April has already brought renewed vitality to the box office, with new releases Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Morbius, The Bad Guys and The Duke each drawing good crowds last weekend.
Paramount’s Sega sequel, directed by Jeff Fowler, came in at no. 1, collecting $3.6 million from 475 screens. That is an opening almost exactly in line with that of the original, which bowed to $3.8 million in February 2020, and despite cinema shutdowns, went on to gross $14 million.
The live action/CGI hybrid is yet to debut in the US/Canada but was also the top title in a number of other international markets over the weekend, including the UK, Spain, France and Germany.
The family friendly caper just beat out Sony/Marvel’s Morbius. Despite a critical panning – it has a 17 per cent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes – the Jared Leto-starrer still captured a healthy $3.1 million from 589 screens.
In North America, Morbius opened at a relatively modest – by Marvel standards – $US39.1 million, while gathering $US44.9 million from international markets, including Australia. Notably the film also has a relatively small production budget – $US75 million – so is well-positioned.
Directed by Daniel Espinosa, the film sees Leto play Dr. Michael Morbius, a genius whose rare blood disease transforms him into a vampire.
In third position was Universal animation The Bad Guys, based on the book by Australian author Aaron Blabey.
With a voice cast that includes Samuel Rockwell, Richard Ayoade and Awkwafina, the film follows a group of criminal animals who are finally caught, and then must become model citizens to avoid jail time.
Transmission Films’ UK drama The Duke came in fifth, behind The Batman. Led by Jim Broadbent and Helen Mirren, the film details the true story of a 60-year-old taxi driver from northern England who stole Goya’s portrait of the Duke of Wellington from the National Gallery in London in 1961.
Despite clearly aimed at an older audience – those who have been slowest to return to moviegoing – the film, produced by Aussie Nicky Bentham, mustered $623,017 from 261 screens, bringing it to $1.3 million with previews.
With the exception of The Batman, the last few weekends have been quiet, so this influx of new titles is welcome, and the rest of April should see competition get hotter again.
This weekend sees the release of Warner Bros.’ Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore and Universal’s Ambulance, and Paramount’s The Lost City will premiere over Easter. The end of the month sees Universal’s Downton Abbey 2, followed by Disney’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness in early May.
Reflecting on the recent weekend, Majestic Cinemas CEO Kieren Dell, who operates cinemas throughout regional NSW and Queensland, said the droves of families who came out for fresh product in Sonic 2 and The Bad Guys are an optimistic sign for the April and Easter holidays.
“Morbius was a bit soft and was clearly impacted by the critical reviews, although audiences that see it are enjoying it, if a bit confused by the after credit scenes. Hard to see it performing all that well though through April, given the competition, with Fantastic Beasts, Ambulance and The Lost City all competing for parts of that market.”
In addition, Dell says The Duke was a “pleasant surprise”, which at some of his more arthouse leaning sites was actually the top performer.
“Audiences are loving it, so hopefully it entices the older generation to come out during the school holidays, as some of them remain a little reticent to return still.
“We are very optimistic of a very good April, especially with some April showers (but hopefully not too much for fear of more devastating floods).”
In terms of the upcoming holidays, Village Cinemas national programming manager Geoff Chard tells IF pre-sales for Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore are tracking very nicely, especially for Gold Class cinemas.
“We’re hoping for a similar, if not better result than the previous film (The Crimes of Grindelwald) which took $23 million back in 2018.”
Similarly, Wallis Cinemas programming manager David Simpson predicts a “super” holiday period “with Dumbledore‘s help”.
In addition to the upcoming blockbusters, Cinema Nova CEO Kristian Connelly welcomes more depth in the arthouse market.
“I am encouraged by the quality of product in April, much of which appears to align with our audience – namely Memoria, Everything Everywhere All At Once, The Good Boss, The Northman and The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. Should those films find the audiences they deserve, we should see improved awareness of May releases including Arter Yang, Petit Maman, The Drover’s Wife and Operation Mincemeat, among others,” he tells IF.
According to Numero, the top 20 titles collected $12.6 million last weekend, up 43 per cent on the previous.
Of the holdovers, The Batman was the best performing title, coming in at fourth position with a fifth weekend result of $1.4 million, bringing its cume to $35.2 million.
Australia remains the third highest grossing territory for the Robert Pattinson film outside of North America, behind the UK and Mexico. Worldwide, it has just crossed $US700 million for WB.
Last week’s second best performing title, Tolly Movies’ multi-language Indian action drama RRR came in at sixth with $588,975, a drop of 67 per cent on its opening. That result advances the period film, about two Indian revolutionaries who fought against the British Raj and the Nizam of Hyberabad, to $3 million overall.
Now three weeks in, Roadshow’s Channing Tatum buddy comedy Dog collected $447,221, advancing to $3.4 million, while Sony’s Uncharted is now close to $18 million after seven weekends following a result of $303,969.
In ninth position was Madman anime Jujutsu Kaisen 0: The Movie, which gathered another $154,655 to move to $1.8 million.
Rounding out the top 10 was Universal’s Belfast, fresh from Kenneth Branagh’s Oscar win for Best Original Screenplay. In its ninth weekend the drama collected $120,165, a dip of just 34 per cent on the previous. In total, it has earned $5 million.
The only Australian title in the top 20 was Madman’s River, with the Jen Peedom/Joseph Nizeti doc gathering $21,425 in its second weekend, lifting its cume to $109,574.