Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum action rom-com The Lost City opened at no. 1 at the box office over the Easter weekend, narrowly defeating Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore.
According to Numero figures through to Sunday only, The Lost City bowed to $3.4 million from 431 screens for Paramount, and with previews, now tallies $4.3 million.
Australia’s release is three weeks behind that of the US/Canada, where the film premiered March 25 to $US30.5 million, and is currently tracking at $US78.6 million.
Directed by brothers Aaron and Adam Nee, The Lost City sees Bullock play a reclusive author, Loretta, who writes popular adventure novels, while Channing is her handsome cover model, Alan. While on tour promoting her new book, Loretta is kidnapped. Determined to prove he can be a hero in real life, Alan sets off to rescue her.
Among the long weekend’s other new releases was Indian assassin film K.G.F: Chapter 2, directed by Prashanth Neel and starring Yash in the lead role of Rocky. The Hindi-language version was distributed by Forum Films and the Tamil, Telegu, Kannada, Malayalam versions by Tolly Movies.
The Hindi version came in at fifth position, ringing up $1.6 million from just 98 screens for an huge $15,826 average – the highest of any film for the weekend. For Tolly Movies, the film grossed $437,054 from 64 screens, an average of $6,829, landing in ninth.
If taken together, K.G.F: Chapter 2 was the fourth highest earner of the weekend, ahead of Universal’s The Bad Guys.
Worldwide, the title was the second highest grossing across the Easter weekend behind Fantastic Beasts 3, collecting $US70.6 million, and follows the international success of fellow Indian actioner RRR.
Village Cinemas national programming manager Geoff Chard tells IF K.G.F: Chapter 2 was the “surprise standout” of the weekend.
“Coming off the back of RRR’s $3.5 million result to-date shows the strength of the Indian-language product, with a number of blockbusters still to release over the coming months,” he says.
The weekend also saw the debut Roadshow Films’ Michelle Yeoh sci-fi comedy Everything Everywhere All At Once, which opened to $576,128 from 105 for a healthy average of $5,487. With previews, the Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert-directed title totals $649,343.
Melbourne’s Cinema Nova topped the national rankings for the film, with CEO Kristian Connelly telling IF its performance leveraged off “exceptional” word of mouth coming out of three sold-out advance screenings.
“We expect the film to be among our biggest films of the year,” he says.
Sliding in at no. 10 was another Indian actioner, Beast, directed by Nelson Dilipkumar. It debuted at $254,470 from 65 screens, and has made $537,485 with previews.
Overall the top 20 titles came to $15.7 million through Sunday, up 15 per cent on the previous weekend. IF understands that Monday saw the box office gross $4.6 million, bringing the total to $20.5 million.
Chard says the weekend was outstanding, up 44 per cent on the previous Easter. “Such a good spread across the films means we were able to cater to a much wider audience.”
Similarly summarising the weekend, Wallis Cinemas programming manager David Simpson tells IF: “Quaddie winning weekend with Sonic, Bad Guys, FB3 and Lost City the expectedly guilty pleasure.
“On track for a school holidays that’s up to scratch.”
Of the holdovers, Fantastic Beasts 3 fell 38 per cent in its sophomore outing to $3.3 million, growing to $10.6 million for Warner Bros.
The film opened in the US/Canada over the weekend, where it bowed to $US43 million, which is the lowest in the Harry Potter franchise so far. While still one of the biggest opening weekends in 2022 in North America, the consensus among pundits seems to be that the power of the franchise is waning. The Secrets of Dumbledore is said to have cost $US200 million to produce, with the global tally so far $US192.9 million.
With school holidays now underway, Paramount’s Sonic The Hedgehog 2 is showing good legs, dropping only 6 per cent in its third frame to $2.6 million, advancing to $12.3 million.
Similarly, The Bad Guys, also in its third, saw a 7 per cent boost on the previous to $1.7 million. The Universal animation, based on the book by Australian Aaron Blabey, is now at $7.9 million.
WB’s The Batman has made $37.1 million after seven weekends, having gathered another $534,112. The Matt Reeves film has now collected $US750 million worldwide, and has just dropped on HBO Max in the US.
Meanwhile Sony’s Morbius is on $5.9 million after collecting $464,920 in its third weekend.
All figures, supplied via Numero, are through Sunday.