The box office had a significant refresh last weekend, led by new releases The Nun II, Jawan, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem and My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3.
In the end, Warner Bros.’ horror sequel The Nun II just pipped Bollywood actioner Jawan, starring Shah Rukh Khan, for the number one position, taking $2.3 million from 284 screens compared to Jawan‘s $2.1 million from 147 screens. By screen average, however, Jawan, distributed by Mindblowing Films, was the stronger performer, with a whopping $14,436 per screen compared to The Nun II‘s $8,251.
While The Nun II led the weekend, it still trailed the 2018 original, which bowed to $3.7 million. Globally, WB launched the sequel, which is part of the The Conjuring Universe, in 70 markets for $US85.3 million, with $US32.6 million from North America, where it also led the BO. The is directed by Michael Chaves and produced by Peter Safran and Australian James Wan.
Jawan is a global juggernaut, estimated to have achieved the biggest four-day global debut ever for a Hindi movie at 535 crore ($US64.4M).
Mindblowing Films founder and director Mitu Bhowmick Lange tells IF she is delighted to see the love the film is getting at the Australian box office.
“It’s being called the ‘festival that is Jawan’ given the incredible love the film is receiving. Shah Rukh Khan as the new socialist hero that we all need.”
Paramount’s TMNT: Mutant Mayhem took the third spot with $1.86 million from 411 screens, bringing it to $2.3 million with previews. The film has premiered here in Australia much later than the US, where it opened on August 2 and has so far grossed $US111.3 million. However, it should benefit from this month’s upcoming school holidays.
Landing in fourth was Universal’s My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3, which rang up $1.77 million from 400 screens. This is quite behind the second film, which opened to $4 million in 2016. In North America, the third instalment opened to $US10 million.
Numero data puts the top 20 titles as amassing $13.4 million over the weekend, up 20 per cent on the previous.
Reflecting on the weekend, Majestic Cinemas CEO Kieren Dell reflects it was “characterised by an even spread across multiple films”.
“My Big Fat Greek Wedding played very well for us, while Nun 2 and Turtles had solid openings, with Turtles promising much more in the school holidays,” he tells IF, also noting that The Equalizer 3, Barbie, Sound of Freedom and Haunted Mansion all contributed to a decent result.
Other exhibitors had a less positive view, with Wallis Cinemas programming manager David Simpson telling IF: “A miscellany of titles made for a mediocre weekend”.
“My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 Girls Night Outs were sold out at sites however the weekend was quiet. The Nun 2 was in line with expectations – Jawan was below.”
Of the holdovers, last week’s no. 1, The Equalizer 3 landed in fifth position, collecting $1.7 million, a dip of 49 per cent on its opening. That brings the Sony action film to $6.1 million overall.
Greta Gerwig’s Barbie fell under $1 million for the first time since it was released eight weekends ago, with $984,047 pushing the title to $83.1 million. WB’s biggest title ever, it has amassed $US1.4 billion globally to be leading title of 2023. It will start rolling out digitally from today.
Oppenheimer also fell under $1 million for the first time, bringing home an eighth weekend haul of $710,090, advancing the Christopher Nolan film to $39.2 million. Worldwide, the title is nearing $US900 million for Universal.
Sound of Freedom drew $458,305 in its third frame for Icon, moving to $4.1 million, while Disney’s Haunted Mansion stumbled 55 per cent in its sophomore outing, with $297,923 bringing its tally to $1.2 million.
Rounding out the top 10 was Studiocanal’s Past Lives, which dropped only 21 per cent in its second frame to $256,334, moving to $1.1 million overall.
Of the Australian films in release, both Talk to Me and Ego: The Michael Gudinski Story remain in the top 20.
The former, a horror from twins Danny and Michael Philippou, has drummed up $3.9 million across seven weekends for Maslow Entertainment, earning $97,983 across the weekend.
Ego: The Michael Gudinski Story took a significant second weekend tumble, dropping 68 per cent to $66,581. However the Mushroom doc has still pocketed so far a tidy $408,377.
Fellow doc Rachel’s Farm remains in the top 50, now at $185,547 after six weekends for Madman.
Australian box office data is sourced via Numero.