The weekend saw a diverse number of titles enter the theatrical market, with the launches of Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris, The Woman King, Bros and Terrifier 2. While Black Adam remained the main event, capturing 40 per cent overall market share, Mrs. Harris saw an older audience return to cinemas with gusto.
Warner Bros/DC’s Black Adam garnered $3.5 million in its sophomore weekend – a dip of 53 per cent. That result takes the Dwayne Johnson-starrer to $12.5 million nationally. Worldwide, the film has tallied $US250 million and is no. 1 in 60 markets. Australia the fourth-best performing international territory behind the UK, France and Mexico.
Universal’s Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris bowed to $1.5 million from 373 screens, or $2.2 million with previews.
The Australian debut, pro rata, far outpaces both the US and the UK. In the former, it opened to $US1.9 million in July (finishing on $US10.4 million) and the latter £806,794 in September (on £3.8 million so far).
Helmed by Anthony Fabian, the 1950s-set drama follows Lesley Manville as the titular Ada Harris, a widowed cleaning lady falls madly in love with a couture Dior dress, deciding she must have one of her own. After working to raise the funds to pursue her dream, she embarks on an adventure to Paris that will change not only her own outlook, but the very future of the House of Dior.
The film is the fourth screen adaptation of Paul Gallico’s 1958 novel, and has received strong reviews – it sports a 94 per cent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Wallis Cinemas programming manager David Simpson was rapt with the result for the film, telling IF: “The Oldies were back”
“Wonderful to see – very much in accord with our anticipations.”
Majestic Cinemas CEO Kieren Dell was also effusive, with the film proving his regional cinema chain’s big title.
“It is a lovely film which has been a hit with our female and older audiences and we expect it to run for quite a while,” he tells IF.
Hayden Orpheum Picture Palace GM Alex Temesvari found the film was softer than he hoped, but counters “it does appear to be the kind of film that will hang around a while and end up a solid grosser.”
Village Cinemas national programming manager Geoff Chard calls the film’s Harris opening respectable, “Not that far off Downton Abbey: A New Era’s $1.9m opening weekend, though I expect Mrs. Harris to in fact pass Downton’s lifetime result of $8.1m.”
Sony’s The Woman King debuted in fourth position behind Smile, with the Viola Davis-starrer ringing up $454,662 from 318 screens, or $475,119 with previews.
Directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood and written by Dana Stevens from a story by Maria Bello, the historical epic is inspired by true events that took place in The Kingdom of Dahomey, one of the most powerful states of Africa in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Starring alongside Davis are John Boyega, Thuso Mbedu and Lashana Lynch
After premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival, The Woman King has garnered strong Oscar buzz, particularly for Prince-Bythewood’s directing and Davis’s performance.
Dell says the film is great, and hopes it will grow after a slow start. “We hope that we can get good word of mouth and keep it going for a few more weeks.”
Gay rom-com Bros, distributed by Universal, bowed to $288,658 from 257 screens, or $292,843.
Directed by Nicholas Stoller from a screenplay he co-wrote with Billy Eichner, the Judd Apatow-produced film is the first queer rom-com to be given a wide theatrical release by a major studio and to have an all-openly LGBTQI+ cast. Eichner and Luke Macfarlane lead as two men with commitment problems attempting a relationship.
Pro-rata the Australian result for Bros is below the US/Canada, where it was declared a “bomb” after opening to $US4.9 million the weekend of September 30 (it has gone on to gross $11.6 million and counting).
Much has been made of the film’s disappointing performance, particularly given it is well reviewed – it’s 88 per cent fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.
Eichner wrote on Twitter after the US opening (since deleted): “Even with glowing reviews, great Rotten Tomatoes scores, an A CinemaScore, etc., straight people, especially in certain parts of the country, just didn’t show up for ‘Bros’. And that’s disappointing but it is what it is.”
Variety acknowledged homophobia played a part in its poor reception, though also suggested the takings were so low as to suggest it didn’t fire with queer people either, and may have been hampered by other reasons, such as a lack of star power and marketing that priortised importance over comedy.
However, in a Twitter thread, Bros star Guy Branum praised Eichner for pushing for a queer cast, despite that many were not known names.
“When @nicholasstoller and @JuddApatow gave Billy the chance to write and star in a film, they were working from an established game plan Judd had used to help build the careers of @amyschumer @kumailn @Sethrogen and others. In making films like “Trainwreck” or “The Big Sick”… newer comic voices were surrounded by established famous movie stars like Holly Hunter, Marissa Tomei, and Tilda Swinton. But Billy asked for his movie to not surround him with famous movie stars, but with out LGBTQ+ performers,” Branum wrote.
“Because of discrimination, there aren’t many LGBTQ+ actors with box office draw… Billy took a risk convincing the straight guys and corporations to cast queer people without extensive resumes or B.O. draw, like me, in this movie. So when you pat yourself on the back for resisting the tokenizing, condescending marketing for the film. Also acknowledge that @billyeichner held the door open for a lot of other, diverse queer people, and this movie doing poorly at the box office limits the opportunities which will be in our future.
Chard says the results for both The Woman King and Bros were disappoint.
“Both films are well-reviewed and the WOM is fantastic on both, but that obviously hasn’t reached the potential audiences yet,” he says.
Also debuting in the top 10 – at no. 8 0 was Umbrella Entertainment’s R18+ clown slasher Terrifier 2, which collected $218,253 from 79 screens. Going by screen average that puts the film behind only Black Adam and Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris.
Written and directed by Damien Leone, Terrifier 2 is so gory that there are reports out of the US of people vomiting and collapsing during screenings. Made for just $US250,000, it has collected $US7.63 million in North America since its opening there on October 6.
Overall the top 20 titles gathered $8.5 million according to Numero, down 31 per cent on the previous weekend.
Now five weekends in, Paramount’s Smile came in at third position with $513,299, advancing to $7.2 million, while WB’s Don’t Worry Darling is now on $6.7 million after four weekends after collecting $310,056.
Ticket to Paradise earned $225,263 in its seventh frame for Universal, advancing to $15.5 million.
Horrors made up the rest of the top 10, with Uni’s Halloween Ends making $210,240 in its third, moving to $2.6 million, while Disney’s Barbarian earned $204,171 in its second to grow to $763,802.
Wog Boys Forever remains in the top 20, standing at $2.8 million for Kismet after four weekends in release.