Godzilla vs. Kong remains the main event at the box office but Peter Rabbit 2 is hopping up right behind, boosted by school holiday audiences.
The former brought in another $3.4 million in its third weekend, a drop of 28 per cent, taking its cume to $20.8 million.
Worldwide, the Warner Bros.’ monster brawl has surpassed $US350 million, with Australia the top market behind US/Canada and China.
Also in its third, Peter Rabbit 2 is charming the young ones, climbing another $3.3 million – up 34 per cent on the previous.
The Sony hybrid animation, shot in Sydney and co-produced by Animal Logic Entertainment, now sits on $12 million overall.
Village Cinemas national programming manager Geoff Chard predicts Peter Rabbit 2 will take over Godzilla vs. Kong from today, and become the no. 1 film for the full week.
Another title boosted along by the school holidays was WB’s cat and mouse caper Tom and Jerry, up a staggering 75 per cent on the previous to take $1.9 million – it now sits on $4.9 million.
The weekend’s biggest new release was Universal’s Voyager, which stars Colin Farrell, Tye Sheridan and Lily Rose-Depp and follows crew of astronauts on a multi-generational mission that descends into paranoia and madness. However, the sci-fi, written and directed by Neil Berger had a soft landing, earning $257,611 from 171 screens, an average of $1,506 per screen.
Fellow sci-fi, local film Ascendant, the feature debut of Antaine Furlong, opened in 10th on $160,952 from 165 screens for Maslow Entertainment, an average of $975 per screen.
Set in Shanghai, the story follows Aria Wolf (Charlotte Best), a young woman who wakes, trapped, kidnapped in an elevator of a super high rise building at the mercy of her tormentors.
Samuel Goldwyn Films recently picked up the worldwide rights and is planning a theatrical release in the US in July.
“The two new openers unfortunately did not fire as we’d hoped,” Chard tells IF.
Majestic Cinemas CEO Kieren Dell found the same at his circuit, where the titles were overshadowed by Peter Rabbit, Godzilla vs. Kong and Tom and Jerry, as well as The Courier, Nobody and Raya and the Last Dragon.
“Unfortunately, neither of the new movies in Voyagers and Ascendant appealed to audiences over the weekend, with their numbers being soft,” he tells IF.
In limited release, Indian Telugu-language legal drama Vakeel Saab opened on $232,144 from 52 screens for Southern Star.
Overall, the top 20 titles took a respectable $12.9 million, up 9 per cent on the previous, according to Numero.
In Victoria, the weekend marked the first since time since the pandemic began that cinemas could operate at 100 per cent occupancy, with exhibitors in the state experiencing a strong weekend, helped by wet weather.
Universal’s Nobody held well, falling only 16 per cent to take just over $1 million. Starring Bob Odenkirk as an average suburban dad who sets off on a path of vengeance, the film now sits just above $3 million after two weeks.
Benedict Cumberbatch-starrer The Courier was up 7 per cent in its second, ringing up $809,003 to advance to $2.2 million for Roadshow.
Six weeks in and Disney’s Raya and the Last Dragon scored a huge school holidays lift, up 80 per cent on the previous to earn $761,196. The animation, which has also been Disney+ as a PVOD title, now sits on $7.7 million.
Nominated for six Academy Awards, The Father continues to draw a crowd for Sharmill, up 3 per cent in its second weekend with takings of $313,228. The drama, which stars Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Colman, now sits on $1.1 million.