Australian audiences have heeded the call of Sound of Freedom and André Rieu’s 2023 Maastricht Concert: Love is All Around, with the former breaking up Barbenheimer to be the second-highest-grossing film of the weekend.
Having already passed more than US$180 million stateside (Box Office Mojo), Alejandro Monteverde’s real-life inspired story of a former government agent turned vigilante who embarks on a mission to rescue hundreds of children from sex traffickers bowed to $1.8 million from 352 screens for Icon, recording an average of $5,260 per session.
This was still behind Warner Bros. all-conquering Barbie, which took in another $2.6 million in its sixth frame to reach $79.6 million, but ahead of Universal’s Oppenheimer, which managed $1.5 million, also from its sixth weekend, to move up to $36.6 million overall.
While it is on track to become one of the most successful independent films ever made, Sound of Freedom has also courted controversy, due partly to the links between lead actor Jim Caviezel and the far-right political movement QAnon.
However, Hayden Orpheum general manager Alex Temesvari said the film’s “more than respectable” gross proved it legitimately had mainstream appeal.
“Oddly, most of the controversy appears to be driven by people who haven’t even seen the film yet and are making wild assumptions about the content,” he said.
“It’s also interesting to see the film opening nationally at number four, meaning there definitely was an Australian audience for the film and the appeal wasn’t strictly American.”
The next highest new release was Piece of Magic’s screening of Dutch violinist André Rieu’s annual Maastricht Concert, this year titled Love is All Around, which debuted to $857,406 from 163 screens at an average of $5,260. This is slightly below last year’s concert, which took in $923,989 from its opening weekend.
It was followed closely by Forum Distribution’s Punjabi period drama Mastaney, about the attack on Nadar Shah’s undefeated army by Sikh Rebellions in 1739, which drew $829,204 from just 63 screens in its opening frame to record an intimidating average of $13,162 per session.
Village Cinemas national programming manager Geoff Chard said Mastaney was second only to Barbie on the Village circuit.
“Mastaney was the absolutely standout,”
“Sound of Freedom was a little further down the list at number four, though a respectable opening weekend nationally of $1.8 million. It couldn’t knock Barbie off its throne, but a solid effort nonetheless. We’re hoping the good word of mouth on the film will keep the film near the top of the box office rankings for a good few weeks.”
Wallis Cinemas programming services manager David Simpson also said Sound of Freedom was “strongly supported” in his venues, while Love is All Around achieved a “first-rate” result.
The new entries pushed WB’s Meg 2: The Trench into sixth position after four weeks of release, with a weekend total of $802,806 pushing its overall gross past $8 million.
Dropping two spots from fifth position last week is Sony’s Gran Turismo: Based on a True Story, which generated $512,343 from its third outing to move to $3.4 million,
Universal’s Strays kept its tail in the top ten with $491,064 in its sophomore frame – a decrease of 42 per cent from last week – to be sitting at $1.6 million after two weeks.
Maslow Entertainment’s Talk To Me continues to provide strong Australian representation after five weeks of release, taking in another $282,781 to reach $3.5 million.
Rounding out the top ten was Sugoi Co’s Japanese animation The First Slam Dunk, which bowed to $235,823 from 58 screens for a solid average $4,066 per session.
The weekend also heralded the debut of Madman’s Rose Gold, a documentary that follows the Australian Boomers men’s basketball team on their journey to bronze at the Tokyo Olympics. The film made $43,389 from 124 screens at an average of $350 per session.
According to data from Numero, the top 20 films from the weekend grossed $11.1 million, representing a decrease of only 5 per cent from the previous weekend.
Australian box office data is sourced via Numero.