Jordan Peele’s third outing as writer-director, Nope, couldn’t quite beat the horsepower of Bullet Train at the box office last weekend.
Distributed by Universal, Nope debuted at no. 2 to $1.76 million from 430 screens, trailing Bullet Train‘s $1.82 million.
On screen average though, Nope was slightly ahead, earning $4,095 per showing compared to Bullet Train‘s $3,731.
Peele’s horror sci-fi reunites him with the star of Get Out, Daniel Kaluuya, who leads the cast here alongside Keke Parker. The pair play two siblings who run a horse ranch in California who then discover something sinister in the skies above. While there has been some criticism of the film as “a bit meh” and lacking narrative rhythm, most reviews are positive overall, naming it “wholly original” and Peele’s “most visually accomplished film yet” – it has a 82 per cent “certified fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Most major markets, including Australia, had a delay on Nope, which premiered almost a month ago in North America on July 22 to $US44 million – one of the highest debuts this year for a film not based on existing IP – and has gone on to gross $US100 million.
Given the US results and the film’s generally good reviews, exhibitors are a little dismayed by Nope‘s performance here so far.
Its opening lags well behind Peele’s 2019 film Us, which landed at $3.8 million (finishing at $9.4 million), and his acclaimed 2017 debut Get Out, which started at $1.9 million plus $975,000 from advance screenings (finishing at $6.2 million).
“Nope was disappointing for us, given the overall strong reviews and reputation of the director so I had hoped for a bigger result,” Alex Temesvari, GM of Sydney’s Hayden Orpheum Picture Palace, tells IF.
Kieren Dell, who is the CEO of Majestic Cinemas in regional NSW and Queensland, notes horror isn’t a genre it typically does well with, so he wasn’t surprised by Nope‘s soft performance.
“Nope opened a bit below expectations and pro rata much lower than it opened in the US, which in itself wasn’t a surprise, but it doesn’t look like firing,” he tells IF.
“Crawdads and Bullet Train remain the main games for us at the moment as well as other holdovers.”
Carlton’s Cinema Nova, which has had great success with Peele’s films in the past, ranked tenth nationally for Nope. It’s a result CEO Kristian Connelly is pleased with given the top two Victorian sites were nearby powerhouses IMAX Melbourne and Hoyts Melbourne Central.
“This is likely down to our being the top lifetime box office venue for Peele’s prior two releases, which we may be on Nope by the end of season.”
Of the weekend’s other new releases, the Indian retelling of Forrest Gump, Laal Singh Chaddha, banked $755,284 for Paramount from 143 screens. By screen average, it was the highest performer in the top 20, earning $5,282 a session.
Following the death of Olivia Newton-John last week, Paramount also re-released Grease on 98 screens, which scraped into the top 10 with $82,903.
Australian documentary Everybody’s Oma, released via Bonsai Films, cracked the top 20 with $41,490 from 44 screens, and with previews/festival screenings is at $65,557.
According to Numero data, the top 20 titles earned $8.7 million, down 6 per cent on the previous.
That marks one of the quieter weekends this year, with exhibitors bracing for a relatively slow period of few wide releases up until mid-September when Ticket to Paradise and DC League of Super-Pets land.
However, there are some bright sparks in the coming weeks. Temesvari is looking forward to Good Luck Leo Grande this weekend, starring Emma Thompson and directed by Australian Sophie Hyde, following sold out Q&A with Thompson.
“The advanced screenings of Leo Grande were impressive given the limited sessions so am hopeful this translates to a strong opening week, especially after the massive exposure our live Emma Thompson Q&A events received the previous weekend, really putting the film on the map here.”
Cinema Nova also ran sold out Q&As with Thompson and Hyde and strong advance screenings, so Connelly is hopeful. “We are anticipating a decent opening off excellent word of mouth.”
The cinema is also encouraged to have the sold out Sydney premiere of Three Thousand Years of Longing on August 28 with director George Miller to appear in Q&A.
“Other than that September is look dangerously light on product, meaning we’ll again have to get very creative when trying to attract audiences but after the last years we’re pretty used to periods of having to do that,” Temesvari says.
Dell concurs the next few weeks will be quiet. “Bosch and Rockit is a really good Aussie film (we had the director for some successful Q&As last weekend which were very well received by audiences) but it won’t take huge box office unfortunately, and while Leo Grande and 3000 Years are very good little movies, they will appeal more to sophisticated audiences rather than being mainstream titles that will break out to large box office numbers.”
Of the holdovers, Bullet Train‘s $1.82 million represented a 42 per cent dip on its opening, with the Brad Pitt vehicle now at $5.8 million for Sony.
Stablemate Where the Crawdads Sing came in at third, with a fourth frame result of $828,807 boosting the title to $8.6 million.
Top Gun: Maverick, now 12 weekends in, is still showing fantastic holds, dropping only 12 per cent to $770,974. As IF has reported, the Paramount film is now the third highest grossing title to ever be released in Australia behind Avatar and Star Wars: The Force Awakens, with a gross of $87.6 million.
After six weekends, Disney’s Thor: Love and Thunder is showing signs of slowing with earnings of $752,300, a dip of 37 per cent. In total, the Sydney-shot Chris Hemsworth-starrer has made $42.8 million, which pro-rata, is well ahead of the North American result of $US325 million.
While Warner Bros. Elvis is now available to rent digitally, it is still drumming up a decent theatrical result after eight weekends, with $608,484 down only 28 per cent. The Baz Luhrmann film has now crossed $31 million, and is the fifth highest grossing Australian film of all time.
Also in its eighth frame, Universal’s Minions: The Rise of Gru collected $546,104 to move its tally to $41.8 million, while stablemate The Black Phone fell 38 per cent in its fourth to $360,214, advancing to $4.8 million.
Of the other Australian holdovers, UK co-production Falling for Figaro stands at $927,849 for Paramount/Umbrella after five weekends and Maslow’s Lee Kernaghan: Boy From The Bush is on $250,145 after three.