In just two weekends, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse has already surpassed the lifetime gross of the 2018 original.
The animated sequel reigned again at the box office last weekend for Sony, dropping only 22 per cent through Sunday to $6.4 million, meaning its haul now stands at $16.5 million.
Into the Spider-Verse, which won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature, finished a hair shy of $13 million in Australia. Globally, the film has also moved beyond the gross of the original, having taken $US390 million to the first film’s $US384 million.
The second weekend hold for Spider-Verse 2 in Australia was far better than in the US/Canada, where the film dropped 53 per cent thanks to stiff competition from Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, which doesn’t release here until June 22.
Spidey’s continued box office dominance was no real surprise; with no major new releases, it was largely deja vu last weekend, with the top six titles unchanged.
The weekend’s best performing new release was Transmission’s feel good British drama The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, starring Jim Broadbent and Penelope Winton.
Based on the 2012 novel by Rachel Joyce and directed by Hettie Macdonald, Broadbent plays the titular character who walks the length of England to see an old friend who is dying from cancer.
It bowed to a modest $241,124 from 143 screens, landing in at no. 7. With previews, it sits at $319,977.
While Wallis Cinemas programming manager David Simpson tells IF the film “satisfied the oldies” alongside Bank of Dave, Majestic Cinemas CEO Kieren Dell found it softer than hoped for.
Coming in behind at no. 8 was Mindblowing Films’ Indian period epic Maurh, starring Ammy Virk and Dev Kharoud, which opened to $174,274 from just 62 screens.
Korean action thriller The Roundup: No Way Out, the third instalment in the Don Lee franchise, debuted to $167,617 from just 24 screens for Signal Pictures. Its screen average of $6,984 is similar to the weekend’s performance of The Little Mermaid.
Numero data puts the top 20 titles at $14 million through Sunday, down 20 per cent on the previous weekend.
The small box offie dip is likely to be short-lived; the next few weekends ahead are busy for exhibitors with US summer blockbusters. Warner Bros/DC’sThe Flash and Disney/Pixar’s Elemental launch next week, and Paramount’s Transformers the weekend after. Simpson says Wallis has seen “solid turnouts” for Transformers previews and is encouraged by the reviews.
“It looks like a colossal few weeks ahead,” he says.
Of last weekend’s holdovers, Disney’s The Little Mermaid held onto the no. 2 position behind Across the Spider-Verse, generating $3.1 million in its third outing, moving to $13.4 million.
Universal’s Fast X just snared third place, with a fourth weekend result of $1.2 million seeing the title advance to $15.6 million, while Disney’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 managed $1.1 million in its sixth, seeing its total lift to $30.6 million.
Disney horror The Boogeyman held well in its second weekend, dropping just 14 per cent to $537,224 to move to $1.4 million.
Local documentary John Farnham: Finding the Voice has now reached $3.6 million for Sony after ringing up $348,478 across its fourth weekend. Already the highest grossing Australian feature documentary of all time, it has also now surpassed the 1998 IMAX title Africa’s Elephant Kingdom, which made $3.5 million. Only IMAX film Antarctica, released in 1991, has ever made more ($5.2 million).
Rounding out the top 10 was The Super Mario Bros Movie, which is now at $51.4 million after adding $166,332 in its tenth weekend.
Local coming-of-age film Sweet As, the debut feature of Jub Clerc, remains in the top 20, earning $72,166 in its second to move to $327,771 for Roadshow.
Madman doc The Giants is on $534,884 after an eighth weekend result of $14,422, while Watandar, My Countryman, which is doing limited Q&A screenings via Antidote, made the top 50 in its third with $4,374 taking it to $26,214.