Top Gun: Maverick held on to that loving feeling at the box office for a second weekend, taking in another $13 million to go with its $13.8 million opening.
According to data from Numero, Paramount’s Tom Cruise-led aviator sequel dropped just 6 per cent from its debut to reach a gross total of $32.7 million.
It was a similar story in the US, where the film raked in $US86 million, a paltry 32 per cent drop from its Memorial Day holiday weekend opening, advancing to $US291 million while bringing its global tally to US$548 million.
Village Cinemas national programming manager Geoff Chard told IF the hold was “nothing short of unbelievable”.
“It’s almost impossible to find a comparison like this for such a blockbuster level title taking almost $13 million over its second weekend,” he said.
“The question now is how high can it go; Bohemian Rhapsody had a larger drop into its 2nd weekend [8 per cent down], but took less than half the box office of Top Gun: Maverick in its 2nd weekend [at $6.2 million], and that film went on to take over $54 million at the Australian box office.
“And yet now we have another blockbuster title opening this weekend with Jurassic World: Dominion. Pre-sales are tracking significantly ahead of the last instalment, and with this film bringing back so many of the original cast members as well, the nostalgia element could really elevate the box office to the next level.”
Holding onto the number two position at the Australian box office in its fifth weekend of release was Disney’s Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness, which sold $1.1 million worth of tickets to track at $36.5 million.
Kollywood made its way into the top three via Southern Star’s Vikram, with Lokesh Kanagaraj’s mystery action/thriller bowing to $632,282 from 87 screens for a sparkling average of $7,268 per session.
The opening means that the film, which stars Fahadh Faasil as an investigator assigned to look into a case of serial killings, surpasses Nelson Dilipkumar’s Beast to become this year’s highest-grossing Kollywood movie in Australia.
Just over $40,000 separated the next six titles in the top ten which all took between $200,000-$250,000.
Universal’s The Bad Guys jumped from seventh to fourth in its 10th weekend with $249,246, enough to reach $15.5 million overall.
One spot down, fellow animated film The Bob’s Burgers Movie from Disney garnered $228,201 from its sophomore frame – a 32 per cent decline from its opening – for an overall total of $738,992.
Coming in just outside the top five was Roadshow’s Everything Everywhere All at Once, which drew $215,454 in its eighth outing to move past $5 million.
Paramount’s Sonic the Hedgehog 2 showed it still has legs after 10 weekends with another $209,327 for a gross total of $22.2 million.
In eighth position, Madman’s How to Please a Woman edged closer to $2 million after three reporting periods, bringing in $207,055 to track at $1.8 million.
Universal’s Downton Abbey: A New Era was unable to maintain its top-five status as it dropped to ninth with $206,114 from its sixth frame, reaching $7.5 million overall.
Claiming the last spot in the top ten was Paramount rom-com The Lost City with 167,098 to move to $15.5 million after eight weekends of release.
It came in just ahead of Roadshow’s The Drover’s Wife The Legend of Molly
Johnson, which surpassed $1 million after a month of release.
Overall, the top 20 grossed $17.2 million, down just five per cent from the previous weekend.
Cinema Nova CEO Kristian Connelly said while cold and wet weather led audiences to seek refuge in his cinema across the weekend, new titles such as Transmission’s Mothering Sunday ($115,712 from 88 screens) and Rialto’s Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom ($18,138 from 16 screens) still struggled to make an impact.
“While Top Gun: Maverick experienced a minute and utterly remarkable easing nationally, the acclaimed crowd-pleaser improved in weekend two by 25 per cent at Cinema Nova,” he said.
“Now in its 8th week of release, Everything Everywhere All At Once continues to perform exceptionally well at Cinema Nova. Similarly, The Northman held well in its 7th week as the film closes in on a $100,000 cumulative gross.
“New openers Mothering Sunday and Lunana: A Yak In The Classroom opened at the lower end of expectations, highlighting the continued challenge for exhibition and distribution to draw audiences to smaller more niche titles that, pre-pandemic, would have been assured of stronger results.”