (finishing at $12.2 million) and the sequel to $5.6M (finishing at $11.13 million). However, WB notes the opening is in line with the last major Tatum film to hit the big screen, The Lost City.
“Magic Mike started with a bang for us with some sold out or very busy Girls Night Out sessions on Thursday night, however it seems that all those who wanted to see it came out that night as it fell quite a bit over the weekend, but still had a reasonable overall result,” Majestic Cinemas CEO Kieren Dell tells IF.
In North America, Magic Mike’s The Last Dance opened to $US8.2 million, and stands at $US18.6 million worldwide, having been released in 42 markets so far. Australia is the fourth best performing territory globally, behind the US/Canada, Germany and UK.
The only other new release to crack the top 10 last weekend wasn’t new at all; Disney’s 25th anniversary re-release of Titanic gathered $561,236 from 203 screens.
Village Cinemas national programming manager Geoff Chard expects the film to continue to do well via Valentine’s Day screenings: “Goes to show there is still an interest in seeing older films on the big screen”.
Worldwide, the re-release grossed $US22.3 million, making its lifetime gross $2.2 billion. That means the film is now once again ahead of Avatar: The Way of Water, also directed by James Cameron, as the third highest grossing film ever made –The Way of Water is at $2.2 billion.
Overall, the weekend was quiet – only Magic Mike and Avatar cracked $1 million – with Numero data putting the top 20 titles at $6.9 million, or 22 per cent down on the previous. It is the first time this year the market has dipped below 2022 figures.
However, the dip is likely to be short lived, with this weekend seeing the release of the first Marvel blockbuster of this year, Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania.
“Overall, a normal slow early Feb weekend after school holidays, but we do expect things to liven up this weekend when Ant-Man hits our screens, and then over the next few weeks when we will have product for all demographics with movies like Cocaine Bear and Fisherman’s Friends 2,” Dell says.
Chard says Ant-Man pre-sales are looking healthy, tracking similarly to Black Panther: Wakanda Forever at the same time out from release.
The Way of Water has now crossed the $90 million mark for Disney last weekend after collecting another $1.2 million. The film remains poised to overtake Top Gun: Maverick ($93.2 million) and Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($94 million) to become the second highest grossing title to be released in Australia; second only to the original film ($115.8 million).
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is at $20.3 million for Universal after seven weekends, having added another $488,035 to its tally.
Universal stablemate, M Night Shyamalan’s Knock at the Cabin, dropped 46 per cent in its sophomore frame to collect $438,166, moving to $1.5 million.
Studiocanal rom-com What’s Love Got to Do With It? is holding well, dipping only 27 per cent to $391,134 in its third frame, taking its total to $2.6 million.
The Whale dropped 41 per cent in its second weekend, gathering $257,967 for Madman, which takes it to $1.2 million.
Indian spy thriller Pathaan now stands at $4.5 million for Mind Blowing Films after collecting $245,096 in its third from just 74 screens.
Universal’s M3GAN has climbed back into the top 10, earning $215,271 to move to $6.3 million after five weekends, while Roadshow’s Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre rounded things out with a fifth weekend result of $200,258 meaning the Guy Ritchie title is now at $6 million.