Australian audiences appear to have found the musical reboot of Mean Girls so fetch, with the film putting an end to Wonka‘s month-long box office reign.
Distributed by Paramount, the teen comedy, starring Aussie Angourie Rice, debuted to $2.8 million from 420 screens, or $3.4 million with previews.
Not adjusting for inflation, that is just ahead of the 2004 original, which started at $2.9 million and finished at $8.5 million – and has endured culturally for 20 years. While the new film is once again written by Tina Fey, it is not a straight adaptation of the classic, rather the 2018 Broadway musical based on the first film.
Mean Girls also came in on top of the box office in North America, drawing $US32 million across the four-day Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend.
Vista Group data shows that, unsurprisingly, 77 per cent of the audience for the opening weekend in Australia were women. The 18-24 year old demographic made up the majority of the audience, followed by 45-54 year-olds at 21 per cent. Almost half, or 49 per cent, were infrequent moviegoers, or people who have gone to less than two cinema sessions in the past six months.
“We’re seeing a broad range of customers for this film, with plenty of older cinema-goers who are clearly fans of the original and wanting to see a new take on this classic title,” Village Cinemas head of content Geoff Chard tells IF.
Other new releases last weekend included Jason Statham action thriller The Beekeeper, which Roadshow launched on 339 screens for $1.9 million, putting it in fourth place behind Wonka and Anyone But You. Stateside, the film started at $US19.1 million (four day).
Fresh from Golden Globe wins for Paul Giamatti and Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Universal’s The Holdovers opened at tenth position with $353,405 from 101 screens. The leading cinema for the film in the country was Melbourne’s Cinema Nova, though it was still only the third best performer at the venue, in what CEO Kristian Connelly calls a “competitive weekend”.
Wallis Cinemas head of programming services David Simpson believes The Holdovers will benefit from word of mouth after a “measured start”, while Majestic Cinemas CEO Kieren Dell says it was “definitely the pick for more discerning, usually older, patrons, who have been hard to attract back to cinemas over the post-Covid period.”
Numero figures put the top 20 titles at $16.3 million last weekend, down 6 per cent on the previous. The box office is still just ahead of this time last year, despite the absence of a blockbuster like Avatar: The Way of Water in the market.
Dell says it was a reasonable weekend, but notes the market “is still off the pace significantly from pre-Covid summers”. In particular, he argues that the current family films in the market, with the exception of Wonka, are softer overall than he hoped.
“Parents [are] being more discerning as to what they attend the cinema to see with their children. But with parents heading back to work this week, we do expect [family titles] to jump over the next week or so before holidays end, especially Migration,” he said.
Of the holdovers, Warner Bros.’ Wonka has now reached $31.3 million after drawing $2.2 million in its fifth frame. Globally, the film has now passed the $US500 million mark, with Australia the fourth best international market behind the UK, France and Mexico.
Sony’s Sydney-set rom-com Anyone But You continues to hold well, dropping only 31 per cent its third frame to $2.1 million, bringing its tally to $13.2 million. Australia is the leading international market for the title.
Chard notes the film “continues to surprise” and has “little sign of slowing down”. He notes it now the best performing romantic comedy since Ticket to Paradise, which it should surpass – making it the highest-grossing rom-com of the last five years, since 2018’s Crazy Rich Asians.
In fifth position was Universal animation Migration, which is also seeing strong holds. It dropped just 22 per cent in its third weekend, collecting $1.33 million to advance to $10.3 million.
WB’s Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is now at $16.4 million to date, having pocketed $1.31 million in its third frame, while Disney’s Wish, also in its third, garnered 744,890 to move to $6.6 million.
Roadshow’s Ferrari fell 49 per cent in its sophomore weekend, putting it at $2.6 million overall, while Transmission’s One Life took $384,318 in its third frame, meaning it stands at $3.5 million.
Looking ahead to this weekend, Connelly is optimistic about many of the new releases. “Advance screenings for both All Of Us Strangers and Priscilla sold out at Nova, boding well for the seasons commencing Thursday. An advance screening of The Iron Claw, opening Thursday, also sold out last week.”
Australian box office data is via Numero.