Warner Bros./DC’s The Flash might have snared the no. 1 spot at the box office from Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse last weekend, but its results left exhibitors wanting more.
The film, which sees Ezra Miller play the speedster hero, bowed to $3.8 million from 575 screens, or $4.5 million with advance screenings.
The Australian box office start is below North America, pro-rata, where its $US55.1 million 3-day opening has been labelled a disappointment.
The top brass at WB and DC have been touting the film for months. Co-CEO of DC Studios James Gunn said it was “probably one of the greatest superhero movies ever made” earlier this year, while Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav told CinemaCon in April “it’s the best superhero movie I’ve ever seen.”
However, the film has not had the publicity tour typical of these kinds of features. Miller, who has faced a series of allegations, arrests and legal action, has been absent from the campaign beyond appearing at the premiere. Last August, Miller apologised for their behaviour and they said they had “gone through a time of intense crisis” and had begun treatment for “complex mental health issues”.
Wallis Cinemas programming manager David Simpson summed the mood, telling IF: “Given the build-up The Flash’s results were utterly second-rate.”
However, Village Cinemas national programming manager Geoff Chard was more optimistic, noting that while the initial results have been disappointing, word of mouth is good.
“We’re hopeful that it can sustain a longer season than some of the more recent superhero films,” he tells IF.
The weekend’s second disappointment was Disney/Pixar’s original feature Elemental, which opened to a soft $1.6 million from 447 screens, landing no. 3 behind Spider-Verse 2 and marginally ahead of The Little Mermaid.
Again, results in Australia were below that of the US/Canada, pro-rata, where its $US29.5 million start is the lowest for a Pixar film since 1995’s Toy Story. The argument for its poor performance in the US trades has been that the pandemic has trained families to expect Pixar films on Disney+.
However, many Aussie exhibitors are hopeful that despite initial “dismal numbers” the film will pick up through school holidays, with little upcoming variety for families.
Majestic Cinemas CEO Kieren Dell tells IF: “I think Elemental will carve out a decent result through the school holidays, as many parents would be holding off until then to take their kids. Pixar needs to prove itself as a cinema brand again, so they may be slow to react upfront especially given the proximity of holidays.”
Indian mythological actioner Adipurush, released in both Hindi and Telugu, was the best performing title in the top 20 by screen average. Forum Distribution opened the Om Raut film, starring Prabhas, Saif Ali Khan and Kriti Sanon, on 99 screens for $763,492, an average of $7,712
Chard says the film “lived up to the hype” and was even the no. 1 film at several Village locations.
Roadshow’s You Hurt My Feelings, in limited release, also snuck into the top 10 with an opening of $155,939 from 73 screens ($183,511 with previews). Julia Louis-Dreyfus leads the film as a novelist whose marriage is upended when she overhears her husband (Tobias Menzies) giving his honest reaction to her latest book.
Overall the top 20 titles rang up 12.4 million according to Numero, down 12 per cent on the previous weekend. This weekend may see a box office boost with the release of Paramount’s Transformers: Rise of the Beasts.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse fell 53 per cent in its third weekend to just shy of $3 million, pushing the Sony animation to $21.9 million.
Disney’s The Little Mermaid is now at $17.9 million after earning $1.4 million in its fourth frame, while stablemate Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is at $31.4 million after pocketing $411,412 in its seventh. Close behind was Fast X, which took home an extra $395,530 in its fifth weekend for Universal, moving to $16.4 million, while Disney’s The Boogeyman rang up $221,420 in its third to move to $1.8 million.
John Farnham: Finding the Voice, already the highest grossing Australian feature documentary ever released, crossed the $4 million mark for Sony in its fifth weekend, taking $179,518.
The weekend also saw the release of another local doc, Brenda Matthews and Nathaniel Schmidt’s The Last Daughter, which won the Audience Award at the Adelaide Film Festival last year.
Bonsai Films opened on 55 screens to $35,090, landing at no. 15. Its overall tally is $97,349 from festivals and previews.
Roadshow’s Sweet As also remains in the top 20 despite losing more than 130 screens across the weekend, with a third frame result $29,470 bringing it to $397,367.
Madman doco The Giants took $11,544 in its ninth to grow to $555,667, with Bonsai’s Limbo right behind, adding $11,241 in its fifth to advance to $239,397.
Cinemaplus opened Alena Lodkina’s Petrol on six screens across Sydney and Melbourne, earning $4,539, growing its pot, which includes festival screenings, to $10,548.
After a series of sell out Q&As, Antidote doc Watandar, My Countryman has moved to a traditional release, adding five screens for a total of nine. It brought in $4,264 over the weekend, moving to $44,036.