Exhibitors are optimistic about the summer prospects for Wonka after Timothée Chalamet’s take on Roald Dahl’s chocolatier got off to a strong start at the box office last weekend.
The live-action musical, a prequel to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, opened at no. 1 with $6.1 million from 734 screens, capturing more than 50 per cent market share. The result marks the second biggest opening weekend for Warner Bros. this year behind Barbie, as well as the second biggest opening for a family film behind The Super Mario Bros. Movie.
The Australian start for Wonka is also ahead of the North American result, pro-rata, where it opened last weekend at $US39 million. Globally the film, which started in 37 markets such as the UK two weekends ago before expanding to 77 last weekend, has reached $US151 million so far.
Cinema Nova CEO Kristian Connelly tells IF Wonka should leg out over the summer “due to few other multiplex titles straddling as broad a demographic as the Roald Dahl fantasy musical does.”
The view is shared by Kieren Dell, CEO of regional NSW and Queensland circuit Majestic Cinemas, who notes the great reaction and word of mouth from initial audiences bodes well.
“It suits our demographics, including tourists, well, and we see this as the biggest potential performer over the summer,” he says.
Village Cinemas head of content Geoff Chard notes it’s a little harder to get a read on Wonka‘s opening weekend her compared to the US and UK, given Boxing Day is such a big cinema-going day in Australia, with many families busy in the lead up to Christmas and delaying their visit until afterwards.
“The WOM on the film so far has been outstanding and we are expecting huge crowds during the boxing day week,” he tells IF.
Wonka was the only new performer to make the top 10. There are few major releases between now and Boxing Day, but Chard is looking forward to Indianblockbusters opening: Dunki (Hindi) and Salaar (Telugu).
“Dunki features the megastar Shah Rukh Khan, with his previous 2 films from this year (Pathaan and Jawan) holding the #1 & #2 spot on the Hindi-language all time box-office record list here in Australia,” he says.
Numero data puts the top 20 at $10.8 million, up 21 per cent on the previous. While the box office is down for this period when compared to 2021 and 2022 when giants Spider-Man: No Way Home and Avatar: The Way of Water were respectively in release, exhibitors are mostly positive about the summer ahead. Summarising the line-up, Dell says: “All up a good and diverse range of movies that meet all the demographics and suit the audiences over summer after a tough year for so many.”
Looking ahead to cinemas’ biggest day of the year, he is optimistic about the prospects of Migration, which he thinks will pip Disney’s Wish as the summer’s second best performing family film after Wonka. Wallis Cinemas programming executive David Simpson adds that for his South Australian-based circuit, the Illumination/Universal title is the preferred film for vacation care groups.
Uni’s local publicity machine for Migration is in full swing, with a 12-metre tall and 250 kilogram version of duck Gwen currently floating on Sydney Harbour, even requiring the Pyrmont Bridge to be opened.
On Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, Dell says “the jury is out”. He argues it won’t match the original due to the “well-documented woes of DC”, but given the lack of competing product in the genre, and the cast, it should still deliver a solid result.
For Simpson, Sony’s Sydney-set rom-com Anyone But You, starring Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell, is the Boxing Day “stand-out”, with “considerable social media hype.” Dell considers the film a “wild horse”, arguing it “has the rom-com field to itself for an under-served market, and given the hot stars, could break out.”
Poor Things, scripted by Aussie Tony McNamara, should take the upscale and arthouse market by storm, according to Connelly. Cinema Nova has already had four advance screenings of the Emma Stone-starrer sell out.
“The response to the film has been outstanding thanks to its stunning visuals, awards calibre performances and shockingly original script,” he says. “Like Saltburn, the film’s heady mix of genres looks sure to appeal strongly to the Australian cinemagoing sensibility and deliver exceptional box office throughout summer.”
In other upscale fare, Dell is optimistic about the prospects of One Life, starring Anthony Hopkins as British humanitarian Nicholas Winton, who helped save hundreds of Central European children from the Nazis on the eve of World War II.
“[The film] has done solid business at previews and is getting a great response from the older and more sophisticated markets,” he says.
New Year’s Day will see the release of Taika Waititi’s Next Goal Wins, about the efforts of the dismal American Samoan soccer team to reach the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival to middling at best, poor at worst reviews – it has a 43 per cent critical rating on Rotten Tomatoes, though the audience score is much higher at 85 per cent.
Dell says the film is an “unknown”, and arguing its humour should translate better Down Under than it has in North America.
“A delightful movie with a very antipodean sense of humour, which appears to have been misunderstood in the US. [It] could break out here if it finds the right market, but stands a chance of not breaking those shackles. We shall see,” he says.
Of last weekend’s holdovers, Universal’s Trolls Band Together took second place with $1.02 million across its third weekend, advancing to $6.8 million.
Last weekend’s no. 1, Roadshow’s The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, was close behind with a $1 million result. The prequel is now just shy of $19 million after five weekends, with Australia the fourth best market worldwide behind US/Canada, UK and Germany.
Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy and the Heron, distributed by Sony, held onto fourth position despite dropping 49 per cent in its sophomore weekend to $591,548, moving to $2.4 million. Stablemate Napoleon has reached $10.3 million after a fourth frame result of $582,805.
Bollywood blockbuster Animal is just shy of $5 million, having captured $262,570 in its third weekend for Forum Distribution, while WB’s Saltburn is at $2.4 million after adding 221,637 in its fifth.
Japanese film Godzilla Minus One continues to hold well, dropping just 29 per cent to $204,395. It has made $1.1 million after three weekends in release via distributor Sugoi Co.
Connelly predicts it and The Boy and the Heron should continue to play well through the holidays, “leveraging Australia’s current obsession with Japanese culture while also enjoying very strong word of mouth”.
Rounding out the rest of the top 10 were holiday favourites. Universal’s 20th anniversary release of Love Actually drew $110,411 in its second weekend, moving to $232,448, while a re-issue of 1990’s Home Alone took $108,666.
Kiwi film Uproar fell out of the top 20 last weekend, dropping to 26th place with a third weekend result of $16,316, moving to $308,332 for Kismet.
Of the Australian titles in the top 50, animation Scarygirl, distributed by Madman, rustled an extra $8,049 in its eighth, bringing it to $354,649, while The Royal Hotel, which is now also on Binge, took $6,292, moving to $259,189 for Transmission.
Australian box office data is via Numero.